swallow whole, and in pursuit of which they do not hesitate to enter human dwellings, where they are often killed on suspicion. The structure of the toes in those lizards forms their most characteristic anatomical feature. These organs are flattened out into broad discs, and are furnished with transverse lainellar plates, by means of which the geckoes are enabled to run with ease on the smoothest surface, and to imitate the fly in remaining suspended on ceilings or on the under surfaces of leaves. Most of the species have nails to their toes, and these in their sharpness and retrac- tility bear considerable resemblance to the claws of feline animals. They are nocturnal in their habits ; but when not exposed to the hot sunshine they are able to pursue their prey by day. They hibernate ,- and two fatty masses in front of the pubis are supposed to furnish the means of nourishment during this period. Many of the species possess to a limited extent the chameleon faculty of chang- ing ‘colour, while their colouring generally may be regarded as protective 5 a few Indian forms are said to become luminous in the dark. The geckOes form an extensive family, including 60 genera and 200 species, found through- out the warmer regions of the earth, two only being inhabitants of Europe, and even these occur also in the north of Africa. Unlike most lizards, they are found in the remotest oceanic islands, a fact which leads Mr Wallace (Geographical Distribution of Animals) to suppose that
they possess exceptional means of distribution.GED, William ( ? –1749), the inventor of the art of stereotyping, was born at Edinburgh about the beginning of the 18th century. In 1725 he first put in practice the art which he had discovered; and some years later he entered into a partnership with a London capitalist, with a view to employing it on a great scale. The partnership, however, turned out very ill 3 and God, broken-hearted at his want of success, died at London, October 19, 17 49. The only books which he produced by means of stereotyp- ing were two prayer—books for the university of Cambridge, and an edition of Sallust. See Life by Nichols, 1781.
GEDDES, Alexander (17 37—1802), a learned theo- logian, biblical critie, and miscellaneous writer, was born at the farm of Arradoul, in the parish of Rathven, Band'- shire, Scotland, on the 14th of September 1737. At the age of fourteen he entered the small Roman Catholic semi- nary at Scalan in a remote glen of the Banffshire highlands, where he remained till October 1758, when he was sent to the Scottish College in Paris for the further prosecution of his studies. Here to considerable acquirements in biblical philology and school divinity he succeeded in adding a good knowledge of most of the literary languages of Europe. Returning to Scotland after an absence of six years, he for a short time officiated as a priest in Dundee, but in May 1765 received and accepted an invitation to become resident in the family of the earl of Traquair, where, with abund- ance of leisure and the free use of an adequate library, he made further progress in his favourite biblical studies. After a second visit to Paris which extended over some months, and which was employed by him in reading and making extracts from rare books and manuscripts in the - public libraries, he in 1769 was appointed to the charge of the Catholic congregation of Auchinhalrig in his native county. During the period of a ten years’ incumbency there he displayed a liberality of spirit which caused con- siderable scandal to his stricter brethren 3 and the freedom with which he fraternized with his Protestant neighbours once and again called forth the rebuke of his bishop (Hay). Ultimately, on account of his occasional attendance at the parish church of Cullen, where his friend Buchanan was minister, he was deprived of his charge and forbidden the exercise of ecclesiastical functions within the diocese. This happened in 1779 3 and in 1780 he went with his friend Lord Traquair to London, where he spent the rest of his life, with the exception of a few weeks devoted to travel on the Continent. Before leaving Scotland he had received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the university of Aberdeen, a compliment seldom before paid to any Catholic, and had been made an honorary member of the Society of Antiquaries, in the institution of which he had taken a very active part. Shortly after his arrival in London Geddes received an appointment in connexion with the chapel of the imperial ambassador, which he held until the Chaplaincy was suppressed some years afterwards. Having been intro- duced to Lord Petre, to whom he broached his long-cherished scheme for the publication of a new Catholic version of the Scriptures on the basis of the Vulgate, he met with every encouragement from that nobleman, who assigned to him an annual salary of £200, and, moreover, undertook to provide the needful books. Supported also by such scholars as Kennicott and Lowth, Geddes in 1786 published a Pro- spectus of a new Translation of the Holy Bible, from corrected Texts of the Originals, compared with the ancient Versions, with various Readings, explanatory Notes, and critical Observations, a considerable quarto volume, in which the defects of previous translations were fully pointed out, and the means were indicated by which these might be removed. It attracted considerable notice of a favourable kind, and led to the publication in 1788 of Proposals for Printing, with a specimen, and in 1790 of a General Answer to Queries, Counsels, and Criticisms. The first volume of the translation itself, which was entitled The IIol y Bible; or the Books accounted sacred by Jews and Christians; otherwise called the Books of the Old and New Covenants ; faithfully translated from. corrected Texts of the Originals, with various Readings, explanatory Notes, and critical Remarks, appeared in 1792, and was the signal for a storm of hostility on the part of both Catholics and Protestants. It was obvious enough—no small offence in the eyes of some—that as a critic Geddes had identified himself with Houbigant, Kennicott, and Michaelis 3 but others did not hesitate to stigmatize him as the would—be “corrector of the Holy Ghost.” Three of the vicars-apostolie almost immediately warned all the faithful against the “ use and reception ” of his translation, on the ostensible ground that it had not been examined and approved by due ecclesiastical authority; and by his own bishop (Douglas) he was in 1793 suspended from the exer- cise of his orders in the London district. The second volume of the translation, completing the historical books, published in 1797, found no more friendly reception 3 but this circumstance did not discourage him from giving forth in 1800 the volume of Critical Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures, corresponding with a IVew Translation of the Bible, containing the Pentateuch, of which it is enough to say that, while fully saturated with all the best learning of its time, it presented in a somewhat brusque and in- judicious manner the then novel and startling views of Eichhorn and his school on the primitive history and early records of mankind. Dr Geddes was engaged on a critical translation of the Psalms, which he had completed down to the 118th, when he was seized with a lingering and painful illness which ultimately proved fatal on the 26th of February 1802. Although for many years he had been under ecclesiastical censures, he had never for a moment swerved from a consistent profession of faith as a Catholic 5 and on his death-bed he duly received the last rites of his communion. It would appear, however, that the report which gained currency that before his death he had made recantation of his “ errors” was entirely destitute of founda- tion in fact. In his lifetime he enjoyed the friendship of several eminent Continental scholars, and his death. was noticed as being a loss to science in the Gelehrte Zeitung of Gotha and in other foreign journals.
