Chapter XVII: Front Matter (17)

The Norway lobster (_Nephrops norvegicus_) is found, like the common lobster, from Norway to the Mediterranean. It is a smaller species, with long and slender claws and is of an orange colour, often beautifully marked with red and blue. It is found in deeper water and is generally captured by trawling. It is a curious and unexplained fact that nearly all the individuals so captured are males. It is less esteemed for food than the common species. In London it is sold under the name of "Dublin prawn."

The rock lobster, spiny lobster, or sea-crawfish (_Palinurus vulgaris_) belongs to the family _Palinuridae_, distinguished from the _Homaridae_ by the fact that the first legs are not provided with chelae or pincers, and that all the legs possess only six segments. The antennae are very long and thick. It is found on the southern and western coasts of the British, Islands and extends to the Mediterranean. It is highly esteemed for the table, especially in France, where it goes by the name of _Langouste_. Other species of the same family are used for food in various parts of the world, especially on the Pacific coast of North America and in Australia and New Zealand.

In Melbourne and Sydney the name of "Murray lobster" is given to a large species of crayfish (_Astacopsis spinifer_, formerly known as _Astacus_, or _Potamobius serratus_) which is much used for food. (W. T. Ca.)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, a phrase specially adopted in English usage for the decentralized or deconcentrated administration, within a state or national and central government, of local affairs by local authorities. It is restricted not only in respect of area but also in respect of the character and extent of the duties assigned to them. It is not to be confused with local self-government in the wider sense in which the words are sometimes employed, e.g. for the granting by the crown of self-government to a colony; the expression, in a general way, may mean this, but "local government" as technically used in England refers more narrowly to the system of county or municipal administration, and English usage transfers it to denote the similar institutions in other countries. The growth and persistence of this kind of subordinate government is due practically to the need of relieving the central authority in the state, and to experience of the failure of a completely centralized bureaucracy. The degree to which local government is adopted varies considerably in different countries, and those which are the best examples of it in modern times--the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Germany--differ very much in their local institutions, partly through historical, partly through temperamental, causes. A certain shifting of ideas from time to time, as to what is local and what is central, is inevitable, and the same view is not possible in countries of different configuration, history or political system. The history and present state of the local government in the various countries are dealt with in the separate articles on them (ENGLAND, GERMANY, &c.), in the sections dealing with government and administration, or political institutions.

The best recent comparative study of local government is Percy
Ashley's _Local and Central Government_ (Murray, 1906), an admirable
account of the evolution and working of the systems in England,
France, Prussia and United States. Other important works, in addition
to general works on constitutional law, are J. A. Fairlie's _Municipal
Administration_, Shaw's _Municipal Government in Continental Europe_,
Redlich and Hirst's _Local Government in England_, Mr and Mrs Sidney
Webb's elaborate historical inquiry into English local government
(1906), and for Germany, Bornhak's _Geschichte des preussischen
Verwaltungsrechts_.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD, a department of the administration of the United Kingdom, constituted in 1871. It is the successor of the General Board of Health, established in 1848 pursuant to the Public Health Act of that year. The General Board of Health continued in existence until 1854, when it was reconstituted. Its existence under its new constitution was originally limited to one year, but was extended from year to year until 1858, when it was allowed to expire, its powers under the various acts for the prevention of diseases being transferred to the privy council, while those which related to the control of local authorities passed to the secretary of state for the home department, to whose department the staff of officers and clerks belonging to the board was transferred. This state of affairs continued until 1871, when the Local Government Board was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871. It consists of the lord president of the council, the five principal secretaries of state, the lord privy seal, the chancellor of the exchequer and a president appointed by the sovereign. The board itself seldom meets, and the duties of the department are discharged by the president assisted by a parliamentary and a permanent secretary and a permanent staff. The president and one of the secretaries usually have seats in parliament, and the president is generally a member of the cabinet. The salary of the president, formerly £2000, was raised in 1910 to £5000 a year. The board has all the powers of the secretary of state under the Public Health Act 1848, and the numerous subsequent acts relating to sanitary matters and the government of sanitary districts; together with all the powers and duties of the privy council under the acts relating to the prevention of epidemic disease and to vaccination. The powers and duties of the board have been largely added to by legislation since its creation; it may be said that the board exercises a general supervision over the numerous authorities to whom local government has been entrusted (see ENGLAND: _Local Government_). A committee presided over by Lord Jersey in 1904 inquired into the constitution and duties of the board, but made no recommendation as to any change therein. It recommended, however, an increase in the salaries of the president and of the parliamentary and permanent secretaries.

LOCARNO (Ger. _Luggarus_), a small town of Italian appearance in the Swiss canton of Tessin or Ticino, of which till 1881 it was one of the three capitals (the others being Bellinzona, q.v., and Lugano, q.v.). It is built at the north or Swiss end of the Lago Maggiore, not far from the point at which the Maggia enters that lake, and is by rail 14 m. S.W. of Bellinzona. Its height above the sea-level is only 682 ft., so that it is said to be the lowest spot in Switzerland. In 1900 its population was 3603, mainly Italian-speaking and Romanists. It was taken from the Milanese in 1512 by the Swiss who ruled it till 1798, when it became part of the canton of Lugano in the Helvetic Republic, and in 1803 part of that of Tessin or Ticino, then first erected. In 1555 a number of Protestant inhabitants were expelled for religious reasons, and going to Zürich founded the silk industry there. Above Locarno is the romantically situated sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso (now rendered easily accessible by a funicular railway) that commands a glorious view over the lake and the surrounding country. (W. A. B. C.)

LOCH, HENRY BROUGHAM LOCH, 1ST BARON (1827-1900), British colonial administrator, son of James Loch, M.P., of Drylaw, Midlothian, was born on the 23rd of May 1827. He entered the navy, but at the end of two years quitted it for the East India Company's military service, and in 1842 obtained a commission in the Bengal Light Cavalry. In the Sikh war in 1845 he was given an appointment on the staff of Sir Hugh Gough, and served throughout the Sutlej campaign. In 1852 he became second in command of Skinner's Horse. At the outbreak of the Crimean war in 1854, Loch severed his connexion with India, and obtained leave to raise a body of irregular Bulgarian cavalry, which he commanded throughout the war. In 1857 he was appointed attaché to Lord Elgin's mission to the East, was present at the taking of Canton, and in 1858 brought home the treaty of Yedo. In April 1860 he again accompanied Lord Elgin to China, as secretary of the new embassy sent to secure the execution by China of her treaty engagements. The embassy was backed up by an allied Anglo-French force. With Harry S. Parkes he negotiated the surrender of the Taku forts. During the advance on Peking Loch was chosen with Parkes to complete the preliminary negotiations for peace at Tungchow. They were accompanied by a small party of officers and Sikhs. It having been discovered that the Chinese were planning a treacherous attack on the British force, Loch rode back and warned the outposts. He then returned to Parkes and his party under a flag of truce hoping to secure their safety. They were all, however, made prisoners and taken to Peking, where the majority died from torture or disease. Parkes and Loch, after enduring irons and all the horrors of a Chinese prison, were afterwards more leniently treated. After three weeks' time the negotiations for their release were successful, but they had only been liberated ten minutes when orders were received from the Chinese emperor, then a fugitive in Mongolia, for their immediate execution. Loch never entirely recovered his health after this experience in a Chinese dungeon. Returning home he was made C.B., and for a while was private secretary to Sir George Grey, then at the Home Office. In 1863 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Man. During his governorship the House of Keys was transformed into an elective assembly, the first line of railway was opened, and the influx of tourists began to bring fresh prosperity to the island. In 1882 Loch, who had become K.C.B. in 1880, accepted a commissionership of woods and forests, and two years later was made governor of Victoria, where he won the esteem of all classes. In June 1889 he succeeded Sir Hercules Robinson as governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner of South Africa.

As high commissioner his duties called for the exercise of great judgment and firmness. The Boers were at the same time striving to frustrate Cecil Rhodes's schemes of northern expansion and planning to occupy Mashonaland, to secure control of Swaziland and Zululand and to acquire the adjacent lands up to the ocean. Loch firmly supported Rhodes, and, by informing President Kruger that troops would be sent to prevent any invasion of territory under British protection, he effectually crushed the "Banyailand trek" across the Limpopo (1890-91). Loch, however, with the approval of the imperial government, concluded in July-August 1890 a convention with President Kruger respecting Swaziland, by which, while the Boers withdrew all claims to territory north of the Transvaal, they were granted an outlet to the sea at Kosi Bay on condition that the republic entered the South African Customs Union. This convention was concluded after negotiations conducted with President Kruger by J. H. Hofmeyr on behalf of the high commissioner, and was made at a time when the British and Bond parties in Cape Colony were working in harmony. The Transvaal did not, however, fulfil the necessary condition, and in view of the increasingly hostile attitude of the Pretoria administration to Great Britain Loch became a strong advocate of the annexation by Britain of the territory east of Swaziland, through which the Boer railway to the sea would have passed. He at length induced the British government to adopt his view and on the 15th of March 1895 it was announced that these territories (Amatongaland, &c.), would be annexed by Britain, an announcement received by Mr Kruger "with the greatest astonishment and regret." Meantime Loch had been forced to intervene in another matter. When the commandeering difficulty of 1894 had roused the Uitlanders in the Transvaal to a dangerous pitch of excitement, he travelled to Pretoria to use his personal influence with President Kruger, and obtained the withdrawal of the obnoxious commandeering regulations. In the following year he entered a strong protest against the new Transvaal franchise law. Meanwhile, however, the general situation in South Africa was assuming year by year a more threatening aspect. Cecil Rhodes, then prime minister of Cape Colony, was strongly in favour of a more energetic policy than was supported by the Imperial government, and at the end of March 1895 the high commissioner, finding himself, it is believed, out of touch with his ministers, returned home a few months before the expiry of his term of office. In the same year he was raised to the peerage. When the Anglo-Boer war broke out in 1899 Loch took a leading part in raising and equipping a body of mounted men, named after him "Loch's Horse." He died in London on the 20th of June 1900, and was succeeded as 2nd baron by his son Edward (b. 1873).

LOCHABER, a district of southern Inverness-shire, Scotland, bounded W. by Loch Linnhe, the river and loch Lochy, N. by the Corryarrick range and adjoining hills, N.E. and E. by the district of Badenoch, S.E. by the district of Rannoch and S. by the river and loch Leven. It measures 32 m. from N.E. to S.W. and 25 m. from E. to W., and is remarkable for wild and romantic scenery, Ben Nevis being the chief mountain. The district has given its name to a celebrated type of axe, consisting of a long shaft with a blade like a scythe and a large hook behind it, which, according to Sir Walter Scott, was introduced into the Highlands and Ireland from Scandinavia. It was the weapon of the old City Guard of Edinburgh. The pathetic song of "Lochaber no more" was written by Allan Ramsay.

LOCHES, a town in France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Indre-et-Loire, 29 m. S.E. of Tours by rail, on the left bank of the Indre. Pop. (1906) 3751. The town, one of the most picturesque in central France, lies at the foot of the rocky eminence on which stands the castle of the Anjou family, surrounded by an outer wall 1¼ m. in circumference, and consisting of the old collegiate church of St Ours, the royal lodge and the donjon. The church of St Ours dates from the 10th to the 12th centuries; among its distinguishing features are the huge stone pyramids surmounting the nave and the beautiful carving of the west door. The royal lodge, built by Charles VII. and used as the subprefecture, contains the tomb of Agnes Sorel and the oratory of Anne of Brittany. The donjon includes, besides the ruined keep (12th century), the Martelet, celebrated as the prison of Lodovico Sforza, duke of Milan, who died there in 1508, and the Tour Ronde, built by Louis XI. and containing the famous iron cages in which state prisoners, including--according to a story now discredited--their inventor Cardinal Balue, were confined. Loches has an hôtel-de-ville and several houses of the Renaissance period. It has a tribunal of first instance, a communal college and a training college. Liqueur-distilling and tanning are carried on together with trade in farm-produce, wine, wood and live-stock.

On the right bank of the Loire, opposite the town and practically its suburb, is the village of Beaulieu-lès-Loches, once the seat of a barony. Besides the parish church of St Laurent, a beautiful specimen of 12th-century architecture, it contains the remains of the great abbey church of the Holy Sepulchre founded in the 11th century by Fulk Nerra, count of Anjou, who is buried in the chancel. This chancel, which with one of the older transepts now constitutes the church, dates from the 15th century. The Romanesque nave is in ruins, but of the two towers one survives intact; it is square, crowned with an octagonal steeple of stone, and is one of the finest extant monuments of Romanesque architecture.

Loches (the Roman _Leucae_) grew up round a monastery founded about 500 by St Ours and belonged to the counts of Anjou from 886 till 1205. In the latter year it was seized from King John of England by Philip Augustus, and from the middle of the 13th century till after the time of Charles IX. the castle was a residence of the kings of France.

LOCHGELLY, a police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland, 7½ m. N.E. of Dunfermline by the North British railway. Pop. (1901) 5472. The town is modern and owes its prosperity to the iron-works and collieries in its immediate vicinity. Loch Gelly, from which the town takes its name, situated ½ m. S.E., measures ½ m. in length by ¾ m. in breadth, contains some trout and pike, and has on its west banks Lochgelly House, a seat of the earl of Minto. The Romans are said to have had a station at Loch Ore in the parish of Ballingry, 2¼ m. N. by W., which was drained about the end of the 18th century and then cultivated. To the N.E. rises the hill of Benarty (1131 ft.). Hallyards, about 2 m. S.E. of Lochgelly, is a ruined house that once belonged to Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange, who held Edinburgh Castle for Queen Mary. Here James V. was received after his defeat at Solway Moss in 1542, and here a few Jacobites used to meet in 1715.

LOCHGILPHEAD, a municipal and police burgh of Argyllshire, Scotland, at the head of Loch Gilp, a small arm on the western side of Loch Fyne. Pop. (1901) 1313. The herring-fishery is the chief industry, but there is some weaving of woollens and, in summer, a considerable influx of visitors. Ardrishaig (pop. 1285), a seaport on the west of the mouth of Loch Gilp, is the east terminus of the Crinan Canal. It is the place of transhipment from the large Glasgow passenger steamers to the small craft built for the navigation of the canal. It is an important harbour in connexion with the Loch Fyne herring-fishery, and there is also a distillery. During the summer there is a coach service to Ford at the lower end of Loch Awe.

LOCHMABEN, a royal and police burgh of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, 8 m. N.E. of Dumfries, with a station on the Caledonian railway company's branch from Dumfries to Locherbie. Pop. (1901) 1328. It is delightfully situated, there being eight lakes in the immediate neighbourhood, while the river Annan, and the Waters of Ae, Kinnel and Dryfe are in the vicinity. The town hall is a handsome edifice with clock tower. At the south end of Castle Loch, the chief lake, stand the ruins, a mere shell, of Lochmaben Castle, dating from the 13th century, where local tradition declares that Robert Bruce was born--an honour which is also claimed, however, for Turnberry Castle on the coast of Ayrshire. In the parish church is a bell said to have been presented to King Robert by the pope after reconciliation with him. A statue of the king stands in front of the town hall. Whether it were his birthplace or not, the associations of Bruce with Lochmaben were intimate. He exempted his followers in the district from feudal service and their descendants--the "kindly tenants of Lochmaben"--were confirmed in their tenure by the court of session in 1824. The Castle Loch is the only fresh water in Scotland, and possibly in the British Isles, where the vendace (_coregonus vandesius_) occurs. This fish, which is believed to be growing scarcer, is alleged on doubtful authority to have been introduced by Queen Mary. It is captured by the sweep-net in August, and is esteemed as a delicacy. The lakes adjoining the town afford the inhabitants exceptional advantages for the game of curling. There was once a team of Lochmaben Curlers entirely composed of shoemakers (souters) who held their own against all comers, and their prowess added the phrase "to souter" to the vocabulary of the sport, the word indicating a match in which the winners scored "game" to their opponents' "love." Lochmaben unites with Annan, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Sanquhar (the Dumfries burghs) in returning one member to parliament.

LOCK, MATTHIAS, English 18th-century furniture designer and cabinet-maker. The dates of his birth and death are unknown; but he was a disciple of Chippendale, and subsequently of the Adams, and was possibly in partnership with Henry Copeland (q.v.). During the greater part of his life he belonged to that flamboyant school which derived its inspiration from Louis XV. models; but when he fell under the influence of Robert Adam he absorbed his manner so completely that it is often difficult to distinguish between them, just as it is sometimes easy to confound Lock's work with the weaker efforts of Chippendale. Thus from being extravagantly rococo he progressed to a simple ordered classicism. His published designs are not equal to his original drawings, many of which are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, while the pieces themselves are often bolder and more solid than is suggested by the author's representations of them. He was a clever craftsman and holds a distinct place among the minor furniture designers of the second half of the 18th century.

Among his works, some of which were issued in conjunction with
Copeland, are: _A New Drawing Book of Ornaments_ (n. d.); _A New Book
of Ornaments_ (1768); _A New Book of Pier Frames, Ovals, Girandoles,
Tables, &c._ (1769); and _A New Book of Foliage_ (1769).

LOCK (from the O. Eng. _loc._; the word appears, in different forms, in many Teutonic languages, but with such various meanings as "hole," Ger. _Loch_, "lid," Swed. _lock_, &c.; probably the original was a root meaning "to enclose"), a fastening, particularly one which consists of a bolt held in a certain position by one or more movable parts which require to be placed in definite positions by the aid of a key or of a secret arrangement of letters, figures or signs, before the bolt can be moved. It is with such fastenings that the present article chiefly deals.

The word is also used, in the original sense of an enclosure or
barrier, for a length of water in a river or canal, or at the entrance
of a dock, enclosed at both ends by gates, the "lock-gates," and
fitted with sluices, to enable vessels to be raised from a lower to a
higher level or vice versa (see CANAL and DOCK). In guns and rifles
the lock is the mechanism which effects the firing of the charge; it
thus appears in the names of old types of weapons, such as wheel-lock,
match-lock, flint-lock (see ARMS AND ARMOUR, § _Firearms_; also GUN
and RIFLE). Lock (Ger. _Locke_) in the sense of a curl or tuft of
hair, the separate groups in which the hair naturally grows, may be,
in ultimate origin, connected with the root of the main word. Lockjaw
is the popular name of the disease known as tetanus (q.v.). The name
"Lock Hospital" is frequently used in English for a hospital for
patients suffering from venereal diseases. According to the _New
English Dictionary_ there was in Southwark as early as 1453 a
leper-hospital, known as the Lock Lazar House, which later was used
for the treatment of venereal diseases. The name appears to have
become used in the present sense as early as the end of the 17th
century. Lock hospitals were established in London in 1745-1747 and in
Dublin in 1754-1755.

The forms in which locks are manufactured, such as padlock, rim-lock, mortise-lock, one-sided or two-sided, &c., are necessarily extremely numerous; and the variations in the details of construction of any one of these forms are still more numerous, so that it is impossible to do more here than describe the main types which have been or are in common use. Probably the earliest locks were of Chinese origin. Specimens of these still extant are quite as secure as any locks manufactured in Europe up to the 18th century, but it is impossible to ascertain the date of their manufacture. With the exception, in all probability, of these Chinese examples, the earliest lock of which the construction is known is the Egyptian, which was used four thousand years ago. In fig. 1, _aa_ is the body of the lock, _bb_ the bolt and _cc_ the key. The three pins _p, p, p_ drop into three holes in the bolt when it is pushed in, and so hold it fast; and they are raised again by putting in the key through the large hole in the bolt and raising it a little, so that the pins in the key push the locking pins up out of the way of the bolt. It was evidently to locks and keys of this nature that the prophet alluded: "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder" (Isaiah xxii. 22), the word _muftah_ used in this passage being the common word for key to this day.

In the 18th century the European lock was nothing better than a mere bolt, held in its place, either shut or open, by a spring b (fig. 2), which pressed it down, and so held it at either one end or the other of the convex notch _aa_; and the only impediment to opening it was the wards which the key had to pass before it could turn in the keyhole. But it was always possible to find the shape of the wards by merely putting in a blank key covered with wax, and pressing it against them; and when this had been done it was unnecessary to cut out the key into the complicated form of the wards (such as fig. 3), because no part of that key does any work except the edge _bc_ farthest from the pipe a; and so a key of the form fig. 4 would do just as well. Thus a small collection of skeleton keys, as they are called, of a few different patterns, was all the stock in trade that a lock-picker required.

Lever locks.

The common single-tumbler lock (fig. 5) requires two operations instead of one to open it. The tumbler _at_ turns on a pivot at t, and has a square pin at a, which drops into a notch in the bolt _bb_, when it is either quite open or quite shut, and the tumbler must be lifted by the key before the bolt can be moved again. The tumbler offered little resistance to picking, as the height to which it might be lifted was not limited and the bolt would operate provided only that this height was sufficient; the improvement which formed the foundation of the modern key lock was the substitution of what is known as the "lever" for the tumbler, the difference being that the lever must be lifted to _exactly_ the right height to allow the bolt to pass. This improvement, together with the obvious one of using more than one lever, was introduced in 1778 by Robert Barron, and is illustrated in figs. 6 and 7. Unless the square pin a (fig. 6) is lifted by the key to the proper height and no higher, the bolt cannot move. Fig. 8 illustrates the key of such a lock with four levers, the different distances between the centre of the key barrel and the edge of the bit being adapted to lift the levers to the respective heights required. This lock differs from the modern lever lock only in the fact that Barron made his gating in the bolt and carried stumps on his levers, instead of having the main stump riveted into the bolt and the gatings in the levers as is the modern practice.

A lock operating on exactly the same principle but entirely different in construction (fig. 9) was invented by Joseph Bramah in 1784. It consists of an outer barrel _aaaa_, within which is a revolving barrel, _cccc_, held in place by a steel disk, _dd_, and provided with a pin b fixed eccentrically for operating the bolt; the barrel is prevented from turning by sheet metal sliders _ss_, which slide axially in radial grooves in the barrel and project into slots cut into the steel disk which is fastened to the case of the lock. Each slider has a gating cut in its outer edge sufficiently deep to allow it to embrace the inwardly projecting steel plate and turn on it with the barrel. The key is of tubular form having slots cut in its end, each of a depth corresponding to the position of the gating in one of the sliders; so that, on inserting the key, each slider is pushed in--against a spring--exactly far enough to bring its slot opposite the steel disk; in this position the barrel carrying the sliders is turned by the key and actuates the bolt.

Up to 1851 it was generally believed that well-made lever locks of all types were practically unpickable, but at this time Alfred Charles Hobbs--an American--demonstrated, by picking the locks of Barron, Chubb, Bramah and others, that this belief was a fallacy. The method of Hobbs became widely known as the "tickling" or "tentative" method. In the modern lever lock the bolt carries a projecting piece--the "main stump"--which, when the levers are all raised to the proper height, enters the slots--"gatings"--in their faces. If, when the levers are not in this position, pressure is applied to the bolt, the main stump will press against the face of the levers; but owing to inaccuracies of workmanship and other causes the pressure will not be equal on all the levers. If now, the pressure on the bolt being maintained, each lever in turn is carefully raised a little, one will be found on which the pressure of the stump is greatest; this one is lifted till it becomes easy and then carefully lowered till it is sustained by the pressure of the stump in a new position. Another lever now bears the greatest pressure, and this in its turn is similarly treated. By this gradual or "tentative" process the levers will in time all be raised to the correct height and the bolt will slip back without, if sufficient care has been exercised, any of the levers having been raised above its correct position. Although this method of picking only became generally known in 1851, it is evident that it was not novel, since in 1817 one of Bramah's workmen, named Russell, invented the use of false notches or gatings, which were slots similar to the true gating but of small depth cut in the face of the levers. Similar false gatings were used in Anthony Radford Strutt's lock in 1819. The only possible object of these gatings--two of which are shown in each of the sliders of Bramah's lock--was to prevent the tentative method of picking. They are, however, not efficient for their purpose although they render the operation more difficult and tedious.

The best-known locks up to 1851 were those of Jeremiah Chubb, their popularity being due to their superior workmanship and probably still more to their title "detector." His lock, patented in 1818, contained a device intended to frustrate attempts at picking, and further to detect if such an attempt had been made. This device, at any rate as far as detecting was concerned, had been anticipated by the patent of Thomas Ruxton in 1816. Since the device only comes into operation when any lever is raised too high, it is not effective against a skilful application of the tentative method. The original form of this lock is shown in fig. 10, when the lever DT, which turns on a pin in the middle, is acted upon at its end T by a spring S, which will evidently allow some play to the lever on either side of the corner X; but the moment it is pushed past that point the spring will carry it farther in the same direction, like what is called in clock-work a jumper. In its proper position that end always remains above the turning-point; but, if any one of the tumblers is raised too high, the other end D of the detector, which reaches over all the levers, is lifted so far that the end T is sent down below the corner, and the tooth T then falls into a notch in the bolt, and so prevents it from being drawn back, even though all the levers are raised properly by the right key. It thus at once becomes obvious that somebody has been trying to pick the lock. The way to open it, then, is to turn the key the other way, as if to overlock the bolt; a short piece of gating near the end of the levers allows the bolt to advance just far enough to push the tooth of the detector up again by means of its inclination there, and then the lock can be opened as usual. To render the mechanism of locks more inaccessible for picking purposes, two devices, the "curtain" and the "barrel," were in use; these devices were simply the one a disk and the other a cylinder carrying a keyhole which revolved with the key and so closed the fixed keyhole in the case.

It is to Hobbs himself that we are indebted for the invention of the
movable stump, since called the safety lever, the only device
introduced rendering the tentative method of picking inoperative. This
invention was incorporated in the "protector" locks of Hobbs, Hart &
Co.; it consists in the employment of a movable main stump which is
not riveted into the bolt as usual, but is set on the end b of a bent
lever _abc_ (fig. 11) which lies in a hollow of the bolt A behind it,
turning on a pivot in the bolt itself, and kept steady by a small
friction-spring e. The stump comes through a hole in the bolt large
enough to let it have a little play; and the long end a of the lever
stands just above the edge of a square pin d, which is fixed in the
back plate of the lock. When the lock is locked, if the bolt be pushed
back, no sensible pressure on the levers is produced, but only just
enough to turn this protector lever, as Hobbs called it, on its pivot
c, and so bring down its end a in front of the square pin, and then
the bolt can no more be pushed back than when held by Chubb's
detector. The protector is set free again by merely pushing the bolt
forward with the key, without reference to the levers. However, the
protector could be prevented from acting by a method used by the
inventor himself for another purpose, viz., by pushing a piece of
watch-spring through the keyhole, and up behind the bolt, so as to
reach the protector at a, and keep it up while the bolt was pushed
back, or, again, by pushing up the watch-spring between any two of the
levers, and holding the end b of the protector with it, so as to press
the stump against the levers. Both these devices, however, are
prevented now by letting in a feather FF in a groove between the bolt
and the back of the lock, which no watch-spring can pass, and also
bringing a piece of the feather forward through the front gating of
the levers just under the stump. In this form the lock is safe against
any mode of picking known. A lock possessing valuable features was
invented in 1852 by Sir Edmund Beckett--afterwards Lord
Grimthorpe--but did not come into general use for commercial reasons.

All the locks containing many levers so far described have a common
defect in that the levers are moved in one direction by the key and in
the other by springs. But it not infrequently happens that dirt or
grease gets between the levers and causes two or more to stick
together, in which case one of them is lifted too high and the bolt is
prevented from operating. To overcome this difficulty locks,
especially those intended for safes, have been made so that alternate
levers move in opposite directions, the key having two bits on
opposite sides. This construction entails that the key enter the body
of the levers instead of passing below them, an arrangement that had
previously been in use to reduce the space into which gunpowder could
be packed through the keyhole.

Key locks.

The key locks chiefly used in English safes have been the ordinary
lever lock with 6-8 or 10 levers, Chubb's "detector," Hobbs's
"protector" or variants of these. In the Yale lock, which reverts in
some degree to the idea of the ancient Egyptian lock, America has
produced one key lock which has come into almost universal use in that
country and is certainly worthy of note. The key of this lock, shown
full size at _ka_ in fig. 12, is remarkably small, being stamped from
a piece of flat steel and weighing only a small fraction of an ounce.
The barrel _abc_ has to turn, as in the Bramah lock, in order to move
the bolt, which is not shown in the figure. That may be done either as
in Bramah locks or by a tongue or bit attached to the end _ab_ of the
barrel as in several other locks. The barrel is prevented from being
turned, except by the proper key, thus. The (apparently) five plugs
with spiral springs over them in fig. 12 are really all divided at the
cross line _bc_, being all now lifted to the proper height by the key.
Consequently the barrel _abc_ can turn round, as there is no plug
either projecting from it or projecting into it. But when the key is
out, all the plugs are pushed down by the springs, and so the upper
ones descend into the barrel and hold it fast. And again, if any of
the steps of a false key are too high, some of the lower plugs will be
pushed up beyond the barrel into the holes above them, and so the
barrel cannot turn. The bevelled end of the key near a enables it to
be pushed in under the plugs, though with some friction and
resistance.

It is frequently convenient to have a number of different locks so
arranged that, whilst each has its own individual key, yet one special
or "master" key will operate any of the series. In warded locks this
is done by "differing" the wards of the individual locks so that each
key will only pass its own lock, and then filing away the bit of an
extra key so that it will pass all the wards; the objection to this
method is that any of the individual keys can easily be filed away and
so form a master key. A better method, which meets this objection,
consists in making all the levers except one--or if need be two--of
each lock alike and cutting another gating or widening the gating in
the differing levers, so as to pass the master key which has one--or
two--special steps.

The growth of safe deposits has called for special locks so that when a box changes tenants the outgoing tenant's key shall be useless. In some cases the lock has been taken off and another substituted, but this is a clumsy makeshift now rarely employed, and has been superseded by the use of changeable key locks.

The first of these, invented by Robert Newell in 1841, was introduced
into Great Britain from America by Hobbs in 1851. A simpler form, the
construction of which is clearly shown by fig. 13, was brought out by
Hobbs, Hart & Co. The bolt of this lock, instead of the ordinary main
stump, carries a set of sliders, PPS, one corresponding to each lever
and each carrying a projection S corresponding to a portion of the
main stump. It will be seen that if any key having steps of certain
lengths is inserted when the lock is unlocked and the bolt B thrown
thereby, each slider will be raised to a height corresponding to that
to which its lever is raised by the key, and the two fixed teeth CC
will engage two of the teeth in the front of each slider, so that they
will be held in place ready to enter the lever gatings when the same
key is inserted.

A changeable key lock introduced by the Chatwood Safe Co. has no
gatings in the levers, whose fronts are cut with teeth gearing into
similar teeth cut in a set of disks carrying the gatings. The disks
are mounted on a stud which can be moved by a key from the back of the
lock in such a way that while the main stump is in the
gatings--keeping the disks in position--the disks are carried forward
out of gear with the levers; the key can then be removed and another
having steps of suitable length inserted and turned so as to raise the
levers, the disks being then brought back into gear.

Both the above locks require that the key steps should have certain
definite lengths corresponding to the teeth, but a later lock
resembling to some extent that brought out by Hobbs, Hart & Co. has
been introduced by the Chatwood Co., in which it is sufficient after
unlocking the lock to file any of the key steps and so alter the
pattern of the key in any way. In this lock, which is illustrated in
fig. 14, unlike all those that have been described, the levers are not
pivoted but slide upon guide stumps; the main stump is divided as in
Hobbs Hart's lock, the various pieces being clamped together by a
screw to form a solid stump. The sliders composing the main stump are
not provided with teeth, the changing being effected as follows: when
the bolt is partly shot by the correct key, the screw which binds the
sliders together as it comes opposite an opening in the back of the
case is loosened, the key is removed and altered--or a fresh key
substituted--and is inserted so as to lift the levers to their correct
height and expose the clamping screw at the back, which is then
tightened. This lock is now commonly used for safe deposits, combined
with a small lever lock of which the custodian carries the key, and
which either blocks the bolt of the main lock or covers the keyhole.

In connexion with changeable key locks requiring key steps of definite
lengths, much ingenuity has been displayed in designing keys with
movable bits or steps, as fig. 15, which are useful chiefly as
duplicates, being built up to match the key from time to time in use,
and then deposited in some bank or other secure place to be used in
case of emergency.

Combination locks.

From the very earliest times secret devices, either to hide keyholes or to take the place of locks proper, have been in use; these are to-day only seriously represented by "combination" locks which, whilst following the same general principles as key locks, differ entirely in construction. Locks in which the arranging of the internal parts in their proper positions was secured by the manipulation of external parts marked with letters or numbers were common in China in very early times, but their history is unfortunately lost. This form of lock has been developed to a very high degree of perfection and is, for safes, in almost universal use to-day in America.

The American lock consists of a series of disks mounted upon one
spindle, only one, however--the bolt disk--being fixed thereto, and
provided each with a gating into which a stump connected with the bolt
can drop when all the gatings lie upon a given line parallel to the
axis of the spindle. Each disk is provided with a driving pin so
arranged that it can impinge on and drive a similar pin in its next
neighbour; the gating in the bolt disk and the portion of the stump
which enters it are so formed that the disk can draw the bolt back.
The spindle is provided on the outside with a knob and graduated
disk--usually with 100 divisions--surrounded by an annulus on which a
fixed position is denoted. Each disk, including the bolt disk, is
provided with a pin projecting from its surface in such a way that the
pin of one disk comes into contact with that of the next disk and
drives it round. If, then, the bolt disk being at the back, there are
three letter disks and the spindle is rotated to the left, the bolt
disk will in the course of one revolution pick up letter disk No.
1--counting from the bolt disk--in the second revolution it will pick
up No. 2, and in the third No. 3, the revolution being continued for
part of a turn till the number corresponding to the correct position
of No. 3 is reached. The revolution of the spindle is now reversed.
The bolt disk leaves No. 1 in the first revolution and picks it up
again, and the second revolution picks up No. 2. The motion is
continued for part of a revolution till No. 2 is brought to the
correct position (No. 3 obviously not being disturbed) and is then
reversed. No. 1 is again left behind and picked up in the first
revolution to the left, the motion being continued till the correct
position of No. 1 is reached, when, on reversal, the gating in the
bolt disk comes into the correct position, the stump falls and a
continuance of the motion to the right draws back the bolt. A lock
constructed in this way would be of little utility, as the combination
would have to be determined once for all by the maker. The difficulty
is got over by making the letter disks in two parts, the inner part
carrying the driving pin and the outer the gating; these two parts are
locked together by small cams or other devices which come into such a
position that they can be released with the help of a square key when
the lock is unlocked. The combination is set by altering the position
of the inner disks with the driving pins in relation to the outer part
carrying the gatings which are meanwhile held steady by the square
key.

Time locks.

One advantage of the combination lock is that there is no key to be lost or stolen, but the means adopted by burglars, especially in America, are such that even this is not a perfect protection, cases having occurred in which a person has been compelled to disclose the combination. With key locks the keyhole through the safe door forms a distinct point of danger, and with combination locks the spindle passing through the door may be attacked by explosives. To obviate these two risks time locks were introduced in America and have been used in Europe. Essentially the time lock consists of a high-class chronometer or watch movement, little liable to get out of order, driving a disk provided with a gating such that the bolt can only enter the gating during certain hours; as a rule two, three or four chronometers are used, any one of which can release the lock.

The Yale time lock contains two chronometer movements which revolve
two dial plates studded with twenty-four pins to represent the
twenty-four hours of the day. These pins, when pushed in, form a track
on which run rollers supporting the lever which secures the bolt or
locking agency, but when they are drawn out the track is broken, the
rollers fall down and the bolt is released. By pulling out the day
pins, say from 9 till 4, the door is automatically prepared for
opening between these hours, and at 4 it again of itself locks up. For
keeping the repository closed over Sundays and holidays, a subsidiary
segment or track is brought into play by which a period of twenty-four
hours is added to the locked interval. Careful provision is made
against the eventuality of running down or accidental stoppage of the
clock motion, by which the rightful owner might be as seriously
incommoded as the burglar. In the Yale lock, just before the
chronometers run out, a trigger is released which depresses the lever
by which the bolt is held in position. (A. B. Ch.)

LOCKE, JOHN (1632-1704), English philosopher, was born at Wrington, 10 m. W. of Belluton, in Somersetshire, on the 29th of August 1632, six years after the death of Bacon, and three months before the birth of Spinoza. His father was a small landowner and attorney at Pensford, near the northern boundary of the county, to which neighbourhood the family had migrated from Dorsetshire early in that century. The elder Locke, a strict but genial Puritan, by whom the son was carefully educated at home, was engaged in the military service of the parliamentary party. "From the time that I knew anything," Locke wrote in 1660, "I found myself in a storm, which has continued to this time." For fourteen years his education, more or less interrupted, went on in the rural home at Belluton, on his father's little estate, half a mile from Pensford, and 6 m. from Bristol. In 1646 he entered Westminster School and remained there for six years. Westminster was uncongenial to him. Its memories perhaps encouraged the bias against public schools which afterwards disturbed his philosophic calm in his _Thoughts on Education_. In 1652 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, then under John Owen, the Puritan dean and vice-chancellor of the university. Christ Church was Locke's occasional home for thirty years. For some years after he entered, Oxford was ruled by the Independents, who, largely through Owen, unlike the Presbyterians, were among the first in England to advocate genuine religious toleration. But Locke's hereditary sympathy with the Puritans was gradually lessened by the intolerance of the Presbyterians and the fanaticism of the Independents. He had found in his youth, he says, that "what was called general freedom was general bondage, and that the popular assertors of liberty were the greatest engrossers of it too, and not unfitly called its _keepers_." And the influence of the liberal divines of the Church of England afterwards showed itself in his spiritual development.

Under Owen scholastic studies were maintained with a formality and dogmatism unsuited to Locke's free inquisitive temper. The aversion to them which he expressed showed thus early an innate disposition to rebel against empty verbal reasoning. He was not, according to his own account of himself to Lady Masham, a hard student at first. He sought the company of pleasant and witty men, and thus gained knowledge of life. He took the ordinary bachelor's degree in 1656, and the master's in 1658. In December 1660 he was serving as tutor of Christ Church, lecturing in Greek, rhetoric and philosophy.

At Oxford Locke was nevertheless within reach of liberal intellectual influence tending to promote self-education and strong individuality. The metaphysical works of Descartes had appeared a few years before he went to Oxford, and the _Human Nature_ and _Leviathan_ of Hobbes during his undergraduate years. It does not seem that Locke read extensively, but he was attracted by Descartes. The first books, he told Lady Masham, which gave him a relish for philosophy, were those of this philosopher, although he very often differed from him. At the Restoration potent influences were drawing Oxford and England into experimental inquiries. Experiment in physics became the fashion. The Royal Society was then founded, and we find Locke experimenting in chemistry in 1663, also in meteorology, in which he was particularly interested all his life.

The restraints of a professional career were not suited to Locke. There is a surmise that early in his Oxford career he contemplated taking orders in the Church of England. His religious disposition attracted him to theology. Revulsion from the dogmatic temper of the Presbyterians, and the unreasoning enthusiasm of the Independents favoured sympathy afterwards with Cambridge Platonists and other liberal Anglican churchmen. Whichcote was his favourite preacher, and close intimacy with the Cudworth family cheered his later years. But, though he has a place among lay theologians, dread of ecclesiastical impediment to free inquiry, added to strong inclination for scientific investigation, made him look to medicine as his profession, and before 1666 we find him practising as a physician in Oxford. Nevertheless, although known among his friends as "Doctor Locke," he never graduated in medicine. His health was uncertain, for he suffered through life from chronic consumption and asthma. A fortunate event soon withdrew him from the medical profession.

Locke early showed an inclination to politics, as well as to theology and medicine. As early as 1665 he diverged for a short time from medical pursuits at Oxford, and was engaged as secretary to Sir Walter Vane on his mission to the Elector of Brandenburg. Soon after his return in 1666 the incident occurred which determined his career. Lord Ashley, afterwards first earl of Shaftesbury, had come to Oxford for his health. Locke was introduced to him by his physician, Dr Thomas. This was the beginning of a lasting friendship, sustained by common sympathy with liberty--civil, religious and philosophical. In 1667 Locke moved from Christ Church to Exeter House, Lord Ashley's London residence, to become his confidential secretary. Although he retained his studentship at Christ Church, and occasionally visited Oxford, as well as his patrimony at Belluton, he found a home and shared fortune with Shaftesbury for fifteen years.