nerves and the metallic conductors. The discovery, as well as the theory of Galvani, produced a great sensation; physiologists and philosophers in all parts of the world eagerly repeated his experiments. The accuracy of the facts described by him was generally recognized; even his theory was almost universally accepted; but soon an antagonist arose in the person of Professor Volta of Pavia, who denied that the electricity by which the convulsions were produced resided in the muscle, and attributed the effects to electricity derived from other sources, such as the electrical machine, the atmosphere, or the contact of two dissimilar metals. For several years the scientific world was agitated by a violent controversy on this question; which seemed to be decided, however, in favour of Volta when that philosopher discovered in 1800 the pile or battery generally known by his name. It is a singular instance of the revolutions which take place in science, that even Volta's contact-theory is now almost superseded by the chemical theory, while recent experiments seem to demonstrate beyond doubt that Galvani was correct not only in his facts, but also in attributing the muscular contractions to the existence of an animal electricity. In addition to his labours in connection with his great discovery Galvani drew up a number of interesting memoirs on several professional topics; but the death of his wife in 1791, followed by other misfortunes, arrested his scientific researches and threw him into a deep melancholy. During the political troubles in Italy he firmly adhered to the old régime, and refusing to take the oaths of allegiance to the new Cisalpine republic, he was mercilessly deprived of all his offices, and compelled to retire in a state of extreme bodily infirmity to the house of one of his brothers. Subsequently the republican leaders seem to have been ashamed of their severity to a man who had shed lustre upon his country, and passed a decree for his restoration to his offices and emoluments, but it was too late; and Galvani expired on the 5th December, 1798, about a twelvemonth before Volta enriched science by the discovery of that invaluable instrument which first rendered galvanism a power, and established its identity with electricity.—G. Bl.
GALVANO. See Galvao.
GALVAO or GALVAM, Antonio, a Portuguese traveller, died in 1557, the fifth son of Duarte Galvam. He was appointed in 1538 governor of the Moluccas, where the Portuguese power was then almost extinct. He revived the declining hopes of the colonists by a series of brilliant military exploits, and afterwards succeeded in conciliating the good-will of all the Malay chiefs. He refused the sovereignty of the isles, and spent his private means in founding institutions for the benefit of the islanders. He was recalled in 1545, and died in 1557 at Lisbon in extreme poverty. Among other valuable works, he wrote a history of ancient and modern voyages of discovery down to 1550, which has been translated into English, London, 1601.—F. M. W.
GALVAO or GALVAM, Duarte, a Portuguese historian; died in 1517. He was chronologist-general of the kingdom, and secretary to John II.; he afterwards went on a mission to Rome and France. At an advanced age, in 1515, he sailed in an expedition which was to convey to the Indies the new governor, Soares, being intrusted with an embassy to the queen of Ethiopia; but he died at the island of Camarao in 1517. There is a narrative of the voyage by his chaplain, Alvares. Galvao took an active part in editing the national chronicles.—F. M. W.
GALVAO or GALVAM, Joâo, a Portuguese prelate, died in 1485. He succeeded his father as secretary to Alfonso V., and in 1451 accompanied the Princess Eleanor on the occasion of her marriage with Frederick III. In 1461 he became bishop of Coimbra; and ten years later, he accompanied Alfonso V. to Africa, and fought with distinguished valour at Arzela and Tangier. He was made archbishop of Braga in 1480.—F. M. W.
GALVEZ, José, Marquis de la Sonora, a Spanish statesman, born in 1729. He became secretary to Cardinal Grimaldi, foreign minister to Charles III., and was afterwards made a member of the council of the Indies. He was sent out to Mexico in 1771, to arrange various matters in dispute, which he accomplished with great vigour, but not always to the satisfaction of the parties interested. On his return in 1775 he became minister for the Indies, and distinguished his administration by extending the right of commerce with America, hitherto confined to Cadiz, to six other ports. He died in 1786. A nephew of this officer, Bernardo de Galvez, was afterwards viceroy of Mexico.—F. M. W.
GALYZIN or GOLYZIN, a princely family of Russia, deriving its origin from Gedimin, the famous ancestor of the Jagellons, and from which have sprung many persons of note in the military as well as political annals of the country. Michael and Dmitri Galyzin were both valiant chieftains under Wassili IV., the grand-duke of Warsaw. They were both taken prisoners by the Poles in the battle of Orscha in the year 1514. Dmitri died in confinement; but Michael, after no less than thirty-eight years' imprisonment, obtained his liberty and returned to the court of his sovereign, whose prime favourite he afterwards became. The great-grandson of this Michael, Wassili Galyzin, was, together with three others, pretender to the crown of the czars, after the death of the impostor Demetrius. Though he did not long maintain this character, he was suspected ever after; and having been sent in 1640 to Poland, to announce to a prince of that country his elevation to the Russian throne, he was accused of high treason, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. A descendant, in the third generation, of this unhappy nobleman, likewise called Wassili, living in the reign of Czar Peter I., obtained the surname of the Great Galyzin, on account of his untiring efforts to civilize the serfs on his vast dominions. He became a favourite of Princess Sophie, sister of Peter I.; and being suspected by the latter of aiming at a marriage with the grand-duchess, and also of aspiring to the crown, he was banished to Northern Siberia, where he died shortly after, as is generally reported, of poison. A cousin of the Great Galyzin was Boris Galyzin, teacher of Peter the Great, and regent of Russia during the czar's journey into the western provinces of Europe. Another cousin was Dmitri Galyzin, for a time Russian ambassador at Constantinople, afterwards minister of finance, and finally chief of a powerful secret society of Muscovite nobles, who aimed at the conversion of the monarchy into an oligarchy. The plan of the society being betrayed, Dmitri was imprisoned in the fortress of Schlusselburg, where he died at the end of little more than a year. His brother, Michael Galyzin, was the constant companion of Czar Peter in all his campaigns, and having risen to the rank of field-marshal, particularly distinguished himself by the conquest of Finland in 1714. The eldest son of this Michael, Alexander Galyzin, became likewise field-marshal, and acquired fame by the storming of Choczin in Moldavia in 1769. Another son, Dmitri Galyzin, was a distinguished diplomatist, and ambassador at Paris in the time of Louis XV., and at Vienna during the reign of the Emperor Joseph II. Alexander's eldest son, also called Alexander Galyzin, became vice-chancellor of the Empress Catherine of Russia; and his brother, another Dmitri, who died in 1803, was ambassador at the Hague and other courts. The wife of this latter Dmitri, a daughter of the Prussian General Von Schmettau, acquired considerable renown in the literary annals of Germany through her friendship with Göthe, Jacobi, Stolberg, and other distinguished men. She was at first a warm admirer of Rousseau, but her sentimentalities finally drew her into the hands of the Roman catholic propaganda, and she died a sister of charity in a jesuit establishment in Westphalia about 1806. Her son, Dmitri Galyzin, became a Roman catholic missionary, and went to America, where he died in 1840. The family of Galyzin is still one of the most eminent among the Russian aristocracy, although it has not of late given any particularly distinguished men to the state. The last famous Galyzin was Dmitri Wladimirowicz, a general, who in 1820 became governor-general of Moskow, and acquired a high reputation during the time of the cholera and the great fire of 1831, for kindness and benevolence. He died at Paris in 1844.—F. M.
GAMA, Jose Bazilio da, a Brazilian poet, born in 1740 and educated by the jesuits of Rio de Janeiro. On the expulsion of the order in 1759 he came to Europe, and for a short time held a professorship at Rome. He suddenly returned to Brazil, whence, on suspicion arising out of his old connection with the jesuits, he was sent back as a prisoner to Lisbon. He, however, soon rose to high consideration by the favour of the minister Pombal. Gama's chief work is a poem entitled "Uraguay," descriptive of the destruction of the jesuit order, which is highly esteemed in Brazil, for the vividness of colouring which the poet's local knowledge enabled him to give to his delineations. He has also written a short poem commemorative of Quitubia, an African chief, and some minor poems. About 1770 Gama obtained employment in the secretary of state's office; in 1771 was ennobled. He died at Lisbon in 1792.—F. M. W.
