GEIJERSTAM 



Geijerstam, GUSTAF AF (1858- 

 1909) Swedish novelist. Born Jan. 

 5, 1858, he graduated at Upsala 



r , . ,, ,,,. ., University and 



worked as a 

 journalist at 

 Stockholm 

 from 1884-93. 

 His first novel. 

 Deathly Cold, 

 1882, showed 

 him to belong 

 to the new 

 Gustai af Geijerstam. realistic school 

 Swedish novelist of Swe dish 

 literature. Among his many novels 

 may be mentioned Pastor Hallin. 

 1887 ; The Head of Medusa, 1895 : 

 Astray in Life, 1897 ; and the semi 

 autobiographical Book of Little 

 Brother, 1900. He also wrote a 

 number of witty peasant comedies. 

 Geikie, SIR ARCHJRALD (1835- 

 1924). British geologist. Born in 

 Edinburgh, Dec. 28, 1835, he was 

 educated at its high school and 

 university. He entered the geo- 

 logical survey 

 in 1855, and 

 became direc- 

 tor of the geo 

 logical survey 

 of Scotland in 

 1867 Mean- 

 time he had 

 made a repu- 

 tation as a 

 popular writer 

 on geology in 

 The Story of a 

 Boulder, 1858, 

 and Scenery of Scotland, 1805. 

 From 1871-82 he was Murchison 

 professor of geology and mineralogy 

 in Edinburgh University. 



Foreign secretary of the Royal 

 Society, 1890-94, and secretary, 

 1903-8, his main life work was as 

 director-general of the geological 

 survey of the United Kingdom, and 

 director of the museum of practical 

 geology, 1882-1901. In addition to 

 his Text-book of Geology,1882, and 

 Class-book of Geology, 1886, he 

 wrote on volcanoes of Great Bri- 

 tain, scenery and its influence on 

 history and literature, the founders 

 of geology, and lives of R. I. Mur- 

 chison and A. C. Ramsay. He was 

 knighted in 1891, created K.C.B. in 

 1907, and given the O.M. hi 1914. 

 His Scottish Reminiscences ap- 

 peared, 1 904. He died Nov. 10, 1924. 

 Geiler von Kaisers berg. 

 JOHAKN (1445-1510). German 

 preacher. He was born at Schaff- 

 hausen, March 16, 1445, and edu- 

 cated at Freiburg and Basel. From 

 1478 he preached at Strasbourg 

 Cathedral, and established his re- 

 putation as the greatest pulpit ora- 

 tor of his age. The author of several 

 volumes on theological subjects 

 he died March 10, 1510. 



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Geisha. Girl in Japan trained 

 as an entertainer. Taught music, 

 dancing, singing, and the art of 

 conversation from an early age, 

 these professional singing and 

 dancing girls are engaged to tell 

 stories, provide music, and dance 

 at dinner parties and receptions, 

 and to amuse their hosts by witty 

 repartee. See Asia: Dancing. 

 Prow. Gay-sha. 



Geisha, THE. Musical comedy, 

 written by Owen Hall (James 

 Davis), composed by Sidney Jones, 



Geisha, in characteristic costume, 

 playing the shamisen 



and produced at Daly's Theatre, 

 London, April 25, 1896, where it 

 ran for 760 performances. 



Geissler, HEINRICH (1814-79) 

 German inventor. Born in Saxony, 

 May 26, 1814, he became a glass 

 blower. For some time he lived in 

 Holland, where he made a number 

 of useful experiments. In 1854 he 

 settled at Bonn, and there he died, 

 Jan. 24, 1879. He invented a sealed 

 glass tube called the Geissler tube, 

 which was used to examine the 

 passage of an electric current 

 through rarefied gases. 



Gela. City of ancient Sicily. It 

 stood on the S. coast and was 

 founded by Greeks. At one time, 

 under the tyrants Cleander, Hip- 

 pocrates, and Gelo, it was the chiel 

 city of Sicily ; but after Gelo had 

 transported half its inhabitants to 

 Syracuse, its prosperity declined. 

 Phintias, of Agrigentum, trans- 

 ferred the remainder of the people, 

 in 280 B.C., to a town he himself 

 founded, and Gela fell into decay. 



Gelasius I (d. 496). Pope 492- 

 96. Called on to deal with the 

 schismatic followers of Acacius at 

 Constantinople, he tried in vain to 

 reconcile the Eastern Church to 

 Rome. In this and in other mat- 

 ters he strongly maintained the su- 

 premacy of the Roman see. He 

 was responsible for putting a stop 

 to the Lupercalia (q.v. ) at Rome, 

 and for the establishment of ordi- 

 nations at fixed times, i.e. Ember 



GELDERLAND 



days. He has given his name to cne. 

 of the three earliest Sacramentaries 

 or Service books, Sacramentarium 

 Gelasianum. 



Gelatin OR GELATINE (Fr. gela- 

 tine, Lat. gelatus, frozen). Constitu- 

 ent of animal tissues, bones, hoofs, 

 etc., which forms a transparent jelly 

 when dissolved in water. Gelatin is 

 essentially a purified form of glue. 

 By Cox and Nelson's processes par- 

 ings of hides are purified and the 

 gelatin extracted by hot water, the 

 solution being afterwards purified, 

 concentrated, and solidified in thin 

 layers, which are dried on nets. 



Gelatin is largely used for culi- 

 nary purposes ; as a basis for photo- 

 graphic sensitive surfaces; in bac- 

 teriology; as a size for paper; in 

 dyeing ; and in making printers' ink 

 rollers. Gelatin is soluble in glacial 

 acetic acid, when it loses its gelatin- 

 ising power, but the solution forms 

 a useful cement for glass. When 

 gelatin solution is treated with a 

 bichromate salt, allowed to solidify 

 and exposed to light, the gelatin 

 becomes insoluble. This property 

 is utilised in the carbon process of 

 photography, and in the manu- 

 facture of washable distempers. 



Gelatin Dynamite. Indus- 

 trial high explosive intermediate 

 between blasting gelatin and 

 gelignite. In England it con- 

 sists of 80 p.c. of blasting gelatin 

 incorporated with 4 p.c. of wood 

 meal and 16 p.c. of potassium ni- 

 trate. In the U.S. A., sodium nitrate 

 is employed in the place of the po- 

 tassium salt and seven "strengths" 

 are made containing from 24 to 63 

 p.c. of blasting gelatin, the nitrate 

 and wood meal content decreasing 

 as the blasting gelatin increases. 

 See Blasting Gelatin ; Explosives. 



Gelderland, GUELDERLAND OR 

 GUELDERS. Province of Holland, 

 formerly a duchy of the Empire. 

 Bounded by the Zuider Zee on the 

 N.W. and by Prussian territory on 

 the S.E., it adjoins the provs. of 

 Utrecht, N. Brabant, S. Holland, 

 and Overyssel, and is watered prin- 

 cipally by the Lower Rhine, Waal, 

 and Yssel, while the Meuse forms 

 the S. boundary. The good pastur- 

 age supports large numbers of cat- 

 tle, small estates predominating in 

 the agricultural districts, and corn, 

 flax, beet, and tobacco are impor- 

 tant crops. 



The capital of the province is 

 Arnhem, other important towns 

 being Zutphen, Nijmegen Apel- 

 doorn, and Elburg. The province 

 is traversed by several main rly. 

 lines and many narrow-gauge 

 steam -tram ways ; the Grift and 

 Apeldoorn canals are notable. 

 Though generally flat, the country 

 is attractive, and in the slightly 

 hilly country N. of Arnhem is 



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