The Upper Ganges Canal and the Lower Ganges Canal are the two principal systems of perennial irrigation in the United Provinces. The Ganges canal was opened by Lord Dalhousie in 1854, and irrigates 978,000 acres. The Lower Ganges canal, an extension of the original canal, has been in operation since 1878 and irrigates 830,000 acres. The two canals, together with the eastern Jumna, command the greater portion of the Doab lying between the Ganges and the Jumna, above Allahabad. Navigation in either is insignificant. (T. H. H.*)
GANGOTRI, a celebrated place of Hindu pilgrimage, among the Himalaya Mountains. It is situated in the native state of Garhwal in the United Provinces, on the Bhagirathi, the chief head-stream of the Ganges, which is here not above 15 or 20 yds. broad, with a moderate current, and not in general above 3 ft. deep. The course of the river runs N. by E.; and on the bank near Gangotri there is a small temple about 20 ft. high, in which are images representing Ganga, Bhagirathi and other figures of mythology. It dates from the early part of the 18th century. The bed of the river adjoining the temple is divided off by the Brahmans into three basins, where the pilgrims bathe. One of these portions is dedicated to Brahma, another to Vishnu and the third to Siva. The pilgrimage to Gangotri is considered efficacious in washing away the sins of the devotee, and ensuring him eternal happiness in the world to come. The water taken
from this sacred spot is exported by pilgrims to India and sold at a high price. The elevation of the temple above the sea is 10,319 ft.
GANGPUR, a tributary state of Orissa, Bengal, included until 1905 among the Chota Nagpur States. It is bounded N. by Ranchi district, E. by the Singhbhum district, S. by Sambalpur
and Bamra, and W. by Raigarh in the Central Provinces. The
country is for the most part an undulating plain, broken by
detached ranges of hills, one of which, the Mahavira range,
possesses a very remarkable appearance, springing abruptly from
the plain in an irregular wall of tilted and disrupted rock, with
two flanking peaks. The rivers are the Ib and the Brahmani,
formed here by the union of the Sankh and the South Koel, both
navigable by canoes. The Ib was formerly famous on account of
diamonds found in its bed, and its sands are still washed for gold.
One of the largest coalfields in India extends into the state,
and iron ore is also found. Jungle products—lac, silk cocoons,
catechu and resin, which are exported; wild animals—bisons,
buffaloes, tigers, leopards, hyenas, wolves, jackals, wild dogs and
many sorts of deer. Area, 2492 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 238,896;
estimated revenue, £16,000.
GANGRENE (from Gr. γάγγραινα, an eating sore, from
γραίνειν, to gnaw), a synonym in medicine for mortification (q.v.),
or a local death in the animal body due to interruption of the
circulation by various causes.
GANILH, CHARLES (1758–1836), French economist and
politician, was born at Allanche in Cantal on the 6th of January
1758. He was educated for the profession of law and practised
as avocat. During the troubled period which culminated in the
taking of the Bastille on the 14th of July 1789, he came prominently
forward in public affairs, and was one of the seven
members of the permanent Committee of Public Safety which sat
at the hôtel de ville. He was imprisoned during the Reign of
Terror, and was only released by the counter-revolution of the
9th Thermidor. During the first consulate he was called to the
tribunate, but was excluded in 1802. In 1815 he was elected
deputy for Cantal, and finally left the Chamber on its dissolution
in 1823. He died in 1836. Ganilh is best known as the most
vigorous defender of the mercantile school in opposition to the
views of Adam Smith and the English economists.
His works, though interesting from the clearness and precision with which these peculiar opinions are presented, do not now possess much value for the student of political economy. He wrote Essai politique sur le revenue des peuples de l’antiquité, du moyen âge, &c. (1808); Des systèmes d’économie politique (1809); Théorie d’économie politique (1815); Dictionnaire analytique de l’économie politique (1826).
GANJAM, a district of British India, in the extreme north-east of the Madras Presidency. It has an area of 8372 sq. m. Much of the district is exceedingly mountainous and rocky, but is interspersed with open valleys and fertile plains. Pleasant
groves of trees in the plains give to the scenery a greener appearance
than is usually met with in the districts to the south. The
mountainous tract known as the Maliyas, or chain of the Eastern
Ghats, has an average height of about 2000 ft.—its principal
peaks being Singharaj (4976 ft.), Mahendragiri (4923) and
Devagiri (4535). The hilly region forms the agency of Ganjam,
with an area of 3483 sq. m. and a population (in 1901) of 321,114,
mostly wild backward tribes, incapable of being governed under
ordinary conditions and therefore ruled by an agent of the
governor with special powers. The chief rivers are the Rushikulya,
the Vamsadhara and the Languliya. The sea and river fisheries
afford a livelihood to a considerable section of the population.
The hilly region abounds in forests consisting principally of sal,
with satin-wood, ebony and sandal-wood in smaller quantities.
Ganjam formed part of the ancient kingdom of Kalinga. Its early history is involved in obscurity, and it was not till after the Gajapati dynasty ascended the throne of Orissa that this tract became even nominally a part of their dominions. Owing to the nature of the country the rising Mahommedan power was long kept at bay; and it was not till nearly a century after the first invasion of Orissa that a Mahommedan governor was sent to govern the Chicacole Circars, which included the present district of Ganjam. In 1753 Chicacole, with the Northern Circars, were made over to the French by Salabat Jang for the maintenance of his French auxiliaries. In 1759 Masulipatam was taken by an English force sent from Bengal, and the French were compelled to abandon Ganjam and their other factories in the north. In 1765 the Northern Circars (including Ganjam) were granted to the English by imperial firman, and in August 1768 an English factory was founded at Ganjam, protected by a fort. The present district of Ganjam was constituted in 1802. In the earlier years of British rule considerable difficulty was experienced in the administration of the district; and on more than one occasion the refractory large landholders had to be coerced by means of regular troops. In 1816 Ganjam was overrun by the Pindaris; and in 1836 occurred the Gumsur campaign, when the British first came into contact with the aboriginal Kondhs, the suppression of whose practice of human sacrifice was successfully accomplished. A petty rising of a section of the Kondhs occurred in 1865, which was, however, suppressed without the aid of regular troops.
In 1901 the pop. of the district was 2,010,256, showing an increase of 20% in the decade. There are two systems of government irrigation: (1) the Rushikulya project, and (2) the Ganjam minor rivers system. The principal crops are rice, other food grains, pulse, oil seeds and a little sugar-cane and cotton. Salt is evaporated, as a government monopoly, along the coast. Sugar is refined, according to German methods, at Aska, where rum also is produced. A considerable trade is conducted at the ports of Gopalpur and Calingapatam, which are only open roadsteads. The district is traversed throughout by the East Coast railway (Bengal-Nagpur system), which was opened from Calcutta to Madras in 1900. There are colleges at Berhampore and Parlakimedi. The headquarters station is Berhampore; the town of Ganjam occupied this position till 1815, when it was found unhealthy, and its importance has since declined.
GANNAL, JEAN NICOLAS (1791–1852), French chemist, was
born at Sarre-Louis on the 28th of July 1791. In 1808 he entered
the medical department of the French army, and witnessed the
retreat from Moscow in 1812. After the downfall of the empire he
worked at the École Polytechnique in Paris and subsequently at
the Faculty of Sciences as assistant to L. J. Thénard. His
contributions to technical chemistry included a method of
refining borax, the introduction of elastic rollers formed of
gelatin and sugar for use in printing, and processes for manufacturing
glue and gelatin, lint, white lead, &c. The Institute
awarded him a Montyon prize in 1827 for his advocacy of
chlorine as a remedy in pulmonary phthisis, and again in 1835 for
his discovery of the efficacy of solutions of aluminium acetate and
chloride for preserving anatomical preparations. In the latter
part of his life he turned his attention to embalmment, his
method depending on the injection of solutions of aluminium salts
into the arteries. He died at Paris in January 1852. His son
