Gotham
go'tham, a parish in Nottinghamshire, England, noted for the simplicity of its inhabitants. "Foolish enough for Gotham," is a proverbial expression in England. According to tradition, the inhabitants assumed a stupid, loutish look during a visit from King John, thus leading him to think that it would be undesirable to build a palace in their neighborhood. It is a disputed question whether this were not the part of the shrewdest kind of worldly wisdom. Gotham is now a nickname for New York City. In 1807 the inhabitants were called Gothamites by Washington Irving in his Salmagundi. The rhyme appended is from Hallo-well's Collection of Old English Nursery Rhymes: Three wise men of Gotham Went to sea in a bowl, If the bowl had been stronger, My song would have been longer.
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Gothenburg
got'en-burg, the second city of Sweden. It was founded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1619. It lies in the direct route by water from Copenhagen to Christiania. It rose to commercial importance during the Napoleonic wars. The present population is about 160,000. It has important manufactures of sugar, machinery, leather, cotton, and beer. It has an excellent dock. Ships are built here. It is noted for the so-called Gothenburg system. In 1865 the city decided to make an experiment in decreasing drunkenness by taking the sale of intoxicating liquors out of the hands of those who derived a profit from it. The city grants a monopoly of the sale of liquors to a company. All salesmen are placed on salary. No liquor may be consumed on the premises. The profit of the traffic, over and above six per cent, goes to the city treasury. It is claimed that, under this system, drunkards and minors are unable to obtain liquor, so that drunkenness has decreased. During thirty years of trial the number of distilleries has run down from 2,300 to 132. Instead of one saloon to 8,000 inhabitants the number has changed to one saloon to each 13,000. Certainly the public treasury has been filled. The system has spread to a large part of the Scandinavian peninsula . It must be regarded as still on trial, however. Few believe that the company keeps good faith with the government. South Carolina is trying a somewhat similar plan.
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Gotland
the land of the Goths, the largest island in the Baltic Sea . It lies sixty miles from the Swedish mainland. It is a limestone plateau about seventy miles long by fifteen wide. The surface is well watered. The soil is rich. Many huge boulders left by ancient glaciers lie about. The climate is mild. Orchards flourish. The farmers are thrifty and pride themselves on dairy products, ponies, sheep, and wool. They have drained the peat swamps that once abounded and call them in jest "the gold mines of Gotland." Gotland, with its capital, Wisby, was at one time a commercial center. Before the rise of the Hanseatic League, Wisby dominated the Asiatic trade. Warehouses were maintained at Nijni-Novgorod on the upper Volga. The profits of the trade soon drew the attention of the Germans. In 1280 Wisby, Riga, and Lubeck formed an alliance against the Baltic pirates. In 1293 the league transferred its deliberations to Lubeck, and the Goths lost their supremacy. Wisby lost its position as mistress of the Baltic. Extensive ivy-clad ruins attest the former wealth of the city. The old city walls and towers still stand. Since 1640 Gotland has been a part of Sweden. Gotland now has a population of about 52,000; Wisby, of about 8,000. See Baltic; Hanseatic League; Nijni-Novgorod ; Sweden ; Goths
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Gotthard
ST. See ST. GOTTHARD. GOTHLAND or GOTTLAND, a Swedish island in the Baltic, 44 miles E. from the mainland, and with Farö, Gotsk Sandö, and other smaller islands constituting the province of Gottland or Wisby; area, 1,219 square miles; pop. (1918) 56,028. The island consists mainly of terrace-like slopes of limestone, encircled by cliffs, broken by numerous deep fiords, more especially on the W. coast; the E. parts are flat. Next to agriculture, the chief occupations of the inhabitants are fishing, fowling, and lime-burning. In the Middle Ages the island belonged to the German Hanseatic League, but was restored to Sweden in 1645. Capital, Wisby.
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Gottingen
an old Hanseatic town in the Prussian province of Hanover. It is situated in the valley of the Leine, fifty-nine miles southeast of Hanover. Its commercial prosperity was destroyed practically by the Thirty Years' War. It is at present a city of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is noted chiefly for the celebrated university of the same name. The university was founded in 1734 by George Augustus of Hanover, George II of England. It was attended by many English and American students. Many noted men have been connected with this institution. Among those best known to Americans are the brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, who were expelled from the faculty for political reasons. Gottingen was the first German university to attract American students. Ticknor, Everett, and Bancroft studied here. The names of Emerson and Longfellow appear in the roll of the American colony. Motley, the American historian, and Bismarck, the German statesman, formed a friendship for life at Gottingen. The library contains 400,000 volumes and 5,000 manuscripts. A botanical garden and a museum are connected with the university. There are about 1,000 students in attendance.
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Gottlieben
a small town of Thurgau canton, Switzerland, 1 mile W. of Constance; its castle was the prison of John Huss, Jerome of Prague, and Malleobus. GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN (gets fon ber'lich-ing-en), a German knight of the 16th century; born in Jaxthausen, Württemberg, in 1480. Götz is an abbreviation of Gottfried. At the siege of Landshut (1505), he lost his right hand, which was replaced by an artificial one of steel, cunningly invented by himself; it is still shown at Jagstfeld. He wrote an account of his own turbulent life on which Goethe grounded his drama of "Götz of Berlichingen." Died in his castle at Hornberg on the Neckar, July 23, 1562.
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Goucher College
an institution for the higher education of women, founded in Baltimore, Md., in 1844, as the Woman's College of Baltimore. In recognition of gifts made by Reverend John F. Goucher, the name was changed in 1910 to Goucher College. In 1920 there were 793 students and 70 instructors. President, W. W. Guth, Ph. D.
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