Gatling, Richard J.
Richard J. (1818-1903), an American inventor. He was a native of North Carolina . He was possessed of unusual mechanical ability. Among his inventions are a machine for sowing rice, a wheat drill, a hemp brake, and a steam plow. He is known best, however, as the inventor of the Gatling gun. It was used for the first time during the peninsular campaign conducted by General Butler on the James River. It consists essentially of ten gun barrels fastened in a parallel position to a central shaft. They are turned by a crank. Cartridges are set into the breech through an electrical arrangement called a hopper. The Gatling gun is a terribly destructive piece of ordnance. As high as 1,200 shots can be fired per minute. By swinging the muzzle slowly to right and left the horizon may be swept by a veritable leaden hail. See Cannon
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Gatshina
a town of Russia, 30 miles S. S. W. of Petrograd. It has some manufactures of porcelain, and several barracks, but is especially worthy of mention for its royal palace, surrounded by one of the finest pleasure gardens in Europe, which were the favorite summer seat of the Emperor Paul I., and the
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Gatti-Casazza
GIULIO, an Italian operatic manager, born in Udine, Italy, in 1869. He graduated as a naval engineer at the Polytechnic College of Genoa. From 1892 to 1898 he was director of the Municipal Theater at Ferrara, and from 1898 to 1908 was director of the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan. In the same year he was appointed director of the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1910 he married Frances Alda, an operatic soprano.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Gaucho
a native of the pampas of La Plata, and of Spanish descent. The Gauchos live by cattle-breeding, and are noted for their skill in horsemanship and the use of the lasso and the bolas.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Gaufridi, Louis
A French ecclesiastic, burned as a sorcerer at Aix, in 1611. He was a curé at Marseilles, where his attractive person and manners gained for him a footing in high society, but for all his priestly garb, he led an evil life. A girl whom he had seduced was sent by her parents to a convent of Ursulines, and here Gaufridi followed her, making the credulous nuns believe that a legion of demons possessed the convent. At the instance of the exorcist, who relieved the "possessed nuns Gaufridi was tried at Aix, and condemned to be burned alive. دو
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Gaugamela & Geryon
Gaugamela A village in Assyria , the scene of the last battle between Alexander and Darius, B. c. 331, commonly called the battle of Arbela. Geryon A monster, represented by the poets as having three bodies and three heads. It was killed by. Hercules . 126 IOOO CLASSICAL CHARACTERS
Only in 1000 Classical Characters
Gauge-stick
A fixed measure employed by a loam-moulder. One edge is straight; its full length represents outside diameter, and notches indicate the core's diameter. A semicircle, cut midway along the straight edge to fit the spindle, enables the moulder to set his sweep-boards, and test the accuracy of his work entirely independent of his rule. It is made handier by reducing its bulk from the middle to the extremities on the back edge. See GAUGE.
Only in The Encyclopedia of Founding
Gauher-Abad
Meaning the Abode of Jewels. This was the name given to one of the capitals of the peris of Persian romance. These were beings of an angelic or well-disposed nature, who inhabited the earth, along with the divs or evil-disposed, before the creation of man. After this event, the peris became inhabitants of the ærial regions, and had three capitals: Shad-u-kam (pleasure and desire), Gauherabad, and Amber-abad (city of Ambergris).
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Gaultheria
a genus of heath-like evergreen aromatic plants and shrubs. The genus was named for Dr. Gaultier, a Canadian physician. It includes about ninety species of North America , the Andes, and eastern Asia. For a description of the best known species, see WINTERGREEN.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Gauss
KARL FRIEDRICH (gous), German mathematician and astronomer; born in Brunswick, Germany, April 30, 1777. Aided by the Duke of Brunswick, he studied at Brunswick and Göttingen. Here he made several of his greatest discoveries in analysis, which induced him to make the cultivation of science the chief object of his life. He published "Arithmetical Disquisitions" in 1801. In 1807 he received the appointment of ordinary professor and director of the observatory at Göttingen, which situation he held for nearly 48 years. He gave to the world a host of treatises on pure mathematics, geodesy, astronomy, and the cognate sciences, besides making observations on terrestrial magnetism which have proved of great utility to the cultivation of science. He died in Göttingen, Germany, Feb. 23, 1855.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Gauthier of Bruges
It is related that a Franciscan monk, made a bishop by Pope Nicholas III., and deposed by Clement V., appealed to God against his deposition, and asked that he should be buried with his act of appeal in his hand. Some time after his death, Pope Clement V., visited Poitiers, and, finding himself one day in a Franciscan monastery, asked to see the remains of him whom he had deposed. He caused the tomb to be opened, and was horrified to see Gauthier of Bruges presenting his act of appeal, with a withered hand.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Gauthier, Jean
An alchemist. Charles IX. of France , deceived by his promises, had him provided with a hundred and twenty thousand pounds, with which to make gold, and the adept set to work. But after he had worked for a week, he ran away with the King's money. He was pursued, captured, and hanged.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Gautier
THEOPHILE, a French poet and prose writer; born in Tarbes, France, Aug. 31, 1811. He studied at the College Charlemagne, Paris, and at first tried painting, but turned to literature. " he published: "Albertus" In verse (1830); "Comedy of Death" (1832); "Enamels and Cameos" (1856); his best poetry; etc. Of novels and short stories he wrote "Young France" (1833); "Mademoiselle de Maupin" (1835); "Fortunio" (1838); "A Tear of the Devil" (1839); "Militona" (1847); "The Tiger's Skin" (1852); ; "Jettatura" (1857); "Captain Captain Jenny" (1865); "Spirite" (1866); etc. For more than 30 years he contributed to the Paris newspapers criticisms on the theater and the salon. He wrote "Journey in Spain" (1843); "Zigzags" (1845); "Constantinople" (1854); "Journey in Russia" (1866); etc. "The Grotesque" (1844), on the writers of the 16th and 17th centuries; "Balzac" (1858); "Private Menagerie" (1869), biographical; "History of Romanticism" "(1872) "Liter- "Literary Portraits and Souvenirs" (1875); "The East" (1877), the last two being posthumous. He died in Paris, Oct 23, 1872.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia