GELNHAUSEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, on the Kinzig, 27 m. E.N.E. of Frankfort-on-Main, on the railway to Bebra. Pop. 4500. It is romantically situated on the slope of a vine-clad hill, and is still surrounded by ancient walls and towers. On an island in the river are the ivy-covered ruins of the imperial palace which Frederick I. (Barbarossa) built before 1170, and which was destroyed by the Swedes during the Thirty Years’ War. It has an interesting and beautiful church (the Marien Kirche), with four spires (of which that on the transept is curiously crooked), built in the 13th century, and restored in 1876-1879; also several other ancient buildings, notably the town-hall, the Fürstenhof (now administrative offices), and the Hexenthurm. India-rubber goods are manufactured, and wine is made. Gelnhausen became an imperial town in 1169, and diets of the Empire were frequently held within its walls. In 1634 and 1635 it suffered severely from the Swedes. In 1803 the town became the property of Hesse-Cassel, and in 1866 passed to Prussia.
GELO, son of Deinomenes, tyrant of Gela and Syracuse. On the death of Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela (491 B.C.), Gelo, who had been his commander of cavalry, succeeded him; and in 485, his aid having been invoked by the Gamori (the oligarchical landed proprietors) of Syracuse who had been driven out by the populace, he seized the opportunity of making himself despot. From this time Gelo paid little attention to Gela, and devoted himself to the aggrandizement of Syracuse, which attained extraordinary wealth and influence. When the Greeks solicited his aid against Xerxes, he refused it, since they would not give him command of the allied forces (Herodotus vii. 171). In the same year the Carthaginians invaded Sicily, but were totally defeated at Himera, the result of the victory being that Gelo became lord of all Sicily. After he had thus established his power, he made a show of resigning it; but his proposal was rejected by the multitude, and he reigned without opposition till his death (478). He was honoured as a hero, and his memory was held in such respect that when all the brazen statues of tyrants were condemned to be sold in the time of Timoleon (150 years later) an exemption was made in favour of the statue of Gelo.
Herodotus vii.; Diod. Sic. xi. 20-38; see also [Sicily]: History, and [Syracuse]; for his coins see [Numismatics]: Sicily.
GELSEMIUM, a drug consisting of the root of Gelsemium nitidum, a clinging shrub of the natural order Loganiaceae, having a milky juice, opposite, lanceolate shining leaves, and axillary clusters of from one to five large, funnel-shaped, very fragrant yellow flowers, whose perfume has been compared with that of the wallflower. The fruit is composed of two separable jointed pods, containing numerous flat-winged seeds. The stem often runs underground for a considerable distance, and indiscriminately with the root it is used in medicine. The plant is a native of the United States, growing on rich clay soil by the side of streams near the coast, from Virginia to the south of Florida. In the United States it is commonly known as the wild, yellow or Carolina jessamine, although in no way related to the true jessamines, which belong to the order Oleaceae. It was first described in 1640 by John Parkinson, who grew it in his garden from seed sent by Tradescant from Virginia; at the present time it is but rarely seen, even in botanical gardens, in Great Britain.
The drug contains a volatile oil and two potent alkaloids, gelseminine and gelsemine. Gelseminine is a yellowish, bitter substance, readily soluble in ether and alcohol. It is not employed therapeutically. Gelsemine has the formula C11H19NO2, and is a colourless, odourless, intensely bitter solid, which is insoluble in water, but readily forms a soluble hydrochloride.
The dose of this salt is from 1⁄60th to 1⁄20th of a grain. The British Pharmacopoeia contains a tincture of gelsemium, the dose of which is from five to fifteen minims.
| Gelsemium nitidum, half natural size; flower, nat. size. |
The drug is essentially a nerve poison. It has no action on the skin and no marked action on the alimentary or circulatory systems. Its action on the cerebrum is slight, consciousness being retained even after toxic doses, but there may be headache and giddiness. The drug rapidly causes failure of vision, diplopia, ptosis or falling of the upper eyelid, dilatation of the pupil, and a lowering of the intra-ocular tension. This last action is doubtful. The symptoms appear to be due to a paralysis of the motor cells that control the internal and external ocular muscles. The most marked action of the drug is upon the anterior cornua of grey matter in the spinal cord. It can be shown by a process of experimental exclusion that to an arrest of function of these cells is due the paralysis of all the voluntary muscles of the body that follows the administration of gelsemium or gelsemine. Just before death the sensory part of the spinal cord is also paralysed, general anaesthesia resulting. The drug kills by its action on the respiratory centre in the medulla oblongata. Shortly after the administration of even a moderate dose the respiration is slowed and is ultimately arrested, this being the cause of death. In cases of poisoning the essential treatment is artificial respiration, which may be aided by the subcutaneous exhibition of strychnine.