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GIBBET 312 GIBBONS GIBBET, a gallows on whicH the bodies of criminals who had been guilty of particularly atrocious crimes were suspended after execution, incased in an iron frame, near the spot where the crime was committed. This was done for the purpose of striking terror into the evil-minded. The practice, first recog- nized by law in 1752, was abolished in 1834. GIBBON, a genus of tailless anthro- poid apes, natives of the East Indies. They are nearly allied to the orangs and chimpanzees, but are of more slen- der form, and their arms so long as almost to reach the ground when they are placed in an erect posture; there are also naked callosities on the buttocks. In this respect they differ from the other anthropoid apes and are allied to some of the catarrhini; in other re- spects also the gibbons are the lowest among the anthropoid apes, and connect them with the catarrhini. The gibbons are inhabitants of forests, their long arms enabling them to swing themselves from bough to bough. They cannot, how- ever, move with ease or rapidity on the ground. The conformation of the hinder extremities adds to their difficulty in this, while it increases their adapta- tion to a life among the branches of trees, the soles of the feet being much turned inward. None of the gibbons are of large size. There are some 8 or 10 species. The common gibbon, or lar gib- bon, is found in some parts of India, and in more E. regions. The active gib- bon, found in Sumatra, is particularly remarkable for the power which it dis- plays of flinging itself from one tree to another. GIBBON, EDWARD, an English his- torian; born in Putney, April 27, 1737; studied at Westminster School, Magda- len College, Oxford, and Lausanne. On returning to England he prepared him- self for authorship. In 1763 he went to Italy; and while sitting amid the ruins of the Capitol at Rome, he con- ceived the idea of writing the history of the decline and fall of that city. In the meantime he joined M. Deyvur- dun, a Swiss scholar, in publishing a journal called "Literary Memoirs of Great Britain," which met with no suc- cess. In 1772 he began his celebrated history of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Previous to this under- taking Gibbon was chosen member of Parliament for Liskeard; and when hos- tilities commenced between England and France, in 1778, he was employed to draw up the manifesto on that occasion, after which he was made Commissioner of the Board of Trade, but lost his place on the change of administration in 1783. He then went to reside at Lausanne, where he remained till the French Rev- olution obliged him to return to Eng- land. He died in London, Jan. 16, 1794. GIBBON, PERCEVAL, an English novelist. He was born at Trelech, Wales, in 1879, and was educated at the Mora- vian School, Konigsfeld, Baden. After leaving school he joined the merchant marine and served on British, French, and American ships. As journalist and war correspondent he traveled in south, central, and east Africa, America, and Europe. His works include: verse, "African Items"; novels, "Souls in Bondage," "Adventures of Miss Greg- ory," "The Second-Class Passenger," with many contributions to English and American magazines. GIBBONS, HERBERT ADAMS, an American writer, born at Annapolis, Md., in 1880. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1902. He studied theolog:y and was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1908. From that year, however, he acted as corre- spondent for several papers in Turkey, Egypt, and the Balkan states. He was also correspondent to the "Century" and "Harper's" magazines. From 1910 to 1913 he was professor of history and political economy at Robert College, and in 1917- 1918 he was American lecturer for French foreign affairs ministry, in France. He was Spencer Trask lecturer at Princeton in 1919. His writings in- clude "The New Map of Europe" (1914); "The Foundation of the Otto- man Empire" (1915) ; "The New Map of Africa" (1916) ; "The New Map of Asia" (1919) ; and "France and Our- selves" (1920). GIBBONS, JAMES, an American prelate; born in Baltimore, Md., July 23, 1834; was taken to Ireland by his parents early in life. Returning to the United States in 1848 he settled in New ■Orleans; was educated at St. Charles College, Maryland, and at Mary's Sem- inary, Baltimore; was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in June, 1861; and appointed as assistant in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Baltimore. Later he became the private secretary of Arch- bishop Spalding, and chancellor of the diocese. In 1868 he was made vicar- apostolic of North Carolina, with the rank of bishop ; and in 1877 became Arch- bishop of Baltimore. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1886, being the second Roman Catholic in the United States to receive that promotion. In 1891 Cardinal Gibbons denounced Peter P. Cahensly's plan for racial U. S. church grouping,