Gaura

[Gr. gauros, superb.] ( Bot. ) A gen. of plants, order Ornagraceæ, represented in the U. States by two species, the most conspicuous of which is G. biennis, the Biennial Gaura, found from Canada to Georgia; stem 3 to 5 feet high; leaves se ile, pale green, acute at each end; flowers numerous, se ile; calyx reddish; beautiful corolla, at first rose-color, changing to a deep red, blo oming in August. Gau , ( gows .) KARL FRIED RICH, a distinguished German mathematician and astronomer, B. at Brunswick, 1777. While attending the public school of his native city, his extraordinary intelligence attracted the notice of his teacher, on whose representation of his merits to the Duke of Brunswick the boy was furnished with the means of pursuing his studies, first at the college at Brunswick and subsequently at Göttingen. Here he made several of his greatest discoveries in analysis, which induced him to make the cultivation of science the chief object of his life. His first great work, the Dis qui sit i ones Arithmetice, published in 1801, attracted the attention of all the scientific world, and stamped its author as one of the most profound and original mathematicians of the age. In 1807 he received the appointment of Ordinary Profe or and Director of the Observatory at Göttingen, which situation he held for nearly 48 years. During this long period he gave to the world a host of treatises on pure mathematics, geodesy, astronomy, and the cognate sciences, which all bear the impre of original genius, besides contributing largely to scientific journals, and making observations on terrestrial magnetism which have proved of great utility to the cultivation of science. In fact, there are hardly any of the scientific men of Europe or America at the present time, who have not directly or indirectly derived great advantage from his labors. D. 1855. Gautier, (gō't-yee,) THEOPHILE, a French poet and in an of letters, B. 1808. He had a notion that he was born to be a painter, but, discouraged by his first attempts, he turned his attention to literature. In 1830 he published a first volume of Poésies , followed by Albert us , a legend in verse, and in 1838 by another poem La Comé die de la Mort . He has also written numerous novels, vaudevilles, books of travel, and critiques. All his works contain a manifestation of the love of external beauty, and a worship of form-art for him being a kind of religion. M. Gautier was long connected with the newspaper La Pre e, from which he transferred his services to the Moniteur in 1865. He has travelled in Europe and the East, and published accounts of his journeys. He is unquestionably the most able critic of art, and one of the best French writers of the time Mademoiselle de Mau pin, an eccentric and somewhat licentious novel, was the foundation of his literary fame, but prevented him from being, elected to the French Academy. D. 1872. Gautul'co, a harbor of Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean, about 110 miles S.E. of Oajaca. Gauze, (gorz,) n. [Fr. gaze.] ( Manuf .) A light transparent silken fabric, supposed to have derived its name from having first been manufactured at Gaza, a city of Palestine. France and Switzerland produce considerable quantities of G. The openne of texture is obtained by cro ing the warp threads between each thread of the weft, so that the weft pa es through a succe ion of loops in the warp, and the threads are thus kept apart, without the liability to sliding from their places, which would take place if simple weaving were left so loose and open. Inferior qualities of G. are made of a mixture of silk and cotton.