every physical gratification and even abused through overuse-whence resulted libertinism and sensuality. All the nobler Gnostics adopted the ascetic life, and some of them pushed it to an extreme (as, e.g., the Encratites). The opposite theory of self-indulgence was advocated and practiced by such sects as the Carpocratians, the Nicolaitans, and the Cainites.

The traces of Christian teaching in this system are manifest. But not less evident is the influence of Hellenic and Oriental speculation. Harnack has coined a phrase which is already proverbial (the "acute Hellenizing of Christianity"), to describe the progress of Gnosticism. The attempt to Hellenize Christianity and explain away its doctrines in the light of the "higher knowledge" was parallel to the line which heathen philosophers had taken with popular theology, which they admitted contained some manner of truth accommodated to the ignorance of the multitude. So Gnosticism would admit the necessity of faith for the vulgar multitude, but reserved the "higher knowledge" for the few who were fitted to receive it. This knowledge was superior to and independent of the faith. The central idea of Gnosticism made it welcome to many who were half converted from heathenism. The æsthetic instinct, which was the soul of Greek and Roman culture, revolted at the authority of the Church, which imposed the same belief on all, and exacted the same submission from philosopher and slave alike. In a system of compromise like Gnosticism, it escaped this ignominy.

In the course of the Gnostic controversy the Church defined her theory of the ancient Catholic standards, as the tests of orthodoxy, viz., the rule of faith, the canon of Scripture, and the episcopate, each of these being regarded as of apostolic origin and authority. Upon them she relied not only for vindicating the truth of her doctrine and the sole validity of her practice, but also for proving the falsity of her opponents' position. With these standards once generally recognized, the Gnostics, who were in the minority, could be, and were, shut out from Christian fellowship. This development was under way long before the close of the second century and was practically complete in the age of Cyprian (c.250 A.D.), when Gnosticism had already become a negligible factor. In fact, after Marcion, in the middle of the second century, Gnosticism is of little practical importance, though its tendencies reappear in the Manichees and Manichæan sects of the Middle Ages.

Gnostic Writings. Basilides' 24 books on the Gospel, entitled Exegetica, have for the most part perished, along with other early heretical works, but we have some quotations from them in the early Christian literature. There is at present no way of verifying Origen's statement that Basilides wrote a gospel of his own, nor have we the Gospel of Truth, which Irenæus attributes to the Valentinians. The Letters, Homilies, and Psalms of Valentinus have likewise perished. Fragments have come down to us from the works of Bardesanes, a Christian poet of Syria (died after 220 A.D.), who is sometimes classed among the Gnostics. In the Pistis Sophia we possess an Egyptian Gnostic writing of the third century, preserved in Coptic, relating the history of Wisdom in the form of a dialogue between the risen Christ and His disciples. Here asceticism is put forward as a

Christian duty, and we find something closely akin to the sacramental theory of penance. Other valuable Coptic versions of Gnostic works have recently been discovered by Carl Schmidt, including the Books of Jen, the Gospel of Mary, and the Sophia Jesu Christi. Epiphanius preserves for us a letter from the Valentinian Ptolemy to Flora, and there is also a Naassene hymn. There are several books of Gnostic Acts, bearing the names of Peter, John, Thomas, and Andrew, which appear to have been circulated in a collection which passed under the name of one Leucius.

Bibliography. On the literature of Gnosticism, consult: Harnack-Preuschen, Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur (Leipzig, 1893); Mead, Pistis Sophia, translation (London, 1896); King, The Gnostics and their Remains (2d ed., ib., 1887); Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries (ib., 1875); Hilgenfeldt, Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums (Leipzig, 1884); Mead, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten (London, 1900); Swiney, Esoteric Teachings of the Gnostics (ib., 1909); Bousset, Haupt probleme der Gnosis (Göttingen, 1911); Faye, Gnostiques et gnosticisme (Paris, 1913); and especially C. Schmidt, Coptish-gnostische Schriften (Leipzig, 1905). The most important attacks upon the Gnostics may be read, in English, in the Ante-Nicenc Fathers, ed. by Coxe (10 vols., New York, 1885-96). In general, consult: Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. i (London, 1894); Rainy, The Ancient Catholic Church (New York, 1902); W. Schultz, Dokumente der Gnosis (Jena, 1910). See BASILIDES; CARPOCRATES; CERDONIANS; CERINTHUS; DOCETE; ENCRATITES; HERACLEON; MARCION; NICOLAITANS; OPHITES; SETHITES; VALEN

TINIANS.

GNOSTICS, nos'tiks. Those who adhered to the system known as Gnosticism. From the end of the first century onward for two generations Gnostic heretics were many and widely scattered. "A multitude of Gnostics have sprung up and have shown themselves like mushrooms growing out of the ground," says Irenæus. It was formerly customary to distinguish two main types, a Jewish and a Greek, but it is hardly possible to classify them with any exactness. Carpocrates, Saturnilus, Cerdo, Basilides, Valentinus, Isidore, Heracleon, Ptolemy, and Julius Cassianus are among the best-known Gnostic leaders. Saturnilus (or Saturninus, as he is sometimes called) represents the Syrian school, to which Tatian and the ascetic sect of the Encratites are in a measure related. Basilides and Valentinus are the masters of the Alexandrian Gnostics, the school which was by far the most important and about which we have the fullest information. Basilides taught in the time of Hadrian. Valentinus went from Alexandria to Rome, where he labored (c.140-160 A.D.) and founded a church. Marcion of Pontus (q.v.) is sometimes reckoned as a Gnostic and certainly had many points in common with them. See GNOSTICISM, and the articles on the Gnostic teachers and sects.

GNOSUS. See CNOSUS.

GNU, nũ (from Hottentot, gnu, nyu), or WILDEBEEST. A member of a remarkable genus (Connochetes) of African antelopes, of which the best-known species has been formerly described as made up of parts of an antelope, a buffalo, and a horse. The grotesque appearance of some species suggests this composite. (See Plate of

ANTELOPES.) The gnus form a genus of large, ungainly animals, having horns in both sexes and the withers higher than the haunches. The body and legs are antelope-like, but the head is so massive and broad as to resemble that of an ox. The muzzle is naked, the eyes are small, with a gland beneath each, whence sprout long

HORNS OF GNU.

Showing development from the yearling (1) through youth (2) to maturity (3) in the white-tailed gnu.

stiff hairs, and the horns, which in old age form a helmet over the forehead, are broad, black, and shaped like an African buffalo's, to which must be added the bovine-like circumstance, not present elsewhere among antelopes, that the horn cores are honeycombed with cavities. Long hairs bristle about the chin and throat, and a stiff mane is borne upon the arched crest of the neck; while the tail is profusely hairy, like that of a horse, and sweeps the ground.

There are two species. The once "common" gnu, or white-tailed wildebeest (Connochetes gnu), formerly roamed all over South Africa, but by the end of the nineteenth century had become so scarce as to be extinct except in the remoter districts; its dependence upon water denied it the desert, which has been the means of preserving some of its former associates. In this species long hair fringes the chest, and the color is uniformly deep brown, with the tail white. In the other species, the brindled gnu or blue wildebeest (Connochetes taurinus), whose habitat was north of the Zambezi, wherever plains extended, the chest has no long hair, the tail is black, and the general color duller, and marked with dark vertical stripes upon the shoulders and neck. The former stands about 42 feet high; the latter is somewhat larger. The females of both are lighter in hue than the males.

Gnus went about in bands of 30 or 40 and were fond of associating with quaggas and zebras, whose actions their own resembled. The old bulls were extremely watchful and usually the first to discover danger and give the alarm. Consult Lydekker, Game Animals of Africa (London, 1908). See ANTELOPE, and Plate of

ANTELOPES.

GNU GOAT. See TAKIN.

GOA, gō'à. A Portuguese colony on the Malabar coast, India, extending from lat. 14° 53' to 15° 48′ N. and from long. 73° 45' to 74° 24′ E. (Map: India, B 6). It is 60 miles long by 30 miles broad and contains an area of 1301 square miles. It has been a Portuguese possession since its conquest by Albuquerque in 1510. Pop., 1900, 475,513. Capital, Panjim, or New Goa. (See following article.)

GOA. A city on the Malabar coast, India, in lat. 15° 30′ N. and long. 73° 57′ E., the former capital of the Portuguese dominions in India (Map: India, B 6). It was once a city of great

magnificence, with 200,000 inhabitants, and important chiefly on account of its harbor, one of the best on the west coast. Its decline was due to the ravages of cholera in the beginning of the eighteenth century, when most of the Portuguese left the former site and settled nearer the harbor of Panjim, or New Goa, which is the present seat of the colony. Pop., 1900 (old town), 2302; (new town), 9325. The old city is the see of an archbishop, the head of Roman Catholicism in India, and contains the imposing cathedral of St. Catharine, built in 1623, and the church of Boni Jesus, besides many interesting ruins. Panjim, on the Mandavi River and connected by the Portuguese West India Railway with British India, is a clean and picturesque town, with a good modern harbor, large barracks, viceregal palace, college, and public library. It has large salt works near by. Rice, coconuts, and spices constitute the chief products and exports. For a description of ancient Goa, consult: Marryat, Phantom Ship (London, 1839); B. H. Baden-Powell, The Villages of Goa in the Early Sixteenth Century (ib., 1900); Henry Bruce, Letters from Malabar and on the Way (New York, 1909).

GOA. A gazelle (Gazella picticaudata), inhabiting the highest pastures of the Tibetan plateau, and having a very heavy coat of hair in adaptation to its cold habitat.

GOA CEDAR. See CYPRESS.

GOAJIRA, gō'ä-Hē'rå. A peninsula of South America, lying west of the Gulf of Venezuela, forming the most northern part of the continent. Its area is estimated at over 5000 square miles (Map: Colombia, C 1). The coasts are mostly sandy and low, while the interior contains a number of mountains. It is sparsely watered, and the chief occupation of the inhabitants is cattle breeding. Its people are semi-independent Indians, known under the name of Goajiros, and variously estimated at from 30,000 to twice that number. The peninsula was formerly divided between Venezuela and Colombia, but by the decision of 1891 it was awarded to the latter.

GOAJIROS, gō'à-He'rôs. An Arawakan tribe of the Goajira Peninsula, on the northwest of Lake Maracaibo, South America. This most interesting tribe build their houses in the Maracaibo and other lagoons of Venezuela, driving piles into the mud, and erecting on them oblong rectangular dwellings with high-pitched roofs. The structures are thatched and have on one or more sides platforms on which cooking and the family occupations are carried on in open air, and which also serve as landing places for canoes. The name "Venezuela," or "little Venice," originated from the prevalence of these structures over the water. The people subsist by fishing, agriculture, and on the natural fruits, nuts, and roots of this bountiful region. They are expert in weaving cotton and palm textiles and make beautiful featherwork. Consult I. F. Holton, New Granada: Twenty Months in the Andes (New York, 1857).

GOA POWDER, ARAROBA, or CHRYSAROBIN. A drug imported in the form of a yellowish or chocolate-colored powder. The name "Goa powder" is derived from the Portuguese colony of Goa, where the drug appears to have been introduced about the year 1852. It was exported from Bahía to Portugal, whence it found its way to the Portuguese colonies in Africa and Asia. The tree which yields it (Andira araroba) is met with in great abundance in certain forests

in the Province of Bahía, Brazil, preferring low and humid spots. It is from 80 to 100 feet high and is furnished with imparippinate leaves, the leaflets of which are oblong, about 12 inches long and 4 of an inch broad, and somewhat truncate at the apex. The flowers are papilionaceous, of purple color, and arranged in panicles. The Goa powder, or araroba, is contained in the trunk, filling crevices in the heartwood. To obtain it the oldest trees are selected as containing the larger quantity, and after being cut down are sawed transversely into logs, which are split longitudinally, and the araroba chipped or scraped off with the axe. During this process the workmen feel a bitter taste in the mouth, and great care has to be taken to prevent injury from the irritating action of the powder on the eyes. In this state, i.e., mixed with fragments of wood, the Goa powder is exported. Somewhat purified, as chrysarobin, it is used in the form of an ointment made by rubbing together 40 grains of the powder, 10 drops of acetic acid, and an ounce of lard. It is used in several skin diseases, especially in ringworm and psoriasis; and it owes its efficiency to the chrysophanic acid it contains.

GOAR, go'är', SAINT (c.585-649). A mediaval missionary, born in Aquitaine. According to the legends concerning him, he went (c.618) to Oberwesel, Germany, where he erected a chapel at what is now St. Goar and made numerous converts. He was buried in the chapel, and the monastery subsequently erected there became a chapter house in 1127. In 1768 the celebrated church of St. Goar on the Rhine was dedicated to him. His fête is July 6.

GOAT (AS. gāt, Icel. geit, OHG. geiz, Ger. Geiss; ultimately connected with Lat. hædus, kid). A genus (Capra) of ruminant quadrupeds of the family Bovidæ, so closely allied to the sheep that it is not easy exactly to define the distinction, although the common domestic goat and sheep are of widely different appearance. One of the most marked of the distinguishing characters is that the horns of goats, present in both sexes, but smaller in the females, are long and directed upward, backward, and outward, while those of the sheep are more or less spirally twisted. Other characteristics are the beard on the chin of the male goats, which is wanting in the sheep, and the straight line of the face in goats, as compared with the arched line in sheep. The tail of goats is also much shorter than that of sheep. A constant mark of distinction is the absence in goats of a small pit between the toes of the hind feet (in some cases of all four feet), producing a fatty secretion, which exists in sheep and is peculiar to them. And another constant mark which is absent in sheep is the strong smell of male goats, particularly during the rutting season. Equally constant are the differences of temper and manners, goats being in a high degree curious and confident.

WILD GOATS

True wild goats, of which some 10 species are recognized, belong to the Old World alone, where they are confined to the mountainous region which extends from the Atlas ranges of northwestern Africa to Central Asia. Some other animals called goats are zoologically otherwise related. All are essentially mountain animals and exhibit a great aptitude for scrambling among rocks and bushes, are extremely sure

footed, and display great strength and agility in leaping. They also prefer as food the leaves and small branches of shrubs, and the strongly aromatic herbs which abound in mountainous localities, to the herbage of the richest pastures, browsing rather than grazing, as do sheep. They live in small herds, but the old bucks are likely to live separately, and thus serve the purpose of scouts, though all are extremely wary and hence are among the most difficult of game for the sportsman. Two kids are usually produced at birth, in late spring, and very quickly become able to travel with the band.

The best-known as well as most characteristic species of wild goat is the bezoar goat, or pasang (Capra agagrus), which was once common throughout the Grecian Archipelago, but now is known only in Crete and one or two other islands and thence eastward through the highlands of Asia Minor to Persia and thence to northeastern India. It inhabits all barren hills in the East, but in Persia rarely descends much below the timber line. This goat (see Plate of WILD GOATS, ETC.) stands about 36 inches high and in winter is brownish gray, changing in summer to a more reddish-yellow tint, with the buttocks and underparts nearly white; and the older bucks have the forehead, chin, beard, throat, front of the legs, a stripe along the spine, the tail, and a band of the flanks dark brown. The horns of the old bucks measure 40 to 50 inches along the curve, rise close together from the top of the skull, and sweep backward in an even curve, with the front edge forming a strong keel marked by irregular prominences; the horns of the female are much smaller and smoother. The old bucks maintain a most vigilant watch, one or more being constantly on the lookout and warning the herd of danger. This is the species from which domestic goats have been derived. An illustrated account of this species will be found in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1875, by C. G. Danford.

Goats of the Caucasus, or Turs. Three kinds of wild goats, distinguished as species, but perhaps only varieties of a single race, inhabit the Caucasus Range, which in form and color much resemble the pasang, though somewhat paler as a rule, and with long reddish-brown beard and short scut. Their horns, however, are very different, being very massive, smooth, and black, with a squarish cross section at the base, and sweeping outward and then inward, with a tendency towards a spiral, best shown in the Western, or Severtzow's, tur (see Plate of WILD GOATS, ETC.), which more nearly approach the form of the ibex's. The eastern Caucasus is inhabited by Pallas's tur (Capra cylindricornis); the central parts of the range, between Mount Elburz and Daghestan, by the Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica); and the western part by the larger, more ibex-like Severtzow's tur (Capra severtzowi).

The Spanish Goat. Closely allied to the turs is the wild goat, or "cabramontes" (Capra pyrenaica), of the mountains of Spain and Portugal. It is a smaller animal than the others, bucks standing about 26 inches in height, with horns measuring 25 to 28 inches in length. Its horns are divergent, tend to be spiral, are somewhat triangular in section, with a strong keel on their posterior border, and knobs along the outside. These goats are so wary and resourceful that they remain numerous.