Page:EB1911 - Volume 11.djvu/782

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GEORGIAN BAY—GÉRANDO
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estates into the three new kingdoms of Karthlinia, Kakhetia and Imeretia. On the other hand, both the Laz of Lazistan and the Svanetian present such serious structural and verbal differences from the common type that they seem to stand rather in the relation of sister tongues than of dialects to the Georgian proper. All derive obviously from a common source, but have been developed independently of each other. The Tush or Mosok appears to be fundamentally a Kistinian or Chechen idiom affected by Georgian influences.

The Bible is said to have been translated into Georgian as early as the 5th century. The extant version, however, dates only from the 8th century, and is attributed to St Euthymius. But even so, it is far the most ancient work known to exist in the language. Next in importance is, perhaps, the curious poem entitled The Amours of Turiel and Nestan Darejan, or The man clothed in the panther’s skin, attributed to Rustevel, who lived during the prosperous reign of Queen Thamar (11th century). Other noteworthy compositions are the national epics of the Baramiani and the Rostomiani, and the prose romances of Visramiani and Darejaniani, the former by Sarg of Thmogvi, the latter by Mosi of Khoni. Apart from these, the great bulk of Georgian literature consists of ecclesiastical writings, hymns sacred and profane, national codes and chronicles.

Bibliography.—The standard authority on the history is M. F. Brosset’s translation of the Georgian chronicles under the title of Histoire de la Géorgie (5 vols., St Petersburg, 1849–1858); but compare also Khakanov, Histoire de Géorgie (Paris, 1900). See further A. Leist, Das georgische Volk (Dresden, 1903); M. de Villeneuve, La Géorgie (Paris, 1870); O. Wardrop, The Kingdom of Georgia (London, 1888); and Langlois, Numismatique géorgienne (Paris, 1860). For the philology see Zagarelli, Examen de la littérature relative à la grammaire géorgienne (1873); Friedrich Müller, Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft (1887), iii. 2; Leist, Georgische Dichter (1887); Erskert, Sprachen des kaukasischen Stammes (1895). For other points as to anthropology, Michel Smirnow’s paper in Revue d’anthropologie (April 15, 1878); Chantre, Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase (1885–1887); and Erckert, Der Kaukasus und seine Völker (1887).


GEORGIAN BAY, the N.E. section of Lake Huron, separated from it by Manitoulin Island and the peninsula comprising the counties of Grey and Bruce, Ontario. It is about 100 m. long and 50 m. wide, and is said to contain 30,000 islands. It receives numerous rivers draining a large extent of country; of these the chief are the French river draining Lake Nipissing, the Maganatawan draining a number of small lakes, the Muskoka draining the Muskoka chain of lakes (Muskoka, Rosseau, Joseph, &c.) and the Severn draining Lake Simcoe. Into its southern extremity, known as Nottawasaga Bay, flows the river of the same name. The Trent valley canal connects Georgian Bay with the Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario, and a canal system has long been projected to Montreal by way of the French and Ottawa rivers and Lake Nipissing.


GEORGSWALDE, a town of Bohemia, Austria, 115 m. N.E. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 8131, including Neu-Georgswalde, Wiesenthal and Philippsdorf, which form together a single commune. Georgswalde is one of the oldest industrial places of Bohemia, and together with the neighbouring town of Rumburg is the principal centre of the linen industry. The village of Philippsdorf, now incorporated with Georgswalde, has become since 1866 a famous place of pilgrimage, owing to the miracles attributed to an image of the Virgin, placed now in a magnificent new church (1885).


GEPHYREA, the name used for several groups of worm-like animals with certain resemblances but of doubtful affinity. In the article “Annelida” in the 9th edition of this Encyclopaedia, W. C. McIntosh followed the accepted view in associating in this group the Echiuridae, Sipunculidae and Priapulidae. E. Ray Lankester, in the preface to the English translation of C. Gegenbaur’s Comparative Anatomy (1878), added the Phoronidae to these forms. Afterwards the same author (article “Zoology,” Ency. Brit., 9th ed.) recognized that the Phoronidae had other affinities, and placed the other “gephyreans” in association with the Polyzoa as the two classes of a phylum Podaxonia. In the present state of knowledge the old group Gephyrea is broken up into Echiuroidea (q.v.) or Gephyrea armata, which are certainly Annelids; the Sipunculoidea (q.v.) or Gephyrea achaeta, an independent group, certainly coelomate, but of doubtful affinity; the Priapuloidea (q.v.), equally of doubtful affinity; and the Phoronidea (q.v.), which are almost certainly Hemichordata.


GERA, a town of Germany, capital of the principality of Reuss-Schleiz (called also Reuss younger line), situated in a valley on the banks of the White Elster, 45 m. S.S.W. of Leipzig on the railway to Probstzella. Pop. (1885) 34,152; (1905) 47,455. It has been mostly rebuilt since a great fire in 1780, and the streets are in general wide and straight, and contain many handsome houses. There are three Evangelical churches and one Roman Catholic. Among other noteworthy buildings are the handsome town-hall (1576, afterwards restored) and the theatre (1902). Its educational establishments include a gymnasium, a commercial and a weaving school. The castle of Osterstein, the residence of the princes of Reuss, dates from the 9th century, but has been almost entirely rebuilt in modern times. Gera is noted for its industrial activity. Its industries include wool-weaving and spinning, dyeing, iron-founding, the manufacture of cotton and silk goods, machinery, sewing machines and machine oil, leather and tobacco, and printing (books and maps) and flower gardening.

Gera (in ancient chronicles Geraha) was raised to the rank of a town in the 11th century, at which time it belonged to the counts of Groitch. In the 12th century it came into the possession of the lords of Reuss. It was stormed and sacked by the Bohemians in 1450, was two-thirds burned down by the Swedes in 1639 during the Thirty Years’ War, and suffered afterwards from great conflagrations in 1686 and 1780, being in the latter year almost completely destroyed.


GERALDTON, a town in the district of Victoria, West Australia, on Champion Bay, 306 m. by rail N.W. of Perth. Pop. (1901) 2593. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, an important seaport carrying on a considerable trade with the surrounding gold-fields and agricultural districts, the centre of a considerable railway system and an increasingly popular seaside resort. The harbour is safe and extensive, having a pier affording accommodation for large steamers. The chief exports are gold, copper, lead, wool and sandalwood.


GÉRANDO, MARIE JOSEPH DE (1772–1842), French philosopher, was born at Lyons on the 29th of February 1772. When the city was besieged in 1793 by the armies of the Republic, de Gérando took up arms, was made prisoner and with difficulty escaped with his life. He took refuge in Switzerland, whence he afterwards fled to Naples. In 1796 the establishment of the Directory allowed him to return to France. At the age of twenty-five he enlisted as a private in a cavalry regiment. About this time the Institute proposed as a subject for an essay this question,—“What is the influence of symbols on the faculty of thought?” De Gérando gained the prize, and heard of his success after the battle of Zürich, in which he had distinguished himself. This literary triumph was the first step in his upward career. In 1799 he was attached to the ministry of the interior by Lucien Bonaparte; in 1804 he became general secretary under Champagny; in 1805 he accompanied Napoleon into Italy; in 1808 he was nominated master of requests; in 1811 he received the title of councillor of state; and in the following year he was appointed governor of Catalonia. On the overthrow of the empire, de Gérando was allowed to retain this office; but having been sent during the hundred days into the department of the Moselle to organize the defence of that district, he was punished at the second Restoration by a few months of neglect. He was soon after, however, readmitted into the council of state, where he distinguished himself by the prudence and conciliatory tendency of his views. In 1819 he opened at the law-school of Paris a class of public and administrative law, which in 1822 was suppressed by government, but was reopened six years later under the Martignac ministry. In 1837 he was made a baron. He died at Paris on the 9th of November 1842.

De Gérando’s best-known work is his Histoire comparée des systèmes de philosophie relativement aux principes des connaissances humaines (Paris, 1804, 3 vols.). The germ of this work