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 824: GIRARDIN GIRGENTI manuals of pharmacy, botany, and chemistry, Melanges d* agriculture, d' 'economic rurale et publique, et de sciences physiques appliquees (2 vols., 1852), and Des fumiers et autres engrais animaux (6th revised, enlarged, and illustrated ed., 1864). GIRARDIN, Marc, or, as he signed himself, Saint-Marc, a French journalist, horn in Paris in February, 1801, died there, April 11, 1873. After completing his classical studies at the college of Henry IV., in 1823 he competed for a professorship in the university, and won the title of agrege, but, on account of his liberal opinions, was not appointed to a chair till 1827. In the latter yearjthe French academy awarded a prize to his Eloge de Bossuet, and he became one of the political contributors to the Journal des Debats. His connection with this journal continued till 1859, when he joined the staff of the Orleanist Journal de Paris, and published Souvenirs et reflexions politiques d"*un journaliste. In 1828 his Tableau de la littera- ture francaise au 16" siecle, which confirmed his reputation as an elegant, witty, and forcible writer, was rewarded with another academical prize. In 1830 he travelled through northern Germany, and on his return was appointed to succeed M. Guizot as professor of history in the faculty of letters, and named master of requests to the council of state. In 1833 he visited southern Germany as far as Vienna ; and in 1834 he published, under the title of Notices, the results of his two journeys beyond the Rhine. He was then appointed professor of French poetry at the Sorbonne, and elected to the chamber of deputies. His report on the organization of secondary instruction, presented in 1837, was highly valued. He entered at the same time the council of state and the council of public instruction ; as a member of the latter board he greatly contributed to the extension and improvement of the system of historical teaching in the French colleges. In 1844 he was elected to the French academy. In 1848 he was designated minister of public instruc- tion, in the last cabinet attempted under the monarchy, and under the republic and the em- pire held his position at the council of public instruction and at the Sorbonne. In 1863 he resigned his professorship at the latter institu- tion. He was a frequent contributor to the Revue des Deux Mondes, and in 1869 he suc- ceeded Sainte-Beuve as conductor of the Jour- nal des Savants. In February, 1871, he was returned to the national assembly for the de- partment of Haute-Vienne. Among his prin- cipal works are : Cours de litterature drama- tique, ou de Vusage des passions dans le drame, an improved reproduction of his lectures ; Es- sais de litterature et de morale ; and Souvenirs et voyages, comprising the notices upon Ger- many before mentioned. GIRARDON, Francois, a French sculptor, born in Troyes, March 16, 1628, died in 1715. He was furnished by Chancellor Seguier with the means of studying his art in Paris and Italy. He was patronized by Colbert, and received orders from the king for groups and statues in several of the royal palaces and gardens. In 1690 he was appointed general inspector of sculpture, to succeed Lebrun. Some of his most celebrated works were destroyed during the revolution. The most important of those that remain are Richelieu's mausoleum in the chapel at the Sorbonne, and his groups of the " Bath of Apollo" and the " Rape of Proser- pine " in the Versailles garden. GIRAUD, Charles Joseph Barthelemy, a French jurist, born at Pernes, Vaucluse, Feb. 20, 1802. He studied at Aix, where he became professor of administrative science and pres- ident of the academy. In 1842 he became in- spector general of the law schools in Paris and member of the French academy, and subsequently of the board of education ; and he was vice rector of the academy of Paris till 1848. He was twice minister of public in- struction in 1851 and member of the consulta- tive council, from which he retired in August, 1852, in consequence of the confiscation of the property of the Orleans family. He has since filled the chair of Roman law in the faculty of Paris, and succeeded Laferri&re in 1861 as in- spector general of the judiciary. His principal works are : Histoire du droit francais au moyen age (2 vols., Paris, 1846); Le traite d 1 Utrecht (1847 ; translated into German and Spanish) ; Les tables de Salpensa et de Malaga, relating to the bronze tables found in the latter locality (2d ed., revised and enlarged, 1856) ; and Etudes nouvelles sur Gregoire VII. et son temps, in the Revue des Deux Mondes of March 15, 1873, et seq. GIRGMTL I. A province of Sicily, on the S. W. coast; area, 1,491 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 289,018. Its surface is mountainous, with nu- merous valleys, which are exuberantly fertile, and yield corn, wine, and oil in great abun- dance. There is good pasturage, and the cheese made here is excellent. The chief natural pro- ductions are gypsum, bitumen, -naphtha, salt, and especially sulphur. II. A city (anc. Agri- gentum), capital of the province, 3 m. off the coast, and 58 m. S. E. of Palermo ; pop. about 18,000. It is situated on the Girgenti river, formed here by the junction of the Drago (anc. Hypsas) and San Biago (anc. Acragas), and on Mount Camicus, over 1,000 ft. high, which was the acropolis of ancient Agrigentum. It has four walls and gates, is called magnifica on ac- count of its picturesque situation, and contains a fine English garden. But, excepting one long street, there are only steep and dirty lanes; yet the houses, wretched as they are, have fine balconies, and the inhabitants, including many beggars (though fewer than formerly), are dressed in a blue velveteen costume, and the women wear black shawls over their heads. The cathedral is an incongruous specimen of architecture, owing to various changes since its foundation in the 13th century. It con- tains many chapels, monuments, works of art,