Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/458

442 GERBA or, German Dsc/u’rba, an island off the African coast in the Gulf of ( :abes, belonging to the regency of Tunis. It is ﬂat and well wooded with date palms, has an area of 425 square miles, and contains a population of 30,000. Most of the inhabitants are of Berber origin, though a certain proportion have adopted the Arabic language. About 5000 Jews live apart in villages of their own, and a number of European merchants are settled in the chief town of Haumt-es-Suk for the purposes of trade. The island has a considerable reputation for the manufac- ture of the woollen tissues interwoven with silk which are known as burnous stuffs ; a market for the sale of sponges from the neighbouring seas is held from November till March; and a good trade is maintained in the export of dates and other fruits. Gerba is the Lothophagitis or Lotus- eaters’ Island of the Greek and Roman geographers, and it may also be identiﬁed with the Brachion of Scylax. The modern name appears as early as the in Aurelius Victor, who, mentioning the births of the emperors Gallus Trebonianus and Volusianus his son, says—“ Creati in insula Meninge, qua: nunc Girba dicitur.” Meninge or Meninx was the name of one of the two ancient towns in the island, the other being Thoar. A castle erected by the Spaniards in at IIaumt-es-Suk still remains; but the pyramid built of the skulls of the Spaniards under Garcia, who perished in, was removed in 1837.

1em  GERBER, (1746–1819), author of the well—known dictionary of musicians, was born at Sonders- hansen 29th September 1716. His father, Henry Nicolas Gerber (1702—1775), a pupil of J. S. Bach, was an organist and composer of some distinction, and under his direction Ernst Ludwig at an early age had made great progress in his musical studies. In 1765 he went to Leipsic with the view of studying law, but the claims of music, which had gained additional strength from his acquaintance- ship with J. A. Hiller, soon came to occupy almost his sole attention. On his return to Sondershausen he was appointed music teacher to the children of the prince, and in 1775 he succeeded his father as court organist. Latterly he devoted much of his time to the study of the literature and history of music, and with this view he made himself master of several of the modern languages. His IIistorisr'h- biographisches Lexilron der Tonkt'o'nstler appeared in 1790 and 1792 in two volumes; and the first volume of what was virtually an improved and corrected edition of this work was published in 1810 under the title News historisclt- bioyrap/Lz'sches Lari/can der Toni-iinstler, followed by other three volumes in 1812, 1813, and 1814. Gerber also con- tributed a number of papers to musical periodicals, and published several minor musical compositions. He died at Sondershausen 30th June 1819.  GERBERON, (1628–1711), a J ansenist monk, one of the most diligent students and proliﬁc writers of his century, was born August 12, 1628, at St Calais, in the department of Sarthe. At the age of twenty he took the vows of the Benedictine order at St Melaine, Itcnnes, and after having taught rhetoric and philosophy in the monasteries of Bourgueil (Touraine) and St Denis, he became sub-prior at Compicgne, whence he was afterwards removed t) St Germain-des-Pres. In the year 1669 he fully and ﬁnally committed himself in the Jansenist con— troversy by the publication of his ﬁrst work, which was an apology for the abbé Rupert of Tuits. In 1672 he was ordered to Argenteuil and in 1675 to Corbie ; but having by this time aroused the most bitter hostility of the entire Jesuit order, he found it necessary to save himself by flight into the Low Countries, where he seems to have lived in various towns during the next twenty—eight years, and where he published a great number of works, including the Ills-wire (z'énJrule clu Junsenisme (1700), by which he is now best known. Arrested on the 30th of May 1703 at Brussels, at the instance of the archbishop of Malines, he was sent into France and condemned to imprisonment, from which he was not released till 1710, and even then only after he had consented to abjure the ﬁve Janscnist propositions. The first use he made of his freedom was to write a work (which, however, his friends prudently prevented him from publishing) Le mine triomp/cc (Ics Jcsuiles, containing avirtual withdrawal of the compulsory recantation. He died at the abbey of St Denis on the 29th of March 1711. A full list of his works is given in the Biogruplu'c Générale.  GERBERT. See  GERBERT, (1720–1793), a Catholic prelatc and writer on church music, was a descendant of the Ger- berts of Hornau, and was born at Horb on the Neekar, Wiir— temberg, 12th August 1720. He received his education at the Jewish school of Freiburg in the Breisgau, at Klingenau in Switzerland, and at the monastery of St Blaise in the Black Forest. He joined the order of the Benedictines in the monastery of St Blaise in 1736, became priest in 1714, was soon thereafter appointed professor of theology, and was chosen abbot in 176 1. From 1759 to 1762 he travelled in Germany, Italy, and France, chieﬂy with the view of obtaining access to the old collections of musical literature contained in the libraries of the monasteries. In 177-1 he published two volumes De ca)qu ct musica sacra ; in 1777, JIonumenta veteris lituryive .-llema7mz'cce; and in 1781, in three volumes, Scriptores ecclcsiustici (Ie musica S(((‘)'((, a collection of the principal writers on church music from the 3d century till the invention of printing. Although this work contains many textual errors, its publication has never- theless been of very great importance for the history of music, by preserving writings which otherwise might either have perished or remained unknown. He is also the author of Codex epistolaris IZudoIp/zi 1., 1772, and IIisloria Nit/rte Silva), Cologne, 1783—1788. His interest in music led to his acquaintance with the composer Gluck, who became his intimate friend. He died 3d May 1793.  GERHARD, (1795–1867), a distinguished German arclueologist, was born at Posen, 29th November 1795. After studying at Breslau and Berlin, he in 1816 took up his residence at the former town. The reputation he acquired by his Let-[£07m Apol loniance, published in the same year, led soon afterwards to his being appointed professor at the gymnasium of Pr sen. On resigning that office in 1819, on account of weakness in the eyes, he travelled in Italy, and in 182:3 he took up his residence in Rome, where, with the view of prosecuting his arclneological studies, he remained for ﬁfteen years. He there contributed to 1’1atncr“s Jﬁcsc/u'ez'bzmg der Sled:— 180m, then under the direction of Bunsen, and he was also one of the principal originators of the Insfilulo (If corrisponclcum archeologica, founded at Rome in 1828, and during his stay in Italy its director. After his return to Germany in 1837, he was appointed archaeologist at the Royal Museum of Berlin, and in 1844 he was chosen a member of the Academy of Sciences, and a professor in the university. He died at Berlin 12th May 1867.

1em