Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/362

LEFT GETA 306 GEYSER less. Carnivorous: Bear, 6 months; lion, 108 days; puma, 79 days; fox. wolf, and dog, 62-63 days; cat, 55 or 56 days. Pouched animals: Kangaroo, 39 days; opossum, 26 days. Cetaceous animals: Greenland whale, about 10 months. The most common duration for the varieties of monkeys is 7 months. Oviparous an- imals: The goose sits 30 days; swan, 42 days; hens, 21 days; ducks, 30 days; pea-hens and turkeys, 28 days ; canaries, 14 days; pigeons, 21 days; parrots, 40 days. The periods are subject to con- siderable variation, especially in do- mestic animals, and various conditions modify the period, of which the above are only the averages. GETA (je'ta), SEPTIMUS, second son of the Emperor Severus; born A. D. 189, and was brother of the infamous Cara- calla, with whom he was associated in the empire on the death of his father. Caracalla, who envied his virtues and was jealous of his popularity, after hav- ing endeavored to effect his death by poison, murdered him, and wounded their mother, who was attempting to save him, A. D. 211. GET.ffl (je'te), a people of Thracian extraction, first mentioned as dwelling on the right bank of the Danube, but in the middle of the 4th century B. C. they crossed the river and settled in Tran- sylvania and Wallachia. They were con- quered by Darius Hystaspes in 515 B. C, and then accompanied him in his cam- paign against the Scythians. Both Alex- ander the Great, in 335, and Lysimachus, in 292, made unsuccessful attempts to subdue them. The Geta°, as distinct from the Dacians, sided with Octavius against Antony, and during the greater part of the 1st century after Christ continued to harass the Roman legions. In 106 A. D. the Dacians and Getae were sub- dued by Trajan, their country being added to the empire. Subsequently the Getse became fused with the Goths, who invaded their lands, and afterward carried many of them with them in their W. migrations. See Jats. GETHSEMANE (geth-sem'a-ne), an olive garden or orchard near Jerusalem, memorable as the scene of the last suf- ferings of our Lord. The traditionary site of this garden places it on the E. side of the city and a very little beyond the Kedron, near the base of Mt. Olivet. GETTYSBURG, BATTLE OF, a battle fought July 1-3, 1863, between the Union army under General Meade, and the Confederates under General Lee. During May the armies lay fronting each other upon the Rappahannock. Early in June Lee began his movement for the invasion of Pennsylvania, crosS' ing the Potomac on the 24th and 25th, and reaching Chambersburg, Pa., on the 27th. General Hooker, then in command of the Army of the Potomac, moved in the same general direction, but on the 28th was relieved, and the command given to Meade. In order to prevent his communications from being severed, Lee turned back toward Gettysburg to give battle. Meade had intended to give battle at a spot several miles from Gettysburg, near which was, however, a small por- tion of his army. This came into colli- sion a little before noon, July 1, with the advance of Lee, and was forced back, taking up a strong position on Cemetery Hill, in the rear of Gettysburg. Han- cock, who had been sent forward to examine the position, reported that Gettysburg was the place at which to receive the Confederate attack, and Meade hurried his whole force to that point. The action on the second day, July 2, began about noon with an at- tempt made by Lee to seize Round Top, a rocky hill from which the Union posi- tion could be enfiladed. When this day's fighting closed Lee was convinced that he had greatly the advantage, and he re- solved to press it the next day. On the morning of July 3 an attempt was made upon the extreme Union right, but re- pelled. The main attack on the center was preluded by a cannonade from 150 guns, which was replied to by 80, little injury being inflicted by either side. About noon the Union fire was slackened in order to cool the guns, and Lee, think- ing that the batteries were silenced launched a column of 15,000 or 18.000 against the Union lines. Some of this column actually surmounted the low works, and a brief hand-to-hand fight ensued. But the column was practically annihilated, only a small portion escap- ing death or capture. The forces on each side were probably about 80,000, though all were not really engaged. No official report of the Confederate loss was ever published; the best estimates put it at about 18,000 killed and wounded, and 13,600 missing, most of them prisoners. The Union loss was 23,187, 16,543 of whom were killed and wounded. GEYSER (gl'zer) (Icelandic geysa = to gush), in geology, an intermittent hot spring, the most notable specimens being those in the Yellowstone region of the Rocky Mountains and those of the S. W. division of Iceland, about 30 miles from Mount Hecla. Nearly 100 of the latter are said to break out within a circle of 2 miles. Few of them play longer than five or six minutes at a time, though sometimes they go on for half an hour. The largest is called the Great Geyser.