GIRODET-TRI08ON relics, an ancient sarcophagus with sculptures supposed to represent the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus, and a celebrated porta voce, from whence a conversation, though carried on in the lowest voice, may be overheard at a distance of about 300 feet. There are many other churches, and formerly, when the pop- ulation included a large number of priests, there were many convents and nunneries. The college of Girgenti is among the most im- portant in Sicily, and the Lucchesiana library contains about 100,000 volumes. The palazzo Buonadonna is the principal of the palaces, and the most remarkable classical vestige is the temple of Zeus Polieus, now the church of Santa Maria de' Greci. Subterranean cham- bers filled with stalactites are supposed to have been quarries whence the stone was supplied for the buildings of the ancient city. There are immense granaries hewn in the rock near the port, which is protected by a mole, built of fragments from the temple of Zeus Olympius. Sulphur is the principal article of trade, and the other chief exports are grain and olive oil. While the piscina or water reservoir was one of the most remarkable public works of the ancient city (see AGRIGENTTJM), Girgenti suffers from the utter want of a supply of water. The excavations of the ancient sepulchres have discovered painted vases more varied and larger than any others found in Sicily, and almost equalling those of Apulia and Campania. The spring or fountain near the city, to which Pliny refers as yielding petroleum or mineral oil, still exists ; and the mud volcano described by Soli- nus, and to which the Saracens gave its present name of Maccambba, continues to be one of the many curious sights in the vicinity of Girgenti. GIRODET-TRIOSOX, Anne Louis (GIKODET DE COUSSY), a French painter, born in Montargis in 1767, died in Paris, Dec. 9, 1824. He was a pupil of David, and obtained the great prize, which enabled him to go to Rome in 1789. During a residence of five years in Italy he sent to Paris the " Sleeping Endymion " and " Hippocrates declining the Gifts of Arta- xerxes." On his return to Paris in 1795, he painted portraits of Chateaubriand and Hor- tense, and several large pictures, as " Danae," " The Seasons " for the king of Spain, " Fingal, Ossian, and their Descendants welcoming to their Aerial Palace the Manes of French He- roes," and in 1806 his most esteemed work, "A Scene of the Deluge," which created a great popular sensation and bore away the prize from David's " Sabines." In 1808 he completed his "Funeral of Atala," in 1810 his " Revolt at Cairo," and in 1819 his " Pygma- lion and Galatea." His literary remains were published in 1829, in 2 vols. GIRONDE, a S. W. department of France, formerly a part of the province of Guienne, bordering on the bay of Biscay and the depart- ments of Charente-Inferieure, Dordogne, Lot- et-Garonne, and Landes ; area, 3,759 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 705,149. The surface is almost GISLASON 825 entirely level, the "W. portion being a vast sandy, arid flat, collectively called the Landes. The chief rivers are the Garonne and Dordogne which unite to form the Gironde, the Isle, Dronne, Dropt, and Leyre. The climate is temperate, and, except in the Landes, gene- rally healthy. The principal productions are wheat, rye, millet, maize, hemp, fruits, wine, cork, charcoal, turpentine, pitch, and timber. Wine is the staple product, 55,000,000 gallons being made annually. The .most renowned Bordeaux wines are produced* in the Gironde. Building stone, salt, and chalk are the principal mineral products. The manufactures include calicoes, muslin, earthenware, paper, leather, glass, tobacco, brandy, beer, vinegar, salt, chemicals, and cordage. Ship building is ex- tensively carried on in Bordeaux. Railways connect Bordeaux with Paris, Bayonne, &c. The department is divided into the arrondisse- ments of Bordeaux, Blaye, Lesparre, Libourne, Bazas, and La Reole. Capital, Bordeaux. GIRONDISTS (Fr. Girondins), a French po- litical party, which played a conspicuous part in the legislative assembly and the convention. They derived their name from the deputies of the department of Gironde, whom they acknowledged as their leaders. Vergniaud, Gensonne", Guadet, Brissot (from whom they were sometimes styled Brissotins), Condorcet, Ducos, Boyer-Fonfrede, Louvet, Petion, Va- laze, Buzot, Barbaroux, Isnard, Lanjuinais, Carra, and Rabaut Saint-tienne were the most prominent of their members. They enthusias- tically promoted the proclamation of the re- public (September, 1792), but strongly opposed the ultra-revolutionary party, called the Mon- tagnards ; and although eloquence, talent, and virtue were mostly on their side, they suc- cumbed to the violent assaults of their oppo- nents after having been driven by the current to vote in part and reluctantly for the death of Louis XVI. The Montagnards charged them with plotting against the unity of the republic and aiming at a federal organization of the country. After a most stormy debate on May 31, 1793, 22 of them were arrested on June 2, incarcerated at the Conciergerie, and on Oct. 31 executed. Mme. Roland, their inspirer, and her husband followed them soon after (Novem- ber), the former dying by the guillotine, the latter by his own hand. The other Girondist leaders escaped from Paris, and, after vainly at- tempting to revolutionize several departments, were almost all either taken prisoners and be- headed, or committed suicide. See Lamartine, Histoire des Girondins (8 vols., Paris, 1847). GISLASON, Conrad, an Icelandic philologist and lexicographer, born July 3, 1808. He is the son of a popular poet, and studied at the university of Copenhagen, where he became professor of the Norse languages. Besides nu- merous editions of old Icelandic writings and commentaries on early Scandinavian poetry and philology, he has published a critical man- ual of the rudiments of the ancient Icelandic
