Ghuzel-Hissar
a town of Anatolia in Asia Minor, 55 miles from Smyrna, the site of ancient Tralles. GIA-DINH. See SAIGON.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: G (33)
These 10 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Giant Despair, Giarre, Gibbet.
Giant Despair
in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress , the owner of Doubting Castle . See Pilgrim'S Progress ; Bunyan
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Giant's Causeway
a noted rock formation on the north coast of Ireland. The "causeway" is a tract of basaltic columns laid bare by the waves. Tourists make their way for a long distance on an uneven floor, walking on the upper ends of 40,000 upright, six-sided columns that stand side by side like the trunks of trees. This basaltic outflow is part of the formation in which Fingal's Cave has been worn by wave action. In cooling the basalt simply cracked into regular six-sided columns instead of into the irregular cakes to be seen at the former bottom of a dried out mud puddle. See Fingal'S Cave ; Basalt ; Cave
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Giarre
a town of Sicily, in GIARRETTA METO (sē-mātō), a river of Sicily, which, with its affluents, the Adriano, (jär-ret'tä), or SI- Trachino, Dettaino, and Chrisas, waters the plain of Catania, and the portion of the island W. of Mount Etna. It rises 20 miles S. E. of Caronia, and after the Mediterranean 6 miles S. of Catania. a very tortuous course of 50 miles enters
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Gibbet
a gallows on which the bodies of criminals who had been guilty of particularly atrocious crimes were suspended after execution, incased in an iron frame, near the spot where the crime was committed. This was done for the purpose of striking terror into the evil-minded. The practice, first recognized by law in 1752, was abolished in 1834.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Gibbon (EDWARD an English historian)
EDWARD, an English historian; born in Putney, April 27, 1737; studied at Westminster School, Magdalen College, Oxford, and Lausanne. On returning to England he prepared himself for authorship. In 1763 he went to Italy; and while sitting amid the ruins of the Capitol at Rome, he conceived the idea of writing the history of the decline and fall of that city. In the meantime he joined M. Deyvurdun, a Swiss scholar, in publishing a journal called "Literary Memoirs of Great Britain," which met with no success. In 1772 he began his celebrated history of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Previous to this undertaking Gibbon was chosen member of Parliament for Liskeard; and when hostilities commenced between England and France, in 1778, he was employed to draw up the manifesto on that occasion, after which he was made Commissioner of the Board of Trade, but lost his place on the change of administration in 1783. He then went to reside at Lausanne, where he remained till the French Revolution obliged him to return to England. He died in London, Jan. 16, 1794.
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Gibbon (Genus of tailless anthropoid)
a genus of tailless anthropoid apes, natives of the East Indies. They are nearly allied to the orangs and chimpanzees, but are of more slender form, and their arms so long as almost to reach the ground when they are placed in an erect posture; there are also naked callosities on the buttocks. In this respect they differ from the other anthropoid apes and are allied to some of the catarrhini; in other respects also the gibbons are the lowest among the anthropoid apes, and connect them with the catarrhini. The gibbons are inhabitants of forests, their long arms enabling them to swing themselves from bough to bough. They cannot, however, move with ease or rapidity on the ground. The conformation of the hinder extremities adds to their difficulty in this, while it increases their adaptation to a life among the branches of trees, the soles of the feet being much turned inward. None of the gibbons are of large size. There are some 8 or 10 species. The common gibbon, or lar gibbon, is found in some parts of India, and in more E. regions. The active gibbon, found in Sumatra, is particularly remarkable for the power which it displays of flinging itself from one tree to another.
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Gibbon (PERCEVAL an English novelist)
PERCEVAL, an English novelist. He was born at Trelech, Wales, in 1879, and was educated at the Moravian School, Königsfeld, Baden. After leaving school he joined the merchant marine and served on British, French, and American ships. As journalist and war correspondent he traveled in south, central, and east Africa, America, and Europe. His works include: verse, "African Items"; novels, "Souls in Bondage," "Adventures of Miss Gregory," "The Second-Class Passenger," with many contributions to English and American magazines.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Gibbon, Edward
Edward (1737-1794), an English historian. A native of Surrey. He was educated at Westminster, Oxford and Lausanne, Switzerland. Gibbon traveled extensively in southern Europe. He entered the English Parliament as a Tory in 1774. In 1764, while he was in Rome, it occurred to Gibbon to write a history of the Roman Empire, a composition to which he devoted twenty-four years. The first volume of his monumental work, a History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, appeared in 1776, and the last in 1788. It is said that, when his task was finally ended, Gibbon did not know what to do with himself. During the years 1783-93 he resided in Lausanne again. Gibbon inherited wealth, but was never married, the romance of his life being an unsuccessful suit for the hand of the Swiss lady who became Mme. Necker and the mother of Mme. de Stael. He never took the matter to heart evidently, for he visited Madame Necker in Paris. A friend speaks of seeing the future Madame de Stael "romping about the knee of the decline and fall."
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Gibbons
HERBERT ADAMS, an American writer, born at Annapolis, Md., in 1880. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1902. He studied theology and was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1908. From that year, however, he acted as correspondent for several papers in Turkey, Egypt, and the Balkan states. He was also correspondent to the "Century" and "Harper's" magazines. From 1910 to 1913 he was professor of history and political economy at Robert College, and in 1917- 1918 he was American lecturer for French foreign affairs ministry, in France. He was Spencer Trask lecturer at Princeton in 1919. His writings include "The New Map of Europe" (1914); "The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire" (1915); "The New Map of Africa" (1916); "The New Map of Asia" 19); and "France and Ourselves" (1920).
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia