GANS, Edward (1798—1839), a distinguished jurist, was born at Berlin, on the 22d March 1798. His father, a banker in Berlin, was of Jewish descent. He was educated first at Berlin, then at Göttingen, and finally at Heidelberg, where he met Thibaut, the celebrated lawyer, and Hegel, by whom he was much attracted. He attended Hegel’s lectures at Berlin and became thoroughly imbued with the principles of the Hegelian philosophy. In 1825 he travelled for some months in England and France, and on his return was named professor extraordinarius at Berlin. At this period the historical school of jurisprudence was coming to the front, and Gans, already, from his Hegelian tendencies, predisposed to treat law historically, applied the method to one special branch of legal relations—the right of succession. His great work, Erbrecht in u>eltgeschichtlichen Entwicklung (4 vols. 1825, 1825,1829, and 1835), is still of permanent value, not only on account of its extensive survey of facts, but through the admirable manner in which the general theory of the slow evolution of legal relations is presented. In 1830, and again in 1835, Gans visited Paris, and formed an intimate acquaintance with the knot of brilliant writers and lecturers, Cousin, Villemain, Michelet, and Quinet, who then made Paris the centre of literary culture and criticism. The liberality of his views, especially on political matters, drew upon Gans the displeasure of the Prussian Government, and in 1835 his course of lectures on the history of the last fifty years, afterwards published (Vorlesungen über d. Geschichte d. letzten fünfzig Jahre), was prohibited. He died at Berlin in 1839. In addition to the works above mentioned, there may be noted the treatise on the right of possession (Ueber die Grundlage des ...

GÄNSBACHER, Johann Baptist (1778-1844), a musical composer of repute, was born in 1778 at Sterzing in Tyrol. His father, a schoolmaster and teacher of music, undertook his sou’s early education, which the boy continued under various masters till 1802, when he became the pupil of the celebrated Abbate Vogler. To his connexion with this artist and with his fellow pupils, more perhaps than to his own merits, Gänsbacher’s permanent place in the history of music is due; for it was during his second stay with Vogler, then (1810) living at Darmstadt, that he became acquainted with Weber and Meyerbeer, who had also been attracted by the abbate’s reputation, and the close friendship which sprang up among the three young musicians, and was dissolved by death only, has become celebrated in the history of their art. But although Gänsbacher owes the greater part of his reputation to this circumstance, he was himself by no means without merit. He creditably filled the responsible and difficult post of director of the music at St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, from 1823 till his death (July 13, 1844); and his compositions betray the musician of high gift and accomplishment. They consist chiefly of church music, not less than 17 masses, besides litanies, motets, offertories, <fcc., being amongst the number. He also wrote several sonatas, a symphony, and one or two minor compositions of a dramatic kind.