an oracle in all matters connected with churches and schools, princely marriages, baptisms," &c. But his chief merit lies in the great works which he produced. These were his "Doctrina Catholica et Evangelica, ex Romano-Catholicorum scriptorum suffragiis confirmata;" his "Loci Communes Theologici;" and his "Harmonia historiarum Evangelicarum de passione et resurrectione Christi." His "Meditationes Sacræ" passed through numberless editions; and several translations of it have appeared even at the present day.—P. L.
GERHARD, Johann Ernst, son of the above, was born at Jena, 15th December, 1621, and became first a professor of history, and afterwards of theology, in the university of which his more eminent father had been so long the illustrious ornament. Having devoted much attention to oriental languages and history, he published two works on these subjects—"Harmonia linguarum orientalium," and "Consensus et Dissensus religionum profanarum Judaismi, Samaritanismi, Muhamedismi, et Paganismi." He died in March, 1707.—P. L.
GERHARD, the Master. When the first cathedral of Cologne was destroyed by fire in 1248, the archbishop, Conrad of Hochstadten, resolved to build a new church, which should not merely excel that which had just been burned, but "be the glory of the Christian world." The chroniclers dilate on the zeal with which the bishop organized his machinery, and the pomp with which he laid the first stone of the new building. But no mention occurs of the maker of the designs. Some years later, however (1257), it is stated in the still extant records of the cathedral, that the chapter "in consideration of the great services rendered by Master Gerhard, the master mason, who had directed all the works, presented him with the piece of ground upon which he has built for himself a large house of stone." Master mason was then, and for more than a century later, equivalent to our term architect; and Boisserée, who has devoted a large amount of time and labour to the elucidation of the early history of Cologne cathedral, is of opinion that Master Gerhard was the author of the designs from which Cologne cathedral was erected, as well as being during many years the superintendent of the works. Consequently, as Cologne cathedral is the typical example of German Gothic architecture, and one of the very finest mediæval buildings in existence, it follows that Gerhard, if really its builder, was one of the greatest architects of the middle ages. And this is the view that German authorities adopt. But of Gerhard himself little has been related. Boisserée and others have made the most diligent researches, without finding more than a few incidental references in the civic archives. They have discovered that he was married, that his wife's name was Guda, that he had four children, three sons and a daughter, and that he was dead in 1302; for in that year his children, who had all adopted a religious habit, caused to be registered the gift for pious uses of the stone house of their late father. Boisserée also concludes that the "Work-Meister vom Dom," entered in the records of the senate as one of the founders and benefactors of the hospital of St. Ursula at Cologne, was the Master Gerhard. Gerhard lived to see but little of his cathedral raised. Archbishop Conrad died in 1261; his successors quarrelled with the citizens, removed the seat of the archbishopric to Bonn, and wasted their revenues in military expenses. The works do not appear to have ever been wholly discontinued, but it was not till 1322, about seventy years after its commencement, and twenty after the death of Master Gerhard, that the choir was sufficiently finished for consecration. From the great similarity in plan and general style, Gerhard is believed to have been the architect of the beautiful contemporary abbey church of Altenberg, three leagues from Cologne; and tradition, says Boisserée, has always attributed the construction of the much plainer church of the Franciscans at Cologne to the workmen of the cathedral; and this is also now placed by German writers among the works of Master Gerhard. Cornelius has given Gerhard a prominent place among the worthies of Germany in his Munich Loggia; but it may be doubted whether Gerhard is more than the German form of the French name Gerard; it is at least certain that, if the designer of Cologne cathedral was not a Frenchman, he must have diligently studied French architecture, since there is a close resemblance in its leading features to the earlier, but nearly contemporary cathedrals of France.—J. T—e.
GERHARD GROOT (the Great), founder of the Society of Brethren of the Common Life (Fratres Vitæ Communis), was born at Deventer in the province of Overijssel, Holland, in 1340. He studied in Paris at the college of the Sorbonne; and after taking his degree of M.A. commenced lecturing on philosophy and theology at Cologne. He was provided with a canonry at Utrecht, and one at Aix-la-Chapelle; but these benefices he did not long retain. After a seclusion of some length in a Carthusian monastery, he betook himself, in the coarsest of clothes, to the work of preaching in the streets. His success was greater than could have been anticipated, but it did not satisfy Gerhard. He saw the necessity of a great effort for the diffusion of the scriptures and of the writings of the Fathers. Accordingly, in his residence at Deventer, he employed a number of persons as copyists. They were the original members of the society which Gerhard founded. It was formally approved by Pope Gregory XI. in 1376. Out of it grew, after the death of the founder, the institution of the canons regular of Windesheim, whose rule was adopted by a vast number of conventual establishments in Germany and the Low Countries. Its members were divided into two classes, the literate and illiterate; the former supporting themselves by the labours of copyist or teacher, the latter by manual toil. Gerhard Groot died in his native town in 1384. He left a number of works in MS., some of which have been printed.—J. B. J.
GERHARDT, Charles Frederic, an eminent chemist, was the son of Paul Gerhardt of Berne and Henrietta Weber. He was born on the 21st August, 1816, at Strasburg, and received his earlier education at the protestant gymnasium of his native town. When about fifteen years of age he was removed to the polytechnic school in Carlsruhe, where he entered the class of Professor Walchner, whose lectures are said to have made a deep impression upon his mind. From Carlsruhe he removed to Leipsic, where he attended the lectures of Erdmann, to whom he became warmly attached. On his return home he reluctantly entered upon the business of his father, who was a manufacturer of chemical products, and who desired his son to tread in his footsteps. Commercial pursuits, however, little accorded with young Gerhardt's disposition, and in disgust he enlisted in a regiment of chasseurs. His military career was but short. After three months' service he managed to borrow money from a friend, purchased his discharge from the army, and at once set out for Liebig's laboratory in Giessen. In 1838, having worked diligently for eighteen months, he left Giessen and went to Paris, where he was cordially welcomed by Dumas. In Paris he rose rapidly, making numerous friends. He delivered lectures and gave private instruction in chemistry. In 1844 he was made professor of chemistry in Montpellier, and the same year he married Miss Sanders of Edinburgh. About this time he published his "Précis de Chimie Organique," in which the "organic series" were foreshadowed. A year subsequently, in conjunction with Laurent, he started the Comptes rendus des Travaux de Chimie publiés en France et a l'étranger. In carrying on this publication he was not content merely to record the labours of others, but often was led to criticise the evidence adduced in support of chemical formulæ. In 1848 Gerhardt resigned his appointment at Montpellier and repaired to Paris, where he established at his own risk a private laboratory. Between 1849 and 1855 he developed his views on the homologous series and the theory of types. He published likewise his splendid researches on the anhydrous acids and on the amides. He became the recognized leader of a new chemical school, endeavouring to effect a fusion between the molecular type theory of Dumas and the compound radical theory of Berzelius and Liebig. In 1855 he was appointed professor to the Faculty of Sciences in Strasburg. He had just completed his great "Traité de Chimie Organique," and been elected a corresponding member of the Academies, when he died August 19, 1856.—J. A. W.
GERHARDT, Paul, the famous sacred poet, was born at Graefenhainichen in Saxony in 1606. From his first cure at Mittenwalde he was summoned to Berlin, and officiated for some time at the Nicolai-kirche in that city; but on account of the interference of the court with what he reckoned the free and faithful discharge of his pulpit duties, he left the capital, and ultimately died as archdeacon at Lübhen in 1676. He was the most gifted of the hymn writers of Germany. During the awful times of the Thirty Years' war, Rist, Altenburg, and Von Löwenstein had published their stirring hymns—one of Altenburg's compositions being often called the battle song of Gustavus Adolphus, and indeed it was sung by him and his army on the eve of the battle of Lützen. But the hymns of Gerhardt are higher in tone
