78 



GANGS 



GANNET 



great pain, or may only be observed in consequence 

 of the local loss of feeling. But in all cases the 

 loss of vitality is accompanied by loss of natural 

 warmth, of sensibility and of motion in the affected 

 part, and by a change in its appearance. It may 

 either become moist and swollen, or dry and 

 shrivelled ; and its colour may be either dark 

 purple or greenish, or at least at first pale and 

 waxy. The constitutional symptoms are equally 

 variable : if the part affected be small and ,not 

 vital, and the gangrene limited, they may be 

 slight and of little importance ; otherwise there is 

 generally great depression, with rapid feeble pulse, 

 foul tongue, and other signs of alarming illness. 



If the gangrene be limited, a separation takes 

 place gradually between the living and dead parts, 

 and, if the patient survive, the disorganised and 

 lifeless texture is thrown off, and the part heals by 

 Cicatrisation (q.v. ) or the formation of a scar, in- 

 dicating the loss of substance. With regard to 

 treatment, the strength must, generally speaking, 

 be maintained by a nourishing but not too stimu- 

 lating diet, and the part carefully preserved from 

 external injury and from changes of temperature. 



In some forms of gangrene amputation may 

 afford the best or even the only chance of saving 

 the patient's life ; in others its results are disas- 

 trous, as it is almost certain to lead to fatal exten- 

 sion of the disease. Much care is therefore needed 

 in deciding the question whether surgical interfer- 

 ence should be resorted to. 



Gangs, AGRICULTURAL, a name specially given 

 to companies of women and boys and girls, brought 

 together for labour in the fen-districts of England, 

 or the low and level tracts which lie south of the 

 Wash. The reclaimed land was mainly cultivated 

 by labourers from the villages, which are numerous 

 on the high ground that borders it. To save ex- 

 pense, the labourers on the reclaimed land here 

 consisted, as much as possible, of women, girls, and 

 boys, working in gangs. An act of 1867 provided 

 that no woman or child was to be employed in the 

 same gang with men or boys, and that no woman or 

 girl was to be employed in any gang under a male 

 gangmaster, unless a woman licensed to act as 

 superintendent was also present with the gang. 

 See FACTORY ACTS. 



Ganglie ( Ger. Gang, ' a vein ' ), the stony matrix 

 in which metallic ores occur. Quartz is the most 

 common gangue, but calc-spar too is very frequent, 

 and barytes or heavy-spar, and fluor-spar are also of 

 common occurrence. Large portions of the gangue 

 are generally worked and submitted to metallurgic 

 processes for the sake of their contents. 



Gan-hwuy, or AN-HUI, an eastern inland pro- 

 vince of China, intersected by the Yang-tse- 

 Kiang. See CHINA. 



Ganister, or CALLIARD, the name given in the 

 Yorkshire coalfield to a hard, close-grained silice- 

 ous stone, which often forms the stratum that 

 underlies a coal-seam. Such hard ' seat-earths ' 

 are most common in the lower coal-measures ; 

 hence -these strata in Yorkshire are often termed 

 the ' Ganister Beds. ' 



Gailjam, a town of Madras presidency, at the 

 mouth of the Rishikuliya, 18 miles NE. of Berham- 

 pur (now the capital of the district). Salt is manu- 

 factured ; and the place is a small port. Pop. 4700. 

 Ganjam district extends along the Bay of Bengal, 

 in the extreme north-east of the Madras presi- 

 dency, and is low and fever-stricken, but fertile 

 in grain. Area, 8311 sq. m. ; pop. ( 1891 ) 1,000,000. 

 Ganjam is also a suburb of Seringapatam 

 (q.v.). 



Ganiiat, a town in the French department of 

 Allier, on the Andelot, 245 miles SSE. of Paris 



by rail. It has a church dating from the llth 

 century, and its beer is famous. Pop. 5034. 



Gannet (Sula), a genus of web-footed birds, in 

 the family Sulidse, and the order Steganopodes, 

 which also includes pelicans, cormorants, and 

 snake-birds. The head is large, the face and neck 

 naked, the bill straight and strong, longer than 

 the head ; the toes ( 4 ) are long, and all connected 



Adult Gannet or Solan Goose ( Sula bassana ). 



by the web. The genus includes about eight 

 species, from temperate and cold seas. They fly, 

 swim, and dive well, but are awkward on land ; 

 they feed upon fishes, live socially, and nest in 

 crowds on cliffs and rocky islands. The best- 

 known species of Gannet is the Solan Goose (S. 

 bassana), whose popular name is akin to the Ice- 

 landic sulan, ' a gannet,' while it derives its specific 

 title from the Bass Rock of the Firth of Forth. It 

 is common enough in north Europe from March to 

 October, but migrates southwards e.g. to Gibral- 

 tar, in late autumn. Lundy Isle, the Bass Rock, 

 Ailsa Craig, St Kilda, Suliskerry, and Skelig ( Ire- 

 land ) are celebrated British breeding-places. The 

 entire length of the solan goose is about three feet ; 

 its general colour milk-white, the crown and back 

 of the head pale yellow, the quill-feathers of the 

 wings black. The young bird, when newly 

 hatched, has a naked bluish-black skin, but soon 

 becomes covered with a thick white down, so that 

 it resembles a powder-puff', or a mass of cotton. 

 When the true feathers appear they are black, 

 with lines and spots of dull white, so that the 

 plumage of the young is very unlike that of 

 maturity. The bird is long-lived, and takes 

 about four years to come to maturity. It extends 

 its flight to great distances from its rocky head- 

 quarters, pursuing shoals chiefly of such fish as 

 swim near the surface, particularly herring, pil- 

 chards, and related forms. The presence of a shoal 

 of pilchards often becomes known to the Cornwall 

 fishermen from the attendant gannets. When 

 feeding, the bird always flies against the wind at 

 an altitude of not more than about 100 feet above 

 the surface of the sea. When it espies a fish it 

 instantaneously stops, and with wings half dis- 

 tended, stoops and swiftly cleaves the air. When 

 within a yard or two of the surface, and just as it 

 makes the plunge, the wings are clapped close to 

 its sides. Thus the bird enters the water like a 

 bolt. The nests on the rocks are roughly built 

 of seaweeds and marine grasses, and are huddled 

 together on the available ledges and nooks. The 

 single egg has a chalky white colour, and the sur- 

 face of the shell is rather rough. During incubation 



