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778 GESENIUS GETHSEMANE Leipsic, 1871) these two works are comprised under the general title Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung. In them the author traces the de- velopment of poetry in its relations to the pro- gress of civilization and of society. He lost his chair at Gottingen in 1837 hy signing the fa- mous university protest against the abolition of the Hanoverian constitution. In 1838 he made another journey to Italy, renewed his historical researches at Rome, and returned to Heidelberg, where he became honorary pro- fessor in 1844. He now took part in the po- litical affairs of Germany, advocating liberal ideas. In 1847 he was one of the founders of the Deutsche Zeitung, the organ of the con- stitutional party, and in 1848 was elected a member of the Germanic diet, and subsequent- ly of the parliament at Frankfort, and had a prominent part in forming the constitution eventually adopted by the latter assembly. In 1850 he went to England, where he made un- successful efforts in behalf of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and on his return to Heidelberg resumed his historical writings. Among his later works are : Shakspeare (4 vols., 1849-'50); Geschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (8 vols., 1855-'66, besides an introductory volume published in 1854), be- ginning with the fall of Napoleon and brought down to the year 1831 ; Handel und ShaTc- speare (1868); and Handel's Oratorientexte, published posthumously by his son in 1873. GESENIUS, Friedrieh Heinrieh Willielm, a Ger- man orientalist, born in Nordhausen, Feb. 3, 1786, died in Halle, Oct. 23, 1842. He studied at the universities of Helmstedt and Gottingen, and was appointed in 1806 magister legens at Gottingen, in 1809 professor of ancient liter- ature in the gymnasium of Heiligenstadt, in 1810 subordinate, and in 1811 ordinary pro- fessor of theology in the university of Halle, where he remained to the end of his life. De- voting himself to the study of the Semitic languages, and particularly of the Hebrew, Gesenius founded a new school of Biblical ex- egesis, chiefly based on an accurate, rational, and historico-critical study of philology. His works are: "Hebrew and Chaldaic Lexicon for the use of the Old Testament" (2 vols., Leipsic, 1810-'12; 4th German ed., 1834; 2d Latin ed., 1846; translated into English by J. W. Gibbs, Andover, 1824, and by Edward Rob- inson, Boston, 1836 ; new and greatly enlarged editions, 1850 and 1855); "Elementary Course of the Hebrew Language " ( 2 vols.), compri- sing a " Hebrew Grammar " (Halle, 1813 ; 16th ed. by Rodiger, Leipsic, 1851 ; translated into English by Moses Stuart, Andover, 1826, and by T. J. Conant, Boston, 1839), and a " Hebrew Reader" (Halle, 1814; several times repub- lished by different editors) ; " Critical His- tory of the Hebrew Language " (Leipsic, 1815 ; 2d ed., 1827) ; De Pentateuchi Samaritani Origine, Indole et Auctoritate (Halle, 1815); " Grammati co-critical System of the Hebrew Language" (2 vols., Leipsic, 1827); "Transla- tion of the Prophet Isaiah, with a Philologico- critico-historical Comment" (3 vols., Leipsic, 1820-'21) ; Scripturce Linguceque PJicunicm Monumenta (3 vols., Leipsic, 1837) ; and The- saurus Philologico-criticus Lingum Hebraicm et ChaldaiccB Veteris Testamenti (3 vols., Leip- sic, 1829-'53 ; part of vol. iii. by Rodiger). GESNER, Konrad TOD, a Swiss naturalist and philologist, born in Zurich, March 26, 1516, died there, Dec. 13, 1565. He studied at Zu- rich, Strasburg, Paris, Basel, and Montpellier, and was successively master of a school at Basel, teacher at Lausanne, and practising physician and professor at Zurich. His first important work was Bibliotheca Universalis (Zurich, 1545-' 9), containing the titles of all the books then known in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, with criticisms, summaries, and speci- mens. In 1555 appeared his Mithridates de Differentiis Linguarum, having accounts of 130 ancient and modern languages. His most important work, Historia Animalium, pub- lished between 1551 and 1556, is a summary of all that was then known of zoology. His Opera Botanica (published by Schmiedel, Nu- remberg, 1753-9) gives particular attention to the flower and the fruit, and suggests the possi- bility of a classification by means of the organs of fructification. GESSNER, Salomon, a Swiss painter and poet, born in Zurich, April 1, 1730, died there, March 2, 1788. His father attempted in vain to en- gage him in his own business of bookselling, and allowed him to follow his inclination for poetry and landscape painting. He resided successively at Berlin, Hamburg, and Zurich, first becoming known by his poem Die Nacht, which was followed by Daphnis, a pastoral in three cantos, by Idyllen, Der Tod Abels in prose, some moral tales and dramas, and lectures on landscaping. Some of the engravings with which he illustrated his poems are excellent. GETA, P. Septimins. See CAKACALLA. GETJD, a Thracian tribe mentioned by Hero- dotus and Thucydides as living S. of the Ister (Danube), and by later writers among the tribes N. of that river. Some critics regard them as identical with the Dacians, others with the Goths. Rawlinson, in his notes on Herodotus, favors the latter opinion, and points to the " striking analogy of the compounds Massa- getas, Thyssageta3, and Tyrigeta3, to the later names of Visigoths and Ostrogoths." GETHSEMANE (from Heb. gath sliemen, oil press), a garden or olive plot near Jerusalem, and across the brook Kedron, to which Jesus with his disciples often repaired, notably on the night of his betrayal. The brook Kedron runs through a deep ravine, parallel with and about 200 yards from the E. wall of Jerusa- lem. Immediately beyond it rises the steep side of Olivet, which is still cultivated in rude terraces. The garden or olive patch of Geth- semane must have been situated somewhere on the slope. The precise spot is still an open question. There is a modern garden in which