GEEFS-GEHENNA. to that name beyond gratuitous conjecture. See Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. iii. part 2, pp. 179, 180. GEEFS, GUILLAUME, a Belgian sculptor, was born at Antwerp, on the 10th of September 1806. After studying there for some time, he went to Paris, where he worked in the studio of M. Ramey. During the revolution of 1830, he quitted Paris, and returned to Belgium, and soon after executed at Brussels a monument to the memory of the victims of the revolution of 1830. The most important of his other works are a Colossal Marble Statue of King Leopold;' 'Monument to Count Frederic de Merode,' now in the cathedral of Brussels; and 'Statue of General Belliard,' both of whom fell in the revolution. He also executed a group entitled 'Le Lion Amoureux,' which was shewn at the Great Exhibition in Paris (1855).-GEEFS, JOSEPH, younger brother of the preceding, and born in 1808, has also acquired a reputation as a sculptor. He has executed a number of statues, of which two, 'Metabus' and 'Thierry Maertens,' were shewn at the Exhibition in 1855. In general character, his works bear a considerable resemblance to those of his brother.-GEEFS, ALOYS, youngest brother of the preceding, is also known as a sculptor by means of hisEpaminondas Dying,' 'Beatrix,' and the bas-reliefs for the 'Rubens' of his eldest brother. He died in 1841. GEEL, JAKOB, a distinguished Dutch scholar, was born at Amsterdam in 1789, and educated at the Athenæum of that city, principally under Van Lennep. After living at the Hague from the year 1811 as a family tutor, he became second librarian at Leyden in 1823, and in 1833 head-librarian and honorary professor. He had made himself meanwhile known as a philologist by editions of Theocritus, with the Scholia (1820), of the Anecdota Hemsterhusiana (1826), of the Scholia in Suetonium of Ruhnken (1828), of the Excerpta Vaticana of Polybius (1829); and his Historia Critica Sophistarum Græcorum (1823) had called forth several treatises on the same subject from German philologists. In 1840, appeared his edition of the Olympicus of Dio Chrysostom, accompanied by a Commentarius de Reliquis Dionis Orationibus; and in 1846 he issued the Phænissa of Euripides, with a commentary, in opposition to Hermann. All these works, which are written in pure and pleasing Latin, are models of thorough scholarship, as well as of taste and method. G. contributed further to the revival of classical learning in the Netherlands by the establishment, along with Bak, Peerlkamp, and Hamaker, of the Bibliotheca Critica Nova, in 1825. The national literature is also indebted to him not only for the translation of German and English works into Dutch, but also for original treatises on various æsthetical subjects. He has, moreover, won the gratitude of the learned throughout Europe by his liberality as a librarian, and especially by his valuable Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum, qui inde ab Anno 1741 Bibliotheca Lugduni Batavorum accesserunt (1852). GEELO'NG, the second city of Victoria, in Australia, stands at the head of the westerly arm of Port Phillip. It is about 40 miles to the southwest of Melbourne, the capital of the colony, with which it has, since 1855, been connected by a railway, the intermediate space being said to be one of the finest levels for the purpose in the world. Telegraphic communication has also been established with Melbourne, Ballarat, and, since 1857, with the other gold-fields. Though the town is built on the harbour of Corio, yet the cargoes of large ships are discharged into lighters at a distance of six miles. In 1851, were discovered the gold-fields of the neighbourhood. Even before this, G. had become a flourishing place, as one of the principal seats of the wool trade. Between 1846 and 1851, the houses had increased from 257 to 1593, being more than sixfold in five years; while the inhabitants, multiplying in about the same proportion, gave the corresponding results of 1370 and 8291. Again, between 1851 and the beginning of 1854, the population had grown from 8291 to 20,115. Nor had the gold caused the wool to be neglected, of which, in 1853, the exportation amounted to 7,019,900 lbs., as against 9,870,731 sent from Melbourne itself. Before the close of 1860, the annual value of the rateable property was £130,674, yielding an assessment of £17,507, 08. 4d., or about 28. 8d. in the pound. During the year last mentioned, the shipping inwards comprised 179 vessels, and 31,285 tons; while, with respect to the shipping outwards, the corresponding returns were 174 and 32,939. GE'FLÉ, an important town of Sweden, chief town of the læn of the same name, is situated at the mouth of the river Gefle, on an inlet of the Gulf of Bothnia, about 100 miles north-north-west of Stockholm. The stream upon which it stands is divided into three branches, forming two islands, which are united by bridges with the right and left banks of the river, and form portions of the town. G. ranks third among the commercial towns of Sweden; Stockholm and Göteborg alone possessing a more extensive trade. The chief buildings are a gymnasium; a castle, imposingly situated; a courthouse, which is considered one of the finest in Sweden; a good public library, and an excellent harbour. G. carries on ship-building to some extent, and has manufactures of sail-cloth, linen, leather, tobacco, and sugar. Its exports are iron, timber, tar, flax, and linen; and its imports chiefly corn and salt. Pop. (1855) 9587. GEHE'NNA is the Greek form of the Hebrew Ge-hinnom ( Valley of Hinnom'), or Ge-ben-Hinnom (Valley of the Son of Hinnom). This valley, or rather gorge-for it is described as very narrow, with steep and rocky sides-lies south and west of the city of Jerusalem. Here Solomon built a high would appear to have become a favourite spot place for Molech (1 Kings xi. 7), and, in fact, G. with the later Jewish kings for the celebration of idolatrous rites. It was here that Ahaz and Manasseh made their children pass through the fire, according to the abomination of the heathen;' and at its south-east extremity, specifically designated Tophet (place of burning), the hideous practice of infant sacrifice to the fire-gods was not unknown (Jeremiah vii. 31). When King Josiah came forward as the restorer of the old and pure national faith, he 'defiled' the Valley of Hinnom by covering it with human bones, and after this it the city, into which its sewage was conducted, to be to have become the common cesspool of carried off by the waters of the Kidron, as well as a laystall, where all its solid filth was collected. Hence, it became a huge nest of insects, whose larvæ or "worms" fattened on the corruption.' It is also said that fires were kept constantly burning here, to consume the bodies of criminals, the carcasses of animals, and whatever other offal might be combustible. Among the later Jews, G. and Tophet came to be regarded as symbols of hell and torment, and in this sense the former word is frequently employed by our Saviour in the New Testament. For example, in Mark ix. 47, 48, he says: 'It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to appears GEIBEL GEJER. be cast into hell-fire [Gehenna]; where their worm Berlin Reform Society. Besides sermons, pamphlets, dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' GEIBEL, EMANUEL, one of the most popular of the living poets of Germany, was born at Lübeck, on the 18th October 1815. After receiving the rudiments of education at the high school of his native town, he completed his studies at the university of Bonn. In 1836, he went to Berlin, where he became acquainted with Chamisso, Gaudy, and Kugler. Two years afterwards, he obtained a tutorship in the family of the Russian ambassador at Athens, where he continued to prosecute his scientific and poetical studies. On his return to Lübeck in 1840, he worked up the material he had collected in Greece, and became, in addition, a diligent student of Italian and Spanish literature. Soon after the publication of his first poems, a pension of 300 thalers a year was bestowed upon him by the king of Prussia. G. now resided alternately at St Goar on the Rhine with Freiligrath, at Stuttgart, Hanover, Berlin, and Lübeck; till, in the spring of 1852, he was appointed professor of aesthetics in the university of Munich by the king of Bavaria. In conjunction with Curtius, he published his Classische Studien (Bonn, 1840), containing translations from the Greek poets. These were followed in the same year by his Gedichte (Berlin, 1840, 28th edit. 1852), the melody, artistic beauty, and decidedly religious tone of which, made them at once great favourites with the Germans. The results of his Spanish studies were the Spanischen Volkslieder und Romanzen (Berlin, 1843), which were followed by the Spanische Liederbuch (Berlin, 1852), published in conjunction with Paul Heyse. In 1857 appeared his tragedy of Brunehilde. His poems are distinguished by fervour and truth of feeling, richness of fancy, and a certain pensive melancholy, and have procured him a popularity-especially among cultivated women-such as no poet of Germany has enjoyed since the days of Uhland. GEIGER, ABRAHAM, rabbi in Breslau, was born at Frankfurt-on-the-Maine, May 24, 1810. According to old rabbinical practice, his teachers were his father and elder brother, till he reached the age of eleven. After that, having received a more regular education for some years, he went, in 1829, to the university of Heidelberg, and shortly afterwards to that of Bonn. While engaged there in the study of philosophy and of the Oriental languages, he gained a prize for an essay on the Jewish sources of the Koran, which at a later period appeared in print under the title, Was hat Mohammed aus dem Juden thum aufgenommen? (Bonn, 1833). In November 1832, he was called as rabbi to Wiesbaden, and there, under the impulse to the scientific study of Judaism which proceeded from Berlin, he devoted himself zealously to Jewish theology, especially in its relation to practical life. In 1835, he joined with several able men in editing the Zeitschrift für Jüdische Theologie. The spirit of inquiry, however, with which he discussed prevalent opinions and usages, brought him into collision with the conservative Jews, especially after 1838, when he became assessor of the rabbinate at Breslau; but the great majority of educated men in the sect continued attached to him. It was he who gave the first impulse to the celebrated assemblies of the rabbis, three of which have been held since 1844 at Brunswick, Frankfurt-on-the-Maine, and Breslau. At the second of these he was vice-president, and president at the third. Though G. thus took an active part in the reform movement, he could not abandon his historical point of view, which made him unwilling to break entirely with the past; and therefore he refused a call to be preacher to the and numerous contributions to the above-mentioned which are distinguished by thoroughness of investiperiodical, G. published some historical monographs, gation and many-sided learning. Among these may be mentioned the Melo Chofnajim (Berlin, 1840), on Joseph Salomo del Medigo, and the Hite Haamanim France. His Lehr- und Lesebuch zur Sprache der (Berlin, 1847), on the exegetical school of Northern Mischna (1845) also is of great value to the Oriental of Studien on Moses-Ben-Maimon; and in 1851, philologist. In 1850 appeared the first number a translation of the Divan of the Castilian Abu'l Hassan Juda ha-Levi, accompanied by a biography of the poet and explanatory remarks. some specimens of Jewish medieval apologetics, contributed to Breslauer's Jahrbuch in 1851-1852, G. has more recently published a work on the original text, and the translations of the Bible in their dependence on the development of Judaism Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel in ihrer Abhängigkeit von der inneren Entwickelung des Judenthums, Breslau, 1857). Besides GEILER VON KAISERSBERG, JOHANN, a famous pulpit-orator of Germany, was born at Schaffhausen, 16th March 1455; studied at Freiburg and Basel, where he obtained his degree of D.D.; and in 1478 became preacher in the cathedral of Strasburg, where he died, 10th March 1510. G. ranks among the most learned and original men of his age. His sermons, usually composed in Latin and delivered in German, are marked by great eloquence and earnestness; nor do they disdain the aids of wit, sarcasm, and ridicule. Vivid pictures of life, warmth of feeling, and a bold, even rough morality, are their leading characteristics. In fact, G.'s ethical zeal often urged him to a pungency of satire hardly in keeping with modern views of the dignity of the pulpit, but quite congruous with the taste of his own age. His style is vigorous, free, and lively, and in many respects he may be regarded as a sort of predecessor of Abraham a become very rare, may be mentioned Narrenschiff Of his writings, which have now (Lat., Strasb. 1511; Ger. by Pauli, 1520), comprising 412 sermons on Sebastian Brandt's (q. v.) Narrenschiff; Das Irrig Schaf (Strasb. 1510); Der Seelen Paradiess (Strasb. 1510); Das Schiff der Pönitenz und Busswirkung (Augsb. 1511); Das Buch Granatapfel (Strasb. 1511); Christliche Pilgerschaft zum Ewigen Vaterland (Basel, 1512); Das Evangelienbuch (Strasb. 1515); and Das Buch Von Sünden des Mundes (Strasb. 1518). Kaisersberg's Lehen, Lehren und Predigten (Erl. Compare Ammon's G. Von 1826), and Meick's Joh. G. Von Kaisersberg. Sein Leben und Seine Schriften in einer Auswahl (3 vols., Fkf. 1829). Sancta-Clara. GEJER, ERIC GUSTAF, one of the most distinguished historians of Sweden, was born at Ransätter, in the Swedish lan of Wermland, in 1783. He was sent, at the age of 16, to the university of Upsala; and in 1803 he competed successfully for the prize which was that year awarded by the Academy of Stockholm for the best essay on the life and character of the great Swedish admini strator, Sten Sture. This was the turning-point of his life, for from this period he began to devote himself with zealous industry to the study of the history of his native country. His assiduity was rewarded by his speedy nomination to a post in the Chamber of the National Archives, and in 1810 he was elected assistant to Fant, the professor of history in the university of Upsala, and in 1817, on the death of the latter, he succeeded to his chair. G.'s early lectures were listened to with the GELA-GELATIGENOUS TISSUES AND GELATINE. Syracuse itself fell into his hands, and was even made his principal residence, G. being committed to the government of his brother Hiero. After many vicissitudes during the Carthaginian wars in Sicily, it ultimately fell into decay. Its ruin was completed by Phintias, tyrant of Agrigentum, who, a little before 280 B. C., removed the inhabitants to a town in the neighbourhood, which he had founded, and to which he gave his own name. Its site is generally believed to be occupied by Terra Nova, at the mouth of the river now known as Fiume di Terranova. GELATI'GENOUS TISSUES AND GE'LA TINE. The gelatigenous tissues are substances chondrine is similarly obtained from the permanent cartilages, from bone-cartilage before ossification, from enchondromatous tumours, &c. profoundest interest, both by his students and the public at large, who crowded to his lecture-room; but at a subsequent period of his teaching, his popularity diminished in proportion to the increased profundity of his views; while the suspicion that he harboured sceptical notions in regard to the Trinity, brought him into disfavour with a certain portion of the community. These suspicions led to his denunciation to the university authorities; but the exammation to which the charges against him gave rise terminated in his acquittal, and were even followed by the offer of a bishopric, which, however, he declined. G. exercised a marked influence on the poetic no less than the historical literature of Sweden, and according to the testimony of his countrymen, his Sista Skalden, Vikingen, Odalbonden, and other heroic pieces, place him in the foremost rank of Swedish poets. He and his friends Adlerbeth, Tegner, and Nikander, adhered to the Gothic' school of poetry, which owed its several of their friends established as early as 1810, origin to the Society of the Goths,' which they and when they brought out in connection with it a magazine entitled the Iduna, in which first appeared several of G.'s best poems, and among other produc-scales of fishes, calves' feet, hartshorn, &c.; while tissue, white fibrous tissue, the air-bladder and tions of merit, the early cantos of Tegner's Frithiof. Great as is the value of G.'s historical works, he unfortunately did not complete any one of the vast undertakings which he planned. Thus, for instance, of the Svea Rike's Häjder, or Records of Sweden, which were to have embraced the history of his native country from mythical ages to the present time, he finished only the introductory volume. His next great work, Svenska Folkets Historia, which was intended to form one of the series of European histories, edited by Leo and Uckert, was not carried beyond the death of Queen Christina; yet incomplete as they are, these works rank among the most valuable contributions to Swedish history. To G. was intrusted the task of examining and editing the papers which Gustavus III. had bequeathed to the university of Upsala, with the stipulation that they were not to be opened for fifty years after his death. In fulfilment of his charge, G. arranged these papers in a work, which appeared in 1843 under the title of Gustaf III's efterlemnada Papper, and which, from the worthless nature of the contents, disappointed the expectations of the nation, who had been led to hope that their publication would reveal state secrets of importance. During the last ten years of his life, G. took an active part in politics; but although his political writings possess great merit, the very versatility of his powers diverted him from applying them methodically to the complete elaboration of any one great object. G. was known to his countrymen as a musician and composer of no mean order. He lived on terms of friendly intercourse with Bernadotte, and his numerous letters to the king form part of the Samlade Skrifter, or collective works, which have been published since his death by his son, who has appended to this edition, which was completed in 1853, an interesting biographical sketch of his distinguished father. G. died in 1847. GELA, in ancient times, a very important town, on the southern coast of Sicily, on the river of the same name. It was founded by a Rhodian and Cretan colony, 690 B. C. Its rapid prosperity may be inferred from the circumstance, that as early as the year 582 B. C., Agrigentum was founded by a colony from Gela. After Cleander had made himself tyrant in the year 505 B. C., the colony reached its highest pitch of power under his brother Hippocrates, who subdued almost the whole of Sicily, with the exception of Syracuse. Gelon, the successor of Hippocrates, pursued the same career of conquest, and such in the animal body, but is in all cases the result Carbon, Osseine. Gluten. Chondrine. 50:40 49-97 6.50 6.50 6-63 17.86 17:50 14:14 26.00 28.97 Oxygen with a little Sulphur, 25-14 Gluten, when perfectly pure and dry, is a tough, translucent, nearly colourless substance, devoid of odour and taste. It swells when placed in cold water, and loses its translucency; but in boiling water it dissolves, and forms a viscid fluid, which on cooling forms a jelly. A watery solution containing only 1 per cent. of gluten, gelatinises on cooling. This property is destroyed both by very prolonged boiling and by the action of concentrated acetic acid Gluten is insoluble in alcohol and in ether. A solution of gluten is abundantly precipitated by solutions of corrosive sublimate and of bichloride of platinum, as well as by infusion of galls, of which the active principle is tannin or tannic acid (the terms being synonymous). Tannic acid produces, even in very dilute solutions, a copious yellow or buff-coloured precipitate of tannate of gluten. The gelatigenous tissues unite in a similar manner with tannin; they extract it from its watery solutions, and form compounds with it which resist the action of putrefaction. It is thus that hides are converted into Leather (q. v.). The tests which we have mentioned also precipitate albumen, but gluten may be distinguished from albumen by its not being thrown down (as is the case with albumen) by the addition of ferro-cyanide of potassium together with a little acetic acid. The gelatinising property also serves to distinguish gluten when it amounts to 1 per cent. or more of the solution. On exposure to the atmosphere, gluten becomes GELATIGENOUS TISSUES-GELATINE. more rapidly putrid than almost any other animal substance. Under the influence of oxydising agents, it yields the same products as the proteine-bodies; treated with the mineral acids or with alkalies, it yields Glycocine (q. v.)-known also as glycine, glycocoll, and sugar of gelatine-Leucine (q. v.), and other products. Isinglass, which is prepared from the air-bladder of the sturgeon, &c., when boiled with water, furnishes gluten in a nearly pure state. Glue and size are two well known forms of impure gluten or gelatine. Chondrine resembles gluten in its physical properties, and especially in its property of gelatinising, It differs, however, slightly from it in chemical composition (see the above table), and in its behaviour towards reagents. For instance, acetic acid, alum, and the ordinary metallic salts of silver, copper, lead, &c., which produce no apparent effect on a solution of gluten, throw down a precipitate from a solution of chondrine; while, on the other hand, corrosive sublimate, which precipitates gluten freely, merely induces a turbidity in a solution of chondrine. We do not know much regarding the physiological relations of these substances. Gluten (according to Scherer) usually exists in the juice of the spleen, but in no other part of the healthy animal body; it is sometimes found in the blood in cases of leucocythæmia, in pus, and in the expressed juice of cancerous tumours. Chondrine has been found in pus. The gelatigenous tissues rank low in the scale of organisation, and their uses are almost entirely of a physical character. Thus they form strong points of connection for muscles (the tendons), they moderate shocks by their elasticity (the cartilages), they protect the body from rapid changes of temperature by their bad conducting power (the skin), and they are of service through their transparency (the cornea). GELATINE, in Technology. This term, although usually applied to only one variety of the substance, obtained by dissolving the soluble portion of the gelatinous tissues of animals, nevertheless properly belongs also to ISINGLASS and GLUE, which are modifications of the same material. Vegetable jelly is also analogous, and will be mentioned under this head. Gelatine and glue signify the more or less pure and carefully prepared jelly of mammalian animals, but the term isinglass is only applied to certain gelatinous parts of fishes, which from their exceeding richness in gelatine, are usually merely dried and used without any other preparation than that of minute division for the purpose of facilitating their action. GELATINE (proper) is prepared for commercial purposes from a variety of animal substances, but chiefly from the softer parts of the hides of oxen and calves and the skins of sheep, such as the thin portion which covers the belly, the ears, &c.; also from bones and other parts of animals. One of the best, if not the best of the varieties of gelatine manufactured in Great Britain, is that made by Messrs Cox of Gorgie, near Edinburgh, which is remarkable for its great purity and strength, or gelatinising power; they call it 'sparkling' gelatine from its beautiful bright transparency, and its purification is effected by certain processes which they have patented. The materials they use are carefully selected portions of ox and calf hides. Another preparation, made by Mr Mackay of Edinburgh (pharmaceutical chemist), is deserving of special mention, as it is prepared with the greatest care from calves'-feet, and is especially adapted for invalids. It is made on a limited scale, and only for a few leading chemists. The general method adopted with skin-parings or hide-clippings, is first to wash the pieces very carefully; they are then cut into small pieces and placed in a weak solution of caustic soda for a week of ten days, the solution being kept moderately warm by means of steam-pipes. When this process of digestion has been sufficiently carried on, the pieces of skin are then removed into an air-tight chamber lined with cement, and here they are kept for a time, determined according to the skill of the manufacturer and the kind of material employed, at a temperature of 70° F. They are next transferred to revolving cylinders supplied with an abundance of clean cold water, and afterwards are placed still wet in another chamber lined with wood, in which they are bleached and purified by exposure to the fumes of burning sulphur; they next receive their final washing with cold water, which removes the sulphurous acid. The next operation is to squeeze them as dry as possible, and transfer them to the gelatinising pots, which are large earthen vessels, enclosed in wooden cases, made steam-tight. Water is poured in with the pieces, and kept at a high temperature by means of the steam in the cases surrounding the pots. By this means the gelatine is quite dissolved out of the skin, and is strained off whilst still hot; it is poured out in thin layers, which as soon as they are sufficiently cooled and consolidated, are cut into small plates, usually oblong, and laid on nets, stretched horizontally, to dry. The cross-markings observable on the plates of gelatine, in the shops, are the marks left by the meshes of the nets. Another process, introduced by Mr Swineburne, consists in treating pieces of calf-skin by water alone, without the soda and sulphur processes; the pieces, after simple washing, being transferred at once to the pots to be acted upon by the steam; undoubtedly, this is the purest, but the expense of preparing it prevents its general use. Inferior gelatine is made from bones and other parts of animals, and it was stated by an eminent authority, that in Paris the enormous number of rats which are occasionally killed in the sewers and abattoirs, after being deprived of their skins, which are reserved for other purposes, are all used by the gelatine-makers. These materials are placed in cages of wire, which are placed in steam-tight boxes, where they are submitted to the direct action of steam of 223° F., but at a low pressure; and cold water, supplied by another pipe through the upper part of the box, is allowed to flow slowly and percolate through the contents of the cage, the water and condensed steam descend to the bottom charged with gelatine, and are drawn off by a stopcock placed there for the purpose. The French manufacturers succeed better than any others in clarifying these inferior gelatines, and they rarely make any others; they run their plates out very thin, which gives them greater transparency and apparent freedom from colour; and they colour them with most brilliant colours, and form very fine-rolled sheets, tempting the eye with an appearance of great delicacy and purity, which would at once disappear if the material were made up into the thicker plates of the British manufacturers. The purity of gelatine may be very easily tested; thus: pour upon dry gelatine a small quantity of boiling water, if pure it will form a thickish gluey colourless solution, free from smell; but if made of impure materials, it will give off a very offensive odour, and have a yellow gluey consistency. No article manufactured requires such careful selection of material and such nice and cleanly manipulation to insure a good marketable character; and those 659 GELATINE. anxious for purity should avoid all artificially that this combination, however, is threadlike in coloured varieties, however temptingly got up, its arrangement, and that the crossing threads form unless they are required for merely decorative a fine net-work through the fluid, which, in fallpurposes and not for food. For the value of gelatine as food, see DIET. ISINGLASS (supposed to be derived from the German Hausenblase, bladder of the sturgeon), the Ichthyocolla (ichthus, a fish; kolla, glue) of the classical and scientific writers, was formerly obtained only from the common sturgeon (accipenser sturio), and consisted of the dried air-bladder of the animal. The necessities of modern commerce have, however, led to the discovery, that the same part in many other fishes forms good isinglass; and instead of Russia, as formerly, being almost the only producing country, we have now large quantities from South America, chiefly imported from Maranham, some from the East Indies, the Hudson's Bay Territory, New York, and, owing to Professor Owen calling the attention of the Canadian Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851 to the subject, it is now brought in considerable quantities and of excellent quality from Canada, where it is likely to prove a source of profitable industry. ing, carries down all floating substances, which, by their presence, render the liquid cloudy; hence its great value in clarifying beer and other liquids. For this reason isinglass, which has been found the best gelatine for the purpose, is very largely consumed by brewers. Isinglass, strictly speaking, is not gelatine, but its only value is from the excessive proportion of gelatine held in the tissues of the organ which yields it, greatly enhanced by the ease with which it is abstracted from the membrane when compared with the complicated process necessary for separating and purifying the gelatine from the skins, &c., of other animals. When separated, however, the substances are identical in composition, and, if pure, are undistinguishable from each other. Besides the substances mentioned as yielding gelatine, formerly hartshorn shavings were used, and ivory turnings and saw-dust are still employed, both, however, chiefly for dietetic purposes for invalids; and various kinds of animal food are valued for the abundance of gelatine they The commercial varieties of this material are contain, as the Trepang and Beche de Mer (species numerous, and a thorough knowledge of them can of Holothuria), sharks' fins, fish-maws, ray-skins, only be obtained by considerable personal acquaint-elephant hide, rhinoceros hide, and the softer ance with them; therefore, their names only are given, with those of the producing animals: parts, all of which are luxuries amongst the Chinese, Accipenser Guldenstadtil. parts of the turtle, calves' head and feet, and many Accipenser Huso. 1st quality. 2d " Silurus Glanis (?) Accipenser Sturio (?) Probably a species of Probably a species Silurus. Probably a Accipenser. Gadus Merluccius. of GLUE differs only from gelatine in the care taken in its manufacture, and in the selection of the materials from which it is made; almost every animal substance will yield it, hence all kinds of animal refuse finds their way to the glue-makers' boilers. Nevertheless, the impossibility of preserving, for any length of time, the materials required for this manufacture, renders it necessary to adopt some system in choosing and preserving them, until sufficient quantities are collected, without fermentation or decomposition. Hence the refuse of tanneries, consisting of the clippings of hides, hoofs, ear and tail pieces of ox, calf, and sheep are preferred, because they can be dressed with lime, species of which removes the hair, and acts as an antiseptic. For this purpose, they are placed in tanks with quicklime and water for two or three weeks, during which the lime is several times renewed, and the pieces frequently turned over. They are afterwards washed and dried, and are ready for use by the glue-maker, who usually gives them another slight lime-dressing, and subsequently washes them; they are afterwards exposed to the action of the air for a time, to neutralise the caustic lime. When well-drained, the pieces are placed in flat-bottomed Copper-boilers, which have a perforated false bottom placed a little distance above the true one, to prevent the burning of the materials, and which have been supplied with rain or other soft water up to two-thirds the depth of the boiler, the pieces being piled up to some height above the top of the open boiler. The whole is kept at a gentle boiling heat until all the gelatinous part has dissolved out, and the mass of material has sunk down into the fluid. of small quantities, the operator knows the fluid The boiling is sustained until, by repeated trials is of the right consistency, when it is drawn off carefully into the congealing boxes, and fresh Besides these now well-known commercial varieties, others are occasionally met with, as the Manilla, in thin cakes; the Para, which is the most remarkable of all, resembling grapes of a reddish-brown colour, growing from a straight thick stem; these are the dried ova of the Sudis gigas, a large fish common in the mouths of the Amazon. An inferior kind is also made of cod-sounds and sole-skins, sufficiently good, however, to be used in fining beer and other liquids. One of the qualities of gelatine is its power to form chemical combinations with certain organic matters; hence, when it is mixed and dissolved in a fluid containing such matters, it combines, and the compound is precipitated. It would appear So called from the bladder being purposely bent into the form of a staple in drying. |