people of this country, and of this body in particular." The previous question being moved, Mr. Giddings was denied the right of self-defence, and the resolution was adopted by 125 yeas to 69 nays. Mr. Giddings instantly resigned his seat and called upon his constituents to pronounce their judgment in the case, which they did in reëlecting him by a large majority. He resumed his seat on May 5, after an absence of 6 weeks, and held the post by successive reelections till March 4, 1859—making his whole period of service 21 years. He was one of the 19 members of congress who, in 1843, united with Mr. Adams in an address to the people of the United States, warning them against the annexation of Texas, and declaring that its consummation "by any act or proceeding of the federal government, or any of its departments, would be identical with dissolution." In 1844 he united with Mr. Adams in submitting a report (upon a memorial from the legislature of Massachusetts), in which it was distinctly declared that the liberties of the people had their primary foundation in the truths of Christianity. In 1849 he made an elaborate speech, in which he maintained that man could not be property, and that to treat him as such is a crime. In the same year, the senate having amended an appropriation bill by inserting a provision extending the laws of the coasting trade to California, with the intention, as was believed, to legalize the trade in slaves between the Atlantic and Pacifio coasts, Mr. Giddings, on the last night of the session, called attention to the matter, and succeeded in getting the provision removed. In the Oregon controversy, he maintained the right of the United States to the whole territory, declaring that that right would be sacrificed by the administration for fear that a war with Great Britain would lead to the abolition of slavery. In the celebrated case of the Amistad, he maintained the right of the negroes to take their freedom, and zealously opposed the effort to induce congress to indemnify the Spanish claimants. In 1847 he refused to vote for the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, the whig candidate for speaker, deeming him unsound on the slavery question. He acted generally with the whig party till 1848, giving his hearty support to Gen. Harrison and Henry Clay, but refused, on anti-slavery grounds, to support Gen. Taylor. In the election of 1848 he acted with the free soil party. In 1849 he united with 8 other members of the house in refusing to vote for any candidate who would not pledge himself to such a construction of the standing committees as would secure a respectful consideration of petitions relating to slavery; in consequence of which the whig candidate for speaker, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, after a struggle of 3 weeks, failed of his election, the Hon. Howell Cobb, the democratic candidate, being chosen by a plurality of votes. In 1850 he took a prominent part in opposing the enactment of the "compromise measures," so called, especially the fugitive slave law. He was conspicuous also in the de

bates upon the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and in those upon the subsequent troubles in Kansas. In July, 1850, Mr. Giddings was distinctly charged with abstracting important papers from the general post office. He brought the matter before the house, and demanded an investigation. A committee, composed chiefly of his political opponents, after a rigid examination, exonerated him entirely, it being conclusively shown that the charge was the result of a conspiracy against him. On May 8, 1856, while addressing the house, he suddenly fell to the floor in a state of unconsciousness, from which, however, he soon revived, though in a condition of great weakness. On Jan. 17, 1858, he fell again in the same way, and for some minutes was supposed to be dead. He slowly returned to consciousness, but was compelled for a time to be absent from his post. His disease was an affection of the nervous system operating upon the heart. In 1843 Mr. Giddings wrote a series of political essays, signed "Pacificus," which attracted considerable attention. Á volume of his speeches in congress has been published (12mo., Boston, 1853); and in 1858 appeared "The Exiles of Florida," compiled by him and published at Columbus, O.

GIDDINGS, SALMON, a pioneer missionary in Missouri and Illinois, born in Hartland, Conn., March 2, 1782, died in St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 1, 1828. He was graduated at Williams college in 1811, pursued his theological studies at Andover, was ordained to the ministry in 1814, and after being for one year tutor in Williams college and preaching for a short time as an itinerant, determined to go as a missionary to the "western country." He set out on horseback in Dec. 1815, under the direction of the Connecticut missionary society, preached often on his journey, reached St. Louis April 6, 1816, and spent a year and a half in itinerating through the country, visiting most of the towns and settlements on both sides of the Mississippi. On Aug. 2, 1816, he organized the first Presbyterian church in that region, at Bellevue settlement, 80 m. S. W. of St. Louis; and in Nov. 1817, the first in the latter place. Within 10 years he had organized 11 churches, 5 in Missouri and 6 in Illinois. In 1822 he made a long tour among the Indian tribes within the present territories of Kansas and Nebraska, visiting the Osages, Kansaws, Omahas, Pawnees, and Ottoes, holding councils with their chiefs and principal men, and selecting sites for mission stations and schools. He preached half of the time to the St. Louis church during the first 4 years after its organization, and then more regularly, till in 1826 he was installed its pastor by the presbytery of Missouri, which then included also Illinois. Its first church edifice was erected in 1823-4. He was remarkable for steadiness of character, soundness of judgment, and fidelity in all offices of kindness and mercy; and the trustees of his church, as a token of their affectionate respect, had his remains deposited in a

vault beneath the pulpit. Only one of his sermons was published; it is entitled "The Gospel the Power of God unto Salvation," was printed at St. Louis, and was the first sermon ever printed west of the Mississippi.

GIDEON, surnamed JERUBBAAL, the 5th judge in Israel, was the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh, and dwelt at Ophra. His history is narrated in Judges, vi. to ix. Israel had been for 7 years humbled by the Midianites and Amalekites, when the Lord by a double miracle called Gideon to be their deliverer. Having fulfilled his mission, the Israelites solicited him to become their king, but he declined the position.

GIESELER, JOHANN KARL LUDWIG, a German church historian, born in Petershagen, March 3, 1792, died in Göttingen, July 8, 1854. He interrupted his studies in the university of Halle to serve as a volunteer in the campaign of 1813. In 1815 he resumed his studies, which he combined with teaching, and in 1819 was appointed professor of theology in the university of Bonn, which he exchanged in 1831 for the corresponding professorship at Göttingen. His principal work is a history of the church. The 5 volumes published during his lifetime brought the history down only to the peace of Westphalia in 1648; but from the notes and manuscripts which he left, it was continued to the present century by his pupil Redepenning. An American edition of the entire work was published in 1857-'8 under the editorial care of Prof. Henry B. Smith, from the English translation of Davidson. A translation into English was previously made in this country by Francis Cunningham (Philadelphia, 1842).

GIESSEN, capital of the German province of Upper Hesse, and of a circle of its own name in the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, situated at the confluence of the Wieseck with the Lahn, 414 m. by rail from Frankfort, and 834 m. from Cassel; pop. about 9,000. It is well though irregularly built, and contains an old castle, a hospital, arsenal, university, and 2 churches. The university, which was founded in 1607, had in 1858, 45 teachers and 880 students, a library of 36,000 volumes, an observatory, botanical garden, and museum. Its school of organic chemistry under Liebig has recently been especially distinguished. It had a larger number of professors and students prior to the withdrawal of the Roman Catholic faculty to Mentz in 1851.

GIFFORD, WILLIAM, an English author, born in Ashburton, Devonshire, in April, 1756, died in London, Dec. 31, 1826. He was left an orphan in early childhood, and apprenticed to a shoemaker. His master refused to allow him to lighten the drudgery of his occupation by reading, but he nevertheless contrived by stealth to acquire a considerable knowledge of mathematics, and occasionally wrote verses. Some of the latter came into the hands of Mr. Cookesley, a surgeon, who raised a subscription to purchase his freedom. He was immediately put under the charge of a teacher, and although, with the exception of mathematics, his attainments were

then almost nothing, in 2 years he was fitted for the university, and entered Exeter college, Oxford, where he was appointed Bible reader. Having accidentally fallen under the notice of Lord Grosvenor, he was invited by that nobleman to live with him, and subsequently spent many years on the continent as the travelling tutor of his son. After his return to England, he published in 1791 his "Baviad," a paraphrase on the first satire of Persius, in which the popular Della Cruscan poetry of the day was happily ridiculed and effectually put down; and in 1795 the "Mæviad," an imitation of Horace, directed against the corruptions of the drama. His "Epistle to Peter Pindar," published in 1800, is one of the bitterest attacks ever directed against an opponent. Being now known as a keen political writer, he wrote with George Ellis and Frere for the "Anti-Jacobin" upon its commencement by Canning, and from this connection received two offices under government, which he held for life. In 1802 he published a spirited translation of Juvenal, with his own autobiography. He also translated Persius, and edited the dramatic works of Massinger, Ben Jonson, Ford, and Shirley. Upon the establishment of the "Quarterly Review" in 1809 he became its editor, a position which he retained until about 2 years before his death.

GIFT, a voluntary transfer of property of any kind. The word "give" is generally employed among the words of transfer in deeds of land; but by gifts, in law, are usually meant transfers of chattels or presents which are wholly without any pecuniary consideration, or any other consideration which the law recognizes as valid. They are usually divided into gifts inter vivos and gifts causa mortis. The latter are called in English gifts in prospect of death; and the former phrase, or gifts between the living, is not accurate, as describing but one class of gifts, because it applies to all, as only the living can give, and they can give only to the living. But gifts causa mortis may be defined as gifts made by one believing himself, on reasonable grounds, to be very near his death, and made in view of and because of this apprehension; and gifts inter vivos are all those which are not gifts causa mortis.—First, as to gifts inter vivos. Any person competent to transact ordinary business may give whatever he or she owns to any other person. The usual disabilities for legal action would apply here. Thus, a gift by an infant (i. e. a minor), a married woman, an insane person, or person under guardianship, would be wholly void, or would be voidable by the giver or one having authority to represent the giver, in much the same way that a transfer for consideration would be. Gifts, by persons competent to give, of property which they have a right to give, to persons competent to receive, and which are completed and effectual, are regarded by the law as executed contracts, founded upon mutual consent. It is absolutely essential to the validity of a gift that it should go into effect at once and completely. If it be

not a thing of the present, now done and finished, then it is no longer an act, but a promise. And as it must be, if a promise, wholly without consideration, because otherwise it is not a gift, it comes under the rule of law which makes promises without consideration of no legal validity, and incapable of legal enforcement. Hence, the very first rule in the law of gifts is, that delivery is essential to a gift. And this delivery must be to the donee; even if the giver deliver the money to a third person with orders to give it to the donee, and will therefore be bound if this third person give it to the donee before revocation, the giver may, at any time before the delivery to the donee, annul his directions to the party holding the money, and revoke and reclaim the gift. Generally, a court having equity powers will not interfere to enforce or complete a gift which is merely intended and promised. Nor will the transfer, if without delivery, be any the more effectual for being made in writing. As there must be actual delivery, so there must be actual acceptance; in other words, the thing given must pass out of the present power and possession of the giver, and into that of the donee. It is nevertheless true that a thing may be given, of which the present and immediate manual delivery is impossible. The delivery may, in such a case, be constructive, or symbolic, or any such delivery as the nature and actual position of the thing at the time may permit and require; as a delivery of a key which commands access to the thing, or a delivery of a part for the whole, where the whole is too bulky to be delivered otherwise. So also the delivery may be by an order upon a warehouseman or other person having the thing in his custody; but in this case the gift is not complete and effectual until the order be presented and completed or performed by the party on whom it is drawn. From the same necessity of completing the gift by delivery and acceptance, and from the same rules which make a mere promise without consideration voidable, it follows that if a gift be made by a note, or any instrument not under seal (for a seal is the equivalent of a consideration), it may be revoked by the donor. So if it be made by a check, draft, bill, or order, the giver may revoke it at any time before it is paid or executed, or accepted in such a way as to bind the drawee. And on the other hand, if any thing of consideration comes in, so as to make the gift while still lying in promise irrevocable, it changes the whole nature of the transaction, which is no longer a gift, but becomes a sale or barter, or an executory and enforceable contract, according to circumstances. A gift by a competent party, made perfect by delivery and acceptance, is then irrevocable so far as the donor himself is concerned; that is, he cannot revoke it and resume his property in the thing given merely at his own pleasure. But it may still be revoked or annulled, and the property resumed, by the creditors of the giver, if it was fraudulent as to them, either in fact or by construction of law.

ors.

If the giver knew at the time of the delivery that he could not then pay his debts, the gift was fraudulent in fact; if he were then insolvent, and did not know it, and so innocently by the gift diminished the fund to which his creditors were entitled, it was fraudulent in law. But it is thus void only in reference to existing creditors, and not as to persons becoming creditors subsequently, unless made when the insolvency was actual or immediately expected, or with actually fraudulent purpose as to future creditAll voluntary transfers, as settlements of every kind and the like, if made in fraud of creditors, are considered as gifts in the law, and are void. In most of the United States the statutes respecting insolvency provide especially for all cases of this kind.-Gifts causa mortis can be made only when the donor has reason to believe that death is impending. The law watches over gifts causa mortis with great jealousy, and restrains them by rigorous principles and wise precautious, for the same reasons which induce it to lay down such precise and rigid rules in relation to wills and all testamentary dispositions. This reason is not any unwillingness that the wishes of the dead or of the dying should have their full effect, but from the extreme difficulty of giving them this effect, and yet closing the door effectually against, on the one hand, false and supposititious expressions of his will, or, on the other hand, undue and injurious influence exerted upon him as to the disposition of his property. Both of these reasons apply as strongly and directly to gifts made in prospect of death as to wills, or perhaps more so. deed, as these gifts are not unfrequently made in substitution of wills, and to avoid the special requirements made by the law in respect to wills, this is another reason why the law regards them with the suspicion felt toward acts which are evasions of law. Much that was said of gifts inter vivos is equally or indeed much more strongly applicable to gifts causa mortis. Thus, there must be not only delivery and acceptance, but this must be strictly actual, if that be possible without extreme inconvenience; and if impossible, in that case it must be something that is as near actual delivery as may be possible. It has even been said that no mere possession, although previous and continuous, is sufficient without delivery; as if the giver should say: "You may have and keep as your own the watch I have permitted you to wear for a year, and which is now in your pocket," this would not pass the property in the watch unless the giver took it into his own hands and gave it back to the donee; but we doubt whether the rule would be applied with so much severity. We have no doubt that the giver, if physically incapable, or perhaps if only unwilling to make the effort, might, without doing any thing himself, as well and effectually direct another in his presence to take such a thing and give it to such a donee, to be kept by him as his own. After some fluctuation it seems now to be settled that the donor's own note, or his

In

own check, draft, or bill, not paid or accepted before his death, is not a valid gift causa mortis; that is, the executor or administrator of the deceased may refuse to pay his note, and may revoke his bill or draft, and order the drawer not to pay it. But bank notes certainly, and probably all notes of other parties payable to bearer, or endorsed in blank, and perhaps all notes, bonds, and other written contracts of other parties, may be the subjects of a valid gift causa mortis, although the law on this subject cannot be regarded as entirely settled. One rule is perfectly certain: one who makes a gift in prospect of death may revoke his gift at any time during his life, although it be completed and executed by delivery and acceptance. Any such distribution of his property is, in the language of the law, ambulatory, or changeable at his own pleasure, so long as he remains alive; and it is sometimes said that his recovery does of itself revoke and annul such a gift made in prospect of death, because the cause and ground of it have ceased to exist. We should say, however, that if the giver, with full means of actual revocation, did not choose to revoke his gift, it became changed by his recovery from a gift causa mortis to a gift inter vivos. Within these rules and restrictions there seems to be no limit in law to the possible amount of a gift causa mortis. It should be added, that gifts in prospect of death are equally void as against existing creditors with gifts inter vivos.

GIGNOUX, FRANCISQUE RÉGIS, a French painter, born in Lyons in 1816. His art education was acquired chiefly in Paris, where he was under the instruction of Delaroche, Vernet, and other eminent masters. In 1840 he settled in New York, and soon after began to devote himself exclusively to landscape painting. His pictures embrace American scenery under many aspects and at all seasons of the year, winter scenes being favorite subjects with him. Among his best works are the "Dismal Swamp in Autumn," painted for the earl of Ellesmere; "Niagara Falls by Moonlight," in the Belmont collection, New York; and a large picture representing the same scene at sunrise in winter.

GIL Y ZARATE, ANTONIO, a Spanish dramatist, born Dec. 1, 1793. His first successful play, Un año despues de la boda ("A Year after Marriage"), was performed in Madrid in 1825. His most celebrated works are his tragedy Guzman el bueno, and Carlos II. el hechizado, a romantic tragedy. He has also written a Manual de literatura, of which a 2d edition appeared in Madrid in 1851. A collection of his dramatic works was published in Paris in 1850. In 1832 -5 he was editor of the newspaper Boletin de comercio, and is at present chief of a bureau in the ministry of the interior, and professor of literary history in the lyceum of Madrid.

GILA, a river of New Mexico and Arizona, and the principal tributary of the Colorado of the gulf of California. Its sources are in the Mogollon and White mountains (Sierra Blanca), in about lat. 34° N. It flows first S., and then

W. to its junction with the Colorado. For more than one-half its entire length, which is about 450 m., it passes through mountains, and in some places is unapproachable, being buried between walls of perpendicular rock nearly 1,000 feet in height. It emerges from the mountains in long. 111° 25′ W., about 25 m. from the villages of the Pimo Indians, after which its course is through an open and comparatively level country to its termination. Its width is scarcely less than 100 feet for half its length, and in many places it expands to from 200 to 300 feet. It has a depth of from 2 to 3 feet, and might be navigated with flat boats as far as the mouth of the Salinas, about 180 m. from the Colorado. There is but little arable land in the valley of the Gila; the best and largest portion is that occupied by the Coco-maricopa and Pimo Indians, which is about 15 m. in length and from 2 to 4 in width. This valley, although occupied by the villages of these semi-civilized tribes, and intersected by the irrigating canals dug by them, is capable of sustaining 5 times their number, if sufficient water could be procured. At times the whole of the water of the Gila is exhausted by these Indians for the purposes of irrigation. Further E., among the mountains, are many luxuriant valleys where formerly existed a considerable population, as is evident from the traces of cultivation and the ruins which remain. Much of the valley or basin of the river below the Pimo villages is filled with sand and incapable of being cultivated. A few m. W. of the Pimo villages the river Salinas discharges itself. This is a clear stream, and more than double the capacity of the Gila. The bottom lands where it joins the Gila are several miles wide, and are well adapted to agriculture. From this valley to the Colorado there is little arable land. Here there is a considerable delta formed by the two rivers, from 3 to 4 m. wide, and thickly covered with wood. The tributaries of the Gila are, on the N., the San Francisco, Benita, and Salinas rivers; on the S., the Suanca or Sauz and the San Pedro; all are small streams except the Salinas. The Santa Cruz river, after a course of nearly 100 m., is lost in the sands of the desert, and seldom discharges its waters into the Gila. The valley of the Gila is in many places covered with the mezquite and cottonwood, and on its margin with the willow. Several varieties of the cactus, including the pitahaya (cereus giganteus), grow on the table-land near the river, but never in the alluvial lands in its valley. The ruined edifices, broken pottery, and traces of irrigating canals found along this river, show that its former population was much larger than at present. One of these structures, 12 m. E. of the Pimo villages, is 3 stories high and in good preservation. The others are in a ruined state, and present little more than dilapidated walls, tumuli, mounds, &c., of crumbling adobe, of which the buildings were constructed.

GILBERT, SIR HUMPHREY, an English navigator, half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, born in

Dartmouth in 1539, lost at sea in 1584. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, followed the military profession, and was knighted in 1570 for his services in Ireland. Being interested in geographical discovery, both from love of fame and of adventure, he sailed in 1583 with 5 vessels and 260 men prepared to take possession of the northern parts of America, and founded a colony in Newfoundland, which, however, did not prove permanent. On the return his vessel, of only 10 tons burden, foundered in a storm, and all on board perished. He published a book in 1576, entitled "A Discourse of a Discovery for a new Passage to Cathay," to prove the possibility of a N. W. passage to India. He has been called the "father of western colonization."

GILBERT, WILLIAM, an English physician, born in Colchester in 1540, died Nov. 30, 1603. He was educated at Cambridge and Oxford, and was physician in ordinary to Queen Eliza beth. He is chiefly remarkable as the author of a work on magnetism (London, 1600), which, according to Prof. Whewell," contains all the fundamental facts of the science so fully examined that even at this day we have little to add to them."

GILBERT ISLANDS, or KINGSMILL GROUP, a cluster of 15 coral islands belonging to the Mulgrave archipelago in the Pacific, between lat. 1° S. and 2° 30′ N., long. 172° and 174° 30′ E.; pop. estimated at 60,000. The largest are Taputeonea or Drummond's, and Taraway or Knox's islands, the former 30 m long by about or of a mile wide, and the latter 20 m. long. Almost the only cultivated products are the cocoanut and pandanus, which form the staples of food, and a species of taro (arum cordifolium), highly prized by the natives. The breadfruit is found on the northern, though not on the southern islands. The climate is equable, and though warm is not very oppressive. The inhabitants resemble the Malays. They are well made, slender, of middle size, somewhat darker than the Tahitians, with noses slightly aquiline, large mouths, full lips, small teeth, prominent cheek bones, and fine glossy black hair and beards. The women are much smaller in proportion than the men, and have slight figures, delicate features, and some marks of beauty. The people are divided into 3 classes, chiefs, landholders, and slaves. There is no general authority recognized throughout the group, but there are several kings, one of whom rules over 3 of the islands, while others are scarcely respected in any. In some places the government is administered by public assemblies. The islanders are sullen, passionate, cruel, treacherous, and dishonest. They are fond of war, and are much given to suicide, but they are kind to their children, generous, hospitable, and more considerate of women than is usual among savages. They are said to eat human flesh occasionally, but are not habitual cannibals. Their clothing is made of the leaves of the pandanus; their houses and canoes, though constructed of rude materials, are superior in size, strength, and ele

gance to any others in the Pacific. The islands have several good harbors, but are seldom visited by vessels.

GILDAS, surnamed "the Wise," the most ancient native historian of Britain, born, according to some authorities, in 493, according to others, in 511, died in 570 or 590. He was the son of Caw, a British prince who emigrated to Wales to avoid subjection to the Anglo-Saxons, and the Welsh bard Aneurin is supposed to have been either the same person or his brother. His only complete work extant is a short Latin composition on British history, entitled De Calamitate, Excidio, et Conquestu Britannia, in which he mourns over the ruin of his country, and inveighs against the British kings and clergy. It was first published by Polydore Virgil in 1525; later editions are by Gale (London, 1684-'7), and by Stevenson, under the care of the English historical society (London, 1838), which is much the best. Translations have been published by Habington (London, 1688), and by Dr. Giles in "Bohn's Antiquarian Library" (1848). It is said by Wright that there is no independent authority for the personal existence of Gildas, or for the historical truth of the work attributed to him, which he regards as a forgery of the 7th century.

GILDING, covering the surfaces of bodies with a thin coating of gold, thus giving to them a highly ornamental exterior, that is not liable to tarnish. This method of economizing the precious metal, and imparting to solid bodies the appearance of being wholly composed of it, was practised at very remote periods. The sacred books allude to it; in Exod. xxvi. 29 there is a command to overlay boards and bars with gold. That the early Egyptians understood it well is evident from the gilding on the coffins of Theban mummies, in which the gold leaves resemble those now prepared. Homer makes mention of it, and the later Greeks thus decorated the exterior sculpture of their temples and statues. The Romans after the destruction of Carthage applied the process to ornamenting the ceilings of their public buildings, and at last of their private houses also. The thickness of the leaf is spoken of by Martial as like a vapor, and by Lucretius the substance is compared to a spider's web. From Pliny's account an ounce of gold was made into 750 leaves, each 4 fingers square. This is about 3 times the thickness of the leaf now in common use; but some qualities are so thin that 290,000 sheets make a pile only one inch in height; and specimens have been made only

500 of an inch thick, which is 1,200 times thinner than ordinary printing paper. In modern times the use of gilding in architecture is carried to the greatest extent by the nations of Chin-India or Further India. It is practised by them with great skill and in the most profuse manner.-Beside the method of gilding by covering with gold leaf, there are processes of modern invention, distinguished as chemical gilding, in which the gold is incorporated with