Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/662

628 his learning. I represented to him that Nicolas de Lyra had been a very able theologian, and St. Au- gustine, a doctor of the church illustrious for his doctrine and sanctity, but that both had shown themselves bad geographers, for the Portuguese had reached a point on the other hemisphere where they had lost sight of the polar star and had dis- covered another at the opposite pole, that they had found all the countries under the torrid zone well populated." This argument produced its effect, and Columbus was heard. Geraldini was employed in diplomatic services in nearly all the courts of Europe, and his zeal in the service of the state was rewarded first with the bishopric of Volterra and Monte Corvino, and finally with that of Santo Do- mingo, which he was the first to hold. He em- barked in 1520 at Seville to take possession of his see. He founded schools and seminaries in the island, and did everything in his power for its spiritual and temporal welfare. Geraldini wrote a great many works on theology, collections of let- ters, exhortations addressed to Christian princes against the Turks, poetry, sacred and profane, a life of Catharine of Aragon in hexameter verse, treatises on polities and education, and finally an account of his voyage to the Antilles, which ap- peared under the title " Itinerarium ad regiones sub equinoctiali plaga constitutas Alexandri Ger- aldini Amerini, episcopi civitatis S. Dominici apud Indos occidentales " (Rome, 1631). This work gives a detailed narrative of the voyage of Geraldini along the coast of Africa to the mouth of the Senegal and thence to Santo Domingo. The editor adds a sketch of the lite of the author and a list of his works, printed and in manuscript. The best part of the work is the description of Santo Do- mingo, the condition of which at the time it was written being vividly set forth. We learn from it that already the native race had been almost entire- ly exterminated. In one of the letters annexed to his relation Geraldini announces that he is sending, among other rarities, two turkeys. This letter was written in 1533. and is consequently prior to the work of Oviedo, who had been regarded as the first author who mentioned these fowls. Geraldini wrote a curious treatise entitled " De viris Geral- dinis qui in obsequio apostolicae Sedis per varia tempora insudarunt," which Alacci read in manu- script and speaks of in his "Apes urbana?."

GERARD, James Watson, lawyer, b. in New York city in 1794 ; d. there, 7 Feb., 1874. He was graduated at Columbia in 1811, and soon after leaving college became enrolled in a volunteer com- pany called "'The Iron Greys," which was raised for the defence of the harbor tluring the war with Great Britain. He then studied law with George Griffin, and practised in New York till 18C9, be- coming distinguished in his profession. Mr. Gerard early turned his attention to schemes of philan- thropy. In 1823 he became a member of the " Society for tlie prevention of pauperism," and outlined and urged on the public mind a plan for the establishment of the institution now known as the " House of refuge for juvenile delinquents," the incorporation of which he, in connection with others, procured in March, 1824. This was the first institution of the kind in the United States. He was the first person in this country to advocate a uniformed police. By letters, addresses, and per- sistent action, he so impressed the importance of the change on the community that the uniformed system was adopted, and has since been generally employed in the various cities of the United States. During the last twenty years of his life he was ac- tively engaged in the cause of public education, and held the office of trustee or school-inspector for most of that period. Mr. Gerard invariably declined to be a candidate for any other office. — His son, James Watson, lawyer, b. in New Yoi'k city, about 1822, was graduated at Columbia in 1843. He was active in the profession of the law until 1880, and successively occupied the offices of trustee and inspector of public schools. He was subsequently a state senator in 1876-'7. He is the author of several minor satirical works, including " The Pelican Papers " (New York, 1879). and of two legal works, " Title of the Corporation and others to the Streets, Wharves. Lands, and Fran- chises in the City of New York" (1872). and " Titles to Real Estate in the State of New York " (1873). He has also published an historical work called " The Peace of Utrecht " (1885), and has written many historical papers and delivered ad- dresses chiefly relating to the early colonial history of the state of New York.

GERARD DE RAYNEVAL, Conrad Alexandre, diplomatist, b. in France ; d. in Strasburg in April, 1790. He was one of the secretaries of Count de Vergennes, foreign minister under Louis XVI., and as such arranged and signed the treaty between France and the United States, 6 Feb., 1778. He was the first French minister accredited to the United States, reaching Piiiladelphia early in July of that year. lie remained in this country until September, 1779, when he was succeeded "by the Chevalier de la Luzerne. In the discussions with congress in 1779 with regard to the conclusion of a treaty of peace with Great Britain, and arranging the boundaries of the new republic, the Chevalier Gerard bore an important part, enjoying the full confidence of Count de Vergennes. In 1779 he re- ceived the degree of LL. D. from Yale.

GERHARD, William Paul, sanitary engineer, b. in Hamburg, Germany, 30 July, 1854. He was educated at the gymnasium in Kiel and at the polytechnic school in Carlsruhe, where he was graduated as a civil engineer in 1875. After a year of military service he became an assistant engineer in Hamburg. In September, 1877, he came to the United States and settled in St. Louis, Mo., where he held the offices of assistant engineer in the department of public works, then in the department of water-works, and finally in the sewer department. During 1880 he assisted James B. Eads in the preparation of the plates of the &ldquo;History of the St. Louis Bridge,&rdquo; and in 1881 became chief assistant to George E. Waring in Newport. He removed to New York in 1883, where for two years he was chief engineer of the Durham house-drainage company, and since has practised sanitary engineering, devoting himself particularly to the sanitation of buildings and towns. He is a member of scientific organizations both in Germany and in the United States. During 1885-'6 he edited &ldquo;Building,&rdquo; and, besides articles on his specialties contributed to technical journals, he has published reports on the sanitary plumbing and drainage of tenement-houses in the annual volumes of the Rhode Island and Connecticut state boards of health. His larger works include &ldquo;Anlagen von Haus-Entwässerungen&rdquo; (Berlin, 1880); &ldquo;Diagram for Sewer Calculations&rdquo; (London and New York, 1882); &ldquo;House-Drainage and Sanitary Plumbing&rdquo; (New York, 1883); &ldquo;Hints on the Drainage and Sewerage of Dwellings&rdquo; (1884); &ldquo;Sanitary Questions&rdquo; (1884); &ldquo;Prinzipien der Haus-Kanalization&rdquo; (Leipsic, 1885); &ldquo;A Guide to Sanitary House-Inspection&rdquo; (New York, 1885); &ldquo;The Prevention of Fire&rdquo; (1886); &ldquo;Notes embodying the Recent Practice in Sanitary Drainage of