LARTET, EDOUARD (1801-1871), French archaeologist, was born in 1801 near
Castelnau-Barbarens, department of Gers, France, where his family had
lived for more than five hundred years. He was educated for the law at
Auch and Toulouse, but having private means elected to devote himself to
science. The then recent work of Cuvier on fossil mammalia encouraged
Lartet in excavations which led in 1834 to his first discovery of fossil
remains in the neighbourhood of Auch. Thenceforward he devoted his whole
time to a systematic examination of the French caves, his first
publication on the subject being _The Antiquity of Man in Western
Europe_ (1860), followed in 1861 by _New Researches on the Coexistence
of Man and of the Great Fossil Mammifers characteristic of the Last
Geological Period_. In this paper he made public the results of his
discoveries in the cave of Aurignac, where evidence existed of the
contemporaneous existence of man and extinct mammals. In his work in the
Périgord district Lartet had the aid of Henry Christy (q.v.). The first
account of their joint researches appeared in a paper descriptive of the
Dordogne caves and contents, published in _Revue archéologique_ (1864).
The important discoveries in the Madeleine cave and elsewhere were
published by Lartet and Christy under the title _Reliquiae Aquitanicae_,
the first part appearing in 1865. Christy died before the completion of
the work, but Lartet continued it until his breakdown in health in 1870.
The most modest and one of the most illustrious of the founders of
modern palaeontology, Lartet's work had previously been publicly
recognized by his nomination as an officer of the Legion of Honour; and
in 1848 he had had the offer of a political post. In 1857 he had been
elected a foreign member of the Geological Society of London, and a few
weeks before his death he had been made professor of palaeontology at
the museum of the Jardin des Plantes. He died at Seissan in January
1871.
LARVAL FORMS, in biology. As is explained in the article on EMBRYOLOGY
(q.v.), development and life are coextensive, and it is impossible to
point to any period in the life of an organism when the developmental
changes cease. Nevertheless it is customary to speak of development as
though it were confined to the early period of life, during which the
important changes occur by which the uninucleated zygote acquires the
form characteristic of the species. Using the word in this restricted
sense, it is pointed out in the same article that the developmental
period frequently presents two phases, the embryonic and the larval.
During the embryonic phase the development occurs under protection,
either within the egg envelopes, or within the maternal body, or in a
brood pouch. At the end of this phase the young organism becomes free
and uses, as a rule, its own mouth and digestive organs. If this happens
before it has approximately acquired the adult form, it is called a
larva (Lat. _larva_, ghost, spectre, mask), and the subsequent
development by which the adult form is acquired constitutes the larval
phase. In such forms the life-cycle is divided into three phases, the
embryonic, the larval and the adult. The transition between the first
two of these is always abrupt; whereas the second and third, except in
cases in which a metamorphosis occurs (see METAMORPHOSIS), graduate into
one another, and it is not possible to say when the larval stage ends
and the adult begins. This is only what would be expected when it is
remembered that the developmental changes never cease. It might be held
that the presence of functional reproductive organs, or the possibility
of rapidly acquiring them, marks off the adult phase of life from the
larval. But this test sometimes fails. In certain of the Ctenophora
there is a double sexual life; the larva becomes sexually mature and
lays eggs, which are fertilized and develop; it then loses its
generative organs and develops into the adult, which again develops
reproductive organs (_dissogony_; see Chun, _Die Ctenophoren des Golfes
von Neapel_, 1880). In certain Amphibia the larva may develop sexual
organs and breed (axolotl), but in this case (_neoteny_) it is doubtful
whether further development may occur in the larva. A very similar
phenomenon is found in certain insect larvae (_Cecidomyia_), but in this
case ova alone are produced and develop parthenogenetically
(paedogenesis). Again in certain Trematoda larval stages known as the
sporocyst and redia produce ova which have the power of developing
unfertilized; in this case the larva probably has not the power of
continuing its development. It is very generally held by philosophers
that the end of life is reproduction, and there is much to be said for
this view; but, granting its truth, it is difficult to see why the
capacity for reproduction should so generally be confined to the later
stages of life. We know by more than one instance that it is possible
for the larva to reproduce by sexual generation; why should not the
phenomenon be more common? It is impossible in the present state of our
knowledge to answer this question.
The conclusion, then, that we reach is that the larval phase of life
graduates into the later phases, and that it is impossible to
characterize it with precision, as we can the embryonic phase.
Nevertheless great importance has been attached, in certain cases, to
the forms assumed by the young organism when it breaks loose from its
embryonic bonds. It has been widely held that the study of larvae is of
greater importance in determining genetic affinity than the study of
adults. What justification is there for this view? The phase of life,
chosen for the ordinary anatomical and physiological studies and
labelled as the adult phase, is merely one of the large number of stages
of structure through which the organism passes during its free life. In
animals with a well-marked larval phase, by far the greater number of
the stages of structure are included in the larval period, for the
developmental changes are more numerous and take place with greater
rapidity at the beginning of life than in its later periods. As each of
the larval stages is equal in value for the purposes of our study to the
adult phase, it clearly follows that, if there is anything in the view
that the anatomical study of organisms is of importance in determining
their mutual relations, the study of the organism in its various larval
stages must have a greater importance than the study of the single and
arbitrarily selected stage of life called the adult.
The importance, then, of the study of larval forms is admitted, but
before proceeding to it this question may be asked: What is the meaning
of the larval phase? Obviously this is part of a larger problem: Why
does an organism, as soon as it is established at the fertilization of
the ovum, enter upon a cycle of transformations which never cease until
death puts an end to them? It is impossible to give any other answer to
this question than this, viz. that it is a property of living matter to
react in a remarkable way to external forces without undergoing
destruction. As is explained in EMBRYOLOGY, development consists of an
orderly interaction between the organism and its environment. The action
of the environment produces certain morphological changes in the
organism. These changes enable the organism to move into a new
environment, which in its turn produces further structural changes in
the organism. These in their turn enable, indeed necessitate, the
organism to move again into a new environment, and so the process
continues until the end of the life-cycle. The essential condition of
success in this process is that the organism should always shift into
the environment to which its new structure is suited, any failure in
this leading to impairment of the organism. In most cases the shifting
of the environment is a very gradual process, and the morphological
changes in connexion with each step of it are but slight. In some cases,
however, jumps are made, and whenever such jumps occur we get the
morphological phenomenon termed metamorphosis. It would be foreign to
our purpose to consider this question further here, but before leaving
it we may suggest, if we cannot answer, one further question. Has the
duration and complexity of the life-cycle expanded or contracted since
organisms first appeared on the earth? According to the current view,
the life-cycle is continually being shortened at one end by the
abbreviation of embryonic development and by the absorption of larval
stages into the embryonic period, and lengthened at the other by the
evolutionary creation of new adult phases. What was the condition of the
earliest organisms? Had they the property of reacting to external forces
to the same extent and in the same orderly manner that organisms have
to-day?
For the purpose of obtaining light upon the genetic affinities of an
organism, a larval stage has as much importance as has the adult stage.
According to the current views of naturalists, which are largely a
product of Darwinism, it has its counterpart, as has the adult stage, in
the ancestral form from which the living organism has been derived by
descent with modification. Just as the adult phase of the living form
differs owing to evolutionary modification from the adult phase of the
ancestor, so each larval phase will differ for the same reason from the
corresponding larval phase in the ancestral life-history. Inasmuch as
the organism is variable at every stage of its existence, and is exposed
to the action of natural selection, there is no reason why it should
escape modification at any stage. But, as the characters of the ancestor
are unknown, it is impossible to ascertain what the modification has
been, and the determination of which of the characters of its descendant
(whether larval or adult) are new and which ancient must be conjectural.
It has been customary of late years to distinguish in larvae those
characters which are supposed to have been recently acquired as
_caenogenetic_, the ancient characters being termed _palingenetic_.
These terms, if they have any value, are applicable with equal force to
adults, but they are cumbrous, and the absence of any satisfactory test
which enables us to distinguish between a character which is ancestral
and one which has been recently acquired renders their utility very
doubtful. Just as the adult may be supposed, on evolution doctrine, to
be derived from an ancestral adult, so the various larval stages may be
supposed to have been derived from the corresponding larval stage of the
hypothetical ancestor. If we admit organic evolution at all, we may
perhaps go so far, but we are not in a position to go further, and to
assert that each larval stage is representative of and, so to speak,
derived from some adult stage in the remote past, when the organism
progressed no further in its life-cycle than the stage of structure
revealed by such a larval form. We may perhaps have a right to take up
this position, but it is of no advantage to us to do so, because it
leads us into the realm of pure fancy. Moreover, it assumes that an
answer can be given to the question asked above--has the life-cycle of
organisms contracted or expanded as the result of evolution? This
question has not been satisfactorily answered. Indeed we may go further
and say that naturalists have answered it in different ways according to
the class of facts they were contemplating at the moment. If we are to
consider larvae at all from the evolution point of view, we must treat
them as being representative of ancestral larvae from which they have
been derived by descent with modification; and we must leave open the
question whether and to what extent the first organisms themselves
passed through a complicated life-cycle.
From the above considerations it is not surprising to find that the
larvae of different members of any group resemble each other to the same
kind of degree as do the adults, and that the larvae of allied groups
resemble one another more closely than do the larvae of remote groups,
and finally that a study of larvae does in some cases reveal affinities
which would not have been evident from a study of adults alone. Though
it is impossible to give here an account of the larval forms of the
animal kingdom, we may illustrate these points, which are facts of
fundamental importance in the study of larvae, by a reference to
specific cases.
The two great groups, Annelida and Mollusca, which by their adult
structure present considerable affinity with one another, agree in
possessing a very similar larval form, known as the _trochosphere_ or
_trochophore_.
[Illustration: After V. Drasche in _Beiträge zur Entwickelung der
Polychaeten, Entwickelung von Pomatoceros_.
FIG. 1.--Trochosphere Larva of the Chaetopod _Pomatoceros trigueter_, L.
(Osmic acid preparation.)
1. The apical plate.
2. Long cilia of preoral band (velum).
3. Long cilia of postoral band.
4. Mouth.
5. Excretory organ.
6. Mesoblastic band.
7. Anus.]
A typical trochosphere larva (figs. 1, 2) possesses a small,
transparent body divided into a large preoral lobe and a small
postoral region. The mouth (4) is on the ventral surface at the
junction of the preoral lobe with the hinder part of the body, and
there is an anus (7) at the hind end. Connecting the two is a curved
alimentary canal which is frequently divided into oesophagus, stomach
and intestine. There is a preoral circlet of powerful cilia, called
the "velum" (2), which encircles the body just anterior to the mouth
and marks off the preoral lobe, and there is very generally a second
ring of cilia immediately behind the mouth (3). At the anterior end of
the preoral lobe is a nervous thickening of the ectoderm called the
apical plate (1). This usually carries a tuft of long cilia or sensory
hairs, and sometimes rudimentary visual organs. Mesoblastic bands are
present, proceeding a short distance forwards from the anus on each
side of the middle ventral line (6), and at the anterior end of each
of these structures is a tube (5) which more or less branches
internally and opens on the ventral surface. The branches of this tube
end internally in peculiar cells containing a flame-shaped flagellum
and floating in the so-called body cavity, into which, however, they
do not open. These are the primitive kidneys. The body cavity, which
is a space between the ectoderm and alimentary canal, is not lined by
mesoderm and is traversed by a few muscular fibres. Such a larva is
found, almost as described, in many Chaetopods (fig. 1), in _Echiurus_
(fig. 2), in many Gastropods (fig. 3), and Lamellibranchiates (fig.
4). This typical structure of the larva is often departed from, and
the molluscan trochosphere can be distinguished from the annelidan by
the possession of a rudiment at least of the shell-gland and foot
(figs. 3 and 4); but in all cases in which the young leaves the egg at
an early stage of development it has a form which can be referred
without much difficulty to the trochosphere type just described. A
larva similar to the trochosphere in some features, particularly in
possessing a preoral ring of cilia and an apical plate, is found in
the Polyzoa, and in adult Rotifera, which latter, in their ciliary
ring and excretory organs, present some resemblance to the
trochosphere, and are sometimes described as permanent adult
trochospheres. But in these phases the resemblance to the typical
forms is not nearly so close as it is in the case of the larva of
Annelida and Mollusca.
[Illustration: After Hatschek, "Echiurus" in Claus's _Arbeiten aus dem
zoolog. Institut der Wien_.
FIG. 2.--Young Trochosphere Larva of the Gephyrean _Echiurus_, seen in
optical section.
1. Apical plate.
2. Muscle-bands.
3. Preoral band of cilia (velum).
4. Mouth.
5. Mesoblastic band.
6. Anus.]
[Illustration: After Patten, "Patella" in Claus's _Arbeiten aus dem
zoolog. Institut der Wien_.
FIG. 3.--Larva of the Gastropod _Patella_, seen in longitudinal
vertical section.
1. Apical plate.
2. Cilia of preoral circlet (velum).
3. Mouth.
4. Foot.
5. Anal tuft of cilia.
6. Shell-gland covered by shell.]
In the Echinodermata there are two distinct larval forms which cannot
be brought into relation with one another. The one of these is found
in the Asteroids, Ophiuroids, Echinoids and Holothuroids; the other in
the Crinoids.
[Illustration: After Hatschek on "Teredo" in Claus's Arbeiten aus dem
zoolog. Institut der Wien.
FIG. 4.--A, Embryo, and B, Young Trochosphere Larva of the
Lamellibranch _Teredo_.
In A the shell-gland (1) and the mouth (2) and the rudiment of the
enteron (3) are shown; (4) primitive mesoderm cells.
In B the shell-gland has flattened out and the shell is formed. 1,
Apical plate; 2, muscles; 3, shell; 4, anal invagination; 5,
mesoblast; 6, mouth; 7, foot.
The cilia of the preoral and postoral bands are not clearly
differentiated at this stage.]
The first is, in its most primitive form, a small transparent
creature, with a mouth and anus and a postoral longitudinal ciliated
band (fig. 5, A). In Asteroids the band of cilia becomes divided in
such a way as to give rise to two bands, the one preoral, encircling
the preoral lobe, and the other remaining postoral (fig. 5, B). In the
other groups the band remains single and longitudinal. In all cases
the edges of the body carrying the ciliary bands become sinuous (fig.
6) and sometimes prolonged into arms (figs. 7-9), and each of the four
groups has its own type of larva. In Asteroids, in which the band
divides, the larva is known as the bipinnaria (fig. 7); in
Holothurians it is called the auricularia (fig. 6); in Echinoids and
Ophiuroids, in which the arms are well marked, it is known as the
pluteus, the echinopluteus (fig. 9) and ophiopluteus (fig. 8)
respectively.
All these forms were obviously distinct but as obviously modifications
of a common type and related to one another. They present certain
remarkable structural features which differentiate them from other
larval types except the tornaria larvae of the Enteropneusta. They
possess an alimentary canal with a mouth and anus as does the
trochosphere, but they differ altogether from that larva in having a
diverticulum of the alimentary canal which gives rise to the coelom
and to a considerable part of the mesoblast. Further, they are without
an apical plate with its tuft of sensory hairs.
In Crinoids the type is different (fig. 10), and might belong to a
different phylum. The body is opaque, and encircled by five ciliary
bands, and is without either mouth, anus or arms, and there is a tuft
of cilia on the preoral lobe. A resemblance to the other Echinoderm
larvae is found in the fact that coelomic diverticula of the enteron
are present.
[Illustration: From Balfour's _Comparative Embryology_, by permission
of Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
FIG. 5.--Diagrams of side views of two young Echinoderm Larvae,
showing the course of the ciliary bands. A, auricularia larva of a
Holothurian; B, bipinnaria larva of an Asteroid; a, anus; l.c, in A
primitive longitudinal ciliary band, in B postoral longitudinal
ciliary band; m, mouth; pr.c, preoral ciliary band; st, stomach.]
[Illustration: After J. Müller.
FIG. 6.--_Auricularia stelligera_, ventral view, somewhat
diagrammatic. The larva of a Holothurian.
1. Frontal area.
2. Preoral arm.
3. Anterior transverse portion of ciliary band.
4. Posterior transverseportion of same.
5. Postoral arm.
6. Anal area.
7. Posterior lateral arm.
8. Posterior dorsal arm.
9. Oral depression.
10. Middle dorsal arm.
11. Anterior dorsal arm.
12. Anterior lateral arm.
13. Ventral median arm.
14. Dorsal median arm.
15. Unpaired posterior arm.]
The larvae of two other groups present certain resemblances to the
typical Echinoderm larvae. The one of these is the tornaria larva of
the Enteropneusta (fig. 11), which recalls Echinoderms in the
possession of two ciliary bands, the one preoral and the other
postoral and partly longitudinal, and in the presence of gut
diverticula which give rise to the coelom; but, like the trochosphere,
it possesses an apical plate with sensory organs on the preoral lobe.
The resemblance of the tornaria to the bipinnaria is so close that,
taking into consideration certain additional resemblances in the
arrangement of the coelomic vesicles which arise from the original gut
diverticulum, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that there is
affinity between the Echinoderm and Enteropneust phyla. Here we have a
case like that of the Tunicata in which an affinity which is not
evident from a study of the adult alone is revealed by a study of the
young form. The other larva which recalls the Echinoderm type is the
Actinotrocha of _Phoronis_ (fig. 12), but the resemblance is not
nearly so close, being confined to the presence of a postoral
longitudinal band of cilia which is prolonged into arm-like processes.
[Illustration: After J. Müller.
FIG. 7.--_Bipinnaria elegans_, the Larva of a Star-fish. Description and
lettering as in fig. 6.]
[Illustration: After J. Müller.
FIG. 8.--_Ophiopluteus bimaculatus_, the Larva of an Ophiurid.
Description and lettering as in fig. 6.]
[Illustration: After J. Müller.
FIG. 9.--_Echinopluteus_, the Larva of a Spatangid. Description and
lettering as in fig. 6.]
[Illustration: After Seeliger on "Antedon" in Spengel's _Zoologische
Jahrbücher_.
FIG. 10.--A free-swimming Larva of Antedon, ventral view. It has an
apical tuft of cilia, five ciliated bands, and a depression--the
vestibular depression--on its ventral surface. v, Vestibular depression;
f, adhesive pit.]
The following groups have larvae which cannot be related to other
larvae: the Porifera, Coelenterata, Turbellaria and Nemertea,
Brachiopoda, Myriapoda, Insecta, Crustacea, Tunicata. We may shortly
notice the larvae of the two latter.
[Illustration: After Metschnikoff.
FIG. 11.--Tornaria Larva of an Enteropneust, side view.
ee, Apical plate.
aa, Preoral ciliary band.
bb, Postoral ciliary band.
dd, Mouth.
ff, Anterior coelomic vesicle and pore.
gg, Alimentary canal.
hh, Anus.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Actinotrocha Larva of _Phoronis_, side view.
(Modified after Benham.)
1. Apical plate.
2. Mouth.
3. Postoral ciliary band and arms.
4. Perianal ciliary band.]
In the Crustacea the larvae are highly peculiar and share, in a
striking manner, certain of the important features of specialization
presented by the adult, viz. the presence of a strong cuticle and of
articulated appendages and the absence of cilia. They are remarkable
among larvae for the number of stages which they pass through in
attaining the adult state. However numerous these may be, they almost
always have, when first set free from the egg, one of two forms, that
of the _nauplius_ (fig. 13, A) or that of the _zoaea_ (fig. 13, B).
The nauplius is found throughout the group and is the more important
of the two; the zoaea is confined to the higher members, in some of
which it merely forms a stage through which the larva, hatched as a
nauplius, passes in its gradual development. The nauplius larva is of
classic interest because its occurrence has enabled zoologists to
determine with precision the position in the animal kingdom of a
group, the Cirripedia, which was placed by the illustrious Cuvier
among the Mollusca.
In the Tunicata the remarkable tadpole larva, the structure and
development of which was first elucidated by the great Russian
naturalist, A. Kowalevsky, possesses a similar interest to that of the
nauplius larva of Cirripeds, and of the tornaria larva of the
Enteropneusta, in that it pointed the way to the recognition of the
affinities of the Tunicata, affinities which were entirely unsuspected
till they were revealed by a study of the larvae.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--A, Nauplius of the Crustacean _Penaeus_, dorsal
view. B, Zoaea Larva of the same animal, ventral view.
1. 2. 3. The three pairs of appendages of the nauplius larva (the
future first and second antennae and mandibles).
3. Mandible.
4. First maxilla.
5. Second maxilla.
6. First maxilliped.
7. Second maxilliped.
8. Third maxilliped.]
With regard to the occurrence of larvae, three general statements may be
made. (1) They are always associated with a small egg in which the
amount of food yolk is not sufficient to enable the animal to complete
its development in the embryonic state. (2) A free-swimming larva is
usually found in cases in which the adult is attached to foreign
objects. (3) A larval stage is, as a rule, associated with internal
parasitism of the adult. The object gained by the occurrence of a larva
in the two last cases is to enable the species to distribute itself over
as wide an area as possible. It may further be asserted that land and
fresh-water animals develop without a larval stage much more frequently
than marine forms. This is probably partly due to the fact that the
conditions of land and fresh-water life are not so favourable for the
spread of a species over a wide area by means of simply-organized larvae
as are those of marine life, and partly to the fact that, in the case of
fresh-water forms at any rate, a feebly-swimming larva would be in
danger of being swept out to sea by currents.
1. The association of larvae with small eggs. This is a true statement
as far as it goes, but in some cases small eggs do not give rise to
larvae, some special form of nutriment being provided by the parent,
e.g. Mammalia, in which there is a uterine nutrition by means of a
placenta; some Gastropoda (e.g. _Helix waltoni_, _Bulimus_), in which,
though the ovum is not specially large, it floats in a large quantity
of albumen at the expense of which the development is completed; some
Lamellibranchiata (_Cyclas_, &c.), Echinodermata (many _Ophiurids_,
&c.), &c., in which development takes place in a brood pouch. In the
majority of cases, however, in which there is a small amount of food
yolk and no special arrangements for parental care, a larva is formed.
No better group than the Mollusca can be taken to illustrate this
point, for in them we find every kind of development from the
completely embryonic development of the Cephalopoda, with their large
heavily-yolked eggs, to the development of most marine
Lamellibranchiata and many Gastropoda, in which the embryonic period
is short and there is a long larval development. The Mollusca are
further specially interesting for showing very clearly cases in which,
though the young are born or hatched fully developed, the larval
stages are passed through in the egg, and the larval organs (e.g.
velum) are developed but without function (e.g. _Paludina_, _Cyclas_,
_Onchidium_). As already mentioned, the larval form of the Mollusca is
the trochosphere.
2. Free-swimming larvae are usually formed when the adult is fixed. We
need only refer to the cases of the Cirripedia with their well-marked
nauplius and cypris larvae, to _Phoronis_ with its remarkable
_actinotrocha_, to the Crinoidea, Polyzoa, &c. There are a few
exceptions to this rule, e.g. the Molgulidae amongst the fixed
Tunicata, _Tubularia_, _Myriothela_, &c., among the Hydrozoa.
3. Internal parasites generally have a stage which may be called
larval, in which they are transferred either by active or passive
migration to a new host. In most Nematoda, some Cestoda, and in
Trematoda this larva leads a free life; but in some nematodes
(_Trichina_) and some cestodes the larva does not become free.
(A. Se.*)
LARYNGITIS, an inflammation of the mucus of the _larynx_. There are
three chief varieties: _acute_, _chronic_, and _oedematous_. The larynx
is also liable to attacks of inflammation in connexion with tubercle or
syphilis.
_Acute Laryngitis_ may be produced by an independent catarrh, or by one
extending either from the nasal or the bronchial mucous membrane into
that of the larynx. The causes are various, "catching cold" being the
most common. Excessive use of the voice either in speaking or singing
sometimes gives rise to it. The inhalation of irritating particles,
vapours, &c., and swallowing very hot fluids or corrosive poisons are
well-recognized causes. It may also occur in connexion with diseases,
notably measles and influenza. As a result of the inflammation there is
a general swelling of the parts about the larynx and the epiglottis, the
result being a narrowing of the channel for the entrance of the air, and
to this the chief dangers are due. The symptoms vary with the intensity
of the attack; there is first a sense of tickling, then of heat,
dryness, and pain in the throat, with some difficulty in swallowing.
There is a dry cough, with expectoration later; phonation becomes
painful, while the voice is husky, and may be completely lost. In
children there is some dyspnoea. In favourable cases, which form the
majority, the attack tends to abate in a few days, but the inflammation
may become of the oedematous variety, and death may occur suddenly from
an asphyxial paroxysm. Many cases of acute laryngitis are so slight as
to make themselves known only by hoarseness and the character of the
cough, nevertheless in every instance the attack demands serious
attention. The diagnosis is not, in adults, a matter of much difficulty,
especially if an examination is made with the laryngoscope; in children,
however, it is more difficult, and the question of diphtheria must not
be lost sight of. The treatment is, first and foremost, rest; no talking
must be allowed. The patient should be kept in bed, in a room at an even
temperature, and the air saturated with moisture. An ice-bag round the
throat gives much relief, while internally diaphoretics may be given,
and a full dose of Dover's powder if there be much pain or cough.
_Chronic Laryngitis_ usually occurs as a result of repeated attacks of
the acute form. It is extremely common in people who habitually over-use
the voice, and is the cause of the hoarse voice one associates with
street sellers. The constant inhalation of irritating vapours, such as
tobacco smoke, may also cause it. There is usually little or no pain,
only the unpleasant sensation of tickling in the larynx, with a constant
desire to cough. The changes in the mucous membrane are more permanent
than in the acute variety, and there nearly always accompanies this a
chronic alteration of the membrane of the pharynx (_granular
pharyngitis_). The treatment consists in stopping the cause, where
known, e.g. the smoking or shouting. Careful examination should be made
to see if there is any nasal obstruction, and the larynx should be
treated locally with suitable astringents, by means of a brush, spray or
insufflation. Overheated and ill-ventilated rooms must be avoided, as
entrance into them immediately aggravates the trouble and causes a
paroxysm of coughing.
_Oedematous Laryngitis_ is a very fatal condition, which may occur,
though rarely, as a sequence of acute laryngitis. It is far more
commonly seen in syphilitic and tubercular conditions of the larynx, in
kidney disease, in certain fevers, and in cases of cellulitis of the
neck. The larynx is also one of the sites of _Angeioneurotic oedema_. In
this form of laryngitis there are all the symptoms of acute laryngitis,
but on a very much exaggerated scale. The dyspnoea, accompanied by
marked stridor, may arise and reach a dangerous condition within the
space of an hour, and demand the most prompt treatment. On examination
the mucous membrane round the epiglottis is seen to be enormously
swollen. The treatment is ice round the throat and internally,
scarification of the swollen parts, and should that not relieve the
asphyxial symptoms, tracheotomy must be performed immediately.
_Tubercular Laryngitis_ is practically always associated with phthisis.
The mucous membrane is invaded by the tubercles, which first form small
masses. These later break down and ulcerate; the ulceration then spreads
up and down, causing an immense amount of destruction. The first
indication is hoarseness, or, in certain forms, pain on swallowing. The
cough is, as a rule, a late symptom. A sudden oedema may bring about a
rapid fatal termination. The general treatment is the same as that
advised for phthisis; locally, the affected parts may be removed by one
or a series of operations, generally under local anaesthesia, or they
may be treated with some destructive agent such as lactic acid. The pain
on swallowing can be best alleviated by painting with a weak solution of
cocaine. The condition is a very grave one; the prognosis depends
largely on the associated pulmonary infection--if that be extensive, a
very small amount of laryngeal mischief resists treatment, while, if the
case be the contrary, a very extensive mischief may be successfully
dealt with.
_Syphilitic Laryngitis._--Invasion of the larynx in syphilis is very
common. It may occur in both stages of the disease and in the inherited
form. In the secondary stage the damage is superficial, and the symptoms
those of a slight acute laryngitis. The injury in the tertiary stage is
much more serious, the deeper structures are invaded with the formation
of deep ulcers, which may when they heal form strong cicatrices, which
produce a narrowing of the air-passage which may eventually require
surgical interference. Occasionally a fatal oedema may arise. The
treatment consists of administering constitutional remedies, local
treatment being of comparatively slight importance.
_Paroxysmal Laryngitis_, or _Laryngismus stridulus_, is a nervous
affection of the larynx that occurs in infants. It appears to be
associated with adenoids. The disease consists of a reflex spasm of the
glottis, which causes a complete blocking of the air-passages. The
attacks, which are recurrent, cause acute asphyxiation. They may cease
for no obvious reason, or one may prove fatal. The whole attack is of
such short duration that the infant has either recovered or succumbed
before assistance can be called. After an attack, careful examination
should be made, and the adenoids, if present, removed by operation.
LA SABLIÈRE, MARGUERITE DE (c. 1640-1693), friend and patron of La
Fontaine, was the wife of Antoine Rambouillet, sieur de la Sablière
(1624-1679), a Protestant financier entrusted with the administration of
the royal estates, her maiden name being Marguerite Hessein. She
received an excellent education in Latin, mathematics, physics and
anatomy from the best scholars of her time, and her house became a
meeting-place for poets, scientists and men of letters, no less than for
brilliant members of the court of Louis XIV. About 1673 Mme de la
Sablière received into her house La Fontaine, whom for twenty years she
relieved of every kind of material anxiety. Another friend and inmate of
the house was the traveller and physician François Bernier, whose
abridgment of the works of Gassendi was written for Mme de la Sablière.
The abbé Chaulieu and his fellow-poet, Charles Auguste, marquis de La
Fare, were among her most intimate associates. La Fare sold his
commission in the army to be able to spend his time with her. This
liaison, which seems to have been the only serious passion of her life,
was broken in 1679. La Fare was seduced from his allegiance, according
to Mme de Sévigné by his love of play, but to this must be added a new
passion for the actress La Champmeslé. Mme de la Sablière thenceforward
gave more and more attention to good works, much of her time being spent
in the hospital for incurables. Her husband's death in the same year
increased her serious tendencies, and she was presently converted to
Roman Catholicism. She died in Paris on the 8th of January 1693.
LA SALE (or LA SALLE), ANTOINE DE (c. 1388-1462?), French writer, was
born in Provence, probably at Arles. He was a natural son of Bernard de
la Salle,[1] a famous soldier of fortune, who served many masters, among
others the Angevin dukes. In 1402 Antoine entered the court of Anjou,
probably as a page, and in 1407 he was at Messina with Duke Louis II.,
who had gone there to enforce his claim to the kingdom of Sicily. The
next years he perhaps spent in Brabant, for he was present at two
tournaments given at Brussels and Ghent. With other gentlemen from
Brabant, whose names he has preserved, he took part in the expedition of
1415 against the Moors, organized by John I. of Portugal. In 1420 he
accompanied Louis III. on another expedition to Naples, making in that
year an excursion from Norcia to the Monte della Sibilla, and the
neighbouring Lake of Pilate. The story of his adventures on this
occasion, and an account, with some sceptical comments, of the local
legends regarding Pilate, and the Sibyl's grotto,[2] form the most
interesting chapter of _La Salade_, which is further adorned with a map
of the ascent from Montemonaco. La Sale probably returned with Louis
III. of Anjou, who was also comte de Provence, in 1426 to Provence,
where he was acting as _viguier_ of Aries in 1429. In 1434 René, Louis's
successor, made La Sale tutor to his son Jean d'Anjou, duc de Calabre,
to whom he dedicated, between the years 1438 and 1447, his _La Salade_,
which is a text-book of the studies necessary for a prince. The primary
intention of the title is no doubt the play on his own name, but he
explains it on the ground of the miscellaneous character of the book--a
salad is composed "of many good herbs." In 1439 he was again in Italy in
charge of the castle of Capua, with the duc de Calabre and his young
wife, Marie de Bourbon, when the place was besieged by the king of
Aragon. René abandoned Naples in 1442, and Antoine no doubt returned to
France about the same time. His advice was sought at the tournaments
which celebrated the marriage of the unfortunate Margaret of Anjou at
Nancy in 1445; and in 1446, at a similar display at Saumur, he was one
of the umpires. La Sale's pupil was now twenty years of age, and, after
forty years' service of the house of Anjou, La Sale left it to become
tutor to the sons of Louis de Luxembourg, comte de Saint Pol, who took
him to Flanders and presented him at the court of Philippe le Bon, duke
of Burgundy. For his new pupils he wrote at Châtelet-sur-Oise, in 1451,
a moral work entitled _La Salle_.
He was nearly seventy years of age when he wrote the work that has made
him famous, _L'Hystoire et plaisante cronicque du petit Jehan de Saintré
et de la jeune dame des Belles-Cousines, Sans autre nom nommer_,
dedicated to his former pupil, Jean de Calabre. An _envoi_ in MS. 10,057
(nouv. acq. fr.) in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, states that it
was completed at Châtelet on the 6th of March 1455 (i.e. 1456). La Sale
also announces an intention, never fulfilled, apparently, of writing a
romance of _Paris et Vienne_. The MSS. of _Petit Jehan de Saintré_
usually contain in addition _Floridam et Elvide_, translated by Rasse de
Brunhamel from the Latin of Nicolas de Clamange, and dedicated to La
Sale; also _Addiction extraite des Cronicques de Flandres_, of which
only a few lines are original. Brunhamel says in his dedication that La
Sale had delighted to write honourable histories from the time of his
"florie jeunesse," which confirms a reasonable inference from the style
of _Petit Jehan de Saintré_ that its author was no novice in the art of
romance-writing. The _Réconfort à Madame de Neufville_, a consolatory
epistle including two stories of parental fortitude, was written at
Vendeuil-sur-Oise about 1458, and in 1459 La Sale produced his treatise
_Des anciens tournois et faictz d'armes_ and the _Journée d'Onneur et de
Prouesse_. He followed his patron to Genappe in Brabant when the Dauphin
(afterwards Louis XI.) took refuge at the Burgundian court.
La Sale is generally accepted as the author of one of the most famous
satires in the French language, _Les Quinze Joyes de mariage_, because
his name has been disengaged from an acrostic at the end of the Rouen
MS. He is also supposed to have been the "acteur" in the collection of
licentious stories supposed to be narrated by various persons at the
court of Philippe le Bon, and entitled the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_.
One only of the stories is given in his name, but he is credited with
the compilation of the whole, for which Louis XI. was long held
responsible. A completed copy of this was presented to the Duke of
Burgundy at Dijon in 1462. If then La Sale was the author, he probably
was still living; otherwise the last mention of him is in 1461.
_Petit Jehan de Saintré_ gives, at the point when the traditions of
chivalry were fast disappearing, an account of the education of an
ideal knight and rules for his conduct under many different
circumstances. When Petit Jehan, aged thirteen, is persuaded by the
Dame des Belles-Cousines to accept her as his lady, she gives him
systematic instruction in religion, courtesy, chivalry and the arts of
success. She materially advances his career until Saintré becomes an
accomplished knight, the fame of whose prowess spreads throughout
Europe. This section of the romance--apparently didactic in
intention--fits in with the author's other works of edification. But
in the second part this virtuous lady falls a victim to a vulgar
intrigue with Damp Abbé. One of La Sale's commentators, M. Joseph
Nève, ingeniously maintains that the last section is simply to show
how the hero, after passing through the other grades of education,
learns at last by experience to arm himself against coquetry. The book
may, however, be fairly regarded as satirizing the whole theory of
"courteous" love, by the simple method of fastening a repulsive
conclusion on an ideal case. The contention that the _fabliau_-like
ending of a romance begun in idyllic fashion was due to the corrupt
influences of the Dauphin's exiled court, is inadmissible, for the
last page was written when the prince arrived in Brabant in 1456. That
it is an anti-clerical satire seems unlikely. The profession of the
seducer is not necessarily chosen from that point of view. The
language of the book is not disfigured by coarseness of any kind, but,
if the brutal ending was the expression of the writer's real views,
there is little difficulty in accepting him as the author of the
_Quinze Joyes de mariage_ and the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles._--Both
these are masterpieces in their way and exhibit a much greater
dramatic power and grasp of dialogue than does _Petit Jehan_. Some
light is thrown on the romance by the circumstances of the duc de
Calabre, to whom it was dedicated. His wife, Marie de Bourbon, was one
of the "Belles-Cousines" who contended for the favour of Jacques or
Jacquet de Lalaing in the _Livre des faits de Jacques Lalaing_ which
forms the chief source of the early exploits of Petit Jehan.
The incongruities of La Sale's aims appear in his method of
construction. The hero is not imaginary. Jehan de Saintré flourished
in the Hundred Years' War, was taken prisoner after Poitiers, with the
elder Boucicaut, and was employed in negotiating the treaty of
Bretigny. Froissart mentioned him as "le meilleur et le plus vaillant
chevalier de France." His exploits as related in the romance are,
however, founded on those of Jacques de Lalaing (c. 1422-1453), who
was brought up at the Burgundian court, and became such a famous
knight that he excited the rivalry of the "Belles-Cousines," Marie de
Bourbon and Marie de Clèves, duchesse d'Orléans. Lalaing's exploits
are related by more than one chronicler, but M. Gustave Raynaud thinks
that the _Livre des faits de Jacques de Lalaing_, published among the
works of Georges Chastelain, to which textual parallels may be found
in _Petit Jehan_, should also be attributed to La Sale, who in that
case undertook two accounts of the same hero, one historical and the
other fictitious. To complicate matters, he drew, for the later
exploits of Petit Jehan, on the _Livres des faits de Jean Boucicaut_,
which gives the history of the younger Boucicaut. The atmosphere of
the book is not the rough realities of the English wars in which the
real Saintré figured but that of the courts to which La Sale was
accustomed.
The title of _Les Quinze Joyes de mariage_ is, with a profanity
characteristic of the time, borrowed from a popular litany, _Les
Quinze Joies de Notre Dame_, and each chapter terminates with a
liturgical refrain voicing the miseries of marriage. Evidence in
favour of La Sale's authorship is brought forward by M. E. Gossart
(_Bibliophile belge_, 1871, pp. 83-7), who quotes from his didactic
treatise of _La Salle_ a passage paraphrased from St Jerome's treatise
against Jovinian which contains the chief elements of the satire.
Gaston Paris (_Revue de Paris_, Dec. 1897) expressed an opinion that
to find anything like the malicious penetration by which La Sale
divines the most intimate details of married life, and the painful
exactness of the description, it is necessary to travel as far as
Balzac. The theme itself was common enough in the middle ages in
France, but the dialogue of the _Quinze Joyes_ is unusually natural
and pregnant. Each of the fifteen vignettes is perfect in its kind.
There is no redundance. The diffuseness of romance is replaced by the
methods of the writers of the _fabliaux_.
In the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_ the Italian _novella_ is naturalized
in France. The book is modelled on the _Decameron_ of Boccaccio, and
owes something to the Latin _Facetiae_ of the contemporary scholar
Poggio; but the stories are rarely borrowed, and in cases where the
_Nouvelles_ have Italian parallels they appear to be independent
variants. In most cases the general immorality of the conception is
matched by the grossness of the details, but the ninety-eighth story
narrates what appears to be a genuine tragedy, and is of an entirely
different nature from the other _contes_. It is another version of the
story of Floridam et Elvide already mentioned.
Not content with allowing these achievements to La Sale, some critics
have proposed to ascribe to him also the farce of _Maître Pathelin_.
The best editions of La Sale's undoubted and reputed works
are:--_Petit Jehan de Saintré_ by J. M. Guichard (1843); _Les Cent
Nouvelles Nouvelles_ by Thomas Wright (Bibl. elzévérienne, 1858); _Les
Quinze Joyes de mariage_ by P. Jannet (Bibl. elzév., 1857). _La
Salade_ was printed more than once during the 16th century. _La Salle_
was never printed. For its contents see E. Gossart in the _Bibliophile
belge_ (1871, pp. 77 et seq.). See also the authorities quoted above,
and Joseph Nève, _Antoine de la Salle, sa vie et ses ouvrages ...
suivi du Réconfort de Madame de Fresne ... et de fragments et
documents inédits_ (1903), who argues for the rejection of _Les Quinze
Joyes_ and the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_ from La Sale's works; Pietro
Toldo, _Contributo allo studio della novella francese del XV e XVI
secolo_ (1895), and a review of it by Gaston Paris in the _Journal des
Savants_ (May 1895); L. Stern, "Versuch über Antoine de la Salle," in
_Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen_, vol. xlvi.; and G.
Raynaud, "Un Nouveau Manuscrit du Petit Jehan de Saintré," in
_Romania_, vol. xxxi. (M. Br.)