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GER did so much to destroy the authority of the pope. From the first Gerson took the deepest interest in this schism, and one great object of his life was to put an end to it, and to the scandal and the shame which it caused. The university of Paris at the end of the fourteenth century played an active and ambitious part, not only in matters philosophical, theological, and ecclesiastical, but also in affairs political. At that time, however, the philosophical, the theological, the ecclesiastical, the political, were more strangely mingled than ever they are likely to be again. After holding subordinate offices and fulfilling many functions in the university, he was in 1395 chosen chancellor of it and of the church of Notre Dame. He had already been almoner to the duke of Burgundy, and owed much to his protection. Gerson aspired to be a reformer in the church, a reformer in the social condition of the world, and a reformer in philosophy. Though educated in the scholastic fashion, he assailed the subtleties of scholasticism, and was opposed to prevalent superstitions. A reform in the social condition of the world was not easy at a moment when France was plunged in anarchy, and when every lawless passion raged; and to reform the church was impossible till the schism ceased. The tendency of Gerson's mind led him to contemplation and pious retirement. Men of this stamp are apt to believe that peace, however much troubled, can easily be restored, and then when they find their efforts vain, they fall into disgust and despair. So it was with Gerson, He had been deputed by the university of Paris to the schismatic popes; he had been present at councils called together to deal effectually with the flagrant and fatal quarrel. At last in November, 1414, the council of Constance was opened, and Gerson was one of the principal figures. Pope John XXIII. and the Emperor Sigismund were present. The chief feat of the council was burning John Huss, whom the emperor meanly betrayed. No louder voice for the condemnation of John Huss than Gerson's; the main objection of the latter to Huss being that he was a realist, that is, that Huss did not agree with Gerson on a fantastic point of philosophical doctrine. It is too common now-a-days to ascribe such monstrous murders as that of Huss to the spirit of the age. Thus there have never been any persecutors, but only the insane fanaticism of persecution, and no one is to blame. We cannot, and we ought not, so to excuse Gerson. In another circumstance we deem his conduct indefensible. The duke of Orleans had been assassinated by the duke of Burgundy. A Franciscan preacher, Jean Petit, justified, nay, eulogized the foul deed. For a season every one was silent, and it was not till the duke of Burgundy, as the ally of the English, became unpopular that Gerson fulminated his indignation against him. Gerson had the joy of seeing the schism, after raging for forty years, brought to a close. But he was disenchanted with the world, and he hungered for repose all the more that a real reform in the church seemed as far off as ever. He therefore, on leaving Constance, took the pilgrim's raiment and the pilgrim's staff, and wandered through the forests and mountains of Germany. By the duke of Austria he was received with honour, and for a time settled at Vienna. In 1419 the murder of the duke of Burgundy, whom he dreaded and detested, enabled him to return to France. His brother, the prior of the monastery of the Celestines at Lyons, offered him a place of refuge. Within the walls of the monastery his last years calmly passed, divided between pious exercises, the composition of learned works, and the instruction of little children. He died on the 12th of July, 1429. His tomb in the church of St. Paul long attracted the multitude, for there miracles were said to have been performed. From his zeal for practical religion he obtained the name of Doctor Christianissimus—the most christian doctor or teacher. As a writer he was decidedly, though not extravagantly, mystical. His works have been collected in five folio volumes; they are mostly in Latin, but many of those in French are still unpublished. The French would fain claim Gerson as the author of the divine book on the Imitation of Christ. But though it may not be easy to demonstrate that we owe this manual of the sublimest devotion to Thomas à Kempis, there is scarcely a tittle of evidence in favour of Gerson. Probably the Imitation of Christ is the solitary utterance of a sad and sinful soul that knew earth not through its stirring public scenes, but through passion only; and perhaps it is well that a veil of doubt should ever rest on the authorship.—W. M—l.  * GERSTAECKER,, a German traveller and novelist, was born at Hamburg, May 16, 1816, and was bred to the mercantile profession. Disliking this career, however, and having imbibed in childhood a love for a wandering life, he resolved to emigrate to America, and with this view served a two years' apprenticeship with a farmer. In 1837-1843 he roamed through the United States in the most various characters, as a farmer, a pedlar, a stoker on board a Mississippi steamer, an innkeeper, and a trapper in the far west. On his return to Germany, on a visit to his relations, a bookseller offered to publish his diary, and this offer led to his embarking in literature. His "Streif-und Jagdzüge durch die Vereinigten Staaten" found great favour with the public, and was rapidly followed by a number of novels and sketches, in which American life and scenery were delineated in a novel and graphic, though by no means classical style. At the same time Gerstäcker translated kindred works from the English. When the public began to tire of his Mississippi and backwood scenes, he undertook a voyage round the globe, 1849-1852, which furnished him with materials for a new series of travels and tales, some of which were written and published in English. Gerstäcker has displayed great energy and courage in exploring unknown tracts of country, and his writings have greatly contributed to the amplification of our knowledge of several parts of the globe. In the course of 1860 Gerstäcker again set out for South America.—K. E.  GERSTENBERG,, a German poet and litterateur, was born at Tondern, Schleswig, January 3, 1737. Having completed his education at Altona and Jena, he entered the Danish army, but afterwards found a more suitable employment in the civil service, which, however, he likewise resigned in 1812. He died November 1, 1823, at Altona. He did good service to German literature, not only by his "Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten der Literatur," his translation of Beattie's Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth, and other prose works, but still more by his tragedy, "Ugolino," which was one of the principal forerunners of the classical period of modern German literature.—K. E.  GERSTNER,, a German mathematician and engineer, son of Franz Joseph von Gerstner, born at Prague on the 11th May, 1793; died at Philadelphia on the 12th April, 1840. From 1818 until 1825 he was professor of practical geometry at the polytechnic institute of Vienna. His chief engineering works were the railway from Budweis to Linz, and that from St. Petersburg to Czarskoeselo. He died during a visit to the United States, made for the purpose of examining the railways and canals of that country. He wrote a treatise on practical geometry, a work on the internal communications of the United States of America, and a paper on "The Solidity of Bodies" (in Poggendorff's Annalen for 1832), and edited his father's Handbook of Mechanics.—W. J. M. R.  GERSTNER,, an illustrious German astronomer and engineer, and promoter of scientific education for practical men, was born at Kommotan in Bohemia on the 23rd of February, 1756; and died at Mladiegov, near Gitschin, in the same kingdom, on the 25th of June, 1832. In 1779 he obtained the degree of doctor of philosophy, after which he engaged in the practice of civil engineering. In 1784 he was appointed assistant astronomer at the observatory of Prague. In 1787 he assisted in the government survey of Bohemia. In 1789 he was appointed to the professorship of the higher mathematics in the university of Prague, which office he held until 1823; and from 1795 till 1823 he held the office of director of that university. In 1795 he took a leading part in projecting and establishing a school of practical science at Prague. In 1811 he was appointed chief hydraulic engineer (Wasserbau-director) of Bohemia. He conceived the idea of a railway to connect the rivers Moldau and Danube, and published an account of that project in 1825; but he did not live to see it executed. Of his other writings the principal are the following—"Einleitung in die statische Baukunst" (an Introduction to statical Architecture), Prague, 1789; "A Handbook of Mechanics" (edited by his son), Prague, 1831; "The Mechanical Theory of Waterwheels," Prague, 1811; "A Treatise on Suspension Bridges," Prague, 1825; and "Astronomical Observations, having reference to the transits of Mercury in 1785 and 1789, and to the motions of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus."—W. J. M. R.  GERVAISE,, elder brother of Nicolas Gervaise, was born at Paris in 1660. Educated among the jesuits, he became a Carmelite friar, but afterwards joined the monks 