Chapter VII: Part 7

LABRADORITE, or LABRADOR SPAR, a lime-soda felspar of the plagioclase (q.v.) group, often cut and polished as an ornamental stone. It takes its name from the coast of Labrador, where it was discovered, as boulders, by the Moravian Mission about 1770, and specimens were soon afterwards sent to the secretary in London, the Rev. B. Latrobe. The felspar itself is generally of a dull grey colour, with a rather greasy lustre, but many specimens exhibit in certain directions a magnificent play of colours--blue, green, orange, purple or red; the colour in some specimens changing when the stone is viewed in different directions. This optical effect, known sometimes as "labradorescence," seems due in some cases to the presence of minute laminae of certain minerals, like göthite or haematite, arranged parallel to the surface which reflects the colour; but in other cases it may be caused not so much by inclusions as by a delicate lamellar structure in the felspar. An aventurine effect is produced by the presence of microscopic enclosures. The original labradorite was found in the neighbourhood of Nain, notably in a lagoon about 50 m. inland, and in St Paul's Island. Here it occurs with hypersthene, of a rich bronzy sheen, forming a coarse-grained norite. When wet, the stones are remarkably brilliant, and have been called by the natives "fire rocks." Russia has also yielded chatoyant labradorite, especially near Kiev and in Finland; a fine blue labradorite has been brought from Queensland; and the mineral is also known in several localities in the United States, as at Keeseville, in Essex county, New York. The ornamental stone from south Norway, now largely used as a decorative material in architecture, owes its beauty to a felspar with a blue opalescence, often called labradorite, but really a kind of orthoclase which Professor W. C. Brögger has termed cryptoperthite, whilst the rock in which it occurs is an augite-syenite called by him laurvigite, from its chief locality, Laurvik in Norway. Common labradorite, without play of colour, is an important constituent of such rocks as gabbro, diorite, andesite, dolerite and basalt. (See PLAGIOCLASE.) Ejected crystals of labradorite are found on Monti Rossi, a double parasitic cone on Etna.

The term labradorite is unfortunately used also as a rock-name, having been applied by Fouqué and Lévy to a group of basic rocks rich in augite and poor in olivine. (F. W. R.*)

LABRADOR TEA, the popular name for a species of _Ledum_, a small evergreen shrub growing in bogs and swamps in Greenland and the more northern parts of North America. The leaves are tough, densely covered with brown wool on the under face, fragrant when crushed and have been used as a substitute for tea. The plant is a member of the heath family (Ericaceae).

LABRUM (Lat. for "lip"), the large vessel of the warm bath in the Roman thermae. These were cut out of great blocks of marble and granite, and have generally an overhanging lip. There is one in the Vatican of porphyry over 12 ft. in diameter. The term _labrum_ is used in zoology, of a lip or lip-like part; in entomology it is applied specifically to the upper lip of an insect, the lower lip being termed _labium_.

LA BRUYÈRE, JEAN DE (1643-1696), French essayist and moralist, was born in Paris on the 16th of August 1645, and not as was once the common statement, at Dourdan (Seine-et-Oise) in 1639. His family was of the middle class, and his reference to a certain Geoffroy de la Bruyère, a crusader, is only a satirical illustration of a method of self-ennoblement common in France as in some other countries. Indeed he himself always signed the name Delabruyère in one word, thus avowing his _roture_. His progenitors, however, were of respectable position, and he could trace them back at least as far as his great-grandfather, who had been a strong Leaguer. La Bruyère's own father was controller-general of finance to the Hôtel de Ville. The son was educated by the Oratorians and at the university of Orleans; he was called to the bar, and in 1673 bought a post in the revenue department at Caen, which gave the status of noblesse and a certain income. In 1687 he sold this office. His predecessor in it was a relation of Bossuet, and it is thought that the transaction was the cause of La Bruyère's introduction to the great orator. Bossuet, who from the date of his own preceptorship of the dauphin, was a kind of agent-general for tutorships in the royal family, introduced him in 1684 to the household of the great Condé, to whose grandson Henri Jules de Bourbon as well as to that prince's girl-bride Mlle de Nantes, one of Louis XIV.'s natural children, La Bruyère became tutor. The rest of his life was passed in the household of the prince or else at court, and he seems to have profited by the inclination which all the Condé family had for the society of men of letters. Very little is known of the events of this part--or, indeed, of any part--of his life. The impression derived from the few notices of him is of a silent, observant, but somewhat awkward man, resembling in manners Joseph Addison, whose master in literature La Bruyère undoubtedly was. Yet despite the numerous enemies which his book raised up for him, most of these notices are favourable--notably that of Saint-Simon, an acute judge and one bitterly prejudiced against _roturiers_ generally. There is, however, a curious passage in a letter from Boileau to Racine in which he regrets that "nature has not made La Bruyère as agreeable as he would like to be." His _Caractères_ appeared in 1688, and at once, as Nicolas de Malezieu had predicted, brought him "bien des lecteurs et bien des ennemis." At the head of these were Thomas Corneille, Fontenelle and Benserade, who were pretty clearly aimed at in the book, as well as innumerable other persons, men and women of letters as well as of society, on whom the cap of La Bruyère's fancy-portraits was fitted by manuscript "keys" compiled by the scribblers of the day. The friendship of Bossuet and still more the protection of the Condés sufficiently defended the author, and he continued to insert fresh portraits of his contemporaries in each new edition of his book, especially in the 4th (1689). Those, however, whom he had attacked were powerful in the Academy, and numerous defeats awaited La Bruyère before he could make his way into that guarded hold. He was defeated thrice in 1691, and on one memorable occasion he had but seven votes, five of which were those of Bossuet, Boileau, Racine, Pellisson and Bussy-Rabutin. It was not till 1693 that he was elected, and even then an epigram, which, considering his admitted insignificance in conversation, was not of the worst, _haesit lateri_:--

"Quand la Bruyère se présente
Pourquoi faut il crier haro?
Pour faire un nombre de quarante
Ne falloit il pas un zéro?"

His unpopularity was, however, chiefly confined to the subjects of his sarcastic portraiture, and to the hack writers of the time, of whom he was wont to speak with a disdain only surpassed by that of Pope. His description of the _Mercure galant_ as "_immédiatement au dessous de rien_" is the best-remembered specimen of these unwise attacks; and would of itself account for the enmity of the editors, Fontenelle and the younger Corneille. La Bruyère's discourse of admission at the Academy, one of the best of its kind, was, like his admission itself, severely criticized, especially by the partisans of the "Moderns" in the "Ancient and Modern" quarrel. With the _Caractères_, the translation of Theophrastus, and a few letters, most of them addressed to the prince de Condé, it completes the list of his literary work, with the exception of a curious and much-disputed posthumous treatise. La Bruyère died very suddenly, and not long after his admission to the Academy. He is said to have been struck with dumbness in an assembly of his friends, and, being carried home to the Hôtel de Condé, to have expired of apoplexy a day or two afterwards, on the 10th of May 1696. It is not surprising that, considering the recent panic about poisoning, the bitter personal enmities which he had excited and the peculiar circumstances of his death, suspicions of foul play should have been entertained, but there was apparently no foundation for them. Two years after his death appeared certain _Dialogues sur le Quiétisme_, alleged to have been found among his papers incomplete, and to have been completed by the editor. As these dialogues are far inferior in literary merit to La Bruyère's other works, their genuineness has been denied. But the straightforward and circumstantial account of their appearance given by this editor, the Abbé du Pin, a man of acknowledged probity, the intimacy of La Bruyère with Bossuet, whose views in his contest with Fénelon these dialogues are designed to further, and the entire absence, at so short a time after the alleged author's death, of the least protest on the part of his friends and representatives, seem to be decisive in their favour.

Although it is permissible to doubt whether the value of the _Caractères_ has not been somewhat exaggerated by traditional French criticism, they deserve beyond all question a high place. The plan of the book is thoroughly original, if that term may be accorded to a novel and skilful combination of existing elements. The treatise of Theophrastus may have furnished the first idea, but it gave little more. With the ethical generalizations and social Dutch painting of his original La Bruyère combined the peculiarities of the Montaigne essay, of the _Pensées_ and _Maximes_ of which Pascal and La Rochefoucauld are the masters respectively, and lastly of that peculiar 17th-century product, the "portrait" or elaborate literary picture of the personal and mental characteristics of an individual. The result was quite unlike anything that had been before seen, and it has not been exactly reproduced since, though the essay of Addison and Steele resembles it very closely, especially in the introduction of fancy portraits. In the titles of his work, and in its extreme desultoriness, La Bruyère reminds the reader of Montaigne, but he aimed too much at sententiousness to attempt even the apparent continuity of the great essayist. The short paragraphs of which his chapters consist are made up of maxims proper, of criticisms literary and ethical, and above all of the celebrated sketches of individuals baptized with names taken from the plays and romances of the time. These last are the great feature of the work, and that which gave it its immediate if not its enduring popularity. They are wonderfully piquant, extraordinarily life-like in a certain sense, and must have given great pleasure or more frequently exquisite pain to the originals, who were in many cases unmistakable and in most recognizable.

But there is something wanting in them. The criticism of Charpentier, who received La Bruyère at the Academy, and who was of the opposite faction, is in fact fully justified as far as it goes. La Bruyère literally "est [trop] descendu dans le particulier." He has neither, like Molière, embodied abstract peculiarities in a single life-like type, nor has he, like Shakespeare, made the individual pass _sub speciem aeternitatis_, and serve as a type while retaining his individuality. He is a photographer rather than an artist in his portraiture. So, too, his maxims, admirably as they are expressed, and exact as their truth often is, are on a lower level than those of La Rochefoucauld. Beside the sculpturesque precision, the Roman brevity, the profoundness of ethical intuition "piercing to the accepted hells beneath," of the great Frondeur, La Bruyère has the air of a literary _petit-maître_ dressing up superficial observation in the finery of _esprit_. It is indeed only by comparison that he loses, but then it is by comparison that he is usually praised. His abundant wit and his personal "malice" have done much to give him his rank in French literature, but much must also be allowed to his purely literary merits. With Racine and Massillon he is probably the very best writer of what is somewhat arbitrarily styled classical French. He is hardly ever incorrect--the highest merit in the eyes of a French academic critic. He is always well-bred, never obscure, rarely though sometimes "precious" in the turns and niceties of language in which he delights to indulge, in his avowed design of attracting readers by form, now that, in point of matter, "tout est dit." It ought to be added to his credit that he was sensible of the folly of impoverishing French by ejecting old words. His chapter on "Les ouvrages de l'esprit" contains much good criticism, though it shows that, like most of his contemporaries except Fénelon, he was lamentably ignorant of the literature of his own tongue.

The editions of La Bruyère, both partial and complete, have been
extremely numerous. _Les Caractères de Théophraste traduits du Grec,
avec les caractères et les moeurs de ce siècle_, appeared for the
first time in 1688, being published by Michallet, to whose little
daughter, according to tradition, La Bruyère gave the profits of the
book as a dowry. Two other editions, little altered, were published in
the same year. In the following year, and in each year until 1694,
with the exception of 1693, a fresh edition appeared, and, in all
these five, additions, omissions and alterations were largely made. A
ninth edition, not much altered, was put forth in the year of the
author's death. The Academy speech appeared in the eighth edition. The
Quietist dialogues were published in 1699; most of the letters,
including those addressed to Condé, not till 1867. In recent times
numerous editions of the complete works have appeared, notably those
of Walckenaer (1845), Servois (1867, in the series of _Grands
écrivains de la France_), Asselineau (a scholarly reprint of the last
original edition, 1872) and finally Chassang (1876); the last is one
of the most generally useful, as the editor has collected almost
everything of value in his predecessors. The literature of "keys" to
La Bruyère is extensive and apocryphal. Almost everything that can be
done in this direction and in that of general illustration was done by
Edouard Fournier in his learned and amusing _Comédie de La Bruyère_
(1866); M. Paul Morillot contributed a monograph on La Bruyère to the
series of _Grands écrivains français_ in 1904. (G. Sa.)

LABUAN (a corruption of the Malay word _labuh-an_, signifying an "anchorage"), an island of the Malay Archipelago, off the north-west coast of Borneo in 5° 16´ N., 115° 15´ E. Its area is 30.23 sq. m.; it is distant about 6 m. from the mainland of Borneo at the nearest point, and lies opposite to the northern end of the great Brunei Bay. The island is covered with low hills rising from flats near the shore to an irregular plateau near the centre. About 1500 acres are under rice cultivation, and there are scattered patches of coco-nut and sago palms and a few vegetable gardens, the latter owned for the most part by Chinese. For the rest Labuan is covered over most of its extent by vigorous secondary growth, amidst which the charred trunks of trees rise at frequent intervals, the greater part of the forest of the island having been destroyed by great accidental conflagrations. Labuan was ceded to Great Britain in 1846, chiefly through the instrumentality of Sir James Brooke, the first raja of Sarawak, and was occupied two years later.

At the time of its cession the island was uninhabited, but in 1881 the population numbered 5731, though it had declined to 5361 in 1891. The census returns for 1901 give the population at 8411. The native population consists of Malay fishermen, Chinese, Tamils and small shifting communities of Kadayans, Tutongs and other natives of the neighbouring Bornean coast. There are about fifty European residents. At the time of its occupation by Great Britain a brilliant future was predicted for Labuan, which it was thought would become a second Singapore. These hopes have not been realized. The coal deposits, which are of somewhat indifferent quality, have been worked with varying degrees of failure by a succession of companies, one of which, the Labuan & Borneo Ltd., liquidated in 1902 after the collapse of a shaft upon which large sums had been expended. It was succeeded by the Labuan Coalfields Ltd. The harbour is a fine one, and the above-named company possesses three wharves capable of berthing the largest Eastern-going ocean steamers. To-day Labuan chiefly exists as a trading depôt for the natives of the neighbouring coast of Borneo, who sell their produce--beeswax, edible birds-nests, camphor, gutta, trepang, &c.,--to Chinese shopkeepers, who resell it in Singapore. There is also a considerable trade in sago, much of which is produced on the mainland, and there are three small sago-factories on the island where the raw product is converted into flour. The Eastern Extension Telegraph Company has a central station at Labuan with cables to Singapore, Hong-Kong and British North Borneo. Monthly steam communication is maintained by a German firm between Labuan, Singapore and the Philippines. The colony joined the Imperial Penny Postage Union in 1889. There are a few miles of road on the island and a metre-gauge railway from the harbour to the coal mines, the property of the company. There is a Roman Catholic church with a resident priest, an Anglican church, visited periodically by a clergyman from the mainland, two native and Chinese schools, and a sailors' club, built by the Roman Catholic mission. The bishop of Singapore and Sarawak is also bishop of Labuan. The European graveyard has repeatedly been the scene of outrages perpetrated, it is believed, by natives from the mainland of Borneo, the graves being rifled and the hair of the head and other parts of the corpses being carried off to furnish ornaments to weapons and ingredients in the magic philtres of the natives. Pulau Dat, a small island in the near neighbourhood of Labuan, is the site of a fine coco-nut plantation whence nuts and copra are exported in bulk. The climate is hot and very humid.

Until 1869 the expenditure of the colony was partly defrayed by
imperial grants-in-aid, but after that date it was left to its own
resources. A garrison of imperial troops was maintained until 1871,
when the troops were withdrawn after many deaths from fever and
dysentery had occurred among them. Since then law and order have been
maintained without difficulty by a small mixed police force of
Punjabis and Malays. From the 1st of January 1890 to the 1st of
January 1906 Labuan was transferred for administrative purposes to the
British North Borneo Company, the governor for the time being of the
company's territories holding also the royal commission as governor of
Labuan. This arrangement did not work satisfactorily and called forth
frequent petitions and protests from the colonists. Labuan was then
placed under the government of the Straits Settlements, and is
administered by a deputy governor who is a member of the Straits Civil
Service.

LABURNUM, known botanically as _Laburnum vulgare_ (or _Cytisus Laburnum_), a familiar tree of the pea family (Leguminosae); it is also known as "golden chain" and "golden rain." It is a native of the mountains of France, Switzerland, southern Germany, northern Italy, &c., has long been cultivated as an ornamental tree throughout Europe, and was introduced into north-east America by the European colonists. Gerard records it as growing in his garden in 1597 under the names of anagyris, laburnum or beane trefoyle (_Herball_, p. 1239), but the date of its introduction into England appears to be unknown. In France it is called _l'aubour_--a corruption from laburnum according to Du Hamel--as also _arbois_, i.e. _arc-bois_, "the wood having been used by the ancient Gauls for bows. It is still so employed in some parts of the Mâconnois, where the bows are found to preserve their strength and elasticity for half a century" (Loudon, _Arboretum_, ii. 590).

Several varieties of this tree are cultivated, differing in the size of the flowers, in the form of the foliage, &c., such as the "oak-leafed" (_quercifolium_), _pendulum_, _crispum_, &c.; var. _aureum_ has golden yellow leaves. One of the most remarkable forms is _Cytisus Adami (C. purpurascens)_, which bears three kinds of blossoms, viz. racemes of pure yellow flowers, others of a purple colour and others of an intermediate brick-red tint. The last are hybrid blossoms, and are sterile, with malformed ovules, though the pollen appears to be good. The yellow and purple "reversions" are fertile. It originated in Paris in 1828 by M. Adam, who inserted a "shield" of the bark of Cytisus purpureus into a stock of Laburnum. A vigorous shoot from this bud was subsequently propagated. Hence it would appear that the two distinct species became united by their cambium layers, and the trees propagated therefrom subsequently reverted to their respective parentages in bearing both yellow and purple flowers, but produce as well blossoms of an intermediate or hybrid character. Such a result may be called a "graft-hybrid." For full details see Darwin's _Animals and Plants under Domestication_.

The laburnum has highly poisonous properties. The roots taste like liquorice, which is a member of the same family as the laburnum. It has proved fatal to cattle, though hares and rabbits eat the bark of it with avidity (_Gardener's Chronicle_, 1881, vol. xvi. p. 666). The seeds also are highly poisonous, possessing emetic as well as acrid narcotic principles, especially in a green state. Gerard (loc. cit.) alludes to the powerful effect produced on the system by taking the bruised leaves medicinally. Pliny states that bees will not visit the flowers (_N.H._ xvi. 31), but this is an error, as bees and butterflies play an important part in the fertilization of the flowers, which they visit for the nectar.

The heart wood of the laburnum is of a dark reddish-brown colour, hard and durable, and takes a good polish. Hence it is much prized by turners, and used with other coloured woods for inlaying purposes. The laburnum has been called false ebony from this character of its wood.

LABYRINTH (Gr. [Greek: labyrinthos], Lat. _labyrinthus_), the name given by the Greeks and Romans to buildings, entirely or partly subterranean, containing a number of chambers and intricate passages, which rendered egress puzzling and difficult. The word is considered by some to be of Egyptian origin, while others connect it with the Gr. [Greek: laura], the passage of a mine. Another derivation suggested is from [Greek: labrys], a Lydian or Carian word meaning a "double-edged axe" (_Journal of Hellenic Studies_, xxi. 109, 268), according to which the Cretan labyrinth or palace of Minos was the house of the double axe, the symbol of Zeus.

Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xxxvi. 19, 91) mentions the following as the four famous labyrinths of antiquity.

1. The Egyptian: of which a description is given by Herodotus (ii. 148) and Strabo (xvii. 811). It was situated to the east of Lake Moeris, opposite the ancient site of Arsinoë or Crocodilopolis. According to Egyptologists, the word means "the temple at the entrance of the lake." According to Herodotus, the entire building, surrounded by a single wall, contained twelve courts and 3000 chambers, 1500 above and 1500 below ground. The roofs were wholly of stone, and the walls covered with sculpture. On one side stood a pyramid 40 orgyiae, or about 243 ft. high. Herodotus himself went through the upper chambers, but was not permitted to visit those underground, which he was told contained the tombs of the kings who had built the labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles. Other ancient authorities considered that it was built as a place of meeting for the Egyptian nomes or political divisions; but it is more likely that it was intended for sepulchral purposes. It was the work of Amenemhe III., of the 12th dynasty, who lived about 2300 B.C. It was first located by the Egyptologist Lepsius to the north of Hawara in the Fayum, and (in 1888) Flinders Petrie discovered its foundation, the extent of which is about 1000 ft. long by 800 ft. wide. Immediately to the north of it is the pyramid of Hawara, in which the mummies of the king and his daughter have been found (see W. M. Flinders Petrie, _Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoë_, 1889).

2. The Cretan: said to have been built by Daedalus on the plan of the Egyptian, and famous for its connexion with the legend of the Minotaur. It is doubtful whether it ever had any real existence and Diodorus Siculus says that in his time it had already disappeared. By the older writers it was placed near Cnossus, and is represented on coins of that city, but nothing corresponding to it has been found during the course of the recent excavations, unless the royal palace was meant. The rocks of Crete are full of winding caves, which gave the first idea of the legendary labyrinth. Later writers (for instance, Claudian, _De sexto Cons. Honorii_, 634) place it near Gortyna, and a set of winding passages and chambers close to that place is still pointed out as the labyrinth; these are, however, in reality ancient quarries.

3. The Lemnian: similar in construction to the Egyptian. Remains of it existed in the time of Pliny. Its chief feature was its 150 columns.

4. The Italian: a series of chambers in the lower part of the tomb of Porsena at Clusium. This tomb was 300 ft. square and 50 ft. high, and underneath it was a labyrinth, from which it was exceedingly difficult to find an exit without the assistance of a clew of thread. It has been maintained that this tomb is to be recognized in the mound named Poggio Gajella near Chiusi.

Lastly, Pliny (xxxvi. 19) applies the word to a rude drawing on the ground or pavement, to some extent anticipating the modern or garden maze.

On the Egyptian labyrinth see A. Wiedemann, _Ägyptische Geschichte_
(1884), p. 258, and his edition of the second book of Herodotus
(1890); on the Cretan, C. Höck, _Kreta_ (1823-1829), and A. J. Evans
in _Journal of Hellenic Studies_; on the subject generally, articles
in Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_ and Daremberg and Saglio's
_Dictionnaire des antiquités_.

In gardening, a labyrinth or _maze_ means an intricate network of pathways enclosed by hedges or plantations, so that those who enter become bewildered in their efforts to find the centre or make their exit. It is a remnant of the old geometrical style of gardening. There are two methods of forming it. That which is perhaps the more common consists of walks, or alleys as they were formerly called, laid out and kept to an equal width or nearly so by parallel hedges, which should be so close and thick that the eye cannot readily penetrate them. The task is to get to the centre, which is often raised, and generally contains a covered seat, a fountain, a statue or even a small group of trees. After reaching this point the next thing is to return to the entrance, when it is found that egress is as difficult as ingress. To every design of this sort there should be a key, but even those who know the key are apt to be perplexed. Sometimes the design consists of alleys only, as in fig. 1, published in 1706 by London and Wise. In such a case, when the farther end is reached, there only remains to travel back again. Of a more pretentious character was a design published by Switzer in 1742. This is of octagonal form, with very numerous parallel hedges and paths, and "six different entrances, whereof there is but one that leads to the centre, and that is attended with some difficulties and a great many stops." Some of the older designs for labyrinths, however, avoid this close parallelism of the alleys, which, though equally involved and intricate in their windings, are carried through blocks of thick planting, as shown in fig. 2, from a design published in 1728 by Batty Langley. These blocks of shrubbery have been called wildernesses. To this latter class belongs the celebrated labyrinth at Versailles (fig. 3), of which Switzer observes, that it "is allowed by all to be the noblest of its kind in the world."

Whatever style be adopted, it is essential that there should be a
thick healthy growth of the hedges or shrubberies that confine the
wanderer. The trees used should be impenetrable to the eye, and so
tall that no one can look over them; and the paths should be of gravel
and well kept. The trees chiefly used for the hedges, and the best for
the purpose, are the hornbeam among deciduous trees, or the yew among
evergreens. The beech might be used instead of the hornbeam on
suitable soil. The green holly might be planted as an evergreen with
very good results, and so might the American arbor vitae if the
natural soil presented no obstacle. The ground must be well prepared,
so as to give the trees a good start, and a mulching of manure during
the early years of their growth would be of much advantage. They must
be kept trimmed in or clipped, especially in their earlier stages;
trimming with the knife is much to be preferred to clipping with
shears. Any plants getting much in advance of the rest should be
topped, and the whole kept to some 4 ft. or 5 ft. in height until the
lower parts are well thickened, when it may be allowed to acquire the
allotted height by moderate annual increments. In cutting, the hedge
(as indeed all hedges) should be kept broadest at the base and
narrowed upwards, which prevents it from getting thin and bare below
by the stronger growth being drawn to the tops.

The maze in the gardens at Hampton Court Palace (fig. 4) is considered
one of the finest examples in England. It was planted in the early
part of the reign of William III., though it has been supposed that a
maze had existed there since the time of Henry VIII. It is constructed
on the hedge and alley system, and was, it is believed, originally
planted with hornbeam, but many of the plants have been replaced by
hollies, yews, &c., so that the vegetation is mixed. The walks are
about half a mile in length, and the ground occupied is a little over
a quarter of an acre. The centre contains two large trees, with a seat
beneath each. The key to reach this resting place is to keep the right
hand continuously in contact with the hedge from first to last, going
round all the stops.

The maze in the gardens at Somerleyton Hall, near Lowestoft (fig. 5),
was designed by Mr John Thomas. The hedges are of English yew, are
about 6½ ft. high, and have been planted about sixty years. In the
centre is a grass mound, raised to the height of the hedges, and on
this mound is a pagoda, approached by a curved grass path. At the two
corners on the western side are banks of laurels 15 or 16 ft. high. On
each side of the hedges throughout the labyrinth is a small strip of
grass.

There was also a labyrinth at Theobald's Park, near Cheshunt, when
this place passed from the earl of Salisbury into the possession of
James I. Another is said to have existed at Wimbledon House, the seat
of Earl Spencer, which was probably laid out by Brown in the 18th
century. There is an interesting labyrinth, somewhat after the plan of
fig. 2, at Mistley Place, Manningtree.

When the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at South
Kensington were being planned, Albert, Prince Consort, the president
of the society, especially desired that there should be a maze formed
in the ante-garden, which was made in the form shown in fig. 6. This
labyrinth, designed by Lieut. W. A. Nesfield, was for many years the
chief point of attraction to the younger visitors to the gardens; but
it was allowed to go to ruin, and had to be destroyed. The gardens
themselves are now built over. (T. Mo.)

LABYRINTHULIDEA, the name given by Sir Ray Lankester (1885) to Sarcodina (q.v.) forming a reticulate plasmodium, the denser masses united by fine pseudopodical threads, hardly distinct from some Proteomyxa, such as _Archerina_.

This is a small and heterogeneous group. _Labyrinthula_, discovered by L. Cienkowsky, forms a network of relatively stiff threads on which are scattered large spindle-shaped enlargements, each representing an amoeba, with a single nucleus. The threads are pseudopods, very slowly emitted and withdrawn. The amoebae multiply by fission in the active state. The nearest approach to a "reproductive" state is the approximation of the amoebae, and their separate encystment in an irregular heap, recalling the Acrasieae. From each cyst ultimately emerges a single amoeba, or more rarely four (figs. 6, 7). The saprophyte _Diplophrys (?) stercorea_ (Cienk.) appears closely allied to this.

1. A colony or "cell-heap" of _Labyrinthula vitellina_, Cienk.,
crawling upon an Alga.

2. A colony or "cell-heap" of _Chlamydomyxa labyrinthuloides_, Archer,
with fully expanded network of threads on which the oat-shaped
corpuscles (cells) are moving. o, Is an ingested food particle; at c a
portion of the general protoplasm has detached itself and become
encysted.

3 A portion of the network of _Labyrinthula vitellina_, Cienk., more
highly magnified. p, Protoplasmic mass apparently produced by fusion
of several filaments. p´, Fusion of several cells which have lost
their definite spindle-shaped contour. s, Corpuscles which have become
spherical and are no longer moving (perhaps about to be encysted).

4. A single spindle cell and threads of _Labyrinthula macrocystis_,
Cienk. n, Nucleus.

5. A group of encysted cells of _L. Macrocystis_, embedded in a tough
secretion.

6, 7. Encysted cells of _L. macrocystis_, with enclosed protoplasm
divided into four spores.

8, 9. Transverse division of a non-encysted spindle-cell of _L.
macrocystis_.]

_Chlamydomyxa_ (W. Archer) resembles _Labyrinthula_ in its freely branched plasmodium, but contains yellowish chromatophores, and minute oval vesicles ("physodes") filled with a substance allied to tannin--possibly phloroglucin--which glide along the plasmodial tracks. The cell-body contains numerous nuclei; but in its active state is not resolvable into distinct oval amoeboids. It is amphitrophic, ingesting and digesting other Protista, as well as "assimilating" by its chromatophores, the product being oil, not starch. The whole body may form a laminated cellulose resting cyst, from which it may only temporarily emerge (fig. 2), or it may undergo resolution into nucleate cells which then encyst, and become multinucleate before rupturing the cyst afresh.

_Leydenia_ (F. Schaudinn) is a parasite in malignant diseases of the pleura. The pseudopodia of adjoining cells unite to form a network; but its affinities seem to such social naked Foraminifera as _Mikrogromia_.

See Cienkowsky, _Archiv f. Microscopische Anatomie_, iii. 274 (1867),
xii. 44 (1876); W. Archer, _Quart. Jour. Microscopic Science_, xv. 107
(1875); E. R. Lankester, _Ibid._, xxxix., 233 (1896); Hieronymus and
Jenkinson, _Ibid._, xiii. 89 (1899); W. Zopf, _Beiträge zur
Physiologie und Morphologie niederer Organismen_, ii. 36 (1892), iv.
60 (1894); Pènard, _Archiv für Protistenkunde_, iv. 296 (1904); F.
Schaudinn and Leyden, _Sitzungsberichte der Königlich preussischen
Akademie der Wissenschaft_, vi. (1896).

LAC, a resinous incrustation formed on the twigs and young branches of various trees by an insect, _Coccus lacca_, which infests them. The term lac (_laksha_, Sanskrit; _lakh_, Hindi) is the same as the numeral lakh--a hundred thousand--and is indicative of the countless hosts of insects which make their appearance with every successive generation. Lac is a product of the East Indies, coming especially from Bengal, Pegu, Siam and Assam, and is produced by a number of trees of the species _Ficus_, particularly _F. religiosa_. The insect which yields it is closely allied to the cochineal insect, _Coccus cacti_; kermes, _C. ilicis_ and Polish grains, _C. polonicus_, all of which, like the lac insect, yield a red colouring matter. The minute larval insects fasten in myriads on the young shoots, and, inserting their long proboscides into the bark, draw their nutriment from the sap of the plant. The insects begin at once to exude the resinous secretion over their entire bodies; this forms in effect a cocoon, and, the separate exudations coalescing, a continuous hard resinous layer regularly honeycombed with small cavities is deposited over and around the twig. From this living tomb the female insects, which form the great bulk of the whole, never escape. After their impregnation, which takes place on the liberation of the males, about three months from their first appearance, the females develop into a singular amorphous organism consisting in its main features of a large smooth shining crimson-coloured sac--the ovary--with a beak stuck into the bark, and a few papillary processes projected above the resinous surface. The red fluid in the ovary is the substance which forms the lac dye of commerce. To obtain the largest amount of both resin and dye-stuff it is necessary to gather the twigs with their living inhabitants in or near June and November. Lac encrusting the twigs as gathered is known in commerce as "stick lac"; the resin crushed to small fragments and washed in hot water to free it from colouring matter constitutes "seed lac"; and this, when melted, strained through thick canvas, and spread out into thin layers, is known as "shellac," and is the form in which the resin is usually brought to European markets. Shellac varies in colour from a dark amber to an almost pure black; the palest, known as "orange-lac," is the most valuable; the darker varieties--"liver-coloured," "ruby," "garnet," &c.--diminish in value as the colour deepens. Shellac may be bleached by dissolving it in a boiling lye of caustic potash and passing chlorine through the solution till all the resin is precipitated, the product being known as white shellac. Bleached lac takes light delicate shades of colour, and dyed a golden yellow it is much used in the East Indies for working into chain ornaments for the head and for other personal adornments. Lac is a principal ingredient in sealing-wax, and forms the basis of some of the most valuable varnishes, besides being useful in various cements, &c. Average stick lac contains about 68% of resin, 10 of lac dye and 6 of a waxy substance. Lac dye is obtained by evaporating the water in which stick lac is washed, and comes into commerce in the form of small square cakes. It is in many respects similar to, although not identical with, cochineal.

LACAILLE, NICOLAS LOUIS DE (1713-1762), French astronomer, was born at Rumigny, in the Ardennes, on the 15th of March 1713. Left destitute by the death of his father, who held a post in the household of the duchess of Vendôme, his theological studies at the Collège de Lisieux in Paris were prosecuted at the expense of the duke of Bourbon. After he had taken deacon's orders, however, he devoted himself exclusively to science, and, through the patronage of J. Cassini, obtained employment, first in surveying the coast from Nantes to Bayonne, then, in 1739, in remeasuring the French arc of the meridian. The success of this difficult operation, which occupied two years, and achieved the correction of the anomalous result published by J. Cassini in 1718, was mainly due to Lacaille's industry and skill. He was rewarded by admission to the Academy and the appointment of mathematical professor in Mazarin college, where he worked in a small observatory fitted for his use. His desire to observe the southern heavens led him to propose, in 1750, an astronomical expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, which was officially sanctioned, and fortunately executed. Among its results were determinations of the lunar and of the solar parallax (Mars serving as an intermediary), the first measurement of a South African arc of the meridian, and the observation of 10,000 southern stars. On his return to Paris in 1754 Lacaille was distressed to find himself an object of public attention; he withdrew to Mazarin college, and there died, on the 21st of March 1762, of an attack of gout aggravated by unremitting toil. Lalande said of him that, during a comparatively short life, he had made more observations and calculations than all the astronomers of his time put together. The quality of his work rivalled its quantity, while the disinterestedness and rectitude of his moral character earned him universal respect.

His principal works are: _Astronomiae Fundamenta_ (1757), containing a
standard catalogue of 398 stars, re-edited by F. Baily (_Memoirs Roy.
Astr. Society_, v. 93); Tabulae Solares (1758); _Coelum australe
stelliferum_ (1763) (edited by J. D. Maraldi), giving
zone-observations of 10,000 stars, and describing fourteen new
constellations; "Observations sur 515 étoiles du Zodiaque" (published
in t. vi. of his _Éphémérides_, 1763); _Leçons élémentaires de
Mathématiques_ (1741), frequently reprinted; ditto _de Mécanique_
(1743), &c.; ditto _d'Astronomie_ (1746), 4th edition augmented by
Lalande (1779); ditto _d'Optique_ (1750), &c. Calculations by him of
eclipses for eighteen hundred years were inserted in _L'Art de
vérifier les dates_ (1750); he communicated to the Academy in 1755 a
classed catalogue of forty-two southern nebulae, and gave in t. ii. of
his _Éphémérides_ (1755) practical rules for the employment of the
lunar method of longitudes, proposing in his additions to Pierre
Bouguer's _Traité de Navigation_ (1760) the model of a nautical
almanac.

See G. de Fouchy, "Éloge de Lacaille," _Hist. de l'Acad. des
Sciences_, p. 197 (1762); G. Brotier, Preface to Lacaille's _Coelum
australe_; Claude Carlier, _Discours historique_, prefixed to
Lacaille's _Journal historique du voyage fait au Cap_ (1763); J. J.
Lalande, _Connoissance des temps_, p. 185 (1767); _Bibl. astr._ pp.
422, 456, 461, 482; J. Delambre, _Hist. de l'astr. au XVIII^e siècle_,
pp. 457-542; J. S. Bailly, _Hist. de l'astr. moderne_, tomes ii.,
iii., _passim_; J. C. Poggendorff, _Biog. Lit. Handwörterbuch_; R.
Grant, _Hist. of Physical Astronomy_, pp. 486, &c.; R. Wolf,
_Geschichte der Astronomie_. A catalogue of 9766 stars, reduced from
Lacaille's observations by T. Henderson, under the supervision of F.
Baily, was published in London in 1847.

LACAITA, SIR JAMES [GIACOMO] (1813-1895), Anglo-Italian politician and writer. Born at Manduria in southern Italy, he practised law in Naples, and having come in contact with a number of prominent Englishmen and Americans in that city, he acquired a desire to study the English language. Although a moderate Liberal in politics, he never joined any secret society, but in 1851 after the restoration of Bourbon autocracy he was arrested for having supplied Gladstone with information on Bourbon misrule. Through the intervention of the British and Russian ministers he was liberated, but on the publication of Gladstone's famous letters to Lord Aberdeen he was obliged to leave Naples. He first settled in Edinburgh, where he married Maria Carmichael, and then in London where he made numerous friends in literary and political circles, and was professor of Italian at Queen's College from 1853 to 1856. In the latter year he accompanied Lord Minto to Italy, on which occasion he first met Cavour. From 1857 to 1863 he was private secretary (non-political) to Lord Lansdowne, and in 1858 he accompanied Gladstone to the Ionian Islands as secretary, for which services he was made a K.C.M.G. the following year. In 1860 Francis II. of Naples had implored Napoleon III. to send a squadron to prevent Garibaldi from crossing over from Sicily to Calabria; the emperor expressed himself willing to do so provided Great Britain co-operated, and Lord John Russell was at first inclined to agree. At this juncture Cavour, having heard of the scheme, entrusted Lacaita, at the suggestion of Sir James Hudson, the British minister at Turin, with the task of inducing Russell to refuse co-operation. Lacaita, who was an intimate friend both of Russell and his wife, succeeded, with the help of the latter, in winning over the British statesman just as he was about to accept the Franco-Neapolitan proposal, which was in consequence abandoned. He returned to Naples late in 1860 and the following year was elected member of parliament for Bitonto, although he had been naturalized a British subject in 1855. He took little part in parliamentary politics, but in 1876 was created senator. He was actively interested in a number of English companies operating in Italy, and was made one of the directors of the Italian Southern Railway Co. He had a wide circle of friends in many European countries and in America, including a number of the most famous men in politics and literature. He died in 1895 at Posilipo near Naples.

An authority on Dante, he gave many lectures on Italian literature and
history while in England; and among his writings may be mentioned a
large number of articles on Italian subjects in the _Encyclopaedia
Britannica_ (1857-1860), and an edition of Benvenuto da Imola's Latin
lectures on Dante delivered in 1375; he co-operated with Lord Vernon
in the latter's great edition of Dante's _Inferno_ (London,
1858-1865), and he compiled a catalogue in four volumes of the duke of
Devonshire's library at Chatsworth (London, 1879).

LA CALLE, a seaport of Algeria, in the arrondissement of Bona, department of Constantine, 56 m. by rail E. of Bona and 10 m. W. of the Tunisian frontier. It is the centre of the Algerian and Tunisian coral fisheries and has an extensive industry in the curing of sardines; but the harbour is small and exposed to the N.E. and W. winds. The old fortified town, now almost abandoned, is built on a rocky peninsula about 400 yds. long, connected with the mainland by a bank of sand. Since the occupation of La Calle by the French in 1836 a new town has grown up along the coast. Pop. (1906) of the town, 2774; of the commune, 4612.

La Calle from the times of its earliest records in the 10th century has been the residence of coral merchants. In the 16th century exclusive privileges of fishing for coral were granted by the dey of Algiers to the French, who first established themselves on a bay to the westward of La Calle, naming their settlement Bastion de France; many ruins still exist of this town. In 1677 they moved their headquarters to La Calle. The company--_Compagnie d'Afrique_--who owned the concession for the fishery was suppressed in 1798 on the outbreak of war between France and Algeria. In 1806 the British consul-general at Algiers obtained the right to occupy Bona and La Calle for an annual rent of £11,000; but though the money was paid for several years no practical effect was given to the agreement. The French regained possession in 1817, were expelled during the wars of 1827, when La Calle was burnt, but returned and rebuilt the place in 1836. The boats engaged in the fishery were mainly Italian, but the imposition, during the last quarter of the 19th century, of heavy taxes on all save French boats drove the foreign vessels away. For some years the industry was abandoned, but was restarted on a small scale in 1903.

See Abbé Poiret, _Voyage en Barbarie_ ... (Paris, 1789); E. Broughton,
_Six Years' Residence in Algiers_ (London, 1839) and Sir R. L.
Playfair, _Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce_ (London, 1877).

LA CALPRENÈDE, GAUTHIER DE COSTES, SEIGNEUR DE (_c._ 1610-1663), French novelist and dramatist, was born at the Château of Tolgou, near Sarlat (Dordogne), in 1609 or 1610. After studying at Toulouse, he came to Paris and entered the regiment of the guards, becoming in 1650 gentleman-in-ordinary of the royal household. He died in 1663 in consequence of a kick from his horse. He was the author of several long heroic romances ridiculed by Boileau. They are: _Cassandre_ (10 vols., 1642-1650); _Cléopatre_ (1648); _Faramond_ (1661); and _Les Nouvelles, ou les Divertissements de la princesse Alcidiane_ (1661) published under his wife's name, but generally attributed to him. His plays lack the spirit and force that occasionally redeem the novels. The best is _Le Comte d'Essex_, represented in 1638, which supplied some ideas to Thomas Corneille for his tragedy of the same name.

LA CARLOTA, a town of the province of Negros Occidental, Philippine Islands, on the W. coast of the island and the left bank of San Enrique river, about 18 m. S. of Bacolod, the capital of the province. Pop. (1903), after the annexation of San Enrique, 19,192. There are fifty-four villages or barrios in the town; the largest had a population in 1903 of 3254 and two others had each more than 1000 inhabitants. The Panayano dialect of the Visayan language is spoken by most of the inhabitants. At La Carlota the Spanish government established a station for the study of the culture of sugar-cane; by the American government this has been converted into a general agricultural experiment station, known as "Government Farm."

LACCADIVE ISLANDS, a group of coral reefs and islands in the Indian Ocean, lying between 10° and 12° 20´ N. and 71° 40´ and 74° E. The name Laccadives (_laksha dwipa_, the "hundred thousand isles") is that given by the people of the Malabar coast, and was probably meant to include the Maldives; they are called by the natives simply _Divi_, "islands," or _Amendivi_, from the chief island. There are seventeen separate reefs, "round each of which the 100-fathom line is continuous" (J. S. Gardiner). There are, however, only thirteen islands, and of these only eight are inhabited. They fall into two groups--the northern, belonging to the collectorate of South Kanara, and including the inhabited islands of Amini, Kardamat, Kiltan and Chetlat; and the southern, belonging to the administrative district of Malabar, and including the inhabited islands of Agatti, Kavaratti, Androth and Kalpeni. Between the Laccadives and the Maldives to the south lies the isolated Minikoi, which physically belongs to neither group, though somewhat nearer to the Maldives (q.v.). The principal submerged banks lie north of the northern group of islands; they are Munyal, Coradive and Sesostris, and are of greater extent than those on which the islands lie. The general depth over these is from 23 to 28 fathoms, but Sesostris has shallower soundings "indicating patches growing up, and some traces of a rim" (J. S. Gardiner). The islands have in nearly all cases emerged from the eastern and protected side of the reef, the western being completely exposed to the S.W. monsoon. The islands are small, none exceeding a mile in breadth, while the total area is only about 80 sq. m. They lie so low that they would be hardly discernible but for the coco-nut groves with which they are thickly covered. The soil is light coral sand, beneath which, a few feet down, lies a stratum of coral stretching over the whole of the islands. This coral, generally a foot to a foot and a half in thickness, has been in the principal islands wholly excavated, whereby the underlying damp sand is rendered available for cereals. These excavations--a work of vast labour--were made at a remote period, and according to the native tradition by giants. In these spaces (_totam_, "garden") coarse grain, pulse, bananas and vegetables are cultivated; coco-nuts grow abundantly everywhere. For rice the natives depend upon the mainland.

_Population and Trade._--The population in 1901 was 10,274. The people are Moplas, i.e. of mixed Hindu and Arab descent, and are Mahommedans. Their manners and customs are similar to those of the coast Moplas; but they maintain their own ancient caste distinctions. The language spoken is Malayalim, but it is written in the Arabic character. Reading and writing are common accomplishments among the men. The chief industry is the manufacture of coir. The various processes are entrusted to the women. The men employ themselves with boatbuilding and in conveying the island produce to the coast. The exports from the Laccadives are of the annual value of about £17,000.

_History._--No data exist for determining at what period the
Laccadives were first colonized. The earliest mention of them as
distinguished from the Maldives seems to be by Albírúní (c. 1030), who
divides the whole archipelago (Díbaját) into the _Dívah Kúzah_ or
Cowrie Islands (the Maldives), and the _Divah Kanbar_ or Coir Islands
(the Laccadives). (See _Journ. Asiat. Soc._, September 1844, p. 265).
The islanders were converted to Islam by an Arab apostle named Mumba
Mulyaka, whose grave at Androth still imparts a peculiar sanctity to
that island. The kazee of Androth was in 1847 still a member of his
family, and was said to be the twenty-second who had held the office
in direct line from the saint. This gives colour to the tradition that
the conversion took place about 1250. It is also further corroborated
by the story given by the Ibn Batuta of the conversion of the
Maldives, which occurred, as he heard, four generations (say one
hundred and twenty years) before his visit to these islands in 1342.
The Portuguese discovered the Laccadives in May 1498, and built forts
upon them, but about 1545 the natives rose upon their oppressors. The
islands subsequently became a suzerainty of the raja of Cannanore, and
after the peace of Seringapatam, 1792 the southern group was permitted
to remain under the management of the native chief at a yearly
tribute. This was often in arrear, and on this account these islands
were sequestrated by the British government in 1877.

See _The Fauna and Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive
Archipelagoes_, ed. J. Stanley Gardiner (Cambridge 1901-1905);
_Malabar District Gazetteer_ (Madras, 1908); G. Pereira, "As Ilhas de
Dyve" (_Boletim da Soc. Geog._, Lisbon, 1898-1899) gives details
relating to the Laccadives from the 16th-century MS. volume _De
insulis et peregrinatione lusitanorum_ in the National Library,
Lisbon.