GAZETTE

gazette, a name given to news-sheets or newspapers having an abstract of current events (see newspapers). the _london gazette_ is the title of the english official organ for announcements by the government, and is published every tuesday and friday. it contains all proclamations, orders of council, promotions and appointments to commissions in the army and navy, all appointments to offices of state, and such other orders, rules and regulations as are directed by act of parliament to be published therein. it also contains notices of proceedings in bankruptcy, dissolutions of partnership, &c. by the documentary evidence act 1868 the production of a copy of the _gazette_ is prima facie evidence of royal proclamations and government orders and regulations. similar gazettes are also published in edinburgh and dublin. most countries (the united states excepted) have official journals containing information more or less similar to that of the _london gazette_, as the french _journal officiel_, the german _deutscher reichs-und kgl. preuss. staats-anzeiger_, &c. the word "gazetteer" was originally applied to one who wrote for "gazettes," but is now only used for a geographical dictionary arranged on an alphabetical plan. gear (connected with "garb," properly elegance, fashion, especially of dress, and with "gar," to cause to do, only found in scottish and northern dialects; the root of the word is seen in the old teut. _garwjan_, to make ready), an outfit, applied to the wearing apparel of a person, or to the harness and trappings of a horse or any draft animal, as riding-gear, hunting-gear, &c.; also to household goods or stuff. the phrase "out of gear," though now connected with the mechanical application of the word, was originally used to signify "out of harness" or condition, not ready to work, not fit. the word is also used of apparatus generally, and especially of the parts collectively in a machine by which motion is transmitted from one part to another by a series of cog-wheels, continuous bands, &c. it is used in a special sense in reference to a bicycle, meaning the diameter of an imaginary wheel, the circumference of which is equal to the distance accomplished by one revolution of the pedals (see bicycle). geber. the name geber has long been used to designate the author of a number of latin treatises on alchemy, entitled _summa perfectionis magisterii, de investigatione perfectionis, de inventione veritatis, liber fornacum, testamentum geberi regis indiae and alchemia geberi_, and these writings were generally regarded as translations from the arabic originals of abu abdallah jaber ben hayyam (haiyan) ben abdallah al-kufi, who is supposed to have lived in the 8th or 9th century of the christian era. about him, however, there is considerable uncertainty. according to the _kitab-al-fihrist_ (10th century), which gives his name as above, the authorities disagree, some asserting him to have been a writer on philosophy and rhetoric, and others claiming for him the first place among the adepts of his time in the art of making gold and silver. the writer of the _kitab-al-fihrist_ says he had been assured that jaber only wrote one book and even that he never existed at all, but these statements he scouts as ridiculous, and expressing the conviction that jaber really did exist, and that his works were numerous and important, goes on to quote the titles of some 500 treatises attributed to him. he is said to have resided most frequently at kufa, where he prepared the "elixir," but, according to others, he never spent long in one place, having reason to keep his whereabouts unknown. his patron or master is variously given as ja'far ben yahya, and as ja'far es-sadiq; in the arabic _book of royalty_, professedly written by him, he addresses the last-named as his master. in addition to these details the fihrist mentions a tradition that he originally came from khorasan. another story given by d'herbelot (_bibliotheque orientale_, s.v. "giaber") makes him a native of harran in mesopotamia and a sabaean. leo africanus, who in 1526 gave an account of the alchemists of fez in africa (see the english translation of his _africae descriptio_ by john pory, _a geographical history of africa_, london, 1600, p. 155), states that their principal authority was geber, a greek who had apostatized to mahommedanism and lived a century after mahomet. in albertus magnus the name geber occurs only once and then with the epithet "of seville"; doubtless the reference is to the arabian jabir ben aflah, who lived in that city in the 11th century, and wrote an astronomy in 9 books which is of importance in the history of trigonometry. the great puzzle connected with the name geber lies in the character of the writings attributed to him, their style and matter differentiating them strongly from those of even the best authors of the later alchemical period, and making it difficult to account for their existence at all. the researches of m.p.e. berthelot threw a great deal of light on this question. taking the six treatises enumerated above he concluded, after critical examination, that the two last may be disregarded as of later date than the others, and that the _de investigatione perfectionis_, the _de inventione_ and the _liber fornacum_ are merely extracts from or summaries of the _summa perfectionis_ with later additions. the _summa_ he therefore regarded as representative of the work of the latin geber, and study of it convinced him that it contains no indication of an arabic origin, either in its method, which is conspicuous for clearness of reasoning and logical co-ordination of material, or in its facts, or in the words and persons quoted. without going so far as to deny that some words and phrases may be taken from the writings of the arabian jaber, he was disposed to hold that it is the original work of some unknown latin author, who wrote it in the second half of the 13th century and put it under the patronage of the venerated name of geber. the ms. of this work in the bibliotheque nationale at paris dates from about the year 1300. berthelot further investigated arabic mss. existing in the paris library and in the university of leiden, and containing works attributed to jaber, and had translations made of six treatises--two, of which he gives the titles as _livre de la royaute_ and _petit livre de la misericorde_,--from paris, and four--_livre des balances, livre de la misericorde, livre de la concentration_ and _livre de la mercure orientale_--from leiden. berthelot was not prepared to assert that these treatises were actually written by jaber, but he held it certain that they are works written in arabic between the 9th and 12th centuries, at a period anterior to the relations of the latins with the arabs. in style these treatises are entirely different from the _summa_ of geber. their language is vague and allegorical, full of allusions and pious mussulman invocations; the author continually announces that he is about to speak without mystery or reserve, but all the same never gives any precise details of the secrets he professes to reveal. he holds the doctrine that everything endowed with an apparent quality possesses an opposite occult quality in much the same terms as it is found in latin writers of the middle ages, but he makes no allusion to the theory of the generation of the metals by sulphur and mercury, a theory generally attributed to geber, who also added arsenic to the list. again he fully accepts the influence of the stars on the production of the metals, whereas the latin geber disputes it, and in general the chemical knowledge of the two is on a different plane. here again the inference is that the latin treatises printed from the 15th century onwards as the work of geber are not authentic, regarded as translations of the arabic author jaber, always supposing that the arabic mss. transcribed and translated for berthelot are really, as they profess to be, the work of jaber, and as representative of his opinions and attainments. but while berthelot thus deprived the world of what were long regarded as genuine latin versions of jaber's works, he also gave it something in their place, for among the paris mss. he found a mutilated treatise, hitherto unpublished, entitled _liber de septuaginta (johannis), translatus a magistro renaldo cremonensi_, which he considered the only known latin work that can be regarded as a translation from the arabic jaber. the latter states in the arabic works referred to above that under that title he collected 70 of the 500 little treatises or tracts of which he was the author, and the titles of those tracts enumerated in the _kitab-al-fihrist_ as forming the chapters of the _liber de septuaginta_ correspond in general with those of the latin work, which further is written in a style similar to that of the arabic jaber and contains the same doctrines. hence berthelot felt justified in assigning it to jaber, although no arabic original is known. the evidence collected by berthelot has an important bearing on the history of chemistry. most of the chemical knowledge attributed to the arabs has been attributed to them on the strength of the reputed latin writings of geber. if, therefore, these are original works rather than translations, and contain facts and doctrines which are not to be found in the arabian jaber, it follows that, on the one hand, the chemical knowledge of the arabs has been overestimated and, on the other, that more progress was made in the middle ages than has generally been supposed. see m.p.e. berthelot's works on the history of alchemy and especially his _chimie au moyen age_ (3 vols., paris, 1893), the third volume of which contains a french translation of jaber's works together with the arabic text. gebhard truchsess von waldburg (1547-1601), elector and archbishop of cologne, was the second son of william, count of waldburg, and nephew of otto, cardinal bishop of augsburg (1514-1573). belonging thus to an old and distinguished swabian family, he was born on the 10th of november 1547, and after studying at the universities of ingolstadt, perugia, louvain and elsewhere began his ecclesiastical career at augsburg. subsequently he held other positions at strassburg, cologne and augsburg, and in december 1577 was chosen elector of cologne after a spirited contest. gebhard is chiefly noted for his conversion to the reformed doctrines, and for his marriage with agnes, countess of mansfeld, which was connected with this step. after living in concubinage with agnes he decided, perhaps under compulsion, to marry her, doubtless intending at the same time to resign his see. other counsels, however, prevailed. instigated by some protestant supporters he declared he would retain the electorate, and in december 1582 he formally announced his conversion to the reformed faith. the marriage with agnes was celebrated in the following february, and gebhard remained in possession of the see. this affair created a great stir in germany, and the clause concerning ecclesiastical reservation in the religious peace of augsburg was interpreted in one way by his friends, and in another way by his foes; the former holding that he could retain his office, the latter that he must resign. anticipating events gebhard had collected some troops, and had taken measures to convert his subjects to protestantism. in april 1583 he was deposed and excommunicated by pope gregory xiii.; a bavarian prince, ernest, bishop of liege, freising and hildesheim, was chosen elector, and war broke out between the rivals. the cautious lutheran princes of germany, especially augustus i., elector of saxony, were not enthusiastic in support of gebhard, whose friendly relations with the calvinists were not to their liking; and although henry of navarre, afterwards henry iv. of france, tried to form a coalition to aid the deposed elector, the only assistance which he obtained came from john casimir, administrator of the palatinate of the rhine. the inhabitants of the electorate were about equally divided on the question, and ernest, supported by spanish troops, was too strong for gebhard. john casimir, who acted as commander-in-chief, returned to the palatinate in october 1583, and early in the following year gebhard was driven from bonn and took refuge in the netherlands. the electorate was soon completely in the possession of ernest, and the defeat of gebhard was a serious blow to protestantism, and marks a stage in the history of the reformation. living in the netherlands he became very intimate with elizabeth's envoy, robert dudley, earl of leicester, but he failed to get assistance for renewing the war either from the english queen or in any other quarter. in 1589 gebhard took up his residence at strassburg, where he had held the office of dean of the cathedral since 1574. before his arrival some trouble had arisen in the chapter owing to the fact that three excommunicated canons persisted in retaining their offices. he joined this party, which was strongly supported in the city, took part in a double election to the bishopric in 1592, and in spite of some opposition retained his office until his death at strassburg on the 31st of may 1601. gebhard was a drunken and licentious man, who owes his prominence rather to his surroundings than to his abilities. see m. lossen, _der kolnische krieg_ (gotha, 1882), and the article on gebhard in band viii. of the _allgemeine deutsche biographie_ (leipzig, 1878); j.h. hennes, _der kampf um das erzstift koln_ (cologne, 1878); l. ennen, _geschichte der stadt koln_ (cologne, 1863-1880); and _nuntiaturberichte aus deutschland_. _der kampf um koln_, edited by j. hansen (berlin, 1892). gebweiler (fr. _guebwiller_), a town of germany in the imperial province of alsace-lorraine, at the foot of the vosges, on the lauch, 13 m. s. of colmar, on the railway bollweiler-lautenbach. pop. (1905) 13,259. among the principal buildings are the roman catholic church of st leodgar, dating from the 12th century, the evangelical church, the synagogue, the town-house, and the old dominican convent now used as a market and concert hall. the chief industries are spinning and dyeing, and the manufacture of cloth and of machinery; quarrying is carried on and the town is celebrated for its white wines. gebweiler is mentioned as early as 774. it belonged to the religious foundation of murbach, and in 1759 the abbots chose it for their residence. in 1789, at the outbreak of the revolution, the monastic buildings were laid in ruins, and, though the archives were rescued and removed to colmar, the library perished. gecko,[1] the common name applied to all the species of the _geckones_, one of the three sub-orders of the _lacertilia_. the geckoes are small creatures, seldom exceeding 8 in. in length including the tail. with the head considerably flattened, the body short and thick, the legs not high enough to prevent the body dragging somewhat on the ground, the eyes large and almost destitute of eyelids, and the tail short and in some cases nearly as thick as the body, the geckoes altogether lack the litheness and grace characteristic of most lizards. their colours also are dull, and to the weird and forbidding aspect thus produced the general prejudice against those creatures in the countries where they occur, which has led to their being classed with toads and snakes, is no doubt to be attributed. their bite was supposed to be venomous, and their saliva to produce painful cutaneous eruptions; even their touch was thought sufficient to convey a dangerous taint. it is needless to say that in this instance the popular mind was misled by appearances. the geckoes are not only harmless, but are exceedingly useful creatures, feeding on insects, which, owing to the great width of their oesophagus, they are enabled to swallow whole, and in pursuit of which they do not hesitate to enter human dwellings, where they are often killed on suspicion. the structure of the toes in these lizards forms one of their most characteristic anatomical features. [illustration: leaf-tailed gecko (_gymnodactylus platurus_) of australia.] [illustration: lower surface of the toe of (a) _gecko_, (b) _hemidactylus_--enlarged.] most geckoes have adhesive digits and toes, by means of which they are enabled not only to climb absolutely smooth and vertical surfaces, for instance a window-pane, but to run along a white-washed ceiling, back downwards. the adhesion is not produced by sticky matter but by numerous transverse lamellae, each of which is further beset with tiny hair-like excrescences. the arrangement of the lamellae and pads differs much in the various genera and is used for classificatory purposes. those which live on sandy ground have narrow digits without the adhesive apparatus. most species have sharp, curved claws, often retractile between some of the lamellae or into a special sheath. the tail is very brittle and can be quickly regenerated; it varies much in size and shape; the most extraordinary is that of the leaf-tailed gecko. _ptychozoon homalocephalon_ of the malay countries has membranous expansions on the sides of the head, body, limbs and tail, which look like parachutes, but more probably they aid in concealing the creature when it is closely pressed to the similarly coloured bark of a tree. most geckoes are dull coloured, yellow to brown, and they soon change colour from lighter to dark tints. they are insectivorous and chiefly nocturnal, but are fond of basking in the sun, motionless on the bark of a tree, or on a rock the colour of which is then imitated to a nicety. some species are more or less transparent. geckoes, of which about 270 species are known, subdivided into about 50 genera, are cosmopolitan within the warmer zones, including new zealand, and even the remotest volcanic islands. this wide distribution is due partly to the great age of the suborder (although fossils are unknown), partly to their being able to exist for several months without food so that, concealed in hollow trunks of trees, they may float about for a very long time. ships, also, act as distributors. in south europe occur only _hemidactylus turcicus_, _tarentola mauritanica (platydactylus facetanus)_ and _phyllodactylus europaeus_. footnote: [1] the malay name _ge-koq_ imitates the animal's cry.