GIDDINGS
GIMSON
least knew the opinions of the historians,
says that " his accuracy in statement of
facts is now admitted," and " in accuracy,
thoroughness, lucidity, and comprehensive
grasp of a vast subject the History is un
surpassable" (Diet. Nat. Biog.}. Gibbon s
chief error is, in fact, his leniency to
Christianity in ch. xv. It was neither so
idealistic nor so successful as he describes.
It may be added that Gibbon s erudition
was not confined to history. He studied
anatomy under Hunter, and devoted some
time to chemistry. Many of the stories
told of him are clerical libels. He was an
admirable son, a kindly master, and a
devoted friend. D. Jan. 16, 1794.
GIDDINGS, Professor Franklin Henry,
A.M., Ph.D., LL.D., American sociologist. B. Mar. 23, 1855. Ed. Union College. He engaged in journalism, but was in 1888 appointed lecturer on political science at Bryn Mawr. In 1894 he passed to the chair of sociology at Columbia University, which he still occupies. Professor Giddings is a member of the New York Board of Education, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the American Economic Association ; and he has been President of the American Socio logical Society (1910-11) and the Inter national Institute of Sociology (1913). His Rationalist views are best seen in his Pagan Poems (1914), but his chief works are sociological (especially The Principles of Sociology, 1896 ; The Elements of Socio logy, 1898; and Inductive Sociology, 1901). Professor Giddings is recognized to be one of the foremost sociologists of America.
GIFFORD, Lord Adam, founder of the Gifford Lectures. B. Feb. 29, 1820. Ed. privately and at Edinburgh Institution. He was apprenticed to a solicitor in 1835, but chose to become an advocate, and was called to the Bar in 1849. He became Advocate Depute in 1861, sheriff of Orkney in 1865, and judge of the Court of Session, with the title of Lord Gifford, in 1870. He frequently lectured, and at his death he
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left 80,000 to the Scottish Universities for
lectures to promote the study of natural
theology. In his Lectures Delivered on
Various Occasions (privately printed in Ger
many, 1889) Lord Gifford is a Pantheist,
regarding Christianity as one of many
great religions. He places Emerson at the
head of recent religious writers (" There
now lives no greater English writer than
E. W. Emerson "), and in the fourth lecture
he follows Spinoza (" We are parts of the
Infinite literally, strictly, scientifically,"
p. 157). D. Jan. 20, 1887.
GILMAN, Charlotte Perkins, Ameri can writer. B. July 3, 1860. In 1884 Miss C. Beecher (who adopted her mother s name, Perkins) married W. Stetson, and under the name of Mrs. Stetson she won a high reputation in the American and inter national Women Movement. She wrote and lectured also on other social questions. In 1909 she founded, and still edits, The Forerunner, in which her Eationalist views are freely expressed. Her chief book is Women and Economics (1898), one of the ablest works of Feminist literature. Her sane and genial philosophy of life is still an important influence among the advanced women of America.
GIMSON, Ernest William, artist and architect. B. Dec. 21, 1864, fourth son of Josiah Gimson. He was articled to a Leicester architect, but in 1885 he met William Morris, on whose recommenda tion he went to study architecture in London. He continued in association with Morris, and served on the committees of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. In 1893 he settled in Glou cestershire, at Shepperton, and, without abandoning architecture, devoted himself especially to producing artistic furniture and metal work. He trained the villagers to do beautiful work. Professor Lethaby says : "He belonged to the apostolic suc cession Ruskin, Morris, Webb one of
the hidden forces of his day." His death 288
