[1] The most probable etymology is the Finnish _lappu_, and in this
case the meaning would be the "land's end folk."
[2] Hence they have been supposed by many to be the originals of the
"little folk" of Scandinavian legend.
[3] Bertillon found in one instance a cephalic index of 94. The
average obtained by Pruner Bey was 84.7, by Virchow 82.5.
[4] A valuable paper by Ephimenko, on "The Legal Customs of the
Lapps, especially in Russian Lapland," appeared in vol. viii. of the
_Mem. of Russ. Geog. Soc._, Ethnog. Section, 1878.
[5] The view that the Lapps at one time occupied the whole of the
Scandinavian peninsula, and have during the course of centuries been
driven back by the Swedes and Norwegians is disproved by the recent
investigations of Yngvar Nielsen, K. B. Wiklund and others. The fact
is, the Lapps are increasing in numbers, as well as pushing their way
farther and farther south. In the beginning of the 16th century their
southern border-line in Norway ran on the upper side of 64° N. In
1890 they forced their way to the head of the Hardanger Fjord in 60°
N. In Sweden the presence of Lapps as far south as Jämtland (or
Jemtland) is first mentioned in 1564. In 1881 they pushed on into the
north of Dalecarlia, about 61° 45´ N.
LA PLATA, a city of Argentina and capital of the province of Buenos
Aires, 5 m. inland from the port of Ensenada, or La Plata, and about 31
m. S.E. of the city of Buenos Aires, with which it is connected by rail.
Pop. (1895) 45,609; (1907, estimate) 84,000. La Plata was founded in
1882, two years after Buenos Aires had been constituted a federal
district and made the national capital. This necessitated the selection
of another provincial capital, which resulted in the choice of an open
plain near the former port of Ensenada de Barragán, on which a city was
laid out after the plan of Washington. The streets are so wide that they
seem out of proportion to the low brick buildings. The principal public
buildings, constructed of brick and stucco, are the government-house,
assembly building, treasury, municipal hall, cathedral, courts of
justice, police headquarters, provincial museum and railway station. The
museum, originally presented by Dr Moreno, has become one of the most
important in South America, its palaeontological and anthropological
collections being unique. There are also a university, national college,
public library, astronomical observatory, several churches, two
hospitals and two theatres. A noteworthy public park is formed by a
large plantation of eucalyptus trees, which have grown to a great height
and present an imposing appearance on the level, treeless plain.
Electricity is in general use for public and private lighting, and
tramways are laid down in the principal streets and extend eastward to
the port. The harbour of the port of La Plata consists of a large
artificial basin, 1450 yds. long by 150 yds. wide, with approaches, in
addition to the old port of Ensenada, which are capable of receiving the
largest vessels that can navigate the La Plata estuary. Up to the
opening of the new port works of Buenos Aires a large part of the
ocean-going traffic of Buenos Aires passed through the port of La Plata.
It has good railway connexions with the interior, and exports cattle and
agricultural produce.
LAPORTE, ROLAND (1675-1704), Camisard leader, better known as "Roland,"
was born at Mas Soubeyran (Gard) in a cottage which has become the
property of the Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme français, and
which contains relics of the hero. He was a nephew of Laporte, the
Camisard leader who was hunted down and shot in October 1702, and he
himself became the leader of a band of a thousand men which he formed
into a disciplined army with magazines, arsenals and hospitals. For
daring in action and rapidity of movement he was second only to
Cavalier. These two leaders in 1702 secured entrance to the town of
Sauve under the pretence of being royal officers, burnt the church and
carried off provisions and ammunition for their forces. Roland, who
called himself "general of the children of God," terrorized the country
between Nîmes and Alais, burning churches and houses, and slaying those
suspected of hostility against the Huguenots, though without personally
taking any part of the spoil. Cavalier was already in negotiation with
Marshal Villars when Roland cut to pieces a Catholic regiment at
Fontmorte in May 1704. He refused to lay down his arms without definite
assurance of the restoration of the privileges accorded by the Edict of
Nantes. Villars then sought to negotiate, offering Roland the command of
a regiment on foreign service and liberty of conscience, though not the
free exercise of their religion, for his co-religionists. This parley
had no results, but Roland was betrayed to his enemies, and on the 14th
of August 1704 was shot while defending himself against his captors. The
five officers who were with him surrendered, and were broken on the
wheel at Nîmes. Roland's death put an end to the effective resistance of
the Cévenols.
See A. Court, _Histoire des troubles des Cévennes_ (Villefranche,
1760); H. M. Baird, _The Huguenots and the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes_ (2 vols., London, 1895), and other literature dealing with the
Camisards.
LA PORTE, a city and the county seat of La Porte county, Indiana,
U.S.A., 12 m. S. of Lake Michigan and about 60 m. S.E. of Chicago. Pop.
(1890) 7126; (1900) 7113 (1403 foreign-born); (1910) 10,525. It is
served by the Lake Erie & Western, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern,
the Père Marquette, the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana
(electric), and the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line railways. La
Porte lies in the midst of a fertile agricultural region, and the
shipment of farm and orchard products is one of its chief industries.
There are also numerous manufactures. La Porte's situation in the heart
of a region of beautiful lakes (including Clear, Pine and Stone lakes)
has given it a considerable reputation as a summer resort. The lakes
furnish a large supply of clear ice, which is shipped to the Chicago
markets. La Porte was settled in 1830, laid out in 1833, incorporated as
a town in 1835, and first chartered as a city in 1852.
LAPPA, an island directly opposite the inner harbour of Macao, the
distance across being from 1 to 1½ m. It is a station of the Chinese
imperial maritime customs which collects duties on vessels trading
between China and the Portuguese colony of Macao. The arrangement is
altogether abnormal, and was consented to by the Portuguese government
in 1887 to assist the Chinese authorities in the suppression of opium
smuggling. A similar arrangement prevails at the British colony of
Hong-Kong, where the Chinese customs station is Kowloon. In both cases
the customs stations levy duties on vessels entering and leaving the
foreign port in lieu of levying them, as ought to be done, on entering
or leaving a Chinese port.
LAPPARENT, ALBERT AUGUSTE COCHON DE (1839-1908), French geologist, was
born at Bourges on the 30th of December 1839. After studying at the
École Polytechnique from 1858 to 1860 he became _ingénieur au corps des
mines_, and took part in drawing up the geological map of France; and in
1875 he was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy at the
Catholic Institute, Paris. In 1879 he prepared an important memoir for
the geological survey of France on _Le Pays de Bray_, a subject on which
he had already published several memoirs, and in 1880 he served as
president of the French Geological Society. In 1881-1883 he published
his _Traité de géologie_ (5th ed., 1905), the best European text-book of
stratigraphical geology. His other works include _Cours de minéralogie_
(1884, 3rd ed., 1899), _La Formation des combustibles minéraux_ (1886),
_Le Niveau de la mer et ses variations_ (1886), _Les Tremblements de
terre_ (1887), _La Géologie en chemin de fer_ (1888), _Précis de
minéralogie_ (1888), _Le Siècle du fer_ (1890), _Les Anciens Glaciers_
(1893), _Leçons de géographie physique_ (1896), _Notions générales sur
l'écorce terrestre_ (1897), _Le Globe terrestre_ (1899), and _Science et
apologétique_ (1905). With Achille Delesse he was for many years editor
of the _Révue de géologie_ and contributed to the _Extraits de
géologie_, and he joined with A. Potier in the geological surveys
undertaken in connexion with the Channel Tunnel proposals. He died in
Paris on the 5th of May 1908.
LAPPENBERG, JOHANN MARTIN (1794-1865), German historian, was born on the
30th of July 1794 at Hamburg, where his father, Valentin Anton
Lappenberg (1759-1819), held an official position. He studied medicine,
and afterwards history, at Edinburgh. He continued to study history in
London, and at Berlin and Göttingen, graduating as doctor of laws at
Göttingen in 1816. In 1820 he was sent by the Hamburg senate as resident
minister to the Prussian court. In 1823 he became keeper of the Hamburg
archives; an office in which he had the fullest opportunities for the
laborious and critical research work upon which his reputation as an
historian rests. He retained this post until 1863, when a serious
affection of the eyes compelled him to resign. In 1850 he represented
Hamburg in the German parliament at Frankfort, and bis death took place
at Hamburg on the 28th of November 1865. Lappenberg's most important
work is his _Geschichte von England_, which deals with the history of
England from the earliest times to 1154, and was published in two
volumes at Hamburg in 1834-1837. It has been translated into English by
B. Thorpe as _History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings_ (London
1845, and again 1881), and _History of England under the Norman Kings_
(Oxford, 1857), and has been continued in three additional volumes from
1154 to 1509 by R. Pauli. His other works deal mainly with the history
of Hamburg, and include _Hamburgische Chroniken in Niedersächsischer
Sprache_ (Hamburg, 1852-1861); _Geschichtsquellen des Erzstiftes und der
Stadt Bremen_ (Bremen, 1841); _Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch_ (Hamburg,
1842); _Urkundliche Geschichte des Hansischen Stahlhofes zu London_
(Hamburg, 1851); _Hamburgische Rechtsalterthümer_ (Hamburg, 1845); and
_Urkundliche Geschichte des Ursprunges der deutschen Hanse_ (Hamburg,
1830), a continuation of the work of G. F. Sartorius. For the _Monumenta
Germaniae historica_ he edited the _Chronicon_ of Thietmar of Merseburg,
the _Gesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiae pontificum_ of Adam of Bremen and
the _Chronica Slavorum_ of Helmold, with its continuation by Arnold of
Lübeck. Lappenberg, who was a member of numerous learned societies in
Europe, wrote many other historical works.
See E. H. Meyer, _Johann Martin Lappenberg_ (Hamburg, 1867); and R.
Pauli in the _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, Band xvii. (Leipzig,
1883).
LAPRADE, PIERRE MARTIN VICTOR RICHARD DE (1812-1883), known as VICTOR DE
LAPRADE, French poet and critic, was born on the 13th of January 1812 at
Montbrison, in the department of the Loire. He came of a modest
provincial family. After completing his studies at Lyons, he produced in
1839 a small volume of religious verse, _Les Parfums de Madeleine_. This
was followed in 1840 by _La Colère de Jésus_, in 1841 by the religious
fantasy of _Psyché_, and in 1844 by _Odes et poèmes_. In 1845 Laprade
visited Italy on a mission of literary research, and in 1847 he was
appointed professor of French literature at Lyons. The French Academy,
by a single vote, preferred Émile Augier at the election in 1857, but in
the following year Laprade was chosen to fill the chair of Alfred de
Musset. In 1861 he was removed from his post at Lyons owing to the
publication of a political satire in verse (_Les Muses d'État_), and in
1871 took his seat in the National Assembly on the benches of the Right.
He died on the 13th of December 1883. A statue has been raised by his
fellow-townsmen at Montbrison. Besides those named above, Laprade's
poetical works include _Poèmes évangéliques_ (1852), _Idylles héroïques_
(1858), _Les Voix de silence_ (1864), _Pernette_ (1868), _Poèmes
civiles_ (1873), _Le Livre d'un père_ (1877), _Varia_ and _Livre des
adieux_ (1878-1879). In prose he published, in 1840, _Des habitudes
intellectuelles de l'avocat_. _Questions d'art et de morale_ appeared in
1861, succeeded by _Le Sentiment de la nature, avant le Christianisme_
in 1866, and _Chez les modernes_ in 1868, _Éducation libérale_ in 1873.
The material for these books had in some cases been printed earlier,
after delivery as a lecture. He also contributed articles to the _Revue
des deux mondes_ and the _Revue de Paris_. No writer represents more
perfectly than Laprade the admirable genius of French provincial life,
its homely simplicity, its culture, its piety and its sober patriotism.
As a poet he belongs to the school of Chateaubriand and Lamartine.
Devoted to the best classical models, inspired by a sense of the ideal,
and by worship of nature as revealing the divine--gifted, too, with a
full faculty of expression--he lacked only fire and passion in the
equipment of a romantic poet. But the want of these, and the pressure of
a certain chilly facility and of a too conscious philosophizing have
prevented him from reaching the first rank, or from even attaining the
popularity due to his high place in the second. Only in his patriotic
verse did he shake himself clear from these trammels. Speaking
generally, he possessed some of the qualities, and many of the defects,
of the English Lake School. Laprade's prose criticisms must be ranked
high. Apart from his classical and metaphysical studies, he was widely
read in the literatures of Europe, and built upon the groundwork of a
naturally correct taste. His dislike of irony and scepticism probably
led him to underrate the product of the 18th century, and there are
signs of a too fastidious dread of Philistinism. But a constant love of
the best, a joy in nature and a lofty patriotism are not less evident
than in his poetry. Few writers of any nation have fixed their minds so
steadily on whatsoever things are pure, and lovely and of good report.