132 



GENETTE 



GENEVA 



Europe and Syria. Its fur is gray with black or 

 brown spots, and it is the only viverrine animal 



Common Genette ( Genetta vulgaris ). 



round in Europe. Genettes may be trained to catch 

 mice liks cats. 



Geneva, a canton in the south-west of Switzer- 

 land, is bounded N. by the canton of Vaud and the 

 Lake of Geneva, and S. , E. , and W. by the terri- 

 tories of France. It has an area of 108 sq. in., and 

 in 1888 had a pop. of 105,509. Of these 52,000 are 

 Catholics, whilst 85 per cent, speak French as their 

 mother-tongue. It is watered by the Rhone and 

 the Arve, which unite about 2 miles from the south- 

 west extremity of the Lake of Geneva. The surface 

 is hilly, chief eminences being the steep Saleve 

 (4528 feet) and the Reculet (5631); but the soil, 

 which is not naturally fertile, has been rendered so 

 by the industry of the inhabitants. According to 

 the constitution of 1847, since amended, all male 

 citizens of twenty years of age exercise the right 

 of electing representatives to the cantonal council, 

 the supreme legislative body, the age of members 

 of which must be at least twenty-live years. 

 There is a representative for every 1000 inhabit- 

 ants. The executive is confided to a council of 

 state composed of seven members, nominated for 

 two years by universal suffrage. The constitu- 

 tion guarantees civil and religious liberty, all forms 

 of worship being allowed by law ; but the national 

 church is the Reformed Calvinistic. Primary 

 education is compulsory, but free. The chief 

 branches of industry are gardening, vine and fruit 

 growing, and the manufacture of articles of 

 bijouterie and watches. In the two last-named 

 branches the annual production is valued at nearly 

 one million pounds sterling. Musical-boxes, chrono- 

 meters, mathematical instruments, with pottery, 

 &e., are also made. The chief town is Geneva. 



Geneva ( Fr. Geneve, Ger. Getif, Ital. Ginevra ), 

 capital of the Swiss canton of the same name, is 

 situated at the exit of the Rhone from the Lake 

 of Geneva, 388 miles by rail SE. of Paris. A Gallic 

 town originally, Geneva acknowledged Roman 

 supremacy in 120 B.C. It was a place of some im- 

 portance under the Burgundian kings, from whom 

 it passed in 534 to the Franks, and from them 

 towards the end of the 9th century to the new 

 kingdom of Burgundy. It had been made a bishop's 

 seat in the 4th century. From the 12th century a 

 continual feud existed between the bishops and the 

 Counts and Oukes of Savoy with regard to the 

 supremacy a state of things which the citizens 

 took advantage of to obtain a considerable share of 

 municipal liberty for themselves. Having secured 

 Freiburg (1519) and Bern (1526) for allies, the 

 republic of Geneva finally won its complete in- 

 dependence from Savoy. The acceptance of Pro- 

 testantism by the republic a few years later 



brought to an end its alliance with the Roman 

 Catholic republic of Freiburg, and exposed it to 

 fresh attacks from the House of Savoy ; and it was 

 only saved by the timely intervention of its staunch 

 ally Bern (1536). In the summer of that same 

 year Calvin (q.v. ) arrived at Geneva, and began his 

 reconstitution of the political and social life of the 

 city, which created it one of the chief strongholds 

 of Protestantism in Europe. In 1602 the last 

 attempt of the Dukes of Savoy to recover the 

 toM-n was frustrated by the citizens. During the 

 18th century Geneva was distracted by unceasing 

 feuds between the aristocratic and popular parties, 

 until in 1782 Bern, Sardinia, and, in particular, 

 France interfered in favour of the aristocracy. 

 The French Revolution led to a new crisis : the 

 government was overthrown in July 1794, equality 

 in the eye of the law was established, a national 

 convention appointed, and a reign of terror com- 

 menced. In 1798 Geneva and its territory were 

 annexed to France ; but, after the overthrow of 

 Napoleon, they recovered their independence and 

 joined as twenty-second canton the Swiss Confedera- 

 tion under the sanction of the treaties of Vienna 

 and of Paris ( 1815 ). The aristocratic party managed 

 to repossess themselves of the government of the 

 city, and their rule was orrfy superseded by a more 

 democratic constitution after much agitation and 

 several risings of the people between 1842 and 1846, 

 in which the leading spirit was Fazy (q.v.). After 

 1870 the town was for some years kept in a state of 

 unrest owing to the attempt of the Ultramon- 

 tanes to revive the Roman Catholic bishopric of 

 Geneva. 



Formerly Geneva was surrounded by walls, and 

 consisted of clusters of narrow and ill-drained 

 streets ; but since the accession of the radical 

 party to power in 1847 the town has been almost 

 entirely rebuilt in modern style. The ancient 

 ramparts have been removed, streets widened and 

 well paved, new and commodious quays constructed 

 along the shores of the lake and river, and various 

 improvements introduced, chief amongst which 

 is the erection of a breakwater, within which 

 steamboats are received and lie in safety. In its 

 course through the town the Rhone forms two 

 islands, on one of which still exists an antique 

 and picturesque cluster of buildings ; on the other, 

 laid out as a public pleasure-ground, is a statue of 

 Rousseau. In the Place des Alpes is a sumptuous 

 monument to Duke Charles XI. of Brunswick, 

 who, dying here in 1873, left 16,500,000 francs to 

 the city. Famous as a theological, literary, and 

 scientific centre, Geneva has given birth to 

 Rousseau ; to the physicist De Saussure ; to the 

 naturalists Charles Bonnet and the Pictets ; to 

 Necker, father of Madame de Stael ; to the humor- 

 ist Toepffer ; to Cherbuliez ; to Amiel ; and to 

 the sculptor Pradier. The principal edifices are 

 the Transition cathedral of St Peter, M r hich dates 

 from 1124; the town-hall, within which the mem- 

 bers of the Alabama (q.v.) arbitration met in 1872 ; 

 tlie academy, founded by Calvin in 1559, with a 

 library of 110,000 volumes, and in 1873 converted 

 into a university ( with about 600 students ) ; the 

 magnificent theatre, opened in 1879, which ranks 

 next in size to the Paris Opera and the Court- 

 theatre of Vienna; the Rath Museum (1824-26); 

 the Fol Museum, with collections of Greek, Roman, 

 and Etruscan antiquities ; the Athenseum, devoted 

 to the fine arts ; and the museum of natural 

 history, containing De Saussure's geological collec- 

 tion, admirable collections of fossil plants, &c. The 

 staple manufactures of the town are watches, 

 musical-boxes, and jewelry. Pop. (1885) 51,537 

 ( with the suburbs Plainpalais and Eaux Vives, 

 74,453 ; in 1893, 78,777. See works by Cherbuliez 

 (1868), Blavignac (1872), and Roget (1870-83). 



