comparative experiments with which, made by Prof. Silliman, jr., gave the most favorable results, a 2 feet burner giving under 1 inches pressure light equivalent to that of 16 candles. The writer has found it preferable to many other burners tried with especial reference to long continued use as a study light. Very economical and cheaply constructed burners are those of Mr. E. L. Hicks of New York, the peculiarity of which consists in a metallic cap or thimble provided with a circular aperture in the top. This is fitted to slip over an ordinary burner, and when in its place the light from the same flow of gas is perceptibly increased. As measured by the photometer, this increase has been found, according to the experiments of Prof. John Torrey, to amount to 74 per cent. as a minimum, with a 3 feet fish tail burner, to a maximum of 206 per cent. with a 2 feet burner; thus more than trebling the light. The effect seems to be analogous to that produced by placing a thin platinum slip in the flame of a lamp, and is probably owing to a check produced in the consumption which causes the particles of carbon to become incandescent before they enter into combination with oxygen. As the pipes are liable to become foul by oxidation, especially between the burner and the stopcock, where air mixes with and aids to decompose the changeable compounds contained in the gas, attention should be directed to keeping them clean, and instruments are sometimes furnished by the gas companies for this purpose. Burners of soapstone have recently been introduced in Nuremberg, Germany. They have the advantage of not being affected by the chemical action of gases, nor by high degrees of heat, such as burners are sometimes subjected to in laboratories. The stone is cut into slabs which are exposed in hermetically sealed cases to heat very gradually raised to redness. In two hours they are slowly cooled, then turned to proper shape in a lathe, and boiled in oil, till they become deep brown. On drying they are polished with a woollen rag. The boring requires much care and skill.-A common trouble with gas pipes in severe cold weather is their "freezing up," thus interrupting the flow of the gas. This is owing to the vapors which accompany the gas condensing, and, unless the pipe descends toward the meter, flowing back and obstructing the pipe. This often occurs when the pipe is laid so deep as to seem out of the reach of frost. A simple remedy is to give the pipe a slope toward the meter.-In the use of gas several circumstances are to be considered which affect the estimation in which it is held. Though unquestionably more economical than any other means of producing the same quantity of artificial light, it is commonly used so freely that often no saving is experienced over modes of illumination previously in use. No one is satisfied with an amount of light from gas which was sufficient when furnished by the troublesome oil or candles. From this freedom in consuming it gas tends also to give out much heat and to vitiate the air. Yet, according to the statements

of Dr. Frankland, gases producing light equal to 20 sperm candles generate carbonic acid in the ratio, as compared with these candles, of 5 to 8.3, and heat in nearly the same proportion, and with the best hydrocarbon gases the ratio was, of carbonic acid 2.5 to 8.3, and of heat 19 to 82. Wax was rated with sperm, while tallow candles equal to 20 sperm generated 10.1 of carbonic acid and 100 of heat. The effects of the heat and of the vicious air may be remedied in great part by the adoption of a system of ventilation, placing over each burner a hood and pipe for conveying to the nearest flue above the products of combustion. In low rooms this may be desirable, and especially in the use of gas that has not been thoroughly deprived of sulphurous acid.-PORTABLE GAS. Methods have recently been introduced of taking supplies of gas in steamboats and on railroad cars, and renewing these as they are consumed. By one plan sheet iron cases of the capacity of 50 or 60 feet are fitted under the cars and filled as occasion requires from the street mains under ordinary pressure. The tops of the cases are lined with a loose sheet of India rubber, which swells upward as the gas flows in beneath. To expel the gas for use, air is forced in above the lining by the action of a meter running by clock work under uniform pressure. The clock work is impelled by a spring which is wound up by hand, and the action is suspended whenever the valves for the burners are closed. The motion of the cars does not affect the regularity of the supply to the burners. From the permeability of all flexible sheets, this process cannot be regarded as entirely safe from danger of explosion. By the method of the New York car and steamboat gas company the gas is first compressed by a force pump into strong cylindrical gas holders made of boiler plate iron, and measuring 7 or 8 feet in length by about 14 inches in diameter. By the pressure of 20 atmospheres 100 feet of gas is thus put into a space of 5 cubic feet. To secure a uniform rate of discharge when the cylinders are connected with the gas pipes of the car or steamboat in which they are carried, a regulator of improved form is attached to the pipes, by which the aperture through which the gas passes is gradually made to enlarge with the diminution of pressure. In Jersey City a stack of cylinders connected by small pipes serve as a reservoir, into which the gas is pumped at a pressure of about 450 lbs. From this a pipe extends to the railroad station, a quarter of a mile distant, and as the cylinders attached beneath the cars require a new supply, they are simply connected with this pipe and directly filled. The same plan is also applied of late to furnishing houses with gas that are situated at a distance from the public gas pipes. -GAS AS FUEL. Within a few years gas has been applied in stoves constructed for the purpose to furnish heat by its combustion; and being so perfectly under control and directed so readily to produce the required effect, it has in many circumstances proved an economical fuel.

corn, 26,269 of oats, and 5,081 lbs. of wool. There were 4 tanneries, 1 grist mill, 2 newspaper offices, 3 churches, and 73 pupils attending public schools. The county is well supplied with water power and timber, and has quarries of limestone and buhrstone. Capital, Hermann. GASCONY (Fr. Gascogne), an old province in the S. E. corner of France, bounded N. by Guienne, E. by the county of Foix and Languedoc, from which it was partly separated by the upper Garonne, S. by the Pyrénées and Béarn, and W. by the Atlantic (the gulf of Gascony). It was originally inhabited by a population of Iberian blood, received from the Romans the name of Novemрpopulonia or Aquitania Tertia, and changed it to that of Gascony about the middle of the 6th century, when it was occupied by the Vascones, a tribe of northern Spain, whom the Goths had driven across the Pyrénées. It was more than once invaded by the Merovingian kings, but was never entirely subjugated until the time of Charlemagne. The supremacy of the French crown being finally established, the country was placed under the direct sovereignty of the duke of Aquitaine. Through the marriage of Eleanor with Henry Plantagenet, Gascony, in conjunction with the whole country which that princess held south of the Loire, fell to the crown of England in 1152. For 300 years it remained under the same allegiance, and returned by conquest to France in 1453. It formed afterward, with Guienne, one of the great governments of that country, and is now divided into the 3 departments of HautesPyrénées, Gers, and Landes.

GASCOYGNE, WILLIAM, the inventor of the micrometer, born in England about 1621, killed fighting for Charles I. at Marston Moor, July 2, 1644. The instrument, as constructed by him, consisted principally of 2 parallel wires or metallic plates, capable of being moved, which were placed in the focus of the eye-glass of the telescope. The image was comprehended between these, and by means of a scale for the measure of angles its diameter was determined. Gascoygne used his instrument in various astronomical observations, and in determining the magnitude or distance of terrestrial objects.

GASKELL, ELIZABETH C., an English authoress, born about 1820, is the wife of a Unitarian clergyman residing in Manchester. Her maiden name was Stevenson. Her first novel, "Mary Barton," published in 1848, is a striking picture of the daily life of a large manufacturing town, the materials for which were furnished by her close observation of the social character and condition of the working classes in Manchester. The pathetic power of many of the scenes delineated, the broadly drawn characters, and the literary merit of the book gave it not a little popularity, and Mrs. Gaskell at once took a position among the first writers of fiction of the day. She next became a contributor to "Household Words," one of her longer tales for which, "North and South," was reprinted in 1855, having been preceded

by the "Moorland Cottage" (1850), a Christmas story, and by "Ruth" (1853), a tale of considerable power, and, like all her works, founded on her observation of the habits and privations of the poor. Her more recent fictions are the series of papers entitled “Cranford" and "Lizzie Leigh" republished from her contributions to "Household Words." Shortly after the death of her friend Charlotte Brontë, she contributed a memoir of her to the London "Daily News," and in 1857 appeared her "Life of Charlotte Brontë" (2 vols. 8vo.). Her last work is entitled "Round the Sofa" (2 vols. 8vo., 1859).

GASPARIN, AGENOR ETIENNE, count, a French publicist, born in Orange, July 4, 1810. He was private secretary to M. Guizot, minister of public instruction, and was afterward employed at the ministry of the interior, and in the department of trade and agriculture. From 1842 to 1848 he was a member of the chamber of deputies. A zealous Protestant, he vindicated the rights of his brethren, and claimed unlimited freedom for evangelical preaching and colportage. He also insisted upon the immediate emancipation of slaves and the suppression of prostitution. On the revolution of February he retired to Switzerland. He has published essays on various questions of philosophy or political economy, such as Esclavage et traite (1838); De l'affranchissement des esclaves (1839); Intérêts généraux du Protestantisme Français (1843). His work Des tables tournantes, du surnaturel en général, et des esprits (2 vols.) has been translated and published in the United States.

GASPÉ, an extreme E. co. of Canada East, bordering on the river and gulf of St. Lawrence; area, 4,063 sq. m.; pop. in 1851, 10,904. It constitutes with Bonaventure co. the district of Gaspé. It has a mountainous surface, diversified by many fertile valleys, and traversed by St. Anne, Dartmouth, and other rivers. The inhabitants are engaged chiefly in the lumber trade, and the whale, cod, salmon, mackerel, aud herring fisheries. The settlements are confined almost wholly to the coasts, which are lined with excellent harbors.-GASPÉ, or GASPÉ BASIN, a village and port of entry of the above county, occupying a wide area in the united townships of York and Gaspé Bay South, on the S. side of a harbor formed by Gaspé bay, 496 m. N. E. of Quebec; pop. about 550. It is the seat of an important cod fishery, and has several whaling vessels. In 1851 it contained 1 saw mill, 8 grist mills, and 3 churches. The value of imports amounted to $53,352, and the exports to $141,740.

GASSENDI, or GASSEND, PIERRE, a French philosopher, called by Gibbon the most learned of the philosophers and the most philosophic of the learned men of his age, born in Champtercier, a village near Digne, in Provence, Jan. 22, 1592, died in Paris, Oct. 24, 1655. Of an obscure rustic family, his childhood was distinguished by purity and gentleness of character and by astonishing precocity. It is stated that

at the age of 4 he played the part of a preacher and delivered sermons before his youthful companions, and was wont to creep out by night to watch the stars; that at 7 he made ingenious explanations to his playmates of the apparent motion of the moon through the clouds; that at 10 he strikingly harangued the bishop of Digne in Latin, on occasion of a pastoral visitation; and that at 13, already known as the lit. tle doctor, he adopted the motto Sapere aude ("Dare to be wise"), and composed slight comedies in mingled prose and verse, which were played by him and his associates in noble houses. While receiving lessons from the curate of the village he had been accustomed to pursue also solitary studies by the light of the church lamp. He completed his philosophical course at Aix under Father Fesaye, who declared that he often forgot whether the young Gassendi was his pupil or master; and at the age of 16 was appointed professor of rhetoric at Digne. Being destined for the church, he returned within a year to Aix to study theology, received the degree of doctor at Avignon, obtained a small benefice at Digne, and in 1616 was simultaneously elected to the two chairs of philosophy and theology at Aix, of which he chose the latter. He shared in the rising discontent with the reigning scholastic philosophy, collected many critical notes on Aristotle, and employed his leisure in the study of anatomy with Peiresc, president of the university of Aix, and in astronomical observations with Joseph Gautier, prior of La Valette. Even astrology, which he afterward strenuously combated as a delusion, was now one of the objects of his researches. In 1622 he resigned the professorship in order to devote himself more entirely to study. In 1624 he published at Grenoble his Exercitationes Paradoxica adversus Aristotelæos, in which, while professing his faith in the church, he distinguished two things which till then had often been deemed inseparable, the church and the scholastic philosophy. The work attracted much attention. Gassendi had designed to complete it in 5 books, but did not continue it beyond the first two, being reminded perhaps of the fate of Ramus and Giordano Bruno by the opposition which he met, and by a decree of parliament forbidding any opinion to be held or taught contrary to the ancient and approved authors. In the same year he was appointed provost of the cathedral of Digne, but the appointment was contested, and not finally confirmed till 10 years later. For the purpose of forming friendships with the literati of the age, he travelled through Provence and Dauphiny, resided a year in Paris, and began a correspondence with Galileo, in a letter to whom he expressed his concurrence with the Copernican system. On returning to Digne he continued his ecclesiastical duties and various studies, preaching frequently and with great success. In 1628 he visited Paris, travelled with Luillier in the Netherlands, and wrote, at the instance of Mersenne, a lively treatise (1630)

against the mystical and alchemistic doctrines of Robert Fludd. He was a constant correspondent of Kepler, who before his death had publicly announced that Mercury and Venus would pass over the disk of the sun on Nov. 7, 1631. Gassendi was the first to observe the passage of Mercury, and wrote a minute account of the phenomenon. On the appearance of the Discours de la méthode and the Méditations of Descartes, a controversy arose between the two philosophers, representatives of opposite schools, the antagonists respectively addressing each other as O Anima (spirit) and 0 Caro (flesh). The daring and original genius of Descartes, drawing his materials from his own mind, was contrasted with the erudition and critical acumen of his opponent, who excelled him in caution and courtesy. In 1645 Gassendi received from Cardinal Richelieu the appointment of mathematical professor in the royal college of France, where a numerous and distinguished audience attended his lectures; and two years later he published at Lyons his biographical treatise, De Vita, Moribus, et Placitis Epicuri, which was followed by his Syntagma Philosophia Epicurea (Lyons, 1649). For many years he had applied himself to the preparation of these works, searching libraries and comparing texts and annotations, and they form together a complete review of the life, eulogy of the character, and reconstruction of the philosophical system of Epicurus. The Epicurean ethics and physical theory of atoms and a vacuum are elaborately vindicated and conformed to the principles of Christianity and the discoveries of modern science, those dogmas of the system being refuted which contravene the interests of religion. His feeble health obliging him to resign his professorship, he retired to the south of France, lived two years in Toulon employed in constructing his philosophical system after meditating on all the philosophers, and in 1653 returned to Paris to consult libraries, and to give the final touches to the work that was to be the most complete and learned statement of his opinions. He was soon obliged to cease from labor, and after a lingering illness his death was hastened by the excessive phlebotomy then in practice by physicians. His Syntagma Philosophicum, an encyclopædic view of the entire circle of science, was published posthumously, forming the first two volumes in a complete edition of his works, edited by Montmor and Sorbière (6 vols., Lyons, 1658). It is divided into 3 parts, logic, physics, and ethics, is elaborated with great prodigality of learning and minuteness of criticism, and contains an eclectic philosophy formed by the union of ideas borrowed from various schools rather than a new system. Though formerly regarded as the precursor of the sensational philosophers of the last century, his doctrine of the intellect in the Syntagma proves that he was far removed from them. For though he adopts the maxim that "there is nothing in the intellect which has not been in the senses," and maintains that the