Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/580

562  1em (Author:Henry Yule)  GHEE (Sanskrit, Ghrzta), a kind of clarified butter made in the East. The best is prepared from butter of the milk of cows, the less esteemed from that of buffaloes. The butter is melted over a slow fire, and set aside to cool; the thick, opaque, whitish, and more fluid portion, or ghee, re- presenting the greater bulk of the butter, is then removed. The less liquid residue, mixed with groundnut oil, is sold as an inferior kind of ghee. It may be obtained also, according to the Indian Domestic Economy and Receipt 3001', p. 16, 6th ed., 1865, by boiling butter over a clear ﬁre, skimming it the while, and, when all the water has evaporated, stmining it through a cloth. Ghee which is rancid or tainted, as is often that of the Indian bazaars, is said to be rendered SWeet by boiling with leaves of the illormya ptcryyusperma or horse—radish tree. In India ghee is one of the commonest articles of diet, and indeed enters into the composition of everything eaten by the Brahnians. It is also extensively used in Indian religious ceremonies, being offered as a sacrifice to idols, which are at times bathe-1 in it. Sanskrit treatises on therapeutics describe ghee as cooling. emollient, and stomachic, as capable of increasing the mental powers, and of improving the voice and personal appearance, and as useful in eye-diseases, tyinpanitis, painful dyspepsia, wounds, ulcers, and other affections. Old ghee is in special repute among the Hindus as a medicinal agent, and its eﬂicacy as an external applica- tion is believed by them to increase with its age. Ghee more than 10 years old, the purcina yhrita of Sanskrit materia incdicas, has a strong odour, and the colour of lac. Some specimens which have been much longer preserved—and “ clarified butter a hundred years old is often heard of "— have an earthy look, and are quite dry and hard, and nearly inodorous. Medicated ghee (Sanskrit, ghrltu [Ml/CC!) is made by warming ordinary ghee to remove contained water, melt- ing, after the addition of a little turmeric juice, in a metal pan at a gentle heat, and then boiling with the prepared drugs till all mOisture is expelled, and straining through a cloth.

1em  GHEEL, or, a town of Belgium, in the province of Antwerp, about 2-9 miles E. of Antwerp, on the railway between Herenthals and M01], with a population, according t ) the census of 187 0, of 10,205. Situated in the midst of that half barren stretch of moorland which is known as the Campine or Kampenland, it would have been of little importance, in spite of its manufactures of cloth, leather, wooden shoes, and wax-lights, had it not for long centuries been the seat of a unique method of dealing with the insane. A local legend, tracing the origin of the town back to a chapel of St Martin erected in the, goes on to tell how an Irish princess, fearing the fate that long afterwards bcfel Beatrice Cenci, sought refuge in this remote asylum, but was pursued by her i'clentleSs father and put to death, along with a priest Gerrebcrt, the companion cf her ﬂight. The tomb of the victims was soon discovered to have a healing virtue for minds diseased; the saltltczl Dymphna became the patroness of the insane; and a large and beautiful church in her honour was erected on the site of St Martin’s chapel. Commenced in the, it was finished in , and consecrated by the bishop of Gambray; and the pilgrimages to the tomb were sanctioned by a brief of Eugenius IV. In Jean de Merode, within whose domains the church was situated, instituted a vicariate of nine priests and a director, and in Henri de Merodc transformed the vicariate into a regular chapter of nine canons and a dean. The church still remains to bear witness to the importance formerly attached to the shrine; and though the tomb of St Dymphna has long been a cenotaph, a few stray enthusiasts still pass beneath it in hopeful imitation of the thousands in byegone, whose knees have worn deep furrows in the pavement as they made their ninefold transits on nine successive days. As food and lodging had to be provided for the patients who were brought to the saint, the inhabit- ants of Ghee-l grew accustomed to the treatment of the various kinds of mental alienation, and gradually discovered that forcible measures were much less frequently necessary, and danger less likely to result from free intercourse with the insane, than was generally believed throughout Europe. When M. Pontecoulant was appointed by Napoleon prefect of the Revolution department of the l)yle, his attention vas called to the success of the domestic regime in force at Ghee], in contrast to the sad condition of affairs in the asylum at Brussels, and he caused the patients to be removed from the capital to the little country town. His example was freely followed by the authorities of different districts, and thel received full ofﬁcial recognition. Investigations undertaken about 1850 by M. Ducpetiaux, inspector-general of benevolent establishments in Belgium, resulted in the reform of such abuses as had crept into the system ; and the relations of the patient and his protectors were placed on a strict legal footing by the law of 1st May 1851. Further ameliorations have been introduced in 185 2, 1857, 1858, &c. The whole management of the system is under the supervision of ofﬁcially appointed physicians, and the advantages of a regular establishment are thus combined with those of domestic comfort, social freedom, and activity. Permission to receive patients: granted not only to the town residents, but also to the villagers of the vicinity.

1em  GHENT, in Low Latin G'undn or Condom/m, in French Gaml, in Flemish Gem], in German 0622!, a city of Belgium, at the head of the province of East Flanders, is situated about 30 miles to the west of Antwerp on the Schcldt and the Lys. The two streams branch out to such an extent as to partition the town into 20 islands, which are connected by about 270 bridges, 4'3 being of stone, and 28 of the others being wooden structures of considerable size. In general Ghent is well built, and, though the older portion has narrow and gloomy lanes, it occupies as a whole a larger area than most European towns in proportion to the popu-