[1] Thus destruction of a letter by a servant, with a view of
suppressing inquiries into his or her character, makes the servant
guilty of larceny in English law.
[2] This provision was most unnecessarily repeated in the Larceny Act
of 1861.
LARCH (from the Ger. _Lärche_, M.H.G. _Lerche_, Lat. _larix_), a name
applied to a small group of coniferous trees, of which the common larch
of Europe is taken as the type. The members of the genus _Larix_ are
distinguished from the firs, with which they were formerly placed, by
their deciduous leaves, scattered singly, as in _Abies_, on the young
shoots of the season, but on all older branchlets growing in whorl-like
tufts, each surrounding the extremity of a rudimentary or abortive
branch; they differ from cedars (_Cedrus_), which also have the
fascicles of leaves on arrested branchlets, not only in the deciduous
leaves, but in the cones, the scales of which are thinner towards the
apex, and are persistent, remaining attached long after the seeds are
discharged. The trees of the genus are closely allied in botanic
features, as well as in general appearance, so that it is sometimes
difficult to assign to them determinate specific characters, and the
limit between species and variety is not always very accurately defined.
Nearly all are natives of Europe, or the northern plains and mountain
ranges of Asia and North America, though one (_Larix Griffithii_) occurs
only on the Himalayas.
The common larch (_L. europaea_) is, when grown in perfection, a stately
tree with tall erect trunk, gradually tapering from root to summit, and
horizontal branches springing at irregular intervals from the stem, and
in old trees often becoming more or less drooping, but rising again
towards the extremities; the branchlets or side shoots, very slender and
pendulous, are pretty thickly studded with the spurs each bearing a
fascicle of thirty or more narrow linear leaves, of a peculiar bright
light green when they first appear in the spring, but becoming of a
deeper hue when mature. The yellow stamen-bearing flowers are in
sessile, nearly spherical catkins; the fertile ones vary in colour, from
red or purple to greenish-white, in different varieties; the erect
cones, which remain long on the branches, are above an inch in length
and oblong-ovate in shape, with reddish-brown scales somewhat waved on
the edges, the lower bracts usually rather longer than the scales. The
tree flowers in April or May, and the winged seeds are shed the
following autumn. When standing in an open space, the larch grows of a
nearly conical shape, with the lower branches almost reaching the
ground, while those above gradually diminish in length towards the top
of the trunk, presenting a very symmetrical form; but in dense woods the
lower parts become bare of foliage, as with the firs under similar
circumstances. When springing up among rocks or on ledges, the stem
sometimes becomes much curved, and, with its spreading boughs and
pendent branchlets, often forms a striking and picturesque object in
alpine passes and steep ravines. In the prevalent European varieties the
bark is reddish-grey, and rather rough and scarred in old trees, which
are often much lichen-covered. The trunk attains a height of from 80 to
140 ft., with a diameter of from 3 to 5 ft. near the ground, but in
close woods is comparatively slender in proportion to its altitude. The
larch abounds on the Alps of Switzerland, on which it flourishes at an
elevation of 5000 ft., and also on those of Tirol and Savoy, on the
Carpathians, and in most of the hill regions of central Europe; it is
not wild on the Apennine chain, or the Pyrenees, and in the wild state
is unknown in the Spanish peninsula. It forms extensive woods in Russia,
but does not extend to Scandinavia, where its absence is somewhat
remarkable, as the tree grows freely in Norway and Sweden where planted,
and even multiplies itself by self-sown seed, according to F. C.
Schübeler, in the neighbourhood of Trondhjem. In the north-eastern parts
of Russia, in the country towards the Petchora river, and on the Ural, a
peculiar variety prevails, regarded by some as a distinct species (_L.
sibirica_); this form is abundant nearly throughout Siberia, extending
to the Pacific coast of Kamchatka and the hills of the Amur region. The
Siberian larch has smooth grey bark and smaller cones, approaching in
shape somewhat to those of the American hackmatack; it seems even
hardier than the Alpine tree, growing up to latitude 68°, but, as the
inclement climate of the polar shores is neared, dwindling down to a
dwarf and even trailing bush.
[Illustration: Branchlet of Larch (_Larix europaea_).]
The larch, from its lofty straight trunk and the high quality of its
wood, is one of the most important of coniferous trees; its growth is
extremely rapid, the stem attaining a large size in from sixty to eighty
years, while the tree yields good useful timber at forty or fifty; it
forms firm heartwood at an early age, and the sapwood is less perishable
than that of the firs, rendering it more valuable in the young state.
The wood of large trees is compact in texture, in the best varieties
of a deep reddish colour varying to brownish-yellow, but apt to be
lighter in tint, and less hard in grain, when grown in rich soils or
in low sheltered situations. It is remarkably tough, resisting a
rending strain better than any of the fir or pine woods in common use,
though not as elastic as some; properly seasoned, it is as little
liable to shrink as to split; the boughs being small compared to the
trunk, the timber is more free from large knots, and the small knots
remain firm and undecayed. The only drawback to these good qualities
is a certain liability to warp and bend, unless very carefully
seasoned; for this purpose it is recommended to be left floating in
water for a year after felling, and then allowed some months to dry
slowly and completely before sawing up the logs; barking the trunk in
winter while the tree is standing, and leaving it in that state till
the next year, has been often advised with the larch as with other
timber, but the practical inconveniences of the plan have prevented
its adoption on any large scale. When well prepared for use, larch is
one of the most durable of coniferous woods. Its strength and
toughness render it valuable for naval purposes, to which it is
largely applied; its freedom from any tendency to split adapts it for
clinker-built boats. It is much employed for house-building; most of
the picturesque log-houses in Vaud and the adjacent cantons are built
of squared larch trunks, and derive their fine brown tint from the
hardened resin that slowly exudes from the wood after long exposure to
the summer sun; the wooden shingles, that in Switzerland supply the
place of tiles, are also frequently of larch. In Germany it is much
used by the cooper as well as the carpenter, while the form of the
trunk admirably adapts it for all purposes for which long straight
timber is needed. It answers well for fence-posts and river piles;
many of the foundations of Venice rest upon larch, the lasting
qualities of which were well known and appreciated, not only in
medieval times, but in the days of Vitruvius and Pliny. The harder and
darker varieties are used in the construction of cheap solid
furniture, being fine in grain and taking polish better than many more
costly woods. A peculiarity of larch wood is the difficulty with which
it is ignited, although so resinous; and, coated with a thin layer of
plaster, beams and pillars of larch might probably be found to justify
Caesar's epithet "igni impenetrabile lignum"; even the small branches
are not easily kept alight, and a larch fire in the open needs
considerable care. Yet the forests of larch in Siberia often suffer
from conflagration. When these fires occur while the trees are full of
sap, a curious mucilaginous matter is exuded from the half-burnt
stems; when dry it is of pale reddish colour, like some of the coarser
kinds of gum-arabic, and is soluble in water, the solution resembling
gum-water, in place of which it is sometimes used; considerable
quantities are collected and sold as "Orenburg gum"; in Siberia and
Russia it is occasionally employed as a semi-medicinal food, being
esteemed an antiscorbutic. For burning in close stoves and furnaces,
larch makes tolerably good fuel, its value being estimated by Hartig
as only one-fifth less than that of beech; the charcoal is compact,
and is in demand for iron-smelting and other metallurgic uses in some
parts of Europe.
In the trunk of the larch, especially when growing in climates where
the sun is powerful in summer, a fine clear turpentine exists in great
abundance; in Savoy and the south of Switzerland, it is collected for
sale, though not in such quantity as formerly, when, being taken to
Venice for shipment, it was known in commerce as "Venice turpentine."
Old trees are selected, from the bark of which it is observed to ooze
in the early summer; holes are bored in the trunk, somewhat inclined
upward towards the centre of the stem, in which, between the layers of
wood, the turpentine is said to collect in small lacunae; wooden
gutters placed in these holes convey the viscous fluid into little
wooden pails hung on the end of each gutter; the secretion flows
slowly all through the summer months, and a tree in proper condition
yields from 6 to 8 lb. a year, and will continue to give an annual
supply for thirty or forty years, being, however, rendered quite
useless for timber by subjection to this process. In Tirol, a single
hole is made near the root of the tree in the spring; this is stopped
with a plug, and the turpentine is removed by a scoop in the autumn;
but each tree yields only from a few ounces to ½ lb. by this process.
Real larch turpentine is a thick tenacious fluid, of a deep yellow
colour, and nearly transparent; it does not harden by time; it
contains 15% of the essential oil of turpentine, also resin, succinic,
pinic and sylvic acids, and a bitter extractive matter. According to
Pereira, much sold under the name of Venice turpentine is a mixture of
common resin and oil of turpentine. On the French Alps a sweet
exudation is found on the small branchlets of young larches in June
and July, resembling manna in taste and laxative properties, and known
as _Manna de Briançon_ or _Manna Brigantina_; it occurs in small
whitish irregular granular masses, which are removed in the morning
before they are too much dried by the sun; this manna seems to differ
little in composition from the sap of the tree, which also contains
_mannite_; its cathartic powers are weaker than those of the manna of
the manna ash (_Fraximus ornus_), but it is employed in France for the
same purposes.
The bark of the larch is largely used in some countries for tanning;
it is taken from the trunk only, being stripped from the trees when
felled; its value is about equal to that of birch bark; but, according
to the experience of British tanners, it is scarcely half as strong as
that of the oak. The soft inner bark is occasionally used in Siberia
as a ferment, by hunters and others, being boiled and mixed with
rye-meal, and buried in the snow for a short time, when it is employed
as a substitute for other leaven, and in making the sour liquor called
"quass." In Germany a fungus (_Polyporus Laricis_) grows on the roots
and stems of decaying larches, which was formerly in esteem as a
drastic purgative. The young shoots of the larch are sometimes given
in Switzerland as fodder to cattle.
The larch, though mentioned by Parkinson in 1629 as "nursed up" by a few
"lovers of variety" as a rare exotic, does not seem to have been much
grown in England till early in the 18th century. In Scotland the date of
its introduction is a disputed point, but it seems to have been planted
at Dunkeld by the 2nd duke of Athole in 1727, and about thirteen or
fourteen years later considerable plantations were made at that place,
the commencement of one of the largest planting experiments on record;
it is estimated that 14 million larches were planted on the Athole
estates between that date and 1826. The cultivation of the tree rapidly
spread, and the larch has become a conspicuous feature of the scenery in
many parts of Scotland. It grows as rapidly and attains as large a size
in British habitats suited to it as in its home on the Alps, and often
produces equally good timber. The larch of Europe is essentially a
mountain tree, and requires not only free air above, but a certain
moderate amount of moisture in the soil beneath, with, at the same time,
perfect drainage, to bring the timber to perfection. Where there is
complete freedom from stagnant water in the ground, and abundant room
for the spread of its branches to light and air, the larch will flourish
in a great variety of soils, stiff clays, wet or mossy peat, and moist
alluvium being the chief exceptions; in its native localities it seems
partial to the debris of primitive and metamorphic rocks, but is
occasionally found growing luxuriantly on calcareous subsoils; in
Switzerland it attains the largest size, and forms the best timber, on
the northern declivities of the mountains; but in Scotland a southern
aspect appears most favourable.
The best variety for culture in Britain is that with red female
flowers; the light-flowered kinds are said to produce inferior wood,
and the Siberian larch does not grow in Scotland nearly as fast as the
Alpine tree. The larch is raised from seed in immense numbers in
British nurseries; that obtained from Germany is preferred, being more
perfectly ripened than the cones of home growth usually are. The seeds
are sown in April, on rich ground, which should not be too highly
manured; the young larches are planted out when two years old, or
sometimes transferred to a nursery bed to attain a larger size; but,
like all conifers, they succeed best when planted young; on the
mountains, the seedlings are usually put into a mere slit made in the
ground by a spade with a triangular blade, the place being first
cleared of any heath, bracken, or tall herbage that might smother the
young tree; the plants should be from 3 to 4 ft. apart, or even more,
according to the growth intended before thinning, which should be
begun as soon as the boughs begin to overspread much; little or no
pruning is needed beyond the careful removal of dead branches. The
larch is said not to succeed on arable land, especially where corn has
been grown, but experience does not seem to support this view; that
against the previous occupation of the ground by Scotch fir or Norway
spruce is probably better founded, and, where timber is the object, it
should not be planted with other conifers. On the Grampians and
neighbouring hills the larch will flourish at a greater elevation than
the pine, and will grow up to an altitude of 1700 or even 1800 ft.;
but it attains its full size on lower slopes. In very dry and bleak
localities, the Scotch fir will probably be more successful up to 900
ft. above the sea, the limit of the luxuriant growth of that hardy
conifer in Britain; and in moist valleys or on imperfectly drained
acclivities Norway spruce is more suitable. The growth of the larch
while young is exceedingly rapid; in the south of England it will
often attain a height of 25 ft. in the first ten years, while in
favourable localities it will grow upwards of 80 ft. in half a century
or less; one at Dunkeld felled sixty years after planting was 110 ft.
high; but usually the tree does not increase so rapidly after the
first thirty of forty years. Some larches in Scotland rival in size
the most gigantic specimens standing in their native woods; a tree at
Dalwick, Peeblesshire, attained 5 ft. in diameter; one at Glenarbuck,
near the Clyde, grew above 140 ft. high, with a circumference of 13
ft. The annual increase in girth is often considerable even in large
trees; the fine larch near the abbey of Dunkeld figured by Strutt in
his _Sylva Britannica_ increased 2½ ft. between 1796 and 1825, its
measurement at the latter date being 13 ft., with a height of 97½ ft.
In the south of England, the larch is much planted for the supply of
hop-poles, though in parts of Kent and Sussex poles formed of Spanish
chestnut are regarded as still more lasting. In plantations made with
this object, the seedlings are placed very close (from 1½ to 2 ft.
apart), and either cut down all at once, when the required height is
attained or thinned out, leaving the remainder to gain a greater
length; the land is always well trenched before planting. The best
month for larch planting, whether for poles or timber, is November;
larches are sometimes planted in the spring, but the practice cannot
be commended, as the sap flows early, and, if a dry period follows,
the growth is sure to be checked. The thinnings of the larch woods in
the Highlands are in demand for railway sleepers, scaffold poles, and
mining timber, and are applied to a variety of agricultural purposes.
The tree generally succeeds on the Welsh hills.
The young seedlings are sometimes nibbled by the hare and rabbit; and
on parts of the highland hills both bark and shoots are eaten in the
winter by the roe-deer; larch woods should always be fenced in to keep
out the hill-cattle, which will browse upon the shoots in spring. The
"woolly aphis," "American blight," or "larch blight" (_Eriosoma
laricis_) often attacks the trees in close valleys, but rarely spreads
much unless other unhealthy conditions are present. The larch suffers
from several diseases caused by fungi; the most important is the
larch-canker caused by the parasitism of _Peziza Willkommii_. The
spores germinate on a damp surface and enter the cortex through small
cracks or wounds in the protecting layer. The fungus-mycelium will go
on growing indefinitely in the cambium layer, thus killing and
destroying a larger area year by year. The most effective method of
treatment is to cut out the diseased branch or patch as early as
possible. Another disease which is sometimes confused with that caused
by the _Peziza_ is "heart-rot"; it occasionally attacks larches only
ten years old or less, but is more common when the trees have acquired
a considerable size, sometimes spreading in a short time through a
whole plantation. The trees for a considerable period show little sign
of unhealthiness, but eventually the stem begins to swell somewhat
near the root, and the whole tree gradually goes off as the disease
advances; when cut down, the trunk is found to be decayed at the
centre, the "rot" usually commencing near the ground. Trees of good
size are thus rendered nearly worthless, often showing little sign of
unhealthiness till felled. Great difference of opinion exists among
foresters as to the cause of this destructive malady; but it is
probably the direct result of unsuitable soil, especially soil
containing insufficient nourishment.
Considerable quantities of larch timber are imported into Britain for
use in the dockyards, in addition to the large home supply. The
quality varies much, as well as the colour and density; an Italian
sample in the museum at Kew (of a very dark red tint) weighs about 24½
lb. to the cub. ft., while a Polish specimen, of equally deep hue, is
44 lb. 1 oz. to the same measurement.
For the landscape gardener, the larch is a valuable aid in the
formation of park and pleasure ground; but it is never seen to such
advantage as when hanging over some tumbling burn or rocky pass among
the mountains. A variety with very pendent boughs, known as the
"drooping" larch var. _pendula_, is occasionally met with in gardens.
The bark of the larch has been introduced into pharmacy, being given,
generally in the form of an alcoholic tincture, in chronic bronchitic
affections and internal haemorrhages. It contains, in addition to
tannin, a peculiar principle called _larixin_, which may be obtained
in a pure state by distillation from a concentrated infusion of the
bark; it is a colourless substance in long crystals, with a bitter and
astringent taste, and a faint acid reaction; hence some term it
_larixinic acid_.
The European larch has long been introduced into the United States,
where, in suitable localities, it flourishes as luxuriantly as in
Britain. Plantations have been made in America with an economic view,
the tree growing much faster, and producing good timber at an earlier
age than the native hackmatack (or tamarack), while the wood is less
ponderous, and therefore more generally applicable.
The genus is represented in the eastern parts of North America by the
hackmatack (_L. americana_), of which there are several varieties, two
so well marked that they are by some botanists considered specifically
distinct. In one (_L. microcarpa_) the cones are very small, rarely
exceeding ½ in. in length, of a roundish-oblong shape; the scales are
very few in number, crimson in the young state, reddish-brown when ripe;
the tree much resembles the European larch in general appearance but is
of more slender growth; its trunk is seldom more than 2 ft. in diameter
and rarely above 80 ft. high; this form is the red larch, the _épinette
rouge_ of the French Canadians. The black larch (_L. pendula_) has
rather larger cones, of an oblong shape, about ¾ in. long, purplish or
green in the immature state, and dark brown when ripe, the scales
somewhat more numerous, the bracts all shorter than the scales. The bark
is dark bluish-grey, smoother than in the red larch, on the trunk and
lower boughs often glossy; the branches are more or less pendulous and
very slender.
The red larch grows usually on higher and drier ground, ranging from
the Virginian mountains to the shores of Hudson Bay; the black larch
is found often on moist land, and even in swamps. The hackmatack is
one of the most valuable timber trees of America; it is in great
demand in the ports of the St Lawrence for shipbuilding. It is far
more durable than any of the oaks of that region, is heavy and
close-grained, and much stronger, as well as more lasting, than that
of the pines and firs of Canada. In many parts all the finer trees
have been cut down, but large woods of it still exist in the less
accessible districts; it abounds especially near Lake St John, Quebec,
and in Newfoundland is the prevalent tree in some of the forest
tracts; it is likewise common in Maine and Vermont. In the timber and
building yards the "red" hackmatack is the kind preferred, the
produce, probably, of _L. microcarpa_; the "grey" is less esteemed;
but the varieties from which these woods are obtained cannot always be
traced with certainty. Several fine specimens of the red larch exist
in English parks, but its growth is much slower than that of _L.
europaea_; the more pendulous forms of _L. pendula_ are elegant trees
for the garden. The hackmatacks might perhaps be grown with advantage
in places too wet for the common larch.
In western America a larch (_L. occidentalis_) occurs more nearly
resembling _L. europaea_. The leaves are short, thicker and more rigid
than in any of the other larches; the cones are much larger than those
of the hackmatacks, egg-shaped or oval in outline; the scales are of a
fine red in the immature state, the bracts green and extending far
beyond the scales in a rigid leaf-like point. The bark of the trunk
has the same reddish tint as that of the common larch of Europe. It is
the largest of all larches and one of the most useful timber trees of
North America. Some of the trees are 250 ft. high and 6 to 8 ft. in
diameter. The wood is the hardest and strongest of all the American
conifers; it is durable and adapted for construction work or household
furniture.
LARCHER, PIERRE HENRI (1726-1812), French classical scholar and
archaeologist, was born at Dijon on the 12th of October 1726. Originally
intended for the law, he abandoned it for the classics. His (anonymous)
translation of Chariton's _Chaereas and Callirrhoë_ (1763) marked him as
an excellent Greek scholar. His attack upon Voltaire's _Philosophie de
l'historie_ (published under the name of l'Abbé Bazin) created
considerable interest at the time. His archaeological and mythological
_Mémoire sur Vénus_ (1775), which has been ranked with similar works of
Heyne and Winckelmann, gained him admission to the Académie des
Inscriptions (1778). After the imperial university was founded, he was
appointed professor of Greek literature (1809) with Boissonade as his
assistant. He died on the 22nd of December 1812. Larcher's best work was
his translation of Herodotus (1786, new ed. by L. Humbert, 1880) on the
preparation of which he had spent fifteen years. The translation itself,
though correct, is dull, but the commentary (translated into English,
London, 1829, new ed. 1844, by W. D. Cooley) dealing with historical,
geographical and chronological questions, and enriched by a wealth of
illustration from ancient and modern authors, is not without value.
See J. F. Boissonade, _Notice sur la vie et les écrits de P. L._
(1813); F. A. Wolf, _Literarische Analecten_, i. 205; D. A.
Wyttenbach, _Philomathia_, iii. (1817).
LARCIUS (less accurately LARTIUS), TITUS, probably surnamed FLAVUS, a
member of an Etruscan family (cf. Lars Tolumnius, Lars Porsena) early
settled in Rome. When consul in 501 B.C. he was chosen dictator (the
title and office being then introduced for the first time) to command
against the thirty Latin cities, which had sworn to reinstate Tarquin in
Rome. Other authorities put the appointment three years later, when the
plebeians refused to serve against the Latins until they had been
released from the burden of their debts. He opposed harsh measures
against the Latins, and also interested himself in the improvement of
the lot of the plebeians. His brother, Spurius, is associated with
Horatius Cocles in the defence of the Sublician bridge against the
Etruscans.
See Livy ii. 10, 18, 21, 29; Dion. Halic. v. 50-77, vi. 37; Cicero,
_De Re Publica_, ii. 32.
LARD (Fr. _lard_, from Lat. _laridum_, bacon fat, related to Gr. [Greek:
larinos] fat, [Greek: laros] dainty or sweet), the melted and strained
fat of the common hog. Properly it is prepared from the "leaf" or fat of
the bowel and kidneys, but in commerce the term as applied to products
which include fat obtained from other parts of the animal and sometimes
containing no "leaf" at all. Lard of various grades is made in enormous
quantities by the great pork-packing houses at Chicago and elsewhere in
America. "Neutral lard" is prepared at a temperature of 40°-50° C. from
freshly killed hogs; the finest quality, used for making oleomargarine,
is got from the leaf, while the second, employed by biscuit and pastry
bakers, is obtained from the fat of the back. Steam heat is utilized in
extracting inferior qualities, such as "choice lard" and "prime steam
lard," the source of the latter being any fat portion of the animal.
Lard is a pure white fat of a butter-like consistence; its specific
gravity is about 0.93, its solidifying point about 27°-30° C., and its
melting point 35°-45° C. It contains about 60% of olein and 40% of
palmitin and stearin. Adulteration is common, the substances used
including "stearin" both of beef and of mutton, and vegetable oils such
as cotton seed oil: indeed, mixtures have been sold as lard that contain
nothing but such adulterants. In the pharmacopoeia lard figures as
_adeps_ and is employed as a basis for ointments. Benzoated lard, used
for the same purpose, is prepared by heating lard with 3% of powdered
benzoin for two hours; it keeps better than ordinary lard, but has
slightly irritant properties.
Lard oil is the limpid, clear, colourless oil expressed by hydraulic
pressure and gentle heat from lard; it is employed for burning and for
lubrication. Of the solid residue, lard "stearine," the best qualities
are utilized for making oleomargarine, the inferior ones in the
manufacture of candles.
See J. Lewkowitsch, _Oils, Fats and Waxes_ (London, 1909).
LARDNER, DIONYSIUS (1793-1859), Irish scientific writer, was born at
Dublin on the 3rd of April 1793. His father, a solicitor, wished his son
to follow the same calling. After some years of uncongenial desk work,
Lardner entered Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated B.A. in 1817. In
1828 he became professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at
University College, London, a position he held till 1840, when he eloped
with a married lady, and had to leave the country. After a lecturing
tour through the principal cities of the United States, which realized
£40,000, he returned to Europe in 1845. He settled at Paris, and resided
there till within a few months of his death, which took place at Naples
on the 29th of April 1859.
Though lacking in originality or brilliancy, Lardner showed himself to
be a successful popularizer of science. He was the author of numerous
mathematical and physical treatises on such subjects as algebraic
geometry (1823), the differential and integral calculus (1825), the
steam engine (1828), besides hand-books on various departments of
natural philosophy (1854-1856); but it is as the editor of _Lardner's
Cabinet Cyclopaedia_ (1830-1844) that he is best remembered. To this
scientific library of 134 volumes many of the ablest savants of the
day contributed, Lardner himself being the author of the treatises on
arithmetic, geometry, heat, hydrostatics and pneumatics, mechanics (in
conjunction with Henry Kater) and electricity (in conjunction with C.
V. Walker). The _Cabinet Library_ (12 vols., 1830-1832) and the
_Museum of Science and Art_ (12 vols., 1854-1856) are his other chief
undertakings. A few original papers appear in the Royal Irish
Academy's _Transactions_ (1824), in the Royal Society's _Proceedings_
(1831-1836) and in the Astronomical Society's _Monthly Notices_
(1852-1853); and two _Reports_ to the British Association on railway
constants (1838, 1841) are from his pen.
LARDNER, NATHANIEL (1684-1768), English theologian, was born at
Hawkhurst, Kent. After studying for the Presbyterian ministry in London,
and also at Utrecht and Leiden, he took licence as a preacher in 1709,
but was not successful. In 1713 he entered the family of a lady of rank
as tutor and domestic chaplain, where he remained until 1721. In 1724 he
was appointed to deliver the Tuesday evening lecture in the Presbyterian
chapel, Old Jewry, London, and in 1729 he became assistant minister to
the Presbyterian congregation in Crutched Friars. He was given the
degree of D.D. by Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1745. He died at
Hawkhurst on the 24th of July 1768.
An anonymous volume of _Memoirs_ appeared in 1769; and a life by
Andrew Kippis is prefixed to the edition of the _Works_ of Lardner,
published in 11 vols., 8vo in 1788, in 4 vols. 4to in 1817, and 10
vols. 8vo in 1827. The full title of his principal work--a work which,
though now out of date, entitles its author to be regarded as the
founder of modern critical research in the field of early Christian
literature--is _The Credibility of the Gospel History; or the
Principal Facts of the New Testament confirmed by Passages of Ancient
Authors, who were contemporary with our Saviour or his Apostles, or
lived near their time_. Part i., in 2 vols. 8vo, appeared in 1727; the
publication of part ii., in 12 vols. 8vo, began in 1733 and ended in
1755. In 1730 there was a second edition of part i., and the
_Additions and Alterations_ were also published separately. A
_Supplement_, otherwise entitled _A History of the Apostles and
Evangelists, Writers of the New Testament_, was added in 3 vols.
(1756-1757), and reprinted in 1760. Other works by Lardner are _A
Large Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the
Truth of the Christian Revelation, with Notes and Observations_ (4
vols., 4to, 1764-1767); _The History of the Heretics of the two first
Centuries after Christ_, published posthumously in 1780 and a
considerable number of occasional sermons.
LAREDO, a city and the county-seat of Webb county, Texas, U.S.A., and a
sub-port of entry, on the Rio Grande opposite Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and
150 m. S. of San Antonio. Pop. (1900) 13,429, of whom 6882 were
foreign-born (mostly Mexicans) and 82 negroes; (1910 census) 14,855. It
is served by the International & Great Northern, the National of Mexico,
the Texas Mexican and the Rio Grande & Eagle Pass railways, and is
connected by bridges with Nuevo Laredo. Among the principal buildings
are the U.S. Government Building, the City Hall and the County Court
House; and the city's institutions include the Laredo Seminary (1882)
for boys and girls, the Mercy Hospital, the National Railroad of Mexico
Hospital and an Ursuline Convent. Loma Vista Park (65 acres) is a
pleasure resort, and immediately W. of Laredo on the Rio Grande is Fort
McIntosh (formerly Camp Crawford), a United States military post. Laredo
is a jobbing centre for trade between the United States and Mexico, and
is a sub-port of entry in the Corpus Christi Customs District. It is
situated in a good farming and cattle-raising region, irrigated by water
from the Rio Grande. The principal crop is Bermuda onions; in 1909 it
was estimated that 1500 acres in the vicinity were devoted to this crop,
the average yield per acre being about 20,000 lb. There are coal mines
about 25 m. above Laredo on the Rio Grande, and natural gas was
discovered about 28 m. E. in 1908. The manufacture of bricks is an
important industry. Laredo was named from the seaport in Spain, and was
founded in 1767 as a Mexican town; it originally included what is now
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and was long the only Mexican town on the left
bank of the river. It was captured in 1846 by a force of Texas Rangers,
and in 1847 was occupied by U.S. troops under General Lamar. In 1852 it
was chartered as a city of Texas.
LA RÉOLE, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement
in the department of Gironde, on the right bank of the Gironde, 38 m.
S.E. of Bordeaux by rail. Pop. (1906) 3469. La Réole grew up round a
monastery founded in the 7th or 8th century, which was reformed in the
11th century and took the name of _Regula_, whence that of the town. A
church of the end of the 12th century and some of the buildings (18th
century) are left. There is also a town hall of the 12th and 14th
centuries. The town fortifications were dismantled by order of
Richelieu, but remains dating from the 12th and 14th centuries are to be
seen, as well as a ruined château built by Henry II. of England. La
Réole has a sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a communal
college and an agricultural school. The town is the centre of the
district in which the well-known breed of Bazadais cattle is reared. It
is an agricultural market and carries on trade in the wine of the region
together with liqueur distillery and the manufacture of casks, rope,
brooms, &c.
LARES (older form _Lases_), Roman tutelary deities. The word is
generally supposed to mean "lords," and identified with Etruscan
_larth_, _lar_; but this is by no means certain. The attempt to
harmonize the Stoic demonology with Roman religion led to the Lares
being compared with the Greek "heroes" during the period of Greco-Roman
culture, and the word is frequently translated [Greek: hêrôes]. In the
later period of the republic they are confounded with the Penates (and
other deities), though the distinction between them was probably more
sharply marked in earlier times. They were originally gods of the
cultivated fields, worshipped by each household where its allotment
joined those of others (see below). The distinction between public and
private Lares existed from early times. The latter were worshipped in
the house by the family alone, and the household Lar (_familiaris_) was
conceived of as the centre-point of the family and of the family cult.
The word itself (in the singular) came to be used in the general sense
of "home." It is certain that originally each household had only one
Lar; the plural was at first only used to include other classes of
Lares, and only gradually, after the time of Cicero, ousted the
singular. The image of the Lar, made of wood, stone or metal, sometimes
even of silver, stood in its special shrine (_lararium_), which in early
times was in the atrium, but was afterwards transferred to other parts
of the house, when the family hearth was removed from the atrium. In
some of the Pompeian houses the _lararium_ was represented by a niche
only, containing the image of the lar. It was usually a youthful figure,
dressed in a short, high-girt tunic, holding in one hand a _rhyton_
(drinking-horn), in the other a _patera_ (cup). Under the Empire we find
usually two of these, one on each side of the central figure of the
Genius of the head of the household, sometimes of Vesta the
hearth-deity. The whole group was called indifferently Lares or Penates.
A prayer was said to the Lar every morning, and at each meal offerings
of food and drink were set before him; a portion of these was placed on
the hearth and afterwards shaken into the fire. Special sacrifices were
offered on the kalends, nones, and ides of every month, and on the
occasion of important family events. Such events were the birthday of
the head of the household; the assumption of the _toga virilis_ by a
son; the festival of the Caristia in memory of deceased members of the
household; recovery from illness; the entry of a young bride into the
house for the first time; return home after a long absence. On these
occasions the Lares were crowned with garlands, and offerings of cakes
and honey, wine and incense, but especially swine, were laid before
them. Their worship persisted throughout the pagan period, although its
character changed considerably in later times. The emperor Alexander
Severus had images of Abraham, Christ and Alexander the Great among his
household Lares.
The public Lares belonged to the state religion. Amongst these must be
included, at least after the time of Augustus, the _Lares compitales_.
Originally two in number, mythologically the sons of Mercurius and Lara
(or Larunda), they were the presiding deities of the cross-roads
(_compita_), where they had their special chapels. It has been
maintained by some that they are the twin brothers so frequent in early
religions, the Romulus and Remus of the Roman foundation legends. Their
sphere of influence included not only the cross-roads, but the whole
neighbouring district of the town and country in which they were
situated. They had a special annual festival, called Compitalia, to
which public games were added some time during the republican period.
When the colleges of freedmen and slaves, who assisted the presidents of
the festival, were abolished by Julius Caesar, it fell into disuse. Its
importance was revived by Augustus, who added to these Lares his own
Genius, the religious personification of the empire.
The state itself had its own Lares, called _praestites_, the protecting
patrons and guardians of the city. They had a temple and altar on the
Via Sacra, near the Palatine, and were represented on coins as young men
wearing the chlamys, carrying lances, seated, with a dog, the emblem of
watchfulness, at their feet. Mention may also be made of the _Lares
grundules_, whose worship was connected with the white sow of Alba Longa
and its thirty young (the epithet has been connected with _grunnire_, to
grunt): the _viales_, who protected travellers; the _hostilii_, who kept
off the enemies of the state; the _permarini_, connected with the sea,
to whom L. Aemilius Regillus, after a naval victory over Antiochus (190
B.C.), vowed a temple in the Campus Martius, which was dedicated by M.
Aemilius Lepidus the censor in 179.
The old view that the Lares were the deified ancestors of the family has
been rejected lately by Wissowa, who holds that the Lar was originally
the protecting spirit of a man's lot of arable land, with a shrine at
the _compitum_, i.e. the spot where the path bounding his arable met
that of another holding; and thence found his way into the house.
In addition to the manuals of Marquardt and Preller-Jordan, and
Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_, see A. de Marchi, _Il Culto
privato di Roma antica_ (1896-1903), p. 28 foll.; G. Wissowa,
_Religion und Kultus der Römer_ (1902), p. 148 foll.; _Archiv für
Religionswissenschaft_ (1904, p. 42 foll.) and W. Warde Fowler in the
same periodical (1906; p. 529).
LA RÉVELLIÈRE-LÉPEAUX, LOUIS MARIE DE (1753-1824), French politician,
member of the Directory, the son of J. B. de la Révellière, was born at
Montaign (Vendée), on the 24th of August 1753. The name of Lépeaux he
adopted from a small property belonging to his family, and he was known
locally as M. de Lépeaux. He studied law at Angers and Paris, being
called to the bar in 1775. A deputy to the states-general in 1789, he
returned at the close of the session to Angers, where with his
school-friends J. B. Leclerc and Urbain René Pilastre he sat on the
council of Maine-et-Loire, and had to deal with the first Vendéen
outbreaks. In 1792 he was returned by the department to the Convention,
and on the 19th of November he proposed the famous decree by which
France offered protection to foreign nations in their struggle for
liberty. Although La Révellière-Lépeaux voted for the death of Louis
XVI., he was not in general agreement with the extremists. Proscribed
with the Girondins in 1793 he was in hiding until the revolution of 9.10
Thermidor (27th and 28th of July 1794). After serving on the commission
to prepare the initiation of the new constitution he became in July 1795
president of the Assembly, and shortly afterwards a member of the
Committee of Public Safety. His name stood first on the list of
directors elected, and he became president of the Directory. Of his
colleagues he was in alliance with Jean François Rewbell and to a less
degree with Barras, but the greatest of his fellow-directors, Lazare
Carnot, was the object of his undying hatred. His policy was marked by a
bitter hostility to the Christian religion, which he proposed to
supplant as a civilizing agent by theophilanthropy, a new religion
invented by the English deist David Williams. The credit of the _coup
d'état_ of 18 Fructidor (4th of September 1797), by which the allied
directors made themselves supreme, La Révellière arrogated to himself in
his _Mémoires_, which in this as in other matters must be read with
caution. Compelled to resign by the revolution of 30 Prairial (18th of
June 1799) he lived in retirement in the country, and even after his
return to Paris ten years later took no part in public affairs. He died
on the 27th of March 1824.
The _Mémoires_ of La Révellière-Lépeaux were edited by R. D. D'Angers
(Paris, 3 vols., 1895). See also E. Charavay, _La Révellière-Lépeaux
et ses mémoires_ (1895) and A. Meynier, _Un Représentant de la
bourgeoisie angevine_ (1905).
LARGENTIÈRE, a town of south-eastern France, capital of an
arrondissement in the department of Ardèche, in the narrow valley of the
Ligne, 29 m. S.W. of Privas by road. Pop. (1906) 1690. A church of the
12th, 13th and 15th centuries and the old castle of the bishops of
Viviers, lords of Largentière, now used as a hospital, are the chief
buildings. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect and of a tribunal of
first instance; and has silk-mills, and carries on silk-spinning,
wine-growing and trade in fruit and silk. It owes its name to
silver-mines worked in the vicinity in the middle ages.
LARGILLIÈRE, NICOLAS (1656-1746), French painter, was born at Paris on
the 20th of October 1656. His father, a merchant, took him to Antwerp at
the age of three, and while a lad he spent nearly two years in London.
The attempt to turn his attention to business having failed, he entered,
some time after his return to Antwerp, the studio of Goubeau, quitting
this at the age of eighteen to seek his fortune in England, where he was
befriended by Lely, who employed him for four years at Windsor. His
skill attracted the notice of Charles II., who wished to retain him in
his service, but the fury aroused against Roman Catholics by the Rye
House Plot alarmed Largillière, and he went to Paris, where he was well
received by Le Brun and Van der Meulen. In spite of his Flemish
training, his reputation, especially as a portrait-painter, was soon
established; his brilliant colour and lively touch attracted all the
celebrities of the day--actresses, public men and popular preachers
flocking to his studio. Huet, bishop of Avranches, Cardinal de Noailles,
the Duclos and President Lambert, with his beautiful wife and daughter,
are amongst his most noted subjects. It is said that James II. recalled
Largillière to England on his accession to the throne in 1685, that he
declined the office of keeper of the royal collections, but that, during
a short stay in London, he painted portraits of the king, the queen and
the prince of Wales. This last is impossible, as the birth of the prince
did not take place till 1688; the three portraits, therefore, painted by
Largillière of the prince in his youth must all have been executed in
Paris, to which city he returned some time before March 1686, when he
was received by the Academy as a member, and presented as his diploma
picture the fine portrait of Le Brun, now in the Louvre. He was received
as an historical painter; but, although he occasionally produced works
of that class ("Crucifixion," engraved by Roettiers), and also treated
subjects of still life, it was in historical portraits that he excelled.
Horace Walpole states that he left in London those of Pierre van der
Meulen and of Sybrecht. Several of his works are at Versailles. The
church of St Étienne du Mont at Paris contains the finest example of
Largillière's work when dealing with large groups of figures; it is an
_ex voto_ offered by the city to St Geneviève, painted in 1694, and
containing portraits of all the leading officers of the municipality.
Largillière passed through every post of honour in the Academy, until in
1743 he was made chancellor. He died on the 20th of March 1746. Jean
Baptiste Oudry was the most distinguished of his pupils. Largillière's
work found skilful interpreters in Van Schuppen, Edelinck, Desplaces,
Drevet, Pitou and other engravers.
LARGS, a police burgh and watering place of Ayrshire, Scotland. Pop.
(1901) 3246. It is situated 43 m. W. by S. of Glasgow by the Glasgow &
South-Western railway. Its fine beach and dry, bracing climate have
attracted many wealthy residents, and the number of summer visitors is
also large. The public buildings include the Clark hospital, the
Victoria infirmary convalescent home and the Stevenson institute and
mechanics' library. Skelmorlie Aisle, the sole relic of the old parish
church of St Columba, was converted into a mausoleum in 1636. Near it a
mound covers remains, possibly those of the Norwegians who fell in the
battle (1263) between Alexander III. and Haco, king of Norway. The
harbour is used mainly by Clyde passenger steamers and yachtsmen. From
the quay a broad esplanade has been constructed northwards round the
bay, and there is an excellent golf course. Kelburne Castle, 2 m. S., a
seat of the earl of Glasgow, stands in romantic scenery. FAIRLIE, 3 m.
S., another seaside resort, with a station on the Glasgow &
South-Western railway, is the connecting-point for Millport on Great
Cumbrae. Once a fishing village, it has acquired a great reputation for
its yachts.
LARGUS, SCRIBONIUS, court physician to the emperor Claudius. About A.D.
47, at the request of Gaius Julius Callistus, the emperor's freedman, he
drew up a list of 271 prescriptions (_Compositiones_), most of them his
own, although he acknowledged his indebtedness to his tutors, to friends
and to the writings of eminent physicians. Certain old wives' remedies
are also included. The work has no pretensions to style, and contains
many colloquialisms. The greater part of it was transferred without
acknowledgment to the work of Marcellus Empiricus (c. 410), _De
Medicamentis Empiricis, Physicis, et Rationabilibus_, which is of great
value for the correction of the text of Largus.
See the edition of the _Compositiones_ by G. Helmreich (Teubner
series, 1887).
LARINO (anc. _Larinum_) a town and episcopal see of the Molise (province
of Campobasso), Italy, 32 m. N.E. of Campobasso by rail (20 m. direct),
984 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 7044. The cathedral, completed in
1319, has a good Gothic façade; the interior has to some extent been
spoilt by later restoration. The campanile rests upon a Gothic arch
erected in 1451. The Palazzo Comunale has a courtyard of the 16th
century. That the ancient town (which is close to the modern) existed
before the Roman supremacy had extended so far is proved by the coins.
It lay in the 2nd Augustan region (Apulia), but the people belonged to
the Frentani by race. Its strong position gave it importance in the
military history of Italy from the Hannibalic wars onwards. The town was
a _municipium_, situated on the main road to the S.E., which left the
coast at Histonium (Vasto) and ran from Larinum E. to Sipontum. From
Larinum a branch road ran to Bovianum Vetus. Remains of its city walls,
of its amphitheatre and also of baths, &c., exist, and it did not cease
to be inhabited until after the earthquake of 1300, when the modern city
was established. Cluentius, the client of Cicero, who delivered a speech
in his favour, was a native of Larinum, his father having been praetor
of the allied forces in the Social War. (T. As.)
LARISSA (Turk. _Yeni Shehr_, "new town"), the most important town of
Thessaly, situated in a rich agricultural district on the right bank of
the Salambria (Peneios, Peneus, Peneius), about 35 m. N.W. of Volo, with
which it is connected by rail. Pop. (1889) 13,610, (1907) 18,001. Till
1881 it was the seat of a pasha in the vilayet of Jannina; it is now the
capital of the Greek province and the seat of a nomarch. Its long
subjection to Turkey has left little trace of antiquity, and the most
striking features in the general view are the minarets of the disused
mosques (only four are now in use) and the Mahommedan burying-grounds.
It was formerly a Turkish military centre and most of the people were of
Turkish blood. In the outskirts is a village of Africans from the
Sudan--a curious remnant of the forces collected by Ali Pasha. The
manufactures include Turkish leather, cotton, silk and tobacco; trade
and industry, however, are far from prosperous, though improving owing
to the immigration of the Greek commercial element. Fevers and agues are
prevalent owing to bad drainage and the overflowing of the river; and
the death-rate is higher than the birth-rate. A considerable portion of
the Turkish population emigrated in 1881; a further exodus took place in
1898. The department of Larissa had in 1907 a population of 95,066.
Larissa, written Larisa on ancient coins and inscriptions, is near the
site of the Homeric Argissa. It appears in early times, when Thessaly
was mainly governed by a few aristocratic families, as an important
city under the rule of the Aleuadae, whose authority extended over the
whole district of Pelasgiotis. This powerful family possessed for many
generations before 369 B.C. the privilege of furnishing the Tagus, or
generalissimo, of the combined Thessalian forces. The principal rivals
of the Aleuadae were the Scopadae of Crannon, the remains of which
(called by the Turks _Old Larissa_) are about 14 m. to the S.W. The
inhabitants sided with Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and during
the Roman invasion their city was of considerable importance. Since
the 5th century it has been the seat of an archbishop, who has now
fifteen suffragans. Larissa was the headquarters of Ali Pasha during
the Greek War of Independence, and of the crown prince Constantine
during the Greco-Turkish War; the flight of the Greek army from this
place to Pharsala took place on the 23rd of April 1897. Notices of
some ancient inscriptions found at Larissa are given by Miller in
_Mélanges philologiques_ (Paris, 1880); several sepulchral reliefs
were found in the neighbourhood in 1882. A few traces of the ancient
acropolis and theatre are still visible.
The name Larissa was common to many "Pelasgian" towns, and apparently
signified a fortified city or _burg_, such as the citadel of Argos.
Another town of the name in Thessaly was Larissa Cremaste, surnamed
Pelasgia (Strabo ix. p. 440), situated on the slope of Mt. Othrys.
(J. D. B.)
LARISTAN, a sub-province of the province of Fars in Persia, bounded E.
and N.E. by Kerman and S. by the Persian Gulf. It lies between 26° 30´
and 28° 25´ N. and between 52° 30´ and 55° 30´ E. and has an extreme
breadth and length of 120 and 210 m. respectively, with an area of about
20,000 sq. m. Pop. about 90,000. Laristan consists mainly of mountain
ranges in the north and east, and of arid plains varied with rocky hills
and sandy valleys stretching thence to the coast. In the highlands,
where some fertile upland tracts produce corn, dates and other fruits,
the climate is genial, but elsewhere it is extremely sultry, and on the
low-lying coast lands malarious. Good water is everywhere so scarce that
but for the rain preserved in cisterns the country would be mostly
uninhabitable. Many cisterns are infested with Guinea worm (_filaria
medinensis_, Gm.). The coast is chiefly occupied by Arab tribes who were
virtually independent, paying merely a nominal tribute to the shah's
government until 1898. They reside in small towns and mud forts
scattered along the coast. The people of the interior are mostly of the
old Iranian stock, and there are also a few nomads of the Turkish
Baharlu tribe which came to Persia in the 11th century when the province
was subdued by a Turkish chief. Laristan remained an independent state
under a Turkish ruler until 1602, when Shah Ibrahim Khan was deposed and
put to death by Shah 'Abbas the Great. The province is subdivided into
eight districts: (1) Lar, the capital and environs, with 34 villages;
(2) Bikhah Ihsham with 11; (3) Bikhah Fal with 10; (4) Jehangiriyeh with
30; (5) Shibkuh with 36; (6) Fumistan with 13; (7) Kauristan with 4; (8)
Mazayijan with 6 villages. Lingah, with its principal place Bander
Lingah and 11 villages, formerly a part of Laristan, is now included in
the "Persian Gulf Ports," a separate administrative division. Laristan
is famous for the condiment called _mahiabeh_ (fish-jelly), a compound
of pounded small sprat-like fish, salt, mustard, nutmeg, cloves and
other spices, used as a relish with nearly all foods.
LARIVEY, PIERRE (c. 1550-1612), French dramatist, of Italian origin, was
the son of one of the Giunta, the famous printers of Florence and
Venice. The family was established at Troyes and had taken the name of
Larivey or L'Arrivey, by way of translation from _giunto_. Pierre
Larivey appears to have cast horoscopes, and to have acted as clerk to
the chapter of the church of St Étienne, of which he eventually became a
canon. He has no claim to be the originator of French comedy. The
_Corrivaux_ of Jean de la Taille dates from 1562, but Larivey
naturalized the Italian comedy of intrigue in France. He adapted, rather
than translated, twelve Italian comedies into French prose. The first
volume of the _Comédies facétieuses_ appeared in 1579, and the second in
1611. Only nine in all were printed.[1] The licence of the manners
depicted in these plays is matched by the coarseness of the expression.
Larivey's merit lies in the use of popular language in dialogue, which
often rises to real excellence, and was not without influence on Molière
and Regnard. Molière's _L'Avare_ owes something to the scene in
Larivey's masterpiece, _Les Esprits_, where Séverin laments the loss of
his purse, and the opening scene of the piece seems to have suggested
Regnard's _Retour imprévu_. It is uncertain whether Larivey's plays were
represented, though they were evidently written for the stage. In any
case prose comedy gained very little ground in popular favour before the
time of Molière. Larivey was the author of many translations, varying in
subject from the _Facétieuses nuits_ (1573) of Straparola to the
_Humanité de Jésus-Christ_ (1604) from Pietro Aretino.