GENDARME 



3461 



GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL 



There are black markings on the 

 face, throat, and upper parts of the 

 limbs. It is said that the gemsbok 

 can successfully fight the lion with 

 its horns. The name is Dutch r 

 meaning chamois-buck. 



Gendarme (Irregular singular 

 of gens d 1 armes, men-at-arms). 

 Member of a military constabulary 

 formed in France in Jan., 1791. In 

 1812 the system was introduced into 

 Germany, and gendarmerie forces, 

 ordinarily recruited from the army, 

 now exist also in Austria, Belgium, 

 Holland (where they are called 

 Marachausses), Italy (Carabinieri), 

 and Spain (Guardia civil). The gen- 

 darmerie, under the control of the 

 various ministers of the interior, 

 are employed for the protection of 

 villages and country places, and 

 for the enforce- 

 ment of certain 

 state and na- 

 tional legisla- 

 tion, and are 

 almost invari- 

 ably subject to 

 the orders of 

 the civil au- 

 thority, al- 

 though in 

 France and 

 Italy, while 

 forming one of 

 the reserves of 

 the minister of 

 the interior, 



Gendarme. French they are di- 

 military constabulary rectly under the 

 orders of the minister of war. 

 See Carabinieri. 



Gender (La t. genus, kind). Classes 

 into which nouns are divided 

 according to sex or absence of sex. 

 They are sometimes three in 

 number masculine, feminine, and 

 neuter; sometimes two masculine 

 and feminine; and in inflexional 

 languages are shown by different 

 terminations. But this grammati- 

 cal distinction is often arbitrary ; 

 thus, in Latin mensa (table) is 

 feminine, in German Mond (moon) 

 masculine, Sonne (sun) feminine. In 

 English, grammatical gender does 

 not exist, natural gender, in which 

 sex and gender agree, being shown 

 by special endings (executor, exe- 

 cutrix), or by different words (horse, 

 mare ; fox, vixen). It is probable that 

 originally the distinction of gender 

 was natural, not grammatical. 



Genealogy (Gr. genealogia). His- 

 tory of the descent of a family. The 

 principal data are places and dates 

 of birth, of marriage and of death, 

 names of husbands and wives, par- 

 ticulars as to offices held, or pro- 

 fessions, of wills proved, and any 

 other particulars. These may be 

 supplemented by a pedigree, or a 

 family tree, in which the growth of 

 a family is shown in the reverse 



Adeline Genee, in the 

 Dance of Bacchus 



way, the various generations with 

 their armorial insignia being dis- 

 played as fruits of a tree, rooted in 

 the founder of the house. See Peer- 

 age ; consult also How to Write 

 the History of Ja Family, W. P. W. 

 Phillimore, 1887 ; The Genealogists' 

 Guide, G. W. Marshall, 1903 ; Pedi- 

 gree Work, W P. W. Phillimore, 

 1914. 



Gen6e, ADELINE (b. 1878). Danish 

 dancer. Born at Aarhus, Denmark, 

 Jan. 6, 1878, and trained as a 

 dancer from 

 the age of 

 eight, she be- 

 came premiere 

 danseuse at the 

 Copenhagen 

 Opera in 1895. 

 Her success led 

 to engage- 

 ments at Ber- 

 lin, Munich, 

 and elsewhere. 

 From 1897 

 to 1907 she 

 danced lead- 

 ing parts in 

 numerous bal- 

 lets at the Em- 

 pire Theatre, 

 London, not- 

 ably in The Press, Feb. 14, 1898, 

 and The Dancing Doll, Jan. 3, 1905. 

 She was extraordinarily popular as 

 an exponent, endowed with flaw- 

 less technique, of the traditional 

 school of ballet. She also appeared 

 in the U.S.A., Paris, and in Aus- 

 tralia. Her farewell performance 

 was given at the London Coliseum, 

 May 11, 1914, but she made a short 

 reappearance there in April, 1915. 



General OR GENERAL OFFICER. 

 Name given to a military officer of 

 almost the highest rank, only field- 

 marshal being 

 above it. It is 

 used loosely for 

 all officers 

 above the rank 

 of colonel-com- 

 mandant, a s 

 well as for those 

 who are full 

 generals. In the 

 British army 



strap of a British there are major- 

 general generals, lieu- 

 tenant-generals, and generals, in 

 order of seniority. The equiva- 

 lent rank in the navy is admiral. 



During the Great War the com- 

 manders of armies were given the 

 rank of general, either temporary or 

 substantive. The term is common to 

 most armies ; the French have gene- 

 ral, general de division, and general 

 de brigade, and the Germans have a 

 similar order. In the U.S.A. this 

 rank is only given rarely, the highest 

 acting rank being that of lieutenant- 

 general. The word was first used in 



its present sense about the end of 

 the 16th century. In 1650 Crom- 

 well was made captain-general of 

 the forces of the Commonwealth, 

 and was afterwards known as the 

 lord-general. Marlborough was the 

 captain-general, and afterwards the 

 present forms came into use. 



General. Title used in the 

 Roman Catholic Church to desig- 

 nate the heads of some religious 

 orders. Under the pope, the general 

 is the supreme head of his order, 

 and exercises authority over the 

 provincials as they, in turn, control 

 the individual communities in their 

 provinces. The general is usually 

 elected by a chapter of provincials 

 for a period of three years; but in 

 the Jesuit order, for life. The 

 generals live at Rome and are under 

 no episcopal jurisdiction save that 

 of the pope. See Jesuits. 



General Assembly. Name 

 given to the governing body of 

 most of the Presbyterian churches 

 in the world. As a rule, it meets 

 once a year, consists of both 

 ministers and laymen representing 

 the presbyteries of the church, and 

 is presided over by a moderator. It 

 is the final authority on all matters 

 of church discipline and order. The 

 general assembly of the Church of 

 Scotland, an established church, 

 differs slightly from those of the 

 unestablished churches : at its 

 annual meeting, usually held in 

 Edinburgh in May, the king is re- 

 presented by a high commissioner 

 and members are sent thereto from 

 the royal burghs and the universi- 

 ties of Scotland. See Presbyterian- 

 ism ; Scotland, Church of. 



Generalisation. Mental pro- 

 cess which, with the aid of abstrac- 

 tion and comparison, discovers the 

 qualities common to a class of in- 

 dividual things and unites them 

 in a single idea called a concept. 

 Generalisation simplifies knowledge 

 by enabling a number of particular 

 ideas to be combined under a single 

 idea ; further, if there were no 

 general ideas, it would be necessary 

 to employ a special name for every 

 individual object. 



Generalissimo. Unofficial title 

 popularly conferred upon a general 

 in supreme command of two or 

 more allied armies or forces of 

 different nationalities, each under 

 the command of its own general. 

 This position was held hi the Great 

 War by Foch from March 26, 1918, 

 to the end of the struggle. The 

 word is formed from an assumed 

 Latin superlative of generalis, 

 generalissimos, most general. 



General Medical Council. Au- 

 thority appointed under the Medi- 

 cal Act of 1858 to regulate the 

 qualifications of medical practi- 

 tioners and exercise disciplinary 



