GERMANIA 



349 1 



GERMANTOWN 



Germania. Latin name for 

 Germany. As such it is the title of 

 the work of Tacitus on the man- 

 ners and customs of the tribes of 

 Germany about the opening of the 

 Christian era, this being the chief 

 authority on the subject. It is also 

 used as a personification of the 

 German people as Britannia is of 

 the British. An example of this is 

 the gigantic statue of Germania, 

 33 ft. high, which stands on the 

 Niederwald, overlooking the Rhine. 

 It commemorates the war of 1870- 

 71 and the consequent union of 

 Germany. See Germany ; Nied- 

 erwald. 



Germanicus, CAESAR (15 B.C.- 

 A.D. 19). Roman general. A son of 

 Nero Claudius Drusus, Germanicus 

 _ was nephew of 

 ^ theemperorTi- 

 berius. Having 

 distinguished 

 himself against 

 the P a n n o n- 

 ians (A.D. 7-9), 

 in 12 he was 

 consul, and as 

 commander in 

 Gaul and on 

 the Rhine, 

 quelled a dan- 

 gerous mutiny. 

 To occupy his soldiers, he crossed 

 the Rhine, attacked and defeated 

 the Marsi and Chatti, and in 16 

 obtained a victory over Arminius 

 on the Campus Tdistavisus, near 

 Hameln on the Weser. 



Recalled to Rome by the jealous 

 Tiberius, he was sent with exten- 

 sive powers to settle affairs in the 

 East. His mission was successful, 

 but he was continually thwarted by 

 Calpurnius Piso, governor of Syria, 

 probably instructed by Tiberius. 

 Returning from a visit to Egypt, he 

 died at Daphne, near Antioch, 

 poisoned, it was said, by Piso. His 

 body was taken to Rome and buried 

 amidst general grief. His free 

 translation of the Phaenomena, an 

 astronomical poem by Aratus, is 

 extant. Among his children were 

 the future emperor Caligula and 

 Agrippina, mother of Nero. 



Germanium. Rare metal. It 

 is interesting from the fact that it 

 is one of the elements the existence 

 of which was predicted long before 

 it was discovered, and its principal 

 physical characters described by 

 the Russian chemist Mendeleeff. 

 Its actual discovery was made by 

 the German chemist, Clemens 

 Winkler, in 1886, in a rare mineral 

 called argyrodite, found near 

 Freiberg, Germany. Winkler ascer- 

 tained the percentage composition 

 of the mineral to be silver 74'72, 

 sulphur 17 '13, germanium 6 '93, 

 with traces of iron, zinc, mercury, 

 and oxygen. 



The metal has also since been 

 found in euxenite, a very complex 

 mineral containing also uranium, 

 erbium, tantalium, yttrium, and 

 cerium. Its chemical symbol is Ge ; 

 atomic weight, 73 '32 ; specific 

 gravity, 5 '469 ; melting point, 

 900 C. (1,652 Fah.). Silver white 

 in colour, brittle, in many respects 

 resembling tin, it resists atmo- 

 spheric influences ; is insoluble in 

 hydrochloric acid ; burns in the 

 Bunsen flame, giving off white 

 vapours ; and crystallises from the 

 molten condition in beautiful 

 greyish white, metallic, eight 

 sided crystals. 



German Measles, RUBELLA OR 

 ROTELN. Acute infectious fever 

 occurring among both children and 

 adults. The organism responsible 

 for the disease has not been iden- 

 tified. The symptoms are usually 

 mild. Slight headache and chilly 

 feelings are followed in a day or 

 two by the appearance of a rose- 

 red rash, first on the chest, which 

 afterwards spreads over the whole 

 body. Most often it consists of 

 separate raised spots, but some- 

 times these run together. The 

 throat is sore, the glands in the 

 neck may be somewhat swollen, 

 and there is often a small rise of 

 temperature. The rash disappears 

 in a few days, and the symptoms 

 abate. Complications are rare. 

 Treatment consists in keeping the 

 patient in bed, or at least in a 

 warm, well-ventilated room, and 

 feeding him on a light diet. A 

 purgative may be necessary. The 

 patient should be regarded as 

 capable of conveying the infection 

 for a fortnight after the attack, 

 and therefore kept isolated as 

 thoroughly as possible. 



German Silver. Alloy of copper, 

 nickel, and zinc. The best propor- 

 tions are probably 51 '6 p.c. copper, 

 25'8 p.c. nickel, and 22'6 p.c. zinc, 

 the alloy formed having a beautiful, 

 bluish white, silver colour, and being 

 largely used for the manufacture of 

 spoons, forks, and candlesticks, as 

 well as personal ornaments. The 

 proportions used in practice vary, 

 while small quantities of other 

 metals, lead, tin, or iron in particu- 

 lar, are sometimes added, either to 

 cheapen the cost or to impart some 

 special property. An alloy known 

 as white copper, consisting chiefly 

 of copper and nickel, has been 

 used in Saxony from remote times, 

 and was doubtless the precursor of 

 German silver. The Chinese pack- 

 fong, meaning white copper, is of 

 the same class. See Alloy ; Pack- 

 fong ; Metallurgy. 



German Sixth. In music, 

 chromatic chord consisting of a 

 bass note with a major third, per- 

 fect fifth, and augmented sixth 



above it, as here 



shown. It be- 



longs to the key 



of its major 



third in this 



case C, but it can be used also in 



other keys. The origin of the name 



is obscure. See Augmentation 



Chromatic ; Harmony ; Interval. 



German Tinder OR AMADOU. 

 Hard, corky substance of Fames 

 fomentarius, a destructive tree- 

 fungus, after it has been cut in 

 thin slices, hammered out, and 

 treated with saltpetre. Before the 

 invention of the friction -match 

 it was much used to obtain tire 

 from the flint and steel tinder-box. 

 Pieces of the dried fungus, without 

 treatment, will smoulder for hours 

 after a corner has been ignited. 

 Without the saltpetre it was used 

 in the contrivance of caps and 

 other articles of clothing. An 

 inferior amadou is made from 



gnaru*. 



German town. Former borough 

 of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in Mont- 

 gomery co. In 1854 it became a 

 part of Philadelphia, whose twenty- 

 second ward it now is. A resi- 

 dential district, about 5 m. N. of the 

 central point of the city, it con tains 

 several historical houses, and is 

 notable as the site of the first paper 

 mill erected in the U.S.A., and for 

 the publication of the first Ameri- 

 can edition of the Bible. 



Germantown was settled in 1683 

 by thirteen families from Crefeld 

 in Germany, and became a borough 

 in 1689. ft soon became a strong- 

 hold of the Society of Friends, who 

 built a meeting-house here about 

 1693. In the 18th century it was a 

 very flourishing place. It has two 

 inns, the King of Prussia and the 

 Mermaid, dating from that time. 

 Its founder, Francis D. Pretorius, 

 was a schoolmaster here, and is 

 notable as one of four who signed 

 the first public protest against 

 slavery. In 1789 an attempt was 

 made to fix the capital of the 

 United States at Germantown, and 

 it was actually the capital in 1793, 

 owing to an" outbreak of yellow 

 fever in Philadelphia (q.v.). It be- 

 came part of Philadelphia in 1854. 



The battle of Germantown was 

 fought between the British and 

 the Americans, Oct. 4, 1777. A 

 British force under Sir W. Howe 

 was in the town when it was at- 

 tacked by Washington. With his 

 men advancing in two bodies, he 

 attempted a surprise, but after an 

 initial success this failed. There 

 was some fighting in and around 

 the houses of the town, but the 

 end was the retreat of the Ameri- 

 cans with a loss of about 700 men. 

 The losses of the British were 

 somewhat fewer. 



