GOVERNMENT GRACCHUS. 



513 



thirst with water, the real gout is seldom met with; 

 yet even among these, overloading- the stomach with 

 poor and badly cooked food, repeated exposure to 

 cold, an accumulation of half-assimilated matter in 

 the blood, and suppressed secretion, sometimes pro- 

 duce irregular gouty attacks, wandering pains, depo- 

 sitions of an extraordinary quantity of earthy matter 

 in the limbs, and striking deformities. 



Gout or arthritis and rheumatism (q. v.) are fre- 

 quently confounded, but they are very different in 

 their nature. Rheumatism attacks every age of life; 

 gout only adults. Rheumatism is an inflammatory 

 state of the system of muscles and tendons ; in the 

 gout, this inflammation is in the joints, the capsular 

 ligaments, and the bones. Accordingly, hi the for- 

 mer, the pain is rather seated in the muscles, spreads 

 according to their course, and is more changeable, 

 in respect to place ; in the latter, the pains are in 

 the joints and along the bones. Rheumatism is not 

 accompanied with those earthy tumours and accumu- 

 lations, which characterize the gout. In the latter 

 disease, the sweat sometimes leaves a fine earthy dust 

 upon the skin of the patient. Both diseases may, 

 however, be present in the body at the same time, 

 and be combined with eacli other. Rheumatism may 

 also change, with time, into the gout, if, with the 

 advancing age, the disease passes from the muscular 

 system to the bones and joints. If nature is no 

 longer vigorous enough to form a regular eruption 

 of the gout, if the individual is old, or the disease is 

 checked in its course, it often attacks the internal 

 parts, the stomach, the lungs, the brain, and may 

 thus prove fatal. 



Respecting the treatment of gout, the diet which 

 is to be observed, &c., many erroneous opinions still 

 prevail. Some believe that, particularly in the po- 

 dagra, no remedy ought to be taken ; others trust 

 entirely to purgatives ; others seek a remedy in 

 abstinence and drinking water ; others, misled by the 

 theory of Brown, who placed the podagra entirely in 

 the class of asthenic diseases, seek for a remedy in 

 strong liquors. There is, however, no specific against 

 gout. The treatment of the disease must be regu- 

 lated by the judgment of a cautious physician, who 

 carefully observes the age and the bodily constitution 

 of the patient, his habits, the condition of the vital 

 powers, the state of the arterial system, and the 

 peculiar nature of the case. With one arthritic 

 patient, for instance, bleeding, drinking of water, 

 and the use of cooling means, may be very necessary, 

 winch, with another, may become injurious, nay, 

 fatal ; as may be the case, on the other hand, with 

 exciting, diaphoretic and other means. 



GOVERNMENT, FORMS OF. See Estates and 

 Political Institutions. 



GOVERNOR; a contrivance for equalizing the 

 motion of mills and machinery. When any part of 

 the machinery of a mill is suddenly stopped, or sud- 

 denly set a going, and the moving power remains the 

 same, an alteration in the velocity of the mill will 

 take place; and it will move faster or slower. Every 

 machine having a certain velocity at which it will 

 work to more advantage than at any other, the 

 change of velocity arising from the foregoing cause, 

 is in all cases a disadvantage, and in delicate opera- 

 tions exceedingly hurtful. In a cotton-mill, for 

 instance, which is calculated to move the spindles at 

 a certain rate, if from any cause the velocity is 

 increased, a loss of work immediately takes place, 

 and an increase of waste, from the breaking of 

 threads, &c. ; on the other hand there must be an 

 evident loss from the machinery moving slower than 

 is necessary. Various contrivances are used for 

 iRmedyiug this evil. See Steam Engine. 



GOWEK, JOHN; an ancient English poet of the 



fourteenth century. He was liberally educated, arid 

 was a member of the society of the Inner Temple ; 

 and some have asserted that he became chief justice 

 of the common pleas ; but the more general opinion 

 is, that the judge was another person of the same 

 name. He particularly attached himself to Thomas 

 of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard 

 II., and wrote his principal work at the desire of that 

 unfortunate monarch. He appears to have been in 

 affluent circumstances, as he contributed largely to 

 the building of the conventual church of St Mary 

 Overy, in Southwark. He died at an advanced age, 

 in 1402. He was buried in the church to which his 

 was a benefactor, where his tomb is still to be seen. 

 Gower abounded in the learning of the age, but- lias 

 little claim to genius or invention ; and is so uni- 

 formly grave and sententious, even upon topics which 

 might inspire vivacity, that his friend Chaucer styles 

 him "the moral Gower." He was author of a tri- 

 partite work, entitled Speculum Meditantis; f-'ox 

 Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis ; of which the first 

 is a moral tract relative to the conjugal duties, writ- 

 ten in French rhymes ; the second a metrical chro- 

 nicle of the insurrection of the commons under 

 Richard II., in elegiac verse, and the third an Eng- 

 lish poem in eight books, relative to the morals and 

 metaphysics of love, which alone has been printed, 

 and was one of the earliest products of the English 

 press, being printed by Caxton in 1483. The lan- 

 guage is tolerably perspicuous, and the versification 

 often harmonious. 



GOYAS; one of the capitanias of Brazil, which 

 extends from 42 to 54 W. Ion., and from 6 30' to 

 19 S. lat. Chief town, Villa Boa. Population 

 estimated at 170,000. The chief business is search- 

 ing for gold in the mines, which were first discovered 

 in the year 1726. 



GRACCHUS, TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS, and CAIUS ; 

 two Romans, who, by undertaking to reform the 

 republic, and to place the national welfare upon a 

 firm basis, awakened popular commotions in Rome, 

 of which they themselves became the victims. Tibe- 

 rius Sempronius, who was about nine years older 

 than his brother, was a man of great talents and dis- 

 tinguished merit. Both he and his brother, having 

 lost their father early, received from their excellent 

 mother, Cornelia, the daughter of the great Scipio 

 the elder, a careful education. At a more advanced 

 age, their minds were formed and ennobled by the 

 Greek philosophy. Their family was among the 

 most distinguished in Rome. Tiberius early made 

 himself conspicuous in the military service. Under 

 the command of his brother-in-law, the younger Sci- 

 pio, lie served at the siege of Carthage, and was the 

 first man who mounted the walls of the burning city. 

 While he was yet a mere youth, he was received into 

 the college of augurs an honour usually conferred 

 only upon distinguished statesmen. He was subse- 

 quently questor to the consul Mancinus, who at that 

 time waged war against the Nuinantines, in Spain 

 few in number, but brave, and attached to their 

 liberty. Here the high character of the yomiLV 

 Gracchus, even with the enemies of Rome, enabled 

 him to conclude a treaty with the Numuntines, which, 

 without being disgraceful to the Romans, secured to 

 the Numantines their independence. The Numan- 

 tines even returned to the questor his accounts acd 

 papers, which they had taken among the Roman 

 baggage, with touching marks of their esteem. But 

 the Roman senate refused to ratify this treaty, and, 

 to atone in some measure for this breach of the law 

 of nations, dec-reed that all who had been concerned 

 in its negotiation should be delivered up to the Nu- 

 mantiiies. They also sent the younger Scipio, with 

 a new army, against Kumantia. The high character 

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