GNEISS 



during the war of independence, 

 and then he entered the army of 

 Prussia. There he made his way 

 to the front, and when, in 180(5, 

 Prussia again took up arms against 

 France, he was known as a capable 

 officer. 



Gneisenau nest helped in the 

 work of reorganizing the Prussian 

 army, and in the war of liberation 

 served Bliicher as chief of the staff. 

 He was responsible for the plan of 

 campaign of 1814, and for that of 

 the battles around Waterloo, and 

 to him was due the ruthless pur- 

 suit of the French. In 1 8 1 8 he was 

 made governor of Berlin and a 

 member of the Prussian council of 

 state. In 1830 he was appointed to 

 command an army on the frontier 

 of Poland, and he was there when 

 he died of cholera, Aug. 24, 1831. 

 The standard life is by G. H. Pertz 

 and H. Delbruck, 1864-80. 



Gneiss (German). Composite 

 rock consisting of quartz, felspar, 

 and mica in varying proportions 

 and arranged in parallel layers 

 (schistose). It may be fine-grained 

 in thin layers, or the latter may be 

 so thick and uneven that the lamin- 

 ated structure is obscured. Often 

 one of the constituent minerals pre- 

 dominates greatly over the others. 

 There are many varieties of gneiss 

 named from the predominant min- 

 eral; including hornblende-gneiss, 

 augite - gneiss, graphite - gneiss, 

 chlorite-gneiss, and others, the pre- 

 fix indicating the mineral that 

 wholly or in part replaces the mica. 

 Where the gneiss has well-marked 

 foliated structure it is considered 

 to be a true metamorphic rock ; the 

 coarse-grained kinds that show 

 only rudely parallel layers may be 

 eruptive. Varieties which split 

 flat are useful in building work. 

 Pron. Nice. 



Gneist, HEINRICH RUDOLF HER- 

 MANN FKIEDRICH vox (1816-95). 

 German jurist. Born at Berlin, 

 Aug. 13, 1816, 

 the son of a 

 judge, he was 

 educated at 

 Eisleben and 

 the university 

 of Berlin. He 

 became a law- 

 yer, but its 

 study rather 

 thivn its prac- 

 tice attracted 

 him, and in 1844 he was made 

 professor at Berlin. 



From 1858 to 1893 he was a 

 member of the landtag of Prussia; 

 in 1868 he was elected to the diet of 

 the North German Confederation, 

 and from 1870 to 1884 he was a 

 member of the Reichstag. In all he 

 was an active member of the 

 National Liberal party, and was 



3569 



GNOSTICISM 



Rudolf Gneist, 

 German jurist 



Gnesen. View oi the town and cathedral across the river Wrzemia 



active also as an advocate of legal 

 reforms. From 1875-77 he was a 

 judge of the supreme court of 

 Prussia, and for a time was tutor to 

 the emperor William II. He died 

 July 22. 1895. His works on Eng- 

 land include The English Parlia- 

 ment, 1886, and History of the 

 English Constitution, 1886. 



Gnesen (Pol. Gniezno). Town 

 of Poland. It is 31 in. E.X.E. of 

 Posen on the line to Thorn, and 

 was formerly in the German prov. 

 of Posen. Poland's kings were 

 crowned here, down to 1320. It 

 has been the seat of an archbishop 

 since 1 000. The cathedral, founded 

 in the 9th century, and largely re- 

 built at the close of the 18th cen- . 

 tury, contains the tomb of S. Adal- 

 bert (q.v. ) and bronze doors dating 

 from the 12th century. The archi- 

 episcopal palace is also noteworthy. 

 There are manufactures of sugar, 

 leather, and machinery, and a trade 

 in dairy products, also breweries, 

 flour, and mills for other products. 

 Pop. 25,339. 



Gnome. Small legendary being 

 in the folk- tales of many peoples, 

 supposed to dwell in the earth and 

 guard the treasures hidden there. 

 Gnomes, dwarfs, and elves become 

 almost inextricably interlinked in 

 the folk-tales, though the elves are 

 generally smaller, more fairy-like 

 creatures, while the gnomes or 

 earthmen are more akin to the 

 black dwarfs of North European 

 folklore. See Folklore. 



Gnome (Gr. gnome). Maxim, 

 aphorism, or reflection summing 

 up or stating concisely a general 

 truth. The Greek Gnomic poets 

 were those who wrote sententious 

 didactic verses, such as Solon, 

 Theognis, Phocylides, and others. 



Gnome Engine. First success- 

 ful aero-engine of the radial-re- 

 volving or rotary-radial type. 

 This motor, of French invention, 

 was introduced in 1909. 



In the Gnome the cylinders are 

 grouped star- wise round a central 

 crank -case. There are usually seven 

 or nine cylinders, or there may be a 

 double group of fourteen or eighteen 

 cylinders arranged in two groups, 

 one behind the other. The Gnome 

 has only one crank, and there is one 

 master connecting-rod which en- 



circles the crank-pin. To the big end 

 of the master connecting-rod the 

 big ends of the other connecting- 

 rods are hinged. The cylinders 

 and the crank-case rotate about the 

 crank-shaft. By its rotation it cools 

 itself, thus dispensing with water 

 cooling and all its complications. 

 See Aero-engine ; Monosoupape. 



Gnosticism ( Gr. gnost ikos, know- 

 ing). Term usually applied to the 

 heresy with which were concerned 

 sects that sprang up in the 1st cen- 

 tury A.D., the members of which 

 claimed mystical knowledge denied 

 to the rest'of the world. The name 

 was adopted first by the Ophites. 



Gnosticism existed before Chris- 

 tianity. Originating in the East, 

 it embodied attempts to formulate 

 a cosmic philosophy or theory of 

 the universe, and a quest for a 

 world religion. An example of 

 syncretism, an effort to blend op- 

 posite and conflicting ideas into a 

 harmonious whole, its sources were 

 Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and ac- 

 cretions from Judaism, Mithraism, 

 the mythologies of Babylon and 

 Egypt, and Platonism. 



While, broadly speaking, Gnos- 

 ticism was a form of dualism 

 mind and matter ; light and dark- 

 ness ; good and evil it em- 

 bodied not one but protean forms 

 of thought. It is characterised 

 by association with the idea of 

 emanation, a theory of creation 

 which postulates One Supreme 

 Being from whom lesser beings 

 or aeons have emanated as light 

 emanates from the sun. From 

 the fall of one of these lesser 

 beings into the outer void arose a 

 Demiurge, regarded as the em- 

 bodiment of evil, from which re- 

 demption is only possible for two 

 of the three classes into which 

 Gnosticism divided mankind, by 

 re-union with the Infinite a' state 

 comparable with the Buddhistic nir- 

 vana. An example of a Gnostic view 

 of Jesus Christ is in the apocryphal 

 epistle of Barnabas (q.v.). 



Gnosticism assumed a new form 

 after the rise of Christianity ; and 

 gained a strong foothold in the 2nd 

 century. Information about the 

 leading Gnostics and their writings 

 is largely derived from the anti- 

 heretical treatises of the Christian 



2K 4 



