oall 245 GALLAS several works relating to geology. He died in Brunswick, Germany, March 21, 1803. DiMiTRi Augustine, son of the foregoing; born in The Hague, Dec. 22, 1770; became a Roman Catholic in his 17th year; was ordained a priest in the United States by Bishop Carroll of Baltimore in 1795; and betook himself to a bleak region among the Alle- gheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, where he was known as "Father Smith." Here he laid the foundation of a town called Loretto. He was for some years vicar- general of the diocese of Philadelphia. He wrote various controversial works, including a "Defense of Catholic Prin- ciples" (1816), "Letter to a Protestant Friend" (1820), and "Appeal to the Prot- estant Public" (1834). He died in Loretto, Pa., May 6, 1841. GALL, a morbid excrescence on the leaf or leaf-bud of any plant, arising probably from the puncture of a cynips. These small hymenopterous insects de- posit their eggs on the leaves, etc., of various plants, each species being limited to a single plant, or even a single part of one; thus there is a Cynips ficus caricss on the common fig, a C. fagi on the beech, and a C. quercus foli on the leaves of the common oak. The so-called oak- apples are not fruits but morbid ex- crescences produced by C. terminalis, so called because it deposits its eggs at the extremity of the shoots of the tree. The galls of commerce are produced by the puncture by C. gallx tinctoria of the leaf-bud of Quercus infectoria, or more rarely of some other species of oak. In the hole made by the insect, an egg is deposited, in due time to be developed into a larva, which eats its way out when it comes to the perfect state. One variety is white or yellow, another green, gray, or black. The best galls come from Smyrna and Aleppo. With the salts of iron they should yield a fine black color, and therefore are used in the manu- facture of ink. GALL, ST., an Irish monk of the 6th and 7th centuries; born in Ireland, about 550. He was educated at the mon- astery of Bangor, accompanied St. Columba to France about 585, and took part with him in all his missionary labors. Banished from France, they went together into the wilder regions of Swit zerland, and near the Lake of Constance they founded the monastery which bore the name of St. Gall and gave name to the town and canton of St. Gall. After a few years Columba retired to Italy, leaving his companion abbot of the new house. The monastery was burnt by Hungarians in the 10th century. He died in St. Gall, Switzerland, about 645. GALL, ST., a canton in the E. part of Svitzerland, occupying the 14th place in the Swiss Confederation. It has E. the Vorarlberg and Lichtenstein, from which it is separated by the Rhine, S. E. and S. the Grisons; W. the cantons Glarus, Schwyz, and Zurich, with its lake; and N. Thurgau and the Lake of Constance. Length, N. to S., about 40 miles; breadth varying from 11 to nearly 35 miles. Area, 779 square miles. Sur- face, greatly diversified. In the N. there is an inconsiderable portion of plain country; but the central and S. parts are almost wholly covered with Alpine ranges, the summits of some of which rise above the snow limits. Mt. Scheibe, at the S. W. extremity, is estimated to be 10,188 feet above sea-level. There are, however, several extensive and fertile valleys, as that of Toggenburg (watered by the Thur, 36 miles in length), those of the Rhine, and others noted for their wild and picturesque character^ Next to the Rhine, the chief rivers are the Thur, Sitter, Serz, etc.; Wallensee is the principal lake. Extensive forests cover the S. portion of the canton. Soil, moderately fertile. Products, corn, maize, hemp, and flax, fruit, etc. Cattle and hog feeding is extensively carried on. Minerals, iron and coal. Mineral springs are numerous. St. Gall is one of the principal Swiss manufacturing cantons; its inhabitants are mostly employed in its manufactures of cotton fabrics, thread, linens, glass, wax, etc. ^^ Chief to^vn St. Gall, the capital. Fop. 304,000. GALL, ST., capital of the above canton, situated on the Steinach, in a narrow and elevated valley, 7 miles S. W. of the Lake of Constance. It possesses a fa- mous Benedictine abbey, which became the asylum of learning during the Dark Ages, and was one of the most celebrated schools in Europe between the 8th and 10th centuries; it now serves as the cathedral of the diocese. St. Gall is one of the chief manufacturing towns in the confederation; it has extensive manufac- tures of muslin, is the center of the Swiss trade in that fabric, and of gold and silver embroidery, besides cotton fabrics and yarn. Pop. about 75,000. GALLAS. a race of people inhabiting that part of Africa which lies to the S. and W. of Harar and S. of Shoa, between lat. 9° and 3° S. and Ion. 34° and 44° E. The best authorities regard them as be- longing to the Ethiopic branch of the Hamites, and their language as a de- scendant of the ancient Geez of Abys- sinia. Individually they are of average stature, with strong, well-made limbs, skin of a light chocolate brown, hair
