GERTRUDE 



GESTURE LANGUAGE 



employed at Swansea for the roast- 

 ing of pulverised copper matter. 

 It is a shelf furnace in the form 

 of a square shaft, across which 

 are arranged, at equal distances, 

 and one above the other, a number 

 of horizontal fire-clay bars. The ore 

 is introduced at the top and falls 

 from bar to bar, arriving at the 

 bottom to a very large extent de- 

 sulphurised. See Furnace. 



Gertrude. Name of two saints 

 of the Latin Church. (1) Gertrude 

 (d. March 17, 659), a daughter of 

 Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, 

 was the first abbess of the convent 

 of S. Gertrude at Nivelles, Belgium. 

 On the high altar of the existing 

 (llth century) edifice is a beautiful 

 13th century reliquary of S. 

 Gertrude, who is reverenced as the 

 patron of travellers and pilgrims. 

 (2) S. Gertrude, born at Eisleben, 

 Saxony, Jan. 6, 1256, became an 

 abbess. She had many visions and 

 wrote some mystical exercises. 

 She died Nov. 15, 1334. 



The name, of Teutonic origin, 

 means Spear maiden and is one of 

 a group to which Gerald belongs. 

 It is found in the Nibelungenlied 

 and is a popular feminine Christian 

 name in England. 



Gervase OF TILBURY (d. 1235). 

 English writer. Born probably at 

 Tilbury, he grew up in Italy, 

 teaching law at Bologna about 

 1175. He became marshal of the 

 kingdom of Aries, under the 

 patronage of the emperor Otho IV, 

 for whom he wrote in Latin his 

 Otia Imperialia, 1211-14, a com- 

 prehensive but fantastic summary 

 of history, geography, current 

 popular beliefs, politics, etc. 



Gervex, HENRI (b. 1852). French 

 painter. Born in Paris, Dec. 10, 

 1852, he studied under Cabanel and 

 other painters. 

 He made a bril- 

 liant appear- 

 ance with his 

 Bather Asleep, 



1873, and Satyr 

 Playing with a . 

 Bacchante, 



1874, in the 

 academic man- 

 ner. But he 

 showed equal 

 power in 



realism with his Post Mortem at the 

 Hotel Dieu, and his portrait-group 

 of the founders of the French Re- 

 public. Some of his portraiture 

 was daring almost to recklessness, 

 especially his Rolla and Masked 

 Lady, the former rejected by the 

 Salon, 1878. He earned distinction 

 by his decorative paintings for 

 public buildings, e.g. The Civil Mar- 

 riage, and The Board of Charity. 

 In 1913 he was elected to the 

 Academy. 



Henri Gervex, 

 French painter 



Georg G. Gervinus, 

 German author 



Gervinus, GEORG GOTTFRIED 

 (1805-71). German author. Born 

 at Darmstadt, May 20, 1805, and 

 educated at Giessen and Heidel- 

 berg, he became a teacher and 

 soon began to write. His History 

 of German Poetry, 1853, is a work 

 of great value ; ^^ 

 the nucleus of | 

 this work had 

 appeared be- 

 tween 1835 

 and 1842 under 

 a different 

 title. In 1837 

 appeared his 

 Foundations of 

 History. H e 

 was appointed 

 professor of history and literature 

 at Gottingen, where he was one of 

 the seven professors expelled in 

 1837 for their protest against the 

 unconstitutional acts of Ernest 

 Augustus, and in 1848 he was a 

 member of the Frankfort parlia- 

 ment. He died March 18, 1871. 



Gervinus was anxious for the 

 unity of Germany, and in this cause 

 he founded in 1847 Die Deutsche 

 Zeitung, which he edited until 

 1848. His other works include 

 Introduction to the History of the 

 Nineteenth Century, Eng. trans. 

 1853 ; and Shakespeare Com- 

 mentaries, Eng. trans. 1863. 



Geshur. One of the ancient 

 states of Palestine, lying E. of the 

 Jordan. David married a daughter 

 of its king, and it was here that 

 Absalom took refuge. 



Gesneraceae. Large natural 

 order of herbs and shrubs. They 

 are chiefly natives of the warmer 

 regions of America. Some of the 

 species, such as Gloxinia, have 

 tuberous roots. They have opposite, 

 wrinkled leaves, and showy tubular 

 flowers of scarlet, blue or white. 



Gessner, SALOMON (1730-88). 

 Swiss poet. He was born in Zurich, 

 April 1, 1730, where he set up as a 

 bookseller, but 

 soon turned 

 t o literature, 

 also painting 

 and engraving 

 landscapes. 

 He won his 

 chief popular- 

 ity in Germany 

 b y his senti- 

 mental Idyllen, 

 1756. His 

 Tod Abels (Death of Abel), 1758, 

 written in an irregular "kind of 

 loose poetry, enjoyed consider- 

 able success in Germany, and was 

 translated into six European lan- 

 guages. By 1788 it had passed 

 through 30 English editions. In 

 1772 he issued a second series of 

 Idyllen, and Letters on Landscape 

 Painting. His Idylls, with one of the 



Salomon Gessner, 

 Swiss poet 



Letters, were translated into Eng- 

 lish, 1798. He died March 2, 1788. 



Gesso (Ital., plaster). Prepara- 

 tion of plaster used as a ground for 

 painting or laid over another sub- 

 stance for the same purpose. It 

 must be employed with care, being 

 liable to chip. Gesso duro (hard 

 plaster), specially made of gypsum, 

 has been utilised for sculpture 

 work, generally in low relief. 

 See Painting ; Sculpture. 



Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of 

 the Romans). Medieval collection 

 of tales from Roman history and 

 other sources, probably . compiled 

 about the close of the 13th century. 

 The object was to provide stories 

 which could be used to enforce 

 or enliven lessons from the pulpit. 

 The collection was first printed at 

 Utrecht in 1473, the first English 

 edition being issued by Wynkyn 

 de Worde about 1510. There have 

 been many later versions, the 

 fullest being that by C. Swan, 1824, 

 new ed. 1905. 



Gestation (Lat. gestatio). The 

 act of carrying the young in the 

 womb or uterus from conception to 

 birth. In the human species the 

 average duration of gestation is 

 278 days, exceptionally prolonged 

 to as many as 300. In France and 

 Scotland, the law assumes the 

 possibility of pregnancy lasting for 

 300 days, and in Germany 302 days. 

 In England no legal limit is laid 

 down. See Pregnancy. 



Gesture Language. Com- 

 munication of thought by move- 

 ments of parts of the body other 

 than the organs of speech. Gesture 

 may be (1) explicit, as in pointing 

 or holding up a coin; (2) pantomi- 

 mic, as in pretending to drink; 

 (3) emotional, as in shrugging the 

 shoulders ; (4) conventional, as 

 in raising the hat. 



All these forms denote concrete 

 ideas rather than words. The 

 last three may consist of grimace; 

 the first three are mutually in- 

 telligible to persons of every grade 

 of culture when for any reason 

 unable or unwishful to converse 

 by speech. Conventional gesture 

 may be unintelligible without pre- 

 vious explanation. Natural gesture 

 never attained the power to com- 

 municate abstract ideas, or to re- 

 present the more complex parts of 

 speech. It reached its highest devel- 

 opments in recent centuries among 

 the Indians of the N. American 

 plains and the populace of Naples. 



No normally speechless com- 

 munity has ever been recorded. 

 Voluntary vows of silence, such as 

 those taken by someTrappist monks, 

 and the involuntary silence of deaf 

 mutes have led to the invention of 

 conventional systems of manual 

 signs. See Language ; Phonetics. 



