Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/576

about 8 feet at the mouth, but contracting to about 10 inches near the centre. By casting stones or turf into the shaft so as to stopper the narrow neck, eruptions can be accelerated, and they often exceed in magnitude those of the Great Geyser itself.^[1] During quiescence the column of water fills only the lower part of the shaft, its surface usually lying from 9 to 12 feet below the level of the soil. Unlike that of the Great Geyser, it is always in ebullition, and its temperature is subject to comparatively slight differences. On the 8th of July 1847 Bunsen found the temperature at the bottom 112·9° C.; at 3 metres from the bottom, 111·4°; and at 6 metres, 108°; the whole depth of water was on that occasion 10·15 metres. On the 6th, at 2·90 metres from the bottom, it was 114·2°; and at 6·20 metres, 109·3°. On the 10th, at 0·35 metres from the bottom, the reading gave 113·9°; at 4·65 metres, 113·7°; and at 8·85 metres, 99·9°.

The great geyser-district of New Zealand is situated in the south of the province of Auckland in or near the upper basin of the Waikato river to the N.E. of Lake Taupo. In many respects the scene presented in various parts of the districts is far more striking and beautiful than anything of the same kind to be found in Iceland, but this is due not so much to the grandeur of the geysers proper as to the bewildering profusion of boiling springs, steam-jets, and mud-volcanoes, and to the fantastic effects produced on the rocks by the siliceous deposits and by the action of the boiling water. At Whakarewarewa, near Lake Loto Rua, there is a group of eight geysers, one of which, the Waikate, throws the column to a height of 30 or 35 feet (see Hochstetter, New Zealand, 1867). But it is in the Yellowstone Park, in the north-west corner of Wyoming, that the various phenomena of the geysers can be observed on the most portentous scale. The geysers themselves are to be counted by hundreds, and the dimensions and activity of several of them render those of Iceland and New Zealand almost insignificant in comparison. The principal groups are situated along the course of that tributary of the Upper Madison which bears the name of Fire Hole River. Many of the individual geysers have very distinctive characteristics in the form and colour of the mound, in the style of the eruption, and in the shape of the column. The “Giantess,” as observed by Langford (1870) and Dunraven (1874), lifts the main column to a height of only 50 or 60 feet, but shoots a thin spire to no less than 250 feet. The “Castle” varies in height from 10 or 15 to 250 feet; and on the occasions of greatest effort the noise is appalling, and shakes the ground like an earthquake. Strong distinct pulsations, says Lord Dunraven, occurred at a maximum rate of seventy per minute, having a general tendency to increase gradually in vigour and rapidity until the greatest development of strength was attained, and then sinking again by degrees. The jets grew stronger and stronger at every pulsation for ten or twelve strokes, until the effort would culminate in three impulses of unusual power. The total display lasted about an hour. “Old Faithful” owes its name to the regularity of its action. Its eruptions, which raise the water to a height of 100 or 150 feet, last for about five minutes, and recur every three-quarters of an hour. The “Beehive” sometimes attains a height of 219 feet; and the water, instead of falling back into the basin, is dissipated in spray and vapour. Very various accounts are given of the “Giant.” Hayden saw it playing for an hour and twenty minutes, and reaching a height of 140 feet, and Lieutenant Doane says it continued in action for three hours and a half, and had a maximum of 200 feet; but at the earl of Dunraven’s visit the eruption lasted only a few minutes. For further details see Dunraven’s Great Divide (1874), and the Reports of Professor Hayden.

GEZER (גֶּזֶר), a royal Canaanite city on the boundary of Ephraim in the maritime plain (Josh. xvi. 3–10). It was allotted to the Levites, but its original inhabitants were not driven out until the time of Solomon, when the Egyptians took the city, which was given to Solomon’s wife (1 Kings ix. 16). Under the form Gazera it is mentioned as being in the neighbourhood of Emmaus-Nicopolis (’Amwâs) and Jamnia (Yebnah) (1 Macc. iv. 15). Throughout the history of the Maccabean wars Gazera plays the part of an important frontier post. It was first taken from the Greeks by Simon the Asmonean (1 Macc. xiv. 7). Josephus also mentions that the city was “naturally strong” (Antiq., viii. 6, 1). The position of Gezer is defined by Jerome (Onomasticon, s.v.) as 4 Roman miles north (contra septentrionem) of Nicopolis (’Amwâs). This points to the ruined site called Tell Jezer, near the village of Abu Shûsheh, about 4 miles north-west of ’Amwâs. The site is naturally very strong, the town standing on an isolated hill, commanding the western road to Jerusalem just where it begins to enter the mountains of Judah. The name Gezer (from a root signifying “insulated”) was no doubt derived from the position of the place. The ruins include rock-cut tombs, wine-presses, caves, and quarries, with foundations of a citadel on the hill top. A very fine spring (‘Ain Yerdeh) exists on the east, and in 1874 a curious discovery was made on the hill side near the spring. The words Tahum Gezer, “boundary of Gezer,” were found cut in Hebrew letters on the live rock in two places, and in each case the Greek name Alkios occurred with them. The genuineness of this curious inscription has not been disputed.

GFRÖRER, August Friedrich (1803–1861), historian, was born at Calw, Würtemberg, on the 5th of March 1803, and at the close of his preliminary studies at the seminary of Blaubeuren, entered the university of Tübingen in 1821 as a student of evangelical theology. After passing his final examinations in 1825, he spent a year in Switzerland, during part of which time he acted as companion and secretary to Bonstetten; the year 1827 was spent chiefly in Rome. Returning to Würtemberg in 1828, he first under took the duties of repetent or theological tutor in Tübingen and afterwards accepted a curacy in Stuttgart; but having in 1830 received an appointment in the royal public library at Stuttgart, he thenceforth gave himself exclusively to literature and historical science. His first work on Philo (Philo u. die jüdisch-alexandrinische Theosophie, 1831) was rapidly followed by an elaborate biography, in two volumes, of Gustavus Adolphus (Gustav Adolf, König von Schweden, 1835–37), and by a critical history of primitive Christianity (Kritische Geschichte des Urchristentums, 1838), in three volumes, consisting of three parts, entitled respectively “The Century of Salvation” (Jahrhundert des Heils), “Sacred Legend” (Die Heilige Sage), and “Truth” (Die Wahrheit). In both of the last-named works, Gfrörer had manifested opinions unfavourable to Protestantism, which, however, were not openly avowed until fully developed in his church history (Allgemeine Kirchengeschichte bis Beginn des 14ten Jahrhunderts, 1841–46). In the autumn of 1846 he was appointed to the chair of history in the university of Freiburg, where he continued to teach until his death, which took place at Carlsbad on the 10th of July 1861. In 1848 he sat as a representative in the Frankfort parliament, where he supported the “High German” party, and in 1853 he publicly went over to the Church of Rome, influenced, however, in this, it is said, more by regard for what he conceived to be its political value, than by any purely religious consideration. Among his later works the most important is the Geschichte der ost- u. westfränkischen Karolinger

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1. According to Professor Tyndall (see Royal Institution Notices, 1853, and Heat as a Mode of Motion, 1863), this effect of the stopper is simply due to the fact that it is an impediment to the normally gradual ascent of the heated aqueous strata, and that it is an impediment which at last is suddenly removed.