GERONTIUS 



Gerona was a place of some im- 

 portance during the Punic Wars, 

 and it has had a tempestuous his- 

 tory, having been besieged numer- 

 ous times. It is principally famous 

 for its heroic defence by a few 

 Spaniards and English volunteers 

 against the French in 1809, the gar- 

 rison finally capitulating through 

 famine and disease. The city suf- 

 fered severely from floods in 1762 

 and in 1829. Its bishopric dates 

 from the 3rd century. Pop. 17,416. 



Gerontius. General in the ser- 

 vice of Constantine (q.v.), the 

 usurping tyrant in Gaul. After 

 Constantine's defeat in 408, Geron- 

 tius rebelled against him, pro- 

 claimed Maximus, belonging to the 

 household troops, and possibly his 

 own son, emperor, and, having 

 put Constantine's son Constans to 

 death, set out in pursuit of Con- 

 stantine, who was in refuge in 

 Arel5te (Aries). Meantime, Hon- 

 orius had dispatched troops 

 against Constantine, and, securing 

 his person on the surrender of the 

 town, put him to death. Gerontius 

 fled before Honorius's superior 

 forces, but was seized by his own 

 mutinous troops, who resented his 

 severity. These fired the house in 

 which he took refuge with his wife 

 and one faithful servant, and, after 

 a brave resistance, Gerontius slew 

 his wife and servant at their own 

 request, and then stabbed himself. 



Gerrard's Cross. Parish and 

 village of Buckinghamshire, Eng- 

 land, 3 m. S.E. of Beaconsfield. 



Elbridge Gerry, 

 American states- 

 man 



Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire. 



S. James, built by Sir W. Tite 



Formerly known as Jarret's Cross, 

 and sometimes spelled Gerard's 

 Cross, it is served by the G.W. and 

 G.C. Rlys. S. of the village on the 

 common is the church of S. 

 James, built in 1859 from designs 

 by Sir W. Tite, in the Lombardo- 

 Byzantine style, as a memorial to 

 Major-General Reid, sometime 

 M.P. for Windsor. W. of the com- 

 mon is Bulstrode Park, a seat of 

 Sir J. F. Ramsden, Bart., named 

 after a 17th century holder of the 

 manor. Bulstrode' s mansion was 



3509 



rebuilt by Judge Jeffreys, passed 

 to the 1st duke of Portland, was 

 sold by the 4th duke of Portland, 

 purchased in 1810 by the 12th 

 duke of Somerset, and rebuilt by 

 his successor in the title. In the 

 park is a circular earthwork en- 

 closing 21 acres. Pop. 1,612. 



Gerresheim, Town of Germany, 

 in the Rhine province of Prussia. 

 Lying only 3 m. E. of Diisseldort 

 (q.v.), of which it is now a suburb, 

 it is a busy place with glass, wire, 

 and silk factories, etc. The parish 

 church, dating from the 13th cen- 

 tury, is notable. Pop. 12,000. 



Gerry, ELBRIDGE (1744-1814). 

 American statesman. Born at 

 Marblehead, Massachusetts, July 

 17, 1744, he be- 

 came a member 

 of the general 

 court of Massa- 

 chusetts, where 

 he showed an 

 open hostility 

 to British rule. 

 In 1776 he was 

 a member of 

 the Continent- 

 al Congress, 

 and was active 

 in the prepara- 

 tion of the Declaration of In- 

 dependence, of which he was a 

 signatory. In 1797 he was one of a 

 mission sent to the French Direc- 

 tory to arrange for the recognition 

 of the republic. Governor of Mas- 

 sachusetts 1810-12, he was largely 

 responsible for a law dividing the 

 state into sena- 

 torial districts 

 which gave the 

 governmentunfair 

 advantage over 

 the opposition. 

 From this arose 

 the term gerry- 

 mander. In 1813 

 he became vice- 

 president of the 

 U.S.A., which po- 

 sition he held until 

 his death at 

 Washington, Nov. 

 23, 1814. See 

 Life and Letters 

 by J. T. Austin, 

 1828-29. 

 Gers. Dept, of S.W. France. Its 

 area is 2,428 sq. m. Tributaries of 

 the Garonne, the Gers, Baise, Save, 

 Gimone, and others coming down 

 from the Pyrenees are the chief 

 rivers. The Adour also flows 

 through the dept. The dept. is a 

 hilly area, specially in the S. 

 Wheat, maize, and oats are grown ; 

 wine and brandy are made ; and 

 horses, cattle, sheep, and poultry 

 are reared. Auch is the chief town. 

 Others are Lectoure, Mirande, 

 Condom, and Lombez. Before the 



The church of 

 in 1859 



GERSTENHOFER FURNACE 



revolution the dept. was mainly in 

 Gascony. Pron.Zhare. Pop. 22 1,994. 

 Gerson, JEAN CHARLIER DE 

 (1363-1429). French scholar and 

 divine. He was born in humble 

 HmB^^^MM^BB circumstances 

 at Gerson , 

 Dec. 14, 1363, 

 and educated 

 at the college 

 of Navarre, 

 Paris. Taking 

 holy orders, 

 he became 

 canon of Notre 

 J- C. de Gerson, Dame and 

 French scholar chance j lor of 



the university of Paris in 1395. 

 He worked hard to check the care- 

 less lives of the clergy, to end the 

 Great Schism then dividing the 

 papal court, and to amend the too 

 scholastic education of the uni- 

 versity. His outspokenness led to 

 his withdrawing to Rattenberg in 

 Tirol in 1418 for a time, during 

 which he wrote his best known 

 work, On the Consolation of Theo- 

 logy. Later he retired to a monas- 

 tery at Lyons, where he died 

 July 12, 1429. 



Gersoppa. Village and falls of 

 Bombay, India, in thellonevar sub- 

 division of North Kanera district. 

 The great ruins of Nagarbastikere, 

 the capital of the Jain chiefs of 

 Gersoppa (1409-1610), are about 

 a mile and a half to the E. of the 

 village. According to tradition the 

 capital contained 100,000 houses 

 and 84 temples. The Gersoppa 

 Falls, which are unrivalled in 

 India, lie 18 m. E. of the village, 

 and are on the Sherevati river. At 

 this spot the river has a breadth of 

 about 230 ft., and the water falls 

 over a cliff 830 ft. high in four 

 separate leaps. 



Gerst acker, FRIEDKICH (1816- 

 72). German novelist and writer. 

 Born at Hamburg, Nov. 10, 1816, 

 he went to America, where he tra- 

 velled extensivelv afoot during 

 1837-43. Having told his ex'- 

 periences in a series of diary- 

 letters, he returned to Germany to 

 find himself famous. Thenceforth 

 he devoted himself largely to 

 descriptive books of travel. He 

 went round the world, 1849-52 ; 

 journeyed in S. America, 1860-61 ; 

 in Egypt and Abyssinia, 1862 ; and 

 in N. and Central America and 

 the W. Indies, 1867-68. These suc- 

 cessive journeys he made the sub- 

 ject of many interesting volumes, 

 several of which were translated 

 into English. He also won success 

 with some fiction largely inspired 

 by his travel experiences. He died 

 at Brunswick, May 31, 1872. 



Gerstenhofer Furnace. Roast- 

 ing furnace first used at Freiberg 

 in Germany, but also extensively 



