Gérard, Maurice

ETIENNE, COUNT, marshal of France, B. in 1773. He entered the army at the age of 18, and soon after was made aide-de-camp to Bernadotte. He served at the battles of Austerlitz and Wagram, in the Peninsula, and in the expedition to Ru ia, in which he greatly distinguished himself. He took part in the campaigns of 1813, 1814, and 1815, and was severely wounded at Leipsic. He was created marshal in 1830, and held for a short time the portfolio of war. Two years later he besieged and took the citadel of Antwerp; held the office of first minister in 1834, and D. in 1852. He was made Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor four years before his death. D. 1855. Beside the change in the equivalents described above, Gerhardt introduced a new theory of the constitution of acids and salts. According to the present theory, nitrate of silver, for instance, would be formulated thus, -AgO.N2O5, being regarded as a compound of nitric acid and oxide of silver; but on comparing this salt with its corresponding haloid, chloride of silver, a discrepancy occurs, which vanishes, if we consider nitric acid as existing in nitrate of silver, to consist of N2O, instead of NO. From numerous other anomalies, occurring chiefly in organic bodies, Gerhardt came to the following conclusions:-1. That every uncombined acid nece arily contains one or more equivalents of hydrogen. 2. That the bodies hitherto regarded as dry acids po e no acid properties until united with hydrogen and oxygen. 3. That salts are formed by the solution of one or more atoms of hydrogen by one or more atoms of a metal, or some substance acting as such. Thus, the bodies known as NO.SoCO, are neutral and inert until united with an equivalent of water, when they form respectively nitric, sulphuric and carbonic acids. of gigeneni, to produce.) ( Bot. ) The eye of a bud, or any growing point; or an embryo, -Origin; first principle; that from which anything springs; as, the germ of toleration. Germ Theory. See SECTION II. Germain', a. Same as GERMANE ( q . v.). Germain, St. ( zhar -man'), the name of many towns, villages and parishes in France, with pop. under 4,000. Germain-en-Laye, (St.,) a town of France, dep. Seine-et-Oise, on a hill adjoining the Seine, 6 m. N. of Versailles, and 9 W. by N. of Paris. Manuf . Horse-hair goods and leather. It is chiefly noted for its noble palace, originally built by Charles V. in 1370; reconstructed by Francis I.; and embellished by many succeeding sovereigns, especially Louis Quatorze (XIV.), who added to it five extensive pavilions, and constructed the fine terrace which extends from it, with a breadth of nearly 90 feet., for a distance of 14 m., between the forest of St. Germain and the Seine. That monarch Fig . 1148.- PALACE OF ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE. afterwards became disgusted with, and abandoned the palace, because, it is said, he could see St. Denis, the burial-place of the French kings, from its windows. Charles IX. and Henry II., as well as Louis XIV., were born in this palace. It was the residence of Mdile. de la Vallière (q. v.); and James II., of England, with most of his family, pa ed their exile, and died in it. It is now used as barracks and a military prison. Pop. 19,478.- The FOREST OF ST. GERMAIN, one of the finest of its kind in France, extends N. of the town, enclosed W., N., and E. by the Seine. It is 9 m. in length by 3 in breadth'; covers an extent of 8,865 Eng. acres, and is traversed by roads, the aggregate length of which is not le than 1,180 miles.