Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/135

Rh Majuma Gaza: or Port of Gaza, now called el Mineh, which in the was a separate  and episcopal see, under the title Constantia. or Limena Gaza. In the there were numerous families of Samaritans in Gaza, but they became extinct at the commencement of the present century. Hashem, an ancestor of Mahomet, lies buried in the town. On the east are remains of a race- course, the corners marked by granite shafts with Greek inscriptions on them. To the south is a remarkable hill, quite isolated and bare, with a small mosque and a grave- yard. It is called el Muntar, “ the watch tower," and is supposed to be the mountain “before (or facing) IIebron,” to which Samson carried the gates of Gaza (J udg. xvi. 3). The bazaars of Gaza are considered good. An extensive pottery exists in the town, and black earthenware peculiar to the place is manufactured there. The climate is dry and comparatively healthy, but the summer temperature often Exceeds 110° Fahr. The surrounding country is partly cornland, partly waste, and is inhabited by wandering Arabs. From the to the  Gaza was an episcopal see of the Latin Church, but even as late as the  an idol named Marnas was worshipped in the town.  GAZA, (c.–), one of the leaders of the revival of learning in the, was born at Thessalonica about the year . On the capture of his native city by the Turks in  he removed to Mantua, where he rapidly acquired a competent knowledge of Latin under the teaching of Victorino de Feltre, supporting himself meanwhile by giving lessons in Greek, and by copying manuscripts of the ancient classics. About he became professor of Greek in the newly founded university of Ferrara, to which students in great numbers from all parts of Italy were soon attracted by his fame as a teacher. He had taken some part in the councils which were held in Ferrara, Florence , and Siena , with the object of bringing about a reconciliation between the Greek and Latin Churches 3 and in, responding to the invitation of Pope Nicholas V., he went to Rome, where he was for some employed by his patron in making Latin translations from Aristotle and other Greek authors. From to he lived at Naples under the patronage of Alphonso the Magnanimous 5 and shortly after  he was appointed by Cardinal Bessarion to a beneﬁce in the south of Italy, where the later of his life were spent, and where he died at an advanced age in. Gaza stood high in the opinion of most of his learned contemporaries, but still higher in that of the scholars of the succeeding generation. His Greek grammar, in Greek (ypajtpanKﬁs doaywyijs BLIBALO. 3), ﬁrst printed at Venice in, and afterwards partially translated by Erasmus in , although in many respects defective, especially in its syntax, has done good service in the cause of sound learning. His translations were very numerous, including the Pro- blemata, De IIistoria Animalium, De Partibus Animalimn, and De G'eneratione Animal-tum of Aristotle, the Historic: Plantan and De Ca usis Plantarmn of Theophrastus, the Problemam of Alexander Aphrodisias, the De Instrztendis Aciebus of iElian, and some of the Homilies of Chrysostom. He also turned into Greek Cicero’s De Senect-ute and .S'omnium .S'cz'pionis,—with much success, in the opinion of Erasmus; with more elegance than exactitude, according to the colder judgment of modern scholars. He was the author also of two small treatises entitled De J]!€il3ib2l8 and De Origine Turcarum.  GAZELLE. See.  GAZETTE,, is the otﬁcial newspaper of the Government, and is published every Tuesday and Friday. It contains proclamations, orders, regulations, and other acts of state, and is received as evidence thereof in legal proceedings. It also contains notices of proceedings in bankruptcy, dissolutions of partnership, «Sac. The Bank- ruptcy Act, 1869, requires the order of adjudication to be published in the G zette, and makes the Gazette conclusive evidence of adjudication. Other statutes, dealing with special subjects, have similar provisions. Unless by virtue of such statutes, the Gazette is not evidence of any- thing but acts of state. The Scotch law of evidence would appear not to be so stringent. Gazettes are also published in Edinburgh and Dublin.  GEBER. After all the research and criticism that have been expended on this the ﬁrst and most interesting personage in the modern history of chemistry, little is deﬁnitely known about him, and about the origin of the works which pass under his name. It has been a very general tradition to regard Geber as an Arabian, but until the publication in recent by European scholars of the works of Arabian historians and bibliographers, the probable source of the tradition has not been known. It seems to be pretty generally believed that the Geber of Western Europe is the same as the person who is called in full Abu Musa Dschabir (or J abir) Ben Haijan Ben Abdallah el—Suﬁ el—Tarsusi el-Kuﬁ, who was reckoned the most illustrious of the alchemists by the Arabs, and who is mentioned in the Kitab—al—Fi/zrist, by Ibn Khallikan , by Haji Khalfa , and other writers. If this be correct, Geber must have ﬂourished in the, for, according to Haji Khalfa, Dschabir Ben Haijan died in the, which corresponds with the year beginning October 19, This date is incidentally conﬁrmed by other writers, though there are difficulties arising from the date of his teacher Kalid Ben J ezid, and his patron Dschaafar ess-Sadik. His birthplace was Tarsus, or, as others say, Kufa; and he is said to have resided at Damascus and at Kufa. This account, though apparently the most trustworthy, does not agree with the statements of D’Herbelot, quoted seemingly from native sources, that Geber was born at Harran in Mesopotamia, was a Sabaean by religion, and lived in the. Nor does it agree with that of Leo Africanus, who in gave a description of the Alcheniical Society of Fez, in Africa, and told how the chief authority of that society was a certain Geber, a Greek, that had apostatized to Mahometanism, and lived after Mahomet. Leo’s story has circulated very widely, but its accuracy has been impugned by Reiske and Asseman, and the works of both Leo and D’Herbelot have been rejected as authorities by \Viistenfeld. Other writers have tried to show that Geber was a native of Spain, or at least lived at Seville, but this has probably arisen from confusing Geber the chemist with other persons of the same or similar name. From the doubt encircling the personality of Geber, some have gone the length of questioning whether such a person ever existed but in name, and this view has been again expressed by Steinschneider, who mentions Abu Musa Dschabir Ben Haiyan, commonly called Geber, an almost mythical person of the earliest period of Islam, renowned as au alchemist.” \Vhile Steinschneider here exhibits notable scepticism with respect to Dschabir’s very existence, he exhibits equal credulity in his belief that this mythical Dschabir is identical with Geber. In the present state of the question there is no alternative but to accept the account given in the Fihrist, and admit the possibility of Dschabir and Geber being One and the same. Conﬁrmation of this view is to be sought in a comparison of the works ascribed to Geber with those bearing the name of Dschabir. The latter are divisible into two classes, those mentioned in Arabic bibliographies, and those existing in manuscript in European libraries. To Dschabir is assigned the authorship of an immense