GERMANIUM 



C, HUMAN V 



171 



vice* at* her mother hiul IHMMI for her virtues. Ger- 

 manicii- i- -me of the IIMI-.I attiacti\e heroes of 



Ki.mall lii-t"i\. 'I'll'- climate and SUCCess of the 



noldiei>liip tliiit liiul blotti-il out H grt-at Miitioiiiil 

 <li--rarc, tin- nolilu magnanimity of his private 

 character, tin- simplicity mill purity of hi* life, ami 

 ill.- >liiulow of iiii|><-inling death that tOOOhad him 

 with romantic iniereM, combined to make him the 

 darling of his contemporaries ami ban left him, an 

 port raved in tlie pa^es of Tacitus (Annuls, \. and 

 li. i. -I ill a figure of unique interest to IIH. 



(.rriiiaiiimn. a metallic element discovered 

 in 1 ss.'i l.y I )i . NVini-kler in a silver ore (argyrodite) ; 

 -vml.ol, (io ; atomic weight, 72*3. It has a nut- 

 log-point about 1050 F. (900 C.); is oxidised 

 when heated in air; crystallises in octahedra ; haw 

 a pert'ectly metallic lustre, and is of a grayish- 

 white colour. AH gallium hail leen named from 

 France, the new metal was named after Germany. 

 Fifteen years before its discovery its existence was 

 prophesied by Mendeleett' as required to fill the 

 gap in- the periodic table between silicon and tin. 

 See ATOMIC THEORY. 



German Ocean. See NORTH SEA. 



German Sliver. This is a triple alloy of 

 copper, nickel, and zinc, and is sometimes called 

 nickel silver. The best quality of it consists of 

 four parts copper, two parts nickel, and two parts 

 /ine, but this quality is the most difficult to work. 

 For some purposes the proportion of copper is 

 slightly increased, and for articles which are to be 

 cast instead of stamped or hammered about 2 per 

 cent, of lead is added. To make a good malleable 

 alloy, the three metals of which it is composed 

 should all be of the best quality. German silver 

 has a tendency to crack in Annealing (q.v.), and is 

 all the more liable to do this if its component 

 metals are impure. Its crystalline structure is got 

 rid of by hammering, rolling, and annealing. It is 

 harder and tougher than brass, and takes a line 

 polish. In colour it is sufficiently near silver to 

 make it valuable for plating with that metal. 

 This, together with its hardness in resisting wear, 

 has caused a great demand for German silver for 

 certain wares made in Birmingham and Sheffield. 



Spoons and forks of this alloy are made in im- 

 mense numbers. Such articles as salvers, dish- 

 covers, jugs, teapots, and the like are also largely 

 made of it, but these objects, or at least some of 

 them, are still more largely made of Britannia 

 Metal (q.v.), a greatly inferior alloy, because much 

 softer. German silver has a coppery odour, and 

 is readily attacked by acid liquids, such as vinegar, 

 which coat it with verdigris. Spoons and forks 

 made of this alloy should therefore either be plated 

 with silver or carefully kept clean. 



Of late years, through care in preparing a suit- 

 able alloy, large ( objects, such as the txxlies of jugs 

 and coffee-pots, 'can be formed of sheet German 

 silver by ' spinning ' it on the lathe, instead of by 

 stamping or by the slow process of hammering. 

 Formerly it was only a soft alloy like Britannia 

 metal tfiat could be so treated. For some time 

 past there has been a tendency to substitute for 

 electroplate i.e. German silver plated with real 

 silver white alloys having nickel for their basis. 

 These, however, are but varieties of German silver 

 known under different names, such as silveroid, 

 argentoid, navoline, and nickeline. Some of them 

 contain small quantities of tin, cadmium, and other 

 metals. Mountings for ship-cabins, bar-fittings, 

 and also forks and spoons have been manufactured 

 on a considerable scale from these new alloys. 



German Tinder. See AMADOU. 



GermantOWll, a former l>orough of Pennsyl- 

 vania, included since 1854 in the limits of Phila- 

 delphia. Here an attack by Washington on the 



British camp, in the early morning of 4th October 

 1777, wax repulsed, the AmericaiiM lotting 1000 men, 



tin- ISriti-di MM). 



<i<TiiiailllS ST, wan Bishop of Auxerre, and 



is sai.l to have Ix-en invited over to Britain to 

 comliat 1'elaxiani.Mii in 429. Acting under hi* 

 directions the Christian Britons won the bloodlew 

 'Alleluia Victory' over the PicUt and Saxons. In 

 IT.'tfi a column was erected on the supposed Mite, 

 Maes Cannon (Gennanus' field), in VlinUdiire. 

 There are several churches in Wales and Cornwall 

 dedicated to St Gcriiianu>. 



Germany (from Lat. Germania) is the English 

 name of the country which the natives call Deutttch- 

 land, and the French L'Allemagne (see ALE- 

 MANNI). The word is sometimes used to denote 

 the whole area of the European continent within 

 which theGermanic race arid language are dominant. 

 In this broad sense it includes, besides Germany 

 proper, parts of Austria, Switzerland, and perhaps 

 even of the Netherlands ; but in the present article 

 the name is to be understood as denoting the exist- 

 ing Germanic empire, of which Prussia is the head. 

 Germany occupies the central portions of Eurojie, 

 and extends from 5 52' to 22 53 E. long., and from 

 47 16' to 55" 54' N. lat. It is bounded on the N. 

 by the German Ocean, the Danish peninsula, and 

 the Baltic ; on the E. by Russia and Austria ; 

 on the S. by Austria and Switzerland; and 

 on the W T . by France, Belgium, and the Nether- 

 lands. The population in 1871 was 41,058,792 ; in 

 1880, 45,234,061 ; in 1895, 52,279,901. Its area is 

 211,168 sq. rn., or about ^th of that of all Europe 

 slightly larger than I 1 ranee, but not twice as 

 large as Great Britain and Ireland. The coast-line 

 measures alout 950 miles. 



Germany is composed of a federation of twenty- 

 five states, with one common imperial province, 

 the names of which, with their areas and popula- 

 tions in 1895, are given in the following list. Heli- 

 goland was ceded by Britain to Germany in 1890. 

 The population of the empire in 18GO was 49,428,803. 



These several sovereign states vary enormously 

 in area and influence. Thus, while Prussia alone 

 exceeds the British Islands in area, Bavaria u 

 almost as large as Scotland, Wurtemberg is larger 



