GEMINI (“The Twins,” i.e. Castor and Pollux), in astronomy, the third sign in the zodiac, denoted by the symbol II. It is also a constellation, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.), and catalogued by Ptolemy, 25 stars, Tycho Brahe 25, and Hevelius 38. By the Egyptians this constellation was symbolized as a couple of young kids; the Greeks altered this symbol to two children, variously said to be Castor and Pollux, Hercules and Apollo, or Triptolemus and Iasion; the Arabians used the symbol of a pair of peacocks. Interesting objects in this constellation are: α Geminorum or Castor, a very fine double star of magnitudes 2.0 and 2.8, the fainter component is a spectroscopic binary; η Geminorum, a long period (231 days) variable, the extreme range in magnitude being 3.2 to 4; ζ Geminorum, a short period variable, 10.15 days, the extreme range in magnitude being 3.7 to 4.5; Nova Geminorum, a “new” star discovered in 1903 by H.H. Turner of Oxford; and the star cluster M.35 Geminorum, a fine and bright, but loose, cluster, with very little central condensation.
GEMINIANI, FRANCESCO (c. 1680-1762), Italian violinist, was born at Lucca about 1680. He received lessons in music from Alessandro Scarlatti, and studied the violin under Lunati (Gobbo) and afterwards under Corelli. In 1714 he arrived in London, where he was taken under the special protection of the earl of Essex, and made a living by teaching and writing music. In 1715 he played his violin concertos with Handel at the English court. After visiting Paris and residing there for some time, he returned to England in 1755. In 1761 he went to Dublin, where a servant robbed him of a musical manuscript on which he had bestowed much time and labour. His vexation at this loss is said to have hastened his death on the 17th of September 1762. He appears to have been a first-rate violinist, but most of his compositions are dry and deficient in melody. His Art of Playing the Violin is a good work of its kind, but his Guida armonica is an inferior production. He published a number of solos for the violin, three sets of violin concertos, twelve violin trios, The Art of Accompaniment on the Harpsichord, Organ, &c., Lessons for the Harpsichord and some other works.
GEMISTUS PLETHO [or Plethon], GEORGIUS (c. 1355-1450), Greek Platonic philosopher and scholar, one of the chief pioneers of the revival of learning in Western Europe, was a Byzantine by birth who settled at Mistra in the Peloponnese, the site of ancient Sparta. He changed his name from Gemistus to the equivalent Pletho (“the full”), perhaps owing to the similarity of sound between that name and that of his master Plato. He invented a religious system founded on the speculative mysticism of the Neoplatonists, and founded a sect, the members of which believed that the new creed would supersede all existing forms of belief. But he is chiefly memorable for having introduced Plato to the Western world. This took place upon his visit to Florence in 1439, as one of the deputies from Constantinople on occasion of the general council. Cardinal Bessarion became his disciple; he produced a great impression upon Cosimo de’ Medici; and though not himself making any very important contribution to the study of Plato, he effectually shook the exclusive domination which Aristotle had exercised over European thought for eight centuries. He promoted the union of the Greek and Latin Churches as far as possible, but his efforts in this direction bore no permanent fruit. He probably died before the capture of Constantinople. The most important of his published works are treatises on the distinction between Plato and Aristotle as philosophers (published at Venice in 1540); on the religion of Zoroaster (Paris, 1538); on the condition of the Peloponnese (ed. A. Ellissen in Analekten der mittel- und neugriechischen Literatur, iv.); and the Νόμοι (ed. C. Alexandre, Paris, 1858). In addition to these he compiled several volumes of excerpts from ancient authors, and wrote a number of works on geography, music and other subjects, many of which still exist in MS. in various European libraries.
See especially F. Schultze, Geschichte der Philosophie der Renaissance, i. (1874); also J.A. Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy (1877), ii. p. 198; H.F. Tozer, “A Byzantine Reformer,” in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vii. (1886), chiefly on Pletho’s scheme of political and social reform for the Peloponnese, as set forth in the pamphlets addressed to Manuel II. Palaeologus and his son Theodore, despot of the Morea; W. Gass, Gennadius und Pletho (1844). Most of Pletho’s works will be found in J.P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, clx.; for a complete list see Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca (ed. Harles), xii.
GEMMI PASS, a pass (7641 ft.) leading from Frutigen in the Swiss canton of Bern to Leukerbad in the Swiss canton of the Valais. It is much frequented by travellers in summer. From Kandersteg (7½ m. by road above Frutigen, which is 12 m. by rail from Spiez on the Berne-Interlaken line) a mule path leads to the summit of the pass, passing over the Spitalmatte plain, where in 1782 and again in 1895 a great avalanche fell from the Altels (11,930 ft.) to the S.E., causing on both occasions great loss of life and property. The mule path descends on the south side of the pass by an extraordinary series of zigzags, made accessible for mules (though no rider is now allowed to descend on mule-back) by a band of Tirolese workmen in 1740-1741. They are cut in a very steep wall of rock, about 1800 ft. in height, and lead down to the village of Leukerbad, which is 9½ m. by carriage road past Leuk above the Susten station in the Rhône valley and on the Simplon line.
(W. A. B. C.)