278 



GOGRA 



GOLD 



and concluding part of Dead Serfs. From his boy- 

 hood he was a prey to religious pessimism doubt- 

 less partly the consequence of his own habits. His 

 works are frequently printed in Russia. A com- 

 plete edition, with his correspondence, appeared 

 at Moscow in 6 vols. (1856-57). See C. E. Turner's 

 Studies in Russian Literature ( 1883). 



Gogra, or GHAGRA, one of the largest affluents 

 of the Ganges, joins that river from the north, at 

 the town of Chapra, after a generally south-east 

 course of 600 miles. It rises in the higher Hima- 

 layas, passes through Nepal, and after reaching 

 the level land becomes the great waterway of the 

 North-west Provinces and Oudh. Its principal 

 tributary is the Rapti, also of commercial import- 

 ance. 



Gohelwar', or GOHELWAD, a tract of country 

 in Bombay presidency, comprising several tributary 

 states, and lying along the Gulf of Cambay, on 

 the eastern coast of the peninsula of Kathiawar. 

 Gohelwar is one of the ten old territorial divisions 

 of Kathiawar, and has an area of over 4000 sq. m. , 

 with a population of about 100,000, mostly Hindus. 



l.oil. LOCH, a small but highly picturesque loch 

 in Argyllshire, Scotland, is a branch of Loch Long 

 (q.v. ), and is 6 miles in length and less than 1 

 mile in breadth. Its shores are for the most part 

 wild and rugged ; but the general character of the 

 scenery is modified by extensive natural woods of 

 hazel. The mountains in the neighbourhood rise 

 to the height of more than 2000 feet. Lochgoil- 

 head is a favourite summer watering-place. It 

 may be visited by steamers from Greenock (20 

 miles), and has connection by coach with Inver- 

 aray. 



Goitre ( Fr. ), or BRONCHOCELE, the name applied 

 to any enlargement of the Thyroid Gland (q-y. ) 

 which is not either inflammatory or cancerous. The 

 commonest and most interesting form of the disease 

 is that which is endemic in certain districts, par- 

 ticularly in mountainous regions e.g. among the 

 Alps, the Himalayas (as at Darjeeling), and the 

 Andes. In Britain it is most often met with in 

 Derbyshire, and hence popularly called ' Derby- 

 shire neck ; ' but even there it is not common. In 

 some villages among the Alps all the inhabitants 

 without exception are affected. Endemic goitre is 

 often associated in the same districts and the same 

 families with Cretinism (q.v.). Numerous theories 

 have been advanced to account for it ; it has been 

 attributed to damp climate, snow-water, water with 

 excess of lime or of magnesia, bad feeding, bad 

 ventilation, and many other influences. But no one 

 of these alleged causes is present in marked degree 

 in all affected localities : it seems probable that 

 various different combinations of causes are capable 

 of producing a similar effect on the thyroid. 



Sporadic cases of goitre, indistinguishable as 

 regards the swelling from the endemic form, except 

 that they do not attain such a large size, occur in 

 all parts of the world. In either case, the enlarge- 

 ment may affect all the tissues of the gland 

 equally, or may have its chief seat in the blood- 

 vessels or the fibrous tissue, or may be much 

 exaggerated by the formation of Cysts (q.v.) in the 

 gland. In that form called Exophthalmic goitre, 

 or Graves's disease, after its first describer, the 

 thyroid enlargement is vascular and pulsating, and 

 is associated with protrusion of the eyes, rapid 

 action of the heart, &c. , and is clearly only one 

 symptom of a wide disturbance of the nervous 

 system. 



In other forms of goitre the tumour produces as a 

 rule no obvious ill effects, except the inconvenience 

 arising from its size, for it may be so large as to 

 hang down upon the breast, or even to admit of being 

 thrown over the shoulder. In some few cases, 



however, where it does not project so much for- 

 ward, it is apt to press upon the windpipe, embar- 

 rassing the respiration, and may even cause death 

 in this way. 



Endemic goitre may usually be cured or checked 

 by removal at an early stage of the malady to an 

 unaffected district and more healthy surroundings. 

 Where this is not practicable, and in sporadic 

 cases, iodine is the favourite remedy, both applied 

 locally and administered internally ; but no method 

 is uniformly or certainly successful in the reduction 

 of the enlargement. In bad cases the gland has 

 frequently been removed ; but the evil results 

 which are now known often to follow (see MYXCE- 

 DEMA) have made surgeons, during late years, 

 most unwilling to undertake the operation/ itself 

 a serious one. Partial removal is not open to 

 the same objection ; nor is division of the tumour 

 in the middle line without removal. Both these 

 proceedings sometimes give great relief, and may 

 be followed by shrinking of the remaining glana 

 substance. See W. Robinson, Endemic Goitre or 

 Thyreocele (1888). 



Golcllika, a small port at the mouth of the 

 Yenisei ( q. v. ). 



Golcoilda, an extensive fortress of the Nizam, 

 situated on a granite ridge, 7 miles W. of Hyder- 

 abad. In its immediate neighbourhood are the 

 ruins of an ancient city, once the metropolis of the 

 powerful kingdom of Golconda, which reached its 

 height at the close of the 16th century, and endured 

 till 1687. The place itself is still strong ; but it is 

 commanded within breaching-range by the yet 

 solid mausoleums of its former sovereigns, about 600 

 yards distant. The fort is held by a small garrison 

 from Hyderabad, and serves as the Nizam's 

 treasury, and also as a state prison. Golconda 

 is proverbially famous for its diamonds ; but, in 

 truth, they were merely cut and polished here. 

 See DIAMOND. 



Gold (symbol Au, atomic weight 196) is perhaps 

 the most widely and universally sought product of 

 the earth's crust. In the very earliest writings 

 which have come down to us gold is mentioned as 

 an object of men's search, and as a commodity of 

 extreme value for purposes of adornment and as 

 a medium of exchange. The importance which 

 it possessed in ancient times has certainly not 

 lessened in our day. Without the enormous 

 supplies of gold produced at about the time when 

 the steam-engine was being brought into practical 

 use it is difficult to imagine how our commerce 

 could have attained its present proportions ; and 

 but for the rush of immigrants to the gold-fields in 

 the beginning of the second half of this century 

 Australia might have remained a mere convict 

 settlement, and California have become but a 

 granary and vineyard. 



. On the score of geographical distribution, gold 

 must be deemed a common metal, as common as 

 copper, lead, or silver, and far more common than 

 nickel, cobalt, platinum, and many others. 

 Theorists have propounded curious rules for the 

 occurrence of gold on certain lines and belts, which 

 have no existence but in their own fancy. Scarcely 

 a country but has rewarded a systematic search for 

 gold, though some are more richly endowed than 

 others, and discoveries are not always made with 

 the same facility. The old prejudices, which made 

 men associate gold only with certain localities, 

 hindered the development of a most promising 

 industry even within the British shores. Despite 

 the abundant traces of ancient Roman and other 

 workings, the gold-mines of Wales were long 

 regarded as mythical ; but recent extended exploit- 

 ation has proved them to be among the richest 

 known. This is notably the case in the Dolgelly 



