[1] This is an altered form of O. Eng. and M. Eng. _lind_; cf. Ger.
_Linde_, cognate with Gr. [Greek: elatê], the silver fir. "Linden" in
English means properly "made of lime--or lind--wood," and the
transference to the tree is due to the Ger. _Lindenbaum_.
LIMERICK, a western county of Ireland, in the province of Munster,
bounded N. by the estuary of the Shannon and the counties of Clare and
Tipperary, E. by Tipperary, S. by Cork and W. by Kerry. The area is
680,842 acres, or about 1064 sq. m. The greater part of the county is
comparatively level, but in the south-east the picturesque Galtees,
which extend into Tipperary, attain in Galtymore a height of 3015 ft.,
and on the west, stretching into Kerry, there is a circular amphitheatre
of less elevated mountains. The Shannon is navigable for large vessels
to Limerick, above which are the rapids of Doonas and Castleroy, and a
canal. The Shannon is widely famous as a sporting river, and
Castleconnell is a well-known centre. The Maigne, which rises in the
Galtees and flows into the Shannon, is navigable as far as the town of
Adare.
This is mainly a Carboniferous Limestone county, with fairly level
land, broken by ridges of Old Red Sandstone. On the north-east, the
latter rock rises on Slievefelim, round a Silurian core, to 1523 ft.
In the south, Old Red Sandstone rises above an enclosed area of
Silurian shales at Ballylanders, the opposite scarp of Old Red
Sandstone forming the Ballyhoura Hills on the Cork border. Volcanic
ashes, andesites, basalts and intrusive sheets of basic rock, mark an
eruptive episode in the Carboniferous Limestone. These are well seen
under Carrigogunnell Castle, and in a ring of hills round Ballybrood.
At Ballybrood, Upper Carboniferous beds occur, as an outlier of a
large area that links the west of the county with the north of Kerry.
The coals in the west are not of commercial value. Lead-ore has been
worked in places in the limestone.
Limerick includes the greater part of the Golden Vale, the most
fertile district of Ireland, which stretches from Cashel in Tipperary
nearly to the town of Limerick. Along the banks of the Shannon there
are large tracts of flat meadow land formed of deposits of calcareous
and peaty matter, exceedingly fertile. The soil in the mountainous
districts is for the most part thin and poor, and incapable of
improvement. The large farms occupy the low grounds, and are almost
wholly devoted to grazing. The acreage under tillage decreases, the
proportion to pasturage being as one to nearly three. All the crops
(of which oats and potatoes are the principal) show a decrease, but
there is a growing acreage of meadow land. The numbers of live stock,
on the other hand, are on the whole well maintained, and cattle,
sheep, pigs, goats and poultry are all extensively reared. The
inhabitants are employed chiefly in agriculture, but coarse woollens
are manufactured, and also paper, and there are many meal and flour
mills. Formerly there were flax-spinning and weaving mills, but the
industry is now practically extinct. Limerick is the headquarters of
an important salmon-fishery on the Shannon. The railway communications
are entirely included in the Great Southern and Western system, whose
main line crosses the south-eastern corner of the county, with two
branches to the city of Limerick from Limerick Junction and from
Charleville, and lines from Limerick south-westward to Tralee in
county Kerry, and to Foynes on the Shannon estuary. Limerick is also
served by a line from the north through county Tipperary. The port of
Limerick, at the head of the estuary, is the most important on the
west coast.
The county includes 14 baronies. The number of members returned to the
Irish parliament was eight, two being returned for each of the
boroughs of Askeaton and Kilmallock, in addition to two returned for
the county, and two for the county of the city of Limerick. The
present county parliamentary divisions are the east and west, each
returning one member. The population (158,912 in 1891, 146,098 in
1901) shows a decrease somewhat under the average of the Irish
counties generally, emigration being, however, extensive; of the total
about 94% are Roman Catholics, and about 73% are rural. The chief
towns are Limerick (pop. 38,151), Rathkeale (1749) and Newcastle or
Newcastle West (2599). The city of Limerick constitutes a county in
itself. Assizes are held at Limerick, and quarter-sessions at Bruff,
Limerick, Newcastle and Rathkeale. The county is divided between the
Protestant dioceses of Cashel, Killaloe and Limerick; and between the
Roman Catholic dioceses of the same names.
Limerick was included in the kingdom of Thomond. Afterwards it had a
separate existence under the name of Aine-Cliach. From the 8th to the
11th century it was partly occupied by the Danes (see LIMERICK, City).
As a county, Limerick is one of the twelve generally considered to owe
their formation to King John. By Henry II. it was granted to Henry
Fitzherbert, but his claim was afterwards resigned, and subsequently
various Anglo-Norman settlements were made. About 100,000 acres of the
estates of the earl of Desmond, which were forfeited in 1586, were
situated in the county, and other extensive confiscations took place
after the Cromwellian wars. In 1709 a German colony from the Palatinate
was settled by Lord Southwell near Bruff, Rathkeale and Adare.
There are only slight remains of the round tower at Ardpatrick, but that
at Dysert is much better preserved; another at Kilmallock is in great
part a reconstruction. There are important remains of stone circles,
pillar stones and altars at Loch Gur. In several places there are
remains of old moats and tumuli. Besides the monasteries in the city of
Limerick, the most important monastic ruins are those of Adare abbey,
Askeaton abbey, Galbally friary, Kilflin monastery, Kilmallock and
Monaster-Nenagh abbey.
LIMERICK, a city, county of a city, parliamentary borough, port and the
chief town of Co. Limerick, Ireland, occupying both banks and an island
(King's Island) of the river Shannon, at the head of its estuary, 129 m.
W.S.W. of Dublin by the Great Southern and Western railway. Pop. (1901)
38,151. The situation is striking, for the Shannon is here a broad and
noble stream, and the immediately surrounding country consists of the
rich lowlands of its valley, while beyond rise the hills of the counties
Clare and Tipperary. The city is divided into English Town (on King's
Island), Irish Town and Newtown Pery, the first including the ancient
nucleus of the city, and the last the principal modern streets. The main
stream of the Shannon is crossed by Thomond Bridge and Sarsfield or
Wellesley Bridge. The first is commanded by King John's Castle, on
King's Island, a fine Norman fortress fronting the river, and used as
barracks. At the west end of the bridge is preserved the Treaty Stone,
on which the Treaty of Limerick was signed in 1691. The cathedral of St
Mary, also on King's Island, was originally built in 1142-1180, and
exhibits some Early English work, though largely altered at dates
subsequent to that period. The Roman Catholic cathedral of St John is a
modern building (1860) in early pointed style. The churches of St
Munchin (to whom is attributed the foundation of the see in the 6th
century) and St John, Whitamore's Castle and a Dominican priory, are
other remains of antiquarian interest; while the principal city and
county buildings are a chamber of commerce, a custom house commanding
the river, and court house, town hall and barracks. A picturesque public
park adjoins the railway station in Newtown Pery.
The port is the most important on the west coast, and accommodates
vessels of 3000 tons in a floating dock; there is also a graving dock.
Communication with the Atlantic is open and secure, while a vast network
of inland navigation is opened up by a canal avoiding the rapids above
the city. Quays extend for about 1600 yds. on each side of the river,
and vessels of 600 tons can moor alongside at spring tides. The
principal imports are grain, sugar, timber and coal. The exports consist
mainly of agricultural produce. The principal industrial establishments
include flour-mills (Limerick supplying most of the west of Ireland with
flour), factories for bacon-curing and for condensed milk and
creameries. Some brewing, distilling and tanning are carried on, and the
manufacture of very beautiful lace is maintained at the Convent of the
Good Shepherd; but a formerly important textile industry has lapsed. The
salmon fisheries of the Shannon, for which Limerick is the headquarters
of a district, are the most valuable in Ireland. The city is governed by
a corporation, and the parliamentary borough returns one member.
Limerick is said to have been the _Regia_ of Ptolemy and the
_Rosse-de-Nailleagh_ of the Annals of Multifernan. There is a tradition
that it was visited by St Patrick in the 5th century, but it is first
authentically known as a settlement of the Danes, who sacked it in 812
and afterwards made it the principal town of their kingdom of Limerick,
but were expelled from it towards the close of the 10th century by Brian
Boroimhe. From 1106 till its conquest by the English in 1174 it was the
seat of the kings of Thomond or North Munster, and, although in 1179 the
kingdom of Limerick was given by Henry II. to Herbert Fitzherbert, the
city was frequently in the possession of the Irish chieftains till 1195.
Richard I. granted it a charter in 1197. By King John it was committed
to the care of William de Burgo, who founded English Town, and for its
defence erected a strong castle. The city was frequently besieged in the
13th and 14th centuries. In the 15th century its fortifications were
extended to include Irish Town, and until their demolition in 1760 it
was one of the strongest fortresses of the kingdom. In 1651 it was taken
by General Ireton, and after an unsuccessful siege by William III. in
1690 its resistance was terminated on the 3rd of October of the
following year by the treaty of Limerick. The dismantling of its
fortifications began in 1760, but fragments of the old walls remain. The
original municipal rights of the city had been confirmed and extended by
a succession of sovereigns, and in 1609 it received a charter
constituting it a county of a city, and also incorporating a society of
merchants of the staple, with the same privileges as the merchants of
the staple of Dublin and Waterford. The powers of the corporation were
remodelled by the Limerick Regulation Act of 1823. The prosperity of the
city dates chiefly from the foundation of Newtown Pery in 1769 by Edmund
Sexton Pery (d. 1806), speaker of the Irish House of Commons, whose
family subsequently received the title of the earldom of Limerick. Under
the Local Government Act of 1898 Limerick became one of the six county
boroughs having a separate county council.
LIMERICK, a name which has been adopted to distinguish a certain form of
verse which began to be cultivated in the middle of the 19th century. A
limerick is a kind of burlesque epigram, written in five lines. In its
earlier form it had two rhymes, the word which closed the first or
second line being usually employed at the end of the fifth, but in later
varieties different rhyming words are employed. There is much
uncertainty as to the meaning of the name, and as to the time when it
became attached to a particular species of nonsense verses. According to
the _New Eng. Dict._ "a song has existed in Ireland for a very
considerable time, the construction of the verse of which is identical
with that of Lear's" (see below), and in which the invitation is
repeated, "Will you come up to Limerick?" Unfortunately, the specimen
quoted in the _New Eng. Dict._ is not only not identical with, but does
not resemble Lear's. Whatever be the derivation of the name, however, it
is now universally used to describe a set of verses formed on this
model, with the variations in rhyme noted above:--
"There was an old man who said 'Hush!
I perceive a young bird in that bush!'
When they said, 'Is it small?'
He replied, 'Not at all!
It is five times the size of the bush.'"
The invention, or at least the earliest general use of this form, is
attributed to Edward Lear, who, when a tutor in the family of the earl
of Derby at Knowsley, composed, about 1834, a large number of
nonsense-limericks to amuse the little grandchildren of the house. Many
of these he published, with illustrations, in 1846, and they enjoyed and
still enjoy an extreme popularity. Lear preferred to give a geographical
colour to his absurdities, as in:--
"There was an old person of Tartary
Who cut through his jugular artery,
When up came his wife,
And exclaimed, 'O my Life,
How your loss will be felt through all Tartary!'"
but this is by no means essential. The neatness of the form has led to a
very extensive use of the limerick for all sorts of mock-serious
purposes, political, social and sarcastic, and a good many specimens
have achieved a popularity which has been all the wider because they
have, perforce, been confined to verbal transmission. In recent years
competitions of the "missing word" type have had considerable vogue, the
competitor, for instance, having to supply the last line of the
limerick.
LIMES GERMANICUS. The Latin noun _limes_ denoted generally a path,
sometimes a boundary path (possibly its original sense) or boundary, and
hence it was utilized by Latin writers occasionally to denote frontiers
definitely delimited and marked in some distinct fashion. This latter
sense has been adapted and extended by modern historians concerned with
the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Thus the Wall of Hadrian in north
England (see BRITAIN: _Roman_) is now sometimes styled the _Limes
Britannicus_, the frontier of the Roman province of Arabia facing the
desert the _Limes Arabicus_ and so forth. In particular the remarkable
frontier lines which bounded the Roman provinces of Upper (southern)
Germany and Raetia, and which at their greatest development stretched
from near Bonn on the Rhine to near Regensburg on the Danube, are often
called the _Limes Germanicus_. The history of these lines is the subject
of the following paragraphs. They have in the last fifteen years become
much better known through systematic excavations financed by the German
empire and through other researches connected therewith, and though many
important details are still doubtful, their general development can be
traced.
From the death of Augustus (A.D. 14) till after A.D. 70 Rome accepted as
her German frontier the water-boundary of the Rhine and upper Danube.
Beyond these rivers she held only the fertile plain of Frankfort,
opposite the Roman border fortress of Moguntiacum (Mainz), the
southernmost slopes of the Black Forest and a few scattered
têtes-du-pont. The northern section of this frontier, where the Rhine is
deep and broad, remained the Roman boundary till the empire fell. The
southern part was different. The upper Rhine and upper Danube are easily
crossed. The frontier which they form is inconveniently long, enclosing
an acute-angled wedge of foreign territory--the modern Baden and
Württemberg. The German populations of these lands seem in Roman times
to have been scanty, and Roman subjects from the modern Alsace and
Lorraine had drifted across the river eastwards. The motives alike of
geographical convenience and of the advantages to be gained by
recognizing these movements of Roman subjects combined to urge a forward
policy at Rome, and when the vigorous Vespasian had succeeded the
fool-criminal Nero, a series of advances began which gradually closed up
the acute angle, or at least rendered it obtuse.
The first advance came about 74, when what is now Baden was invaded and
in part annexed and a road carried from the Roman base on the upper
Rhine, Strassburg, to the Danube just above Ulm. The point of the angle
was broken off. The second advance was made by Domitian about A.D. 83.
He pushed out from Moguntiacum, extended the Roman territory east of it
and enclosed the whole within a systematically delimited and defended
frontier with numerous blockhouses along it and larger forts in the
rear. Among the blockhouses was one which by various enlargements and
refoundations grew into the well-known Saalburg fort on the Taunus near
Homburg. This advance necessitated a third movement, the construction
of a frontier connecting the annexations of A.D. 74 and 83. We know the
line of this frontier which ran from the Main across the upland Odenwald
to the upper waters of the Neckar and was defended by a chain of forts.
We do not, however, know its date, save that, if not Domitian's work, it
was carried out soon after his death, and the whole frontier thus
constituted was reorganized, probably by Hadrian, with a continuous
wooden palisade reaching from Rhine to Danube. The angle between the
rivers was now almost full. But there remained further advance and
further fortification. Either Hadrian or, more probably, his successor
Pius pushed out from the Odenwald and the Danube, and marked out a new
frontier roughly parallel to but in advance of these two lines, though
sometimes, as on the Taunus, coinciding with the older line. This is the
frontier which is now visible and visited by the curious. It consists,
as we see it to-day, of two distinct frontier works, one, known as the
Pfahlgraben, is an earthen mound and ditch, best seen in the
neighbourhood of the Saalburg but once extending from the Rhine
southwards into southern Germany. The other, which begins where the
earthwork stops, is a wall, though not a very formidable wall, of stone,
the Teufelsmauer; it runs roughly east and west parallel to the Danube,
which it finally joins at Heinheim near Regensburg. The Pfahlgraben is
remarkable for the extraordinary directness of its southern part, which
for over 50 m. runs mathematically straight and points almost absolutely
true for the Polar star. It is a clear case of an ancient frontier laid
out in American fashion. This frontier remained for about 100 years, and
no doubt in that long period much was done to it to which we cannot
affix precise dates. We cannot even be absolutely certain when the
frontier laid out by Pius was equipped with the Pfahlgraben and
Teufelsmauer. But we know that the pressure of the barbarians began to
be felt seriously in the later part of the 2nd century, and after long
struggles the whole or almost the whole district east of Rhine and north
of Danube was lost--seemingly all within one short period--about A.D.
250.
The best English account will be found in H. F. Pelham's essay in
_Trans. of the Royal Hist. Soc._ vol. 20, reprinted in his _Collected
Papers_, pp. 178-211 (Oxford, 1910), where the German authorities are
fully cited. (F. J. H.)
LIMESTONE, in petrography, a rock consisting essentially of carbonate of
lime. The group includes many varieties, some of which are very
distinct; but the whole group has certain properties in common, arising
from the chemical composition and mineral character of its members. All
limestones dissolve readily in cold dilute acids, giving off bubbles of
carbonic acid. Citric or acetic acid will effect this change, though the
mineral acids are more commonly employed. Limestones, when pure, are
soft rocks readily scratched with a knife-blade or the edge of a coin,
their hardness being 3; but unless they are earthy or incoherent, like
chalk or sinter, they do not disintegrate by pressure with the fingers
and cannot be scratched with the finger nail. When free from impurities
limestones are white, but they generally contain small quantities of
other minerals than calcite which affect their colour. Many limestones
are yellowish or creamy, especially those which contain a little iron
oxide, iron carbonate or clay. Others are bluish from the presence of
iron sulphide, or pyrites or marcasite; or grey and black from admixture
with carbonaceous or bituminous substances. Red limestones usually
contain haematite; in green limestones there may be glauconite or
chlorite. In crystalline limestones or marbles many silicates may occur
producing varied colours, e.g. epidote, chlorite, augite (green);
vesuvianite and garnet (brown and red); graphite, spinels (black and
grey); epidote, chondrodite (yellow). The specific gravity of limestones
ranges from 2.6 to 2.8 in typical examples.
When seen in the field, limestones are often recognizable by their
method of weathering. If very pure, they may have smooth rounded
surfaces, or may be covered with narrow runnels cut out by the rain. In
such cases there is very little soil, and plants are found growing only
in fissures or crevices where the insoluble impurities of the limestone
have been deposited by the rain. The less pure rocks have often eroded
or pitted surfaces, showing bands or patches rendered more resistant to
the action of the weather by the presence of insoluble materials such as
sand, clay or chert. These surfaces are often known from the crust of
hydrous oxides of iron produced by the action of the atmosphere on any
ferriferous ingredients of the rock; they are sometimes black when the
limestone is carbonaceous; a thin layer of gritty sand grains may be
left on the surface of limestones which are slightly arenaceous. Most
limestones which contain fossils show these most clearly on weathered
surfaces, and the appearance of fragments of corals, crinoids and shells
on the exposed parts of a rock indicate a strong probability that that
rock is a limestone. The interior usually shows the organic structures
very imperfectly or not at all.
Another characteristic of pure limestones, where they occur in large
masses occupying considerable areas, is the frequency with which they
produce bare rocky ground, especially at high elevations, or yield only
a thin scanty soil covered with short grass. In mountainous districts
limestones are often recognizable by these peculiarities. The chalk
downs are celebrated for the close green sward which they furnish. More
impure limestones, like those of the Lias and Oolites, contain enough
insoluble mineral matter to yield soils of great thickness and value,
e.g. the Cornbrash. In limestone regions all waters tend to be hard, on
account of the abundant carbonate of lime dissolved by percolating
waters, and caves, swallow holes, sinks, pot-holes and underground
rivers may occur in abundance. Some elevated tracts of limestone are
very barren (e.g. the Causses), because the rain which falls in them
sinks at once into the earth and passes underground. To a large extent
this is true of the chalk downs, where surface waters are notably
scarce, though at considerable depths the rocks hold large supplies of
water.
The great majority of limestones are of organic formation, consisting
of the debris of the skeletons of animals. Some are foraminiferal,
others are crinoidal, shelly or coral limestones according to the
nature of the creatures whose remains they contain. Of foraminiferal
limestones chalk is probably the best known; it is fine, white and
rather soft, and is very largely made up of the shells of globigerina
and other foraminifera (see CHALK). Almost equally important are the
nummulitic limestones so well developed in Mediterranean countries
(Spain, France, the Alps, Greece, Algeria, Egypt, Asia Minor, &c.).
The pyramids of Egypt are built mainly of nummulitic limestone.
Nummulites are large cone-shaped foraminifera with many chambers
arranged in spiral order. In Britain the small globular shells of
_Saccamina_ are important constituents of some Carboniferous
limestones; but the upper portion of that formation in Russia, eastern
Asia and North America is characterized by the occurrence of
limestones filled with the spindle-shaped shells of _Fusulina_, a
genus of foraminifera now extinct.
Coral limestones are being formed at the present day over a large
extent of the tropical seas; many existing coral reefs must be of
great thickness. The same process has been going on actively since a
very early period of the earth's history, for similar rocks are found
in great abundance in many geological formations. Some Silurian
limestones are rich in corals; in the Devonian there are deposits
which have been described as coral reefs (Devonshire, Germany). The
Carboniferous limestone, or mountain limestones of England and North
America, is sometimes nearly entirely coralline, and the great
dolomite masses of the Trias in the eastern Alps are believed by many
to be merely altered coral reefs. A special feature of coral
limestones is that, although they may be to a considerable extent
dolomitized, they are generally very free from silt and mechanical
impurities.
Crinoidal limestones, though abundant among the older rocks, are not
in course of formation on any great scale at the present time, as
crinoids, formerly abundant, are now rare. Many Carboniferous and
Silurian limestones consist mainly of the little cylindrical joints of
these animals. They are easily recognized by their shape, and by the
fact that many of them show a tube along their axes, which is often
filled up by carbonate of lime; under the microscope they have a
punctate or fenestrate structure and each joint behaves as a simple
crystalline plate with uniform optical properties in polarized light.
Remains of other echinoderms (starfishes and sea urchins) are often
found in plenty in Secondary and Tertiary limestones, but very seldom
make up the greater part of the rock. Shelly limestones may consist of
mollusca or of brachiopoda, the former being common in limestones of
all ages while the latter attained their principal development in the
Palaeozoic epoch. The shells are often broken and may have been
reduced to shell sand before the rock consolidated. Many rocks of this
class are impure and pass into marls and shelly sandstones which were
deposited in shallow waters, where land-derived sediment mingled with
remains of the creatures which inhabited the water. Fresh-water
limestones are mostly of this class and contain shells of those
varieties of mollusca which inhabit lakes. Brackish water limestones
also are usually shelly. Corallines (bryozoa, polyzoa, &c.),
cephalopods (e.g. ammonites, belemnites), crustaceans and sponges
occur frequently in limestones. It should be understood that it is not
usual for a rock to be built up entirely of one kind of organism
though it is classified according to its most abundant or most
conspicuous ingredients.
In the organic limestones there usually occurs much finely granular
calcareous matter which has been described as limestone mud or
limestone paste. It is the finely ground substance which results from
the breaking down of shells, &c., by the waves and currents, and by
the decay which takes place in the sea bottom before the fragments are
compacted into hard rock. The skeletal parts of marine animals are not
always converted into limestone in the place where they were formed.
In shallow waters, such as are the favourite haunts of mollusca,
corals, &c., the tides and storms are frequently sufficiently powerful
to shift the loose material on the sea bottom. A large part of a coral
reef consists of broken coral rock dislodged from the growing mass and
carried upwards to the beach or into the lagoon. Large fragments also
fall over the steep outward slopes of the reef and build up a talus at
their base. Coral muds and coral sands produced by the waves acting in
these detached blocks, are believed to cover two and a half millions
of square miles of the ocean floor. Owing to the fragile nature of the
shells of foraminifera they readily become disintegrated, especially
at considerable depths, largely by the solvent action of carbonic acid
in sea water as they sink to the bottom. The chalk in very great part
consists not of entire shells but of debris of foraminifera, and
mollusca (such as _Inoceramus_, &c.). The Globigerina ooze is the most
widespread of modern calcareous formations. It occupies nearly fifty
millions of square miles of the sea bottom, at an average depth of two
thousand fathoms. Pteropod ooze, consisting mainly of the shells of
pteropods (mollusca) also has a wide distribution, especially in
northern latitudes.
Consolidation may to a considerable extent be produced by pressure,
but more commonly cementation and crystallization play a large part in
the process. Recent shell sands on beaches and in dunes are not
unfrequently converted into a soft, semi-coherent rock by rain water
filtering downwards, dissolving and redepositing carbonate of lime
between the sand grains. In coral reefs also the mass soon has its
cavities more or less obliterated by a deposit of calcite from
solution. The fine interstitial mud or paste presents a large surface
to the solvents, and is more readily attacked than the larger and more
compact shell fragments. In fresh-water marls considerable masses of
crystalline calcite may be produced in this way, enclosing
well-preserved molluscan shells. Many calcareous fragments consist of
aragonite, wholly or principally, and this mineral tends to be
replaced by calcite. The aragonite, as seen in sections under the
microscope, is usually fibrous or prismatic, the calcite is more
commonly granular with a well-marked network of rhombohedral cleavage
cracks. The replacement of aragonite by calcite goes on even in shells
lying on modern sea shores, and is often very complete in rocks
belonging to the older geological periods. By the recrystallization of
the finer paste and the introduction of calcite in solution the
interior of shells, corals, foraminifera, &c., becomes occupied by
crystalline calcite, sometimes in comparatively large grains, while
the original organic structures may be very well-preserved.
Some limestones are exceedingly pure, e.g. the chalk and some
varieties of mountain limestone, and these are especially suited for
making lime. The majority, however, contain admixture of other
substances, of which the commonest are clay and sand. Clayey or
argillaceous limestones frequently occur in thin or thick beds
alternating with shales, as in the Lias of England (the marlstone
series). Friable argillaceous fresh-water limestones are called
"marls," and are used in many districts for top dressing soils, but
the name "marl" is loosely applied and is often given to beds which
are not of this nature (e.g. the red marls of the Trias). The "cement
stones" of the Lothians in Scotland are argillaceous limestones of
Lower Carboniferous age, which when burnt yield cement. The gault
(Upper Cretaceous) is a calcareous clay, often containing
well-preserved fossils, which lies below the chalk and attains
considerable importance in the south-east of England. Arenaceous
limestones pass by gradual transitions into shelly sandstones; in the
latter the shells are often dissolved leaving cavities, which may be
occupied by casts. Some of the Old Red Sandstone is calcareous. In
other cases the calcareous matter has recrystallized in large plates
which have shining cleavage surfaces dotted over with grains of sand
(Lincolnshire limestone). The Fontainebleau sandstone has large
calcite rhombohedra filled with sand grains. Limestones sometimes
contain much plant matter which has been converted into a dark coaly
substance, in which the original woody structures may be preserved or
may not. The calcareous petrified plants of Fifeshire occur in such a
limestone, and much has been learned from a microscopic study of them
regarding the anatomy of the plants of the Carboniferous period.
Volcanic ashes occur in some limestones, a good example being the
calcareous schalsteins or tuffs of Devonshire, which are usually much
crushed by earth movements. In the Globigerina ooze of the present day
there is always a slight admixture of volcanic materials derived
either from wind-blown dust, from submarine eruptions or from floating
pieces of pumice. Other limestones contain organic matter in the shape
of asphalt, bitumen or petroleum, presumably derived from plant
remains. The well-known _Val de Travers_ is a bituminous limestone of
lower Neocomian age found in the valley of that name near Neuchâtel.
Some of the oil beds of North America are porous limestones, in the
cavities of which the oil is stored up. Siliceous limestones, where
their silica is original and of organic origin, have contained
skeletons of sponges or radiolaria. In the chalk the silica has
usually been dissolved and redeposited as flint nodules, and in the
Carboniferous limestone as chert bands. It may also be deposited in
the corals and other organic remains, silicifying them, with
preservation of the original structures (e.g. some Jurassic and
Carboniferous limestones).
The oolitic limestones form a special group distinguished by their
consisting of small rounded or elliptical grains resembling fish roe;
when coarse they are called pisolites. Many of them are very pure and
highly fossiliferous. The oolitic grains in section may have a
nucleus, e.g. a fragment of a shell, quartz grain, &c., around which
concentric layers have been deposited. In many cases there is also a
radiating structure. They consist of calcite or aragonite, and between
the grains there is usually a cementing material of limestone mud or
granular calcite crystals. Deposits of silica, carbonate of iron or
small rhombohedra of dolomite are often found in the interior of the
spheroids, and oolites may be entirely silicified (Pennsylvania,
Cambrian rocks of Scotland). Oolitic ironstones are very abundant in
the Cleveland district of Yorkshire and form an important iron ore.
They are often impure, and their iron may be present as haematite or
as chalybite. Oolitic limestones are known from many geological
formations, e.g. the Cambrian and Silurian of Scotland and Wales,
Carboniferous limestone (Bristol), Jurassic, Tertiary and Recent
limestones. They are forming at the present day in some coral reefs
and in certain petrifying springs like those of Carlsbad. Their chief
development in England is in the Jurassic rocks where they occur in
large masses excellently adapted for building purposes, and yield the
well-known freestones of Portland and Bath. Some hold that they are
chemical precipitates and that the concentric oolitic structure is
produced by successive layers of calcareous deposit laid down on
fragments of shells, &c., in highly calcareous waters. An alternative
hypothesis is that minute cellular plants (_Girvanella_, &c.), have
extracted the carbonate of lime from the water, and have been the
principal agents in producing the successive calcareous crusts. Such
plants can live even in hot waters, and there seems much reason for
regarding them as of importance in this connexion.
Another group of limestones is of inorganic or chemical origin, having
been deposited from solution in water without the intervention of
living organisms. A good example of these is the "stalactite" which
forms pendent masses on the roofs of caves in limestone districts, the
calcareous waters exposed to evaporation in the air of the cave laying
down successive layers of stalactite in the places from which they
drip. At the same time and in the same way "stalagmite" gathers on the
floor below, and often accumulates in thick masses which contain bones
of animals and the weapons of primitive cave-dwelling man. Calc
sinters are porous limestones deposited by the evaporation of
calcareous springs; travertine is a well-known Italian rock of this
kind. At Carlsbad oolitic limestones are forming, but it seems
probable that minute algae assist in this process. Chemical deposits
of carbonate of lime may be produced by the evaporation of sea water
in some upraised coral lagoons and similar situations, but it is
unlikely that this takes place to any extent in the open sea, as sea
water contains very little carbonate of lime, apparently because
marine organisms so readily abstract it; still some writers believe
that a considerable part of the chalk is really a chemical
precipitate. Onyx marbles are banded limestones of chemical origin
with variegated colours such as white, yellow, green and red. They are
used for ornamental work and are obtained in Persia, France, the
United States, Mexico, &c.
Limestones are exceedingly susceptible to chemical changes of a
metasomatic kind. They are readily dissolved by carbonated waters and
acid solutions, and their place may then be occupied by deposits of a
different kind. The silification of oolites and coral rocks and their
replacement by iron ores above mentioned are examples of this process.
Many extensive hematite deposits are in this way formed in limestone
districts. Phosphatization sometimes takes place, amorphous phosphate
of lime being substituted for carbonate of lime, and these replacement
products often have great value as sources of natural fertilizers. On
ocean rocks in dry climates the droppings of birds (guano) which
contain much phosphate, percolating into the underlying limestones
change them into a hard white or yellow phosphate rock (e.g. Sombrero,
Christmas Island, &c.), sometimes known as rock-guano or mineral
guano. In the north of France beds of phosphate are found in the
chalk; they occur also in England on a smaller scale. All limestones,
especially those laid down in deep waters contain some lime phosphate,
derived from shells of certain brachiopods, fish bones, teeth, whale
bones, &c. and this may pass into solution and be redeposited in
certain horizons, a process resembling the formation of flints. On the
sea bottom at the present day phosphatic nodules are found which have
gathered round the dead bodies of fishes and other animals. As in
flint the organic structures of the original limestone may be well
preserved though the whole mass is phosphatized.
Where uprising heated waters carrying mineral solutions are proceeding
from deep seated masses of igneous rocks they often deposit a portion
of their contents in limestone beds. At Leadville, in Colorado, for
example, great quantities of rich silver lead ore, which have yielded
not a little gold, have been obtained from the limestones, while other
rocks, though apparently equally favourably situated, are barren. The
lead and fluorspar deposits of the north of England (Alston Moor,
Derbyshire) occur in limestone. In the Malay States the limestones
have been impregnated with tin oxide. Zinc ores are very frequently
associated with beds of limestone, as at Vieille Montagne in Belgium,
and copper ores are found in great quantity in Arizona in rocks of
this kind. Apart from ore deposits of economic value a great number of
different minerals, often well crystallized, have been observed in
limestones.
When limestones occur among metamorphic schists or in the vicinity of
intrusive plutonic masses (such as granite), they are usually
recrystallized and have lost their organic structures. They are then
known as crystalline limestones or marbles (q.v.). (J. S. F.)
LIMINA APOSTOLORUM, an ecclesiastical term used to denote Rome, and
especially the church of St Peter and St Paul. A _Visitatio Liminum_
might be undertaken _ex voto_ or _ex lege_. The former, visits paid in
accordance with a vow, were very frequent in the middle ages, and were
under the special protection of the pope, who put the ban upon any who
should molest pilgrims "who go to Rome for God's sake." The question of
granting dispensations from such a vow gave rise to much canonical
legislation, in which the papacy had finally to give in to the bishops.
The visits demanded by law were of more importance. In 743 a Roman synod
decreed that all bishops subject to the metropolitan see of Rome should
meet personally every year in that city to give an account of the state
of their dioceses. Gregory VII. included in the order all metropolitans
of the Western Church, and Sixtus V. (by the bull _Romanus Pontifex_,
Dec. 20, 1584) ordered the bishops of Italy, Dalmatia and Greece to
visit Rome every three years; those of France, Germany, Spain and
Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Bohemia and the British Isles every four
years; those from the rest of Europe every five years; and bishops from
other continents every ten years. Benedict XIV. in 1740 extended the
summons to all abbots, provosts and others who held territorial
jurisdiction.
LIMITATION, STATUTES OF, the name given to acts of parliament by which
rights of action are limited in the United Kingdom to a fixed period
after the occurrence of the events giving rise to the cause of action.
This is one of the devices by which lapse of time is employed to settle
disputed claims. There are mainly two modes by which this may be
effected. We may say that the active enjoyment of a right--or
possession--for a determined period shall be a good title against all
the world. That is the method known generally as Prescription (q.v.). It
looks to the length of time during which the defendant in a disputed
claim has been in possession or enjoyment of the matter in dispute. But
the principle of the statutes of limitation is to look to the length of
time during which the plaintiff has been out of possession. The point of
time at which he might first have brought his action having been
ascertained, the lapse of the limited period after that time bars him
for ever from bringing his action. In both cases the policy of the law
is expressed by the maxim _Interest reipublicae ut sit finis litium_.
The principle of limitation was first adopted in English law in
connexion with real actions, i.e. actions for the recovery of real
property. At first a fixed date was taken, and no action could be
brought of which the cause had arisen before that date. By the Statute
of Westminster the First (3 Edward I. c. 39), the beginning of the reign
of Richard I. was fixed as the date of limitation for such actions. This
is the well-known "period of legal memory" recognized by the judges in a
different class of cases to which a rule of prescription was applied.
Possession of rights in _alieno solo_ from time immemorial was held to
be an indefeasible title, and the courts held time immemorial to begin
with the first year of Richard I.
A period absolutely fixed became in time useless for the purposes of
limitation, and the method of counting back a certain number of years
from the date of the writs was adopted in the Statute 32 Henry VIII. c.
2, which fixed periods of thirty, fifty and sixty years for various
classes of actions named therein. A large number of statutes since that
time have established periods of limitation for different kinds of
actions. Of those now in force the most important are the Limitation Act
1623 for personal actions in general, and the Real Property Limitation
Act 1833 relating to actions for the recovery of land. The latter
statute has been repealed and virtually re-enacted by the Real Property
Limitation Act 1874, which reduced the period of limitation from twenty
years to twelve, for all actions brought after the 1st January 1879. The
principal section of the act of 1833 will show the _modus operandi_:
"After the 31st December 1833, no person shall make an entry or
distress, or bring an action to recover any land or rent _but within
twenty years next after the time_ at which the right to make such entry
or distress or to bring such action shall have first accrued to some
person through whom he claims, or shall have first accrued to the person
making or bringing the same." Another section defines the times at which
the right of action or entry shall be deemed to have accrued in
particular cases; e.g. when the estate claimed shall have been an estate
or interest in reversion, such right shall be deemed to have first
accrued at the time at which such estate or interest became an estate or
interest in possession. Thus suppose lands to be let by A to B from 1830
for a period of fifty years, and that a portion of such lands is
occupied by C from 1831 without any colour of title from B or A--C's
long possession would be of no avail against an action brought by A for
the recovery of the land after the determination of B's lease. A would
have twelve years after the determination of the lease within which to
bring his action, and might thus, by an action brought in 1891,
disestablish a person who had been in quiet possession since 1831. What
the law looks to is not the length of time during which C has enjoyed
the property, but the length of time which A has suffered to elapse
since he might first have brought his action. It is to be observed,
however, that the Real Property Limitation Act does more than bar the
remedy. It extinguishes the right, differing in this respect from the
other Limitation Acts, which, while barring the remedy, preserve the
right, so that it may possibly become available in some other way than
by action.
By section 14 of the act of 1833, when any acknowledgment of the title
of the person entitled shall have been given to him or his agent in
writing signed by the person in possession, or in receipt of the profits
or rent, then the right of the person (to whom such acknowledgment shall
have been given) to make an entry or distress or bring an action shall
be deemed to have first accrued at the time at which such
acknowledgment, or the last of such acknowledgments, was given. By
section 15, persons under the disability of infancy, lunacy or
coverture, or beyond seas, and their representatives, are to be allowed
ten years from the termination of this disability, or death (which shall
have first happened), notwithstanding that the ordinary period of
limitation shall have expired.
By the act of 1623 actions of trespass, detinue, trover, replevin or
account, actions on the case (except for slander), actions of debt
arising out of a simple contract and actions for arrears of rent not due
upon specialty shall be limited to six years from the date of the cause
of action. Actions for assault, menace, battery, wounds and imprisonment
are limited to four years, and actions for slander to two years. Persons
labouring under the disabilities of infancy, lunacy or unsoundness of
mind are allowed the same time after the removal of the disability. When
the defendant was "beyond seas" (i.e. outside the United Kingdom and the
adjacent islands) an extension of time was allowed, but by the Real
Property Limitation Act of 1874 such an allowance is excluded as to real
property, and as to other matters by the Mercantile Law Amendment Act
1856.
An acknowledgment, whether by payment on account or by mere spoken
words, was formerly sufficient to take the case out of the statute. The
Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 14 (Lord Tenterden's act) requires any promise or
admission of liability to be in writing and signed by the party to be
charged, otherwise it will not bar the statute.
Contracts under seal are governed as to limitation by the act of 1883,
which provides that actions for rent upon any indenture of demise, or of
covenant, or debt or any bond or other specialty, and on recognizances,
must be brought within twenty years after cause of action. Actions of
debt on an award (the submission being not under seal), or for a
copyhold fine, or for money levied on a writ of _fieri facias_, must be
brought within six years. With regard to the rights of the crown, the
principle obtains that _nullum tempus occurrit regi_, so that no statute
of limitation affects the crown without express mention. But by the
Crown Suits Act 1769, as amended by the Crown Suits Act 1861, in suits
relating to land, the claims of the crown to recover are barred after
the lapse of sixty years. For the prosecution of criminal offences
generally there is no period of limitation, except where they are
punishable on summary conviction. In such case the period is six months
by the Summary Jurisdiction Act 1848. But there are various
miscellaneous limitations fixed by various acts, of which the following
may be noticed. Suits and indictments under penal statutes are limited
to two years if the forfeiture is to the crown, to one year if the
forfeiture is to the common informer. Penal actions by persons aggrieved
are limited to two years by the act of 1833. Prosecutions under the Riot
Act can only be sued upon within twelve months after the offence has
been committed, and offences against the Customs Acts within three
years. By the Public Authorities Protection Act 1893, a prosecution
against any person acting in execution of statutory or other public duty
must be commenced within six months. Prosecutions under the Criminal Law
Amendment Act, as amended by the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act
1904, must be commenced within six months after the commission of the
offence.
Trustees are expressly empowered to plead statutes of limitation by the
Trustees Act 1888; indeed, a defence under the statutes of limitations
must in general be specially pleaded. Limitation is regarded strictly as
a law of procedure. The English courts will therefore apply their own
rules to all actions, although the cause of action may have arisen in a
country in which different rules of limitation exist. This is also a
recognized principle of private international law (see J. A. Foote,
_Private International Law_, 3rd ed., 1904, p. 516 seq.).
_United States._--The principle of the statute of limitations has passed
with some modification into the statute-books of every state in the
Union except Louisiana, whose laws of limitation are essentially the
prescriptions of the civil law drawn from the _Partidas_, or "Spanish
Code." As to personal actions, it is generally provided that they shall
be brought within a certain specified time--usually six years or
less--from the time when the cause of action accrues, and not after,
while for land the "general if not universal limitation of the right to
bring action or to make entry is to twenty years after the right to
enter or to bring the action accrues" (Bouvier's _Law Dictionary_, art.
"Limitations"). The constitutional provision prohibiting states from
passing laws impairing the obligation of contracts is not infringed by a
law of limitations, unless it bars a right of action already accrued
without giving a reasonable term within which to bring the action.
See Darby and Bosanquet, _Statutes of Limitations_ (1899); Hewitt,
_Statutes of Limitations_ (1893).
LIMOGES, a town of west-central France, capital of the department of
Haute-Vienne, formerly capital of the old province of Limousin, 176 m.
S. by W. of Orleans on the railway to Toulouse. Pop. (1906) town,
75,906; commune, 88,597. The station is a junction for Poitiers,
Angoulême, Périgueux and Clermont-Ferrand. The town occupies a hill on
the right bank of the Vienne, and comprises two parts originally
distinct, the _Cité_ with narrow streets and old houses occupying the
lower slope, and the town proper the summit. In the latter a street
known as the Rue de la Boucherie is occupied by a powerful and ancient
corporation of butchers. The site of the fortifications which formerly
surrounded both quarters is occupied by boulevards, outside which are
suburbs with wide streets and spacious squares. The cathedral, the most
remarkable building in the Limousin, was begun in 1273. In 1327 the
choir was completed, and before the middle of the 16th century the
transept, with its fine north portal and the first two bays of the nave;
from 1875 to 1890 the construction of the nave was continued, and it was
united with the west tower (203 ft. high), the base of which belongs to
a previous Romanesque church. In the interior there are a magnificent
rood loft of the Renaissance, and the tombs of Jean de Langeac (d. 1541)
and other bishops. Of the other churches of Limoges, St Michel des Lions
(14th and 15th centuries) and St Pierre du Queyroix (12th and 13th
centuries) both contain interesting stained glass. The principal modern
buildings are the town hall and the law-courts. The Vienne is crossed by
a railway viaduct and four bridges, two of which, the Pont St Étienne
and the Pont St Martial, date from the 13th century. Among the chief
squares are the Place d'Orsay on the site of a Roman amphitheatre, the
Place Jourdan with the statue of Marshal J. B. Jourdan, born at Limoges,
and the Place d'Aine with the statue of J. L. Gay-Lussac. President
Carnot and Denis Dussoubs, both of whom have statues, were also natives
of the town. The museum has a rich ceramic collection and art,
numismatic and natural history collections.
Limoges is the headquarters of the XII. army corps and the seat of a
bishop, a prefect, a court of appeal and a court of assizes, and has
tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade
arbitration, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France.
The educational institutions include a _lycée_ for boys, a preparatory
school of medicine and pharmacy, a higher theological seminary, a
training college, a national school of decorative art and a commercial
and industrial school. The manufacture and decoration of porcelain give
employment to about 13,000 persons in the town and its vicinity.
Shoe-making and the manufacture of clogs occupy over 2000. Other
industries are liqueur-distilling, the spinning of wool and
cloth-weaving, printing and the manufacture of paper from straw.
Enamelling, which flourished at Limoges in the middle ages and during
the Renaissance (see ENAMEL), but subsequently died out, was revived at
the end of the 19th century. There is an extensive trade in wine and
spirits, cattle, cereals and wood. The Vienne is navigable for rafts
above Limoges, and the logs brought down by the current are stopped at
the entrance of the town by the inhabitants of the Naveix quarter, who
form a special gild for this purpose.
Limoges was a place of importance at the time of the Roman conquest, and
sent a large force to the defence of Alesia. In 11 B.C. it took the name
of Augustus (_Augustoritum_); but in the 4th century it was anew called
by the name of the _Lemovices_, whose capital it was. It then contained
palaces and baths, had its own senate and the right of coinage.
Christianity was introduced by St Martial. In the 5th century Limoges
was devastated by the Vandals and the Visigoths, and afterwards suffered
in the wars between the Franks and Aquitanians and in the invasions of
the Normans. Under the Merovingian kings Limoges was celebrated for its
mints and its goldsmiths' work. In the middle ages the town was divided
into two distinct parts, each surrounded by walls, forming separate
fiefs with a separate system of administration, an arrangement which
survived till 1792. Of these the more important, known as the _Château_,
which grew up round the tomb of St Martial in the 9th century, and was
surrounded with walls in the 10th and again in the 12th, was under the
jurisdiction of the viscounts of Limoges, and contained their castle and
the monastery of St Martial; the other, the _Cité_, which was under the
jurisdiction of the bishop, had but a sparse population, the habitable
ground being practically covered by the cathedral, the episcopal palace
and other churches and religious buildings. In the Hundred Years' War
the bishops sided with the French, while the viscounts were unwilling
vassals of the English. In 1370 the _Cité_, which had opened its gates
to the French, was taken by the Black Prince and given over to fire and
sword.
The religious wars, pestilence and famine desolated Limoges in turn, and
the plague of 1630-1631 carried off more than 20,000 persons. The wise
administrations of Henri d'Aguesseau, father of the chancellor, and of
Turgot enabled Limoges to recover its former prosperity. There have been
several great fires, destroying whole quarters of the city, built, as it
then was, of wood. That of 1790 lasted for two months, and destroyed 192
houses; and that of 1864 laid under ashes a large area. Limoges
celebrates every seven years a curious religious festival (Fête
d'Ostension), during which the relics of St Martial are exposed for
seven weeks, attracting large numbers of visitors. It dates from the
10th century, and commemorates a pestilence (mal des ardents) which,
after destroying 40,000 persons, is believed to have been stayed by the
intercession of the saint.
Limoges was the scene of two ecclesiastical councils, in 1029 and 1031.
The first proclaimed the title of St Martial as "apostle of Aquitaine";
the second insisted on the observance of the "truce of God." In 1095
Pope Urban II. held a synod of bishops here in connexion with his
efforts to organize a crusade, and on this occasion consecrated the
basilica of St Martial (pulled down after 1794).
See Célestin Poré, _Limoges_, in Joanne's guides, _De Paris à Ager_
(1867); Ducourtieux, _Limoges d'après ses anciens plans_ (1884) and
_Limoges et ses environs_ (3rd ed., 1894). A very full list of works
on Limoges, the town, viscounty, bishopric, &c., is given by U.
Chevalier in _Répertoire des sources hist. du moyen âge.
Topo-bibliogr._ (Mont Céliard, 1903), t. ii. s.v.
LIMON, or PORT LIMON, the chief Atlantic port of Costa Rica, Central
America, and the capital of a district also named Limon, on a bay of the
Caribbean Sea, 103 m. E. by N. of San José. Pop. (1904) 3171. Limon was
founded in 1871, and is the terminus of the transcontinental railway to
Puntarenas which was begun in the same year. The swamps behind the town,
and the shallow coral lagoon in front of it, have been filled in. The
harbour is protected by a sea-wall built along the low-water line, and
an iron pier affords accommodation for large vessels. A breakwater from
the harbour to the island of Uvita, about 1200 yds. E. would render
Limon a first-class port. There is an excellent water-supply from the
hills above the harbour. Almost the entire coffee and banana crops of
Costa Rica are sent by rail for shipment at Limon to Europe and the
United States. The district (_comarca_) of Limon comprises the whole
Atlantic littoral, thus including the Talamanca country inhabited by
uncivilized Indians; the richest banana-growing territories in the
country; and the valuable forests of the San Juan valley. It is annually
visited by Indians from the Mosquito coast of Nicaragua, who come in
canoes to fish for turtle. Its chief towns, after Limon, are Reventazon
and Matina, both with fewer than 3000 inhabitants.
LIMONITE, or BROWN IRON ORE, a natural ferric hydrate named from the Gr.
[Greek: leimôn] (meadow), in allusion to its occurrence as "bog-ore" in
meadows and marshes. It is never crystallized, but may have a fibrous or
microcrystalline structure, and commonly occurs in concretionary forms
or in compact and earthy masses; sometimes mammillated, botryoidal,
reniform or stalactitic. The colour presents various shades of brown and
yellow, and the streak is always brownish, a character which
distinguishes it from haematite with a red, or from magnetite with a
black streak. It is sometimes called brown haematite.
Limonite is a ferric hydrate, conforming typically with the formula
Fe4O3(OH)6, or 2Fe2O3·3H2O. Its hardness is rather above 5, and its
specific gravity varies from 3.5 to 4. In many cases it has been formed
from other iron oxides, like haematite and magnetite, or by the
alteration of pyrites or chalybite.
By the operation of meteoric agencies, iron pyrites readily pass into
limonite often with retention of external form; and the masses of
"gozzan" or "gossan" on the outcrop of certain mineral-veins consist
of rusty iron ore formed in this way, and associated with cellular
quartz. Many deposits of limonite have been found, on being worked, to
pass downwards into ferrous carbonate; and crystals of chalybite
converted superficially into limonite are well known. Minerals, like
glauconite, which contain ferrous silicate, may in like manner yield
limonite, on weathering. The ferric hydrate is also readily deposited
from ferruginous waters, often by means of organic agencies. Deposits
of brown iron ore of great economic value occur in many sedimentary
rocks, such as the Lias, Oolites and Lower Greensand of various parts
of England. They appear in some cases to be altered limestones and in
others altered glauconitic sandstones. An oolitic structure is
sometimes present, and the ores are generally phosphatic, and may
contain perhaps 30% of iron. The oolitic brown ores of Lorraine and
Luxemburg are known as "minette," a diminutive of the French _mine_
(ore), in allusion to their low content of metal. Granular and
concretionary limonite accumulates by organic action on the floor of
certain lakes in Sweden, forming the curious "lake ore." Larger
concretions formed under other conditions are known as "bean ore."
Limonite often forms a cementing medium in ferruginous sands and
gravels, forming "pan"; and in like manner it is the agglutinating
agent in many conglomerates, like the South African "banket," where it
is auriferous. In iron-shot sands the limonite may form hollow
concretions, known in some cases as "boxes." The "eagle stones" of
older writers were generally concretions of this kind, containing some
substance, like sand, which rattled when the hollow nodule was shaken.
Bog iron ore is an impure limonite, usually formed by the influence of
micro-organisms, and containing silica, phosphoric acid and organic
matter, sometimes with manganese. The various kinds of brown and
yellow ochre are mixtures of limonite with clay and other impurities;
whilst in umber much manganese oxide is present. Argillaceous brown
iron ore is often known in Germany as _Thoneisenstein_; but the
corresponding term in English (clay iron stone) is applied to nodular
forms of impure chalybite. J. C. Ullmann's name of stilpnosiderite,
from the Greek [Greek: stilpnos] (shining) is sometimes applied to
such kinds of limonite as have a pitchy lustre. Deposits of limonite
in cavities may have a rounded surface or even a stalactitic form, and
may present a brilliant lustre, of blackish colour, forming what is
called in Germany _Glaskopf_ (glass head). It often happens that
analyses of brown iron ores reveal a larger proportion of water than
required by the typical formula of limonite, and hence new species
have been recognized. Thus the yellowish brown ore called by E.
Schmidt xanthosiderite, from [Greek: zanthos] (yellow) and [Greek:
sidêros] (iron), contains Fe2O(OH)4, or Fe2O3·2H2O; whilst the bog ore
known as limnite, from [Greek: limnê] (marsh) has the formula Fe(OH)3,
or Fe2O3·3H2O. On the other hand there are certain forms of ferric
hydrate containing less water than limonite and approaching to
haematite in their red colour and streak: such is the mineral which
was called hydrohaematite by A. Breithaupt, and is now generally known
under R. Hermann's name of turgite, from the mines of Turginsk, near
Bogoslovsk in the Ural Mountains. This has the formula Fe4O5(OH)2, or
2Fe2O3·H2O. It probably represents the partial dehydration of
limonite, and by further loss of water may pass into haematite or red
iron ore. When limonite is dehydrated and deoxidized in the presence
of carbonic acid, it may give rise to chalybite.
LIMOUSIN (or LIMOSIN), LÉONARD (c. 1505-c. 1577), French painter, the
most famous of a family of seven Limoges enamel painters, was the son of
a Limoges innkeeper. He is supposed to have studied under Nardon
Pénicaud. He was certainly at the beginning of his career influenced by
the German school--indeed, his earliest authenticated work, signed L. L.
and dated 1532, is a series of eighteen plaques of the "Passion of the
Lord," after Albrecht Dürer, but this influence was counter-balanced by
that of the Italian masters of the school of Fontainebleau, Primaticcio,
Rosso, Giulio Romano and Solario, from whom he acquired his taste for
arabesque ornament and for mythological subjects. Nevertheless the
French tradition was sufficiently ingrained in him to save him from
becoming an imitator and from losing his personal style. In 1530 he
entered the service of Francis I. as painter and _varlet de chambre_, a
position which he retained under Henry II. For both these monarchs he
executed many portraits in enamel--among them quite a number of plaques
depicting Diane de Poitiers in various characters,--plates, vases,
ewers, and cups, besides decorative works for the royal palaces, for,
though he is best known as an enameller distinguished for rich colour,
and for graceful designs in grisaille on black or bright blue
backgrounds, he also enjoyed a great reputation as an oil-painter. His
last signed works bear the date 1574, but the date of his death is
uncertain, though it could not have been later than the beginning of
1577. It is on record that he executed close upon two thousand enamels.
He is best represented at the Louvre, which owns his two famous votive
tablets for the Sainte Chapelle, each consisting of twenty-three
plaques, signed L. L. and dated 1553; "La Chasse," depicting Henry II.
on a white horse, Diane de Poitiers behind him on horseback; and many
portraits, including the kings by whom he was employed, Marguerite de
Valois, the duc de Guise, and the cardinal de Lorraine. Other
representative examples are at the Cluny and Limoges museums. In
England some magnificent examples of his work are to be found at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, and the Wallace
Collection. In the collection of Signor Rocchi, in Rome, is an
exceptionally interesting plaque representing Frances I. consulting a
fortune-teller.
See _Léonard Limousin: peintre de portraits_ (_L'Oeuvre des peintres
émailleurs_), by L. Boudery and E. Lachenaud (Paris, 1897)--a careful
study, with an elaborate catalogue of the known existing examples of
the artist's work. The book deals almost exclusively with the
portraits illustrated. See also Alleaume and Duplessis, _Les Douze
Apôtres--émaux de Léonard Limousin_, &c. (Paris, 1865); L. Boudery,
_Exposition retrospective de Limoges en 1886_ (Limoges, 1886); L.
Boudery, _Léonard Limousin et son oeuvre_ (Limoges, 1895); _Limoges et
le Limousin_ (Limoges, 1865); A. Meyer, _L'Art de l'émail de Limoges,
ancien et moderne_ (Paris, 1896); Émile Molinier, _L'Émaillerie_
(Paris, 1891).
LIMOUSIN (Lat. _Pagus Lemovicinus, ager Lemovicensis, regio Lemovicum,
Lemozinum, Limosinium_, &c.), a former province of France. In the time
of Julius Caesar the _pagus Lemovicinus_ covered the county now
comprised in the departments of Haute-Vienne, Corrèze and Creuse, with
the _arrondissements_ of Confolens in Charente and Nontron in Dordogne.
These limits it retained until the 10th century, and they survived in
those of the diocese of Limoges (except a small part cut off in 1317 to
form that of Tulle) until 1790. The break-up into great fiefs in the
10th century, however, tended rapidly to disintegrate the province,
until at the close of the 12th century Limousin embraced only the
viscounties of Limoges, Turenne and Comborn, with a few ecclesiastical
lordships, corresponding roughly to the present _arrondissements_ of
Limoges and Saint Yrien in Haute-Vienne and part of the
_arrondissements_ of Brive, Tulle and Ussel in Corrèze. In the 17th
century Limousin, thus constituted, had become no more than a small
_gouvernement_.
Limousin takes its name from the _Lemovices_, a Gallic tribe whose
county was included by Augustus in the province of _Aquitania Magna_.
Politically its history has little of separate interest; it shared in
general the vicissitudes of Aquitaine, whose dukes from 918 onwards were
its over-lords at least till 1264, after which it was sometimes under
them, sometimes under the counts of Poitiers, until the French kings
succeeded in asserting their direct over-lordship. It was, however,
until the 14th century, the centre of a civilization of which the
enamelling industry (see ENAMEL) was only one expression. The Limousin
dialect, now a mere _patois_, was regarded by the troubadours as the
purest form of Provençal.
See A. Leroeux, _Géographie et histoire du Limousin_ (Limoges, 1892).
Detailed bibliography in Chevalier, _Répertoire des sources.
Topo-bibliogr._ (Montbéliard, 1902), t. ii. s.v.
LIMPOPO, or CROCODILE, a river of S.E. Africa over 1000 m. in length,
next to the Zambezi the largest river of Africa entering the Indian
Ocean. Its head streams rise on the northern slopes of the Witwatersrand
less than 300 m. due W. of the sea, but the river makes a great
semicircular sweep across the high plateau first N.W., then N.E. and
finally S.E. It is joined early in its course by the Marico and Notwani,
streams which rise along the westward continuation of the Witwatersrand,
the ridge forming the water-parting between the Vaal and the Limpopo
basins. For a great part of its course the Limpopo forms the north-west
and north frontiers of the Transvaal. Its banks are well wooded and
present many picturesque views. In descending the escarpment of the
plateau the river passes through rocky ravines, piercing the
Zoutpansberg near the north-east corner of the Transvaal at the Toli
Azimé Falls. In the low country it receives its chief affluent, the
Olifants river (450 m. long), which, rising in the high veld of the
Transvaal east of the sources of the Limpopo, takes a more direct N.E.
course than the main stream. The Limpopo enters the ocean in 25° 15´ S.
The mouth, about 1000 ft. wide, is obstructed by sandbanks. In the rainy
season the Limpopo loses a good deal of its water in the swampy region
along its lower course. High-water level is 24 ft. above low-water
level, when the depth in the shallowest part does not exceed 3 ft. The
river is navigable all the year round by shallow-draught vessels from
its mouth for about 100 m., to a spot known as Gungunyana's Ford. In
flood time there is water communication south with the river Komati
(q.v.). At this season stretches of the Limpopo above Gungunyana's Ford
are navigable. The river valley is generally unhealthy.
The basin of the Limpopo includes the northern part of the Transvaal,
the eastern portion of Bechuanaland, southern Matabeleland and a large
area of Portuguese territory north of Delagoa Bay. Its chief
tributary, the Olifants, has been mentioned. Of its many other
affluents, the Macloutsie, the Shashi and the Tuli are the most
distant north-west feeders. In this direction the Matoppos and other
hills of Matabeleland separate the Limpopo basin from the valley of
the Zambezi. A little above the Tuli confluence is Rhodes's Drift, the
usual crossing-place from the northern Transvaal into Matabeleland.
Among the streams which, flowing north through the Transvaal, join the
Limpopo is the Nylstroom, so named by Boers trekking from the south in
the belief that they had reached the river Nile. In the coast region
the river has one considerable affluent from the north, the Chengane,
which is navigable for some distance.