GANGRENE 



77 



of the East, fixes in (iahrwal in 30 56' 4" N. lat. 

 an. I 79* 6' 40" E. long., issuing, under the name of 

 tin- Bhagirathi, from an ic*-cave 8 miles above 

 Cimgotri un.l 13,800 feet above tlie level of the 

 sea. A few miles below Gangotri it receives 

 tin- .lahnavi, and 133 miles from it- source the 

 Alaknanda, from which point the united stream 

 i.s known as the Ganges. From Sukhi, where it 

 hur>is through the HimalayaH, it flows south-west 

 in I lard war, and from thence, l>v a tortuous but 

 grin-rally south-east course, to Allahabad, where it 

 i> joined l>y tlie Jumna. From the sacred tongue 

 of land where the two streams meet the great river 

 rolls on in a wide flood, past the holy city of 

 I'.- 1 1 ares, and across the plains of Behar, fed by the 

 Son, the Gandak, and the Kusi. It then turns 

 sharply to the southward, and, about 20 miles 

 farther on, begins to throw out the branches which 

 enclose the level delta, at a point 220 miles in a 

 straight line from the Bay of Bengal. The main 

 channel, called the Pad ma or Padda, runs south- 

 east to Goalanda, where it is met by the main 

 stream of the Brahmaputra, and the vast confluence 

 of waters flows in a broad estuary, the Meghna, 

 into che Bay of Bengal near Noakhali. Between 

 this most easterly and the Hugli, the most westerly 

 mouth, lies the delta, with a multitude of mouths 

 and channels. The Hugli or Hooghly (q.v.) is 

 the great channel of navigation (for map, see 

 CALCUTTA). The delta in its upper angle is very 

 fertile, but in the south, towards the sea, the 

 country is a desolate waste of swamps (see SUN- 

 DABBANS), intersected by a network of canals. 

 The Ganges has a total length of 1557 (by the 

 Hugli mouth, 1509) miles; its drainage basin em- 

 braces over 390,000 sq. m., lying between the 

 Himalaya and Vindhya ranges, and extending east 

 to the mountains which separate Burma from 

 Bengal. Not one of the other rivers of India so 

 deserves the gratitude and homage of the Hindus. 

 In spite of the shoals and rapids that lie above 

 Allahabad, it is in some sense navigable from the 

 point where it enters the lowlands, near Hardwar ; 

 and its stream, which never fails in the hottest 

 summer, distributes fertility throughout its course, 

 and even its inundations spread over the fields a 

 rich top-dressing of alluvial silt. The ruined or 

 decayed cities near its banks, however, bear mute 

 witness to the loss inflicted by the constant changes 

 which take place in the river-bed, altering the 

 whole face of the country, as the river deserts old 

 channels for new. But tlie Ganges is still one of 

 the most frequented waterways of the world ; ocean 

 and coast steamers carry goods to Calcutta, and 

 above this city thousands of native boats are em- 

 ployed, even since the development of railways, in 

 transporting heavy goods in milk, such as timber 

 and bamboos, stone, grain, and cotton. The 

 Hindustani name Gang A, 'stream, 'is according to 

 Max Miiller an instance of early Aryan reduplica- 

 tion, from the verb to go 'go-go.' 



The Ganges excels all the great rivers of India in 

 sanctity ; from the source down to the sea every 

 foot of ' Mother Ganga's ' course is holy ground, to 

 bathe in her waters will wash away sin, to die and 

 be buried on her banks secures free entry to eternal 

 bliss. Gangotri, Hardwar, Allahabad, Benares, and 

 Sagar Island, the most sacred spots, are visited by 

 thousands of pilgrims every year ; the great kumbh 

 fair, which is held every twelve years, drew nearly 

 1,000,000 persons to Allahabad in 1882 and these 

 of all Hindu sects, for in the legend of the Ganges 

 the three supreme deities of the Hindu pantheon 

 have part. The earliest form of the legend occurs 

 in the R&mftyana, where Ganga is descril>ed as the 

 daughter of the Himalayas, whom Bhagirathi, a 

 prince of Ayodhya ( mod. Oudh ), after more than 

 twice 30,000 years' solicitation by his father and 



grandfather, induces Brahma to caiwe to deacend 

 from heaven, that his ancestors, who had been re- 

 duced to ashes by Vishnu, might be sprinkled with 

 the sacred waters, and their souls line to heaven. 

 The ice-cavern whence the river springs i* made the 

 matted hair of the god Siva. The story admiUi 

 of numerous variations, and the Vishnu -Pur Ana, 

 which aligns the source to the nail of the great 

 toe of Vishnu's left foot, sums up the river's pro- 

 perties in this sentence : ' This sacred stream, 

 tieard of, desired, seen, touched, bathed in, or 

 hymned day by day, sanctifies all beings ; and 

 those who, even at a distance of a hundred leagues, 

 exclaim "Ganga, GangA,'' atone for the sins com- 

 mitted during three previous lives.' Gunga is also 

 considered as the mother of the god of war, 

 Karttikeya (q.v.). 



The GANGES CANAL, opened in 1854, is an im- 

 portant irrigation work and navigable channel, 

 extending originally on the right of the Ganges, 

 from Hardwar to Cawnpore and Etawah. Surveyed 

 and begun in 1836-48, and opened by Lord Dal- 

 housie, it has since been greatly extended and im- 

 proved ; and with its 700 miles of main channels 

 and 3000 miles of branches, irrigates great part 

 of the Doab (between the Jumna and Ganges, with 

 both of which rivers it connects), and has been of 

 the greatest service in distributing famine relief. 

 Some 500 miles are available for navigation. The 

 Lower Ganges Canal, an extension of the original 

 canal (now known as the Upper Ganges Canal ) to 

 Allahabad, was planned in 1866 and begun in 1873. 

 Its weir and headworks at Narora include a solid 

 wall, 3800 feet long, with forty-two weir-sluices, 

 founded on huge square blocks. The ultimate cost 

 of the entire Ganges Canal was calculated not to 

 exceed about 5 millions sterling. 



Gangi, a town of Sicily, 18 miles SSE. of 

 Cefalii. Pop. 11,935. 



Ganglion. See BRAIN, NERVOUS SYSTEM. In 

 Surgery, the name is given to an encysted tumour 

 on a tendon. 



Gangotri, a square temple, about 20 feet high, 

 erected on the right bank of the Ganges (q.v.), 

 which here forms a small bav, about 10,319 feet 

 above the level of the sea. 1* his spot is regarded 

 by pilgrims as the source of the holy stream, 

 here called the Bhagirathi, which, however, rises 

 8 miles higher up. The water here is peculiarly 

 sacred, but few pilgrims come so far, and the only 

 dwelling-house in the locality is occupied by the 

 officiating Brahmans, by whom flasks of the holy 

 element are sealed for conveyance to the plains. 



Gangrene (Gr. gangraina, 'a gnawing'), or 

 MORTIFICATION, is the death of a part of the 

 body, whether external or internal. It is most 

 common in the extremities, especially the feet. 

 Its immediate cause is always arrest or impairment 

 of the supply of blood to the affected part. This 

 may be produced in various ways : ( 1 ) by direct 

 mechanical injury, or by extreme heat (burn) or 

 cold (Frost-bite, q.v.) ; (2) by severe septic inflam- 

 mation, usually following injury, or attacking a 

 wound; (3) bv disease or the blood- vessels of the 

 part, in combination perhaps with weak heart 

 action. The second group includes the most 

 dangerous and fatal forms of gangrene : Cancrum 

 Oris (q.v.), phagedsena, and hospital gangrene, now 

 happily much less common than they once were. 

 The third includes gangrene occurring as a result 

 of poisoning by ergot of rye, of diabetes, old age, 

 &c. 



The symptoms and appearances attending gan- 

 grene vary greatly in different cases. Ite onset 

 may be sudden or gradual ; it may at once l>ecome 

 limited, or it may have a constant tendency to 

 extend ; it may be preceded and accompanied by 



