GAY-FEATHER, the common name for the liatris scariosa and spieata: plants which are indigenous to the American soil, possessing bulbous roots, strong taste, and great remedial properties. A familiar local name for them is "rattlesnake master." They bear purple flowers, and are suitable for flower borders.
Louis JOSEPH, one. of the most distinguished chemists and physicists of recent times, was born on Dee. 6, 1778, at St. Leonard (Haute-Vienne). In 1794, he was sent to Paris to prepare for the examinations requisite for admittance into the polytechnic school; and his admission to that institution took place on Dec. 27, 1797. After three years' study, he was promoted to the department Des Ponts et Chaussees. Berthollet, who was then professor of chemistry in the polytechnic school, having recognized his zeal and talents for original research, selected him as his assistant at Arcueil, where the government chemical works were situated. The study of Dalton's Experimental Essays, published in 1801, directed the attention of the young chemist to the department of chemical physics. In that year he published his first memoir, which treated of " the dilatation of gases and vapors," and which was speedily followed by others on improveMent of thermometers and barometers;" on "the tension of vapors, their mixture with gases, and the determination of their density, etc. :" and•on "capillary action." In consequence of the reputation which he acquired from these researches, he was commissioned, in association with Blot, by the institute of France, to make a balloon ascent, with the view of ascertaining whether the magnetic force existed at considerable heights above the surface of the earth, or only on the surface, as had been asserted by some physicists. A notice of this ascent, and of another ascent which he made alone, is the article BALLOON. Alexander von Humboldt inves tigated with him the properties of air brought down from a height of more than 23,000 ft., and their joint memoir to the academy of sciences (read on Oct. 1, 1804) contained the first announcement of the fact, that oxygen and hydrogen ignite to form water in the simple proportion of 100 parts bT bulk (volumes) of the former to 200 parts of the latter. The simplicity of the ratio in whielvAheae gitS*, stietad^tiv'eacl* other in their combining prciportions, induced him to study the combining volumes of other gases, and .thus led him to the important discovery of the law of volumes, which was announced in 1808, and is one of the most general and important laws in the whole domain of chemistry. Davy's discoveries of potassium and sodium, by the decomposing action of the voltaic pile, having excited much attention in France, Napoleon directed Gay Lussac and Thenard to pursue this class of researches. The results of these investiga tions appeared in their Recherches Physico-chimiques; in two volumes, published in 1811. Amongst the most important of tile discoveries announced in these volumes, are a new chemical process which yields and sodium'much more abundantly than the voltaic pile, the determination of the composition of boracic acid both analytically and synthetically, and new and improved methods of analyzing organic compounds.
(Boron was, however, simultaneously discovered in England by Davy.) Although the discovery of iodine (in 1811) is due to Courtois, it was Gay-Lussac who (in 1813) first described its distinctive properties, gave it the name which it now bears, and proved that it is an elementary body; he was also the first to form synthetically the compounds of iodine with hydrogen and oxygen, known as hydriodic and iodic acids. 1815, he announced the discovery of cyanogen, which presented the first knownlikample of a compound body exhibiting .many properties which were previously believed to pertain specially to simple or elementary bodies. His memoir on this compound, in the 95th volume of the Annales de Chimie, is a model of what a complete and exhaustive chemical investigation should be. Our space will not allow of more than a passing allusion to his subsequent investigations regarding the fabrication of hydrated sul phuric acid, his essays on the bleaching chlorides, on the alcohols, and on the alkalies empldyed in commerce. In 1805, be was chosen a member of the committee of arts and manufactures, established by the minister of commerce. In 1818, he was appointed to superintend the government manufactory of gunpowder and saltpeter; and in 1829, he received the lucrative office of chief assayer to the mint, where he introduced several important chemical changes. In 1831, lie became a member of the chamber of depu ties; and In 1839, he was made a peer of France. He never, however, took an active part in politics, and was diligently engaged in scientific research until his last illness. For many years lie was the editor, in association with Arago, of the Annales de Chimie et de Physique. He died at Paris May 9, 1850, from atrophy of the heart.
GAZA (Heb. signifies "strong"), (now called. GuzzEll), a t. in the s.w. of Palestine, is situated about 3 m. from the sea, on the borders of the desert which separates Palestine from Egypt. It originally belonged to the Philistines, and was a place of importance at the period of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. It is frequently mentioned in the history of Samson; and after many vicissitudes in the wars between the Israelites and the Philistines, it was allotted to the tribe of Judah, in whose posses sion it finally remained. In the year 333 B.C., Gaza was taken by Alexander the great; and from that period down to 1799, when it was taken by the French under it has been the scene of ninny battles and sieges. Constantine the great; who rebuilt the town, mile it the seat of a bishop. The modern Gaza has the appear ' ance of being a collectiOn of mere villages. It has no gates, no fortifications or defenses of any kind. The only building of interest is the great mosque, with its tall octagonal minaret and Peaked roof. Gaza has manufactures of soap and cotton stuffs; and, owing to its situation near the Mediterranean and on the caravan route to Egypt, it has a good trade both by sea and land. Pop. upwards of 15,000, from 200 to 300 of whom are Christians, and the rest Mohammedans.