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Landini \lan-'de-ne\, Francesco or Francesco Landino (b. c.

1335, Fiesole, near Florence—d. Sept. 2, 1397, Florence) Italian com¬ poser, organist, and poet. Blinded by smallpox as a child, he took up the study of music and the organ. He later became an organ builder as well as a composer, lyricist, and performer of more than 150 beautifully melodic two- and three-part songs. Landini’s works represent about a quarter of the music that survives from the Italian Ars Nova (14th cen¬ tury).

Landis, Kenesaw Mountain (b. Nov. 20, 1866, Millville, Ohio, U.S.—d. Nov. 25, 1944, Chicago,

Ill.) U.S. federal judge and first com¬ missioner of professional baseball.

Landis was named for a Georgia mountain where his father had been wounded as a Civil War soldier. He practiced law in Chicago (1891—

1905) before being appointed a U.S. district judge (1905-22). In 1907 he presided over a famous case in which Standard Oil Co. was found guilty of granting unlawful freight rebates and fined $29 million (his decision was later reversed). He was named base¬ ball commissioner in 1920 in the aftermath of the Black Sox scandal and became noted for his uncompro¬ mising measures to preserve the game’s integrity. Though widely dis¬ liked for his stem, autocratic rule, he kept the post until his death.

I a (idler Vlent-lorV Traditional couple dance of Austria and Bavaria.

A gliding and turning dance to music in 3 A time, it was popular in the 18th-19th century in Vienna and influ¬ enced the later development of the waltz. Composers such as Wolfgang

Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, and Gustav Mahler wrote landlers and landler- inspired works.

landlord and tenant Parties to the leasing of real estate, whose rela¬ tionship is bound by contract. The landlord, or lessor, is the owner; the tenant, or lessee, supplies payment in order to enjoy possession and use of the property for a specified period. Important forms of tenancy include tenancy for a fixed period, periodic (seasonal) tenancy, tenancy at will, and holdover tenancy (whereby a tenant remains after the contract has ended). See also real and personal property, rent.

London, Alf orig. Alfred Mossman London (b. Sept. 9, 1887, West Middlesex, Pa., U.S.—d. Oct. 12, 1987, Topeka, Kan.) U.S. politi¬ cian. He received a law degree from the University of Kansas in 1908 and entered the oil business in 1912. He became active in Progressive Party politics and campaigned in Kansas for the party’s 1912 presidential can¬ didate, Theodore Roosevelt. He was elected governor of Kansas in 1932 and again in 1934, the only incumbent Republican governor to be reelected that year. As the Republican candidate in the presidential elec¬ tion of 1936 he lost in a landslide to Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Landor, Walter Savage (b. Jan. 30, 1775, Warwick, Warwickshire, Eng.—d. Sept. 17, 1864, Florence, Italy) British writer. He was educated at Rugby School and Oxford but left both over disagreements with the authorities. A classicist, he originally wrote many of his works in Latin. Though he wrote lyrics, plays, and heroic poems, he is best remembered for his multivolume Imaginary Conversations, prose dialogues between historical personages (1824-53). He spent much of his life in France and Italy.

Landowska Man-'dof-skoV Wanda (Louise) (b. July 5, 1879, War¬ saw, Pol., Russian Empire—d. Aug. 16, 1959, Lakeville, Conn., U.S.) Polish-born U.S. harpsichordist and pianist. After establishing herself as a pianist and devoting much energy to musicological research, she had a harpsichord made for her by Pleyel in Paris. She first performed on this instrument at the Breslau Bach Festival in 1912, thus beginning the 20th- century revival of the instrument and sparking a new international inter¬ est in authentic performance practice. Her many recordings include the first recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and she commissioned works such as Manuel de Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto and Francis Poulenc’s Concert champetre. As a Jew she was forced to flee the Nazis, and after 1940 she lived and taught in the U.S.

Landrum-Griffin Act (1959) Legislation in the U.S. designed to counter labour-union corruption. Officially called the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, it instituted federal penalties for labour officials who misused union funds or prevented union members from exercising their legal rights. The legislation was passed in response to Senate investigations that uncovered connections between labour and organized crime. Provisions included a strict ban on secondary boycotts (union efforts to stop one employer from dealing with another employer who is being struck or boycotted) and greater freedom for individual states to set the terms of labour relations within their borders.

Land's End Westernmost peninsula, Cornwall, England. Its tip is the southwestemmost point of England and lies about 870 mi (1,400 km) from John o' Groats, traditionally considered the northernmost point of Brit¬ ain. Off its coast lie dangerous reefs, one group of which, a mile from the mainland, is marked by the Longships lighthouse.

Landsat officially Earth Resources Technology Satellites Any

of a series of unmanned U.S. scientific satellites. The first three were launched in 1972, 1975, and 1978. They were designed mainly to collect information about Earth’s natural resources. They were also equipped to monitor atmospheric and oceanic conditions and to detect variations in pollution levels and other ecological changes. Three more Landsat satel¬ lites were launched successfully, in 1982, 1984, and 1999; radio commu¬ nication with Landsat 6 was lost immediately after its launch in 1993.

landscape gardening Process of arranging land, plants, and objects for human use and enjoyment, usually with long and close-up views. Cyclical growth and seasonal changes provide a continuous sense of time and natural rhythms that is absent in buildings and sculptures. Gardens and designed landscapes fill in the open areas in cities and create conti¬ nuity between urban structures and open rural lands beyond. Landscape¬ gardening areas may be of any size, from small urban courtyards and suburban gardens to many thousands of acres in regional, state, or national

Landseer ► Langmuir I 1073

parks. Every landscape garden reflects attitudes toward nature and humans, revealing much about a culture and a period.

Landseer, Sir Edwin (Henry) (b. March 7, 1802, London, Eng.—d. Oct. 1, 1873, London) British painter and sculptor. He studied with his father, an engraver and writer, and at the Royal Academy. He specialized in animals and developed great skill in depicting animal anatomy; he sometimes humanized his animal subjects to the point of sentimentality or moralizing (e.g., Dignity and Impudence , 1839). He achieved great professional and social success and was a favourite painter of Queen Vic¬ toria. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1831 and knighted in 1850. As a sculptor, he is best known for his bronze lions at the base of Nel¬ son’s Column in Trafalgar Square (unveiled 1867).

landslide The movement of a mass of rock or soil down a slope. The term is used to describe a variety of phenomena, from rock falls to the gradual downhill flow of soil. Landslides occur when the force of grav¬ ity acting on the materials within a slope overcomes the material’s resis¬ tance to shearing. Among the processes that can lead to a landslide are the steepening of a slope by natural erosion or excavation, the overload¬ ing of the slope by an inflow of water, and the motion caused by an earth¬ quake.

Lane, Burton orig. Burton Levy (b. Feb. 2, 1912, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Jan. 5, 1997, New York City) U.S. songwriter. Lane worked in Tin Pan Alley, where he came to the attention of George Gershwin. His tunes were featured on Broadway from the early 1930s and were later heard in films, including Babes on Broadway (1942). His greatest success came with Finian’s Rainbow (1947; film, 1968), for which he worked with lyricist E.Y. Harburg. He collaborated with Aian Jay Lerner on the film Royal Wedding (1951). Another joint effort with Lerner, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965; film, 1970), gave Lane his last notable success.

Lanfranc Vlan- 1 fraqk\ (b. c. 1010, Pavia, Lombardy—d. May 28, 1089, Canterbury, Kent, Eng.) Archbishop of Canterbury (1070-89). An Italian scholar who settled in Normandy, he joined the Benedictine monastery of Bee and was made its prior. He became a trusted adviser of William I (the Conqueror), who made Lanfranc the first abbot of St. Stephen’s at Caen and nominated him as archbishop of Canterbury after the Norman Con¬ quest of England. Lanfranc reformed and reorganized the English church, asserted the primacy of Canterbury over York, and introduced the moral components of Gregorian reform. He uncovered a conspiracy against the king (1075), and he secured the succession for William II against Robert II (1087). Lanfranc was also a renowned scholar and theologian who was noted for his criticism of Berengar of Tours’s teaching on the Eucharist.

Lanfranco \lan-'fraq-ko\, Giovanni (b. Jan. 26, 1582, Parma—d. Nov. 30, 1647, Rome) Italian painter. He studied with Agostino Carracci. In 1602 he went to Rome to work with Annibale Carracci in the Farnese Palace. After Annibale’s death, he became the leading fresco painter in Rome. His work shows the influence of Correggio’s dynamic illusionism. His masterpiece is the Assumption of the Virgin in the dome of Sant’Andrea della Valle (1625-27), which he took over from his rival, Domenichino; with its vigorously painted figures floating in the clouds over the viewer, it is a pivotal work of the Baroque period. He worked in Naples 1633—46; his best-known work there is the dome of the chapel of San Gennaro in the cathedral (1641—46).

Lang, Fritz (b. Dec. 5, 1890, Vienna, Austria-Hungary—d. Aug. 2, 1976, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. film director. He studied architecture in Vienna and served in the Austrian army in World War I. While recovering from war wounds, he began to write screenplays. He found work at a movie studio in Berlin, where he later directed suc¬ cessful films such as Between Two Worlds (1921 ), Dr Mabuse (1922), the two-part The Nibelungen (1924), the expressionistic Metropolis (1926), and M (1931). After making the anti-Nazi film The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse (1933), he left Germany for Paris and later Hollywood. His U.S. films, which equal his German films in their intensity, pessimism, and visual mastery, include Fury (1936), You Only Live Once (1937), Ministry of Fear (1944), Rancho Notorious (1952), and The Big Heat (1953). Many of his films deal with fate and man’s inevitable working out of his des¬ tiny.

Langdell \'laq-d 3 l\, Christopher Columbus (b. May 22,1826, New Boston, N.H., U.S.—-d. July 6, 1906, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. legal edu¬ cator. He studied law at Harvard (1851-54) and practiced in New York

City until 1870, when he accepted a professorship and then the deanship at Harvard Law School (1870-95). His case method of teaching law, in which students read and discussed original authorities and derived for themselves the principles of the law, eventually became dominant in U.S. law schools. His Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts (1871) was the first case-method textbook.

Lange \'laq\, Dorothea (b. May 26, 1895, Hoboken, N.J., U.S.—d. Oct. 11, 1965, San Francisco, Calif.) U.S. documentary photographer. She studied photography and opened a portrait studio in San Francisco in 1919. During the Great Depression, her photos of homeless men led to her employment by a federal agency to bring the plight of the poor to public attention. Her photographs were so effective that the government established camps for migrants. Her Migrant Mother (1936) was the most widely reproduced of all Farm Security Administration pictures. She pro¬ duced several other photo essays, including one documenting the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans.

Lange, Jessica (b. April 20, 1949, Cloquet, Minn., U.S.) U.S. film actress. She studied mime in Paris and worked as a model in New York before making her movie debut in King Kong (1976). She appeared in All That Jazz (1979) and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and became a star with Frances (1982) and Tootsie (1982, Academy Award). Noted for her beauty and her ability to reveal the inner psyche of her characters, Lange won praise for her roles in Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985), and Music Box (1989) and in the televised versions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof { 1984) and O Pioneers! (1992). Her later films include Blue Sky (1994, Academy Award), Rob Roy (1995), A Thousand Acres (1997), and Titus (1999).

Longer, Susanne K(nauth) (b. Dec. 20, 1895, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. July 17, 1985, Old Lyme, Conn.) U.S. philosopher. After receiv¬ ing her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1926, she taught at Harvard (1927-42) and at Columbia University (1945-50, 1954-61). In Philoso¬ phy in a New Key (1942), she presented a novel interpretation of the meaning of art. Her Feeling and Form (1953) proposed that art, espe¬ cially music, is a highly articulated form of expression symbolizing intui¬ tive knowledge of life patterns that ordinary language cannot convey. She traced the origin and development of the mind in her three-volume work Mind: An Essay on Human Feeling.

Langerhans, islets of or islands of Langerhans Irregularly shaped patches of endocrine tissue in the pancreas. The normal human pan¬ creas has about one million of them. Beta cells, the most common islet cells, produce insulin to regulate blood glucose. (Inadequate production of insulin is characteristic of diabetes mellitus.) Alpha cells produce an opposing hormone, glucagon, which releases glucose from the liver and fatty acids from fat tissue; these favour insulin release and inhibit glucagon secretion. Delta cells produce somatostatin, which inhibits somatotropin (a major pituitary hormone), insulin, and glucagon; its metabolic role is not clear. Small numbers of another type of cell secrete pancreatic polypeptide, which slows down nutrient absorption. See also endocrine system.

Langland, William (b. c. 1330—d. c. 1400) Presumed author of the poem known as “Piers Plowman.” Little is known of his life, though he clearly had a deep knowledge of theology and was interested in the asceti¬ cism of St. Bernard de Clairvaux. One of the greatest Middle English allit¬ erative poems, “Piers Plowman” is an allegorical work in the form of a series of dream visions with a complex variety of religious themes; writ¬ ten in simple, colloquial language, it contains powerful imagery.

Langley, Samuel (Pierpont) (b. Aug. 22, 1834, Roxbury, Mass., U.S.—d. Feb. 27, 1906, Aiken, S.C.) U.S. astronomer and aeronautics pioneer. He taught for many years at the future University of Pittsburgh. He studied the effect of solar activity on weather and invented the bolom¬ eter (1878), a radiant-heat detector sensitive to extremely small tempera¬ ture differences. He began conducting experiments on lift and drag of wings by building flying machines, and in 1896 one of his heavier-than- air machines became the first to achieve sustained unmanned flight, fly¬ ing 3,000 ft (900 m) along the Potomac River.

Langmuir \'laq-,myur\, Irving (b. Jan. 31, 1881, Brooklyn, N.Y., N.Y., U.S.—d. Aug. 16, 1957, Falmouth, Mass.) U.S. physical chemist. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen, Ger. As a researcher for General Electric (1909-50), he investigated electrical discharges in gases, electron emission, and the high-temperature surface chemistry of tungsten, making possible a great extension in the life of tungsten-filament

1074 I Langton ► lantana

lightbulbs. He developed a vacuum pump and the high-vacuum tubes used in radio broadcasting. He formulated theories of atomic structure and chemical bond formation, introducing the term covalence. He received a Nobel Prize in 1932.

Langton, Stephen (d. July 9, 1228, Slindon, Sussex, Eng.) English cardinal and archbishop of Canterbury (1207-28). Langton was living in Rome when Innocent III nominated him as archbishop of Canterbury to settle a disputed election. When King John refused to allow him into England, the pope excommunicated John (1209). John finally submitted and received Langton in 1213. The new archbishop encouraged baronial opposition to the king but opposed violence. He was present at the sign¬ ing of the Magna Carta (1215) and influenced its provisions on ecclesi¬ astical liberties.

Langtry, Lillie orig. Emilie Charlotte Le Breton (b. Oct. 13,1853, Isle of Jersey, Channel Islands—d.

Feb. 12, 1929, Monte-Carlo,

Monaco) British actress. She married the socially prominent Edward Langtry in 1874 and later became known as the “Jersey Lily.” A famous beauty, she caused a sensation when she became the first society woman to go on the stage, starring in She Stoops to Conquer (1881). She played to enthusiastic audiences in England and the U.S., notably in As You Like It. Her lovers included the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII).

After her husband died, she married Hugo de Bathe (1899), and she later remodeled and managed the Imperial Theatre in London (1901-17).

language System of conventional spoken or written symbols used by people in a shared culture to com¬ municate with each other. A lan¬ guage both reflects and affects a culture’s way of thinking, and changes in a culture influence the devel¬ opment of its language. Related languages become more differentiated when their speakers are isolated from each other. When speech commu¬ nities come into contact (e.g., through trade or conquest), their languages influence each other. Most existing languages are grouped with other lan¬ guages descended “genetically” from a common ancestral language (see historical linguistics). The broadest grouping of languages is the language family. For example, all the Romance languages are derived from Latin, which in turn belongs to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the ancient parent language, Proto-Indo- European. Other major families include, in Asia, Sino-Tibetan, Austrone- sian, Dravidian, Altaic, and Austroasiatic; in Africa, Niger-Congo, Afro- Asiatic, and Nilo-Saharan; and in the Americas, Uto-Aztecan, AAaya, Otomanguean, and Tupian. Relationships between languages are traced by comparing grammar and syntax and especially by looking for cognates (related words) in different languages. Language has a complex structure that can be analyzed and systematically presented (see linguistics). All lan¬ guages begin as speech, and many go on to develop writing systems. All can employ different sentence structures to convey mood. They use their resources differently for this but seem to be equally flexible structurally. The principal resources are word order, word form, syntactic structure, and, in speech, intonation. Different languages keep indicators of num¬ ber, person, gender, tense, mood, and other categories separate from the root word or attach them to it. The innate human capacity to learn lan¬ guage fades with age, and languages learned after about age 10 are usu¬ ally not spoken as well as those learned earlier. See also dialect.

language, philosophy of Philosophical study of the nature and use of natural languages and the relations between language, language users, and the world. It encompasses the philosophical study of linguistic mean¬ ing (see semantics), the philosophical study of language use in communi¬ cation (see pragmatics), and philosophical reflection on the nature and scientific status of linguistic theories, known as the philosophy of linguis¬ tics. Major areas of investigation have included the theory of reference and the theory of truth. It was the dominant field in analytic philosophy for most the 20th century.

Languedoc \la n g-'dok\ Historical and cultural region, south-central France. Languedoc’s name is derived from the traditional language of southern France, in which the word oc means “yes” (see Occitan lan¬ guage). From 121 bc the region was part of the Roman province of Gal¬ lia Narbonensis. With the fall of the Roman Empire, it was controlled by the Visigoths in the 5th century. During the Middle Ages it came under the counts of Toulouse. Religious wars (see Albigensian Crusade) in the 13th century brought it under the French crown. From the 16th to 18th centuries Languedoc was the scene of Protestant persecution that culmi¬ nated in the war of the Camisards. Protestant revolt led to its division into departments.

Lanier \b-'nir\, Willie (Edward) (b. Aug. 21,1945, Clover, Va., U.S.) U.S. gridiron football player. He was selected to the Little All-America Team while at Morgan State University. An outstanding defensive player, he played middle linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs (1967-77). He helped the Chiefs defeat the favoured Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV (1970) and was selected to eight consecutive Pro Bowls.

Lansbury, George (b. Feb. 21, 1859, near Halesworth, Suffolk, Eng.—d. May 7, 1940, London) British politician. As a member of the House of Commons (1910-12, 1922^40), he became known as a social¬ ist and poor-law reformer, and he led the British Labour Party from 1931 to 1935. Pacifist in his leanings, he was unwilling to call for economic sanctions against Italy for its aggression in Ethiopia (1935), fearing it might lead to war, and lost his party leadership post. In 1937 he visited Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the vain hope that his personal influ¬ ence could stop the movement toward war.

Lansdowne, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th marquess of (b. Jan. 14, 1845, London, Eng.—d. June 3, 1927, Clon¬ mel, County Tipperary, Ire.) Irish nobleman and British diplomat. He inherited his father’s title and wealth in 1866 and served in William E. Gladstone’s Liberal administration. In 1885, as governor-general of Canada (1883-88), he helped settle the rebellion led by Louis Riel. As viceroy of India (1888-94) under a Conservative government, he reorga¬ nized the police, reconstituted legislative councils, closed Indian mints to the free coinage of silver, and extended railway and irrigation works. As secretary of war (1895-1900), he was blamed for British unpreparedness in the South African War. As foreign secretary (1900-06), he concluded the Entente Cordiale.

L'Arise aux Meadows X.lans-o-'me-.dozX Site on the northern tip of Newfoundland of the first known European settlements in the New World. Norse settlers may have established as many as three settlements there near the end of the 10th century. After initially fighting each other, the Norse settlers and the Inuit (whom the Norse called Skraeling) established a regular trade relationship. The settlements were soon abandoned, prob¬ ably as the Norse withdrew from Greenland.

Lansing City (pop., 2000: 119,128), capital of Michigan, U.S. Located on the Grand River at its junction with the Red Cedar River, it was a recently settled site when the state capital was moved there from Detroit in 1847. Originally called Michigan, it adopted the name Lansing in 1848. Auto manufacturing began there in the late 19th century, and it is now a major automobile production centre. Adjacent East Lansing is the home of Michigan State University.

Lansky, Meyer orig. Maier Suchowljansky (b. July 4, 1902, Grodno, Russia—d. Jan. 15, 1983, Miami Beach, Fla., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. gangster. His family immigrated to New York in 1911. As a young man he joined Bugsy Siegel in auto theft, burglary, and liquor smuggling. In 1931 he allegedly organized the murder of crime boss Joe Masseria and joined Lucky Luciano in forming a national crime syndicate. By 1936 he had developed gambling operations in Cuba and the U.S., putting Sie¬ gel in charge of Las Vegas. In the 1960s he extended his gambling empire to the Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean while continuing to run narcotics-smuggling, prostitution, labour-racketeering, and extortion rackets. His holdings in 1970 were estimated at $300 million. In 1979 the House of Representatives Assassinations Committee linked Lansky with Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the assas¬ sin of Pres. John F. Kennedy. Though convicted of income-tax evasion in 1973, he remained free on appeals.

lantana \lan-'ta-n3\ Any of more than 150 shrubs that make up the genus Lantana in the verbena family, native to the New World and Afri¬ can tropics. They are cultivated for their ornamental foliage, fragrant

Lillie Langtry

MANSELL COLLECTION

lanthanide ► lapis lazuli I 1075

clusters of flowers, and colourful blue-black fruits. Common lantana (L. camara), a weed in the New World tropics, is much used as a garden plant elsewhere. It grows to 10 ft (3 m) and blooms almost continuously with yellow, orange, pink, or white flower heads. The aromatic leaves are rough and oval.

lanthanide \'lan-th3-,nld\ Any of the series of 15 consecutive chemi¬ cal elements in the periodic table from lanthanum to lutetium (atomic num¬ bers 57-71). With scandium and yttrium, they make up the rare earth metals. Their atoms have similar configurations and similar physical and chemical behaviour; the most common valences are 3 and 4.

Lanzhou or Lan-chou Vlan-'jo\ City (pop., 1999 est.: 1,429,673), capital of Gansu province, north-central China. Situated on the upper Huang He (Yellow River), it became part of the territory of Qin in the 6th century bc and later developed as a major trade centre on the Silk Road. It became the seat of Lanzhou prefecture under the Sui dynasty (581-618 ad) and the capital of Gansu province in 1666. It was badly damaged dur¬ ing the Muslim uprisings in 1864-75. A centre of Soviet influence in northwestern China in the early 20th century, it was the terminus of the 2,000-mi (3,200-km) Chinese-Soviet highway that was used during the Sino-Japanese War (1937—45) for the transport of Soviet supplies. It developed as an industrial and cultural centre after World War II. It is the seat of Lanzhou University.

Lao She Ylau-'sha\ orig. Shu Qingchun or Shu Sheyu (b. Feb. 3, 1899, Beijing, China—d. Aug. 24?, 1966, Beijing) Chinese writer. He worked as an educator before going to England in 1924, and he was inspired to write his first novel while reading the works of Charles Dick¬ ens to improve his English. He originally championed strong, hard¬ working individuals but later expressed the futility of the individual’s struggle against society, as in Luotuo Xiangzi (1936), the tragic story of a ricksha puller; Rickshaw Boy, an unauthorized translation with a happy ending (1945), became a U.S. best-seller. After the onset of the Sino- Japanese War, he wrote lesser patriotic and propagandistic plays and nov¬ els. In 1966 he fell victim to the Cultural Revolution.

Laocoon Vla-'a-ko-.anV In Greek legend, a seer and priest of Apollo. He was the son of Agenor of Troy or the brother of Aeneas’s father Anchises. Laocobn offended Apollo by breaking his priestly vow of celibacy and begetting children, and by warning the Trojans not to accept the wooden horse presented by the Greeks. While preparing to offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, he and his two sons were crushed to death by sea serpents sent by Apollo.

Laos Vla-os, 'laus\ officially Lao People's Democratic Republic

Country, Southeast Asia. Area: 91,429 sq mi (236,800 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 5,924,000. Capital: Vientiane. Major ethnic groups include the Lao-Lum (valley Lao), who make up about half of the population; the Lao-Tai, a highland tribal people; the Lao-Theung (Mon-Khmer), descen¬ dants of the region’s earliest inhabitants; and the Lao-Soung group, including the Hmong and Man. Languages: Lao (official), English, Viet¬ namese, French. Religions: Buddhism, traditional beliefs. Currency: kip. Laos is largely mountainous, especially in the north; its highest point is Mount Bia (9,245 ft [2,818 m]). Tropical forests cover more than half of the country’s total land area; only a tiny portion of its total area is suitable for agriculture. The floodplains of the Mekong River provide the country’s only lowlands and its major wet-rice fields. Laos has a centrally planned economy based primarily on agriculture (including rice, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, cassava, and opium poppies) and international aid. It is a peo¬ ple’s republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president, and its head of government is the prime minister. The Lao people migrated into Laos from southern China after the 8th century ad, displacing indig¬ enous peoples. In the 14th century Fa Ngum founded the first Laotian state, Lan Xang. Except for a period of rule by Myanmar (Burma; 1574- 1637), the Lan Xang kingdom ruled Laos until 1713, when it split into three kingdoms—Vien Chan, Champassak, and Luang Prabang. During the 18th century the rulers of the three Laotian kingdoms became vassals of Siam (Thailand). France gained control of the region in 1893, and Laos became a French protectorate. In 1945 Japan seized control and declared Laos independent. The area reverted to French rule after World War II. By the end of the First Indochina War, the leftist Pathet Lao movement con¬ trolled two provinces of the country. The Geneva Conference of 1954 uni¬ fied and granted independence to Laos. Pathet Lao forces fought the Laotian government and took control in 1975, establishing the Lao Peo¬ ple’s Democratic Republic; about one-tenth of the population fled into

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neighbouring Thailand. Laos held its first election in 1989 and promulgated a new constitution in 1991. Although its economy was adversely affected by the regional economic recession beginning in the mid-1990s, it realized a longtime goal in 1997 when it joined ASEAN.

Laozi or Lao-tzu Vlau-’dzM (fl. 6th century bc, China) First philoso¬ pher of Chinese Daoism. He is traditionally named as the author of the Daodejing, though modern scholars hold that the work had more than one author. Legends about his life abound, but little or no certain information survives. The historical Laozi, if he existed, may have been a scholar and caretaker of sacred books at the royal court of the Zhou dynasty. Accord¬ ing to legend, he was carried 72 years in his mother’s womb, and he met Confucius as a young man. He is venerated as a philosopher by the Con- fucianists, as a saint or god by the common people of China, and as a divinity and the representative of the dao by Daoists.

laparoscopy \,la-p3-'ras-k9-pe\ or peritoneoscopy \,per-3t- 3 n-,e- 'as-k9-pe\ Procedure for inspecting the abdominal cavity using a laparo¬ scope; also surgery requiring use of a laparoscope. Laparoscopes use fibre-optic lights and small video cameras to show tissues and organs on a monitor. Laparoscopic surgical procedures include gallbladder, appen¬ dix, and tumour removal; tubal ligation; and hysterectomy. After carbon dioxide is pumped in to expand the space for the instruments, small inci¬ sions are made and the laparoscope and instruments inserted. Less inva¬ sive than traditional (open) surgery, laparoscopy reduces postoperative pain, recovery time, and length of hospital stay.

Lapidus Ma-'pi-dosN, Morris (b. Nov. 25, 1902, Odessa, Russia—d. Jan. 18, 2001, Miami Beach, Fla., U.S.) Ukrainian-born U.S. architect. He came to the U.S. as a child and grew up in New York City. After earn¬ ing an architectural degree, he worked in New York architectural firms from 1928 to 1942. In 1942 Lapidus moved to Miami Beach, where he ran his own firm until 1986. He designed numerous buildings there in the Art Deco style, including the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels. He designed over 200 hotels worldwide as well as numerous office buildings, shopping centres, and hospitals.

lapis lazuli N.la-pss-'la-zo-leN Semiprecious stone valued for its deep- blue colour caused by the presence of the mineral lazurite, which is the source of the pigment ultramarine. Lapis lazuli is not a single mineral but an intergrowth lazurite with calcite, pyroxene, and commonly small grains of pyrite. The most important mines are in Afghanistan and Chile. Much of what is sold as lapis is an artificially dyed jasper from Germany that shows colourless specks of clear, crystallized quartz and never the gold¬ like flecks of pyrite that are characteristic of lapis lazuli.

1076 I Lapita culture ► Largo Caballero

Lapita culture Ua-'pe-toX Cultural complex of what were presumably the original human settlers of Melanesia, much of Polynesia, and parts of Micronesia. The Lapita people were originally from New Guinea or some other region of Austronesia. Seaborne explorers, they spread to the Solomon Islands (c. 1600 bc), then to Fiji, Tonga and the rest of western Polynesia (c. 1000 bc), and finally to Micronesia (c. 500 bc). They are known principally on the basis of the remains of their fired pottery, which was first extensively investigated at the site of Lapita in New Caledonia. They appear to have subsisted largely by fishing but may also have prac¬ ticed some domestic agriculture and animal husbandry.

Laplace Uo-'plasX, Pierre-Simon, marquis de (b. March 23,1749, Beaumount-en-Auge, France—d. March 5, 1827, Paris) French mathema¬ tician, astronomer, and physicist. He is best known for his investigations into the stability of the solar system and the theory of magnetic, electri¬ cal, and heat wave propagation. In his major lifework he applied New¬ tonian gravitational theory to the solar system to explain deviations of the planets from the orbits predicted by the theory (1773). Newton believed that only divine intervention could explain the solar system’s equilibrium, but Laplace established a mathematical basis for it, the most important advance in physical astronomy since Newton. He continued to work on elucidating planetary perturbations through the 1780s. A work published in 1796 included his nebular hypothesis, which attributed the origin of the solar system to the cooling and contracting of a gaseous nebula, a theory that strongly influenced future thought on planetary origins. See also Laplace transform; Laplace's equation.

Laplace transform In mathematics, an integral transform useful in solving differential equations. The Laplace transform of a function is found by integrating the product of that function and the exponential function e~ pt over the interval from zero to infinity. The Laplace transform’s appli¬ cations include solving linear differential equations with constant coeffi¬ cients and solving boundary value problems, which arise in calculations relating to physical systems.

Laplace's equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation whose solutions (harmonic functions) are useful in investigating physical problems in three dimensions involving gravitational, electrical, and mag¬ netic fields, and certain types of fluid motion. Named for Pierre-Simon Laplace, the equation states that the sum of the second partial derivatives (the Laplace operator, or Laplacian) of an unknown function is zero. It can apply to functions of two or three variables, and can be written in terms of a differential operator as A F = 0, where A is the Laplace operator.

Lapland Region, northern Europe.

Located within the Arctic Circle, it stretches across northern Norway,

Sweden, and Finland and into Rus¬ sia’s Kola Peninsula. Occupying an area of 150,000 sq mi (389,000 sq km), it is bounded by the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea, and the White Sea. Since it straddles several national borders, it does not exist as any unified administrative entity. It is named for the Sami (Lapp) people, who have inhabited the region for several thousand years. Those still practicing reindeer herding have lib¬ erty of movement across national boundaries. Industries include min¬ ing and fishing.

lapwing Any of numerous bird species of the plover family (Charadriidae), especially the Eur¬ asian lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) of farmlands and grassy plains. Lap¬ wings are about 12 in. (30 cm) long and have broad, rounded wings. Sev¬ eral species have crests, and some have wing spurs (sharp projections at the bend of the wing). The Eurasian lapwing is green-glossed black above with white cheeks, black throat and breast, white belly, and

white tail with a black band. About 24 other species are found in South America, Africa, southern Asia, Malaya, and Australia.

L'Aquila Vla-kwe-la\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 63,121), capital of the Abruzzi region, central Italy. The area was settled by the Sabini, an ancient Italic tribe, and the city was founded c. 1240. After being ruled by the Kingdom of Naples, it became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Located near the mountains of Gran Sasso d’ltalia, it is a skiing centre and summer resort. Historic sites include a 14th-century cathedral and a 16th-century castle.

Laramide orogeny Vlar-o-.mld-o-'ra-jo-neX Series of mountain¬ building events that affected much of western North America in Late Cre¬ taceous and Early Tertiary time (c. 65 million years ago). The Laramide orogeny originally was believed to mark the Cretaceous-Tertiary bound¬ ary. It is now considered to have consisted of many separate pulses of deformation that varied in intensity and age from place to place. Lara¬ mide rocks, however, were generally created around the Cretaceous- Tertiary time boundary.

larceny See theft

larch Any of about 10-12 species of coniferous trees that make up the genus Larix of the pine family, native to cool temperate and sub-Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Though the larch has the pyramid shape typical of conifers, it sheds its short, light-green, needlelike leaves in autumn. The most widespread North American larch, the tamarack, or eastern larch (L. laricina ), matures in 100-200 years, may grow 40-100 ft (12-30 m) tall, and has gray to reddish-brown bark. Coarse-grained, strong, hard, and heavy, larch wood is useful in ship construction and for telephone poles, mine timbers, and railroad ties.

Lardner, Ring(gold Wilmer) (b. March 6, 1885, Niles, Mich., U.S.—d. Sept. 25, 1933, East Hampton, N.Y.) U.S. writer. He worked as a newspaper reporter, sportswriter, and columnist before he began pub¬ lishing fiction. He won popular success with comic stories about a base¬ ball player, some collected in You Know Me, Al (1916). Later collections, noted for their satire, narrative skill, and convincing vernacular language, include How to Write Short Stories (1924) and The Love Nest (1926). His son, the screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr., was one of the Hollywood Ten and later wrote such hit movies as MAS*// (1970).

Laredo \b-'ra-do\ City (pop., 2000: 176,576), southern Texas, U.S. Located on the Rio Grande opposite Nuevo Laredo, Mex., it was estab¬ lished in 1755 by the Spanish and was named for Laredo, Spain. After the Texas revolt against Mexican rule in 1836, it became the seat of the Republic of the Rio Grande (1839-41). Occupied by the Texas Rangers in 1846, it was incorporated as a city in 1852. A rapidly growing city, its manufacturing includes electronic components and oil refining.

Lares \'lar-,ez\ In Roman religion, guardian deities. Originally gods of cultivated fields, Lares were later worshiped in association with the Penates, the gods of the household. The household Lar, considered the cen¬ tre of the family cult, was often represented as a youthful figure holding a drinking horn and cup. Two Lares might be portrayed standing on either side of Vesta or some other deity. A prayer was said to the Lar or Lares every morning, and offerings were made at family festivals. Public Lares presided over local districts marked by a crossroads; state Lares (praes- tites ), guardians of Rome, were worshiped in a temple on the Via Sacra.

large intestine End section of the intestine. It is about 5 ft (1.5 m) long, is wider than the small intestine, and has a smooth inner wall. In the first half, enzymes from the small intestine complete digestion, and bac¬ teria produce many B vitamins and vitamin K. Over 24-30 hours, churn¬ ing movements break down tough cellulose fibres and expose chyme to the colon’s walls, which absorb water and electrolytes; absorption is its main function, along with storing fecal matter for expulsion. The more vigor¬ ous “mass movement” (gastrocolic reflex) occurs only two or three times a day to propel waste material toward the anal canal. Common afflictions include ulcerative colitis, diverticulosis (see diverticulum), polyps, and tumours.

Largo Caballero \Tar-go-,ka-bal-'yar-o\, Francisco (b. Oct. 15, 1869, Madrid, Spain—d. March 23, 1946, Paris, France) Spanish social¬ ist leader and prime minister (1936-37). He joined the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party in 1894 and rose to become head of the party’s trade- union federation in 1925. He cooperated with the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, then served in the Second Republic as labour minister

Sami (Lapps) outside their reindeer-skin tent in Finnish Lapland

Eurasian lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)

INGMAR HOLMASEN

Laristan ► Las Casas I 1077

(1931-33). After the Popular Front’s election victory in 1936, he became prime minister and tried to unify the leftist parties; however, an extreme- left uprising in Barcelona in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War caused a cabinet crisis and he was forced to resign. He went into exile in France and was interned by the Germans in World War II (1942-45).

Laristan \,lar-9-'stan\ Region, southern Iran. Located on the Persian Gulf, it is a former province; its chief town is Lar. The region was ruled by the Muzaffarid dynasty of Kerman until it was conquered by Timur. After his death in 1405, it was ruled by local chiefs under the Safavid dynasty. The last such chief was put to death by 'Abbas I (the Great), who ruled from 1587 to 1629.

lark Any of about 75 species of songbirds (family Alaudidae) found throughout the continental Old World. Only the horned, or shore, lark ( Eremophila alpestris ) is native to the New World. The bill may be small and narrowly conical or long and downward-curving, and the hind claw is long and sometimes straight.

The plumage is plain or streaked and closely matches the soil in colour. Its body is 5-9 in. (13-23 cm) long.

Flocks of larks forage for insects and seeds on the ground. All species have a high, thin, melodious voice. See also SKYLARK.

Larkin, Philip (Arthur) (b. Aug. 9, 1922, Coventry, Warwickshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 2, 1985, Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire) English poet. Educated at Oxford, Larkin became a librarian at the University of Hull, Yorkshire, in 1955; he would remain a librarian the rest of his life. He wrote two novels before becoming well known with his third volume of verse. The Less Deceived (1955), which expressed the antiromantic sen¬ sibility prevalent in English verse of his time. Later poetry volumes are The Whitsun Weddings (1964), High Windows (1974), and Aubade (1980). All What Jazz (1970) contains essays he wrote as a jazz critic for The Daily Telegraph (1961-71).

larkspur or delphinium Any of about 300 species of herbaceous plants that make up the genus Del¬ phinium in the buttercup family, many of which are grown for their showy flower stalks. Annual larkspurs (sometimes separated as the genus Consolida) include the common rocket larkspur ( D . ajacis, or C. ambigua) and its varieties, up to 2 ft (60 cm) tall, with bright blue, pink, or white flowers on branching stalks.

Perennial larkspurs, often with blue flowers, include species that grow to 4.5 ft (1.4 m).

Larne \Tarn\ Town (pop., 1991:

17,575), capital of Larne district (pop., 2001: 30,832), Northern Ire¬ land. It is located on the Irish Sea north of Belfast. Edward Bruce landed nearby on his journey to accept the Irish throne in 1315. It developed as a holiday resort after 1900. The Antrim Coast Road, one of the greatest tourist attractions in Northern Ireland, begins at Lame. The district’s economy is largely based on tourism and agriculture.

Larousse \l9-'riis\, Pierre (Athanase) (b. Oct. 23, 1817, Toucy, France—d. Jan. 3, 1875, Paris) French publisher, lexicographer, and ency¬ clopaedist. Son of a blacksmith, he received a scholarship to study in Ver¬ sailles. He founded his publishing house, Librairie Larousse, in Paris in 1852. It published textbooks, grammar books, and dictionaries, but his major work, reflecting his desire “to teach everyone about everything,” was the combined dictionary and encyclopaedia Grand dictionnaire uni- versel du XIXe siecle, 17 vol. (1866-76). Librairie Larousse continues to publish a multivolume encyclopaedia as well as dictionaries and smaller encyclopaedias.

Larsa biblical Ellasar Ancient capital of Babylonia, located on the Eu¬ phrates River in present-day southern Iraq. It was founded in prehistoric times and flourished in a period of Sumerian decline (c. 2000-c. 1760 bc), when long-distance trade connected the Euphrates with the Indus River valley. Hammurabi of Babylon gained control of the area in 1763 bc.

Larsen Ice Shelf Ice shelf in the northwestern Weddell Sea, adjoining the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is named for Capt. Carl A. Larsen, who explored the ice front by boat in 1893. The shelf originally covered an area of 33,000 sq mi (86,000 sq km), excluding the numer¬ ous small islands within it, but, as air temperatures over the Antarctic Peninsula warmed slightly in the second half of the 20th century, the shelf shrank dramatically. By the early 21st century, it covered only 40 percent of its former area.

Lartigue \lar-'teg\, Jacques-Henri (-Charles-Auguste) (b. June 13, 1894, Courbevoie, Fr.—d. Sept. 12, 1986, Nice) French painter and photographer. Born into a prosperous family, he was given a Brownie camera at age seven. From the beginning, his photographs were invari¬ ably informal shots of everyday subjects. In the 1910s and ’20s Lartigue enthusiastically photographed subjects such as automobile races, fashion¬ able ladies at the seashore and the park, and kite flying. These photographs reveal his free spirit and love of life, rather than a concern for photo¬ graphic technique and craft, and often capture a sense of movement. When his work was discovered in the 1960s, it was acclaimed for its departure from formal, posed portraits and for its ingenuous charm and beguiling spontaneity.

larva Active, feeding stage in the development of many animals, occur¬ ring after birth or hatching and before the adult form is reached. Larvae are structurally different from adults and often are adapted to a different environment. Some species have free-living larvae but sessile (affixed) adults, the moving larvae thus helping to spread the species; others have aquatic larvae but terrestrial adults. Most larvae are tiny; many are dis¬ persed by entering a host’s body, where the adult form of the parasite emerges. Many invertebrates (e.g., cnidarians) have simple larvae. Flukes have several larval stages, and annelids, mollusks, and crustaceans have various larval forms. Insect larvae are called caterpillars, grubs, maggots, or worms; the larval stage of many insects may last much longer than the adult stage (e.g., some cicadas live 17 years as larvae and a week as adults). Echinoderms also have larval forms. The larvae of frogs and toads are called tadpoles. See also metamorphosis, pupa.

laryngeal Ms-'rin-joL cancer Malignant tumour of the larynx. The larynx is affected by both benign and malignant tumours. Squamous-cell carcinoma, the most common laryngeal malignancy, is associated with smoking and alcohol consumption; it is more common in men. Prolonged hoarseness without pain is the major symptom and should always be investigated. Radiation therapy or surgery may be used to treat tumours.

laryngitis \,lar-9n-'jl-t9s\ Inflammation of the larynx, causing hoarse¬ ness. Simple laryngitis usually occurs with infections such as the com¬ mon cold. Other causes include inhalation of irritants. The larynx’s lining becomes swollen and secretes mucus. In chronic laryngitis, caused by excessive smoking, drinking, or vocal-cord use, the larynx is dry and has polyps. Other types are caused by diphtheria spreading from the upper throat, tuberculosis bacteria spreading from the lungs, and advanced syphi¬ lis. The last can produce severe scarring and permanent hoarseness.

larynx \'lar-inks\ or voice box Hollow, tubular structure connecting the pharynx with the trachea, through which air passes on the way to the lungs. The larynx consists of a framework of cartilage plates, with a ridge in front (Adam’s apple); the epiglottis, a flaplike projection up into the throat that covers the airway during swallowing to keep food and liquid from entering; and the vocal cords, whose vibration produces the sound of the voice (see speech). See illustration on following page.

Las Casas, Bartolome de (b. August 1474, Sevilla?—d. July 17, 1566, Madrid) Spanish historian and missionary, called the Apostle of the Indies. He sailed on Christopher Columbus’s third voyage (1498) and later became a planter on Hispaniola (1502). In 1510 he became the first priest ordained in the Americas. He devoted his life to protesting the mistreat¬ ment of the Indians, with whom he worked in Guatemala, Peru, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Mexico. His call for an end to the encomienda system aroused implacable opposition. His proposed and quickly regretted solu¬ tion, the importation of slaves from Africa, was adopted, but the servi¬ tude of the Indians had already been irreversibly established. His Brief

1078 I Las Navas de Tolosa ► Lassalle

epiglottis hyoid bone

thyroid cartilage cricoid cartilage trachea

(A) Frontal view and (B) cutaway side view of the human larynx. The larynx is com¬ posed of cartilage plates that are joined together by muscles and ligaments. The thyroid cartilage, the largest, forms a prominence in front called the Adam's apple. The leaf-shaped epiglottis, attached to the upper part of the thyroid cartilage, closes during swallowing. The vocal cords in the cavity of the larynx are large folds in the mucous membrane lining the larynx. They stretch between the thyroid cartilage in front and the arytenoid cartilages in the back. As air passes between them, they vibrate to emit sound.

Report on the Destruction of the Indians (1552) and his unfinished His¬ tory of the Indians inspired Simon Bolivar and other revolutionary heroes. See also black legend.

Las Navas de Tolosa Uas-'na-vas-tha-to-'lo-saV, Battle of or

Battle of Al-'Uqab \,al-u-'kab\ (July 16, 1212) Major battle of the Christian reconquest of Spain. It occurred during a Christian Crusade against the Muslim Almohad dynasty. Led by King Alfonso VIII, the com¬ bined armies of Leon, Castile, Aragon, Navarra, and Portugal found a secret route through a mountain pass in Andalusia (southern Spain) and surprised and defeated the Almohads at a site about 40 mi (65 km) north of Jaen.

Las Palmas or Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Seaport city (pop., 2001: 354,863), northeastern Grand Canary Island, Spain. The largest city and chief port of the Canary Islands, it was founded in 1478 and served as a base for the Spanish conquest of Tenerife and La Palma islands. It grew after the port was constructed in 1883. It is a year-round resort; his¬ toric sites include a 15th-century cathedral and the house of Christopher Columbus.

Las Vegas City (pop., 2000: 478,434), southeastern Nevada, U.S. It is famous for its luxury hotels, casinos, and nightclubs, located in the area known as “the Strip.” Mormons from Utah settled the site in 1855 and abandoned it in 1857. It became a railroad town in 1905 and was incor¬ porated in 1911. Gambling was legalized in 1931, and Las Vegas expanded rapidly after 1940. Its connections to crime syndicates began in 1946, when Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo Hotel. By the early 21st century it was one of the country’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, attracting a year-round population as well as tourists.

Lascaux \la-'sko\ Grotto Cave near Montignac, Fr., that contains per¬ haps the most outstanding known display of prehistoric art. Discovered in 1940, it consists of a main cavern and several steep galleries, all mag¬ nificently decorated with engraved, drawn, and painted animals, some of them portrayed in a “twisted perspective.” Among the most notable images are four great aurochs bulls, a curious unicorn-type animal that may represent a mythical creature, and a rare narrative composition involving a bird-man figure and a speared bison. About 1,500 bone

engravings have also been found at the site, which has been dated to the late Aurignacian period (c. 15,000 bc). Because of heavy tourist traffic, the cave was closed to the public in 1963, but a full-scale facsimile, Las¬ caux II, was opened in 1983. See also rock art.

laser Device that produces an intense beam of coherent light (light com¬ posed of waves having a constant difference in phase). Its name, an acro¬ nym derived from “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation,” describes how its beam is produced. The first laser, constructed in 1960 by Theodore Maiman (born 1927) based on earlier work by Charles H. Townes, used a rod of ruby. Light of a suitable wavelength from a flashlight excited (see excitation) the ruby atoms to higher energy lev¬ els. The excited atoms decayed swiftly to slightly lower energies (through phonon reactions) and then fell more slowly to the ground state, emitting light at a specific wavelength. The light tended to bounce back and forth between the polished ends of the rod, stimulating further emission. The laser has found valuable applications in microsurgery, compact-disc play¬ ers, communications, and holography, as well as for drilling holes in hard materials, alignment in tunnel drilling, long-distance measurement, and mapping fine details.

Lashley, Karl S(pencer) (b. June 7, 1890, Davis, W.Va., U.S.—d. Aug. 7, 1958, Paris, France) U.S. psychologist. He taught at the Univer¬ sities of Minnesota (1920-29) and Chicago (1929-35) and at Harvard University (1935-55). In Brain Mechanisms and Intelligence (1929), he demonstrated that certain types of learning are mediated by the cerebral cortex as a whole, refuting the view that every psychological function is localized at a specific place on the cortex, and he showed that some parts of the brain system (e.g., the visual system) can take over the functions of other parts. He also studied the cortical basis of motor activities and the relation between brain mass and learning ability. His paper “The Prob¬ lem of Serial Order in Behavior” (1951) played a major supporting role in the revolt against simple associative psychology.

Lasker, Emanuel (b. Dec. 24, 1868, Berlinchen, Prussia—d. Jan. 11, 1941, New York, N.Y., U.S.) German chess master and mathematician. He first won the world chess championship in 1894 and retained the title until his defeat by Jose Capablanca in 1921; his term remains the longest reign as champion. As the first chess master to demand high fees, he helped strengthen the financial status of chess professionals. He wrote the classic Common Sense in Chess (1896) as well as books on mathematics and philosophy. As a Jew, he was forced to leave Nazi Germany in 1933. With the loss of his property, he ended his eight-year retirement from chess, once again competing at the highest level.

Laski, Harold J(oseph) (b. June 30, 1893, Manchester, Eng.—d. March 24, 1950, London) British political scientist, educator, and political leader. Educated at the University of Oxford, he taught at McGill Univer¬ sity and Harvard University before returning to Britain to work for the Labour Party. He later taught at the London School of Economics (1926- 50). He argued in works such as The State in Theory and Practice (1935) that the economic difficulties of capitalism might lead to the destruction of political democracy, and he came to view socialism as the only alternative to fascism. He was an assistant to Clement R. Attlee during World War II.

Lassalle \la-'sal\, Ferdinand orig. Ferdinand Lasal (b. April 11, 1825, Breslau, Prussia—d. Aug. 31,

1864, near Geneva, Switz.) German socialist, a founder of the German labour movement. He took part in the revolution of 1848-49 and estab¬ lished contact with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In 1859 he settled in Berlin and became a political jour¬ nalist. His advocacy of an evolution¬ ary approach to socialism through a democratic constitutional state based on universal suffrage led to his gradual estrangement from Marx. He helped form the General German Workers’ Association (1863) and was elected its president, but associ¬ ates rebelled against his authoritarian leadership. In 1864 he went to Swit¬ zerland for a rest, fell passionately in love, and was killed at age 39 in a duel with the woman’s former fiance.

Lassalle, c. 1860

ARCHIV FUR KUNST UND GESCHICHTE, BERLIN

Lassen Peak ► Latin alphabet I 1079

Lassen Peak or Mount Lassen Volcano, southern end of the Cascade Range, northeastern California, U.S. It erupted on May 30, 1914, and inter¬ mittently thereafter until 1921. The peak is 10,457 ft (3,187 m) high and is the principal attraction of Lassen Volcanic National Park, which occupies an area of 106,372 acres (43,047 hectares). In 1821 Luis Argiiello, a Span¬ ish officer, became the first European to discover the peak. It is named for Peter Lassen, an explorer who guided settlers through the area.

Lassus Vla-siBsV Orlande de or Orlando di Lasso \'la-so\ or Roland de Lassus (b. 1530/32, Mons, Spanish Hainaut—d. June 14, 1594, Munich) Flemish composer. He began as a choirboy (with such a beautiful voice that he is said to have been kidnapped to sing elsewhere), and his first known position was in service to the Gonzaga family in Italy (1544). After 1556 he was based in Munich as kapellmeister to the duke of Bavaria, but he pursued an international career, traveling in Italy, Ger¬ many, Flanders, and France. He wrote more than 1,200 works, in every contemporary style and genre, sacred (including some 60 masses and 500 motets) and secular (including hundreds of madrigals and chansons), his attention to the correspondence of music and words being especially remarkable. Because of his range of styles (he always kept up with fash¬ ion) and because his works were printed widely during and after his life¬ time, he influenced many composers and is regarded as one of the greatest masters of his century.

Last Mountain Lake Lake, southern central Saskatchewan, Canada. Draining southward into the Qu'Appelle River, and with an average width of 2 mi (3.2 km) and a length of 60 mi (96 km), it occupies an area of 89 sq mi (231 sq km). It is a popular fishing and resort area.

Lat, al- Northern Arabian goddess of pre-Islamic times. A stone cube near Mecca was held sacred as part of her cult. Two other northern Arabian goddesses. Manat and al- c Uzza, are associated with al-Lat in the Qur’an. According to a contentious account, Muhammad was said to have recog¬ nized these three as goddesses, but a new revelation led him to abandon his attempt to placate Meccan pagans, and he later ordered the sanctuaries of al-Lat and the other two goddesses destroyed. The goddesses were wor¬ shiped by Arab tribes located as far away as Palmyra, Syria.

Late Baroque See Rococo style

latent heat Characteristic amount of energy absorbed or released by a substance during a change in physical state that occurs without a change in temperature. Heat of fusion is the latent heat associated with melting a solid or freezing a liquid. Heat of vaporization is the latent heat associ¬ ated with vapourizing a liquid or condensing (see condensation) a vapour. For example, when water reaches its boiling point and is kept boiling, it remains at that temperature until it has all evaporated; all the heat added to the water is absorbed as latent heat of vaporization and is carried away by the escaping vapour molecules.

Later Le \'le\ dynasty (1428-1788) Greatest and longest-lasting dynasty of traditional Vietnam. Its founder, Le Loi, drove the Chinese out of Vietnam and began the process of recovering the southern portion of the region from the kingdom of Champa. In 1471 the dynasty’s greatest ruler, Le Thanh Tong (d. 1497), completed that work. He divided the country into provinces patterned on the Chinese model and established a triennial Confucian civil-service examination. After 1533 the Le rulers were only theoretically supreme, real power being held by the Trinh and Nguyen families. In 1771 a peasant uprising toppled the dynasty.

laterality or hemispheric asymmetry Characteristic of the human brain in which certain functions (such as language comprehension) are localized on one side in preference to the other. One example is hand¬ edness (the tendency to use one hand or the other to perform activities): Since the left and right cerebral hemispheres control the right and left sides of the body, respectively, right-handed people are typically left- dominant in terms of hemispheric control of various motor functions and also with respect to seeing (right-eyed) and language comprehension. Paul Broca first identified the brain centre for articulate speech in what is now called Broca’s area. Later researchers discovered that functions involving logical or sequential analysis generally reside in the left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere seems to control processing of spatio-visual infor¬ mation and musical relations. More left-handers than right-handers dis¬ play a reversal of hemispheric specialization or a more even distribution of functions between the two hemispheres. There is no general agreement about whether laterality is genetically transmitted, developed during ges¬ tation, or learned.

Lateran Council Any of five ecumenical councils of the Roman Catho¬ lic church held in the Lateran Palace in Rome. The First Lateran Council (1123), held during the papacy of Calixtus II, reiterated decrees of earlier ecumenical councils (condemning simony, forbidding clergymen to marry, etc.). The Second Lateran Council (1139) was called by Innocent II to end the schism created by the election of a rival pope. The Third Lateran Council (1179), held during the papacy of Alexander III, established a two- thirds majority of the College of Cardinals as a requirement for papal elec¬ tion and condemned the heresies of the Cathari. Innocent III called the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) in an effort to reform the church; its decrees obliged Catholics to make a yearly confession, sanctioned the doc¬ trine of transubstantiation, and made preparations for a new Crusade. The Fifth Lateran Council (1512-17), convoked by Julius II, affirmed the immortality of the soul and restored peace among warring Christian rulers.

Lateran Treaty or Lateran Pact (1929) Pact of mutual recognition between Italy and the Vatican, signed in the Lateran Palace, Rome. The Vatican agreed to recognize the state of Italy, with Rome as its capital, in exchange for formal establishment of Roman Catholicism as the state reli¬ gion of Italy, institution of religious instruction in the public schools, the banning of divorce, and recognition of papal sovereignty over Vatican City and the complete independence of the pope. A second concordat in 1985 ended Catholicism’s status as the state religion and discontinued compulsory religious education.

laterite Vla-to-.rfiA Soil layer rich in iron oxide and sometimes aluminum, derived from a wide variety of rocks by leaching. It forms in tropical and subtropical regions where the climate is humid. Laterite is blackish brown to reddish and has been used as an iron ore and, in Cuba, as a source of nickel.

latex Any of several natural or synthetic colloidal suspensions (see col¬ loid). Some latexes occur naturally in the cells of plants such as chicle and rubber trees. They are complex mixtures of organic compounds, including various gum resins, fats, or waxes and, in some instances, poisonous com¬ pounds, suspended in a watery medium with dissolved salts, sugars, tan¬ nins, alkaloids, enzymes, and other substances from which the latex (or natural rubber, the only available rubber until 1926) can be concentrated, coagulated, and vulcanized. Synthetic latexes (e.g., neoprene), made by emulsion polymerization from styrene-butadiene copolymer, acrylate resins, polyvinyl acetate, or other materials, are used as paints and coatings; the plastic, dispersed in the water, forms films by fusion as the water evapo¬ rates.

lathe Vlath\ Machine tool that performs turning operations in which unwanted material is removed from a workpiece rotated against a cutting tool. Lathes are among the oldest and most important machine tools, used in France from 1569 and important in the Industrial Revolution in England, when they were adapted for metal cutting (see Henry Maudslay). Lathes (usually called engine lathes) today have a power-driven, variable-speed horizontal spindle to which the workholding device is attached. Opera¬ tions include turning straight or tapered cylindrical shapes, grooves, shoulders, and screw threads and facing flat surfaces on the ends of cylin¬ drical parts. Internal cylindrical operations include most of the common hole-machining operations, such as drilling, boring, reaming, counterbor¬ ing, countersinking, and threading with a single-point tool or tap. See also BORING MACHINE.

Latimer, Hugh (b. c. 1485, Thurcaston, Leicestershire, Eng.—d. Oct. 16, 1555, Oxford) English Protestant martyr. The son of a prosperous yeoman farmer, he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he came into contact with the doctrines of Martin Luther and converted to Protestantism. He supported Henry VIII’s attempt to obtain a marriage annulment but was later excommunicated for refusing to accept the exist¬ ence of purgatory or the need to venerate saints. He made a complete sub¬ mission and briefly served as bishop of Worcester (1535-39). Again imprisoned on suspicion of heresy, he was freed with the accession of Edward VI, during whose brief reign he preached extensively. On Mary I’s accession and the subsequent reversion to Catholicism, he was arrested for treason and burned at the stake.

Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet Most widely used alphabet, the standard script of most languages that originated in Europe. It devel¬ oped before 600 bc from the Etruscan alphabet (in turn derived from the North Semitic alphabet by way of the Phoenician and Greek alphabets). The earliest known Latin inscriptions date from the 7th-6th cent. bc. The classical Latin alphabet had 23 letters, 21 derived from the Etruscan. In

1080 I Latin America ► Latrobe

medieval times the letter J became differentiated from I, and U and W became differentiated from V, producing the 26-letter alphabet of mod¬ ern English. In ancient Roman times there were two types of Latin script, capital letters and cursive. Uncial script, mixing both types, developed in the 3rd century ad.

Latin America Countries of South America and North America (includ¬ ing Central America and the islands of the Caribbean Sea) south of the U.S.; the term is often restricted to countries where either Spanish or Portu¬ guese is spoken. The colonial era in Latin America began in the 15th- 16th centuries when explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci made voyages of discovery to the New World. The conquistado- Res who followed, including Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, brought Spanish rule to much of the region. In 1532 the first Portuguese settle¬ ment was made in Brazil. The Roman Catholic church soon established many missions in Latin America. Roman Catholicism is still the chief reli¬ gion in most Latin American countries, though the number of Protestants and Evangelicals has grown. Spanish and Portuguese colonists arrived in increasing numbers; they enslaved the native Indian population, which was soon decimated by ill treatment and disease, and then imported Afri¬ can slaves to replace them. A series of movements for independence, led by Jose de San Martin, Simon Bolivar, and others, swept Latin America in the early 19th century. Federal republics were promulgated across the region, but many of the new countries collapsed into political chaos and were taken over by dictators or military juntas, a situation that persisted into the 20th century. In the 1990s a trend toward democratic rule reemerged; in socialist-run countries many state-owned industries were privatized, and efforts toward regional economic integration were accel¬ erated.

Latin American arts Visual, performing, and literary arts that devel¬ oped in Mesoamerica, Central America, South America, and the Carib¬ bean after contact with the Spanish and Portuguese beginning in 1492 and 1500, respectively. When Europeans arrived, they came with artistic traditions dating back to antiquity. For centuries, indigenous American peoples had similarly formed civilizations with their own unique artistic practices (see Native American arts). The importation of African slaves led to the presence of long-standing African arts in the region as well (see African arts). At the time of colonization, the architecture of many native centres was destroyed and replaced with European-style churches and buildings. During this period, a combination of European and indigenous imagery led to unique religious sculptural and decorative art forms. As more European artists immigrated to the new land, Iberian artists brought with them elements of the styles that were current in Europe—such as the Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo—to art and architecture. The most notable regional style of the 18th century was known as Churrigueresque, an elaborately decorative style used in architecture, sculpture, and deco¬ rative arts. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Latin American art¬ ists and architects continued to experiment with a variety of Western styles—including Romanticism, Neoclassicism, Modernism, and postmod¬ ernism —but increasingly adapted them to reflect Latin American themes and, often, political concerns. Indigenous music was varied before colo¬ nization. The main instruments seem to have been rattles or shakers (e.g., maracas) and flutes of numerous kinds, including panpipes. Under Euro¬ pean influence, harps, violins, and guitars were adopted (see mariachi). Indigenous scales were three- or five-tone, and choral singing in parallel lines was common in some areas. Spanish and Portuguese music contrib¬ uted verse forms and self-accompanied solo singing. African influences on rhythm have included the use of repetitive patterns to accompany extended improvisation and the prevalence of two- and four-beat patterns, particularly in Caribbean music; the African tradition can also be seen in the use of drums and of syncopation. Iberian dance rhythms and features, such as hand clapping and the use of scarves and handkerchiefs, carried over into many hybrid forms of music and dance. Especially in the 20th century, forms of popular music and dance—such as salsa, tango, samba, and bossa nova—represented a blending of native and Western traditions. During the colonial period, Latin American literature reflected trends in Spanish and Portuguese literature, and it consisted mostly of chronicles of conquest. As the colonies developed their own character and moved towards independence, patriotic writings became prominent. In the mid- 19th century, the cuadro de costumbres, or sketch of contemporary cus¬ toms, developed into a realistic novel of manners. Beginning in the late 19th century, authors in the Modernismo movement focused on “art for art’s sake.” Latin American literature came into its own in the 20th cen¬ tury, with movements such as magic realism gaining international promi¬

nence. See also individual artists by name, such as Frida Kahlo; Oscar Niemeyer; and Diego Rivera; and authors by name, such as Jorge Luis Borges; Gabriel Garcia Marquez; and Pablo Neruda.

Latin American Integration Association (LAI A) formerly (until 1980) Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) Inter¬ national association of Latin American countries originally dedicated to improving its members’ economic well-being through free trade. At its founding in 1960 LAFTA included Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Para¬ guay, Peru, and Uruguay; by 1970 Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia had joined. The organization aimed to remove all trade barriers over 12 years, but its members’ geographic and economic diversity made that goal impossible. LAFTA was superseded in 1980 by the LAIA, which established bilateral trading agreements between members, which were divided into three groups according to their level of economic develop¬ ment. Cuba was admitted with observer status in 1986, and it became a full member in 1999. See also Inter-American Development Bank.

Latin language Indo-European language of the Italic group; ancestor of the modern Romance languages. Originally spoken by small groups of people living along the lower Tiber River, Latin spread with the growth of Roman political power, first throughout Italy and then through most of western and southern Europe and the central and western Mediterranean coastal regions of Africa. The earliest known Latin inscriptions date from the 7th century bc; Latin literature dates from the 3rd century bc. A gap soon appeared between literary (classical) Latin and the popular spoken language, Vulgar Latin. The Romance languages developed from dialects of the latter. During the Middle Ages and much of the Renaissance, Latin was the language most widely employed in the West for scholarly and literary purposes. Until the latter part of the 20th century, its use was required in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church.

latite \Ta-,tIt\ or trachyandesite \tra-ke-'an-d3-,zlt\ Type of igneous rock that is abundant in western North America. Usually white, yellowish, pinkish, or gray, it is the volcanic equivalent of monzonite. Latites contain plagioclase feldspar (andesine or oligoclase) as large, single crystals (phe- nocrysts) in a fine-grained matrix of orthoclase feldspar and augite.

latitude and longitude Coordinate system by which the position or location of any place on the Earth’s surface can be determined and described. Latitude is a measurement of location north or south of the Equator. Lines of latitude are known as parallels, or parallels of latitude. Longitude is a measurement of location east or west of the prime merid¬ ian, which passes through Greenwich, Eng. The combination of merid¬ ians of longitude and parallels of latitude establishes a grid by which exact positions can be determined: for example, a point described as 40° N, 30° W is located 40° of arc north of the Equator and 30° of arc west of the Greenwich meridian.

Latium \'la-she-om\ Ancient area, west-central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Latins (or Latini) came from Indo-European tribes that settled in the Italian peninsula during the 2nd millennium bc. By 500 bc the cit¬ ies of Latium had formed the Latin League. War erupted between Rome and the Latins in 340 bc and ended in 338 bc with the defeat of the Lat¬ ins and the dissolution of the league.

Lafreille \la-'tray\, Pierre-Andre (b. Nov. 29, 1762, Brive-la- Gaillarde, Fr.—d. Feb. 6, 1833, Paris) French zoologist, regarded as the father of entomology. An ordained priest, in 1796 he published his Sum¬ mary of the Generic Characteristics of Insects, Arranged in a Natural Order, which led to his becoming head of entomology at the National Museum of Natural History. His principal later work was his Compre¬ hensive Natural History of Crustaceans and Insects (14 vol., 1802—05). The two works, representing the first detailed classification of insects and crustaceans, mark the beginnings of modern entomology. In 1829 he took the professorial chair vacated by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

Latrobe \b-'trob\, Benjamin Henry (b. May 1, 1764, Fulneck, York¬ shire, Eng.—d. Sept. 3, 1820, New Orleans, La., U.S.) British-U.S. archi¬ tect and civil engineer. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1795. His first important building was the State Penitentiary in Richmond, Va. In 1798, in Philadelphia, he designed the Bank of Pennsylvania, considered the first U.S. monument of the Greek Revival style. Pres. Thomas Jefferson appointed him surveyor of public buildings. Latrobe inherited the task of completing the U.S. Capitol, and later rebuilt it after its destruction by the British. In Baltimore he designed the country’s first cathedral (1818). He

Latter-day Saints ► Laughton I 1081

was active as an engineer, especially in the design of waterworks. He is widely regarded as having established architecture as a profession in the U.S.

Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of See Mormon lattice, crystal See crystal lattice

Lattre de Tassigny Vla-tr’-do-ta-sen-'yeN, Jean (-Marie-Gabriel)

de (b. Feb. 2, 1889, Mouilleron-en-Pareds, France—d. Jan. 11, 1952, Paris) French military leader. After service in World War I and later in Morocco, he was promoted to general in 1939. An infantry division com¬ mander in World War II, he was imprisoned by the Germans (1940^13), but he escaped to North Africa. In 1944 he led the French army in the Allied landing operations in southern France and in the drive across France into southern Germany and Austria. He represented France at the signing of the German capitulation (1945). In 1950—51 he commanded French troops in the First Indochina War against the Viet Minh. He was made a marshal of France posthumously.

Latvia officially Republic of Latvia Country, northeastern Europe, along the shores of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga. Area: 24,938 sq mi (64,589 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 2,299,000. Capital: Riga. Less than

three-fifths of the population are Latvians, or Letts, who speak Latvian, one of two sur¬ viving Baltic languages. Russians make up about one-third of the population. Lan¬ guages: Latvian (official), Russian. Reli¬ gion: Christianity (Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox). Currency: lats. The landscape is an undulating plain, with fairly flat low¬ lands alternating with hills. Latvia is a fully industrialized country. Heavy industry (notably the production of metals, ships, and railcars) once was more important than it is today; now leading manufactures include alco¬ holic beverages, wood products, foodstuffs, and textiles. Latvia is a mul¬ tiparty republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. It was settled by the Balts in ancient times. They came under the overlordship of the Varan¬ gians, or Vikings, in the 9th century and were later dominated by their German-speaking neighbours to the west, who Christianized Latvia in the 12th—13th century. The Order of the Brothers of the Sword conquered Latvia by 1230 and established German rule. From the mid-16th to the early 18th century the region was split between Poland and Sweden, but by the end of the 18th century all of Latvia had been annexed by Russia. Latvia declared its independence after the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1939 it was forced to grant military bases to the Soviet Union, and in 1940 the Soviet Red Army invaded. Held by Nazi Germany (1941-44), the country was recaptured by the Soviets and incorporated into the Soviet

Union. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, Latvia gained its indepen¬ dence in 1991. Subsequently it sought to privatize the economy and build ties with western Europe (becoming a member of the European Union in 2004), as well as to improve uneasy relations with Russia.

Latvian language or Lettish language East Baltic language spo¬ ken by some two million people in the Republic of Latvia and in diaspora communities, including about 85,000 speakers in North America. Like Lithuanian, it is sparsely attested until the first printed books in Latvian appear in 1585-86. The essentials of the present orthography, which employs the Latin alphabet with a number of diacritics, were adopted in 1908. Literary Latvian is based on the dialect spoken in Riga, Latvia’s capital, though in recent years there has been a resurgence of literature in High Latvian (Latgalian), the dialect of eastern Latvia. Relative to Lithua¬ nian, Latvian has undergone a number of striking sound changes, though the grammatical structures of the two languages are similar.

Laud, William (b. Oct. 7, 1573, Reading, Berkshire, Eng.—d. Jan. 10, 1645, London) Archbishop of Canterbury (1633-45) and religious adviser to Charles I. He became a privy councillor in 1627 and bishop of London in 1628, devoting himself to combating Puritanism and enforcing strict Anglican ritual. By the time he became archbishop of Canterbury, he had extended his authority over the whole country. He attacked the Puritan practice of preaching as dangerous, and he had Puritan writers such as William Prynne mutilated and imprisoned. Aided by his close ally the 1st earl of Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Laud used his influence over the king to influence government social policy. By 1637, opposition to Lau- dian reppression had grown, and Laud’s attempts to impose Anglican forms of worship in Scotland provoked fierce resistance. In 1640 the Long Parliament met, and Laud was accused of high treason. His trial, which began in 1644 and was managed by Prynne, resulted in Laud’s convic¬ tion and beheading.

Lauder Vlo-dorX, Estee orig. Josephine Esther Mentzer (b. July 1, 1908?, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. April 24, 2004, New York) U.S. entrepreneur. She founded Estee Lauder, Inc., with her husband, Joseph, in 1946. Their innovative marketing techniques led to huge success from the 1960s on. Her son Leonard was named chief executive officer in 1982. The company’s fragrance and cosmetics products, including Clinique cos¬ metics, Aramis men’s products, as well as specialty lines such as Bobbi Brown, Origins, and Aveda, are sold in more than 130 countries. By the early 21st century the company was worth about $10 billion.

Laue \'lau-9. Max (Theodor Felix) von (b. Oct. 9, 1879, Pfaffen- dorf, near Koblenz, Ger.—d. April 23, 1960, Berlin, W.Ger.) German physicist. He taught at the University of Berlin (1919-43). He was the first to use a crystal to diffract X-rays, demonstrating that X-rays are elec¬ tromagnetic radiation similar to light and that the molecular structure of crystals is a regularly repeating arrangement. For his work in crystallog¬ raphy he received the 1914 Nobel Prize for Physics. He championed Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and studied the quantum theory, the Comp¬ ton effect, and the disintegration of atoms.

Lauenburg Vlau-on-.burkV Region and former duchy, northern Ger¬ many. It was established as a duchy under the Ascanian dynasty in the 13th century. In 1728 George Louis, elector of Hanover, became its ruler, thereby attaching it to Hanover. It came under Prussia after the Danish- Prussian War of 1864. The duchy was abolished in 1918, and the region has been part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1946.

laughing gas See nitrous oxide

laughing jackass See kookaburra

Laughlin \Tak-lin\, James (b. Oct. 30, 1914, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—d. Nov. 12, 1997, Norfolk, Conn.) U.S. publisher and poet. Bom to a wealthy family, Laughlin founded New Directions press in 1936 after graduating from Harvard. He established the company initially to publish ignored yet influential writers, including William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound, a friend and major influence on his life and work. New Directions editions of such authors as Dylan Thomas, Tennessee Williams, and Hermann Hesse (one of the many foreign authors it published in translation) eventually made the house, despite its small size, one of the most distinguished literary pub¬ lishers in the U.S. Its inexpensive pocket-sized volumes had distinctive black-and-white covers that made them recognizable in any bookstore.

Laughton Vlo-tYA, Charles (b. July 1, 1899, Scarborough, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 15, 1962, Hollywood, Calif., U.S.) British actor. He made

1082 I lauma ► Laurier

his London stage debut in 1926 and acted in plays such as The Govern¬ ment Inspector, Medea, and Payment Deferred, in which he made his New York debut in 1931. He appeared in movies from 1929 and earned inter¬ national acclaim in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933, Academy Award). With his bulky frame and ordinary face Laughton defied Holly¬ wood typecasting and emerged as one of the most versatile performers of his generation. He played a wide range of character roles in films such as Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), The Hunch¬ back of Notre Dame (1939), Witness for the Prosecution (1957), and Advise and Consent (1962). He directed the memorable The Night of the Hunter (1955).

lauma \'lau-ma\ In Baltic folklore, a fairy who appeared as a beautiful naked maiden with long blond hair. Laumas lived in the forest near water or stones. They yearned for children, and as they were unable to give birth, they often kidnapped babies to rear as their own. Sometimes they mar¬ ried mortal men and became excellent wives, perfectly skilled in domes¬ tic work. Highly temperamental, laumas were seen as benevolent, motherly beings, helpful to orphans and poor girls but extremely vindic¬ tive when angered, particularly by disrespectful men. In Latvia and Lithuania in recent centuries, lauma has come to refer to a witch or hag.

Launcelot See Lancelot

Launceston \T6n-s9-ston\ formerly Patersonia City (pop., 2001: 57,685) and port, northeastern Tasmania, Australia. Launceston developed during the 1830s as a whaling port and market centre. It is now the larg¬ est population and commercial centre in northern Tasmania. An export hub for a fertile agricultural region, it also has industries, including machine-making factories. One of the world’s first hydroelectric stations (built in 1895) lies within the city on the South Esk River.

launch vehicle Rocket system that boosts a spacecraft into Earth orbit or beyond Earth’s gravitational pull. A wide variety of launch vehicles have been used to lift payloads ranging from satellites weighing a few pounds (or kilograms) to large modular components of space stations. Most launch vehicles are expendable (one-use) systems; many early ones were derived from intercontinental ballistic missiles (see ICBM). The Sat¬ urn V, which launched the spacecraft that carried humans to the Moon (see Apollo), had three stages (see staged rocket). The U.S. space shuttle system (from 1981) represents a significant departure from expendable launch vehicles in that it is partially reusable—its manned orbiting com¬ ponent is designed for numerous flights, and its solid rocket boosters can be recovered and refurbished.

Laurana \lau-'ra-na\, Francesco (b. c. 1430, Vrana, Dalmatia, repub¬ lic of Venice—d. before March 12,

1502, Avignon, Fr.) Italian sculptor and medalist. His early life is obscure. In 1453 he was commis¬ sioned to work on the Castel Nuovo in Naples. From 1461 to 1466 he was in Provence at the court of the duke of Anjou, for whom he executed a series of medals. His other docu¬ mented works include Madonnas and bas-reliefs in Italy (chiefly Sic¬ ily and Naples) and France, as well as tombs and architectural sculptures in France. He is best known for his portrait busts of women, character¬ ized by serene, detached dignity and aristocratic elegance.

Laurasia Hypothetical former supercontinent in the Southern Hemisphere, which included modern North America, Europe, and Asia (except peninsular India). The con¬ cept that the continents were at one time joined was first set forth in detail by Alfred Wegener in 1912. He envisioned a single great landmass, Pangaea, which supposedly began to separate in the Late Triassic Epoch (227-206 million years ago). Subse¬ quent research distinguished between a northern landmass, Laurasia, and Gondwana. Laurasia is thought to have fragmented into the present con¬ tinents largely during the Mesozoic Era. See also continental drift.

Laurel, Stan; and Hardy, Oliver original names, respectively,

Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Oliver Norvell Hardy, Jr. known as Laurel and Hardy (respectively b. June 16, 1890, Lanca¬ shire, Eng.—d. Feb. 23, 1965, Santa Monica, Calif., U.S.; b. Jan. 18, 1892, Harlem, Ga., U.S.—d. Aug. 7, 1957, North Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. film comedians. Laurel performed in circuses and vaudeville before settling in the U.S. (1910), where he began appearing in silent movies. Hardy, son of a Georgia lawyer, owned a movie house and acted in silent comedy films from 1913. They joined Hal Roach’s studio in 1926 and began per¬ forming together in early short films such as Putting Pants on Philip (1927). They made more than 100 comedies, including Leave ’em Laugh¬ ing (1928), The Music Box (1932), Sons of the Desert (1933), and Way Out West (1937), and are considered Hollywood’s first great comedy team. The skinny Laurel played the bumbling and innocent foil to the heavy, pompous Hardy as they converted simple, everyday situations into disas¬ trous tangles of stupidity.

laurel family Family Lauraceae, composed of about 2,200 species of often aromatic and evergreen flowering plants in 45 genera. Included in this family are ornamentals and plants that produce cooking herbs, food fruits, and medicinal extracts. The genus Laurus includes bay laurel (L. nobilis ), native to the Mediterranean, which provides bay leaves for cook¬ ing, essential oils for perfumery, and the wreaths that crowned victorious heroes and athletes in ancient Greece. Another genus, Cinnamomum, includes the camphor tree and cinnamon. Also included in this family are the AVOCADO, MOUNTAIN LAUREL, and SASSAFRAS.

Lauren, Ralph orig. Ralph Lifshitz (b. Oct. 14, 1939, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. fashion designer. Lauren grew up in the Bronx, in New York City. While working for a tie company, he was inspired to begin designing his own neckwear, and in 1967 he went into business for him¬ self. From the inception of his brand, Lauren’s creations were character¬ ized by a moneyed style that evoked the look of English aristocracy, as adapted by the sporty, East-Coast American elite. His first menswear line in 1968 featured classic tweed suits, and his first womens wear line in 1971 continued his explorations of classic tailoring and good taste, but with a feminine twist. In 1972 Lauren debuted what would become his signature piece: the mesh sport shirt, available in a variety of colours and featuring his trademark emblem, the polo player. Throughout the following decades he explored new ideas—including Southwestern themes and safari looks—but maintained his central focus on classic American clothing. At the turn of the 21st century, the presence of both his shops and his brand name had become global.

Laurence, Margaret orig. Jean Margaret Wemyss (b. July 18, 1926, Neepawa, Man., Can.—d. Jan. 5, 1987, Lakefield, Ont.) Canadian writer. She lived in Africa with her engineer husband in the 1950s; her experiences there provided material for her early works. She is best known for depicting the lives of women struggling for self-realization in the male-dominated world of western Canada. Her works include the novels The Stone Angel (1964), A Jest of God (1966), and The Fire-Dwellers (1969) and the stories collected in A Bird in the House (1970) and The Diviners (1974). In the 1970s she turned to writing children’s books.

Laurence, Saint See Saint Lawrence

Laurentian \l6-Ten-ch3n\ Mountains Range forming the Quebec portion of the Canadian Shield, bounded by the Ottawa, St. Lawrence, and Saguenay rivers. One of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, it con¬ sists of Precambrian rocks more than 544 million years old. It has greatly eroded over time, and its highest peak measures only 3,905 ft (1,190 m). Two provincial parks there are popular vacation areas.

Laurentide Ice Sheet Principal glacial cover of North America dur¬ ing the Pleistocene epoch (1.8 million-10,000 years ago). At its maximum extent it spread as far south as latitude 37° N and covered an area of more than 5 million sq mi (13 million sq km). In some areas its thickness reached 8,000-10,000 ft (2,400-3,000 m) or more.

Laurier \'16r-e-,a. Sir Wilfrid (b. Nov. 20, 1841, Saint-Lin, Canada East—d. Feb. 17, 1919, Ottawa, Ont., Can.) Prime minister of Canada (1896-1911). He studied law at McGill University, where he was a leading member of the liberal Institut Canadien. He served in the Quebec legis¬ lature (1871-74) and the Canadian House of Commons (1874-1919), where in 1885 he delivered a plea for clemency for Louis Riel. Leading the Liberal Party to victory in the election of 1896, he became prime minister, the first French Canadian and Roman Catholic to hold that office. He advo-

"Eleonora of Aragon," portrait bust by Francesco Laurana; in the National Archaeological Museum, Palermo, Sic- ily.

AUNARI/ART RESOURCE, NEW YORK

Lausanne ► Law I 1083

cated unity between English and French Canadians, development of the western territories, protection of Canadian industry, and expansion of the transportation system. His insistence on protecting Canadian autonomy in its relations with Britain helped shape the modern concept of a British Commonwealth of independent states. His support for a treaty of reciproc¬ ity with the U.S. contributed to his government’s defeat in 1911. Laurier is remembered as one of Canada’s most outstanding statesmen.

Lausanne \lo-'zan\, Treaty of (1923) Final treaty concluding World War I, between Turkey (successor to the Ottoman Empire) and the Allies. Signed in Lausanne, Switz., it replaced the Treaty of Sevres (1920). It rec¬ ognized the boundaries of the modem state of Turkey, as well as British possession of Cyprus and Italian possession of the Dodecanese, and the Turkish straits between the Aegean and Black seas were declared open to all shipping.

Lautrec, Henri de Toulouse- See Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

lava Molten rock originating as magma in the Earth’s mantle that pours out onto the Earth’s surface through volcanic vents (see volcano) at tem¬ peratures of about 1,300-2,200 °F (700-1,200 °C). Mafic lavas, such as basalt, form flows known by the Hawaiian names pahoehoe and aa. Pahoehoe is smooth and gently undulating; the lava moves through natu¬ ral pipes known as lava tubes. Aa is very rough, covered with a layer of loose, irregular fragments called clinker, and flows in open channels. Lava that starts out as pahoehoe may turn into aa as it cools. Lavas of interme¬ diate composition form a block lava flow, which also has a top consisting largely of loose rubble, but the fragments are fairly regular in shape, mostly polygons with relatively smooth sides. See also bomb; nuee ardente.

Lava Beds National Monument Region, northern California, U.S. It features recent lava flows and related volcanic formations, including deep chasms, chimneys, and cinder cones that rise to 300 ft (90 m) in height. The main battle sites of the Modoc Indian war (1872-73) are located within the monument, which occupies an area of 72 sq mi (186 sq km). It was dedicated as a national monument in 1925.

Laval \b-'val\ City (pop., 2001: 343,005), southern Quebec, Canada. It occupies the whole of Jesus Island, 20 mi (32 km) long and 8 mi (12 km) wide, and is located north of Montreal. First settled in 1681, it was granted to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1699 and named for Frangois de Laval, the first Roman Catholic Canadian bishop. Development of Jesus Island’s Montreal suburbs began after 1945; in 1965 they were merged to form Laval. Development has been rapid with the opening of industrial parks there.

Laval \la-'val\, Carl Gustaf Patrik de (b. May 9, 1845, Blasenborg, Swed.—d. Feb. 2, 1913, Stockholm) Swedish scientist, engineer, and inventor. Laval built his first impulse steam turbine in 1882. Further advances followed, including a reversible turbine for marine use. A Laval reaction turbine attained a speed of 42,000 revolutions per minute. By 1896 he was operating a complete power plant using an initial steam pressure of 3,400 lbs per sq in. He invented and developed the divergent nozzle to deliver steam to the turbine blades. His flexible shaft and double¬ helical gear formed the foundation for most subsequent steam turbine development.

Laval \la-'val\, Pierre (b. June 28, 1883, Chateldon, France—d. Oct. 15, 1945, Paris) French politician. A member of the Chamber of Depu¬ ties (1914-19, 1924-27) and later the Senate (from 1927), he also held a number of cabinet posts, and, as France’s premier (1931-32, 1935-36), he developed the widely denounced Hoare-Laval Pact. In 1940, as min¬ ister of state in Philippe Petain’s government (see Vichy France), he began negotiations with the Germans on his own initiative, which aroused sus¬ picion. Petain soon dismissed him, but in 1942 he returned as head of the government. He agreed to provide French labourers for German indus¬ tries and announced in a speech that he desired a German victory. In 1945 he was tried and executed as a traitor to France.

Laval University French-language university in Quebec city, Quebec, Canada. Its predecessor institution, the Seminary of Quebec (founded 1663), is considered Canada’s first institution of higher learning. The seminary was granted a university charter in 1852 and reorganized in 1970. Today the university has undergraduate and graduate degree pro¬ grams in numerous fields.

lavender Any of about 20 species of evergreen shrubs that make up the genus Lavandula in the mint family, the leaves and flowers of which con¬

tain scented oil glands. The spikes of flowers are purple, less commonly pink or white. Native to the Mediter¬ ranean, lavender is cultivated widely.

Several species yield essential oil for fine perfumes and cosmetics. The narrow fragrant leaves and flowers are dried for use in sachets and pot¬ pourris. Lavender is widely used in aromatherapy for its clean, fresh scent.

Laver, Rod(ney George) (b.

Aug. 9, 1938, Rockhampton,

Queen., Austl.) Australian tennis player. He joined Australia’s Davis Cup team when he was 18 years old and remained on the squad until 1962. Nicknamed “Rocket,” he became the second male player (after Don Budge) to win the grand slam (1962) and the first to repeat the feat (1969). He turned professional in 1963 and in 1971 became the first tennis player to surpass $1 million in career prize money.

Lavoisier \b-'vwa-ze-,a\, Antoine (-Laurent) (b. Aug. 26, 1743, Paris, France—d. May 8, 1794, Paris) French chemist, regarded as the father of modern chemistry. His work on combustion, oxidation (see oxidation-reduction), and GASes (especially those in air) overthrew the phlo¬ giston doctrine, which held that a component of matter (phlogiston) was given off by a substance in the process of combustion. That theory had held sway for a century. He formulated the principle of the conservation of mass (i.e., that the weights of the reactants must add up to the weights of the products) in chemical reactions, clarified the distinction between ele¬ ments and compounds, and was instrumental in devising the modern sys¬ tem of chemical nomenclature (naming oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon). He was among the first to use quantitative procedures in chemical inves¬ tigations, and his experimental ingenuity, exact methods, and cogent rea¬ soning, along with the resultant discoveries, revolutionized chemistry. He also worked on physical problems, especially heat, and on fermentation, respiration, and animals. Independently wealthy, he had a simultaneous career as a public servant of remarkable versatility in areas including finance, economics, agriculture, education, and social welfare. A reformer and political liberal, he was active in the French Revolution but came under increasing attack from extremists and was guillotined.

Lavrovsky \lav-Tof-ske\, Leonid (Mikhaylovich) (b. June 18, 1905, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Nov. 26, 1967, Paris, Fr.) Russian dancer, choreographer, teacher, and Bolshoi Ballet director. He studied ballet in St. Petersburg until 1922 and soon was dancing leading roles with the Kirov Ballet, of which he became artistic director in 1938. During 1944-56 and 1960-64 he was chief choreographer of the Bolshoi Ballet, and he became director of its school in 1964. His choreographic work, which began in 1930, included Fadetta (1934), Romeo and Juliet (1940), Giselle (1944), The Stone Flower (1954), and Night City (1961).

law Discipline and profession concerned with the customs, practices, and rules of conduct that are recognized as binding by the community. Enforcement of the body of rules is through a controlling authority, such as a group of elders, a regent, a court, or a judiciary. Comparative law is the study of the differences, similarities, and interrelationships of differ¬ ent systems of law. Important areas in the study and practice of law include administrative law, antitrust law, business law, constitutional law, criminal LAW, environmental law, family law, health law, immigration law, intellectual property law, international law, labour law, maritime law, pro¬ cedural law, property law, public interest law, tax law, trusts and estates, and torts. See also Anglo-Saxon law; canon law; civil law; common law; equity; Germanic law; Indian law; Islamic law (SharI^h); Israeli law; Japa¬ nese law; jurisprudence; military law; Roman law; Scottish law; Soviet law.

Law, (Andrew) Bonar (b. Sept. 16, 1858, Kingston, N.B., Can.—d. Oct. 30, 1923, London, Eng.) Prime minister of Britain (1922-23), the first born in a British overseas possession. Reared in Scotland, he was elected to the House of Commons in 1900 and became leader of the Con¬ servative Party in 1911. He served as colonial secretary (1915-16) and as chancellor of the Exchequer (1916-18), and he was leader of the House of Commons (1916-21). After David Lloyd George’s resignation in 1922, Law formed a Conservative government as prime minister, but he resigned seven months later because of ill health.

Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas).

W.H. HODGE

1084 I Law ► Lawrence

Law, John (baptized April 21, 1671, Edinburgh, Scot.—d. March 21, 1729, Venice) Scottish monetary reformer. In 1705 he published the bank¬ ing reform plan Money and Trade Considered, in which, unlike other mercantilists, he proposed a central bank as an agency for manufacturing money, as banknotes rather than as gold and silver. France agreed to try his plan in 1716, and he founded the Banque Generate, which was autho¬ rized to issue notes. He soon combined it with a company empowered to develop France’s North American territories, particularly the lower Mis¬ sissippi valley. His plan foundered; held responsible for the “Mississippi Bubble” speculative disaster, he fled to France and died in poverty in Venice.

law, philosophy of See jurisprudence

law code Systematic compilation of law or legal principles. The old¬ est extant fragments of a law code are tablets from the ancient city of Ebla dating to c. 2400 bc. The best-known ancient code is that of Ham¬ murabi. Roman legal records began in the 5th century bc, though the first formal codification, ordered by Justinian I, was not undertaken until the 6th century ad. In the Middle Ages and into the modern era, only local or provincial compilations were attempted. The first major national code was the Napoleonic Code, followed by the German, Swiss, and Japanese codes. In common-law countries such as England and the U.S., law codes have traditionally been less important than the record of judicial decisions, though major codifications were completed in the U.S. in the 20th cen¬ tury (e.g., the U.S. Code, the Uniform Commercial Code). See also CIVIL law; German Civil Code.

law of cosines Generalization of the Pythagorean theorem relating the lengths of the sides of any triangle. If a, b, and c are the lengths of the sides and C is the angle opposite side c, then c 2 = a 2 + b 2 - lab cos C.

law of sines Principle of trigonometry stating that the lengths of the sides of any triangle are proportional to the sines of the opposite angles. That is,

a _ b _ c sin A sin# sinC

when a, b, and c are the sides and A, B, and C are the opposite angles. Law of the Sea See Law of the Sea

law report In common law, a published record of a judicial decision that is cited by lawyers and judges as legal precedent in arguing and deciding cases. The report contains the title of the case, a statement of the facts, a brief case history, the opinion of the court, and the judgment ren¬ dered. It often contains a headnote, or analytical summary stating the points decided. The findings of trial courts are not ordinarily reported, but those of appellate courts are.

Lawamon See Layamon

Lawes, Henry and William (respectively baptized Jan. 5, 1596, Dinton, Wiltshire, Eng.—d. Oct. 21, 1662, London; baptized May 1, 1602, Salisbury, Wiltshire, Eng.—d. Sept. 24, 1645, Chester, Cheshire) English composers. Both brothers served at the court of Charles I. Henry became the leading English songwriter of his time; some 435 of his songs survive. His theatrical music includes that to John Milton’s masque Comus (1634). William wrote a large quantity of instrumental music, mostly for string consorts. His music for some 25 dramatic productions, including works by Ben Jonson and William Davenant, made him the principal English theat¬ rical composer before Henry Purcell. He fought with the Royalists during the English Civil Wars and was killed at the siege of Chester.

lawn Fine-textured expanse of grass that is kept mowed. A common landscape design element of Western-style gardens and parks, lawns aid in giving a sense of scale and proportion. Made popular in the 18th cen¬ tury by Capability Brown, the lawn is the antithesis of the French parterre. In the 20th century the lawn became a ubiquitous feature of the gardens of U.S. single-family detached houses, serving to denote ownership and provide a buffer zone between street and private space.

lawn bowls See bowls

Lawrence, D(avid) H(erbert) (b. Sept. 11, 1885, Eastwood, Not¬ tinghamshire, Eng.—d. March 2, 1930, Vence, France) English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist. The son of a Midlands coal miner and an educated mother, he began to write in 1905 and earned a teaching

certificate in 1908. Ford Madox Ford published much of Lawrence’s early work in the English Review and helped place his first novel. The White Peacock (1911). Lawrence often drew his themes from his own life and relationships. Sons and Lovers (1913) is a clearly autobiographical novel about working-class family life. In 1914 he married a German woman, Frieda Weekley. The object of hostility and suspicion during World War I because of his pacifism and her origins, the couple lived in various countries after 1919, never returning to England. The Rainbow (1915) and its sequel. Women in Love (1920), trace the sickness of modem civiliza¬ tion to the effects of industrialization upon the human psyche. Kangaroo (1923) describes the persecution he experienced during the war. The Plumed Serpent (1926) was inspired by his fascination with Aztec cul¬ ture. Lawrence’s writing is notable for its intensity and its erotic sensu¬ ality; several of his works, including Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), were banned as obscene. He died of the tuberculosis that had plagued him from an early age.

Lawrence, Ernest O(rlando) (b. Aug. 8, 1901, Canton, S.D., U.S.—d. Aug. 27, 1958, Palo Alto, Calif.) U.S. physicist. He earned a Ph.D. at Yale University and taught physics at the University of Califor¬ nia at Berkeley from 1929, where he built and directed (from 1936) its radiation laboratory. In 1929 he developed the cyclotron, with which he accelerated protons to speeds high enough to cause nuclear disintegra¬ tion. He later produced radioactive isotopes for medical use, instituted the use of neutron beams to treat cancer, and invented a colour-television pic¬ ture tube. He worked with the Manhattan Project, converting the Berke¬ ley cyclotron to separate uranium-235 by mass spectrometry. For his invention of the cyclotron, he was awarded a 1939 Nobel Prize, and in 1957 he received the Enrico Fermi Award. Lawrence Berkeley Labora¬ tory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were named in his honour, as was element 103, lawrencium.

Gertrud Alexandra Dagmar

Lawrence, Gertrude orig.

Lawrence Klasen (b. July 4 ;

1898, London, Eng.—d. Sept. 6,

1952, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British actress. She began appearing on stage as a child, and she starred in musical revues such as Noel Cow¬ ard’s London Calling (1923) and George Gershwin’s Oh, Kay! (1926).

A longtime friend of Coward’s, she performed in many of his comedies, notably Private Lives (1930); both the play and the stars set the tone that would characterize comedies of manners for a decade or more: sophistication, brittle wit, and chic.

She was also acclaimed for her roles in the musicals Lady in the Dark (1941) and The King and I (1951).

Lawrence, Jacob (b. Sept. 7,

1917, Atlantic City, N.J., U.S.—d.

June 9, 2000, Seattle, Wash.) U.S. painter. He moved with his family at 13 to New York City’s Harlem. Art

classes sponsored by the Works Progress Administration in 1932 devel¬ oped his talent. His works portray scenes of African American life and history with vivid, stylized realism. Gouache and tempera were Lawrence’s characteristic media. His use of sombre browns and black for shadows and outlines in an otherwise vibrant palette lent his work a dis¬ tinctive overtone. His best-known works are his series on historical and social themes, such as Life in Harlem (1942) and War (1947). His later works include a powerful series on the struggles of desegregation. From 1971 he taught at the University of Washington.

Gertrude Lawrence

CECIL BEATON

Lawrence, James (b. Oct. 1, 1781, Burlington, N.J., U.S.—killed in action June 1, 1813, in a sea battle off Boston, Mass.) U.S. naval officer. He served under Stephen Decatur in the Tripolitan War. In the War of 1812 he commanded the USS Hornet in the capture of the British Peacock. Shortly thereafter he was promoted to captain of the USS Chesapeake. In 1813 he accepted a challenge from the British Shannon to a sea fight off the coast of Boston. The Chesapeake was defeated in less than an hour, and Lawrence was mortally wounded. His last words, “Don’t give up the ship,” came to express one of the U.S. Navy’s most cherished traditions.

Lawrence ► Le Brun I 1085

Lawrence, John (Laird Mair) later Baron Lawrence (of the Punjab and of Grately) (b. March 4, 1811, Richmond, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. June 27, 1879, London) British viceroy and governor-general of India (1864-69). He worked in Delhi as an assistant judge, magistrate, and tax collector. After the First Sikh War (1845-46) he was made com¬ missioner of the newly annexed district of Jullundur, where he subdued the hill chiefs, established courts and police posts, and curbed female infanticide and suttee. On the Punjab board of administration he abolished internal duties, introduced a uniform currency, and encouraged road and canal construction. As viceroy and governor-general from 1864, he pro¬ moted increased educational opportunities for Indians but resisted their appointment to high civil-service posts. He avoided entanglements in the affairs of Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan.

Lawrence, Saint or Saint Laurence (d. 258, Rome; feast day August 10) Roman martyr. He was one of seven deacons in Rome dur¬ ing the papacy of Sixtus II. When the pope was executed during the per¬ secution of Christians under Valerian, the authorities asked Lawrence to surrender the churches’ treasures to the state, and he responded by dis¬ tributing the money to the poor, for which he was condemned to death. His fearless behavior at his execution was responsible for many conver¬ sions; according to one legend, he was roasted to death on a gridiron, remarking to his torturers, “I am cooked on that side; turn me over, and eat.”

Lawrence, T(homas) E(dward) byname Lawrence of Arabia

(b. Aug. 15, 1888, Tremadoc, Caernarvonshire, Wales—d. May 19, 1935, Clouds Hill, Dorset, Eng.) British scholar, military strategist, and author. He studied at Oxford, submitting a thesis on Crusader castles. He learned Arabic on an archaeological expedition (1911-14). During World War I (1914-18) he conceived the plan of supporting Arab rebellion against the Ottoman Empire as a way of undermining Germany’s eastern ally, and he led Arab forces in a guerrilla campaign behind the lines, tying up many Ottoman troops. In 1917 his forces had their first major victory, captur¬ ing the port town of Al-'Aqabah. He was captured later that year, but he escaped. His troops reached Damascus in 1918, but Arab factionalism and Anglo-French decisions to divide the area into British- and French- controlled mandates prevented the Arabs from forming a unified nation despite their victory. Lawrence retired, declining royal decorations. Under the name Ross, and later Shaw, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force (and briefly the Royal Tank Corps). He finished his autobiography. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, in 1926. He was eventually posted to India; his expe¬ riences provided grist for his semifictional The Mint. He died in a motor¬ cycle accident three months after his discharge.

laws, conflict of Opposition or contradiction in the applicable laws of different states or jurisdictions regarding the rights of the parties in a case. Rules have been created to help determine which set of laws is applicable in a given case, which judicial system is most appropriate for trying the case, and the extent to which other jurisdictions are expected to honour or enforce the outcome of the trial.

lawyer or attorney Person trained and licensed to prepare, manage, and either prosecute or defend a court action as an agent for another and who also gives advice on legal matters that may or may not require court action. Legal practice varies from country to country. In Britain, for example, lawyers are divided into barristers and soucitors. In the U.S. attorneys often specialize in limited areas of the law (e.g., criminal law, divorce, or probate). In France the most important type of legal profes¬ sional is the avocat, roughly comparable to the English barrister. In Ger¬ many the chief distinction is between lawyers and notaries.

laxative Substance that promotes defecation. These include irritants (stimulants) such as cascara sagrada and castor oil, bulk formers such as bran and psyllium, saline laxatives such as Epsom salts or milk of mag¬ nesia, glycerin, lubricants such as mineral oil and some vegetable oils, and stool softeners. A high-fibre diet is more important than laxatives in correcting simple intestinal constipation.

Laxness Vlaks-nes\, Halldor orig. Halldor Kiljan Gudjonsson

(b. April 23, 1902, Reykjavik, Ice.—d. Feb. 8, 1998, near Reykjavik) Ice¬ landic novelist. He converted to Roman Catholicism while traveling in Europe as a young man but later dissociated himself from Christianity and turned to socialism, an ideology reflected in his novels from the 1930s and ’40s. Works exploring the social issues of Iceland include Salka Valka (1936), which deals with the plight of working people in a fishing village; Independent People (1935), the story of an impoverished farmer’s

struggle for economic independence; and the nationalist trilogy Iceland’s Bell (1943-46). His later works were more lyrical and introspective. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955.

Layamon Vla-o-msnN or Lawamon Vlo-msnV (fl. 12th century) Middle English poet. A priest who lived in Worcestershire, he is the author of the romance-chronicle the Brut (c. 1200), the outstanding product of the 12th-century English literary revival and the first work in English to treat the Arthurian legend. His source was Wace’s Roman de Brut. In some 16,000 long alliterative lines, the Brut tells of Britain from the time of the landing of Brutus, great-grandson of the Trojan Aeneas, to the final Saxon victory over the Britons in 689.

layering or layerage Method of propagation in which plants are induced to regenerate missing parts from parts that are still attached to the parent plant. It occurs naturally for drooping black raspberry or forsythia stems, whose trailing tips root where they come in contact with the soil. They then send up new shoots from the newly rooted portion of the plant. For soil layering, lower stems are bent to the ground and covered with moist soil of good quality. For air layering, a branch is deeply slit and the wound is covered with a ball of earth or moss and kept moist until roots develop; the branch is then severed and transplanted. Layering was prac¬ ticed by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. See also cutting.

Lazarus In the New Testament, two apparently different people. In the Gospel According to Luke, he was the poor man in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and in the Middle Ages he was honoured as the patron of lepers. In the Gospel According to John, Lazarus was the man whom Jesus raised from the dead. When Jesus visited Bethany, near Jerusalem, Laz¬ arus’s sister Mary lamented that if only Jesus had been there four days earlier, surely he could have prevented her brother from dying. Jesus went to the cave where Lazarus was entombed and commanded him to “come forth,” and he did. The miracle, in the Gospel account, inspired some Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah, and others reported it to Jewish leaders.

Lazarus, Emma (b. July 22, 1849, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Nov. 19, 1887, New York) U.S. writer. She was born into a cultured Jewish fam¬ ily and learned languages and the classics at an early age. Her first book (1867) caught the attention of Ralph Waldo Emerson, with whom she cor¬ responded thereafter. She wrote a prose romance and translated Heinrich Heine’s poems and ballads. She took up the defense of persecuted Jews c. 1881 and began working for the relief of new immigrants to the U.S. The famous closing lines to her poem “The New Colossus” (1883) were inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty (see Statue of Liberty National Monument), dedicated in 1886.

Lazio Vlat-se-o\ Region (pop., 2001 prelim.: 4,976,184), west-central Italy, fronting the Tyrrhenian Sea. Established in 1948, it covers an area of 6,642 sq mi (17,203 sq km); its capital is Rome. In the east are the central Apennines, and in the west lies a coastal plain. Until the late 19th century, most of its lowlands were marshy and malarial, but in the early 20th century these lands were drained and repopulated. Situated in the region previously known as Latium, it supports light industry, but the area is dominated by Rome.

LCD See liquid crystal display LDP See Liberal-Democratic Party

Le Bon \b-'bo n \, Gustave (b. May 7, 1841, Nogent-le-Rotrou, France—d. Dec. 13, 1931, Mames-la-Coquette) French social psycholo¬ gist. After receiving a doctorate in medicine, he traveled and wrote books on anthropology, but his interests later shifted to social psychology. In The Crowd (1895) he argued that the personality of the individual in a crowd becomes submerged and that the collective crowd mind comes to dominate.

Le Brun \b-'broe n \, Charles (b. Feb. 24, 1619, Paris, France—d. Feb. 12, 1690, Paris) French painter and designer. After study in Paris and Rome, he received large decorative and religious commissions that made his reputation. Possessing extraordinary organizational as well as techni¬ cal skills, as the first painter to Louis XIV he created or supervised the pro¬ duction of most of the paintings, sculptures, and decorative objects commissioned by the French government for three decades, notably for the Palace of Versailles. As director of the Academy of Painting and Sculp¬ ture and organizer of the French Academy at Rome, he was instrumental in establishing the characteristic homogeneity of French art in the 17th century.

1086 I Le Carre ► leaching

Le Carre \b-ka-'ra\, John orig. David John Moore Cornwell

(b. Oct. 19, 1931, Poole, Dorset, Eng.) British novelist. As a member of the foreign service in West Germany from 1959, he acquired firsthand knowledge of international espionage. He began to write full-time after the success of his third novel, the realistic, suspenseful The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963). The trilogy Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974), The Honourable Schoolboy (1977), and Smiley’s People (1980) centres on the intelligence agent George Smiley. Unlike other fictional spies, Smiley is decidedly unglamorous, lonely, and alienated. Le Carre’s other novels include The Little Drummer Girl (1983), The Russia House { 1989), and The Night Manager (1993). Many of his books were adapted for film or television.

Le Chatelier \b-sha-t9l-'ya\, Henry-Louis (b. Oct. 8, 1850, Paris, France—d. Sept. 17, 1936, Miribel-les-Echelles) French chemist. A pro¬ fessor at the College de France and the Sorbonne, he is best known for the principle of Le Chatelier, which makes it possible to predict the effect that a change in conditions (temperature, pressure, or concentration of com¬ ponents) will have on a chemical reaction. The principle, invaluable in the chemical industry in developing the most efficient and profitable chemi¬ cal processes, may be stated thus: A system at equilibrium, when subjected to a perturbation, responds in a way that tends to minimize its effect. Le Chatelier was also an authority on metallurgy, cements, glasses, fuels, explosives, and heat.

Le Corbusier Mo-kor-bms-'yaV orig. Charles-Edouard Jeanneret

(b. Oct. 6, 1887, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switz.—d. Aug. 27, 1965, Cap Martin, France) Swiss-born French architect and city planner. Born in a small Swiss town, he left home as a young man and developed many of his ideas during his travels through Europe (1907-11). After settling in Paris, Le Corbusier (his assumed name, from the surname of an ances¬ tor) and the painter Amedee Ozenfant (1886-1966) formulated the ideas of Purism, an aesthetic based on the pure, simple geometric forms of everyday objects. His early work included theoretical plans for skyscraper cities and mass-produced housing; in one of his many essays on archi¬ tecture from the period, he declared that “a house is a machine for living in.” Works from the 1920s such as the Villa Savoye at Poissy, France (1929-30), with its structure raised on slender concrete pillars, open floor plan, long strip windows, and roof terrace, established him as a major proponent of the International Style. He and other architects working in this style aspired to clean. Modernist lines, yet Le Corbusier was the first architect to make a studied use of rough-cast concrete, a technique that gave his work a distinctly sculptural, expressive quality. His later works include the Unite d' Habitation and the lyrical chapel of Notre-Dame-du- Haut at Ronchamp, France (1950-55). His government buildings at Chan¬ digarh, India (begun 1950), with their enormous concrete sunshades, sculptural facades, and swooping rooflines, represent the first large-scale application of his city-planning principles. Le Corbusier’s many works, plans, and writings inspired later avant-garde architectural experiments throughout the world.

Le Gallienne \b-'gal-y9n\, Eva (b. Jan. 11, 1899, London, Eng.—d. June 3, 1991, Weston, Conn., U.S.) British-born U.S. actress and direc¬ tor. After moving to New York City in 1915, she appeared in minor stage roles before starring in Liliom (1921). She founded the Civic Repertory Theatre (1926-33), where she directed and acted in plays by Anton Chek¬ hov, Henrik Ibsen, and other playwrights not then familiar to U.S. audi¬ ences. She later cofounded the short-lived American Repertory Theatre (1946^47). Her most notable later stage appearance was in a 1976 revival of The Royal Family.

Le Guin \b-'gwin\, Ursula K(roeber) orig. Ursula Kroeber (b.

Oct. 21, 1929, Berkeley, Calif., U.S.) U.S. writer of science fiction and fantasy. The daughter of Alfred L. Kroeber and educated at Radcliffe Col¬ lege, she was influenced by the methods of anthropology and often included highly detailed descriptions of alien societies in her works. Among her novels are The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Word for World Is Forest (1972), The Dispossessed (1974), and Always Coming Home (1985) and the Earthsea series. She also wrote several volumes of essays on feminist issues, writing, and other topics.

Le Havre Uo-'havrA Seaport city (pop., 1999: 190,905), northern France. It lies along the English Channel and the Seine River estuary, north¬ west of Paris. The second port of France after Marseille, it serves as a base for exports; it is also an important industrial centre. It was only a fishing village until 1517, when Francis I had a harbour built there. Enlarged and

fortified in the 17th century under cardinal de Richelieu and Louis XIV, it was adapted to accommodate bigger vessels in the late 18th century. Most of the city was destroyed during World War II. Later rebuilt, the city’s 17th- century church of Notre-Dame is one of the few surviving old buildings.

Le Loi \'la-'l6i\ or Binh Dinh Vuong Vbin- , din- , vw6q\ or Thuan Thien \'twan-'tyen\ (b. 1385, Lam Son, Viet.—d. 1433) Vietnamese gen¬ eral who won back independence for Vietnam from China and founded the Later Le dynasty (1428-1788). A wealthy landowner, he was affected by the social conditions of the common people, who suffered under the Chinese and the Vietnamese aristocracy. His series of revolts, begun in 1418, drove the Chinese out. From then on he maintained diplomatic relations with the Chinese Ming dynasty, even sending tribute; the Ming acknowledged his kingdom in 1428. Among his achievements were land reforms to help the peasants. He is the most honoured Vietnamese hero of his time.

Le Mans \b-'ma n \ (Grand Prix d'Endurance) Automobile race. It is perhaps the best-known automobile race in the world, run annually (with few exceptions) since 1923 at the Sarthe road-racing circuit, near Le Mans, France. The winner is the car that travels the greatest distance in a 24-hour period. The racing circuit is 8.3 mi (13.4 km) long, and the race is open only to sports cars (see sports-car racing).

Le Moyne de Bienville, Jean-Baptiste See Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville

Le Moyne d'Iberville, Pierre See Pierre Le Moyne d’I berville

Le Nain brothers \b-‘na n \ French painters. By 1630 the three brothers—Antoine (c. 1600-1648), Louis (c. 1600-1648), and Mathieu (c. 1607-1677)—had established a workshop together in Paris. They are said to have worked in harmony, often collaborating on the same picture. Most notable of their works are the dignified and sympathetic genre paint¬ ings of peasant life. Their realism is unique in 17th-century French art. None of the brothers’ works bears more than a surname, and today they are treated as a single painter.

Le Notre \b-'no-tr 3 \, Andre (b. March 12, 1613, Paris, France—d. Sept. 15, 1700, Paris) French landscape architect. In 1637 he succeeded his father as master gardener to Louis XIII at the Tuileries Palace in Paris; he redesigned its gardens and extended the main avenue that later became the Champs-Elysees. Louis XIV placed him in charge of planning the gardens at the Palace of Versailles, which Le Notre transformed from a muddy swamp to a park of splendid vistas. He designed numerous other parks and gardens in France, including those at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint- Cloud, and Fontainebleau, and probably St. James’s Park in London. His designs later influenced Pierre-Charles L'Enfant.

Le Pen, Jean-Marie (b. June 20, 1928, La Trinite, France) French nationalist politician. He was elected in 1956 to the National Assembly as its youngest member. Le Pen helped to found the National Front in 1972, becoming the party’s leader later that year. The party emphasized the threat to France posed by immigration, particularly of Arabs from France’s former North African colonies. The party also opposed Euro¬ pean integration, favoured the reintroduction of capital punishment, and sought prohibitions on the building of additional mosques in France. Le Pen ran several times for the presidency; though he captured less than 1% of the vote in 1974, in 1988 and 1995 he won some 15%. In the presi¬ dential election of 2002 Le Pen finished second in the first round of vot¬ ing, winning 18%, though he was easily defeated in the second round by Jacques Chirac. Le Pen was widely regarded as the leader of French neo- fascism, and his National Front party constituted the main right-wing oppo¬ sition to the country’s mainstream conservative parties from the 1970s through the turn of the 21st century.

Le Van Duyet Vla-'van-dzhu-'yetV (b. 1763, Quang Ngai province, Viet.—d. July 30, 1832, Saigon) Vietnamese military strategist and gov¬ ernment official. From his youth he was attached to the Vietnamese court. He acted as adviser to successive emperors and helped Prince Nguyen Anh (the future emperor Gia Long, founder of the Nguyen dynasty) con¬ quer all of Vietnam, making use of Western armaments and military tech¬ niques. When Gia Long’s successor ordered the persecution of Roman Catholic missionaries, Duyet refused; he was indicted posthumously for his defiance but later was honoured.

leaching Loss of soluble substances and colloids from the top layer of soil by percolating precipitation. The materials are carried downward and

Leacock ► leaf insect I 1087

are generally redeposited in a lower layer. This transport results in a porous and open top layer and a dense, compact lower layer. In areas of extensive leaching, the remaining quartz and hydroxides of iron, manga¬ nese, and aluminum form laterite. In such areas rapid bacterial action results in the absence of humus in the soil, because fallen plant material is oxidized and the products are leached away.

Leacock, Stephen (Butler) (b. Dec. 30, 1869, Swanmore, Hamp¬ shire, Eng.—d. March 28, 1944, Tor¬ onto, Ont., Can.) British-born Canadian writer and lecturer. He immigrated to Canada with his par¬ ents at age six. Though he taught economics and political science at McGill University (1903-36) and wrote extensively on history and political economy, his true calling was humour. His fame rests on his many books of lighthearted sketches and essays, beginning with Literary Lapses (1910) and Nonsense Novels (1911). His humour is typically based on a comic perception of social foibles and the incongruity between appearance and reality in human conduct.

lead Metallic chemical element, chemical symbol Pb, atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, silvery white or grayish, malleable, ductile, dense metal that conducts electricity poorly. Its stable isotopes are all end products of radioactive decay of uranium and other heavy elements. Known since ancient times, lead is so durable and resistant to corrosion that Roman lead pipes are still usable. Lead is used in roofing, as cable coverings, and in pipes, conduits, and structures. Other uses are in storage batteries, ammunition, and low-melting-point alloys (e.g., solder, pewter) and as shielding against sound, vibrations, and radia¬ tion. Lead is rarely found free in nature; its major ore is the sulfide GALENA (PbS). Because it and its compounds are poisons (see lead poisoning), lead-based paints and gasoline additives have been phased out in many countries. Lead in compounds has valence 2 and 4; an oxide (litharge, PbO) is the most widely used. Lead compounds are added to lead crystal (see glass), glazes, and ceramics and are used as pigments, drying agents for paints and varnishes, insecticides and herbicides, and fireproofing agents and in matches, explosives, and pyrotechnics. Almost half of all lead is recovered from recycled scrap. The “lead” in pencils is graphite.

lead-2 T 0 dating Method of dating that makes use of the ratio of the amount of the radioactive isotope lead-210 to that of the stable isotope lead-206. The method has been applied to the ores of uranium. Lead-210 dating is particularly useful for determining the ages of relatively recent marine sediments and so has been applied to studies concerned with the impact of human activity on the aquatic environment.

lead glance See galena

lead poisoning or plumbism Poisoning by accumulation of lead in the body. Large doses cause gastroenteritis in adults and brain disorders in children. Anemia, constipation and abdominal spasm, confusion, a pro¬ gressive paralysis, and sometimes brain cancer result from chronic expo¬ sure. Children are particularly susceptible to nerve and brain damage; sensitive tests show that even low levels of lead can harm children and are linked to behavioral problems. Sources in the home include lead-based paint, lead drinking-water pipes, and lead-glazed tableware. Babies, who put things in their mouths, are at highest risk. Working where lead is used and exposure to some insecticides are other risk factors. The U.S. phase¬ out of lead in gasoline was completed in 1996; similar bans are being implemented worldwide. Treatment involves giving antidotes that bind (see chelate) the lead in the tissues.

Leadbelly orig. Huddie William Ledbetter (b. c. Jan. 21, 1885?, Mooringsport, La., U.S.—d. Dec. 6, 1949, New York, N.Y.) U.S. folk blues singer and songwriter. As a child he learned to play many instru¬ ments; he later worked as an itinerant musician with Blind Lemon Jef¬ ferson. In 1918 he was imprisoned for murder; he was pardoned in 1925 by the governor of Texas, who had visited the prison and heard him sing. Resuming a life of drifting, he was imprisoned for attempted murder in

1930; he was discovered in 1933 by folklorist John Lomax, who secured his release. Under Lomax’s guidance he embarked on a concert tour, pub¬ lished 48 songs with commentary about Depression-era conditions of African Americans (1936), and recorded extensively. He worked with Woody Guthrie in the group the Headline Singers. Leadbelly died penni¬ less, but several of his songs, including “Goodnight, Irene,” “The Mid¬ night Special,” and “Rock Island Line,” soon became standards.

leaf Any flattened, green outgrowth from the stem of a vascular plant. Leaves manufacture oxygen and glucose, which nourishes and sustains both plants and animals. Leaves and stem tissue grow from the same api¬ cal bud. A typical leaf has a broad, expanded blade (lamina), attached to the stem by a stalklike petiole. The leaf may be simple (a single blade), compound (separate leaflets), or reduced to a spine or scale. The edge (margin) may be smooth or jagged. Veins transport materials to and from the leaf tissues, radiating from the petiole through the blade. They are arranged in a netlike pattern in dicot leaves and are parallel in monocot leaves (see cotyledon). The leafs outer layer (epidermis) protects the interior (mesophyll), whose soft-walled, unspecialized green cells (paren¬ chyma) produce carbohydrate food by photosynthesis. In autumn the green chlorophyll pigments of deciduous leaves break down, revealing other pigment colors (yellow to red), and the leaves drop off the tree. Leaf scars that form during wound healing after the leaves drop are useful for iden¬ tifying winter twigs. In conifers, evergreen needles, which are a type of leaf, persist for two or three years.

Structures of a leaf. The epidermis is often covered with a waxy protective cuticle that helps prevent water loss from inside the leaf. Oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water enter and exit the leaf through pores (stomata) scattered mostly along the lower epidermis. The stomata are opened and closed by the contraction and expansion of surrounding guard cells. The vascular, or conducting, tissues are known as xylem and phloem; water and minerals travel up to the leaves from the roots through the xylem, and sugars made by photosynthesis are transported to other parts of the plant through the phloem. Photosynthesis occurs within the chloroplast-containing mesophyll layer.

leaf-footed bug See squash bug

leaf insect or walking leaf Any of about 25 species of flat green insects (family Phylliidae) with a leaflike appearance. Leaf insects, which range from India to the Fiji Islands, are about 2.3 in. (60 mm) long. The female has large leathery forewings (tegmina) that lie edge to edge on the abdomen and resemble, in their vein pattern, the midrib and veins in a leaf. The hind wings have no function. The male has small tegmina and ample, non-leaflike, functional hind wings. The newly hatched young are reddish, but become green after feeding on leaves.

Leacock, photograph by Yousuf Karsh

1088 I leaf miner ► learning

leaf miner Any of various insect larvae that live and feed within a leaf, including caterpillars, sawfly larvae, beetle and weevil grubs, and dipteran maggots. Most leaf-miner burrows or tunnels are either thin, winding, whitish trails or broad, whitish or brownish blotches. Though leaf miners do not usually cause injury, they mar the appearance of ornamental trees and shrubs. One method of control is to remove and bum infested leaves; spraying with nicotine solutions or dusting with insecticides is effective only when the adults are emerging.

leafhopper Any of the small, slender, often beautifully coloured and marked sap-sucking insects of the large family Cicadellidae. There is a leafhopper species for almost every type of plant. Most are less than 0.5 in. (12 mm) long. Leafhoppers can be serious economic pests. Their feeding may remove sap, destroy chlorophyll, transmit disease, or curl leaves; they also puncture the host plant while laying eggs. Hopperburn is a diseased condition caused by their injection of a toxin into the plant as they feed.

League of Arab States See

Arab League

League of Nations Organization for international cooperation estab¬ lished by the Allied Powers at the end of World War I. A league covenant, embodying the principles of collective security and providing for an assembly, a council, and a secretariat, was formulated at the Paris Peace Conference (1919) and contained in the Treaty of Versailles. The covenant also set up a system of colonial mandates. Headquartered at Geneva, the League was weakened by the failure of the U.S., which had not ratified the Treaty of Versailles, to join the organization. Discredited by its failure to prevent Japanese expansion in Manchuria and China, Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia, and Germany’s seizure of Austria, the League ceased its activities during World War II. It was replaced in 1946 by the United Nations.

Leahy \'la-he\, William D(aniel) (b. May 6, 1875, Hampton, Iowa, U.S.—d. July 20, 1959, Bethesda, Md.) U.S. naval officer. After gradu¬ ating from the U.S. Naval Academy, he served in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine insurrection, and the Boxer Rebellion. He commanded a navy transport during World War I, when he began a friendship with Franklin D. Roosevelt, then assistant secretary of the navy. He served as chief of naval operations (1937-39), as governor of Puerto Rico (1939), and as U.S. ambassador to France (1940). He was Roosevelt’s chief of staff during World War II and continued in that post under Harry S. Tru¬ man. He was made a fleet admiral in 1944.

Leakey family Family of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists known for their discoveries of hominin and other fossil remains in eastern Africa. Louis S.B. Leakey (b. 1903—d. 1972), born of British missionary parents, grew up in Kenya, was educated at Cambridge University, and eventually (1931) began field research at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. He was joined there by his wife, Mary D. Leakey (b. 1913—d. 1996), who in 1959 uncovered remains of a form of Australopithecus. The couple later uncovered the first known remains of Homo habilis, as well as those of Ken- yapithecus, a possible common ancestor of humans and apes that lived c. 14 million years ago. L.S.B. Leakey commissioned Jane Goodall, Birute Galdikas, and Dian Fossey to undertake pioneering studies of chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas, respectively. Mary Leakey continued to make important discoveries, including the Laetoli footprints, after her husband’s death. Their son, Richard Leakey (b. 1944), is known for his work at the Koobi Fora site on the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya, where he uncovered evidence of H. habilis dated as early as 2.5 million years ago. His wife, zoologist Meave Leakey (b. 1942), discovered two new hominin species.

Leal, Juan de Valdes See Juan de Valdes Leal

Lean, Sir David (b. March 25, 1908, Croydon, Surrey, Eng.—d. April 16, 1991, London) British film director. He worked at Gaumont Studios from 1928, becoming head film editor. He codirected In Which We Serve (1942) with Noel Coward and was sole director of Coward’s Blithe Spirit (1945) and Brief Encounter (1945). He directed film adaptations of Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). Lean won wide acclaim for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, Academy Award) and later for

Lawrence of Arabia (1962, Academy Award), Dr. Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984). His literate, epic productions featured spectacu¬ lar cinematography and stunning locales.

Leaning Tower of Pisa White marble campanile in Pisa, Italy, famous for the uneven settling of its foundation, which caused it to lean 5.5 degrees (about 15 ft [4.5 m]) from the perpendicular. Begun in 1173 as the third and final structure of the city’s cathedral complex, it was designed to stand 185 ft (56 m) high. Work was suspended several times as engineers sought solutions; the tower, still leaning, was completed in the 14th century. Subsiding at the rate of 0.03 in (1.2 mm) a year, the structure was in danger of collapse, and in 1990 it was closed as engi¬ neers undertook a strengthening project that decreased the lean by 17 in (44 cm) to about 13.5 ft (4.1 m). The work was completed in May 2001.

Lear, Edward (b. May 12, 1812, Highgate, near London, Eng.—d. Jan. 29, 1888, San Remo, Italy) English painter and comic poet. From age 15 he earned his living by drawing.

Employed to illustrate the earl of Derby’s private menagerie in the 1830s, he later produced Book of Nonsense (1846) for the earl’s grandchildren. His other works include Nonsense Songs, Stories,

Botany and Alphabets (1871), con¬ taining “The Owl and the Pussy- Cat,” and Laughable Lyrics (1877).

He is best known for popularizing the limerick. He also published vol¬ umes of bird and animal drawings and seven illustrated travel books.

Epileptic and depressive, he lived mainly abroad after 1837.

Lear, Norman (Milton) (b. July 27, 1922, New Haven, Conn., U.S.)

U.S. producer, writer, and director.

He first worked in public relations and later in television as a comedy writer and director (1950-59). He wrote and produced movies such as Come Blow Your Horn (1963), Divorce American Style (1967), and Cold Turkey (1971) before returning to television to create and produce hit series such as All in the Family (1971-83), for which he received four Emmy Awards; Maude (1972-78); Sanford and Son (1972-77); and The Jejfersons (1975-85). He founded the progressive activist group People for the American Way.

Lear, William Powell (b. June 26, 1902, Hannibal, Mo., U.S.—d. May 14, 1978, Reno, Nev.) U.S. electrical engineer and industrialist. Fol¬ lowing military service during World War I, he designed a practicable car radio and sold it to the future Motorola, Inc. During and after World War II, his companies Lear Avia and Lear, Inc., built radio navigators, auto¬ pilots, and other precision devices for Allied aircraft. In 1963 Lear formed Lear Jet, Inc., which produced small private and corporate jet aircraft. In 1964 he developed the stereo eight-track player for automobiles.

learned helplessness In psychology, a mental state in which a labo¬ ratory subject forced to bear aversive stimuli becomes unable or unwill¬ ing to avoid subsequent applications, even if they are “escapable,” presumably through having learned that situational control is generally out of one’s hands. Experiments, first on dogs and later on humans, led some researchers, including Martin E.P. Seligman (b. 1942) in Helpless¬ ness (1975), to believe that chronic failure, depression, and similar con¬ ditions are forms of learned helplessness. Critics have argued that different conclusions can be drawn from such tests and that broad generalizations are unwarranted.

learning Process of acquiring modifications in existing knowledge, skills, habits, or tendencies through experience, practice, or exercise. Learning includes associative processes (see association; conditioning), discrimination of sense-data, psychomotor and perceptual learning (see per¬ ception), imitation, concept formation, problem solving, and insight learning. Animal learning has been studied by ethologists and comparative psy¬ chologists, the latter often drawing explicit parallels to human learning (see comparative psychology; ethology). The first experiments concerning asso¬ ciative learning were conducted by Ivan Pavlov in Russia and Edward L. Thorndike in the U.S. Critics of the early stimulus-response (S-R) theories.

Red-banded leafhopper (Graphoceph- ala)

STEPHEN COLLINS/PHOTO RESEARCHERS

Edward Lear, drawing by William Hol¬ man Hunt, 1857; in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

COURTESY OF THE WALKER ART GALLERY, LIVERPOOL

learning disabilities ► Lebanon I 1089

such as Edward C. Tolman, claimed they were overly reductive and ignored a subject’s inner activities. Gestalt-psychology researchers drew attention to the importance of pattern and form in perception and learning, while structural linguists argued that language learning was grounded in a geneti¬ cally inherited “grammar.” Developmental psychologists such as Jean Piaget highlighted stages of growth in learning. More recently, cognitive scientists have explored learning as a form of information processing, while some brain researchers, such as Gerald Maurice Edelman, have proposed that thinking and learning involve an ongoing process of cerebral pathway building. Related topics of research include attention, comprehension, moti¬ vation, and transfer of training. See also behaviour genetics; behaviourism;

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY; IMPRINTING; INSTINCT; INTELLIGENCE.

learning disabilities Chronic difficulties in learning to read, write, spell, or calculate, which are believed to have a neurological origin. Though their causes and nature are still not fully understood, it is widely agreed that the presence of a learning disability does not indicate subnor¬ mal intelligence. Rather it is thought that the learning-disabled have a neurologically based difficulty in processing language or figures, which must be compensated for with special learning strategies or with extra effort and tutoring. Examples of learning disabilities include difficulty in reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia), and mathematics (dyscalcula). Learning disabilities may be diagnosed through testing, and children may be enrolled in programs offering special help; left unrecognized, learning disabilities may result not only in poor classroom performance but also in low self-esteem and disruptive behaviour.

least squares method Statistical method for finding a line or curve—the line of best fit—that best represents a correspondence between two measured quantities (e.g., height and weight of a group of college students). When the measurements are plotted as points on a graph and seem to fall near the same line, the least squares method may be used to determine the best-fitting line. The method uses calculus techniques to find the minimum of the sum of the squares of the vertical distances of each data point from the proposed line. More generally, the process is called regression or, when the fitted curve is a line, linear regression.

leather Animal skins and hides treated to preserve them and make them suitable for use. Tanning converts the otherwise perishable skin to a stable and nondecaying material. Though the skins of such diverse animals as ostrich, lizard, eel, and kangaroo have been used, the more common leath¬ ers come from cattle, including calf and ox; sheep and lamb; goat and kid; horse, mule, and zebra; buffalo; pig and hog; and seal, walrus, whale, and alligator. Leather making is an ancient art that has been practiced for more than 7,000 years. See also parchment.

Leavis Vle-vasN, F(rank) R(aymond) (b. July 14, 1895, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.—d. April 14, 1978, Cambridge) British literary critic. He attended and later taught at Cambridge University. He brought a new seriousness to criticism, believing that the critic’s duty is to assess works according to the author’s moral position. He cofounded Scrutiny, a journal (published 1932-53) often regarded as his greatest contribution to English letters. His books include New Bearings in English Poetry (1932) and The Great Tradition (1948), in which he reassessed the English novel.

Lebanese Civil War (1975-91) Civil conflict resulting from tensions among Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim populations and exacerbated by the presence in Lebanon in the 1970s of fighters from the Palestine Libera¬ tion Organization (PLO). In 1975 Lebanon’s Muslims and leftists sup¬ ported the PLO and sought more political power; its Christians, seeking to maintain their political dominance, opposed the PLO. The factions fought fiercely through early 1976, and Lebanon became effectively par¬ titioned, with the Christians in power in the north and the Muslims in the south. Fearing an expanded war, both Israel and Syria intervened on the side of the Christians, who had begun to lose ground. Fighting continued at a lower level of intensity until 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon to destroy Palestinian guerrilla bases; PLO forces were driven out of Beirut, and by 1985 Israel had withdrawn from most of Lebanon, which by then was split internally over whether to accept Syria’s lead¬ ership. In 1989 the Christian leader General Michel Aoun attempted to drive Syria from Lebanon but was defeated, and the Arab League medi¬ ated a peace deal; his removal from power in 1990 eliminated the largest obstacle to implementing a 1989 peace accord. In southern Lebanon, fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces continued even after Israel’s final withdrawal from Lebanese territory in 2000.

Lebanese National Pact Power-sharing arrangement established in 1943 between Lebanese Christians and Muslims whereby the president is always a Christian and the prime minister a Sunnite Muslim. The speaker of the National Assembly must be a Shl'ite Muslim. Amendments made following the Lebanese Civil War transferred many presidential powers to a cabinet divided evenly between Christians and Muslims.

Lebanon officially Lebanese Republic Country, Middle East, south¬ western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Area: 4,016 sq mi (10,400 sq km). Population (2005 est.); 3,577,000. Capital: Beirut.

The Lebanese are ethnically a mixture of Phoenician, Greek, Armenian, and Arab elements. Languages: Arabic (official),

French, English. Religions: Islam, Chris¬ tianity, Druze. Currency: Lebanese pound.

Uplands include the Lebanon Mountains in the central region and the Anti-Lebanon and Hermon ranges along the eastern border; a low coastal plain stretches along the Mediterranean. The Litani River flows southward through the fertile AI-Biqa* (Beqaa) valley region. Originally, much of the country was forested—the cedars of Lebanon were famous in antiquity— but woodlands now cover only a tiny fraction of the country. Lebanon is not agriculturally self-sufficient and must rely on food imports. Its tradi¬ tional role as the financial centre of the Middle East has been undermined since the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war (1975-76). It is a republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. Much of present-day Lebanon corre¬ sponds to ancient Phoenicia, which was settled c. 3000 bc. In the 6th cen¬ tury ad, Christians fleeing Syrian persecution settled in northern Lebanon and founded the Maronite Church. Arab tribal peoples settled in southern Lebanon, and by the 11th century religious refugees from Egypt had founded the Druze faith. Part of the medieval Crusader states, Lebanon was later ruled by the Mamluk dynasty. In 1516 the Ottoman Empire seized control; the Ottomans, who first ruled by proxy, ended the local rule of the Druze Shihab princes in 1842. Deteriorating relations between religious groups resulted in the massacre of Maronites by Druze in 1860. France intervened, forcing the Ottomans to form an autonomous province for an area known as Mount Lebanon under a Christian governor. Fol¬ lowing World War I (1914-18), the whole of Lebanon was administered by the French military as part of a French mandate; the country was fully independent by 1946. After the Arab-Israeli war of 1948-49, tens of thou¬ sands of Palestinian refugees settled in southern Lebanon. In 1970 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) moved its headquarters to Leba¬ non and began raids into northern Israel. The Christian-dominated Leba¬ nese government tried to curb them, and in response the PLO sided with Lebanon’s Muslims in their conflict with Christians, fueling the descent

1090 I Lebanon Mountains ► Lee

into a civil war that split the country into numerous political and religious factions. In 1976-82 Syrian and UN troops tried to maintain a cease-fire. In 1982 Israeli forces invaded in an effort to drive Palestinian forces out of southern Lebanon; Israeli troops withdrew from all but a narrow buffer zone in the south by 1985. Thereafter, guerrillas from the Lebanese Shfite militia Hezbollah clashed with Israeli troops regularly. Israeli troops com¬ pletely withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.

Lebanon Mountains Arabic Jabal Lubnan Vja-bol-.liib-'nanV ancient Libanus Mountain range, Lebanon. Running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea coast, it is about 100 mi (160 km) long. The northern section is the highest part of the range and includes the loftiest peak, Qur- nat al-Sawda 5 , at 10,131 ft (8,088 m) in elevation. On its western slopes are the remaining groves of the famous cedars of Lebanon. The snowy peaks may have given Lebanon its name in antiquity; laban is Aramaic for “white.”

Lebowa \le-'bo-w3\ Former nonindependent black state, northeastern South Africa. It was designated by the South African government as the national territory for northern Sotho people, including the Pedi, Lovedu, and Kanga-Kone. It was granted self-government in 1972 and held its first election in 1973. After the abolition of apartheid in 1994, it became part of the new Northern (now Limpopo) province.

Lebrun \l9-'brce n \, Albert (b. Aug. 29, 1871, Mercy-le-Haut, France—d. March 6, 1950, Paris) French statesman and last president (1932—40) of France’s Third Republic. Trained as a mining engineer, he served in the Chamber of Deputies (1900-20) and Senate (1920-32). He was elected president as a compromise candidate and served as a media¬ tor and symbol of unity, rarely influencing policy. In 1940 he complied with the cabinet’s decision to seek an armistice with Germany and acqui¬ esced to his replacement by the Vichy France government. He was interned by the Germans (1943-44). In 1944 he acknowledged Charles de Gaulle as head of the provisional government.

Lebrun, Elisabeth Vigee- See Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun

Lechfeld \Tek-,felt\, Battle of (955) Battle in which the German king Otto I decisively defeated an invasion by the Magyars. Fought on the Lechfeld, a plain near present-day Augsburg, Germany, it marked the last Hungarian effort to invade Germany.

lecithin Vle-so-thonV Any of a class of phospholipids (also called phosphati¬ dyl cholines) important in cell structure and metabolism. They are composed of phosphate, choline, glycerol (as the ester), and two fatty acids. Various fatty acids pairs distinguish the various lecithins. Commercial lecithin, a wetting and emulsifying agent used in animal feeds, baking products and mixes, chocolate, cosmetics and soap, insecticides, paint, and plastics, is a mixture of lecithins and other phospholipids in an edible oil.

Leclerc \b-'kler\, Jacques-Philippe orig. Philippe-Marie, vis¬ count de Hauteclocque (b. Nov. 22, 1902, Belloy-Saint-Leonard, France—d. Nov. 28, 1947, Colomb-Bechar, Alg.) French general in World War II. He was captured by the Germans in 1939, but escaped to England, where he took the pseudonym Leclerc to protect his family and joined the Free French forces of Charles de Gaulle. He achieved a number of military victories in French Equatorial Africa and North Africa, and in 1944 he commanded a French division in the Normandy Invasion. On August 25 he received the surrender of the German commander in Paris. He died in an airplane accident and was posthumously named marshal of France.

lectisternium V.lek-ta-'stor-ne-onA (from Latin lectum sternere, “to spread a couch”) Ancient Greek and Roman rite in which a meal was offered to gods and goddesses whose images were laid on a couch placed in the street. When it originated in Greece, couches were prepared for three pairs of gods: Apollo and Latona, Heracles and Diana, and Mercury and Nep¬ tune. During the feast, which lasted seven or eight days, citizens kept open house, debtors and prisoners were released, and every effort was made to banish sorrow. Other gods were later honoured with the same rite. In Chris¬ tian times, the word was used for a feast in memory of the dead.

LED See light-emitting diode

Leda \Te-do\ In Greek legend, the daughter of King Thestius of Aetolia and wife of King Tyndareus of Lacedaemon. Visited by Zeus in the form of a swan, she conceived Helen of Troy. Zeus was also sometimes said to be the father of her son Pollux, while Leda’s own husband, Tyndareus, was held to be the father of his twin, Castor (see Dioscuri). Tyndareus was also the father of Leda’s daughter Clytemnestra, who married Agamemnon.

Lederberg Vla-dor-.bergV Joshua (b. May 23, 1925, Montclair, N.J., U.S.) U.S. geneticist. He earned his Ph.D. at Yale University. With his student Norton Zinder, Lederberg discovered that certain viruses were capable of carrying a bacterial gene from one bacterium to another, a dis¬ covery that made bacteria as important a tool of genetic research as Droso¬ phila and the bread mold Neurospora. He also developed breeding techniques for bacterial genetics. In 1958 he shared the Nobel Prize with George Wells Beadle and Edward L. Tatum for discovery of the mechanisms of genetic recombination in bacteria.

Ledo Road See Stilwell Road

Ledoux \b-'dii\, Claude-Nicolas (b. March 21, 1736, Dormans-sur- Marne, France—d. Nov. 19, 1806, Paris) French architect. In the 1760s and early 1770s he designed private houses in an innovative Neoclassical style, among them Madame du Barry’s famous chateau at Louveciennes (1771-73). In the mid 1770s he planned a new saltworks and surround¬ ing town at the Salines de Chaux, Arc-et-Senans; the design, in which rings of workers’ dwellings enclosed a central factory, was designed both to facilitate production and ensure healthy conditions for the workers. His theatre at Besangon (1771-73) was revolutionary in its provision of seats for the general public as well as the upper classes. The elaborate barrieres (tollhouses) he designed for Paris (1785-89) were ruinously expensive, and Ledoux was removed from the project. Arrested during the French Revolution, he did not practice architecture after his release.

Ledru-Rollin Uo-'driE-ro-TaA, Alexandre-Auguste (b. Feb. 2, 1807, Paris, France—d. Dec. 31, 1874, Fontenay-aux-Roses) French radi¬ cal politician. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1839, but his insistence on the need for a republican government isolated him from other leftists. Following the February Revolution, through his influence as minister of the interior in the provisional government (1848), elections for a new legislature were held for the first time under universal manhood suffrage. In 1849 he demanded the impeachment of Louis-Napoleon (later Napoleon III) and led an unsuccessful insurrection. He fled to England but returned to France after the amnesty of 1870.

Lee, Ann (b. Feb. 29, 1736, Manchester, Eng.—d. Sept. 8, 1784, Water- vliet, N.Y., U.S.) British-American religious leader. A factory worker in her youth in Manchester, she joined the Shakers in 1758 and was acknowl¬ edged as their leader in 1770. Persecuted by the English authorities and compelled by what she believed was a vision, she immigrated to America in 1774. With a band of followers, she founded a settlement at Niskeyuna (present-day Watervliet), N.Y., in 1776, and thereafter her movement spread rapidly. Mother Ann, as she came to be known, was said to have performed miracles, including healing the sick by touch. She was impris¬ oned briefly for treason because of her pacifist doctrines and refusal to sign an oath of allegiance.

Lee, Bruce orig. Lee Yuen Kam (b. Nov. 27, 1940, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—d. July 20, 1973, Hong Kong) U.S. film actor. The son of a touring Chinese opera star, he spent his childhood in Hong Kong, where he acted in several movies. He returned to the U.S., and in 1966 he landed a role in the television series The Green Hornet. In the early 1970s he became a popular star of martial- arts action films, including Fist of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973), which gained an interna¬ tional cult following. His career was cut short by his sudden death at 33 from a brain edema suffered after taking a pain killer. Nevertheless, his films remained popular and became widely imitated. His son Brandon Lee (1965-93) was emerging as an action-movie star when he died in a shooting accident on a movie set.

Lee, Gypsy Rose orig. Rose Louise Hovick (b. Jan. 9, 1914,

Seattle, Wash., U.S.—d. April 26,

1970, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. strip¬ tease artist. She appeared in a vaude¬ ville act with her sister from 1919

Gypsy Rose Lee, 1944

COURTESY OF UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION; PHOTOGRAPH, FROM THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART FILM STILLS ARCHIVE, NEW YORK

Lee ► leech I 1091

and made her debut in a burlesque show in 1929. She became the head¬ liner at Billy Minsky’s Republic Theatre on Broadway (1931) and appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies (1936). She was noted for her grace, style, and sophisticated wit. After retiring from burlesque (1937), she appeared in nightclubs and on television. Her autobiography, Gypsy (1957), was the basis for a successful 1959 musical (film, 1962).

Lee, Harper (b. April 28, 1926, Monroeville, Ala., U.S.) U.S. novelist. The daughter of a lawyer, Lee attended the University of Alabama but left for New York City before obtaining a law degree. An editor helped her transform a series of short stories into the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Lee’s only novel, it was nationally acclaimed, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and was adapted into a memorable film in 1962. The novel’s hero is the white lawyer Atticus Finch, whose just and compassionate acts include an unpopular defense of a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl. The book continued to resonate into the 21st century.

Lee, Henry (b. Jan. 29, 1756, Prince William county, Va.—d. March 25, 1818, Cumberland Island, Ga., U.S.) American army officer and politician. In the American Revolution he rose to cavalry commander (earning the nick¬ name “Light-Horse Harry”) and led victories at Paulus Hook, N.J., and in the South. As governor of Virginia (1791-94), he commanded the army that suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). In the U.S. House of Representa¬ tives (1799-1801), he wrote the resolution eulogizing George Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” After 1800 Lee failed in several land and financial speculations and was twice imprisoned for debt. He was the father of Robert E. Lee.

Lee, Ivy Ledbetter (b. July 16, 1877, Cedartown, Ga., U.S.—d. Nov. 9, 1934, New York, N.Y.) U.S. public relations pioneer. He worked as a newspaper reporter before becoming press representative for a group of coal miners in 1906 and for the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. in 1912. His success in improving their public images brought him many powerful cli¬ ents, including the Rockefeller interests. His greatest innovation was his frankness with the press, which he took care to notify of newsworthy developments at the companies he represented.

Lee, Peggy orig. Norma Deloris Egstrom (b. May 26, 1920, Jamestown, N.D., U.S.—d. Jan. 21, 2002, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. popu¬ lar singer. She endured a difficult childhood after her mother’s early death. Singing with a group in Chicago, she was engaged by Benny Goodman as his principal singer in 1941. She began singing on her own in 1943 and also began collaborating on songs, often with her husband, Dave Barbour, including “Fever,” “Manana,” and several songs for Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp (1955). With her smooth, lightly husky voice, usually backed by jazz-influenced arrangements, she produced other hits such as “Lover” and “Is That All There Is?”

Lee, Richard Henry (b. Jan. 20, 1732, Stratford, Va.—d. June 19, 1794, Chantilly, Va., U.S.) U.S. statesman. As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1758-75), he opposed the Stamp Act and the Town- shend Acts. He helped initiate the Committees of Correspondence and was active in the First and Second Continental Congress. On June 7, 1776, he introduced a resolution calling for independence from Britain. Its adoption led to the Declaration of Independence, which he signed, as he did the Articles of Confederation. He again served in Congress from 1784 to 1787, acting as its president in 1784. He opposed ratification of the Constitution

of the United States because it lacked a bill of rights. He later served in the first U.S. Senate (1789-92).

Lee, Robert E(dward) (b. Jan. 19, 1807, Stratford, Westmoreland county, Va., U.S.—d. Oct. 12, 1870, Lexington, Va.) U.S. and Confeder¬ ate military leader. He was the son of Henry Lee. After graduating from West Point, he served in the engi¬ neering corps and in the Mexican War under Winfield Scon. He trans¬ ferred to the cavalry in 1855 and commanded frontier forces in Texas (1856-57). In 1859 he led U.S. troops against the slave insurrection attempted by John Brown at Harpers Ferry. In 1861 he was offered com¬ mand of a new army being formed

Robert E. Lee, 1865.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

to force the seceded Southern states back into the Union. Though opposed to secession, he refused. After his home state of Virginia seceded, he became commander of Virginia’s forces in the American Civil War and adviser to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia (1862) after Joseph Johnston was wounded, Lee repulsed the Union forces in the Seven Days' Battles. He won victories at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. His attempts to draw Union forces out of Virginia by invading the North resulted in failures at Antietam and Gettysburg. In 1864-65 he conducted defensive campaigns against Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant that caused heavy Union casualties. Lee ended his retreat behind fortifications built at Peters¬ burg and Richmond (see Petersburg Campaign). By April 1865 dwindling forces and supplies forced Lee, now general of all Confederate armies, to surrender at Appomattox Court House. After several months of recu¬ peration, he accepted the post of president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), where he served until his death.

Lee, Spike orig. Shelton Jackson Lee (b. March 20, 1957, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.) U.S. film director. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned a master’s degree in film at New York University. The comedy She’s Gotta Have It (l 986) brought him attention, but it was Do the Right Thing (1989), a portrait of racial tensions in Brooklyn, that brought him widespread acclaim. Many of his films focused on aspects of African American life, including School Daze (1988), Jungle Fever( 1991), Crooklyn (1994), and He Got Game (1998). The epic Malcolm X (1992) and the documentary Four Little Girls (1997) showed Lee’s versatility as a director.

Lee, William (b. 1550?, Calverton, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—d. 1610?, Paris, France) British inventor of the first knitting machine. Lee’s model (1589) was the only one employed for centuries, and its principle of operation remains in use. Elizabeth I twice denied him a patent because of her concern for the kingdom’s hand knitters. With support from Henry IV of France, Lee later manufactured hosiery in Rouen.

Lee Kuan Yew (b. Sept. 16, 1923, Singapore) Prime minister of Sin¬ gapore (1959-90). Born to a wealthy Chinese family, Lee studied at the University of Cambridge and became a lawyer and a socialist. He worked as a legal adviser to labour unions and won election to Sin¬ gapore’s legislative council in 1955, while the country was still a British crown colony. He helped Singapore achieve self-government and, run¬ ning as an anticolonialist and anti¬ communist, was elected prime minister in 1959. His numerous reforms included the emancipation of women. He briefly entered Sin¬ gapore in the Federation of Malaysia (1963-65); on its withdrawal, Sin¬ gapore became a sovereign state. Lee Lee Kuan Yew industrialized the country and made keystone Singapore the most prosperous

nation in Southeast Asia. He achieved both labour peace and a rising standard of living for workers, though his mildly authoritarian govern¬ ment at times infringed on civil liberties.

Lee Teng-hui Vle-'doq-'hweX (b. Jan. 15, 1923, near Tan-shui, Taiwan) First Taiwan-born president (1988-2000) of Taiwan (Republic of China). He became president in 1988 after the death of Chiang Ching-kuo. He was reelected in 1990 and won a landslide victory in 1996 in Taiwan’s first

direct presidential election. Lee favoured a policy of “flexible diplo¬ macy” in dealing with the People’s Republic of China. His successor, Chen Shui-bian (Ch’en Shui-pian) was the first president not from the Nationalist Party.

leech Any annelid worm of the class Hirudinea (about 300 known spe¬ cies), with a small sucker containing the mouth at the front end and a large sucker at the back end. Species range

European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinal is).

JACQUES SIX

1092 I Leech ► legion

from tiny to about 8 in. (20 cm) long. Leeches live primarily in freshwa¬ ter or on land. Some species are predators, some eat organic debris, and others are parasitic. Aquatic leeches may feed on the blood of fishes, amphibians, birds, and mammals, or they may eat snails, insect larvae, and worms. True land leeches feed only on the blood of mammals. Sub¬ stances in the leech’s saliva anesthetize the wound area, dilate the blood vessels, and prevent the blood from clotting. For centuries, some species have been used to drain off blood. Hirudin, extracted from the European medicinal leech, is used medically as an anticoagulant.

Leech, John (b. Aug. 29, 1817, London, Eng.—d. Oct. 29, 1864, Lon¬ don) British caricaturist. He gave up the study of medicine to produce comic sketches and etchings for magazines, notably Punch. He collabo¬ rated with George Cruikshank but later departed from the horrific and satirical elements of traditional English caricature to develop his own style of comfortable, warmly humorous middle-class urbanity, underlining character by emphatic contrasts of stock types. With John Tenniel he cre¬ ated the image of John Bull, a jovial, foursquare Englishman, sometimes in a Union Jack waistcoat, with a bulldog at heel.

Leeds City and metropolitan borough (pop., 2001:715,404), metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. It lies along the River Aire, northeast of Manchester. It originated as an Anglo- Saxon township and was incorporated as a city in 1626, becoming an early centre of the woolen industry. The completion in 1816 of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal stimulated its growth, and the factory production of ready¬ made clothing expanded rapidly at the end of the 19th century. It is the seat of the University of Leeds.

the Virgin Islands of the U.S. and the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin, Saint Kins and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, and Guade¬ loupe. Just south of this chain is Dominica, sometimes classified as part of the Leeward Islands but usually designated as part of the Windward Islands.

Lefevre d'Etaples \ta- , fevr’-da- , tapl 3 \ / Jacques (b. 1455, Etaples, Picardy—d. March 1536, Nerac, France) French humanist, theologian, and translator. Ordained a priest, he taught philosophy in Paris (1490-1507), after which he worked with the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. When suspected of Protestantism, he moved temporarily to Strasbourg and later to Nerac, where he was protected by the queen of Navarra. Casting off the influence of medieval Scholasticism, he promoted scriptural studies on the eve of the Reformation. He translated the Bible into French and wrote com¬ mentaries on St. Paul as well as philosophical and mystical works.

Lefkosia See Nicosia

left In politics, the portion of the political spectrum associated in gen¬ eral with egalitarianism and popular or state control of the major institu¬ tions of political and economic life. The term dates from the 1790s, when in the French revolutionary parliament the socialist representatives sat to the presiding officer’s left. Leftists tend to be hostile to the interests of traditional elites, including the wealthy and members of the aristocracy, and to favour the interests of the working class (see proletariat). They tend to regard social welfare as the most important goal of government. Social¬ ism is the standard leftist ideology in most countries of the world; com¬ munism is a more radical leftist ideology.

leg In a biped, the lower limb, jointed at the knee, supporting the body and used for walking and running. Its bones are the femur (thighbone), the longest bone in the human body; patella (kneecap); tibia (shin); and fibula. The biceps muscle of the thigh bends the leg; the quadriceps straightens it.

legal medicine See medical jurisprudence

legend Traditional story or group of stories told about a particular per¬ son or place. Formerly the term referred to a tale about a saint. Legends resemble folktales in content; they may include supernatural beings, ele¬ ments of mythology, or explanations of natural phenomena, but they are associated with a particular locality or person. They are handed down from the past and are popularly regarded as historical though they are not entirely verifiable.

Leek (Allium porrum )

G.R. ROBERTS

leek Hardy, vigorous, biennial plant {Allium porrum) of the lily family, native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. It has a mild, sweet, onionlike flavour. In Europe it is widely used in soups and stews and is cooked whole as a vegetable.

It became the national emblem of Wales following an ancient victory by an army of Welshmen who wore leeks as a distinguishing sign. The long, narrow leaves and nearly cylin¬ drical bulb of the first season are replaced in the second season by a tall solid stalk bearing leaves and a large umbel with many flowers.

Leeuwenhoek Vla-von-.hukV,

Antonie van (b. Oct. 24, 1632,

Delft, Neth.—d. Aug. 26, 1723,

Delft) Dutch microscopist. In his youth he was apprenticed to a draper; a later civil position allowed him to devote time to his hobby: grinding lenses and using them to study tiny objects. With his simple microscopes—skillfully ground, powerful single lenses capable of high image quality—he observed protozoa in rainwater and pond and well water and bacteria in the human mouth and intestine. He also discov¬ ered blood corpuscles, capillaries, and the structure of muscles and nerves, and in 1677 he first described the spermatozoa of insects, dogs, and humans. His research on lower ani¬ mals argued against the doctrine of spontaneous generation, and his observations helped lay the founda¬ tions for the sciences of bacteriology and protozoology.

Leeward Vlii-ord, 'le-w3rd\

Islands Arc of West Indian islands that constitute the most westerly and northerly of the Lesser Antilles, northeastern Caribbean Sea. The major islands are, from north to south,

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, detail of a portrait by Jan Verkolje; in the Rijksmu- seum, Amsterdam.

COURTESY OF THE RUKSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM

Leger \la-'zha\, Fernand (b. Feb. 1955, Gif-sur-Yvette) French painter. Born to a peasant family, he worked as an architectural draftsman in Paris before studying art. Influenced by Paul Cezanne and early Cubism, Leger developed a painting style that com¬ bined bold colours with geometric and cylindrical forms arranged in highly disciplined compositions. His best-known works celebrated mod¬ em industrial technology by empha¬ sizing shapes derived from machine parts. Though he was seriously injured in World War I, his art con¬ tinued to affirm his faith in modem life and popular culture. In 1924 he conceived and directed Ballet meca- nique, a nonnarrative film with pho¬ tography by Man Ray.

4, 1881, Argentan, Fr.—d. Aug. 17,

Fernand Leger, photograph by Arnold Newman, 1941.

leghorn \ , leg- 1 hom, 'le-gonA Breed of chicken that originated in Italy; the only Mediterranean breed of importance today. Of the 12 varieties, the single-comb white leghorn is more popular than all the other leghorns combined; the leading egg producer of the world, it lays white eggs and is kept in large numbers in England, Canada, Australia, and the U.S.

Leghorn See Livorno Legio Maria See Maria Legio

legion Military organization, originally the largest permanent unit in the Roman army. It was the basis of the military system by which imperial Rome conquered and ruled its empire. The early Roman Republic found

Legion of Honour ► Leicester I 1093

the Greek phalanx too unwieldy for fragmented fighting in the hills and valleys of central Italy. To replace it the Romans evolved a new tactical system based on small and flexible infantry units called maniples. These were grouped in larger units called cohorts, which ranged from 360 to 600 men, depending on the era. Ten cohorts made up a legion, which moved into battle with four cohorts in the first line and three each in the second and third lines. See also Foreign Legion.

Legion of Honour officially Order of the Legion of Honour

Highest-ranking order and decoration of the French republic. It was cre¬ ated by Napoleon in 1802 as a general military and civil order of merit. Membership is open to men and women, French citizens and foreigners, irrespective of rank, birth, or religion. Admission into the Legion requires 20 years of civil achievement in peacetime or extraordinary military brav¬ ery and service in times of war.

Legion of Mary Church See Maria Legio

Legionnaire disease Type of pneumonia, first identified in American Legion conventioneers in 1976, 29 of whom died. The cause was iden¬ tified as a previously unknown bacterium, Legionella pneumophila , later revealed as causing earlier mysterious outbreaks at widely separated places. Usually, malaise and headache are followed by high fever and often chills, dry cough, shortness of breath, and pain, occasionally with mental confusion. Contaminated water (e.g., in water-distribution sys¬ tems, humidifiers, and whirlpool spas) is usually suspected as the source. The disease is treated with antibiotics.