Chapter VIII: Front Matter (8)

With regard to the two branches of chalk lithography, the firms that maintained the English supremacy for black and tint work in the early days were Hulemandel, Day and Haghe and Maclure, while the best chromo-lithographic work in the same period was done by Vincent Brooks, the brothers Hanhart, Thomas Kell and F. Kell. In reference to the personal work of professed lithographers during the same period, the names of Louis Haghe, J. D. Harding, J. Needham, C. Baugniet, L. Ghemar, William Simpson, R. J. Lane, J. H. Lynch, A. Maclure and Rimanozcy stand for black and tint work; while in chromo-lithography J. M. Carrick, C. Risdon, William Bunney, W. Long, Samuel Hodson, Edwin Buckman and J. Lewis have been conspicuous among those who have maintained the standard of their craft. In the foregoing list will be recognized the names of several who have had admirable works on the walls of the Royal Academy and other exhibitions; Mr Lane, who exhibited lithographs from 1824 to 1872, was for many years the doyen of lithographers, and the only one of their number to attain academic rank, but Lynch and John Cardwell Bacon were his pupils, and Bacon's son, the painter John H. F. Bacon, was elected to the Royal Academy in 1903. In the first decade of the 20th century the number of firms doing high-class work, and the artists who aided them in doing it, were more numerous than ever, and scarcely less able, but it would be outside the present purpose to differentiate between them.

The _raison d'être_ of "stipple" work is its capacity for retransferring without serious loss of quality, for it can scarcely be contended that it is as artistic as the methods just described. Retransferring is the process of pulling impressions from the original stones with a view to making up a large sheet of one or more small subjects, or where it is desired to print a very large number without deterioration of the original or matrix stone. The higher class work in this direction has been done in France, Germany and the United States, where for many years superiority has been shown in regard to the excellence and rapidity of retransferring. To this cause may be attributed the fact that the box tops and Christmas cards on the English market were so largely done abroad until quite recent times. The work of producing even a small face in the finest hand stipple is a lengthy and tedious affair, and the English craftsman has seldom shown the patience necessary for this work; but since the American invention known as Ben Day's shading medium was introduced into England the trade has largely taken it up, and thereby much of the tedium has been avoided, so that it has been found possible by its means to introduce a freedom into stipple work that had not before been found possible, and a very much better class of work has since been produced in this department.

About the year 1868 grained paper was invented by Maclure, Macdonald & Co. This method consists in impressing on ordinary Scotch transfer or other suitable paper a grain closely allied to that of the lithographic stone. It appears to have been rather an improvement than a new invention, for drawing paper and even canvas had been coated previously with a material that adhered to a stone and left on the stone the greasy drawing that had been placed thereon; but still from this to the beautifully prepared paper that was placed on the market by the firm of which the late Andrew Maclure was the head was a great advance, and although the first use was by the ordinary craftsman it was not long before artists of eminence saw that a new and convenient mode of expression was opened up to them.

On the first introduction of lithography the artists of every nation hastened to avail themselves of it, but soon the cumbrous character of the stone, and the fact that their subjects had to be drawn backwards in order that they might appear correctly on the paper, wore down their newly-born zeal, and it was only when the grained paper system was perfected, by which they could make their drawings in the comfort of their studios without reversing, that any serious revival took place. Although excellent work on grained paper had been done by Andrew Maclure, Rimanozcy, John Cardwell Bacon, Rudofsky and other craftsmen, the credit for its furtherance among artists must be given to Thomas Way and his son T. R. Way, who did much valuable pioneer work in this direction. The adhesion of such artists of eminence as Whistler, Legros, Frank Short, Charles Shannon, Fantin Latour, William Strang, Will Rothenstein, Herbert Railton and Joseph Pennell, did not a little to aid lithography in resisting the encroachments of other methods into what may still be considered its sphere. As a means of reproducing effects which an artist would otherwise get by pencil or crayon, it remains entirely unequalled, and it is of obvious advantage to art that twenty-five or fifty copies of an original work should exist, which, without the aid of lithography, might have only been represented by a single sketch, perhaps stowed away among the possessions of one private collector.

In regard to grained paper work, undue stress has often been placed upon the rapid deterioration of the stone, some contending that only a few dozen first-class proofs can be taken; this has led to the feeling that it is unsuited to book illustration, and damage has been done to the trade of lithography thereby. It may be mentioned that quite recently about 100 auto-lithographs in black and three colours, the combined work of Mr and Mrs Herbert Railton, have been treated by the Eberle system of etching described below, and although an infinitesimal loss of quality may have arisen, such as occurs when a copper etching is steel faced, some 2000 to 3000 copies were printed without further deterioration, and an edition of vignetted sketches was secured, far in advance of anything that could have been attained from the usual screen or half-toned blocks.

Grained paper is much used in the ordinary lithographic studio for work such as the hill shading of maps that can be done without much working up, but the velvety effects that in the hands of Louis Haghe and his contemporaries were so conspicuous, cannot be secured by this method. The effects referred to were obtained by much patient work of a "tinter," who practically laid a ground on which the more experienced and artistic craftsman did his work either by scraping or accentuation. Where fine rich blacks are needed, artists will do well to read the notes on the "aquatint" and "wash" methods described by Senefelder in his well-known treatise, and afterwards practised with great skill by Hulemandel.

Lithography is of great service in educational matters, as its use for diagrams, wall pictures and maps is very general; nor does the influence end with schooldays, for in the form of pictures at a moderate price it brings art into homes and lives that need brightening, and even in the form of posters on the much-abused hoardings does something for those who have to spend much of their time in the streets of great cities.

According to the census of 1901, 14,686 people in the United Kingdom found their occupation within the trade, while according to a Home Office return (1906), 20,367 persons other than lithographic printers were employed by the firms carrying on the business. As it may be assumed that an equal number are employed in France, Germany, the United States of America and the world at large, it is clear that a vast industrial army is employed in a trade that, like letterpress printing, has a very beneficial influence upon those engaged in it.

_Technical Details._--The following description of the various methods of lithography is such as may be considered of interest to the general reader, but the serious student who will require formulas and more precise directions will do well to consult one of the numerous text-books on the subject.

_Stone and Stone Substitutes._--The quality of stone first used by
Alois Senefelder, and discovered by him at the village of Solenhofen
in Bavaria, still remains unsurpassed. This deposit, which covers a
very large area and underlies the villages of Solenhofen, Moernsheim
and Langenaltheim, has often been described, sometimes for interested
motives, as nearly exhausted; but a visit in 1906 revealed that the
output--considerable as it had been during a period little short of a
century--was very unimportant when compared to the great mass of
carbonaceous limestone existing in the neighbourhood. The strong point
in favour of this source of supply, in addition to its unrivalled
quality, is the evenness of its stratification, and the fact that
after the removal of the surface deposits, which are very thin, the
stones come out of large size, in thickness of 3 to 5 in., and thus
just suited for lithographic purposes and needing only to be wrought
in the vertical direction. Other deposits of suitable stone have been
found in France, Spain, Italy and Greece, but transit and the absence
of suitable stratification have restricted them to little more than
local use. Beyond this, few of the deposits other than in the
neighbourhood of Solenhofen have been of the exact degree of density
necessary, and the heavier varieties do not receive the grease with
sufficient readiness. The desire to find other sources of supply has
been stimulated by the social conditions existing in southern Bavaria,
for the quarries are largely owned by peasant proprietors, who have
very well-defined business habits of their own which make transactions
difficult. Among other things, they will seldom supply the highest
grades and the largest sizes to those who will not take their
proportion of lower quality and smaller sizes; and this, in view of
the very expensive transit down the Rhine to Rotterdam, with a railway
journey at one end and a sea journey at the other, is a source of
difficulty to the importer in other countries.

The earliest substitute for lithographic stone was zinc, which has
been used from early days and is now more in demand than ever; it
requires very careful printing as the grease only penetrates the
material to a very slight extent, and the same must be said in regard
to the water. From this cause, when not in experienced hands, trouble
is likely to arise; and when this has occurred, remedial methods are
much more difficult than with stones. When put away for storage, a dry
place is very essential, as corrosion is easily set up. At first the
plates were quite thick, and almost invariably grained by a zinc
"muller" and acid; now a bath of acid is more generally used, and the
operation is known as "passing," while the plates are quite thin,
which renders them suitable for bending round the cylinders of rotary
machines.

So far we have been dealing with plain zinc, but variations are
caused, either by the oxidization of the surface or by coating the
plate with a composition closely allied to lithographic stone and
applied in a form of semi-solution. This class of plate was first
invented by Messrs C. & E. Layton, and a modification was invented by
Messrs Wezel and Naumann of Leipzig, who brought its use to a high
pitch of perfection for transferred work such as Christmas cards. A
treatment of iron plates by exposing them to a high temperature has
recently been patented, and has had some measure of success, while the
Parker printing plate, which is practically a sheet of zinc so treated
as to secure greater porosity and freedom from oxidization, is rapidly
securing a good position as a stone substitute.

_Preparation of the Stones._--In this department the cleanliness so
necessary right through the lithographic process must be carefully
observed, and a leading point is to secure a level surface and to
ensure that the front and back of the stone are strictly parallel,
i.e. that the stones stand the test of both the straight edge and the
callipers. A good plan to ensure evenness on the surface is to mark
the front with two diagonal lines of some non-greasy substance till
the top stone (which should not be too small, and should be constantly
revolved on the larger one) has entirely removed them. The application
of the straight edge from time to time will end in securing the
desired flatness, on which so much of the future printing quality
depends. The usual method is to rub out with sand, and then rub with
pumice and polish with water of Ayr or snake stone. For chalk work,
the further work of graining has to be done by revolving a small stone
muller on the surface with exceedingly fine sand or powdered glass.
Many appliances (some very expensive) have been devised for doing the
principal part of this work by machine--none more effective than those
methods by which a disk of about 12 in. is kept revolving on a rod
attached to the ceiling, guided by hand over all parts of the stone;
but for large surfaces the ceiling needs to be rather high so as to
allow of a long expanding rod reaching the surface at a moderate
angle. When this machine is fitted with friction disk driving, very
wide variations of speed are possible, and the machine can be driven
so slowly and evenly as to secure a very fair (but not first class)
grain, in addition to speedy rubbing out, which is the chief aim of
the apparatus.

_Preparing a Subject in Chalk or Chalk and Tints._--This branch of
work is much less in demand than formerly. A grey stone having been
selected and finely grained with sand or powdered glass passed through
a sieve of 80 to 120 meshes to the lineal inch, and the artist having
made his tracing, this tracing is reversed upon the stone with the
interposition of a piece of paper coated with red chalk, and the chalk
side towards the surface; the lines on the tracing are then gone over
with a tracing point, so that a reproduction in red chalk is left upon
the stone. It will then be desirable to secure a stock of pointed
Lemercier chalks of at least two grades, hard and soft: the pointing
is a matter that requires experience, and is done by the worker
drawing a sharp pen-knife towards him in a slicing manner as though
trying to put a point upon a piece of cheese. Care should be taken
that the falling pieces are gathered into a box, or they may do
irreparable mischief to the work. The work of outlining is done with
No. 1 or hard chalk, and until experience is gained it will be well to
depend chiefly on this grade, securing rich dark effects by tinting or
going over the stone in various directions and then finishing with
lithographic ink where absolute blacks are required. This ink
(Vanhymbeck's or Lemercier's are two good makes) needs careful
preparation, the method being to warm a saucer and rub the ink dry
upon it, then add a little distilled water and incorporate with the
finger. It is of great importance not to use any ink left over for the
next day, but always to have a fresh daily supply.

When the drawing is thus completed, it will require what is termed
etching, by which the parts intended to receive the printing ink, and
already protected by an acid-resisting grease, will be left above the
unprotected surface. The acid and gum mixture varies in accordance
with the quality of the work and the character of the stone. A
patiently executed specimen will, for instance, stand more etching
than a hastily drawn one; while a grey stone will require more of the
nitric acid than a yellow one. This is one of the most important tasks
that a lithographer has to perform. A proportion of 1.5 parts of acid
to 100 parts of a strong solution of gum arabic will be found to be
approximately what is required, but the exact proportion must be
settled by experience, a safe course being to watch the action that
occurs when a small quantity is placed on the unused margin of the
stone. Many put the etching mixture on with a flat camel-hair brush,
which should be of good width to avoid streaks. The present writer's
own preference is to pour the mixture on to the stone when it is in a
slanting position; or it is perhaps better to have an etching trough,
a strong box lined with pitch, with bearers at the bottom to prevent
the stone coming in contact with it, and a hole through which the
diluted acid may pass away for subsequent use. The etching is then
done with acid and water poured over the stone while in a sloping
position, and the subsequent pouring of a solution of gum arabic
completes the preparation. The late Mr William Simpson, whose Crimean
lithographs are well known, once stated at the Society of Arts that in
his opinion Mr Louis Haghe's reproduction of David Robert's great
picture of "The Taking of Jerusalem" was the most important piece of
chalk lithography ever executed, and that he well remembered that it
took two years to execute it, and that all the combined talent of
Messrs Day & Haghe's establishment was utilized in its etching. He
stated that, notwithstanding every precaution, it was under-etched,
and that after half a dozen impressions the great beauty and
brilliancy of the work had departed. This incident indicates
sufficiently the serious nature of this part of the lithographer's
work.

If the chalk drawing has to have tints, it will be necessary to make
as many dusted offsetts as there are colours to be used; in this class
of work there are generally only two,--one warm or sandy shade and the
other a quiet blue--and these, with the black and the neutral colour
secured by the superposition of the two shades, give an excellent
result, of which Haghe's sketches in Belgium may be taken as a leading
example.

In making such subjects suitable for present-day printing in the
machine, the paper will require to be of a good "rag" quality, free
from size and damped before printing. To secure accuracy of register
the paper must be kept in a damp cloth to prevent the edges drying,
and other machines should be kept available for each of the tints so
that all work printed in black in the morning may be completed the
same night. In this way large editions might be printed of either
original or retransferred work at prices rendering the prints suitable
for high-class magazines.

_Preparing a Chromo Lithograph._--For this purpose the proceedings
will be much the same as those suggested for the black and tint work,
but the preliminary tracing will be done in lithographic ink on
tracing transfer paper or scratched on gelatine, the lines being
subsequently filled in with transfer ink, and will be used as a "key,"
a guide stone that will not be printed; and the number of stones
necessary will probably be much more numerous. The initial point will
be to consider if the work is to have the edition printed from it, or
whether it has to be transferred after proving and before printing;
generally speaking, large subjects such as diagrams or posters will be
worked direct, while Christmas cards, postcards, handbills or labels,
will be repeated many times on larger stones. For the former class a
much wider range of methods is possible, but many of these are
difficult to transfer, and the deterioration that arises makes it
desirable to limit their use when transferring is contemplated.
Therefore, chalk-rubbed tints, varnish tints, stumping, wash, air
brush, are the methods for original work, while work that has to be
transferred is limited to ink work in line or stipple on a polished
stone with the aid of "mediums" as before described, and ink
"spluttered" on to the stone from a tooth brush. It should be
mentioned that work done on grained paper is more suitable for
retransfer than ordinary chalk work, and so is often very useful when
a chalk effect is desired from a polished stone. In proving, opaque
colours will be got on first, and it will often be found a good plan
to put the black on early, for it gives a good idea of how the work is
proceeding, and the strength of the touches (for the black should
generally be used sparingly) is often pleasantly softened by the
semi-opaque colours which should come on next. It is desirable to pull
impressions of each colour on thoroughly white paper, and beyond this
in important work there should be a progressive colour pattern that
will show how the work looked when two, three or more colours were on,
for this may at the finish be invaluable to show where error has crept
in, and is in any event an immense aid to the machine minder.

In regard to paper, a description made of rag or rag and esparto is
most desirable for all work on grained stones, but for work in ink and
consequently from polished stone a good coated paper with sufficient
"size" in it is frequently desirable; this paper is generally called
"chromo" paper.

There is at the present time very little encouragement for the high
class of chromo-lithography that was so much in evidence from 1855 to
1875, but there is little doubt that the work could be done equally
well by the present-day craftsmen if the demand revived. Belonging to
the period mentioned, distinguished examples of chromo-lithography are
"Blue Lights," after Turner, by Carrick; "Spanish Peasants" and the
Lumley portrait of Shakespeare, by Risdon; "Queen Victoria receiving
the Guards," by W. Bunney, after John Gilbert; and the series of
chromos after John Leech, produced under the general direction of
Vincent Brooks. A small proportion only of the Arundel Society's
prints were executed in England, but many reproductions of
water-colours after Birket Foster, Richardson, Wainwright and others
were executed by Samuel Hodson, James Lewis and others. Perhaps the
most consistently good work of modern times has been the reproduction
of Pellegrini's and Leslie Ward's drawings for _Vanity Fair_, which
from 1870 to 1906 were with very few exceptions executed by the firm
of Vincent Brooks, Day & Son.

_Transfers._--A very large proportion of work is got on to the stone
by transfer, and there is no more important part of the business
perhaps at the present time. When there is so much original
lithography done on grained paper by artists of eminence, the
transferring of grained paper drawings is the most important. The
stone most desirable for this purpose will be neither a grey nor a
light yellow, but one that stands mid-way between the two; it should
be very carefully polished so as to be quite free from scratches, and
brought to blood-heat by being gradually heated in an iron cupboard
prepared with the necessary apparatus. The methods that sometimes
prevail of pouring boiling water over the stone, heating with the
flame of an ordinary plumber's lamp, or even heating the surface in
front of a fire, are ineffective substitutes, for the surface may thus
become unduly hot and spread the work, and there is no increased
tendency for the chalk to enter into the stone and thus give the work
a long life. If there are no colours or registration troubles to be
considered, it is well to place the transfer in a damping book till
the composition adheres firmly to the finger, before placing it on the
stone; it should then be pulled through twice, after which it should
be damped on the back and pulled through several times; after this has
again been well damped the paper will be found to peel easily off the
stone, leaving the work and nearly all the composition attached; the
latter should then be very gently washed away.

In cases where the work for some reason must not stretch, such as the
hills on a map, it will be necessary to keep the transfer dry and put
it on a wet stone, but a piece of the margin of the paper should be
tested to see that it is of a class that will adhere to the stone the
first time it is pulled through. Unless the adhesion is very complete
it may not be safe to pull it through more than once. For a small
number of copies a very moderate "etch" is desirable, but for a long
run, where the object is to secure a good edition rather than a few
good proofs, the Eberle system may be adopted. This method consists in
protecting the work with finely powdered resin and then applying the
flame of an ordinary plumber's lamp; this will melt the protecting
medium round the base of each grain of work and allow of a very
vigorous "etch" being applied. As before stated it is not unusual to
secure 2000 to 3000 good copies in the machine after this treatment;
but the rollers, the ink and the superintendence must be of the best.

When the artist who is not a professed lithographer desires to make
tints to his work, a reversed offset on grained paper should be made
for each colour; this is done by pulling an impression in the usual
way on a hard piece of paper, and while it is yet wet this should be
faced with a piece of grained paper and pulled through again, when the
grained paper will be found to have received the greater portion of
the ink; this should be immediately dusted with offset powder of a red
shade to prevent the grease passing into the paper, and the drawing of
the tints should then be proceeded with in the usual way. Another
method of transfer work is to pull impressions from copper or steel
plates in transfer ink; it is in such way that simple etchings like
those of Cruikshank, Phiz and others are produced, and nearly all
commercial work such as maps, bill heads, &c., are prepared in the
same manner.

Beyond this, much work is done in lithographic ink on what is called
writing transfer paper, such as circulars, law writing for abstracts,
specifications and plans.

_Machinery._--The chief items are the hand presses and the machines,
whether flat bed or rotary, the principal places of manufacture being
Leeds, Otley and Edinburgh. Stimulated by American competition, the
standard of excellence in the United Kingdom has been very
considerably raised of late years. The rotary machines have only been
possible since the more frequent use of aluminium and zinc, but these
materials are more suitable to receive transfer than for the general
use of an office, the chief reason being that corrections on stone are
more easily accomplished and more lasting when done. Preliminary work
is therefore frequently done on the stone and transferred to plates
for the machine.

The question is very frequently asked as to how the necessary
registration of the colours is secured; it may be stated for the
benefit of the amateur that in hand printing this is generally done by
pricking with a pair of needles through printed marks present on each
stone; but in the machine this has been done in different ways,
although in quite early days "pointing" or "needling" was done even on
the machine. On modern machines this registration depends on the
accurate cutting of the edge of the paper, of which at least one
corner must be an absolute right angle. The paper is then laid on a
sloping board in such a way that the longest of the two true edges
gravitates into the gripper of the machine, the stops of which move
slightly forward as the gripper closes; simultaneously what is called
the "side lay" moves forward automatically to a given extent, and in
this way at the critical moment the sheet is always in the same
position in regard to the stone, which has already been firmly secured
in the bed of the machine.

Quite recently a new method has come into use that is probably
destined to be a great aid to the craft in its competition with other
methods. This is known as offset printing; it is more a matter of
evolution than invention, and proceeds from the method adopted in
tin-plate decoration so much used for box-making and lasting forms of
advertisement. It consists in bringing a sheet of rubber into contact
with the charged stone and then setting-off the impression so obtained
upon card, paper, pegamoid, cloth or other material, the elasticity of
the rubber making it possible to print upon rough surfaces that have
been previously unsuited to lithographic printing. Both flat bed and
rotary machines are available for this system, the latter being
restricted to zinc or aluminium plates, but giving a high speed, while
the former can use both stones and metal plates and may be more
effective for the highest grade of colour work; by both classes of
machines the finest engraved note headings can be printed on rough
paper, and colour work that has for so long been confined to coated or
burnished papers will be available on surfaces such as the artists
themselves use.

The following treatises may be referred to with advantage by those in
search of more detailed information: _A Complete Course of
Lithography_, by Alois Senefelder (R. Ackermann, London, 1819); _The
Grammar of Lithography_, by W. D. Richmond (13th edition, E. Menken,
London); _Handbook of Lithography_, by David Cumming (London, A. & C.
Black). The first of these will only be found in libraries of
importance; the others are present-day text-books. (F. V. B.)

LITHOSPHERE (Gr. [Greek: lithos], a stone, and [Greek: sphaira], a sphere), the crust of the earth surrounding the earth's nucleus. The superficial soil, a layer of loose earthy material from a few feet to a few hundreds of feet in thickness, lies upon a zone of hard rock many thousands of feet in thickness but varying in character, and composed mainly of sandstones, shales, clays, limestones and metamorphic rocks. These two layers form the lithosphere. All the tectonic movements of the solid nucleus produce changes in the mobile lithosphere. Volcanic and seismic activity is manifested, mountains are folded, levels change, fresh surfaces are exposed to denudation, erosion and deposition. The crust is thus subject to constant change while retaining its more or less permanent character.

LITHUANIANS and LETTS, two kindred peoples of Indo-European origin, which inhabit several western provinces of Russia and the north-eastern parts of Poland and Prussia, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, and in the basins of the Niemen and of the Duna. Large colonies of Lithuanian and Lettic emigrants have been established in the United States. The two races number about 3,500,000, of whom 1,300,000 are Letts. Little is known about their origin, and nothing about the time of their appearance in the country they now inhabit. Ptolemy mentions (iii. 5) two clans, the Galindae and Sudeni, who probably belonged to the western subdivision of this racial group, the Borussians. In the 10th century the Lithuanians were already known under the name of Litva, and, together with two other branches of the same stem--the Borussians and the Letts--they occupied the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea from the Vistula to the Duna, extending north-east towards the Lakes Vierzi-järvi and Peipus, south-east to the watershed between the affluents of the Baltic and those of the Black Sea, and south to the middle course of the Vistula (Brest Litovsk)--a tract bounded by Finnish tribes in the north, and by Slavs elsewhere.

Inhabiting a forested, marshy country the Lithuanians have been able to maintain their national character, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of their history. Their chief priest, _Krive-Kriveyto_ (the judge of the judges), under whom were seventeen classes of priests and elders, worshipped in the forests; the Waidelots brought their offerings to the divinities at the foot of oaks; even now, the veneration of great oaks is a widely spread custom in the villages of the Lithuanians, and even of the Letts.

Even in the 10th century the Lithuanian stem was divided into three main branches:--the _Borussians_ or _Prussians_; the _Letts_ (who call themselves _Latvis_, whilst the name under which they are known in Russian chronicles, _Letygola_, is an abbreviation of _Latvin-galas_, "the confines of Lithuania"); and the _Lithuanians_, or rather _Lituanians_, _Litva_ or _Letuvininkaï_,--these last being subdivided into Lithuanians proper, and _Zhmud'_ (_Zmudz_, _Samogitians_ or _Zemailey_), the "Lowlanders." To these main branches must be added the _Yatvyags_, or _Yadzvings_, a warlike, black-haired people who inhabited the forests at the upper tributaries of the Niemen and Bug, and the survivors of whom are easily distinguishable as a mixture with White-Russians and Mazurs in some parts of Grodno, Plotsk, Lomza and Warsaw. Nestor's chronicle distinguishes also the _Zhemgala_, who later became known under the name of _Semigallia_, and in the 10th century inhabited the left bank of the Duna. Several authors consider also as Lithuanians the _Kors_ of Russian chronicles, or _Courons_ of Western authors, who inhabited the peninsula of Courland, and the _Golad_, a clan settled on the banks of the Porotva, tributary of the Moskva river, which seems to have been thrown far from the main stem during its migration to the north. The _Krivichi_, who inhabited what is now the government of Smolensk, seem to belong to the same stem. Their name recalls the Krive-Kriveyto, and their ethnological features recall the Lithuanians; but they are now as much Slavonic as Lithuanian.

All these peoples are only ethnographical subdivisions, and each of them was subdivided into numerous independent clans and villages, separated from one another by forests and marshes; they had no towns or fortified places. The Lithuanian territory thus lay open to foreign invasions, and the Russians as well as the German crusaders availed themselves of the opportunity. The Borussians soon fell under the dominion of Germans, and ceased to constitute a separate nationality, leaving only their name to the state which later became Prussia. The Letts were driven farther to the north, mixing there with Livs and Ehsts, and fell under the dominion of the Livonian order. Only the Lithuanians proper, together with Samogitians, succeeded in forming an independent state. The early history of this state is imperfectly known. During the continuous petty war carried on against Slavonic invasions, the military chief of one of the clans, Ryngold, acquired, in the first half of the 13th century, a certain preponderance over other clans of Lithuania and Black Russia (Yatvyags), as well as over the republics of Red Russia. At this time, the invasions of the Livonian order becoming more frequent, and always extending southward, there was a general feeling of the necessity of some organization to resist them, and Ryngold's son, Mendowg, availed himself of this opportunity to pursue the policy of his father. He made different concessions to the order, ceded to it several parts of Lithuania, and even agreed to be baptized, in 1250, at Novograd Litovsk, receiving in exchange a crown from Innocent IV., with which he was crowned king of Lithuanians. He also ceded the whole of Lithuania to the order in case he should die without leaving offspring. But he had accepted Christianity only to increase his influence among other clans; and, as soon as he had consolidated a union between Lithuanians, Samogitians and Cours, he relapsed, proclaiming, in 1260, a general uprising of the Lithuanian people against the Livonian order. The yoke was shaken off, but internal wars followed, and three years later Mendowg was killed. About the end of the 13th century a new dynasty of rulers of Lithuania was founded by Lutuwer, whose second son, Gedymin (1316-1341), with the aid of fresh forces he organized through his relations with Red Russia, established something like regular government; he at the same time extended his dominions over Russian countries--over Black Russia (Novogrodok, Zditov, Grodno, Slonim and Volkovysk) and the principalities of Polotsk, Tourovsk, Pinsk, Vitebsk and Volhynia. He named himself _Rex Lethowinorum et multorum Ruthenorum_. In 1325 he concluded a treaty with Poland against the Livonian order, which treaty was the first step towards the union of both countries realized two centuries later. The seven sons of Gedymin considered themselves as quite independent; but two of them, Olgierd and Keistut, soon became the more powerful. They represented two different tendencies which existed at that time in Lithuania. Olgierd, whose family relations attracted him towards the south, was the advocate of union with Russia; rather politician than warrior, he increased his influence by diplomacy and by organization. His wife and sons being Christians, he also soon agreed to be baptized in the Greek Church. Keistut represented the revival of the Lithuanian nationality. Continually engaged in wars with Livonia, and remaining true to the national religion, he became the national legendary hero. In 1345 both brothers agreed to re-establish the great principality of Lithuania, and, after having taken Vilna, the old sanctuary of the country, all the brothers recognized the supremacy of Olgierd. His son, Jagiello, who married the queen of Poland, Yadviga, after having been baptized in the Latin Church, was crowned, on the 14th of February 1386, king of Poland. At the beginning of the 15th century Lithuania extended her dominions as far east as Vyazma on the banks of the Moskva river, the present government of Kaluga, and Poutivl, and south-east as far as Poltava, the shores of the Sea of Azov, and Haji-bey (Odessa), thus including Kiev and Lutsk. The union with Poland remained, however, but nominal until 1569, when Sigismund Augustus was king of Poland. In the 16th century Lithuania did not extend its power so far east and south-east as two centuries before, but it constituted a compact state, including Polotsk, Moghilev, Minsk, Grodno, Kovno, Vilna, Brest, and reaching as far south-east as Chernigov. From the union with Poland, the history of Lithuania becomes a part of Poland's history, Lithuanians and White-Russians partaking of the fate of the Polish kingdom (see POLAND: _History_). After its three partitions, they fell under the dominion of the Russian empire. In 1792 Russia took the provinces of Moghilev and Polotsk, and in 1793 those of Vilna, Troki, Novgorod-Syeversk, Brest and Vitebsk. In 1797 all these provinces were united together, constituting the "Lithuanian government" (Litovskaya Gubernia). But the name of Lithuanian provinces was usually given only to the governments of Vilna and Kovno, and, though Nicholas I. prohibited the use of this name, it is still used, even in official documents. In Russia, all the White-Russian population of the former Polish Lithuania are usually considered as Lithuanians, the name of Zhmud being restricted to Lithuanians proper.

The ethnographical limits of the Lithuanians are undefined, and their number is variously estimated. The Letts occupy a part of the Courland peninsula of Livonia and of Vitebsk, a few other settlements being spread also in the governments of Kovno, St Petersburg and Moghilev. The Lithuanians proper inhabit the governments of Kovno, Vilna, Suvalki and Grodno; while the Samogitians or Zhmud inhabit the governments of Kovno and Suvalki. To these must be added about 200,000 Borussians, the whole number of Lithuanians and Letts in Russia being, according to the census of 1897, 3,094,469. They are slowly extending towards the south, especially the Letts; numerous emigrants have penetrated into Slavonic lands as far as the government of Voronezh.

The Lithuanians are well built; the face is mostly elongated, the
features fine; the very fair hair, blue eyes and delicate skin
distinguish them from Poles and Russians. Their dress is usually plain
in comparison with that of Poles, and the predominance in it of
greyish colours has been frequently noticed. Their chief occupation is
agriculture. The trades in towns are generally carried on by men of
other races--mostly by Germans, Jews or Poles. The only exception is
afforded to some extent by the Letts. The Samogitians are good
hunters, and all Lithuanians are given to apiculture and cattle
breeding. But the Lithuanians, as well in the Baltic provinces as in
the central ones, were not until the most recent time proprietors of
the soil they tilled. They have given a few families to the Russian
nobility, but the great mass of the people became serfs of foreign
landowners, German and Polish, who reduced them to the greatest
misery. Since the Polish insurrection of 1863, the Russian government
has given to the Lithuanians the land of the Polish proprietors on
much easier terms than in central Russia; but the allotments of soil
and the redemption taxes are very unequally distributed; and a not
insignificant number of peasants (the _chinsheviki_) were even
deprived of the land they had for centuries considered their own. The
Letts remain in the same state as before, and are restrained from
emigrating _en masse_ only by coercive measures.

The Letts of Courland, with the exception of about 50,000 who belong
to the Greek Church, are Lutherans. Nearly all can read. Those of the
government of Vitebsk, who were under Polish dominion, are Roman
Catholics, as well as the Lithuanians proper, a part of whom, however,
have returned to the Greek Church, in which they were before the union
with Poland. The Samogitians are Roman Catholics; they more than other
Lithuanians have conserved their national features. But all
Lithuanians have maintained much of their heathen practices and creed;
the names of pagan divinities, very numerous in the former mythology,
are continually mentioned in songs, and also in common speech.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Schiemann, _Russland, Polen und Livland bis ins 17te
Jahrhundert_ (2 vols., Berlin, 1886-1887); S. Daukantas, _Lietuvos
Istorija_ (Plymouth, Pa., 1893); J. de Brye, _Étude historique sur la
Lithuanie_ (Paris, 1894); P. D. Bryantsev, _Istorija Litovskago
Gosudarstva_ (Vilna, 1899). (P. A. K.)

_Language and Literature._--The Lithuanian, Lettic or Lettish and Borussian or Old Prussian languages together constitute a distinct linguistic subdivision, commonly called the Baltic subdivision, within the Indo-European family. They have many affinities to the Slavonic languages, and are sometimes included with them in a single linguistic group, the Balto-Slavic. In their phonology, however, though not in their structure the Baltic languages appear to be more primitive than the Slavonic. Lithuanian, for example, retains the archaic diphthongs which disappear in Slavonic--Lith. _véidas_, "face," Gr. [Greek: eidos], O.S. _vidu_. Among other noteworthy phonological characteristics of Lithuanian are the conversion of _k_ into a sibilant, the loss of _h_ and change of all aspirates into tenues and the retention of primitive consonantal noun-terminations, e.g. the final _s_ in Sans. _Vrkás_, Lith. _vilkas_, O.S. _vulku_. Lettic is phonologically less archaic than Lithuanian, although in a few cases it has preserved Indo-European forms which have been changed in Lithuanian, e.g. the _s_ and _z_ which have become Lith. _sz_ (_sh_) and _z_ (_zh_). The accent in Lithuanian is free; in Lettic, and apparently in Old Prussian, it ultimately became fixed on the first syllable.

In its morphology Lettic represents a later stage of development than
Lithuanian, their mutual relationship being analogous to that between
Old High German and Gothic. Both languages have preserved seven out of
the eight Indo-European cases; Lithuanian has three numbers, but
Lettic has lost the dual (except in _diwi_, "two" and _abbi_, "both");
the neuter gender, which still appears in Lithuanian pronouns, has
also been entirely lost in Lettic; in Lithuanian there are four simple
tenses (present, future, imperfect, preterite), but in Lettic the
imperfect is wanting. In both languages the number of periphrastic
verb-forms and of diminutives is large; in both there are traces of a
suffix article; and both have enriched their vocabularies with many
words of foreign, especially German, Russian and Polish origin. The
numerous Lithuanian dialects are commonly divided into High or
Southern, which changes _ty_ and _dy_ into _cz_, _dz_, and Low or
Northern, which retains _ty_, _dy_. Lettic is divided into High (the
eastern dialects), Low (spoken in N.W. Courland) and Middle (the
literary language). Old Prussian ceased to be a spoken language in the
17th century; its literary remains, consisting chiefly of three
catechisms and two brief vocabularies, date almost entirely from the
period 1517-1561 and are insufficient to permit of any thorough
reconstruction of the grammar.

The literary history of the Lithuanians and Letts dates from the Reformation and comprises three clearly defined periods. (1) Up to 1700 the chief printed books were of a liturgical character. (2) During the 18th century a vigorous educational movement began; dictionaries, grammars and other instructive works were compiled, and written poems began to take the place of songs preserved by oral tradition. (3) The revival of national sentiment at the beginning of the 19th century resulted in the establishment of newspapers and the collection and publication of the national folk-poetry. In both literatures, works of a religious character predominate, and both are rich in popular ballads, folk-tales and fables.

The first book printed in Lithuanian was a translation of Luther's shorter Catechism (Königsberg, 1547); other translations of devotional or liturgical works followed, and by 1701 59 Lithuanian books had appeared, the most noteworthy being those of the preacher J. Bretkun (1535-1602). The spread of Calvinism led to the publication, in 1701, of a Lithuanian New Testament. The first dictionary was printed in 1749. But perhaps the most remarkable work of the second period was _The Four Seasons_, a pastoral poem in hexameters by Christian Donalitius (1714-1780), which was edited by Nesselmann (Königsberg, 1869) with a German translation and notes. In the 19th century various collections of fables and folk-tales were published, and an epic, the _Onikshta Grove_, was written by Bishop Baranoski. But it was in journalism that the chief original work of the third period was done. F. Kelch (1801-1877) founded the first Lithuanian newspaper, and between 1834 and 1895 no fewer than 34 Lithuanian periodicals were published in the United States alone.

Luther's Catechism (Königsberg, 1586) was the first book printed in Lettic, as in the sister speech. In the 17th century various translations of psalms, hymns and other religious works were published, the majority being Calvinistic in tone. The educational movement of the 18th century was inaugurated by G. F. Stender (1714-1796), author of a Lettic dictionary and grammar, of poems, tales and of a _Book of Wisdom_ which treats of elementary science and history. Much educational work was subsequently done by the Lettic Literary Society, which publishes a magazine (_Magazin_, Mitau, from 1827), and by the "Young Letts," who published various periodicals and translations of foreign classics, and endeavoured to free their language and thought from German influences. Somewhat similar tasks were undertaken by the "Young Lithuanians," whose first magazine the _Auszra_ ("Dawn") was founded in 1883. From 1890 to 1910 the literature of both peoples was marked by an ever-increasing nationalism; among the names most prominent during this period may be mentioned those of the dramatist Steperman and the poet Martin Lap, both of whom wrote in Lettic.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Lithuanian dictionaries: Nesselmann, _Wörterbuch der
litauischen Sprache_ (Königsberg, 1851); Kurschat, _Wörterbuch der
litauischen Sprache_ (Halle, 1870-1883); A. Juszkiewicz, _Litovskiy
Slovar_ (St Petersburg, 1897, &c.); P. Saurusaitis, _An Abridged
Dictionary of the English-Lithuanian Languages_, 2 pts. (Waterbury,
Conn., 1899-1900); A. Lalis, _Dictionary of the Lithuanian and English
Languages_ (Chicago, 1903, &c.). Grammar and Linguistic: Schleicher,
_Handbuch der litauischen Sprache_ (Prague, 1856-1857); O. Wiedemann,
_Handbuch der litauischen Sprache_ (Strassburg, 1897); A.
Bezzenberger, _Beiträge zur Geschichte der litauischen Sprache_
(Göttingen, 1877); J. Schiekopp, _Gramatyka litewska poczatkowa_
(Cracow, 1902). Literature: Nesselmann, _Litauische Volkslieder_
(Berlin, 1853); A. Juszkiewicz, _Lietùwiskos Dajnos Uzrasytos_, &c.
(Kazan, 1881); A. Leskien and C. Brugman, _Litauische Volkslieder_
(Strassburg, 1882); C. Bartsch, _Melodieen litauischer Volkslieder_
(Heidelberg, 1886); A. Juszkiewicz, _Melodje ludowe litewskie_
(Cracow, 1900, &c.); E. A. Voi'ter, _Litovskaya Khrestomatiya_ (St
Petersburg, 1901, &c.).

Lettic dictionaries and grammars: Bielenstein, _Die Lettische Sprache_
(Berlin, 1863-1864); id., _Lettische Grammatik_ (Mitau, 1863); Ulmann
and Brasche, _Lettisches Wörterbuch_ (Riga, 1872-1880); A.
Bezzenberger, _Über die Sprache der preussischen Letten and lettische
Dialekt-Studien_ (Göttingen, 1885); Bielenstein, _Grenzen des
lettischen Volksstammes und der lettischen Sprache_ (St Petersburg,
1892); Literature: Bielenstein _Tausend lettische Räthsel_ (Mitau,
1881); T. Treuland, _Latyshskiya Narodnyya Skazki_ (Moscow, 1887,
&c.); K. Baron and H. Wissendorff, _Latwju dainas_ (Mitau, 1894, &c.);
V. Andreyanov, _Lettische Volkslieder und Mythen_ (Halle, 1896).

Old Prussian: Nesselmann, _Die Sprache der alten Preussen_ (Berlin,
1845); id., _Thesaurus linguae prussicae_ (Berlin, 1873); Berneker,
_Die preussische Sprache_ (Strassburg, 1896); M. Schultze, _Grammatik
der altpreussischen Sprache_ (Leipzig, 1897).

LITMUS (apparently a corruption of _lacmus_, Dutch _lacmoes_, _lac_, lac, and _moes_, pulp, due to association with "lit," an obsolete word for dye, colour; the Ger. equivalent is _Lackmus_, Fr. _tournesol_), a colouring matter which occurs in commerce in the form of small blue tablets, which, however, consist mostly, not of the pigment proper, but of calcium carbonate and sulphate and other matter devoid of tinctorial value. Litmus is extensively employed by chemists as an indicator for the detection of free acids and free alkalis. An aqueous infusion of litmus, when exactly neutralized by an acid, exhibits a violet colour, which by the least trace of free acid is changed to red, while free alkali turns it to blue. The reagent is generally used in the form of test paper--bibulous paper dyed red, purple or blue by the respective kind of infusion. Litmus is manufactured in Holland from the same kinds of lichens (species of _Roccella_ and _Lecanora_) as are used for the preparation of archil (q.v.).

LITOPTERNA, a suborder of South American Tertiary ungulate mammals typified by _Macrauchenia_, and taking their name ("smooth-heel") from the presence of a flat facet on the heel-bone, or calcaneum for the articulation of the fibula. The more typical members of the group were digitigrade animals, recalling in general build the llamas and horses; they have small brains, and a facet on the calcaneum for the fibula. The cheek-dentition approximates more or less to the perissodactyle type. Both the terminal faces of the cervical vertebrae are flat, the femur carries a third trochanter, the bones of both the carpus and tarsus are arranged in linear series, and the number of toes, although commonly three, varies between one and five, the third or middle digit being invariably the largest.

Of the two families, the first is the _Proterotheriidae_, which exhibits, in respect of the reduction of the digits, a curious parallelism to the equine line among the Perissodactyla; in this feature, as well as in the reduction of the teeth, it is more specialized than the second family.

The molar teeth approximate to the _Palaeotherium_ type, but have a
more or less strongly developed median longitudinal cleft. The
three-toed type is represented by _Diadiaphorus_, in which the dental
formula is i.½, c.(0/1), p.(4/5), m.(3/8), and the feet are very like
those of _Hipparion_. The cervical vertebrae are of normal form, the
orbit (as in the second family) is encircled by bone, the last molar
has a third lobe, the single pair of upper incisors are somewhat
elongated, and have a gap between and behind them, while the outer
lower incisors are larger than the inner pair, the canines being
small. The skull has a short muzzle, with elongated nasals. Remains of
this and the other representatives of the group are found in the
Patagonian Miocene. In _Proterotherium_, which includes smaller forms
having the same, or nearly the same, dental formula, the molar teeth
differ from those of _Diadiaphorus_ by the deeper median longitudinal
cleft, which completely divides the crown into an inner and an outer
moiety, the two cones of the inner half being united. According to the
description given by Argentine palaeontologists, this genus is also
three-toed, the single-toed representative of the family being
_Thoatherium_, in which the lateral metapodials, or splint-bones, are
even more reduced than in the _Equidae_.

In the second family--_Macraucheniidae_--the dentition is complete (forty-four) and without a gap, the crowns of nearly all the teeth being of nearly uniform height, while the upper molars are distinguished from those of the _Proterotheriidae_ by a peculiar arrangement of their two inner cones, and the elevation of the antero-posterior portion of the cingulum so as to form an extra pit on the crown. To describe this arrangement in detail is impossible here, but it may be stated that the two inner cones are closely approximated, and separated by a narrow V-shaped notch on the inner side of the crown. The elongated cervical vertebrae are peculiar in that the arch is perforated by the artery in the same manner as in the llamas.