Act 1874); and in valuing land whether for rates or taxes the value of

the sporting rights is now an important and often the chief item of

value in beneficial occupation of the land. Where the sporting rights

are the landlord's, the rate thereon is paid in the first instance by

the tenant and deducted from his rent. Where the sporting right is

reserved and let, the rating authority may rate either the landlord or

the sporting tenant as occupier of the right. The Ground Game Acts

have not affected the liability to assessment of concurrent rights of

killing hares and rabbits reserved by a landlord, or of a concurrent

right granted by the occupier (Ryde (2nd ed.), 385-387). The ownership

of sporting rights severed from the ownership or occupation of the

land over which they are exercisable is not an interest in land giving

the electoral franchise or a claim for compensation if the land is

taken under the Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts.

_Scotland_.--By the law of Scotland all men have right and privilege

of game on their own estates as a real right incident thereto, which

does not pass by an agricultural lease except by express words, or in

the case of ground game by the act of 1880. The landlord is liable to

the tenant for damage done to the surface of the lands in exercise of

his right to the game and also for extraordinary damage by

over-preserving or over-stocking. Under an act of 1877 he was liable

for excessive damage done by rabbits or game reserved to or retained

under a lease granted after the 1st of January 1878, or reserved by

presumption of common law; this act from 1909 onwards is superseded by

the provisions of the Agricultural Holdings Act 1906. Night poaching

is punished by the same act as in England, and day poaching by an act

of 1832 and the act of 1882. Until 1887 poaching by night under arms

was a capital offence. The definition of game in Scotland for purposes

of night poaching is the same as in England. The provisions of the act

of 1832 as to game trespass by day apply also to deer, roe, rabbits,

woodcock, snipe, rails and wild duck; but in other respects closely

resemble those of the English act of 1831.

Offences against the game laws are not triable by justices of the

peace, but only in the sheriff court. The close time for game birds in

Scotland is the same as in England, so far as dealing in them is

concerned, but differs slightly as to killing. Black game may not be

killed between the 10th of December and the 25th of August, nor

ptarmigan between the 10th of December and the 20th of August. There

is no close time for red, fallow or roe deer, or rabbits. By an old

Scots act of 1621 (omitted from the recent wholesale repeal of such

acts) no one may lawfully kill game in Scotland who does not own a

plough-gate of land except on the land of a person so qualified.

_Ireland_.--The common law as to game is the same for Ireland as for

England. The game laws of Ireland are contained partly in acts passed

prior to the union (1698, 1707, 1787 and 1797), partly in acts limited

to Ireland, and as to the rest in acts common to the whole United

Kingdom.

Under the act of 1698 no one may kill game in Ireland who has not a

freehold worth L40 a year or L1000 net personality, and elaborate

provisions are made by that and later acts against the keeping of

sporting dogs by persons not qualified by estate to kill game. British

officers and soldiers in Ireland appear to have been much addicted to

poaching, and their activities were restrained by enactments of 1698

and 1707.

Night poaching in Ireland is dealt with by an act of 1826. Trespass on

lands in pursuit of game to which the landlord or lessor has by

reservation exclusive right is summarily punishable under an act of

1864, which includes in the definition of game, woodcock, snipe,

quails, landrails, wild duck, widgeon and teal. Under the Land Act

1881 the landlord of a statutory holding may at the commencement of

the term subject to the Ground Game Acts retain and exercise the

exclusive right of taking "game" as above defined.

A game licence is not required for taking or killing rabbits. But in

other respects the law as to game licences, dog licences and licences

to deal in game is the same as in Great Britain.

_British Possessions Abroad_.--The English game laws have not been

carried to any colony as part of the personal law of the colonists,

nor have they been extended to them by imperial or colonial

legislation. But the legislatures of many colonies have passed acts to

preserve or protect native or imported wild animals, and in some of

these statutes the protected animals are described as game. These

statutes are free from feudal prepossessions as to sporting rights,

and are framed rather on the lines of the Wild Birds Protection Acts

than on the English game laws, but in some possessions, e.g. Quebec,

sporting leases by the crown are recognized. The acts since 1895 are

indicated in the annual summary of colonial legislation furnished in

the _Journal_ of the Society of Comparative Legislation.

See also Oke's _Game Laws_, 4th ed., by Willis Bund (1897); Warry,

_Game Laws of England_ (1897); Marchant and Watkins, _Wild Birds

Protection Act_ (1897). (W. F. C.)

GAMES, CLASSICAL. 1. _Public Games_.--The public games of Greece

([Greek: agones]) and Rome (_Ludi_) consisted in athletic contests and

spectacles of various kinds, generally connected with and forming part

of a religious observance. Probably no institution exercised a greater

influence in moulding the national character, and producing that unique

type of physical and intellectual beauty which we see reflected in Greek

art and literature, than the public contests of Greece (see ATHLETE;

ATHLETIC SPORTS). For them each youth was trained in the gymnasium, they

were the central mart whither poet, artist and merchant each brought his

wares, and the common ground of union for every member of the Hellenic

race. It is to Greece, then, that we must look for the earliest form and

the fullest development of ancient games. The shows of the Roman circus

and amphitheatre were at best a shadow, and in the later days of the

empire a travesty, of the Olympia and Pythia, and require only a cursory

notice.

Greek.

The earliest games of which we have any record are those at the funeral

of Patroclus, which form the subject of the twenty-third Iliad. They are

noteworthy as showing that Greek games were in their origin clearly

connected with religion; either, as here, a part of the funeral rites,

or else instituted in honour of a god, or as a thank-offering for a

victory gained or a calamity averted, or in expiation of some crime.

Each of the great contests was held near some shrine or sacred place and

is associated with some deity or mythical hero. It was not before the

4th century that this honour was paid to a living man (see Plutarch,

_Lysander_, 18). The games of the _Iliad_ and those of the _Odyssey_ at

the court of Alcinous are also of interest as showing at what an early

date the distinctive forms of Greek athletics--boxing, wrestling,

putting the weight, the foot and the chariot race--were determined.

The _Olympian_ games were the earliest, and to the last they remained

the most celebrated of the four national festivals. Olympia was a

naturally enclosed spot in the rich plain of Elis, bounded on the N. by

the rocky heights of Cronion, and on the S. and W. by the Alpheus and

its tributary the Cladeus. There was the grove of Altis, in which were

ranged the statues of the victorious athletes, and the temple of

Olympian Zeus with the chryselephantine statue of the god, the

masterpiece of Pheidias. There Heracles (so ran the legend which Pindar

has introduced in one of his finest odes), when he had conquered Elis

and slain its king Augeas, consecrated a temenos and instituted games in

honour of his victory. A later legend, which probably embodies

historical fact, tells how, when Greece was torn by dissensions and

ravaged by pestilence, Iphitus inquired of the oracle for help, and was

bidden restore the games which had fallen into desuetude; and there was

in the time of Pausanias, suspended in the temple of Hera at Olympia, a

bronze disk whereon were inscribed, with the regulations of the games,

the names of Iphitus and Lycurgus. From this we may safely infer that

the games were a primitive observance of the Eleians and Pisans, and

first acquired their celebrity from the powerful concurrence of Sparta.

The sacred armistice, or cessation of all hostilities, during the month

in which the games were held, is also credited to Iphitus.

In 776 B.C. the Eleians engraved the name of their countryman Coroebus

as victor in the foot race, and thenceforward we have an almost unbroken

list of the victors in each succeeding Olympiad or fourth recurrent

year. For the next fifty years no names occur but those of Eleians or

their next neighbours. After 720 B.C. we find Corinthians and Megareans,

and later still Athenians and extra-Peloponnesians. Thus what at first

was nothing more than a village feast became a bond of union for all the

branches of the Doric race, and grew in time to be the high festival to

which every Greek gathered, from the mountain fastnesses of Thessaly to

the remotest colonies of Cyrene and Marseilles. It survived even the

extinction of Greek liberty, and had nearly completed twelve centuries

when it was abolished by the decree of the Christian emperor

Theodosius, in the tenth year of his reign. The last Olympian victor was

a Romanized Armenian named Varastad.

Let us attempt to call up the scene which Olympia in its palmy days must

have presented as the great festival approached. Heralds had proclaimed

throughout Greece the "truce of God." So religiously was this observed

that the Spartans chose to risk the liberties of Greece, when the

Persians were at the gates of Pylae, rather than march during the holy

days. Those white tents which stand out against the sombre grey of the

olive groves belong to the Hellanodicae, or ten judges of the games,

chosen one for each tribe of the Eleians. They have been here already

ten months, receiving instruction in their duties. All, too, or most of

the athletes must have arrived, for they have been undergoing the

indispensable training in the gymnasium of the Altis. But along the

"holy road" from the town of Elis there are crowding a motley throng.

Conspicuous in the long train of pleasure-seekers are the [Greek:

theoroi] or sacred deputies, clad in their robes of office, and bearing

with them in their carriages of state offerings to the shrine of the

god. Nor is there any lack of distinguished visitors. It may be

Alcibiades, who, they say, has entered no less than seven chariots; or

Gorgias, who has written a famous [Greek: epideixis] for the occasion;

or the sophist Hippias, who boasts that all he bears about him, from the

sandals on his feet to the dithyrambs he carries in his hand, are his

own manufacture; or Aetion, who will exhibit his picture of the Marriage

of Alexander and Roxana--the picture which gained him no less a prize

than the daughter of the Hellanodices Praxonides; or, in an earlier age,

the poet-laureate of the Olympians, Pindar himself. One feature of the

medieval tournament and the modern racecourse is wanting. Women might

indeed compete and win prizes as the owners of teams, but all except the

priestesses of Demeter were forbidden, matrons on pain of death, to

enter the enclosure.

At daybreak the athletes presented themselves in the Bouleuterium, where

the presidents were sitting, and proved by witnesses that they were of

pure Hellenic descent, and had no stain, religious or civil, on their

character. Laying their hands on the bleeding victim, they swore that

they had duly qualified themselves by ten months' continuous training in

the gymnasium, and that they would use no fraud or guile in the sacred

contests. Thence they proceeded to the stadium, where they stripped to

the skin and anointed themselves. A herald proclaimed, "Let the runners

put their feet to the line," and called on the spectators to challenge

any disqualified by blood or character. If no objection was made, they

were started by the note of the trumpet, running in heats of four,

ranged in the places assigned them by lot. The presidents seated near

the goal adjudged the victory. The foot-race was only one of twenty-four

Olympian contests which Pausanias enumerates, though we must not suppose

that these were all exhibited at any one festival. Till the 77th

Olympiad all was concluded in one day, but afterwards the feast was

extended to five.

The order of the games is for the most part a matter of conjecture,

but, roughly speaking, the historical order of their institution was

followed. We will now describe in this order the most important.

(1) The _Foot-race_.--For the first 13 Olympiads the [Greek: dromos],

or single lap of the stadium, which was 200 yds. long, was the only

contest. The [Greek: diaulos], in which the course was traversed

twice, was added in the 14th Olympiad, and in the 15th the [Greek:

dolichos], or long race, of 7, 12 or, according to the highest

computation, 24 laps, about 2-2/3 m. in length. We are told that the

Spartan Ladas, after winning this race, dropped down dead at the goal.

There was also, for a short time, a race in heavy armour, which Plato

highly commends as a preparation for active service. (2) _Wrestling_

was introduced in the 18th Olympiad. The importance attached to this

exercise is shown by the very word _palaestra_, and Plutarch calls it

the most artistic and cunning of athletic games. The practice differed

little from that of modern times, save that the wrestler's limbs were

anointed with oil and sprinkled with sand. The third throw, which

decided the victory, passed into a proverb, and struggling on the

ground, such as we see in the famous statue at Florence, was not

allowed, at least at the Olympia. (3) In the same year was introduced

the [Greek: pentathlon] (pentathlon), a combination of the five games

enumerated in the well-known pentameter ascribed to Simonides:--

[Greek: halma, podokeien, diskon, hakonta, palen].

Only the first of these calls for any comment. The only leap practised

seems to have been the long jump. The leapers increased their momentum

by means of [Greek: halteres] or dumb-bells, which they swung in the

act of leaping and dropped as they "took off." The take-off may have

been slightly raised, and some commentators with very little warrant

have stated that spring-boards were used. The record jump with which

Phayllus of Croton is credited, 55 ft., is incredible with or without

a spring-board. It is disputed whether a victory in all five contests,

or in three at least, was required to win the [Greek: pentathlon]. (4)

The rules for boxing were not unlike those of the modern ring (see

PUGILISM), and the chief difference was in the use of the _caestus_.

This in Greek times consisted of leather thongs bound round the

boxer's fists and wrists; and the weighting with lead or iron or metal

studs, which made the caestus more like a "knuckle-duster" than a

boxing-glove, was a later Roman development. The death of an

antagonist, unless proved to be accidental, not only disqualified for

a prize but was severely punished. The use of ear-guards and the comic

allusions to broken ears, not noses, suggest that the Greek boxer did

not hit out straight from the shoulder, but fought windmill fashion,

like the modern rustic. In the _pancratium_, a combination of

wrestling and boxing, the use of the caestus, and even of the clenched

fist, was disallowed. (5) The _chariot-race_ had its origin in the

23rd Olympiad. Of the hippodrome, or racecourse, no traces remain, but

from the description of Pausanias we may infer that the dimensions

were approximately 1600 ft. by 400. Down the centre there ran a bank

of earth, and at each end of this bank was a turning-post round which

the chariots had to pass. "To shun the goal with rapid wheels"

required both nerve and skill, and the charioteer played a more

important part in the race than even the modern jockey. Pausanias

tells us that horses would shy as they passed the fatal spots. The

places of the chariots were determined by lot, and there were

elaborate arrangements for giving all a fair start. The number of

chariots that might appear on the course at once is uncertain. Pindar

(_Pyth._ v. 46) praises Arcesilaus of Cyrene for having brought off

his chariot uninjured in a contest where no fewer than forty took

part. The large outlay involved excluded all but rich competitors, and

even kings and tyrants eagerly contested the palm. Thus in the list of

victors we find the names of Cylon, the would-be tyrant of Athens,

Pausanias the Spartan king, Archelaus of Macedon, Gelon and Hiero of

Syracuse, and Theron of Agrigentum. Chariot-races with mules, with

mares, with two horses in place of four, were successively introduced,

but none of these present any special interest. Races on horseback

date from the 33rd Olympiad. As the course was the same, success must

have depended on skill as much as on swiftness. Lastly, there were

athletic contests of the same description for boys, and a competition

of heralds and trumpeters, introduced in the 93rd Olympiad.

The prizes were at first, as in the Homeric times, of some intrinsic

value, but after the 6th Olympiad the only prize for each contest was

a garland of wild olive, which was cut with a golden sickle from the

kallistephanos, the sacred tree brought by Hercules "from the dark

fountains of Ister in the land of the Hyperboreans, to be a shelter

common to all men and a crown of noble deeds" (Pindar, _Ol._ iii. 18).

Greek writers from Herodotus to Plutarch dwell with complacency on the

magnanimity of a people who cared for nothing but honour and were

content to struggle for a corruptible crown. But though the Greek

games present in this respect a favourable contrast to the greed and

gambling of the modern racecourse, yet to represent men like Milon and

Damoxenus as actuated by pure love of glory is a pleasing fiction of

the moralists. The successful athlete received in addition to the

immediate honours very substantial rewards. A herald proclaimed his

name, his parentage and his country; the Hellanodicae took from a

table of ivory and gold the olive crown and placed it on his head, and

in his hand a branch of palm; as he marched in the sacred revel to the

temple of Zeus, his friends and admirers showered in his path flowers

and costly gifts, singing the old song of Archilochus, [Greek: tenella

kallinike], and his name was canonized in the Greek calendar. Fresh

honours and rewards awaited him on his return home. If he was an

Athenian he received, according to the law of Solon, 500 drachmae, and

free rations for life in the Prytaneum; if a Spartan, he had as his

prerogative the post of honour in battle. Poets like Pindar, Simonides

and Euripides sung his praises, and sculptors like Pheidias and

Praxiteles were engaged by the state to carve his statue. We even read

of a breach in the town walls being made to admit him, as if the

common road were not good enough for such a hero; and there are

well-attested instances of altars being built and sacrifices offered

to a successful athlete. No wonder then that an Olympian prize was

regarded as the crown of human happiness. Cicero, with a Roman's

contempt for Greek frivolity, observes with a sneer that an Olympian

victor receives more honours than a triumphant general at Rome, and

tells the story of the Rhodian Diagoras, who, having himself won the

prize at Olympia, and seen his two sons crowned on the same day, was

addressed by a Laconian in these words:--"Die, Diagoras, for thou hast

nothing short of divinity to desire." Alcibiades, when setting forth

his services to the state, puts first his victory at Olympia, and the

prestige he had won for Athens by his magnificent display. But perhaps

the most remarkable evidence of the exaggerated value which the Greeks

attached to athletic prowess is a casual expression which Thucydides

employs when describing the enthusiastic reception of Brasidas at

Scione. The state, he says, voted him a crown of gold, and the

multitude flocked round him and decked him with garlands, _as though

he were an athlete_.

The _Pythian_ games originated in a local festival held at Delphi,

anciently called Pytho, in honour of the Pythian Apollo, and were

limited to musical competitions. The date at which they became a

Panhellenic [Greek: agon] (so Demosthenes calls them) cannot be

determined, but the Pythiads as a chronological era date from 527 B.C.,

by which time music had been added to all the Panhellenic contests. Now,

too, these were held at the end of every fourth year; previously there

had been an interval of eight years. The Amphictyones presided and the

prize was a chaplet of laurel.

The _Nemean_ games were biennial and date from 516 B.C. They were by

origin an Argive festival in honour of Nemean Zeus, but in historical

times were open to all Greece and provided the established round of

contests, except that no mention is made of a chariot-race. A wreath of

wild celery was the prize.

The _Isthmian_ games, held on the Isthmus of Corinth in the first and

third year of each Olympiad, date, according to Eusebius, from 523 B.C.

They are variously reported to have been founded by Poseidon or Sisyphus

in honour of Melicertes, or by Theseus to celebrate his victory over the

robbers Sinis and Sciron. Their early importance is attested by the law

of Solon which bestowed a reward of 100 drachmae on every Athenian who

gained a victory. The festival was managed by the Corinthians; and after

the city was destroyed by Mummius (146 B.C.) the presidency passed to

the Sicyonians until Julius Caesar rebuilt Corinth (46 B.C.). They

probably continued to exist till Christianity became the religion of the

Roman empire. The Athenians were closely connected with the festival,

and had the privilege of _proedria_, the foremost seat at the games,

while the Eleans were absolutely excluded from participation. The games

included gymnastic, equestrian and musical contests, differing little

from those of the other great festivals, and the prize was a crown made

at one time of parsley (more probably wild celery), at a later period of

pine. The importance of the Isthmian games in later times is shown by

the fact that Flamininus chose the occasion for proclaiming the

liberation of Greece, 196 B.C. That at a later anniversary (A.D. 67)

Nero repeated the proclamation of Flamininus, and coupled with it the

announcement of his own infamous victory at Olympia, shows alike the

hollowness of the first gift and the degradation which had befallen the

Greek games, the last faint relic of Greek nationality.

Roman.

The _Ludi Publici_ of the Romans included feasts and theatrical

exhibitions as well as the public games with which alone we are

concerned. As in Greece, they were intimately connected with religion.

At the beginning of each civil year it was the duty of the consuls to

vow to the gods games for the safety of the commonwealth, and the

expenses were defrayed by the treasury. Thus, at no cost to themselves,

the Roman public were enabled to indulge at the same time their

religious feelings and their love of amusement. Their taste for games

naturally grew till it became a passion, and under the empire games were

looked upon by the mob as one of the two necessaries of life. The

aediles who succeeded to this duty of the consuls were expected to

supplement the state allowance from their private purse. Political

adventurers were not slow to discover so ready a road to popularity, and

what at first had been exclusively a state charge devolved upon men of

wealth and ambition. A victory over some barbarian horde or the death of

a relation served as the pretext for a magnificent display. But the

worst extravagance of private citizens was eclipsed by the reckless

prodigality of the Caesars, who squandered the revenues of whole

provinces in catering for the mob of idle sightseers on whose favour

their throne depended. But though public games played as important a

part in Roman as in Greek history, and must be studied by the Roman

historian as an integral factor in social and political life, yet,

regarded solely as exhibitions, they are comparatively devoid of

interest, and we sympathize with Pliny, who asks his friend how any man

of sense can go day after day to view the same dreary round of fights

and races.

It is easy to explain the different feelings which the games of Greece

and of Rome excite. The Greeks at their best were actors, the Romans

from first to last were spectators. It is true that even in Greek games

the professional element played a large and ever-increasing part. As

early as the 6th century B.C. Xenophanes complains that the wrestler's

strength is preferred to the wisdom of the philosopher, and Euripides,

in a well-known fragment, holds up to scorn the brawny swaggering

athlete. But what in Greece was a perversion and acknowledged to be

such, the Romans not only practised but held up as their ideal. No

Greek, however high in birth, was ashamed to compete in person for the

Olympic crown. The Roman, though little inferior in gymnastic exercises,

kept strictly to the privacy of the palaestra; and for a patrician to

appear in public as a charioteer is stigmatized by the satirist as a

mark of shameless effrontery.

Roman games are generally classified as _fixed_, _extraordinary_ and

_votive_; but they may be more conveniently grouped according to the

place where they were held, viz. the circus or the amphitheatre.

For the Roman world the circus was at once a political club, a

fashionable lounge, a rendezvous of gallantry, a betting ring, and a

playground for the million. Juvenal, speaking loosely, says that in his

day it held the whole of Rome; but there is no reason to doubt the

precise statement of P. Victor, that in the Circus Maximus there were

seats for 350,000 spectators.

Of the various _Ludi Circenses_ it may be enough here to give a short

account of the most important, the _Ludi Magni_ or _Maximi_.

Initiated according to legend by Tarquinius Priscus, the _Ludi Magni_

were originally a votive feast to Capitoline Jupiter, promised by the

general when he took the field, and performed on his return from the

annual campaign. They thus presented the appearance of a military

spectacle, or rather a review of the whole burgess force, which

marched in solemn procession from the capitol to the forum and thence

to the circus, which lay between the Palatine and Aventine. First came

the sons of patricians mounted on horseback, next the rest of the

burghers ranged according to their military classes, after them the

athletes, naked save for the girdle round their loins, then the

company of dancers with the harp and flute players, next the priestly

colleges bearing censers and other sacred instruments, and lastly the

simulacra of the gods, carried aloft on their shoulders or drawn in

cars. The games themselves were fourfold:--(1) the chariot race; (2)

the _ludus Troiae_; (3) the military review; and (4) gymnastic

contests. Of these only the first two call for any comment. (1) The

chariot employed in the circus was the two-wheeled war car, at first

drawn by two, afterwards by four, and more rarely by three horses.

Originally only two chariots started for the prize, but under Caligula

we read of as many as twenty-four heats run in the day, each of four

chariots. The distance traversed was fourteen times the length of the

circus or nearly 5 m. The charioteers were apparently from the first

professionals, though the stigma under which the gladiator lay never

attached to their calling. Indeed a successful driver may compare in

popularity and fortune with a modern jockey. The drivers were divided

into companies distinguished by the colours of their tunics, whence

arose the faction of the circus which assumed such importance under

the later emperors. In republican times there were two factions, the

white and the red; two more, the green and the blue, were added under

the empire, and for a short time in Domitian's reign there were also

the gold and the purple. Even in Juvenal's day party spirit ran so

high that a defeat of the green was looked upon as a second Cannae.

After the seat of empire had been transferred to Constantinople these

factions of the circus were made the basis of political cabals, and

frequently resulted in sanguinary tumults, such as the famous Nika

revolt (A.D. 532), in which 30,000 citizens lost their lives. (2) The

Ludus Troiae was a sham-fight on horseback in which the actors were

patrician youths. A spirited description of it will be found in the

5th Aeneid. (See also CIRCUS.)

The two exhibitions we shall next notice, though occasionally given in

the circus, belong more properly to the amphitheatre. _Venatio_ was

the baiting of wild animals who were pitted either with one another or

with men--captives, criminals or trained hunters called _bestiarii_.

The first certain instance on record of this amusement is in 186 B.C.,

when M. Fulvius exhibited lions and tigers in the arena. The taste for

these brutalizing spectacles grew apace, and the most distant

provinces were ransacked by generals and proconsuls to supply the

arena with rare animals--giraffes, tigers and crocodiles. Sulla

provided for a single show 100 lions, and Pompey 600 lions, besides

elephants, which were matched with Gaetulian hunters. Julius Caesar

enjoys the doubtful honour of inventing the bull-fight. At the

inauguration of the Colosseum 5000 wild and 4000 tame beasts were

killed, and to commemorate Trajan's Dacian victories there was a

butchery of 11,000 beasts. The _naumachia_ was a sea-fight, either in

the arena, which was flooded for the occasion by a system of pipes and

sluices, or on an artificial lake. The rival fleets were manned by

prisoners of war or criminals, who often fought till one side was

exterminated. In the sea-fight on Lake Fucinus, arranged by the

emperor Claudius, 100 ships and 19,000 men were engaged.

But the special exhibition of the amphitheatre was the _munus

gladiatorium_, which dates from the funeral games of Marcus and

Decimus Brutus, given in honour of their father, 264 B.C. It was

probably borrowed from Etruria, and a refinement on the common savage

custom of slaughtering slaves or captives on the grave of a warrior or

chieftain. Nothing so clearly brings before us the vein of coarseness

and inhumanity which runs through the otherwise noble character of the

Roman, as his passion for gladiatorial shows. We can fancy how

Pericles, or even Alcibiades, would have loathed a spectacle that

Augustus tolerated and Trajan patronized. Only after the conquest of

Greece we hear of their introduction into Athens, and they were then

admitted rather out of compliment to the conquerors than from any love

of the sport. In spite of numerous prohibitions from Constantine

downwards, they continued to flourish even as late as St Augustine. To

a Christian martyr, if we may credit the story told by Theodoret and

Cassiodorus, belongs the honour of their final abolition. In the year

404 Telemachus, a monk who had travelled from the East on this sacred

mission, rushed into the arena and endeavoured to separate the

combatants. He was instantly despatched by the praetor's orders; but

Honorius, on hearing the report, issued an edict abolishing the games,

which were never afterwards revived. (See GLADIATORS.)

Of the other Roman games the briefest description must suffice. The

_Ludi Apollinares_ were established in 212 B.C., and were annual after

211 B.C.; mainly theatrical performances. The _Megalenses_ were in

honour of the great goddess, Cybele: instituted 204 B.C., and from 191

B.C. celebrated annually. A procession of Galli, or priests of Cybele,

was a leading feature. Under the empire the festival assumed a more

orgiastic character. Four of Terence's plays were produced at these

games. The _Ludi Saeculares_ were celebrated at the beginning or end

of each _saeculum_, a period variously interpreted by the Romans

themselves as 100 or 110 years. The celebration by Augustus in 17 B.C.

is famous by reason of the Ode composed by Horace for the occasion.

They were solemnized by the emperor Philip A.D. 248 to commemorate the

millennium of the city.

2. _Private Games._--These may be classified as outdoor and indoor

games. There is naturally all the world over a much closer resemblance

between the pursuits and amusements of children than of adults. Homer's

children built castles in the sand, and Greek and Roman children alike

had their dolls, their hoops, their skipping-ropes, their hobby-horses,

their kites, their knuckle-bones and played at hopscotch, the

tug-of-war, pitch and toss, blind-man's buff, hide and seek, and kiss in

the ring or at closely analogous games. Games of ball were popular in

Greece from the days of Nausicaa, and at Rome there were five distinct

kinds of ball and more ways of playing with them. For particulars the

dictionary of antiquities must be consulted. It is strange that we can

find in classical literature no analogy to cricket, tennis, golf or

polo, and though the _follis_ resembled our football, it was played with

the hand and arm, not with the leg. Cock-fighting was popular both at

Athens and Rome, and quails were kept and put to various tests to prove

their pluck.

Under indoor games we may distinguish games of chance and games of

skill, though in some of them the two elements are combined. _Tesserae_,

shaped and marked with pips like modern dice, were evolved from the

_tali_, knuckle-bones with only four flat sides. The old Roman threw a

hazard and called a main, just as did Charles Fox, and the vice of

gambling was lashed by Juvenal no less vigorously than by Pope. The

Latin name for a dice-box has survived in the _fritillary_ butterfly and

flower.

The primitive game of guessing the number of fingers simultaneously held

up by the player and his opponent is still popular in Italy where it is

known as "morra." The proverbial phrase for an honest man was _quicum in

tenebris mices_, one you would trust to play at morra in the dark.

Athena found the suitors of Penelope seated on cowhides and playing at

[Greek: pessoi], some kind of draughts. The invention of the game was

ascribed to Palamedes. In its earliest form it was played on a board

with five lines and with five pieces. Later we find eleven lines, and a

further development was the division of the board into squares, as in

the game of [Greek: poleis] (cities). In the Roman _latrunculi_

(soldiers), the men were distinguished as common soldiers and "rovers,"

the equivalent of crowned pieces.

_Duodecim scripta_, as the name implies, was played on a board with

twelve double lines and approximated very closely to our backgammon.

There were fifteen pieces on each side, and the moves were determined by

a throw of the dice; "blots" might be taken, and the object of the

player was to clear off all his own men. Lastly must be mentioned the

_Cottabus_ (q.v.), a game peculiar to the Greeks, and with them the

usual accompaniment of a wine party. In its simplest form each guest

threw what was left in his cup into a metal basin, and the success of

the throw, determined partly by the sound of the wine in falling, was

reckoned a divination of love. For the various elaborations of the game

(in Sicily we read of Cottabus houses), Athenaeus and Pollux must be

consulted.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Daremberg et Saglio, _Dictionnaire des antiquites

grecques et romaines_, articles "Agon," "Athleta," "Circus," "Ludi,"

"Olympia," "Spiele"; Curtius and Adler, _Olympia_ (5 vols., 1890,

&c.); Hachtmann, _Olympia und seine Festspiele_; Blumner, _Home Life

of the Ancient Greeks_; J.P. Mahaffy, _Old Greek Education_; P.

Gardner and F.B. Jevons, _Manual of Greek Antiquities_; E.N. Gardiner,

_Greek Athletic Sports_ (1910); Becker-Marquardt, _Handbuch der

romischen Altertumer_ (5 vols.). (F. S.)

GAMING AND WAGERING. It is somewhat difficult exactly to define or

adequately to distinguish these terms of allied meaning. The word "game"

(q.v.) is applicable to most pastimes and many sports, irrespective of

their lawful or unlawful character. "Gaming" is now always associated

with the staking of money or money's worth on the result of a game of

pure chance, or mixed skill and chance; and "gambling" has the same

meaning, with a suggestion that the stakes are excessive or the practice

otherwise reprehensible, while "wager" and "wagering" are applied to

money hazarded on any contingency in which the person wagering has no

interest at risk other than the amount at stake. "Betting" is usually

restricted to wagers on events connected with sports or games, and

"lottery" applies to speculation to obtain prizes by lot or chance.

At English common law no games were unlawful and no penalties were

incurred by gambling, nor by keeping gaming-houses, unless by reason of

disorder they became a public nuisance. From very early times, however,

the English statute law has attempted to exercise control over the

sports, pastimes and amusements of the lieges. Several points of view

have been taken: (1) their competition with military exercises and

training; (2) their attraction to workmen and servants, as drawing them

from work to play; (3) their interference with the observance of Sunday;

(4) their combination with betting or gambling as causing impoverishment

and dishonesty in children, servants and other unwary persons; (5) the

use of fraud or deceit in connexion with them. The legislation has

assumed several forms: (1) declaring certain games unlawful either

absolutely or if accompanied by staking or betting money or money's

worth on the event of the game; (2) declaring the keeping of

establishments for betting, gaming or lotteries illegal, or prohibiting

the use of streets or public places for such purposes; (3) prohibiting

the enforcement in courts of justice of gambling contracts.

Games, lawful and unlawful.

The earliest English legislation against games was passed in the

interests of archery and other manly sports which were believed to

render the lieges more fit for service in war. A statute of Richard

II. (1388) directed servants and labourers to have bows and arrows and

to use them on Sundays and holidays, and to cease from playing

football, quoits, dice, putting the stone, kails and other such

importune games. A more drastic statute was passed in 1409 (11 Hen.

IV. c. 4) and penalties were imposed in 1477 (17 Edw. IV. c. 3) on

persons allowing unlawful games to be played on their premises. These

acts were superseded in 1541 (33 Hen. VIII. c. 9) by a statute passed

on the petition of the bowyers, fletchers (_flechiers_), stringers and

arrowhead makers of the realm. This act (still partly in force) is

entitled an "act for maintenance of archery and debarring of unlawful

games"; and it recites that, since the last statutes (of 3 & 6 Hen.

VIII.) "divers and many subtil inventative and crafty persons have

found and daily find many and sundry new and crafty games and plays,

as logating in the fields, slide-thrift, otherwise called shove-groat,

as well within the city of London as elsewhere in many other and

divers parts of this realm, keeping houses, plays and alleys for the

maintenance thereof, by reason whereof archery is sore decayed, and

daily is like to be more minished, and divers bowyers and fletchers,

for lack of work, gone and inhabit themselves in Scotland and other

places out of this realm, there working and teaching their science, to

the puissance of the same, to the great comfort of strangers and

detriment of this realm." Accordingly penalties are imposed on all

persons keeping houses for unlawful games, and all persons resorting

thereto (s. 8). The games specified are dicing, table (backgammon) or

carding, or any game prohibited by any statute theretofore made or any

unlawful new game then or thereafter invented or to be invented. It is

further provided that "no manner of artificer or craftsman of any

handicraft or occupation, husbandman, apprentice, labourer, servant at

husbandry, journeyman or servant of artificer, mariners, fishermen,

watermen, or any serving man, shall play at the tables, tennis, dice,

cards, bowls, clash, coyting, logating or any other unlawful game out

of Christmas under the pain of xxs. to be forfeit for every time; and

in Christmas to play at any of the said games in their masters' houses

or in their masters' presence; and also that no manner of person shall

at any time play at any bowl or bowls in open places out of his garden

or orchard" (s. 11). The social evils of gambling (impoverishment,

crime, neglect of divine service) are incidentally alluded to in the

preamble, but only in connexion with the main purpose of the

statute--the maintenance of archery. No distinction is made between

games of skill and games of chance, and no reference is made to

playing for money or money's worth. The _Book of Sports_ of James I.

(1617), republished by Charles I. (1633), was aimed at encouraging

certain sports on Sundays and holidays; but with the growth of

Puritanism the royal efforts failed. The Sunday Observance Act 1625

prohibits the meeting of people out of their own parishes on the

Lord's Day for any sports or pastimes whatsoever. It has been

attempted to enforce this act against Sunday football. The act goes on

to prohibit any bear-baiting, bull-baiting, interludes, common plays

or other unlawful exercises or plays on Sunday by parishioners within

their own parishes. According to Blackstone (iv. _Comm._ c. 13) the

principal ground of complaint leading to legislation in the 18th

century was "gambling in high life." He collects the statutes made

with this view, but only those still in force need have been

mentioned.

The first act directed against gambling as distinct from playing games

was that of 1665 (16 Car. II. c. 7) "against deceitful, disorderly and

excessive gaming" which deals with games both of skill and chance at

which people cheat, or play otherwise than with ready money, or lose

more than L100 on credit. In 1698 (13 Will. III. c. 23) legislation

was passed against lotteries, therein described as "mischievous and

unlawful games." This act was amended in 1710 (9 Anne c. 6), and in

the same year was passed a statute which is the beginning of the

modern legislation against gambling (9 Anne c. 19). It includes within

its scope money won by "gaming or playing" at cards, &c., and money

won by "betting" on the sides or hands of those who game at any of the

forbidden games. But it refers to tennis and bowls as well as to games

with cards and dice.

The following list of lawful games, sports and exercises is given in

_Oliphant on Horses, &c._ (6th ed.): horse-races, steeplechases,

trotting matches, coursing matches, foot-races, boat-races, regattas,

rowing matches, golf, wrestling matches, cricket, tennis, fives,

rackets, bowls, skittles, quoits, curling, putting the stone,

football, and presumably every bona-fide variety, e.g. croquet, knurr

and spell, hockey or any similar games. Cock-fighting is said to have

been unlawful at common law, and that and other modes of setting

animals to fight are offences against the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals Acts. The following are also lawful games: whist and other

lawful games at cards, backgammon, bagatelle, billiards, chess,

draughts and dominoes. But to allow persons to play for money at these

games or at skittles or "skittle pool" or "puff and dart" on licensed

premises is gaming within the Licensing Act 1872. The earlier acts

declared unlawful the following games of skill: football, quoits,

putting the stone, kails, tennis, bowls, clash or kails, or

cloyshcayls, logating, half bowl, slide-thrift or shove-groat and

backgammon. Backgammon and other games in 1739 played with backgammon

tables were treated as lawful in that year. Horse-racing, long under

restriction, being mentioned in the act of 1665 and many 18th-century

acts, was fully legalized in 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 35). The act of

1541, so far as it declared any game of mere skill unlawful, was

repealed by the Gaming Act 1845. Billiards is legal in private houses

or clubs and in public places duly licensed. The following games have

been declared by the statutes or the judges to be unlawful, whether

played in public or in private, unless played in a royal palace where

the sovereign is residing: ace of hearts, pharaoh (faro), basset and

hazard (1738), passage, and every game then invented or to be invented

with dice or with any other instrument, engine or device in the nature

of dice having one or more figures or numbers thereon (1739), roulet

or roly-poly (1744), and all lotteries (except Art Union lotteries),

_rouge et noir_, _baccarat-banque_ (1884), _chemin de fer_ (1895), and

all games at cards which are not games of mere skill. The definition

of unlawful game does not include whist played for a prize not

subscribed to by the players, but it does include playing cards for

money in licensed premises; even in the private room of the licensee

or with private friends during closing hours.

The first attack on lotteries was in 1698, against lotteries "by dice,

lots, cards, balls or any other numbers or figures or in any other

way whatsoever." An act of 1721 prohibited lotteries which under the

name of sales distributed prizes in money, advowsons, land, jewels,

&c., by lots, tickets, numbers or figures. Acts of 1722, 1733 and 1823

prohibited any sale of tickets, receipts, chances or numbers in

foreign lotteries. The games of cards already referred to as unlawful

were in 1738 declared to be "games or lotteries by cards or dice," and

in 1802 the definition of lottery was extended to include "little-goes

and any game or lottery not authorized by parliament, drawn by dice,

lots, cards, balls, or by numbers or figures or by any other way,

contrivance or device whatsoever." This wide definition reaches

raffles and sweepstakes on races. The advertisement of foreign or

illegal lotteries is forbidden by acts of 1836 and 1844. In 1846 art

unions were exempted from the scope of the Lottery Acts. Attempts have

been made to suppress the sale in England of foreign lottery tickets,

but the task is difficult, as the post-office distributes the

advertisements, although, under the Revenue Act 1898, the Customs

treat as prohibited goods advertisements or notices as to foreign

lotteries. More success has been obtained in putting down various

devices by newspapers and shopkeepers to attract customers by

instituting "missing word competitions" and "racing coupon

competitions"; by automatic machines which give speculative chances in

addition to the article obtained for the coin inserted; by

distribution of prizes by lot or chance to customers; by holding

sweepstakes at public-houses, by putting coins in sweetmeats to tempt

street urchins by cupidity to indigestion; or by gratuitous

distribution of medals giving a chance of a prize from a newspaper. An

absolutely gratuitous distribution of chances seems not to be within

the acts, but a commercial distribution is, even if individuals who

benefit do not pay for their chance.

As already stated, the keeping of a gaming-house was at common law

punishable only if a public nuisance were created. The act of 1541

imposes penalties on persons maintaining houses for unlawful games.

Originally licences could be obtained for such houses, but these were

abolished in 1555 (2 & 3 Phil. and Mar.). In 1698 lotteries were

declared public nuisances, and in 1802 the same measure was meted out

to lotteries known as little-goes. Special penalties are provided for

those who set up lotteries or any unlawful game with cards or dice,

&c. (1738, 1739, 1744). In 1751 inhabitants of a parish were enabled

to insist on the prosecution of gaming-houses. The act of 1802 imposed

severe penalties on persons publicly or privately keeping places for

any lottery. This statute hits at the deliberate or habitual use of a

place for the prohibited purpose, and does not touch isolated or

incidental uses on a single occasion, e.g. at a bazaar or show; but

under an act of 1823 the sale of lottery tickets is in itself an

offence. The Gaming Act 1845 facilitates the search of suspected

gaming-houses and the proof that they are such. It provides that, to

prove any house to be a common gaming-house, it "shall be sufficient

to show that it is kept or used for playing therein at any unlawful

game, and that a bank is kept there by one or more of the players

exclusively of the others, or that the chances of any game played

therein are not alike favourable to all the players, including among

the players the banker or other person by whom the game is managed, or

against whom the other players stake, play or bet." Gambling, it will

be noticed, is still in this definition connected with some kind of

game. The act also provides that proof that the gaming was for money

shall not be required, and that the presence of cards, dice and other

instruments of gaming shall be prima-facie evidence that the house was

used as a common gaming-house. The most recent statute dealing with

gaming-houses is of 1854, which provides summary remedies against the

keeper and makes further provisions to facilitate conviction. It may

be added that the Gaming Act 1845 makes winning money by cheating at

any game or wager punishable in the same way as obtaining money by

false pretences. At the present time proceedings for keeping

gaming-houses in the sense in which that word is commonly understood

are comparatively rare, and are usually against foreigners. The

statutes hit both public and private gaming-houses (see the Park Club

case, _Jenks_ v. _Turpin_, 1884, 13 Q.B.D. 505, the leading case on

unlawful games). The proprietor and the person who keeps the bank at

an unlawful game are both within the statute: the players are not, but

the act of Henry VIII. is so far alive that they can be put under

recognizance not to frequent gaming-houses. Under the Licensing Act

1872 penalties are incurred by licensed victuallers who suffer any

gaming or unlawful game to be played on their premises. A single

instance of playing an unlawful game for money in a private house is

not within the statutes (_R_. v. _Davies_, 1897, 2 Q.B. 199).

In England, so far as the general public is concerned, gaming at cards

is to a large extent superseded by betting on sports and pastimes, or

speculation by means of lotteries or like devices. The legislation

against betting _eo nomine_ began in 1853. In the Betting Act 1853 it

is described as a kind of gaming of late sprung up to the injury and

demoralization of improvident persons by the opening of places called

betting houses and offices, and the receiving of money _in advance_ by

the owners or occupiers or their agents on promises to pay money on

events or horse races and like contingencies. This act strikes at

ready money betting as distinguished from betting on credit ("on the

nod"). It was avowedly framed to hit houses open to all and sundry as

distinguished from private betting clubs such as Tattersall's. The act

seeks to punish persons who keep a house, office, room or other place

for the purpose (_inter alia_) of any person betting with persons

"resorting thereto" or of receiving deposits in consideration of bets

on contingencies relating to horse-races or other races, fights,

games, sports or exercises. The act especially excepts persons who

receive or hold prizes or stakes to be paid to the winner of a race or

lawful sport, game or exercise, or to the owner of a horse engaged in

a race (s. 6). Besides the penalties incurred by keeping such places,

the keeper is liable to repay to depositors the sums deposited (s. 5).

By the Licensing Act 1872 penalties are incurred by licensed persons

who allow their houses to be used in contravention of the Betting Act

1853. There has been a great deal of litigation as to the meaning and

scope of this enactment, and a keen contest between the police and the

Anti-gambling League (which has been very active in the matter) and

the betting confraternity, in which much ingenuity has been shown by

the votaries of sport in devising means for evading the terms of the

enactment. The consequent crop of legal decisions shows a considerable

divergence of judicial opinion. The House of Lords has held that the

Tattersall's enclosure or betting ring on a racecourse is not a

"place" within the statute; and members of a bona-fide club who bet

with each other in the club are not subject to the penalties of the

act. But the word "place" has been held to include a public-house bar,

an archway, a small plot of waste ground, and a bookmaker's stand, and

even a bookmaker's big umbrella, and it is difficult to extract from

the judges any clear indication of the nature of the "places" to which

the act applies. The act is construed as applying only to ready-money

betting, i.e. when the stake is deposited with the bookmaker, and only

to places used for betting with persons physically resorting thereto;

so that bets by letter, telegram or telephone do not fall within its

penalties. The arm of the law has been found long enough to punish as

thieves "welshers," who receive and make off with deposits on bets

which they never mean to pay if they lose. The act of 1853 makes it an

offence to publish advertisements showing that a house is kept for

betting. It was supplemented in 1874 by an act imposing penalties on

persons advertising as to betting. But this has been read as applying

to bets falling within the act of 1853, and it does not prohibit the

publication of betting news or sporting tips in newspapers. A few

newspapers do not publish these aids to ruin, and in some public

libraries the betting news is obliterated, as it attracts crowds of

undesirable readers. The act of 1853 has been to a great extent

effectual against betting houses, and has driven some of them to

Holland and other places. But it has been deemed expedient to

legislate against betting in the streets, which has been found too

attractive to the British workman.

Street betting.

By the Metropolitan Streets Acts 1867 any three or more persons

assembled together in any part of any street in the city of London or

county of London for the purpose of betting and deemed to be

obstructing the street, may be arrested without warrant by a constable

and fined a sum not exceeding L5. The Vagrancy Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict.

c. 38) provides that "Every person playing or betting by way of

wagering or gaming on any street, road, highway or other open and

public place, or in any open place to which the public have, or are

permitted to have, access, at or with any table or instrument of

gaming, or any coin, card, token or other article used as an

instrument or means of gaming, at any game or pretended game of

chance, shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond." This act amended a

prior act of 1868, passed to repress the practice of playing pitch and

toss in the streets, which had become a public nuisance in the

colliery districts. The powers of making by-laws for the peace, order

and good government of their districts, possessed by municipal

boroughs--and since 1888 by county councils--and extended in 1899 to

the new London boroughs, have in certain cases been exercised by

making by-laws forbidding any person to "frequent or use any street or

other public place, on behalf either of himself or any other person,

for the purpose of bookmaking, or betting, or wagering, or agreeing to

bet or wager with any person, or paying, or receiving or settling

bets." This and similar by-laws have been held valid, but were found

inadequate, and by the Street Betting Act 1906 (6 Edw. VII. c. 43),

passed by the efforts of the late Lord Davey, it is made an offence

for any person to frequent or loiter in a street or public place on

behalf of himself or of any other person for the purpose of bookmaking

or betting or wagering or agreeing to bet or wager or paying or

receiving or settling bets. The punishment for a first offence is fine

up to L10, for a second fine up to L20, and the punishment is still

higher in the case of a third or subsequent offence, or where the

accused while committing the offence has any betting transaction with

a person under the age of sixteen. The act does not apply to ground

used for a course for horse-racing or adjacent thereto on days on

which races take place; but the expression public place includes a

public park, garden or sea-beach, and any unenclosed ground to which

the public for the time have unrestricted access, and enclosed places

other than public parks or gardens to which the public have a

restricted right of access with or without payment, if the owners or

persons controlling the place exhibit conspicuously a notice

prohibiting betting therein. A constable may arrest without warrant

persons offending and seize all books, papers, cards and other

articles relating to betting found in their possession, and these

articles may be forfeited on conviction. Besides the above provision

against betting with infants the Betting and Loans (Infants) Act

1892, passed at the instance of the late Lord Herschell, makes it a

misdemeanour to send, with a view to profit, to any one known by the

sender to be an infant, a document inviting him to enter into a

betting or wagering transaction. The act is intended to protect lads

at school and college from temptation by bookmakers.

Wagering.

We must now turn from the public law with respect to gaming to the

treatment of bets and wagers from the point of view of their obligation

on the individuals who lose them. A wager may be defined as "a promise

to give money or money's worth upon the determination or ascertainment

of an uncertain event" (Anson, _Law of Contract_, 11th ed., p. 206). The

event may be uncertain because it has not happened or because its

happening is not ascertained; but to make the bargain a wager the

determination of the event must be the sole condition of the bargain.

According to the view taken in England of the common law, bets or wagers

were legally enforceable, subject to certain rules dictated by

considerations of public policy, e.g. that they did not lead to

immorality or breach of the peace, or expose a third person to

ridicule.[1] The courts were constantly called upon to enforce wagers

and constantly exercised their ingenuity to discover excuses for

refusing. A writer on the law of contracts[2] discovers here the origin

of that principle of "public policy" which plays so important a part in

English law. Wagering contracts were rejected because the contingencies

on which they depended tended to create interests hostile to the common

weal. A bet on the life of the emperor Napoleon was declared void

because it gave one of the parties an interest in keeping the king's

enemy alive, and also because it gave the other an interest in

compassing his death by unlawful means. A bet as to the amount of the

hop-duty was held to be against public policy, because it tended to

expose the condition of the king's revenue to all the world. A bet

between two hackney coachmen, as to which of them should be selected by

a gentleman for a particular journey, was void because it tended to

expose the customer to their importunities. When no such subtlety could

be invented, the law, however reluctantly, was compelled to enforce the

fulfilment of a wager. Actions on wagers were not favoured by the

judges; and though a judge could not refuse to try such an action, he

could, and often did, postpone it until after the decision of more

important cases.

Parliament gradually intervened to confine the common law within

narrower limits, both in commercial and non-commercial wagers, and both

by general and temporary enactments. An example of the latter was 7 Anne

c. 16 (1710), avoiding all wagers and securities relating to the then

war with France. The earliest general enactment was 16 Car. II. c. 7

(1665), prohibiting the recovery of a sum exceeding L100 lost in games

or pastimes, or in betting on the sides or hands of the players, and

avoiding securities for money so lost. 9 Anne c. 19 avoided securities

for such wagers for any amount, even in the hands of bona-fide holders

for value without notice, and enabled the loser of L10 or upwards to sue

for and recover the money he had lost within three months of the loss.

Contracts of insurance by way of gaming and wagering were declared void,

in the case of marine risks in 1746, and in the case of other risks in

1774. It was not until 1845 that a general rule was made excluding

wagers from the courts. Section 18 of the Gaming Act 1845 (passed after

a parliamentary inquiry in 1844 as to gaming) enacted "that all

contracts or agreements, whether by parole or in writing, by way of

gaming or wagering shall be null and void, and that no suit shall be

brought or maintained in any court of law or equity for recovering any

sum of money or valuable thing alleged to be won upon any wager, or

which shall have been deposited in the hands of any person to abide the

event on which any wager shall have been made; provided always that this

enactment shall not be deemed to apply to any subscription or

contribution, or agreement to subscribe or contribute, for or towards

any plate, prize or sum of money to be awarded to the winner or winners

of any lawful game, sport, pastime or exercise."

The construction put on this enactment enabled turf commission agents

to recover from their principals bets made and paid for them. But the

Gaming Act 1892 rendered null and void any promise, express or implied,

to repay to any person any sum of money paid by him under, or in respect

of, any contract or agreement rendered null and void by the Gaming Act

1845, or to pay any sum of money by way of commission, fee, reward, or

otherwise in respect of any such contract or agreement, or of any

services in relation thereto or in connexion therewith, and provided

that no action should be brought or maintained to recover any such sum.

By the combined effect of these two enactments the recovery by the

winner from the loser or stakeholder of bets or of stakes on games

falling within s. 18 of the Gaming Act 1845 is absolutely barred; but

persons who have deposited money to abide the event of a wager are not

debarred from crying off and recovering their stake before the event is

decided, or even after the decision of the event and before the stake is

paid over to the winner;[3] and a man who pays a bet for a friend, or a

turf commission agent or other agent who pays a bet for a principal, has

now no legal means of recovering the money, unless some actual deceit

was used to induce him to pay in ignorance that it was a bet. But a

person who has received a bet on account of another can still, it would

seem, be compelled to pay it over, and the business of a betting man is

treated as so far lawful that income-tax is charged on its profits, and

actions between parties in such a business for the taking of partnership

accounts have been entertained.

The effect of these enactments on speculative dealings in shares or

other commodities calls for special consideration. It seems to be

correct to define a wagering contract as one in which two persons,

having opposite opinions touching the issue of an event (past or

future), of which they are uncertain, mutually agree that on the

determination of the event one shall win, and the other shall pay over a

sum of money, or other stake, neither party having any other interest in

the event than the sum or stake to be won or lost. This definition does

not strike at contracts in "futures," under which the contractors are

bound to give or take delivery at a date fixed of commodities not in

existence at the date of the contract. Nor are such contracts rendered

void because they are entered into for purposes of speculation; in fact,

their legality is expressly recognized by the Sale of Goods Act 1893.

Contracts of insurance are void if made by way of gaming or wagering on

events in which the assured has no interest present or prospective

whether the matter be life or fire risks (1774) or maritime risks

(Marine Insurance Act 1906). An act known as Sir John Barnard's Act (7

Geo. II. c. 8, entitled "An act to prevent the infamous practice of

stock jobbing") prohibited contracts for liberty to accept or refuse any

public stocks or securities and wagers relating to public stocks, but

this act was repealed in 1860, and contracts to buy or sell stocks and

shares are not now void because entered into by way of speculation and

not for purposes of investment. The only limitation on such contracts is

that contained in Leeman's Act (30 & 31 Vict. c. 29) as to contracts for

the sale of shares in joint-stock banking companies. But a transaction

in any commodity, though in form commercial, falls within the Gaming

Acts if in substance the transaction is a mere wager on the price of the

commodity at a date fixed by the contract. It does not matter whether

the dealing is in stocks or in cotton, nor whether it is entered into on

the Stock Exchange, or on any produce exchange, or elsewhere; nor is it

conclusive in favour of the validity of the bargain that it purports to

bind the parties to take or deliver the article dealt in. The courts are

entitled to examine into the true nature of the transaction; and where

the substantial intention of the parties is merely to gamble in

differences, to make what is called "a time bargain," the fact that it

is carried out by a series of contracts, regular and valid in form, will

not be sufficient to exclude the application of the Gaming Acts.

In very many cases transactions with "outside stockbrokers" or "bucket

shops" have been held to be mere wagers, although the contracts

purported to give "put" or "call" options to demand delivery or

acceptance of the stocks dealt with; and the cover deposited by the

"client" has been treated as a mere security for performance of the

bargain, and recoverable if sued for in time, i.e. before it is used for

the purpose for which it is deposited. There was not up to 1909 any

authoritative decision as to the application of the Gaming Act 1892 to

transactions on the London Stock Exchange through a stockbroker who is a

member of "the House"; but the same principle appears to be applicable

where the facts of the particular deal clearly indicate that the

intention was to make a mere time bargain, or to pay or receive

differences only. The form, however, of all bargains on the Stock

Exchange is calculated and intended to preclude people from setting up a

gaming act defence: as each contract entitles the holder to call for

delivery or acceptance of the stock named therein. In the event of the

bankruptcy of a person involved in speculations, the bankruptcy

officials exclude from proof against the estate all claims founded on

any dealing in the nature of a wager; and on the same principle the

bankrupt's trustee cannot recover sums won by the bankrupt by gaming

transactions, but unexhausted "cover" on uncompleted transactions may be

recovered back.

Gambling debts.

Besides the enactments which prevent the recovery of bets or wagers by

action there has also been a good deal of legislation dealing with

securities given in respect of "gambling debts." The earliest (1665)

dealt with persons playing at games otherwise than for ready money and

losing L100 or more on credit, and not only prohibited the winner from

recovering the overplus but subjected him to penalties for winning it.

An act of 1710 (9 Anne c. 19) declared utterly void all notes, bills,

bonds, judgments, mortgages or other securities where the consideration

is for money or valuable security won by gaming at cards, stocks or

other games, or by betting on the sides or hands of the gamesters, or

for reimbursing money knowingly advanced for such gaming or betting.

This act draws a distinction between gaming and other bets or wagers.

Under this act the securities were void even in the hands of innocent

transferees. In 1841 the law was altered, declaring such securities not

void but made upon an "illegal" consideration. The effect of the change

is to enable an innocent transferee for value, of a bill, note or

cheque, to recover on a security worthless in the hands of the original

taker (see s. 30 of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882), but to put on him

the burden of proving that he is a bona fide holder for value. In the

case of a negotiable security given for a wager not within the acts of

1710 or 1841 (e.g. a bet on a contested election), but within the act of

1845, a third person holding it would be presumed to be a holder for

value and on the person prima facie liable under the security falls the

burden of proving that no consideration was given for it. It has been

decided after considerable divergence of judicial opinion that an action

will not lie in England in favour of the drawee against the drawer of a

cheque drawn at Algiers on an English bank, partly for losses at

baccarat, and partly for money borrowed to continue playing the game.

The ground of decision was in substance that the Gaming Acts of 1845 and

1892 as the _lex fori_ prohibit the English courts from enforcing gaming

debts wherever incurred (_Moulis_ v. _Owen_, 1907, 1 K.B. 746).

_Scotland._--A Scots act of 1621 c. 14 (said still to be in force)

forbids playing at cards or dice in any common house of hostelry, and

directs that sums over 100 marks won on any one day at carding or

dicing or at wagers on horse races should be at once sent to the

treasurer of the kirk session. The Lottery Acts, except that of 1698,

apply to Scotland; and the Betting House Act 1853 was extended to

Scotland in 1874. The Street Betting Act 1906 extends to Scotland, and

gaming houses can be suppressed under the Burgh Police Act 1892, and

street betting, lotteries or gaming under that of 1903.

The Scots courts refuse to try actions on wagers, as being _sponsiones

ludicrae_, unbecoming the dignity of the courts. 9 Anne c. 19 and 5 &

6 Will. IV. c. 41 extend to Scotland, but the weight of judicial

opinion is that the Gaming Act 1845 does not.

_Ireland._--The British Acts against lotteries were extended to

Ireland in 1780, and the general law as to gaming is the same in both

countries.

_British Possessions._--Certain of the earlier imperial acts are in

force in British possessions, e.g. the act of 9 Anne c. 19, which is

in force in Ontario subject to amendments made in 1902. In the Straits

Settlements, Jamaica and British Guiana there are ordinances directed

against gambling and lotteries, and particularly against forms of

gambling introduced by the Chinese. Under these ordinances the money

paid for a lottery ticket is recoverable by law. In the Transvaal

betting houses were suppressed by proclamation (No. 33) soon after the

annexation. An invention known in France as the _pari mutuel_, and in

Australia as the totalizator, is allowed to be used on race-courses in

most of the states (but not in New South Wales). In Queensland, South

Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia the state levies a duty on

the takings of the machine. In Tasmania the balance of the money

retained by the stewards of the course less the tax must be applied

solely for improving the course or promoting horse-racing. In Victoria

under an act of 1901 the promoters of sports may by advertisement duly

posted make betting on the ground illegal.

_Egypt._--By law No. 10 of 1905 all lotteries are prohibited with

certain exceptions, and it is made illegal to hawk the tickets or

offer them for sale or to bring illegal lotteries in any way to the

notice of the public. The authorized lotteries are those for

charitable purposes, e.g. those of the benevolent societies of the

various foreign communities.

_United States._--In the United States many of the states make gaming

a penal offence when the bet is upon an election, or a horse race, or

a game of hazard. Betting contracts and securities given upon a bet

are often made void, and this may destroy a gaming note in the hands

of an innocent purchaser for value. The subject lies outside of the

province of the federal government. By the legislation of some states

the loser may recover his money if he sue within a limited time, as he

might have done in England under 9 Anne c. 19.

AUTHORITIES.--Brandt on _Games_ (1872); Oliphant, _Law of Horses, &c._

(6th ed. by Lloyd, 1908); Schwabe on the _Stock Exchange_ (1905);

Melsheimer on the _Stock Exchange_ (4th ed., 1905); Coldridge and

Hawksford, _The Law of Gambling_ (1895); Stutfield, _Betting_ (3rd

ed., 1901). (W. F. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Leake on _Contracts_ (4th ed.), p. 529.

[2] Pollock, _Contracts_ (7th ed.), p. 313.

[3] _Burge_ v. _Ashby_, 1900, 1 Q.B. 744.

GAMUT (from the Greek letter _gamma_, used as a musical symbol, and

_ut_, the first syllable of the medieval hymn _Sanctus Johannes_), a

term in music used to mean generally the whole compass or range of notes

possessed by an instrument or voice. Historically, however, the sense

has developed from its stricter musical meaning of a scale (the

recognized musical scale of any period), originating in the medieval

"great scale," of which the invention has usually been ascribed to Guido

of Arezzo (q.v.) in the 11th century. The whole question is somewhat

obscure, but, in the evolution of musical notation out of the classical

alphabetical system, the invention of the medieval gamut is more

properly assigned to Hucbald (d. 930). In his system of scales the

semitone was always between the 2nd and 3rd of a tetrachord, as G, A,

[flat]B, C, so the [natural]B and # F of the second octave were in false

relation to the [flat]B and [natural]F of the first two tetrachords. To

this scale of four notes, G, A, [flat]B, C, were subsequently added a

note below and a note above, which made the hexachord with the semitone

between the 3rd and 4th both up and down, as F, G, A, [flat]B, C, D. It

was at a much later date that the 7th, our leading note, was admitted

into a key, and for this the first two letters of the last line of the

above-named hymn, "Sanctus Johannes," would have been used, save for the

notion that as the note Mi was at a semitone below Fa, the same vowel

should be heard at a semitone below the upper Ut, and the syllable Si

was substituted for Sa. Long afterwards the syllable Ut was replaced by

Do in Italy, but it is still retained in France; and in these two

countries, with whatever others employ their nomenclature, the original

Ut and the substituted Do stand for the sound defined by the letter C in

English and German terminology. The literal musical alphabet thus

accords with the syllabic: A (La), B (Si), C (Ut or Do), D (Re), E (Mi),

F (Fa), G (Sol). In Germany a remnant of Greek use survives. A was

originally followed in the scale by the semitone above, as the classical

Mese was followed by Paramese, and this note, namely [flat]B, is still

called B in German, English [natural]B (French and Italian Si) being

represented by the letter H. The gamut which, whenever instituted, did

not pass out of use until the 19th century, regarded the hexachord and

not the octachord, employed both letters and syllables, made the former

invariable while changing the latter according to key relationship, and

acknowledged only the three keys of G, C and F; it took its name from

having the Greek letter gamma with Ut for its lowest keynote, though the

Latin letters with the corresponding syllables were applied to all the

other notes.

GANDAK, a river of northern India. It rises in the Nepal-Himalayas,

flows south-west until it reaches British territory, where it forms the

boundary between the United Provinces and Bengal for a considerable

portion of its course, and falls into the Ganges opposite Patna. It is a

snow-fed stream, and the surrounding country in the plains, lying at a

lower level than its banks, is endangered by its floods. The river is

accordingly enclosed by protective embankments.

The LITTLE GANDAK rises in the Nepal hills, enters Gorakhpur district

about 8 m. west of the Gandak, and joins the Gogra just within the Saran

district of Bengal.

The BURHI (or old) GANDAK also rises in the Nepal hills, and follows a

course roughly parallel to and east of that of the Gandak, of which it

represents an old channel, passing Muzaffarpur, and joining the Ganges

nearly opposite to Moughjr. Its principal tributary is the Baghmati,

which rises in the hills N. of Kathmandu, flows in a southerly direction

through Tirhut, and joins the Burhi Gandak close to Rusera.

GANDAMAK, a village of Afghanistan, 35 m. from Jalalabad on the road to

Kabul. On the retreat from Kabul of General Elphinstone's army in 1842,

a hill near Gandamak was the scene of the massacre of the last survivors

of the force, twenty officers and forty-five British soldiers. It is

also notable for the treaty of Gandamak, which was signed here in 1879

with Yakub Khan. (See AFGHANISTAN.)

GANDERSHEIM, a town of Germany in the duchy of Brunswick, in the deep

valley of the Gande, 48 m. S.W. of Brunswick, on the railway

Boissum-Holzminden. Pop. (1905) 2847. It has two Protestant churches of

which the convent church (_Stiftskirche_) contains the tombs of famous

abbesses, a palace (now used as law courts) and the famous abbey (now

occupied by provincial government offices). There are manufactures of

linen, cigars, beet-root sugar and beer.

The abbey of Gandersheim was founded by Duke Ludolf of Saxony, who

removed here in 856 the nuns who had been shortly before established at

Brunshausen. His own daughter Hathumoda was the first abbess, who was

succeeded on her death by her sister Gerberga. Under Gerberga's

government Louis III. granted a privilege, by which the office of abbess

was to continue in the ducal family of Saxony as long as any member was

found competent and willing to accept the same. Otto III. gave the abbey

a market, a right of toll and a mint; and after the bishop of Hildesheim

and the archbishop of Mainz had long contested with each other about its

supervision, Pope Innocent III. declared it altogether independent of

both. The abbey was ultimately recognized as holding directly of the

Empire, and the abbess had a vote in the imperial diet. The conventual

estates were of great extent, and among the feudatories who could be

summoned to the court of the abbess were the elector of Hanover and the

king of Prussia. Protestantism was introduced in 1568, and Magdalena,

the last Roman Catholic abbess, died in 1589; but Protestant abbesses

were appointed to the foundation, and continued to enjoy their imperial

privileges till 1803, when Gandersheim was incorporated with Brunswick.

The last abbess, Augusta Dorothea of Brunswick, was a princess of the

ducal house, and kept her rank till her death. The memory of Gandersheim

will long be preserved by its literary memorials. Hroswitha, the famous

Latin poet, was a member of the sisterhood in the 9th century; and the

rhyming chronicle of Eberhard of Gandersheim ranks as in all probability

the earliest historical work composed in low German.

The Chronicle, which contains an account of the first period of the

monastery, is edited by L. Wieland in the _Monumenta Germ. historica_

(1877), and has been the object of a special study by Paul Hasse

(Gottingen, 1872). See also "Agii vita Hathumodae abbatissae

Gandershemensis primae," in J.G. von Eckhart's _Veterum monumentorum

quaternio_ (Leipzig, 1720); and Hase, _Mittelalterliche Baudenkmaler

Niedersachsens_ (1870).

GANDHARVA, in Hindu mythology, the term used to denote (1) in the

Rig-Veda usually a minor deity; (2) in later writings a class of divine

beings. As a unity Gandharva has no special attributes but many duties,

and is in close relation with the great gods. Thus he is director of the

sun's horses; he is guardian of soma, the sacred liquor, and therefore

is regarded as the heavenly physician, soma being a panacea. He is

servant of Agni the god of light and of Varuna the divine judge. He is

omnipresent: in the heavens, in the air and in the waters. He is the

keeper of heaven's secrets and acts as messenger between gods and men.

He is gorgeously clothed and carries shining weapons. For wife he has

the spirit of the clouds and waters, Apsaras, and by her became father

of the first mortals, Yama and Yami. He is the tutelary deity of women

and presides over marriage ceremonies. In their collective capacity the

Gandharva share the duties allotted to the single deity. They live in

the house of Indra and with their wives, the Apsaras, beguile the time

by singing, acting and dancing. Sometimes they are represented as

numbering twelve, sometimes twenty-seven, or they are innumerable. In

Hindu law a Gandharva marriage is one contracted by mutual consent and

without formality.

GANDIA, a seaport of eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia; on the

Gandia-Alcoy and Alcira-Denia railways. Pop. (1900) 10,026. Gandia is on

the left bank of the river Alcoy or Serpis, which waters one of the

richest and most populous plains of Valencia and enters the

Mediterranean Sea at the small harbour of Gandia (_El Grao_), 3 m. N.E.

The chief ancient buildings of Gandia are the Gothic church, the

college, founded by San Francisco de Borgia, director-general of the

order of Jesus (1510-1572), and the palace of the dukes of Gandia--a

title held in the 15th and 16th centuries by members of the princely

house of Borgia or Borja. A Jesuit convent, the theatre, schools and the

palace of the dukes of Osuna, are modern. Besides its manufactures of

leather, silk, velvet and ribbons, Gandia has a thriving export trade in

fruit, and imports coal, guano, timber and flour. In 1904, 400 vessels,

of 200,000 tons, entered the harbour.

GANDO, a sultanate of British West Africa, included in the protectorate

of Nigeria, situated on the left bank of the Niger above Borgu. The

sultanate was established, c. 1819, on the death of Othman Dan Fodio,

the founder of the Fula empire, and its area and importance varied

considerably during the 19th century, several of the Fula emirates being

regarded as tributaries, while Gando itself was more or less dependent

on Sokoto. Gando in the middle of the century included both banks of the

Niger at least as far N.W. as Say. The districts outside the British

protectorate now belong to France. Since 1884 Gando has been in treaty

relations with the British, and in 1903 the part assigned to the British

sphere by agreement with France came definitely under the control of the

administration in Nigeria. Gando now forms the sub-province of the

double province of Sokoto. The emir was appointed under British

authority after the conquest of Sokoto in 1903. Since that date the

province has been organized for administration on the same system as the

rest of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Provincial and native

courts of justice have been established, roads have been opened, the

slave trade has been abolished, and the country assessed under the new

scheme for taxation. British garrisons are stationed at Jegga and

Ambrusa. The chief town is Gando, situated on the Sokoto, the first

considerable affluent of the Niger from the east, about 60 m. S.W. of

the town of Sokoto.

GANESA, or GANESH, in Hindu mythology, the god of wisdom and prudence,

always represented with an elephant's head possibly to indicate his

sagacity. He is the son of Siva and Parvati. He is among the most

popular of Indian deities, and almost every act, religious or social, in

a Hindu's life begins with an invocation to him, as do most books. He

typifies not the wisdom of knowledge but that worldly wisdom which

results in financial success, and thus he is particularly the god of the

Hindu shopkeeper. In his divine aspect Ganesa is ruler over the hosts of

heaven, the spirits which come and go to do Indra's will.

GANGES (GANGA), a great river of northern India, formed by the drainage

of the southern ranges of the Himalayas. This mighty stream, which in

its lower course supplies the river system of Bengal, rises in the

Garhwal state, and falls into the Bay of Bengal after a course of 1500

m. It issues, under the name of the Bhagirathi, from an ice cave at the

foot of a Himalayan snow-bed near Gangotri, 10,300 ft. above the level

of the sea.

During its passage through the southern spurs of the Himalayas it

receives the Jahnavi from the north-west, and subsequently the

Alaknanda, after which the united stream takes the name of the Ganges.

Deo Prayag, their point of junction, is a celebrated place of

pilgrimage, as is also Gangotri, the source of the parent stream. At

Sukhi it pierces through the Himalayas, and turns south-west to

Hardwar, also a place of great sanctity. It proceeds by a tortuous

course through the districts of Dehra Dun, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar,

Bulandshahr and Farukhabad, in which last district it receives the

Ramganga. Thus far the Ganges has been little more than a series of

broad shoals, long deep pools and rapids, except, of course, during

the melting of the snows and throughout the rainy season. At

Allahabad, however, it receives the Jumna, a mighty sister stream,

which takes its rise also in the Himalayas to the west of the sources

of the Ganges. The combined river winds eastwards by south-east

through the United Provinces, receiving the Gumti and the Gogra. The

point of junction with both the Gumti and the Gogra has more or less

pretension to sanctity. But the tongue of land at Allahabad, where the

Jumna and the Ganges join, is the true Prayag, _the_ place of

pilgrimage, to which hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus repair to

wash away their sins in the sacred river. It is here that the great

festival called the Magh mela is held.

Shortly after passing the holy city of Benares the Ganges enters

Behar, and after receiving an important tributary, the Sone from the

south, passes Patna, and obtains another accession to its volume from

the Gandak, which rises in Nepal. Farther to the east it receives the

Kusi, and then, skirting the Rajmahal hills, turns sharply to the

southward, passing near the site of the ruined city of Gaur. By this

time it has approached to within 240 m., as the crow flies, from the

sea. About 20 m. farther on it begins to branch out over the level

country, and this spot marks the commencement of the delta, 220 m. in

a straight line, or 300 by the windings of the river, from the Bay of

Bengal. The main channel takes the name of the Padma or Padda, and

proceeds in a south-easterly direction, past Pabna to Goalanda, above

which it is joined by the Jamuna or main stream of the Brahmaputra.

The vast confluence of waters rushes towards the sea, receiving

further additions from the hill country on the east, and forming a

broad estuary known under the name of the Meghna, which enters the Bay

of Bengal near Noakhali. This estuary, however, is only the largest

and most easterly of a great number of mouths or channels. The most

westerly is the Hugli, which receives the waters of a number of

distributary channels that start from the parent Ganges above

Murshidabad. Between the Hugli on the west and the Meghna on the east

lies the delta. The upper angle of it consists of rich and fertile

districts, such as Murshidabad, Nadia, Jessore and the 24 Parganas.

But towards its southern base, resting on the sea, the country sinks

into a series of great swamps, intercepted by a network of innumerable

channels. This wild waste is known as the Sundarbans, from the

_sundari_ tree, which grows in abundance in the seaboard tracts.

The most important channel of the Ganges for commerce is the Hugli, on

which stands Calcutta, about 90 m. from the mouth. Beyond this city

the navigation is conducted by native craft,--the modern facilities

for traffic by rail and the increasing shoals in the river having put

an end to the previous steamer communication, which plied until about

1860 as high up as Allahabad. Below Calcutta important boat routes

through the delta connect the Hugli with the eastern branches of the

river, for both native craft and steamers.

The Ganges is essentially a river of great cities: Calcutta, Monghyr,

Patna, Benares and Allahabad all lie on its course below its junction

with the Jumna; and the ancient capitals, Agra and Delhi, are on the

Jumna, higher up. The catchment basin of the Ganges is bounded on the

N. by a length of about 700 m. of the Himalayan range, on the S. by

the Vindhya mountains, and on the E. by the ranges which separate

Bengal from Burma. The vast river basin thus enclosed embraces 432,480

sq. m. According to the latest calculations, the length of the main

stream of the Ganges is 1540 m., or with its longest affluent, 1680;

breadth at true entrance into the sea, 20 m.; breadth of channel in

dry season, 1-1/4 to 2-1/4 m.; depth in dry season, 30 ft.; flood

discharge, 1,800,000 cub. ft. per second; ordinary discharge, 207,000

cub. ft.; longest duration of flood, about 40 days. The average fall

from Allahabad to Benares is 6 in. per mile; from Benares to Calcutta,

between 4 and 5 in.; from Calcutta to the sea, 1 to 2 in. Great

changes take place from time to time in the river-bed, which alter the

face of the country. Extensive islands are thrown up, and attach

themselves to the mainland, while the river deserts its old bed and

seeks a new channel, it may be many miles off. Such changes are so

rapid and on so vast a scale, and the corroding power of the current

on the bank so irresistible, that in Lower Bengal it is considered

perilous to build any structure of a large or permanent character on

its margin. Many decayed or ruined cities attest the changes in the

river-bed in ancient times; and within our own times the main channel

which formerly passed Rajmahal has turned away from it, and left the

town high and dry, 7 m. from the bank.

The Ganges is crossed by six railway bridges on its course as far as

Benares; and another, at Sara in Eastern Bengal, has been sanctioned.

The UPPER GANGES CANAL and the LOWER GANGES CANAL are the two

principal systems of perennial irrigation in the United Provinces. The

Ganges canal was opened by Lord Dalhousie in 1854, and irrigates

978,000 acres. The Lower Ganges canal, an extension of the original

canal, has been in operation since 1878 and irrigates 830,000 acres.

The two canals, together with the eastern Jumna, command the greater

portion of the Doab lying between the Ganges and the Jumna, above

Allahabad. Navigation in either is insignificant. (T. H. H.*)

GANGOTRI, a celebrated place of Hindu pilgrimage, among the Himalaya

Mountains. It is situated in the native state of Garhwal in the United

Provinces, on the Bhagirathi, the chief head-stream of the Ganges, which

is here not above 15 or 20 yds. broad, with a moderate current, and not

in general above 3 ft. deep. The course of the river runs N. by E.; and

on the bank near Gangotri there is a small temple about 20 ft. high, in

which are images representing Ganga, Bhagirathi and other figures of

mythology. It dates from the early part of the 18th century. The bed of

the river adjoining the temple is divided off by the Brahmans into three

basins, where the pilgrims bathe. One of these portions is dedicated to

Brahma, another to Vishnu and the third to Siva. The pilgrimage to

Gangotri is considered efficacious in washing away the sins of the

devotee, and ensuring him eternal happiness in the world to come. The

water taken from this sacred spot is exported by pilgrims to India and

sold at a high price. The elevation of the temple above the sea is

10,319 ft.

GANGPUR, a tributary state of Orissa, Bengal, included until 1905 among

the Chota Nagpur States. It is bounded N. by Ranchi district, E. by the

Singhbhum district, S. by Sambalpur and Bamra, and W. by Raigarh in the

Central Provinces. The country is for the most part an undulating plain,

broken by detached ranges of hills, one of which, the Mahavira range,

possesses a very remarkable appearance, springing abruptly from the

plain in an irregular wall of tilted and disrupted rock, with two

flanking peaks. The rivers are the Ib and the Brahmani, formed here by

the union of the Sankh and the South Koel, both navigable by canoes. The

Ib was formerly famous on account of diamonds found in its bed, and its

sands are still washed for gold. One of the largest coalfields in India

extends into the state, and iron ore is also found. Jungle

products--lac, silk cocoons, catechu and resin, which are exported; wild

animals--bisons, buffaloes, tigers, leopards, hyenas, wolves, jackals,

wild dogs and many sorts of deer. Area, 2492 sq. m.; pop. (1901)

238,896; estimated revenue, L16,000.

GANGRENE (from Gr. [Greek: gangraina], an eating sore, from [Greek:

grainein], to gnaw), a synonym in medicine for mortification (q.v.), or

a local death in the animal body due to interruption of the circulation

by various causes.

GANILH, CHARLES (1758-1836), French economist and politician, was born

at Allanche in Cantal on the 6th of January 1758. He was educated for

the profession of law and practised as _avocat_. During the troubled

period which culminated in the taking of the Bastille on the 14th of

July 1789, he came prominently forward in public affairs, and was one of

the seven members of the permanent Committee of Public Safety which sat

at the hotel de ville. He was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror, and

was only released by the counter-revolution of the 9th Thermidor. During

the first consulate he was called to the tribunate, but was excluded in

1802. In 1815 he was elected deputy for Cantal, and finally left the

Chamber on its dissolution in 1823. He died in 1836. Ganilh is best

known as the most vigorous defender of the mercantile school in

opposition to the views of Adam Smith and the English economists.

His works, though interesting from the clearness and precision with

which these peculiar opinions are presented, do not now possess much

value for the student of political economy. He wrote _Essai politique

sur le revenue des peuples de l'antiquite, du moyen age, &c._ (1808);

_Des systemes d'economie politique_ (1809); _Theorie d'economie

politique_ (1815); _Dictionnaire analytique de l'economie politique_

(1826).

GANJAM, a district of British India, in the extreme north-east of the

Madras Presidency. It has an area of 8372 sq. m. Much of the district is

exceedingly mountainous and rocky, but is interspersed with open valleys

and fertile plains. Pleasant groves of trees in the plains give to the

scenery a greener appearance than is usually met with in the districts

to the south. The mountainous tract known as the Maliyas, or chain of

the Eastern Ghats, has an average height of about 2000 ft.--its

principal peaks being Singharaj (4976 ft.), Mahendragiri (4923) and

Devagiri (4535). The hilly region forms the agency of Ganjam, with an

area of 3483 sq. m. and a population (in 1901) of 321,114, mostly wild

backward tribes, incapable of being governed under ordinary conditions

and therefore ruled by an agent of the governor with special powers. The

chief rivers are the Rushikulya, the Vamsadhara and the Languliya. The

sea and river fisheries afford a livelihood to a considerable section of

the population. The hilly region abounds in forests consisting

principally of _sal_, with satin-wood, ebony and sandal-wood in smaller

quantities.

Ganjam formed part of the ancient kingdom of Kalinga. Its early history

is involved in obscurity, and it was not till after the Gajapati dynasty

ascended the throne of Orissa that this tract became even nominally a

part of their dominions. Owing to the nature of the country the rising

Mahommedan power was long kept at bay; and it was not till nearly a

century after the first invasion of Orissa that a Mahommedan governor

was sent to govern the Chicacole Circars, which included the present

district of Ganjam. In 1753 Chicacole, with the Northern Circars, were

made over to the French by Salabat Jang for the maintenance of his

French auxiliaries. In 1759 Masulipatam was taken by an English force

sent from Bengal, and the French were compelled to abandon Ganjam and

their other factories in the north. In 1765 the Northern Circars

(including Ganjam) were granted to the English by imperial firman, and

in August 1768 an English factory was founded at Ganjam, protected by a

fort. The present district of Ganjam was constituted in 1802. In the

earlier years of British rule considerable difficulty was experienced in

the administration of the district; and on more than one occasion the

refractory large landholders had to be coerced by means of regular

troops. In 1816 Ganjam was overrun by the Pindaris; and in 1836 occurred

the Gumsur campaign, when the British first came into contact with the

aboriginal Kondhs, the suppression of whose practice of human sacrifice

was successfully accomplished. A petty rising of a section of the Kondhs

occurred in 1865, which was, however, suppressed without the aid of

regular troops.

In 1901 the pop. of the district was 2,010,256, showing an increase of

20% in the decade. There are two systems of government irrigation: (1)

the Rushikulya project, and (2) the Ganjam minor rivers system. The

principal crops are rice, other food grains, pulse, oil seeds and a

little sugar-cane and cotton. Salt is evaporated, as a government

monopoly, along the coast. Sugar is refined, according to German

methods, at Aska, where rum also is produced. A considerable trade is

conducted at the ports of Gopalpur and Calingapatam, which are only open

roadsteads. The district is traversed throughout by the East Coast

railway (Bengal-Nagpur system), which was opened from Calcutta to Madras

in 1900. There are colleges at Berhampore and Parlakimedi. The

headquarters station is Berhampore; the town of Ganjam occupied this

position till 1815, when it was found unhealthy, and its importance has

since declined.

GANNAL, JEAN NICOLAS (1791-1852), French chemist, was born at

Sarre-Louis on the 28th of July 1791. In 1808 he entered the medical

department of the French army, and witnessed the retreat from Moscow in

1812. After the downfall of the empire he worked at the Ecole

Polytechnique in Paris and subsequently at the Faculty of Sciences as

assistant to L.J. Thenard. His contributions to technical chemistry

included a method of refining borax, the introduction of elastic rollers

formed of gelatin and sugar for use in printing, and processes for

manufacturing glue and gelatin, lint, white lead, &c. The Institute

awarded him a Montyon prize in 1827 for his advocacy of chlorine as a

remedy in pulmonary phthisis, and again in 1835 for his discovery of the

efficacy of solutions of aluminium acetate and chloride for preserving

anatomical preparations. In the latter part of his life he turned his

attention to embalmment, his method depending on the injection of

solutions of aluminium salts into the arteries. He died at Paris in

January 1852. His son FELIX, born in 1829, also devoted himself to the

question of the disposal of the dead, among his publications being _Mort

reelle et mort apparente_ (1868), _Inhumation et cremation_ (1876), and

_Les Cimetieres_ (1885), a work on the history and law of burial, of

which only one volume appeared.

GANNET (O.E. _ganot_) or SOLAN GOOSE,[1] the _Pelecanus bassanus_ of

Linnaeus and the _Sula bassana_ of modern ornithologists, a large

sea-fowl long known as a numerous visitor, for the purpose of breeding,

to the Bass Rock at the entrance of the Firth of Forth, and to certain

other islands off the coast of Britain, of which four are in Scottish

waters--namely, Ailsa Craig, at the mouth of the Firth of Clyde; the

group known collectively as St Kilda; Suleskerry, some 40 m. north-east

of the Butt of Lewis; and the Stack and Skerry, about the same distance

westward of Stromness. It appears also to have two stations off the

coast of Ireland, the Skellig Islands and the Stags of Broadhaven, and

it resorts besides to Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel--its only

English breeding-place. Farther to the northward its settlements are

Myggenaes, the most westerly of the Faeroes, and various small islands

off the coast of Iceland, of which the Vestmannaeyjar, the Reykjanes

Fuglasker and Grimsey are the chief. On the western side of the Atlantic

it appears to have but five stations, one in the Bay of Fundy, and four

rocks in the Gulf of St Lawrence. On all these seventeen places the bird

arrives about the end of March or in April and departs in autumn when

its young are ready to fly; but even during the breeding-season many of

the adults may be seen on their fishing excursions at a vast distance

from their home, while at other times of the year their range is greater

still, for they not only frequent the North Sea and the English Channel,

but stray to the Baltic, and, in winter, extend their flight to the

Madeiras, while the members of the species of American birth traverse

the ocean from the shores of Greenland to the Gulf of Mexico.

[Illustration: Gannet, or Solan Goose.]

Apparently as bulky as a goose, and with longer wings and tail, the

gannet weighs considerably less. The plumage of the adult is white,

tinged on the head and neck with buff, while the outer edge and

principal quills of the wings are black, and some bare spaces round the

eyes and on the throat reveal a dark blue skin. The first plumage of the

young is of a deep brown above, but paler beneath, and each feather is

tipped with a triangular white spot. The nest is a shallow depression,

either on the ground itself or on a pile of turf, grass and

seaweed--which last is often conveyed from a great distance. The single

egg it contains has a white shell of the same chalky character as a

cormorant's. The young are hatched blind and naked, but the

slate-coloured skin with which their body is covered is soon clothed

with white down, replaced in due time by true feathers of the dark

colour already mentioned. The mature plumage is believed not to be

attained for some three years. Towards the end of summer the majority of

gannets, both old and young, leave the neighbourhood of their

breeding-place, and, betaking themselves to the open sea, follow the

shoals of herrings and other fishes (the presence of which they are most

useful in indicating to fishermen) to a great distance from land. Their

prey is almost invariably captured by plunging upon it from a height,

and a company of gannets fishing presents a curious and interesting

spectacle. Flying in a line, each bird, when it comes over the shoal,

closes its wings and dashes perpendicularly into the waves, whence it

emerges after a few seconds, and, shaking the water from its feathers,

mounts in a wide curve, and orderly takes its place in the rear of the

string, to repeat its headlong plunge so soon as it again finds itself

above its prey.[2]

Structurally the gannet presents many points worthy of note, such as its

closed nostrils, its aborted tongue, and its toes all connected by a

web--characters which it possesses in common with most of the other

members of the group of birds (_Steganopodes_) to which it belongs. But

more remarkable still is the system of subcutaneous air-cells, some of

large size, pervading almost the whole surface of the body,

communicating with the lungs, and capable of being inflated or emptied

at the will of the bird. This peculiarity has attracted the attention of

several writers--Montagu, Sir R. Owen (_Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1831, p. 90),

and Macgillivray.

In the southern hemisphere the gannet is represented by two nearly

allied but somewhat smaller forms--one, _Sula capensis_, inhabiting the

coast of South Africa, and the other, _S. serrator_, the Australian

seas. Both much resemble the northern bird, but the former seems to

have a permanently black tail, and the latter a tail the four middle

feathers of which are blackish-brown with white shafts.

Apparently inseparable from the gannets generically are the smaller

birds well known to sailors as boobies, from the extraordinary stupidity

they commonly display. They differ, however, in having no median stripe

of bare skin down the front of the throat; they almost invariably breed

upon trees and are inhabitants of warmer climates. One of them, _S.

cyanops_, when adult has much of the aspect of a gannet, but _S.

piscator_ is readily distinguishable by its red legs, and _S.

leucogaster_ by its upper plumage and neck of deep brown. These three

are widely distributed within the tropics, and are in some places

exceedingly abundant. The fourth, _S. variegata_, which seems to

preserve throughout its life the spotted suit characteristic of the

immature _S. bassana_, has a much more limited range, being as yet only

known from the coast of Peru, where it is one of the birds which

contribute to the formation of guano. (A. N.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The phrase _ganotes baed_ (gannet's bath), a periphrasis for the

sea, occurs in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, in reference to events

which took place A.D. 975, as pointed out by Prof. Cunningham, whose

learned treatise on this bird (_Ibis_, 1866, p. 1) nearly exhausts

all that can be said of its history and habits. A few pages further

on (p. 13) this writer remarks:--"The name gannet is intimately

connected with our modern English gander, both words being

modifications of the ancient British 'gan' or 'gans,' which is the

same word as the modern German 'Gans,' which in its turn corresponds

with the old High German 'Kans,' the Greek [Greek: chen], the Latin

_anser_, and the Sanskrit 'hansa,' all of which possess the same

signification, viz. a goose. The origin of the names solan or soland,

sulan, sula and haf-sula, which are evidently all closely related, is

not so obvious. Martin [_Voy. St Kilda_] informs us that 'some

imagine that the word solan comes from the Irish souler, corrupted

and adapted to the Scottish language, _qui oculis irretortis e

longinquo respiciat praedam_.' The earlier writers in general derive

the word from the Latin _solea_, in consequence of the bird's

supposed habit of hatching its egg with its foot; and in a note

intercalated into Ray's description of the solan goose in the edition

of his Itineraries published by the Ray Society, and edited by Dr

Lankester, we are told, though no authority for the statement is

given, that 'the gannet, _Sula alba_, should be written solent goose,

i.e. a channel goose.'" Hereon an editorial note remarks that this

last statement appears to have been a suggestion of Yarrell's, and

that it seems at least as possible that the "Solent" took its name

from the bird.