GALLOWAY, a district in the SW. of Scotland, co-extensive with Wigtown and Kirkcudbright, though formerly of considerably greater extent; the lack of mineral wealth has retarded its development, and the industry of the population is limited chiefly to agriculture, the rearing of sheep and cattle, and fishing, and it is still noted for a small but hardy breed of horses called Galloways; the province derives its name from Gall-Gael, or foreign Gaels, as the early inhabitants were called, who up to the time of the Reformation maintained the characteristics, language, &c., of a distinct people; in 1455 Galloway ceased to exist as a separate lordship; in the extreme S. of Wigtown is the bold and rocky promontory, the MULL OF GALLOWAY, the extremity of the peninsula called the Rhinns of Galloway; the Mull, which is the most southerly point in Scotland, rises to a height of 210 ft., and is crowned by a powerful lighthouse.

GALSWINTHE, the sister of Brunhilda and the second wife of Chilperic I.; was strangled to death in 568.

GALT, JOHN, Scotch novelist, born at Irvine; educated at Greenock, where he held a post in the Custom-house for a time; essayed literature, wrote “The Ayrshire Legatees,” “The Annals of the Parish,” “Sir Andrew Wylie,” “The Entail,” and “The Provost”; died of paralysis at Greenock; Carlyle, who met him in London in 1832, says, “He had the air of a broad, gaucie, Greenock burgher; mouth indicating sly humour and self-satisfaction; eyes, old and without lashes, gave me a wae interest for him; says little, but that little peaceable, clear, and gutmuethig” (1779-1839).

GALVANISED IRON, plate-iron coated with zinc, which renders it less liable to be affected by moisture and subject to corrosion.

GALVANISM, the mere contact with two dissimilar metals, the science of what is now called Voltaic or current electricity, produced, as in the above instance, from the contact of dissimilar metals, especially that of acids on metals.

GALVANI, LUIGI, an Italian physician, born at Bologna; celebrated for his discoveries in animal magnetism called after him Galvanism, due to an observation he made of the convulsive motion produced in the leg of a recently-killed frog (1737-1798).

GALVESTON (38), the chief seaport of Texas, situated on a low island of the same name at the entrance of Galveston Bay into the Gulf of Mexico; it has a splendid harbour, and is an important centre of the cotton trade, ranking as the third cotton port of the world; the city is well laid out, and is the see of a Roman Catholic bishop; it has a medical college and several foundries.

GALWAY (215), a maritime county in the W. of Ireland, in the province of Connaught; Lough Corrib (25 m. long) and Lough Mask (12 m. long), stretching N. and S., divide the county into East and West districts; the former is boggy, yet arable; the latter, including the picturesque district known as CONNEMARA, is wild and hilly, and chiefly consists of bleak morass and bogland; its rocky and indented coast affords excellent harbourage in many places; the Suck, Shannon, and Corrib are the chief rivers; the Slieve Boughta Mountains in the S. and in the W. the Twelve Pins (2395 ft.) are the principal mountains; fishing, some agriculture, and cattle-rearing are the chief employments; it contains many interesting cromlechs and ruins.