Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/742

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730 GEORGIAN BAY GfiRANDO though, as it throws up many sterns from the same root, it retains a shrub-like form. It has the general botanical characters of the rubiacem, to which family it belongs. The leaves are large, oval, acute, and downy on the under surface, as are the flower clusters which are borne at the ends of the branches ; these con- sist of several five-flowered fascicles of pur- plish-spotted flowers, with a tube nearly an inch long and a reflexed limb ; the calyx is short and five-lobed, one of the lobes being expanded into a large, ovate, rose-colored leaf, which is more showy than the flower itself. The plant is closely related to cinchona, and is one of the many that have been proposed as substitutes for Peruvian bark. From the reports of physi- cians living in the states where it grows, it ap- pears to have decided anti-periodic properties, though slower in its action than quinia. As an ornamental plant it is deserving of the at- tention of those who live in a climate where the winters are mild; in England it is suffi- ciently valued to be cultivated as a wall plant. The genus was named by Michaux in honor of Gen. Charles 0. Pinckney. GEORGIAN BAY. See HURON, LAKE. GEP1DJ, a Germanic people, akin to the Goths, who first appear in history in the 3d century A. 0. as living on the Baltic near the Vistula. They subsequently moved further S. and settled N. of Pannonia, between the Ostrogoths on the east and the Visigoths on the west. They were at first compelled to fol- low Attila, but regaining their independence at his death, under their king Arderic, they drove back the Huns and occupied their territory on the lower banks of the Theiss, Danube, Drave, and Save. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, defeated them in 488 near Sirmium (now Szer6m in Slavonia), and Alboin, king of the Lombards, assisted by the Avars, destroyed their power in 566. The remnants of the people became gradually amalgamated with the conquerors. GERA, a town in the German principality of Reuss-Schleiz, in a beautiful valley on the right bank of the White Elster, 35 m. S. S. W. of Leipsic; pop. in 1871, 17,959. It consists of the town proper and two suburbs, and is reg- ularly built, having been restored in modern style after a great conflagration in 1780. It has manufactories of woollens, cotton, linen, camlet, porcelain, stoneware, tobacco, leather, soap, chocolate, glue, artificial flowers, musical instruments, and fire engines, iron founderies, large breweries and dyeing establishments, and carries on a considerable trade. Its old castle dates from 1086, when the place first became a town, and was bestowed on the baron of Reuss in the 12th century. Three railways connect the town with Zeitz, Gossnitz, and Eichicht. GERAMB, Ferdinand de, baron, a French Trap- pist, born in Lyons, April 17, 1772, died in Rome, March 15, 1848. He was educated in Vienna, and served against the French in the Austrian, Spanish, and English armies. He was of a vio- lent temper, and fought several duels. In 1812 he was in London, and his creditors sought to have him arrested, but he barricaded his dwelling, hung out a flag inscribed " My house is my castle," and resisted for a fortnight the sheriff and his deputies. He was afterward sent to the continent, where he fell into the hands of Napoleon, by whose orders he was imprisoned in Vincennes and afterward in La Force. In the latter prison he met the bishop of Troyes, and thenceforward he conse- crated his life to religion, joining the Trappist order some time after his release (1815). He took the vows in 1817 at the monastery of Port du Salut near Laval, and distinguished himself so greatly by his piety that he was appointed procurator general of the order. In 1831 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and in 1837 went to Rome. His Pelerinage d Jerusalem et au mont /Sinai en 1831-'33 (4 vols., Paris, 1836) has been translated into for- eign languages, and passed, like his Voyage de la Trappe d Rome (1838), and other works, through many editions. GERANDO, Joseph Marie de, baron, a French philosopher and statesman, born in Lyons, Feb. 29, 1772, died in Paris, Nov. 11, 1842. He was educated in the college of the Oratory at Lyons, and was preparing for the priesthood against the wishes of his family when the rev- olutionary persecutions of ecclesiastics led him to change his purpose. When in 1793 his na- tive town was besieged by the troops of the convention, he took arms for its defence, was made prisoner, and narrowly escaped death. He entered the army, but his regiment having been sent to Lyons, he was there recognized, denounced, and obliged to seek safety in flight. He went to Switzerland and thence to Italy, and was employed two years in a commercial house in Naples. In 1797 he returned to France, after- ward joined a regiment of cavalry, and was in garrison at Colmar when the institute proposed the question : " What is the influence of signs on the formation of ideas? " De G6rando sent in a dissertation on it, and learned that he had received the prize soon after the battle of Zurich, in which he had taken part. Invited to Paris, he entered the ministry of the inte- rior under Lucien Bonaparte in 1799, became secretary general of that department under Champagny in 1804, accompanied him to Italy in 1805, was appointed master of requests in 1808, was afterward engaged in the organiza- tion of Tuscany and of the Papal States when they were united to France, received the title of councillor of state in 1811, and was ap- pointed governor of Catalonia in 1812. On the fall of the empire he retained his dignities; but for having been sent to organize the de- fence of the Moselle during the hundred days he was at first discarded after the second res- toration, but soon resumed his place in the council of state, which he held during the rest of his life. In 1819 he began a course of lectures before the faculty of law in Paris on public and administrative law, which were