Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

Transcriber's notes:

(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.

(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.

(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.

(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.

(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters; [dP] for partial differential symbol.

(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:

ARTICLE LIBRARIES: "... to be called the Nationale Bibliotheek. In
1805 the present name was adopted; and since 1815 it has become the
national library." 'Nationale' amended from 'National'.

ARTICLE LIBRARIES: "Tijdschrift voor boek- en bibliotheekwezen
(Hague, 1903); ..." 'boek- en bibliotheekwezen' amended from
'boekund bibliothekwezen'.

ARTICLE LICHENS: "... thus Chroolepus umbrinus is found as the
gonidia of 13 different lichen genera." 'Chroolepus' amended from
'Chroolepns'.

ARTICLE LICHENS: "The soredia are the most successful method of
reproduction in lichens, for not only are some forms nearly always
without spore-formation and in others the spores largely abortive
..." 'largely' amended from 'laregly'.

ARTICLE LIEBIG, JUSTUS VON: "... but of the mineral constituents
the supply is limited because the soil cannot afford an indefinite
amount of them ..." 'constituents' amended from 'constitutents'.

ARTICLE LIGHT: "... and also to the study of achromatism, the
principles of which followed from Newton's analysis and synthesis
of white light." 'synthesis' amended from 'snythesis'.

ARTICLE LIGHT: "It follows from these principles that, in an
isotropic dielectric, transverse electric vibrations can be
propagated with a velocity ..." 'dielectric' amended from
'dialectric'.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA

A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION

ELEVENTH EDITION

VOLUME XVI, SLICE V

Letter to Lightfoot, John

ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:

LETTER LIAS
LETTERKENNY LIBANIUS
LETTER OF CREDIT LIBATION
LETTERS PATENT LIBAU
LETTRES DE CACHET LIBEL and SLANDER
LETTUCE LIBELLATICI
LEUCADIA LIBER and LIBERA
LEUCIPPUS LIBERAL PARTY
LEUCITE LIBER DIURNUS ROMANORUM PONTIFICUM
LEUCTRA LIBERIA
LEUK LIBERIUS
LEUTHEN LIBER PONTIFICALIS
LEUTZE, EMANUEL LIBERTAD
LEVALLOIS-PERRET LIBERTARIANISM
LEVANT LIBERTINES
LEVASSEUR, PIERRE EMILE LIBERTINES, SYNAGOGUE OF THE
LEVECHE LIBERTY
LEVÉE (river embankment) LIBERTY PARTY
LEVEE (reception) LIBITINA
LEVELLERS LIBMANAN
LEVEN, ALEXANDER LESLIE LIBO
LEVEN (Scotish burgh) LIBON
LEVEN, LOCH LIBOURNE
LEVEN AND MELVILLE, EARLS OF LIBRA
LEVER, CHARLES JAMES LIBRARIES
LEVER LIBRATION
LEVERRIER, URBAIN JEAN JOSEPH LIBYA
LEVERTIN, OSCAR IVAN LICATA
LEVI, HERMANN LICENCE
LEVI, LEONE LICHEN
LEVIATHAN LICHENS
LEVIRATE LICHFIELD
LÉVIS LICH-GATE
LEVITES LICHTENBERG, GEORG CHRISTOPH
LEVITICUS LICHTENBERG (German principality)
LEVY, AMY LICINIANUS, GRANIUS
LEVY, AUGUSTE MICHEL LICINIUS
LEVY (money raising) LICINIUS CALVUS STOLO, GAIUS
LEWALD, FANNY LICINIUS MACER CALVUS, GAIUS
LEWANIKA LICODIA EUBEA
LEWES, CHARLES LEE LICTORS
LEWES, GEORGE HENRY LIDDELL, HENRY GEORGE
LEWES (town of England) LIDDESDALE
LEWES (Delaware, U.S.A.) LIDDON, HENRY PARRY
LEWIS, SIR GEORGE CORNEWALL LIE, JONAS LAURITZ EDEMIL
LEWIS, HENRY CARVILL LIE, MARIUS SOPHUS
LEWIS, JOHN FREDERICK LIEBER, FRANCIS
LEWIS, MATTHEW GREGORY LIEBERMANN, MAX
LEWIS, MERIWETHER LIEBIG, JUSTUS VON
LEWISBURG LIEBKNECHT, WILHELM
LEWISHAM LIECHTENSTEIN
LEWISTON LIÉGE (province of Belgium)
LEWIS-WITH-HARRIS LIÉGE (Belgian city)
LEXICON LIEGE (feudal term)
LEXINGTON, BARON LIEGNITZ
LEXINGTON (Kentucky, U.S.A.) LIEN
LEXINGTON (Massachusetts, U.S.A.) LIERRE
LEXINGTON (Missouri, U.S.A.) LIESTAL
LEXINGTON (Virginia, U.S.A.) LIEUTENANT
LEYDEN, JOHN LIFE
LEYDEN JAR LIFE-BOAT, and LIFE-SAVING SERVICE
LEYS, HENDRIK LIFFORD
LEYTON LIGAMENT
LHASA LIGAO
L'HÔPITAL, MICHEL DE LIGHT
LIAO-YANG LIGHTFOOT, JOHN

LETTER (through Fr. _lettre_ from Lat. _littera_ or _litera_, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of _linere_, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus), a character or symbol expressing any one of the elementary sounds into which a spoken word may be analysed, one of the members of an alphabet. As applied to things written, the word follows mainly the meanings of the Latin plural _litterae_, the most common meaning attaching to the word being that of a written communication from one person to another, an epistle (q.v.). For the means adopted to secure the transmission of letters see POST AND POSTAL SERVICE. The word is also, particularly in the plural, applied to many legal and formal written documents, as in letters patent, letters rogatory and dismissory, &c. The Latin use of the plural is also followed in the employment of "letters" in the sense of literature (q.v.) or learning.

LETTERKENNY, a market town of Co. Donegal, Ireland, 23 m. W. by S. of Londonderry by the Londonderry and Lough Swilly and Letterkenny railway. Pop. (1901) 2370. It has a harbour at Port Ballyrane, 1 m. distant on Lough Swilly. In the market square a considerable trade in grain, flax and provisions is prosecuted. Rope-making and shirt-making are industries. The handsome Roman Catholic cathedral for the diocese of Raphoe occupies a commanding site, and cost a large sum, as it contains carving from Rome, glass from Munich and a pulpit of Irish and Carrara marble. It was consecrated in 1901. There is a Catholic college dedicated to St Ewnan. The town, which is governed by an urban district council, is a centre for visitors to the county. Its name signifies the "hill of the O'Cannanans," a family who lorded over Tyrconnell before the rise of the O'Donnells.

LETTER OF CREDIT, a letter, open or sealed, from a banker or merchant, containing a request to some other person or firm to advance the bearer of the letter, or some other person named therein, upon the credit of the writer a particular or an unlimited sum of money. A letter of credit is either general or special. It is general when addressed to merchants or other persons in general, requesting an advance to a third person, and special when addressed to a particular person by name requesting him to make such an advance. A letter of credit is not a negotiable instrument. When a letter of credit is given for the purchase of goods, the letter of credit usually states the particulars of the merchandise against which bills are to be drawn, and shipping documents (bills of lading, invoices, insurance policies) are usually attached to the draft for acceptance.

LETTERS PATENT. It is a rule alike of common law and sound policy that grants of freehold interests, franchises, liberties, &c., by the sovereign to a subject should be made only after due consideration, and in a form readily accessible to the public. These ends are attained in England through the agency of that piece of constitutional machinery known as "letters patent." It is here proposed to consider only the characteristics of letters patent generally. The law relating to letters patent for inventions is dealt with under the heading PATENTS.

Letters patent (_litterae patentes_) are letters addressed by the sovereign "to all to whom these presents shall come," reciting the grant of some dignity, office, monopoly, franchise or other privilege to the patentee. They are not sealed up, but are left open (hence the term "patent"), and are recorded in the Patent Rolls in the Record Office, or in the case of very recent grants, in the Chancery Enrolment Office, so that all subjects of the realm may read and be bound by their contents. In this respect they differ from certain other letters of the sovereign directed to particular persons and for particular purposes, which, not being proper for public inspection, are closed up and sealed on the outside, and are thereupon called _writs close_ (_litterae clausae_) and are recorded in the Close Rolls. Letters patent are used to put into commission various powers inherent in the crown--legislative powers, as when the sovereign entrusts to others the duty of opening parliament or assenting to bills; judicial powers, e.g. of gaol delivery; executive powers, as when the duties of Treasurer and Lord High Admiral are assigned to commissioners of the Treasury and Admiralty (Anson, _Const._ ii. 47). Letters patent are also used to incorporate bodies by charter--in the British colonies, this mode of legislation is frequently applied to joint stock companies (cf. Rev. Stats. Ontario, c. 191, s. 9)--to grant a _congé d'élire_ to a dean and chapter to elect a bishop, or licence to convocation to amend canons; to grant pardon, and to confer certain offices and dignities. Among grants of offices, &c., made by letters patent the following may be enumerated: offices in the Heralds' College; the dignities of a peer, baronet and knight bachelor; the appointments of lord-lieutenant, custos rotulorum of counties, judge of the High Court and Indian and Colonial judgeships, king's counsel, crown livings; the offices of attorney- and solicitor-general, commander-in-chief, master of the horse, keeper of the privy seal, postmaster-general, king's printer; grants of separate courts of quarter-sessions. The fees payable in respect of the grant of various forms of letters patent are fixed by orders of the lord chancellor, dated 20th of June 1871, 18th of July 1871 and 11th of Aug. 1881. (These orders are set out at length in the _Statutory Rules and Orders Revised_ (ed. 1904), vol. ii. _tit._ "Clerk of the Crown in Chancery," pp. i. et seq.) Formerly each colonial governor was appointed and commissioned by letters patent under the great seal of the United Kingdom. But since 1875, the practice has been to create the office of governor in each colony by letters patent, and then to make each appointment to the office by commission under the Royal Sign Manual and to give to the governor so appointed instructions in a uniform shape under the Royal Sign Manual. The letters patent, commission and instructions, are commonly described as the Governor's Commission (see Jenkyns, _British Rule and Jurisdiction beyond the Seas_, p. 100; the forms now in use are printed in Appx. iv. Also the _Statutory Rules and Codes Revised_, ed. 1904, under the title of the colony to which they relate). The Colonial Letters Patent Act 1863 provides that letters patent shall not take effect in the colonies or possessions beyond the seas until their publication there by proclamation or otherwise (s. 2), and shall be void unless so published within nine months in the case of colonies east of Bengal or west of Cape Horn, and within six months in any other case. Colonial officers and judges holding offices by patent for life or for a term certain, are removable by a special procedure--"amotion"--by the Governor and Council, subject to a right of appeal to the king in Council (Leave of Absence Act, formerly cited as "Burke's Act" 1782; see _Montagu_ v. _Governor of Van Diemen's Land_, 1849, 6 Moo. P.C. 491; _Willis_ v. _Gipps_, 1846, 6 St. Trials [N.S., 311]). The law of conquered or ceded colonies may be altered by the crown by letters patent under the Great Seal as well as by Proclamation or Order in Council (_Jephson_ v. _Riera_, 1835, 3 Knapp, 130; 3 St. Trials [N.S.] 591).

_Procedure._--Formerly letters patent were always granted under the Great Seal. But now, under the Crown Office Act 1877, and the Orders in Council made under it, many letters patent are sealed with the wafer great seal. Letters patent for inventions are issued under the seal of the Patent Office. The procedure by which letters patent are obtained is as follows: A warrant for the issue of letters patent is drawn up; and is signed by the lord chancellor; this is submitted to the law officers of the crown, who countersign it; finally, the warrant thus signed and countersigned is submitted to His Majesty, who affixes his signature. The warrant is then sent to the Crown Office and is filed, after it has been acted upon by the issue of letters patent under the great or under the wafer seal as the case may be. The letters patent are then delivered into the custody of those in whose favour they are granted.

_Construction._--The construction of letters patent differs from that of other grants in certain particulars: (i.) Letters patent, contrary to the ordinary rule, are construed in a sense favourable to the grantor (viz. the crown) rather than to the grantee; although this rule is said not to apply so strictly where the grant is made for consideration, or where it purports to be made _ex certâ scientiâ et mero motu_. (ii.) When it appears from the face of the grant that the sovereign has been mistaken or deceived, either in matter of fact or in matter of law, as, e.g. by false suggestion on the part of the patentee, or by misrecital of former grants, or if the grant is contrary to law or uncertain, the letters patent are absolutely void, and may still, it would seem, be cancelled (except as regards letters patent for inventions, which are revoked by a special procedure, regulated by § 26 of the Patents Act 1883), by the procedure known as scire facias, an action brought against the patentee in the name of the crown with the fiat of the attorney-general.

As to letters patent generally, see Bacon's _Abridgment_
("Prerogative," F.); Chitty's _Prerogative_; Hindmarsh on _Patents_
(1846); Anson, _Law and Custom of the Const._ ii. (3rd ed., Oxford and
London, 1907-1908). (A. W. R.)

LETTRES DE CACHET. Considered solely as French documents, _lettres de cachet_ may be defined as letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal (_cachet_). They contained an order--in principle, any order whatsoever--emanating directly from the king, and executory by himself. In the case of organized bodies _lettres de cachet_ were issued for the purpose of enjoining members to assemble or to accomplish some definite act; the provincial estates were convoked in this manner, and it was by _a lettre de cachet_ (called _lettre de jussion_) that the king ordered a parlement to register a law in the teeth of its own remonstrances. The best-known _lettres de cachet_, however, were those which may be called penal, by which the king sentenced a subject without trial and without an opportunity of defence to imprisonment in a state prison or an ordinary gaol, confinement in a convent or a hospital, transportation to the colonies, or relegation to a given place within the realm.

The power which the king exercised on these various occasions was a royal privilege recognized by old French law, and can be traced to a maxim which furnished a text of the _Digest_ of Justinian: "Rex solutus est a legibus." This signified particularly that when the king intervened directly in the administration proper, or in the administration of justice, by a special act of his will, he could decide without heeding the laws, and even in a sense contrary to the laws. This was an early conception, and in early times the order in question was simply verbal; thus some letters patent of Henry III. of France in 1576 (Isambert, _Anciennes lois françaises_, xiv. 278) state that François de Montmorency was "prisoner in our castle of the Bastille in Paris by verbal command" of the late king Charles IX. But in the 14th century the principle was introduced that the order should be written, and hence arose the _lettre de cachet_. The _lettre de cachet_ belonged to the class of _lettres closes_, as opposed to _lettres patentes_, which contained the expression of the legal and permanent will of the king, and had to be furnished with the seal of state affixed by the chancellor. The _lettres de cachet_, on the contrary, were signed simply by a secretary of state (formerly known as _secrétaire des commandements_) for the king; they bore merely the imprint of the king's privy seal, from which circumstance they were often called, in the 14th and 15th centuries, _lettres de petit signet_ or _lettres de petit cachet_, and were entirely exempt from the control of the chancellor.

While serving the government as a silent weapon against political adversaries or dangerous writers and as a means of punishing culprits of high birth without the scandal of a suit at law, the _lettres de cachet_ had many other uses. They were employed by the police in dealing with prostitutes, and on their authority lunatics were shut up in hospitals and sometimes in prisons. They were also often used by heads of families as a means of correction, e.g. for protecting the family honour from the disorderly or criminal conduct of sons; wives, too, took advantage of them to curb the profligacy of husbands and vice versa. They were issued by the intermediary on the advice of the intendants in the provinces and of the lieutenant of police in Paris. In reality, the secretary of state issued them in a completely arbitrary fashion, and in most cases the king was unaware of their issue. In the 18th century it is certain that the letters were often issued blank, i.e. without containing the name of the person against whom they were directed; the recipient, or mandatary, filled in the name in order to make the letter effective.

Protests against the _lettres de cachet_ were made continually by the parlement of Paris and by the provincial parlements, and often also by the States-General. In 1648 the sovereign courts of Paris procured their momentary suppression in a kind of charter of liberties which they imposed upon the crown, but which was ephemeral. It was not until the reign of Louis XVI. that a reaction against this abuse became clearly perceptible. At the beginning of that reign Malesherbes during his short ministry endeavoured to infuse some measure of justice into the system, and in March 1784 the baron de Breteuil, a minister of the king's household, addressed a circular to the intendants and the lieutenant of police with a view to preventing the crying abuses connected with the issue of _lettres de cachet_. In Paris, in 1779, the _Cour des Aides_ demanded their suppression, and in March 1788 the parlement of Paris made some exceedingly energetic remonstrances, which are important for the light they throw upon old French public law. The crown, however, did not decide to lay aside this weapon, and in a declaration to the States-General in the royal session of the 23rd of June 1789 (art. 15) it did not renounce it absolutely. _Lettres de cachet_ were abolished by the Constituent Assembly, but Napoleon re-established their equivalent by a political measure in the decree of the 9th of March 1801 on the state prisons. This was one of the acts brought up against him by the _sénatus-consulte_ of the 3rd of April 1814, which pronounced his fall "considering that he has violated the constitutional laws by the decrees on the state prisons."

See Honoré Mirabeau, _Les Lettres de cachet et des prisons d'état_
(Hamburg, 1782), written in the dungeon at Vincennes into which his
father had thrown him by a _lettre de cachet_, one of the ablest and
most eloquent of his works, which had an immense circulation and was
translated into English with a dedication to the duke of Norfolk in
1788; Frantz Funck-Brentano, _Les Lettres de cachet à Paris_ (Paris,
1904); and André Chassaigne, _Les Lettres de cachet sous l'ancien
régime_ (Paris, 1903). (J. P. E.)

LETTUCE, known botanically as _Lactuca sativa_ (nat. ord. Compositae), a hardy annual, highly esteemed as a salad plant. The London market-gardeners make preparation for the first main crop of Cos lettuces in the open ground early in August, a frame being set on a shallow hotbed, and, the stimulus of heat not being required, this is allowed to subside till the first week in October, when the soil, consisting of leaf-mould mixed with a little sand, is put on 6 or 7 in. thick, so that the surface is within 4½ in. of the sashes. The best time for sowing is found to be about the 11th of October, one of the best varieties being Lobjoits Green Cos. When the seeds begin to germinate the sashes are drawn quite off in favourable weather during the day, and put on, but tilted, at night in wet weather. Very little watering is required, and the aim should be to keep the plants gently moving till the days begin to lengthen. In January a more active growth is encouraged, and in mild winters a considerable extent of the planting out is done, but in private gardens the preferable time would be February. The ground should be light and rich, and well manured below, and the plants put out at 1 ft. apart each way with the dibble. Frequent stirring of the ground with the hoe greatly encourages the growth of the plants. A second sowing should be made about the 5th of November, and a third in frames about the end of January or beginning of February. In March a sowing may be made in some warm situation out of doors; successional sowings may be made in the open border about every third or fourth week till August, about the middle of which month a crop of Brown Cos, Hardy Hammersmith or Hardy White Cos should be sown, the latter being the most reliable in a severe winter. These plants may be put out early in October on the sides of ridges facing the south or at the front of a south wall, beyond the reach of drops from the copings, being planted 6 or 8 in. apart. Young lettuce plants should be thinned out in the seed-beds before they crowd or draw each other, and transplanted as soon as possible after two or three leaves are formed. Some cultivators prefer that the summer crops should not be transplanted, but sown where they are to stand, the plants being merely thinned out; but transplanting checks the running to seed, and makes the most of the ground.

For a winter supply by gentle forcing, the Hardy Hammersmith and Brown Dutch Cabbage lettuces, and the Brown Cos and Green Paris Cos lettuces, should be sown about the middle of August and in the beginning of September, in rich light soil, the plants being pricked out 3 in. apart in a prepared bed, as soon as the first two leaves are fully formed. About the middle of October the plants should be taken up carefully with balls attached to the roots, and should be placed in a mild hotbed of well-prepared dung (about 55°) covered about 1 ft. deep with a compost of sandy peat, leaf-mould and a little well-decomposed manure. The Cos and Brown Dutch varieties should be planted about 9 in. apart. Give plenty of air when the weather permits, and protect from frost. For winter work Stanstead Park Cabbage Lettuce is greatly favoured now by London market-gardeners, as it stands the winter well. Lee's Immense is another good variety, while All the Year Round may be sown for almost any season, but is better perhaps for summer crops.

There are two races of the lettuce, the Cos lettuce, with erect oblong heads, and the Cabbage lettuce, with round or spreading heads,--the former generally crisp, the latter soft and flabby in texture. Some of the best lettuces for general purposes of the two classes are the following:--

_Cos:_ White Paris Cos, best for summer; Green Paris Cos, hardier than the white; Brown Cos, Lobjoits Green Cos, one of the hardiest and best for winter; Hardy White Cos.

_Cabbage:_ Hammersmith Hardy Green; Stanstead Park, very hardy, good for winter; Tom Thumb; Brown Dutch; Neapolitan, best for summer; All the Year Round; Golden Ball, good for forcing in private establishments.

_Lactuca virosa_, the strong-scented lettuce, contains an alkaloid which has the power of dilating the pupil and may possibly be identical with hyoscyamine, though this point is as yet not determined. No variety of lettuce is now used for any medicinal purpose, though there is probably some slight foundation for the belief that the lettuce has faint narcotic properties.

LEUCADIA, the ancient name of one of the Ionian Islands, now Santa Maura (q.v.), and of its chief town (Hamaxichi).

LEUCIPPUS, Greek philosopher, born at Miletus (or Elea), founder of the Atomistic theory, contemporary of Zeno, Empedocles and Anaxagoras. His fame was so completely overshadowed by that of Democritus, who subsequently developed the theory into a system, that his very existence was denied by Epicurus (Diog. Laërt. x. 7), followed in modern times by E. Rohde. Epicurus, however, distinguishes Leucippus from Democritus, and Aristotle and Theophrastus expressly credit him with the invention of Atomism. There seems, therefore, no reason to doubt his existence, although nothing is known of his life, and even his birthplace is uncertain. Between Leucippus and Democritus there is an interval of at least forty years; accordingly, while the beginnings of Atomism are closely connected with the doctrines of the Eleatics, the system as developed by Democritus is conditioned by the sophistical views of his time, especially those of Protagoras. While Leucippus's notion of Being agreed generally with that of the Eleatics, he postulated its plurality (atoms) and motion, and the reality of not-Being (the void) in which his atoms moved.

See DEMOCRITUS. On the Rohde-Diels controversy as to the existence of
Leucippus, see F. Lortzing in Bursian's _Jahresbericht_, vol. cxvi.
(1904); also J. Burnet, _Early Greek Philosophy_ (1892).

LEUCITE, a rock-forming mineral composed of potassium and aluminium metasilicate KAl(SiO3)2. Crystals have the form of cubic icositetrahedra {211}, but, as first observed by Sir David Brewster in 1821, they are not optically isotropic, and are therefore pseudo-cubic. Goniometric measurements made by G. vom Rath in 1873 led him to refer the crystals to the tetragonal system, the faces o being distinct from those lettered i in the adjoining figure. Optical investigations have since proved the crystals to be still more complex in character, and to consist of several orthorhombic or monoclinic individuals, which are optically biaxial and repeatedly twinned, giving rise to twin-lamellae and to striations on the faces. When the crystals are raised to a temperature of about 500° C. they become optically isotropic, the twin-lamellae and striations disappearing, reappearing, however, when the crystals are again cooled. This pseudo-cubic character of leucite is exactly the same as that of the mineral boracite (q.v.).

The crystals are white (hence the name suggested by A. G. Werner in 1791, from [Greek: leukos]) or ash-grey in colour, and are usually dull and opaque, but sometimes transparent and glassy; they are brittle and break with a conchoidal fracture. The hardness is 5.5, and the specific gravity 2.5. Enclosures of other minerals, arranged in concentric zones, are frequently present in the crystals. On account of the colour and form of the crystals the mineral was early known as "white garnet." French authors employ R. J. Haüy's name "amphigène." (L. J. S.)

_Leucite Rocks._--Although rocks containing leucite are numerically
scarce, many countries such as England being entirely without them,
yet they are of wide distribution, occurring in every quarter of the
globe. Taken collectively, they exhibit a considerable variety of
types and are of great interest petrographically. For the presence of
this mineral it is necessary that the silica percentage of the rock
should not be high, for leucite never occurs in presence of free
quartz. It is most common in lavas of recent and Tertiary age, which
have a fair amount of potash, or at any rate have potash equal to or
greater than soda; if soda preponderates nepheline occurs rather than
leucite. In pre-Tertiary rocks leucite is uncommon, since it readily
decomposes and changes to zeolites, analcite and other secondary
minerals. Leucite also is rare in plutonic rocks and dike rocks, but
leucite-syenite and leucite-tinguaite bear witness to the possibility
that it may occur in this manner. The rounded shape of its crystals,
their white or grey colour, and rough cleavage, make the presence of
leucite easily determinable in many of these rocks by simple
inspection, especially when the crystals are large. "Pseudo-leucites"
are rounded areas consisting of felspar, nepheline, analcite, &c.,
which have the shape, composition and sometimes even the crystalline
forms of leucite; they are probably pseudomorphs or paramorphs, which
have developed from leucite because this mineral, in its isometric
crystals, is not stable at ordinary temperatures and may be expected
under favourable conditions to undergo spontaneous change into an
aggregate of other minerals. Leucite is very often accompanied by
nepheline, sodalite or nosean; other minerals which make their
appearance with some frequency are melanite, garnet and melilite.

The plutonic leucite-bearing rocks are leucite-syenite and missourite.
Of these the former consists of orthoclase, nepheline, sodalite,
diopside and aegirine, biotite and sphene. Two occurrences are known,
one in Arkansas, the other in Sutherlandshire, Scotland. The Scottish
rock has been called borolanite. Both examples show large rounded
spots in the hand specimens; they are pseudo-leucites and under the
microscope prove to consist of orthoclase, nepheline, sodalite and
decomposition products. These have a radiate arrangement externally,
but are of irregular structure at their centres; it is interesting to
note that in both rocks melanite is an important accessory. The
missourites are more basic and consist of leucite, olivine, augite and
biotite; the leucite is partly fresh, partly altered to analcite, and
the rock has a spotted character recalling that of the
leucite-syenites. It has been found only in the Highwood Mountains of
Montana.

The leucite-bearing dike-rocks are members of the tinguaite and
monchiquite groups. The leucite-tinguaites are usually pale grey or
greenish in colour and consist principally of nepheline,
alkali-felspar and aegirine. The latter forms bright green moss-like
patches and growths of indefinite shape, or in other cases scattered
acicular prisms, among the felspars and nephelines of the ground mass.
Where leucite occurs, it is always eumorphic in small, rounded,
many-sided crystals in the ground mass, or in larger masses which have
the same characters as the pseudo-leucites. Biotite occurs in some of
these rocks, and melanite also is present. Nepheline appears to
decrease in amount as leucite increases. Rocks of this group are known
from Rio de Janeiro, Arkansas, Kola (in Finland), Montana and a few
other places. In Greenland there are leucite-tinguaites with much
arfvedsonite (hornblende) and eudyalite. Wherever they occur they
accompany leucite- and nepheline-syenites. Leucite-monchiquites are
fine-grained dark rocks consisting of olivine, titaniferous augite and
iron oxides, with a glassy ground mass in which small rounded crystals
of leucite are scattered. They have been described from Bohemia.

By far the greater number of the rocks which contain leucite are lavas
of Tertiary or recent geological age. They are never acid rocks which
contain quartz, but felspar is usually present, though there are
certain groups of leucite lavas which are non-felspathic. Many of them
also contain nepheline, sodalite, hauyne and nosean; the much rarer
mineral melilite appears also in some examples. The commonest
ferromagnesian mineral is augite (sometimes rich in soda), with
olivine in the more basic varieties. Hornblende and biotite occur
also, but are less common. Melanite is found in some of the lavas, as
in the leucite-syenites.

The rocks in which orthoclase (or sanidine) is present in considerable
amount are leucite-trachytes, leucite-phonolites and leucitophyres. Of
these groups the two former, which are not sharply distinguished from
one another by most authors, are common in the neighbourhood of Rome
(L. Bracciano, L. Bolsena). They are of trachytic appearance,
containing phenocysts of sanidine, leucite, augite and biotite.
Sodalite or hauyne may also be present, but nepheline is typically
absent. Rocks of this class occur also in the tuffs of the Phlegraean
Fields, near Naples. The leucitophyres are rare rocks which have been
described from various parts of the volcanic district of the Rhine
(Olbrück, Laacher See, &c.) and from Monte Vulture in Italy. They are
rich in leucite, but contain also some sanidine and often much
nepheline with hauyne or nosean. Their pyroxene is principally
aegirine or aegirine augite; some of them are rich in melanite.
Microscopic sections of some of these rocks are of great interest on
account of their beauty and the variety of felspathoid minerals which
they contain. In Brazil leucitophyres have been found which belong to
the Carboniferous period.

Those leucite rocks which contain abundant essential plagioclase
felspar are known as leucite-tephrites and leucite-basanites. The
former consist mainly of plagioclase, leucite and augite, while the
latter contain olivine in addition. The leucite is often present in
two sets of crystals, both porphyritic and as an ingredient of the
ground mass. It is always idiomorphic with rounded outlines. The
felspar ranges from bytownite to oligoclase, being usually a variety
of labradorite; orthoclase is scarce. The augite varies a good deal in
character, being green, brown or violet, but aegirine (the dark green
pleochroic soda-iron-augite) is seldom present. Among the accessory
minerals biotite, brown hornblende, hauyne, iron oxides and apatite
are the commonest; melanite and nepheline may also occur. The ground
mass of these rocks is only occasionally rich in glass. The
leucite-tephrites and leucite-basanites of Vesuvius and Somma are
familiar examples of this class of rocks. They are black or ashy-grey
in colour, often vesicular, and may contain many large grey phenocysts
of leucite. Their black augite and yellow green olivine are also
easily detected in hand specimens. From Volcanello, Sardinia and
Roccamonfina similar rocks are obtained; they occur also in Bohemia,
in Java, Celebes, Kilimanjaro (Africa) and near Trebizond in Asia
Minor.

Leucite lavas from which felspar is absent are divided into the
leucitites and leucite basalts. The latter contain olivine, the former
do not. Pyroxene is the usual ferromagnesian mineral, and resembles
that of the tephrites and basanites. Sanidine, melanite, hauyne and
perofskite are frequent accessory minerals in these rocks, and many of
them contain melilite in some quantity. The well-known leucitite of
the Capo di Bove, near Rome, is rich in this mineral, which forms
irregular plates, yellow in the hand specimen, enclosing many small
rounded crystals of leucite. Bracciano and Roccamonfina are other
Italian localities for leucitite, and in Java, Montana, Celebes and
New South Wales similar rocks occur. The leucite-basalts belong to
more basic types and are rich in olivine and augite. They occur in
great numbers in the Rhenish volcanic district (Eifel, Laacher See)
and in Bohemia, and accompany tephrites or leucitites in Java,
Montana, Celebes and Sardinia. The "peperino" of the neighbourhood of
Rome is a leucitite tuff. (J. S. F.)

LEUCTRA, a village of Boeotia in the territory of Thespiae, chiefly noticeable for the battle fought in its neighbourhood in 371 B.C. between the Thebans and the Spartans and their allies. A Peloponnesian army, about 10,000 strong, which had invaded Boeotia from Phocis, was here confronted by a Boeotian levy of perhaps 6000 soldiers under Epaminondas (q.v.). In spite of inferior numbers and the doubtful loyalty of his Boeotian allies, Epaminondas offered battle on the plain before the town. Massing his cavalry and the 50-deep column of Theban infantry on his left wing, he sent forward this body in advance of his centre and right wing. After a cavalry engagement in which the Thebans drove their enemies off the field, the decisive issue was fought out between the Theban and Spartan foot. The latter, though fighting well, could not sustain in their 12-deep formation the heavy impact of their opponents' column, and were hurled back with a loss of about 2000 men, of whom 700 were Spartan citizens, including the king Cleombrotus. Seeing their right wing beaten, the rest of the Peloponnesians retired and left the enemy in possession of the field. Owing to the arrival of a Thessalian army under Jason of Pherae, whose friendship they did not trust, the Thebans were unable to exploit their victory. But the battle is none the less of great significance in Greek history. It marks a revolution in military tactics, affording the first known instance of a deliberate concentration of attack upon the vital point of the enemy's line. Its political effects were equally far-reaching, for the loss in material strength and prestige which the Spartans here sustained deprived them for ever of their supremacy in Greece.

AUTHORITIES.--Xenophon, _Hellenica_, vi. 4. 3-15; Diodorus xi. 53-56;
Plutarch, _Pelopidas_, chs. 20-23; Pausanias ix. 13. 2-10; G. B.
Grundy, _The Topography of the Battle of Plataea_ (London, 1894), pp.
73-76; H. Delbrück, _Geschichte der Kriegskunst_ (Berlin, 1900), i.
130 ff. (M. O. B. C.)

LEUK (Fr. _Loèche Ville_), an ancient and very picturesque little town in the Swiss canton of the Valais. It is built above the right bank of the Rhone, and is about 1 m. from the Leuk-Susten station (15½ m. east of Sion and 17½ m. west of Brieg) on the Simplon railway. In 1900 it had 1592 inhabitants, all but wholly German-speaking and Romanists. About 10½ m. by a winding carriage road N. of Leuk, and near the head of the Dala valley, at a height of 4629 ft. above the sea-level, and overshadowed by the cliffs of the Gemmi Pass (7641 ft.; q.v.) leading over to the Bernese Oberland, are the Baths of Leuk (_Leukerbad_, or _Loèche les Bains_). They have only 613 permanent inhabitants, but are much frequented in summer by visitors (largely French and Swiss) attracted by the hot mineral springs. These are 22 in number, and are very abundant. The principal is that of St Laurence, the water of which has a temperature of 124° F. The season lasts from June to September. The village in winter is long deprived of sunshine, and is much exposed to avalanches, by which it was destroyed in 1518, 1719 and 1756, but it is now protected by a strong embankment from a similar catastrophe. (W. A. B. C.)

LEUTHEN, a village of Prussian Silesia, 10 m. W. of Breslau, memorable as the scene of Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians on December 5, 1757. The high road from Breslau to Lüben crosses the marshy Schweidnitz Water at Lissa, and immediately enters the rolling country about Neumarkt. Leuthen itself stands some 4000 paces south of the road, and a similar distance south again lies Sagschütz, while Nypern, on the northern edge of the hill country, is 5000 paces from the road. On Frederick's approach the Austrians took up a line of battle resting on the two last-named villages. Their whole position was strongly garrisoned and protected by obstacles, and their artillery was numerous though of light calibre. A strong outpost of Saxon cavalry was in Borne to the westward. Frederick had the previous day surprised the Austrian bakeries at Neumarkt, and his Prussians, 33,000 to the enemy's 82,000, moved towards Borne and Leuthen early on the 5th. The Saxon outpost was rushed at in the morning mist, and, covered by their advanced guard on the heights beyond, the Prussians wheeled to their right. Prince Charles of Lorraine, the Austrian commander-in-chief, on Leuthen Church tower, could make nothing of Frederick's movements, and the commander of his right wing (Lucchesi) sent him message after message from Nypem and Gocklerwitz asking for help, which was eventually despatched. But the real blow was to fall on the left under Nadasdy. While the Austrian commander was thus wasting time, the Prussians were marching against Nadasdy in two columns, which preserved their distances with an exactitude which has excited the wonder of modern generations of soldiers; at the due place they wheeled into line of battle obliquely to the Austrian front, and in one great _échelon_,--the cavalry of the right wing foremost, and that of the left "refused,"--Frederick advanced on Sagschütz. Nadasdy, surprised, put a bold face on the matter and made a good defence, but he was speedily routed, and, as the Prussians advanced, battalion after battalion was rolled up towards Leuthen until the Austrians faced almost due south. The fighting in Leuthen itself was furious; the Austrians stood, in places, 100 deep, but the disciplined valour of the Prussians carried the village. For a moment the victory was endangered when Lucchesi came down upon the Prussian left wing from the north, but Driesen's cavalry, till then refused, charged him in flank and scattered his troopers in wild rout. This stroke ended the battle. The retreat on Breslau became a rout almost comparable to that of Waterloo, and Prince Charles rallied, in Bohemia, barely 37,000 out of his 82,000. Ten thousand Austrians were left on the field, 21,000 taken prisoners (besides 17,000 in Breslau a little later), with 51 colours and 116 cannon. The Prussian loss in all was under 5500. It was not until 1854 that a memorial of this astonishing victory was erected on the battlefield.

See Carlyle, _Frederick_, bk. xviii. cap. x.; V. Ollech, _Friedrich
der Grosse von Kolin bis Leuthen_ (Berlin, 1858); Kutzen, _Schlacht
bei Leuthen_ (Breslau, 1851 ); and bibliography under SEVEN YEARS'
WAR.

LEUTZE, EMANUEL (1816-1868), American artist, was born at Gmünd, Württemberg, on the 24th of May 1816, and as a child was taken by his parents to Philadelphia, where he early displayed talent as an artist. At the age of twenty-five he had earned enough to take him to Düsseldorf for a course of art study at the royal academy. Almost immediately he began the painting of historical subjects, his first work, "Columbus before the Council of Salamanca," being purchased by the Düsseldorf Art Union. In 1860 he was commissioned by the United States Congress to decorate a stairway in the Capitol at Washington, for which he painted a large composition, "Westward the Star of Empire takes its Way." His best-known work, popular through engraving, is "Washington crossing the Delaware," a large canvas containing a score of life-sized figures; it is now owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1860, and died at Washington, D.C., on the 18th of July 1868.

LEVALLOIS-PERRET, a north-western suburb of Paris, on the right bank of the Seine, 2½ m. from the centre of the city. Pop. (1906) 61,419. It carries on the manufacture of motor-cars and accessories, carriages, groceries, liqueurs, perfumery, soap, &c., and has a port on the Seine.

LEVANT (from the French use of the participle of _lever_, to rise, for the east, the orient), the name applied widely to the coastlands of the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Greece to Egypt, or, in a more restricted and commoner sense, to the Mediterranean coastlands of Asia Minor and Syria. In the 16th and 17th centuries the term "High Levant" was used of the Far East. The phrase "to levant," meaning to abscond, especially of one who runs away leaving debts unpaid, particularly of a betting man or gambler, is taken from the Span. _levantar_, to lift or break up, in such phrases as _levantar la casa_, to break up a household, or _el campo_, to break camp.

LEVASSEUR, PIERRE EMILE (1828- ), French economist, was born in Paris on the 8th of December 1828. Educated in Paris, he began to teach in the lycée at Alençon in 1852, and in 1857 was chosen professor of rhetoric at Besançon. He returned to Paris to become professor at the lycée Saint Louis, and in 1868 he was chosen a member of the academy of moral and political sciences. In 1872 he was appointed professor of geography, history and statistics in the Collège de France, and subsequently became also professor at the Conservatoire des arts et métiers and at the École libre des sciences politiques. Levasseur was one of the founders of the study of commercial geography, and became a member of the Council of Public Instruction, president of the French society of political economy and honorary president of the French geographical society.

His numerous writings include: _Histoire des classes ouvrières en
France depuis la conquête de Jules César jusqu'à la Révolution_
(1859); _Histoire des classes ouvrières en France depuis la Révolution
jusqu'à nos jours_ (1867); _L'Étude et l'enseignement de la
géographie_ (1871); _La Population française_ (1889-1892);
_L'Agriculture aux États-Unis_ (1894); _L'Enseignement primaire dans
les pays civilisés_ (1897); _L'Ouvrier américain_ (1898); _Questions
ouvrières et industrielles sous la troisième République_ (1907); and
_Histoire des classes ouvrières et de l'industrie en France de 1789 à
1870_ (1903-1904). He also published a _Grand Atlas de géographie
physique et politique_ (1890-1892).

LEVECHE, the name given to the dry hot sirocco wind in Spain; often incorrectly called the "solano." The direction of the Leveche is mostly from S.E., S. or S.W., and it occurs along the coast from Cabo de Gata to Cabo de Nao, and even beyond Malaga for a distance of some 10 m. inland.

LEVÉE (from Fr. _lever_, to raise), an embankment which keeps a river in its channel. A river such as the Mississippi (q.v.), draining a large area, carries a great amount of sediment from its swifter head-streams to the lower ground. As soon as a stream's velocity is checked, it drops a portion of its load of sediment and spreads an alluvial fan in the lower part of its course. This deposition of material takes place particularly at the sides of the stream where the velocity is least, and the banks are in consequence raised above the main channel, so that the river becomes lifted bodily upwards in its bed, and flows above the level of the surrounding country. In flood-time the muddy water flows over the river's banks, where its velocity is at once checked as it flows gently down the outer side, causing more material to be deposited there, and a long alluvial ridge, called a natural levée, to be built up on either side of the stream. These ridges may be wide or narrow, but they slope from the stream's outer banks to the plain below, and in consequence require careful watching, for if the levée is broken by a "crevasse," the whole body of the river may pour through and flood the country below. In 1890 the Mississippi near New Orleans broke through the Nita crevasse and flowed eastward with a current of 15 m. an hour, spreading destruction in its path. The Hwang-ho river in China is peculiarly liable to these inundations. The word levée is also sometimes used to denote a riverside quay or landing-place.

LEVEE (from the French substantival use of _lever_, to rise; there is no French substantival use of _levée_ in the English sense), a reception or assembly held by the British sovereign or his representative, in Ireland by the lord-lieutenant, in India by the viceroy, in the forenoon or early afternoon, at which men only are present in distinction from a "drawing-room," at which ladies also are presented or received. Under the _ancien règime_ in France the _lever_ of the king was regulated, especially under Louis XIV., by elaborate etiquette, and the various divisions of the ceremonial followed the stages of the king's rising from bed, from which it gained its name. The _petit lever_ began when the king had washed and said his daily offices; to this were admitted the princes of the blood, certain high officers of the household and those to whom a special permit had been granted; then followed the _première entrée_, to which came the secretaries and other officials and those having the _entrée_; these were received by the king in his dressing-gown. Finally, at the _grand lever_, the remainder of the household, the nobles and gentlemen of the court were received; the king by that time was shaved, had changed his linen and was in his wig. In the United States the term "levee" was formerly used of the public receptions held by the president.

LEVELLERS, the name given to an important political party in England during the period of the Civil War and the Commonwealth. The germ of the Levelling movement must be sought for among the Agitators (q.v.), men of strong republican views, and the name Leveller first appears in a letter of the 1st of November 1647, although it was undoubtedly in existence as a nickname before this date (Gardiner, _Great Civil War_, iii. 380). This letter refers to these extremists thus: "They have given themselves a new name, viz. Levellers, for they intend to sett all things straight, and rayse a parity and community in the kingdom."

The Levellers first became prominent in 1647 during the protracted and unsatisfactory negotiations between the king and the parliament, and while the relations between the latter and the army were very strained. Like the Agitators they were mainly found among the soldiers; they were opposed to the existence of kingship, and they feared that Cromwell and the other parliamentary leaders were too complaisant in their dealings with Charles; in fact they doubted their sincerity in this matter. Led by John Lilburne (q.v.) they presented a manifesto, _The Case of the Army truly stated_, to the commander-in-chief, Lord Fairfax, in October 1647. In this they demanded a dissolution of parliament within a year and substantial changes in the constitution of future parliaments, which were to be regulated by an unalterable "law paramount." In a second document, _The Agreement of the People_, they expanded these ideas, which were discussed by Cromwell, Ireton and other officers on the one side, and by John Wildman, Thomas Rainsborough and Edward Sexby for the Levellers on the other. But no settlement was made; some of the Levellers clamoured for the king's death, and in November 1647, just after his flight from Hampton Court to Carisbrooke, they were responsible for a mutiny which broke out in two regiments at Corkbush Field, near Ware. This, however, was promptly suppressed by Cromwell. During the twelve months which immediately preceded the execution of the king the Levellers conducted a lively agitation in favour of the ideas expressed in the _Agreement of the people_, and in January 1648 Lilburne was arrested for using seditious language at a meeting in London. But no success attended these and similar efforts, and their only result was that the Levellers regarded Cromwell with still greater suspicion.

Early in 1649, just after the death of the king, the Levellers renewed their activity. They were both numerous and dangerous, and they stood up, says Gardiner, "for an exaggeration of the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy." In a pamphlet, _England's New Chains_, Lilburne asked for the dissolution of the council of state and for a new and reformed parliament. He followed this up with the _Second Part of England's New Chains_; his writings were declared treasonable by parliament, and in March 1649 he and three other leading Levellers, Richard Overton, William Walwyn and Prince were arrested. The discontent which was spreading in the army was fanned when certain regiments were ordered to proceed to Ireland, and in April 1649 there was a meeting in London; but this was quickly put down by Fairfax and Cromwell, and its leader, Robert Lockyer, was shot. Risings at Burford and at Banbury were also suppressed without any serious difficulty, and the trouble with the Levellers was practically over. Gradually they became less prominent, but under the Commonwealth they made frequent advances to the exiled king Charles II., and there was some danger from them early in 1655 when Wildman was arrested and Sexby escaped from England. The distinguishing mark of the Leveller was a sea-green ribbon.

Another but more harmless form of the same movement was the assembling of about fifty men on St George's Hill near Oatlands in Surrey. In April 1649 these "True Levellers" or "Diggers," as they were called, took possession of some unoccupied ground which they began to cultivate. They were, however, soon dispersed, and their leaders were arrested and brought before Fairfax, when they took the opportunity of denouncing landowners. It is interesting to note that Lilburne and his colleagues objected to being designated Levellers, as they had no desire to take away "the proper right and title that every man has to what is his own."

Cromwell attacked the Levellers in his speech to parliament in September 1654 (Carlyle, _Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_, Speech II.). He said: "A nobleman, a gentleman, a yeoman; the distinction of these; that is a good interest of the nation, and a great one. The 'natural' magistracy of the nation, was it not almost trampled under foot, under despite and contempt, by men of Levelling principles? I beseech you, for the orders of men and ranks of men, did not that Levelling principle tend to the reducing of all to an equality? Did it 'consciously' think to do so; or did it 'only unconsciously' practise towards that for property and interest? 'At all events,' what was the purport of it but to make the tenant as liberal a fortune as the landlord? Which, I think, if obtained, would not have lasted long."

In 1724 there was a rising against enclosures in Galloway, and a
number of men who took part therein were called Levellers or
Dyke-breakers (A. Lang, _History of Scotland_, vol. iv.). The word was
also used in Ireland during the 18th century to describe a secret
revolutionary society similar to the Whiteboys. (A. W. H.*)