liberated by Jesus in his “descent into hell”; and the limbus infantum or limbuspuerorum (“children’s limbo”), the abode of those who died with¬ out actual sin but whose original sin had not been washed away by bap¬ tism or whose free will was restricted by mental deficiency. Today the Catholic church downplays the notion of limbo, and it is not an official part of church doctrine.
Limbourg Vlim-.burkA brothers or Limburg brothers (fl. c. MOO- 1416) Flemish illuminators. Sons of a sculptor, the three brothers—Pol, Herman, and Jehanequin de Limbourg—learned the goldsmith’s art in Paris and entered the service of the duke de Berry, for whom they pro¬ duced one of the most famous of all illuminated manuscripts, a book of hours (private prayer book) known as the Tres riches heures du due de Berry (c. 1410-16). Since the brothers worked together, it is difficult to distin¬ guish individual styles. They synthesized the achievements of their con¬ temporaries into a style characterized by tall, aristocratic figures with lavish, curvilinear draperies and by highly naturalistic seasonal landscapes and scenes of peasant life. Their art did much to determine the course of early Netherlandish art. Their deaths in the same year suggest that they died of plague.
lime Small shrublike tree ( Citrus aurantifolia ), widely grown in tropi¬ cal and subtropical areas, and its edible acidic fruits. Stiff branches and twigs leave the thorny stem at irregular intervals and end in green leaves. Clusters of small white flow¬ ers produce small oval fruits with a thin, pale greenish yellow rind. The juicy pulp is more acidic and sweet than that of the lemon. Limes are used to flavour many foods. High in vitamin C, they were formerly used in the British navy to prevent scurvy; hence the nickname “Limey” for British sailors.
lime or quicklime or calcium oxide Inorganic compound, white or grayish white solid, chemical for¬ mula CaO, made by roasting limestone (calcium carbonate, CaC0 3 ) until all the carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) is driven off. One of the four most impor¬ tant basic chemical commodities, it is used as a refractory, as a flux in steel manufacture, as a C0 2 absorbent, to remove contaminants from stack gases, to neutralize various acids, in pulp and paper, in insecticides and fungicides, in sewage treatment, and in the manufacture of glass, calcium carbide, and sodium carbonate. Adding water to lime yields calcium hydroxide (slaked lime, calcium hydrate, hydrated lime, or caustic lime), which is used in mortar, plasters, cements, whitewash, hide dehairing, and water softening and purification and as a source of other calcium salts.
limelight Early form of theatrical lighting. The incandescent calcium light invented by Thomas Drummond in 1816 was first employed in a theatre in 1837 and was widely used by the 1860s. Its soft, brilliant light enabled it to be focused for spotlighting and to create effects such as sun¬ light and moonlight. The expression “in the limelight” referred to the most desirable acting area on the stage, the front and centre, which was illu¬ minated by limelights. Electric lighting replaced limelight in the late 19th century.
limerick Popular form of short, humorous verse, often nonsensical and frequently ribald. It consists of five lines, rhyming aabba, and the domi¬ nant metre is anapestic, with two feet in the third and fourth lines and three feet in the others. The origin of the term is obscure, but a group of poets in County Limerick, Ire., wrote limericks in Irish in the 18th cen¬ tury. The first collections in English date from c. 1820. Among the most famous are those in Edward Lear’s Book of Nonsense (1846).
limes Vle-mas\ plural limites Latin "path" In ancient Rome, a strip of open land along which troops advanced into unfriendly territory. It came to mean a Roman military road, fortified with watchtowers and forts. An example of this construction was the continuous system of fortifica¬ tions and barriers extending 345 mi (555 km) along the Roman frontier in Germany and Raetia. Hadrian's Wall also served as a limes. Though not impenetrable, the limites allowed the Romans to control communications along frontiers and deterred raiding parties. In the eastern and southern empire, limites were often used to guard caravan routes.
limestone Sedimentary rock composed mainly of calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 ), usually in the form of calcite and, less commonly, aragonite. It may contain considerable amounts of magnesium carbonate (dolomite) as well. Most limestones have a granular texture; in many cases, the grains are tiny fragments of fossil animal shells. Much knowledge of the Earth’s history has been derived from the study of fossils embedded in limestone and other carbonate rocks. Limestone is used as a soil conditioner, in the manufacture of glass, and in agriculture. Ornamental varieties are used for flooring, exterior and interior facings of buildings, and monuments.
Limfjorden Vlem-.fyor-donN Strait across northern Jutland, Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat. It is 110 mi (180 km) long and is actually a series of fjords dotted with islands. In 1825 the North Sea broke through the western part, and the Thybor0n Kanal was cut to keep the outlet open.
limit Mathematical concept based on the idea of closeness, used mainly in studying the behaviour of functions close to values at which they are undefined. For example, the function \/x is not defined at x = 0. For posi¬ tive values of x, as x is chosen closer and closer to 0, the value of l/x begins to grow rapidly, approaching infinity as a limit. This interplay of action and reaction as the independent variable moves closer to a given value is the essence of the idea of a limit. Limits provide the means of defining the derivative and integral of a function.
limitations, statute of Legislative act restricting the time within which legal proceedings may be brought, usually to a fixed period after the occurrence of the events that gave rise to the cause of action. Such statutes are enacted to protect persons against claims made after evidence has been lost, memories have faded, or witnesses have disappeared. The periods prescribed for different actions in different jurisdictions vary con¬ siderably.
limited liability Condition under which the loss that an owner (share¬ holder) of a business may incur is limited to the capital invested in the business and does not extend to personal assets. The forerunners of limited-liability companies were limited partnerships, which were com¬ mon in Europe and the U.S. in the 18th and early 19th centuries. In lim¬ ited partnerships, one partner is entirely liable for losses and the other partners are liable only for the amounts they invested in the business. After the Joint-Stock Companies Act (1844) in England made incorporation easier, joint-stock companies with limited liability for all members became widespread. The development of the limited-liability company was crucial to the rise of large-scale industry in the late 19th and 20th centuries, since it enabled businesses to mobilize capital from a variety of investors who were unwilling to risk their entire personal fortunes in their investments. See also RISK.
limited obligation bond See revenue bond
limnology \lim-'na-l3-je\ Subdiscipline of hydrology that concerns the study of fresh waters, specifically lakes and ponds (both natural and man¬ made), including their biological, physical, and chemical aspects. Frangois-Alphonse Forel (1841-1912) established the field with his stud¬ ies of Lake Geneva. Limnology traditionally is closely related to hydro¬ biology, which is concerned with the application of the principles and methods of physics, chemistry, geology, and geography to ecological problems.
Limoges \le-'mozh\ painted enamel Enamel work made in Limo¬ ges, France, generally considered the finest painted enamel ware produced in Europe in the 16th century. The earliest examples show religious scenes in the late Gothic style, but Italian Renaissance motifs appeared c. 1520. Painting in grisaille was later introduced. By the late 16th century the quality of the enamel ware had degenerated. See also Leonard Limosin.
Limoges ware Porcelain, largely service ware, produced in Limoges, France, from the 18th century. Faience of undistinguished quality was pro¬ duced there from 1736, but the manufacture of hard-paste, or true, por¬ celain dates only from 1771. In 1784 the factory was acquired as an adjunct of the royal factory at Sevres (see Sevres porcelain), and the deco¬ rations of the two wares became similar. After 1858 Limoges became a mass exporter of porcelain to the U.S. under the name Haviland.
Limon Ui-'monV, Jose (Arcadio) (b. Jan. 12, 1908, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mex.—d. Dec. 2, 1972, Flemington, N.J., U.S.) Mexican-born U.S. mod¬ em dancer, choreographer, and founder-director of the Jose Limon Dance Company. At age seven he moved to the U.S., where he later studied with
rantifolia), widely grown in tropi-
Lime (Citrus aurantifolia).
GRANT HEILMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
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N
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1116 I limonite ► Lincoln
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Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman and danced with their company (193CM-0). He established his own company in 1947, with Humphrey as artistic director. His choreography conveyed modern-dance expression within a well-defined structure, as exemplified by works such as The Moor’s Pavane (1949) and Missa Brevis (1958). The company toured worldwide during Limon’s life and remained active after his death.
MARTHA SWOPE
limonite \ , li-mo- l nit\ One of the major iron minerals, a hydrous ferric oxide of variable composition. Often brown and earthy, it is formed by alteration of other iron minerals, such as the hydration of hematite or the oxidation and hydration of sider- ITE Or PYRITE.
Limosin \le-mo-'za n \, Leonard or Leonard Limousin Vle-mti- 'za n \ (b. c. 1505, Limoges, Fr.—d. c.
1577, Limoges) French painter. The most accomplished member of a prominent Limoges family of enam- elers, he is known for the revealing realism of the portraits he painted on Limoges ware. His earliest authen¬ ticated work is his Passion of the Lord (1532), a series of 18 enamel plaques after prints by Albrecht DOrer. He was later influenced by the Ital¬ ian Mannerists who worked at Fontainebleau for Francis I, whom Limosin served as court painter. He was also an accomplished painter in oils.
Limousin \,li-m3-'zen,\ French \ l le-mo-'ze n \ Historical and government region, central France. Covering 6,541 sq mi (16,942 sq km), the mod¬ ern administrative region of Limousin (pop., 1999: 710,939) is roughly coextensive with the region when it held provincial status. The capital is Limoges (pop., 1999: 133,960). Originally inhabited by the ancient Gal¬ lic tribe of Lemovices, the region was conquered by Rome c. 50 bc. Under the Carolingians, it was part of Aquitaine. On Eleanor of Aquitaine’s mar¬ riage to King Henry II of England in 1152, it passed to English control. Subsequently fought over by England and France, it was finally annexed to the French crown under the French king Henry IV.
limpet Vlim-patN Any of various species of snails that have a flattened shell. Most marine species (subclass Prosobranchia) cling to rocks near shore. A common U.S. species is the Atlantic plate limpet ( Acmaea testu- dinalis) of cold waters. Keyhole lim¬ pets have a slit or hole at the apex of the shell. Some limpets (subclass Pulmonata) live in brackish water and freshwater. See also mollusk.
Limpopo River River, South Africa. Rising as the Crocodile (Krokodil) River in the Witwa- tersrand, South Africa, it flows northeast along the border of South Africa and southeast across Mozam¬ bique to empty into the Indian Ocean. Along its middle course it divides South Africa from Botswana and Zimbabwe. It is 1,100 mi (1,800 km) long but is navigable only 130 mi (208 km) from the coast. The first European to visit it was Vasco da Gama, who named its mouth the Espfritu Santo River in 1498.
Lin, Maya (b. Oct. 5, 1959, Athens, Ohio, U.S.) U.S. architect and sculptor. The daughter of intellectuals who had fled China in 1948, she achieved fame in 1981 when her class assignment at Yale University won the nationwide Vietnam Veterans Memorial competition. Lin’s award¬ winning design consisted of a polished black granite V-shaped wall inscribed with the names of the approximately 58,000 men and women who were killed or missing in action; the abstract nature of the design aroused a great deal of controversy. Her subsequent, vastly different
European limpets (Patella vulgata) with acorn barnacles (Balanus balanoides)
NEVILLE FOX-DAVIES—BRUCE COLEMAN INC./EB INC.
designs include the major commissions for the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala. (1989), and the Women’s Table at Yale (1993), as well as an earth sculpture for the University of Michigan (1994) and an extraor¬ dinary translucent clock. Eclipsed Time, installed in the ceiling of New York City’s Pennsylvania Station (1994).
Lin Biao \Tin-be-'au\ or Lin Piao (b. Dec. 5, 1907, Huanggang, Hubei province, China—d. Sept. 13, 1971?, Mongolia?) Chinese military leader and government official who played a prominent role in the Cultural Revo¬ lution. He joined the Socialist Youth League in 1925 and Chiang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition in 1926. When Chiang turned on the communists in 1927, Lin fled to join Mao. During the Long March Lin became legend¬ ary for never losing a battle, and he prevailed against the Japanese in the 1930s and the Nationalists in the 1940s. In the early 1960s his reforma¬ tion and indoctrination of the army in accordance with Mao’s teachings became a model for the rest of society, and during the Cultural Revolu¬ tion he was designated Mao’s successor. Subsequent events are unclear, but in September 1971 the Chinese government reported that Lin died in a plane crash in Mongolia in an attempt to flee China; his death has remained a mystery.
Lin Yutang or Lin Yu-t'ang (b. Oct. 10, 1895, Longxi, Fujian prov¬ ince, China—d. March 26, 1976, Hong Kong) Chinese writer. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he studied in the U.S. and Europe. In 1932 he established a highly successful Western-style satirical magazine of a type totally new to China; soon he introduced two other publications. A pro¬ lific writer of works in Chinese and English, he produced his first English- language book. My Country and My People, in 1935. From 1936 he lived chiefly in the U.S. His other works include The Wisdom of China and India (1942), books on Chinese history and philosophy, and highly acclaimed English translations of Chinese literary masterpieces.
Lin Zexu Vlin-'dzo-'shiA or Lin Tse-hsu (b. Aug. 30, 1785, Houguan, Fujian province, China—d. Nov. 22, 1850, Chaozhu, Guangdong prov¬ ince) Leading Chinese scholar and official of the Qing dynasty, accepted as a national hero for his stance against the British before the Anglo-Chinese Opium War (1839-42). Lin passed the highest examination in the Chinese examination system and entered the Hanun Academy and government. Having suggested to the emperor ways to suppress the opium trade, Lin found himself appointed imperial commissioner and dispatched to Guang¬ zhou (Canton) to deal with the problem directly. He was so successful that, in retaliation for his destruction of their opium stocks, the British ravaged large parts of southern China, and Lin was quickly dismissed. He served loyally at his post of exile and was soon called back to important service. He died on his way to help suppress the Taping Rebellion.
linac See linear accelerator
Linacre Vli-ni-korV Thomas (b. c. 1460, Canterbury, Kent, Eng.—d. Oct. 20, 1524, London) English physician and classical scholar. Elected a fellow at Oxford in 1484, he became one of the first propagators of the humanist “New Learning” in England; his students included Desiderius Erasmus and St. Thomas More. Many prominent Londoners were his medi¬ cal patients, including Henry VIII, whose approval he obtained in 1518 to found the Royal College of Physicians, which decided who should prac¬ tice medicine in Greater London and which licensed physicians through¬ out the kingdom, ending the indiscriminate practice of medicine by barbers, clergymen, and others.
Lincoln City (pop., 2000: 225,581), capital of Nebraska, U.S. Laid out in 1859 and called Lancaster, it was renamed for Abraham Lincoln when it was chosen as the capital in 1867.
The town was incorporated in 1869 and was the home of the politician William Jennings Bryan from 1887 to 1921. It is a railroad junction and commercial centre serving the sur¬ rounding agricultural region. Its institutions of higher education include the University of Nebraska,
Union College, and Nebraska Wes¬ leyan University.
Lincoln ancient Lindum City and administrative district (pop., 2001:
85,616), administrative and historic
Lincoln cathedral, Lincolnshire
RAY MANLEY-SHOSTAL/EB INC.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Lincoln ► Lindisfarne I 1117
county of Lincolnshire, eastern England. Under the name Lindum, it served as a Roman fortress, and by ad 7 1 it had become a settlement for retired soldiers. It later came under Danish rule, and in the Middle Ages it was one of England’s major towns. Henry II gave the city its first charter in 1154. It is a market centre for an agricultural region and also possesses some manufacturing. It has many medieval buildings, including the cathe¬ dral (begun c. 1075).
Lincoln, Abraham (b. Feb. 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Ky., U.S.—d. April 15, 1865, Washington, D.C.) 16th president of the U.S. (1861-65). Born in a Kentucky log cabin, he moved to Indiana in 1816 and to Illi¬ nois in 1830. After working as a storekeeper, a rail-splitter, a postmaster, and a surveyor, he enlisted as a volunteer in the Black Hawk War (1832) and was elected captain of his company. He taught himself law and, hav¬ ing passed the bar examination, began practicing in Springfield, Ill., in 1836. As a successful circuit-riding lawyer from 1837, he was noted for his shrewdness, common sense, and honesty (earning the nickname “Hon¬ est Abe”). From 1834 to 1840 he served in the Illinois state legislature, and in 1847 he was elected as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representa¬ tives. In 1856 he joined the Republican Party, which nominated him as its candidate in the 1858 Senate election. In a series of seven debates with Stephen A. Douglas (the Lincoln-Douglas Debates), he argued against the extension of slavery into the territories. Though morally opposed to sla¬ very, he was not an abolitionist; indeed, he attempted to rebut Douglas’s charge that he was a dangerous radical, by reassuring audiences that he did not favour political equality for blacks. Despite his loss in the elec¬ tion, the debates brought him national attention. In the 1860 presidential election, he ran against Douglas again and won by a large margin in the electoral college, though he received only two-fifths of the popular vote. The South opposed his position on slavery in the territories, and before his inauguration seven Southern states had seceeded from the Union. The ensuing American Civil War completely consumed Lincoln’s administra¬ tion. He excelled as a wartime leader, creating a high command for direct¬ ing all the country’s energies and resources toward the war effort and combining statecraft and overall command of the armies with what some have called military genius. However, his abrogation of some civil liber¬ ties, especially the writ of habeas corpus, and the closing of several news¬ papers by his generals disturbed both Democrats and Republicans, including some members of his own cabinet. To unite the North and influence foreign opinion, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation (1863); his Gettysburg Address (1863) further ennobled the war’s purpose. The continuing war affected some Northerners’ resolve and his reelection was not assured, but strategic battle victories turned the tide, and he easily defeated George B. McClellan in 1864. His platform included passage of the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery (ratified 1865). At his second inaugural, with victory in sight, he spoke of moderation in reconstruct¬ ing the South and building a harmonious Union. On April 14, five days after the war ended, he was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth.
Lincoln, Benjamin (b. Jan. 24, 1733, Hingham, Mass.—d. May 9, 1810, Boston) American Revolutionary officer. After serving in the Mas¬ sachusetts militia (1755-76), he was appointed major general in the Con¬ tinental Army. As commander of forces in the South in 1780, he was forced to surrender with 7,000 troops after the British victory at Charles¬ ton, S.C. Released in a prisoner exchange, he served in the Yorktown campaign in 1781. From 1781 to 1783 he served as secretary of war, and in 1787 he commanded the militia forces that suppressed Shays' Rebellion. From 1789 to 1809 he was collector for the port of Boston.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Travertine-clad cultural complex on the western side of Manhattan (1962-68), built by a board of architects headed by Wallace K. Harrison (1895-1981). The buildings, situated around a plaza with a fountain, are the home of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, and the Juilliard School. Harrison himself designed the Metropolitan Opera building, and Eero Saarinen designed the Vivian Beau¬ mont Theater. Philip Johnson’s New York State Theater incorporates a Clas¬ sical facade and a four-story lobby. Johnson also rebuilt Avery Fisher Hall (home of the New York Philharmonic), originally designed by Max Abra- movitz, to correct acoustic deficiencies and improve the lobby spaces.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates Series of seven debates between Repub¬ lican candidate Abraham Lincoln and Democratic Sen. Stephen A. Douglas in the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign. They focused on slavery and its extension into the western territories. Lincoln criticized Douglas for his
support of popular sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, while Dou¬ glas accused Lincoln of advocating racial equality and disruption of the Union. Douglas won reelection, but Lincoln’s antislavery position and oratorical brilliance made him a national figure in the young Republican Party.
Lincolnshire Vliq-kon-.shM Administrative (pop., 2001: 646,646), geo¬ graphic, and historic county, eastern England. It lies along the North Sea from the Humber estuary to the Wash. Among its most important towns is Lincoln. Inhabited in prehistoric times, it developed as an area of Roman settlement. Anglo-Saxons later established the kingdom of Lindsey. Dan¬ ish influence was also widespread through villages established by Danes. Geographically isolated, it remains primarily an agricultural region. Along the coast, tourism has grown.
Lind, James (b. 1716, Edinburgh, Scot.—d. July 13, 1794, Gosport, Hampshire, Eng.) Scottish naval surgeon and physician. Having observed thousands of scurvy, typhus, and dysentery cases and the shipboard condi¬ tions that caused them, he published A Treatise on Scurvy in 1754, a time when scurvy killed more British sailors than combat. He recommended giving citrus fruits and juices (sources of vitamin C) to sailors on long voyages, a practice known to the Dutch for nearly two centuries. When the practice was fully instituted in 1795, scurvy disappeared from the ranks “as if by magic.” Lind also suggested shipboard delousing and use of hospital ships, and he arranged for distillation of seawater for drink¬ ing.
Lind, Jenny orig. Johanna Maria Lind (b. Oct. 6, 1820, Stock¬ holm, Swed.—d. Nov. 2, 1887, Malvern, Worcestershire, Eng.) Swedish soprano. She became prima donna at the Royal Opera in Stockholm at age 18. Study with Manuel Garcia (1805-1906) in 1841 averted damage from vocal strain. Her career expanded to Germany, then to Vienna and London, where she created a sensation. Her European fame caught the eye of P.T. Barnum, who arranged a U.S. tour (dubbing her “the Swedish Nightingale”) that launched many modern publicity techniques. She left Barnum in 1851 and resumed singing in Europe, though much less fre¬ quently. In her later years she lived and taught in England.
Lindbergh, Charles A(ugustus) (b. Feb. 4, 1902, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—d. Aug. 26, 1974, Maui,
Hawaii) Aviator who made the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlan¬ tic Ocean. He left college to enroll in army flying schools and became an airmail pilot in 1926. He obtained backing from St. Louis businessmen to compete for a prize for flying from New York to Paris, and in 1927 in the monoplane Spirit of St. Louis he made the flight in 33.5 hours, becom¬ ing an instant hero in the U.S. and Europe. In 1929 he married the writer Anne Morrow (1906-2001), who would later serve as his copilot and navigator. In 1932 their child was kidnapped and murdered, a crime that received worldwide atten¬ tion. They moved to England to escape the publicity, returning to the U.S. in 1940 to criticism over his speeches calling for U.S. neutrality in World War II. During the war Lindbergh was an adviser to Ford Motor Company and United Aircraft Corporation. After the war he was a con¬ sultant to Pan American Airways and the U.S. Department of Defense and served on many aeronautical boards and committees. In 1953 he wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Spirit of St. Louis.
linden Any of about 30 species of trees that make up the genus Tilia (family Tiliaceae), native to the Northern Hemisphere. A few are out¬ standing deciduous ornamental and shade trees, with heart-shaped, coarsely toothed leaves, fragrant cream-coloured flowers, and small globular fruit. The American linden ( T. americana ), also called basswood or whitewood, grows as high as 130 ft (40 m). Its wood is used for bee¬ hives, crating, furniture, and packing material; like other linden species, it is also a popular bee tree, yielding a distinctive, pale, fragrant honey.
Lindisfarne or Holy Island Historic small island 2 mi (3 km) from the English Northumbrian coast. It became a religious centre in 635, when
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1118 I Lindisfarne Gospels ► lingo
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St. Aidan established a monastery and church there. It was abandoned in 875 because of the threat of Danish raids, but the monastery was refounded in 1082 and survived until the dissolution of the monasteries (1536-40) under Henry VIII. The manuscript of the Lindisfarne Gospels (c. 696-698) is one of the finest surviving illuminated manuscripts of the period. Lindisfarne’s present-day parish church may occupy the site of St. Aidan’s original monastery.
Lindisfarne Gospels Illuminated manuscript version of the four Gos¬ pels, produced in the late 7th century for the Northumbrian island mon¬ astery of Lindisfarne. The book was designed and executed by Eadfrith, who became bishop of Lindisfarne in 698. Illuminated in the Hiberno- Saxon style, the Lindisfarne Gospels (now in the British Library) show the fusion of Irish, Classical, and Byzantine elements. See also Book of Kells.
Lindsay, Howard (b. March 29, 1889, Waterford, N.Y., U.S.—d. Feb. 11, 1968, New York, N.Y.) U.S. playwright, actor, and producer known for his collaboration with Russel Crouse (1893-1966). Lindsay began his career as an actor, director, and playwright, and Crouse was a journalist before they were paired by producer Vinton Freedley to write librettos for the successful Cole Porter musicals Anything Goes (1934) and Red, Hot and Blue (1936). Their most popular play, Life with Father (1939), ran for over seven years and starred Lindsay as Father. They produced Arsenic and Old Lace (1940) and later wrote librettos for musicals such as State of the Union (1945, Pulitzer Prize) and The Sound of Music (1959).
Lindsay, (Nicholas) Vachel (b. Nov. 10, 1879, Springfield, Ill., U.S.—d. Dec. 5, 1931, Springfield) U.S. poet. In his youth, he began traveling the country reciting his poems in return for food and shelter, in an attempt to revive poetry as an oral art form of the common people. He first received widespread recognition for “General William Booth Enters into Heaven” (1913), about the founder of the Salvation Army. His works are full of powerful rhythms, vivid imagery, and bold rhymes and express an ardent patriotism, a passion for progressive democracy, and a roman¬ tic view of nature. His collections include Rhymes to Be Traded for Bread (1912), The Congo (1914), and The Chinese Nightingale (1917). He was responsible for discovering the work of Langston Hughes. Depressed and unstable in later years, he committed suicide by drinking poison.
line Basic element of Euclidean geometry. Euclid defined a line as an inter¬ val between two points and claimed it could be extended indefinitely in either direction. Such an extension in both directions is now thought of as a line, while Euclid’s original definition is considered a line segment. A ray is part of a line extending indefinitely from a point on the line in only one direction. In a coordinate system on a plane, a line can be rep¬ resented by the linear equation ax + by + c = 0. This is often written in the slope-intercept form as y = mx + b, in which m is the slope and b is the value where the line crosses the y-axis. Because geometrical objects whose edges are line segments are completely understood, mathemati¬ cians frequently try to reduce more complex structures into simpler ones made up of connected line segments.
line integral In mathematics, the integral of a function of several vari¬ ables defined on a line or curve that has been expressed in terms of arc length (see length of a curve). An ordinary definite integral is defined over a line segment, whereas a line integral may use a more general path, such as a parabola or a circle. Line integrals are used extensively in the theory of functions of a complex variable.
Line Islands Chain of islands, central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawaiian Islands. The Line Islands extend 1,600 mi (2,600 km) and have a land area of 193 sq mi (500 sq km). Of the northern group, Teraina (Washington) Island and the Tabuaeran (Fanning) and Kiritimati (Christ¬ mas) atolls belong to the Republic of Kiribati, while Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, and Jarvis Island are U.S. territories. Kiribati also holds the central group (Malden and Starbuck islands) and the southern group (Vostok and Flint islands and Caroline Atoll).
Linear A and Linear B Linear forms of writing used by Aegean civi¬ lizations during the 2nd millennium bc. Examples of Linear A, a syllabary (a writing system in which one character represents a whole syllable) written from left to right, date from 1850 bc to 1400 bc. The language written in Linear A remains unknown. Linear B, adapted from Linear A, was borrowed from the Minoan civilization by the Mycenaean Greeks, probably c. 1600 bc, and used to write the Mycenaean Greek dialect. Examples of Linear B script have been found on clay tablets and vases
from c. 1400-1200 bc. These texts represent the oldest known form of Greek. Linear B was deciphered as Greek in 1952 by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick.
linear accelerator or linac Type of particle accelerator that imparts a series of relatively small increases in energy to subatomic particles as they pass through a sequence of alternating electric fields set up in a lin¬ ear structure. The small accelerations add together to give the particles a greater energy than could be achieved by the voltage used in one section alone. One of the world’s longest linacs is the 2-mi (3.2-km) machine at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, which can accelerate electrons to energies of 50 billion electron volts. Much smaller linacs, both proton and electron types, have important practical applications in medicine and industry.
linear algebra Branch of algebra concerned with methods of solving systems of linear equations; more generally, the mathematics of linear transformations and vector spaces. “Linear” refers to the form of the equa¬ tions involved—in two dimensions, ax + by = c. Geometrically, this rep¬ resents a line. If the variables are replaced by vectors, functions, or derivatives, the equation becomes a linear transformation. A system of equa¬ tions of this type is a system of linear transformations. Because it shows when such a system has a solution and how to find it, linear algebra is essential to the theory of mathematical analysis and differential equations. Its applications extend beyond the physical sciences into, for example, biology and economics.
linear approximation In mathematics, the process of finding a straight line that closely fits a curve (function) at some location. Expressed as the linear equation y = ax + b, the values of a and b are chosen so that the line meets the curve at the chosen location, or value of x, and the slope of the line equals the rate of change of the curve (derivative of the func¬ tion) at that location. For most curves, linear approximations are good only very close to the chosen x. Yet much of the theory of calculus, including the fundamental theorem of calculus and the mean-value theorem for derivatives, is based on such approximations.
linear programming Mathematical modeling technique useful for guiding quantitative decisions in business, industrial engineering, and to a lesser extent the social and physical sciences. Solving a linear program¬ ming problem can be reduced to finding the optimum value (see optimi¬ zation) of a linear equation (called an objective function), subject to a set of constraints expressed as inequalities. The number of inequalities and variables depends on the complexity of the problem, whose solution is found by solving the system of inequalities like a system of equations. The extensive use of linear programming during World War II to deal with transportation, scheduling and allocations of resources under constraints like cost and priority gave the subject an impetus that carried it into the postwar era. The number of equations and variables needed to model real-life situations accurately is large, and the solution process can be time-consuming even with computers. See also simplex method.
linear transformation In mathematics, a rule for changing one geo¬ metric figure (or matrix or vector) into another using a formula with a specified format. The format must be a linear combination, in which the original components (e.g., the x and y coordinates of each point of the original figure) are changed via the formula ax + by to produce the coor¬ dinates of the transformed figure. Examples include flipping the figure over the x or y axis, stretching or compressing it, and rotating it. Every such transformation has an inverse, which undoes its effect.
linen Fibre, yarn, and fabric made from the flax plant. Flax is one of the oldest textile fibres used by humans; evidence of its use has been found in Switzerland’s prehistoric lake dwellings. Fine linen fabrics have been discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs. The fibre is obtained by subject¬ ing plant stalks to a series of operations, including retting (a fermentation process), drying, crushing, and beating. Linen is stronger than cotton, dries more quickly, and is more slowly affected by exposure to sunlight. Low elasticity, imparting a hard, smooth texture, makes linen subject to wrinkling. Because linen absorbs and releases moisture quickly and is a good conductor of heat, linen garments feel cool to wearers. Fine grades of linen are made into woven fabrics and laces for apparel and household furnishings.
linga or I ingam In Hinduism, the symbol of the god Shiva and of gen¬ erative power. Fashioned from wood, gems, metal, or stone, lingas are the main objects of worship in temples to Shiva and family shrines through-
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Lingayat ► Linnaeus I 1119
out India. Historically, the linga was a representation of the phallus, as sculptures from the lst-2nd century ad, the earliest dates of linga wor¬ ship, make clear, and most modern Hindus think of it in these terms. The stylization of the linga as a smooth cylindrical mass asserts an aniconic meaning. A sexual dimension remains in the most common form in which the linga appears today. The yoni, symbol of the female sex organ, often forms the base of the linga, a reminder that the male and female principles together represent the totality of existence. The linga is worshiped with offerings of flowers, water, fruit, leaves, and rice; the purity of the materials and the clean¬ liness of the worshiper are particu¬ larly stressed.
Lingayat Vliq-gg-yotX Member of a Hindu sect that worships Shiva as the only deity. It has a wide follow¬ ing in southern India. Its followers take their name (“linga-wearers”) from the small UNGAS that both men and women wear on a cord around the neck. The Lingayats’ belief in a single deity and their concept of bhakti (devotion) as an intuitive and loving knowledge of God show the influence of Ramanuja. They reject Brahma and the authority of the Vedas; their opposition to child mar¬ riage and the ill-treatment of widows anticipated the social reform move¬ ments of the 19th century.
Lingayen Uiq-ga-'yenX Gulf Inlet, South China Sea, northwestern coast of Luzon, Philippines. It is 26 mi (42 km) wide at its entrance and 36 mi (56 km) long. It has several islands, the largest of which is Cabarruyan Island. Dagupan, on the bay’s southeast coast, is the principal commercial centre. It was the scene of Japanese and U.S. troop-landing operations during World War II. " Sandstone linga, c. 900; in the British
Museum.
Iingcod Commercially popular fish courtesy of the trustees of the British museum species ( Ophiodon elongatus ) that is strictly marine, found along the
Pacific coast of North America. It is a voracious predator with a large mouth and caninelike teeth. Lingcods are popular game and commercial fish that may reach a length of 5 ft (1.5 m). They have well-developed fins and tails. The meat, though greenish, is considered highly edible.
lingonberry Fruit of a small creeping plant ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea) of the heath family, related to the blueberry and cranberry. Also known as cow¬ berry, foxberry, and mountain or rock cranberry, the lingonberry is a wild plant used for jelly and juice by northern Europeans and by Scandina¬ vians in the U.S. The plants grow densely in the forest understory and, like cranberries, can be harvested by raking.
lingua franca Vliq-gwo-'fraq-koX Language used for communication between two or more groups that have different native languages. It may be a standard language—for example, English and French are often used for international diplomacy, and Swahili is used by speakers of the many different local languages of eastern Africa. A lingua franca may also be a pidgin, like Melanesian Pidgin, widely used in the southern Pacific. The term lingua franca (Latin: “Frankish language”) was first applied to a pid¬ gin based on French and Italian developed in the Mediterranean. See also CREOLE.
linguistics Study of the nature and structure of language. It tradition¬ ally encompasses semantics, syntax, and phonology. Synchronic linguistic studies aim to describe a language as it exists at a given time; diachronic studies trace a language’s historical development. Greek philosophers in the 5th century bc who debated the origins of human language were the first in the West to be concerned with linguistic theory. The first complete Greek grammar, written by Dionysus Thrax in the 1st century bc, was a model for Roman grammarians, whose work led to the medieval and Renaissance vernacular grammars.
With the rise of historical linguistics in the 19th century, linguistics became a science. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Ferdinand de Saussure established the structuralist school of linguistics (see structural¬ ism), which analyzed actual speech to learn about the underlying structure of language. In the 1950s Noam Chomsky challenged the structuralist pro¬ gram, arguing that linguistics should study native speakers’ unconscious knowledge of their language (competence), not the language they actu¬ ally produce (performance). His general approach, known as transforma¬ tional generative grammar, was extensively revised in subsequent decades as the extended standard theory, the principles-and-parameters (government-binding) approach, and the minimalist program. Other gram¬ matical theories developed from the 1960s were generalized phrase struc¬ ture grammar, lexical-functional grammar, relational grammar, and cognitive grammar. Chomsky’s emphasis on linguistic competence greatly stimulated the development of the related disciplines of psychol¬ inguistics and neurolinguistics. Other related fields are anthropological linguistics, computational unguistics, mathematical linguistics, sociolinguis¬ tics, and the philosophy of language.
linguistics, historical Branch of linguistics concerned with examin¬ ing changes in phonology, grammar, and semantics during a language’s evolution, reconstructing earlier stages, and uncovering evidence of the influence of other languages. Its roots are in Classical and medieval writ¬ ings on etymology and in the comparative study of Greek and Latin dur¬ ing the Renaissance. Only in the 19th century did more scientific language-analysis methods lead to the development of historical linguis¬ tics as a scholarly discipline. The Neogrammarians, a group of German linguists who formulated sound correspondences in the Indo-European languages, were especially influential. In the 20th century the methods of historical linguistics were extended to other language groups.
linkage In mechanical engineering, a system of solid, usually metallic, links (bars) connected to two or more other links by pin joints (hinges), sliding joints, or ball-and-socket joints to form a closed chain or a series of closed chains. When one link is fixed, the possible movements of the other links relative to the fixed link and to one another depend on the number of links and the number and types of joints. With four pin- connected links, for example, the links all move in parallel planes, and regardless of which link is fixed, the others move in a fixed way relative to the fixed link. With various relative lengths of the links, this four-bar linkage becomes a useful mechanism for converting uniform rotary to non-uniform rotary motion or continuous rotary to oscillatory motion. It is the most commonly used linkage mechanism in machine construction.
linkage group All the genes on a single chromosome. They are inher¬ ited as a group; during cell division they act and move as a unit rather than independently. Variations in linkage groups can occur if a chromo¬ some breaks, and the sections join with the partner chromosome if it has broken in the same places. This exchange of genes between chromosomes, called crossing-over, usually occurs during meiosis. Sex linkage is the ten¬ dency of a characteristic to be linked to one sex; sex-linked traits in humans include red-green colour blindness and hemophilia.
Linkletter, Artfhur Gordon) (b. July 17, 1912, Moose Jaw, Sask., Can.) Canadian-born U.S. broadcasting host. He served as emcee for the variety show House Party (1943-67), which involved the audience in spontaneous contests and activities; he created the show’s popular seg¬ ment “Kids Say the Damdest Things.” He hosted another audience- participation show, People Are Funny, on radio (1943-59) and television (1954-61). He wrote more than 20 books, including the best-selling Kids Say the Damdest Things (1957), I Wish I'd Said That (1968), and Old Age Is Not for Sissies (1988).
Linnaeus \b-'ne-3s\, Carolus Swedish Carl von Linne (b. May 23,
1707, Rashult, Smaland, Swed.—d. Jan. 10, 1778, Uppsala) Swedish botanist and explorer. He studied botany at Uppsala university and explored Swedish Lapland before going to Holland to study medicine
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(1735). There he became the first to develop principles for defining gen¬ era and species of organisms and to create a uniform system for naming them, binomial nomenclature. Linnae¬ us’s system was based mainly on flower parts, which tend to remain unchanged during evolution. Though artificial, such a system was valuable in that it enabled students to place a plant rapidly in a named category.
Linnaeus not only systematized the plant and animal kingdoms, but he also classified the mineral kingdom and wrote a study of the diseases known in his day. His manuscripts, herbarium, and collections are pre¬ served by London’s Linnaean Soci¬ ety. His works include Systema Naturae (1735), Fundamenta Botan- ica (1736), and Species Plantarum
(1753).
linoleum Smooth-surfaced floor covering made from a mixture of oxi¬ dized linseed oil, resins, and other substances such as binder, fillers, and pigments, applied to a felt or canvas backing. Linoleum is flexible, warm, and unaffected by ordinary floor temperatures, and it does not readily burn. It is specially hardened to resist indentation and is not susceptible to damage from fats, oils, greases, or organic solvents.
Linotype Vll-na-.tlpV Trademark name for a typesetting machine by which characters are cast in type metal as a complete line, rather than as indi¬ vidual characters (as on the Monotype typesetting machine). It was pat¬ ented in 1884 by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It has now been almost entirely supplanted by photocomposition. In Linotype, a keyboard is manipulated to compose each line of text. The slugs produced by the machine are rect¬ angular solids of type metal (an alloy of lead, antimony, and tin) with raised characters that are a mirror image of the desired printed line. After hot-metal casting, the slug of type, air-cooled briefly, is placed in a “stick” for insertion in the proper position into the press form being made up. See also letterpress printing, printing.
Linux \'li-naks\ Nonproprietary operating system (OS) for digital com¬ puters. In 1991 Linus Torvalds of Finland began asking for volunteer pro¬ grammers over the Internet to collaborate on the development of a UNIX- like OS for personal computers; the “1.0” release of Linux was in 1994. A true multiuser, multitasking system, Linux contained features (e.g., vir¬ tual memory, shared libraries, memory management, and TCP/IP net¬ working) formerly only found on mainframe computers. With its source code freely available, thousands of volunteers, as well as several compa¬ nies that sell prepackaged Linux products, have contributed to the OS. A reliable, fast-performing system with good security features, Linux is popular for corporate computer network and Web servers.
Linz \Tints\ ancient Lentia City (pop., 2001: 183,504), north-central Austria. Located on the Danube River west of Vienna and on the direct rail route between the Baltic and Adriatic seas, it originated as a Roman for¬ tress. An important medieval trading centre, it was noted for its fairs in the 15th century. Linz was badly damaged in World War II. It is now a cultural centre and the seat of Johannes Kepler University.
lion Large, powerfully built cat (Panthera leo ), the proverbial “king of beasts.” It is now found mainly in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, though about two hundred constitute an Asi¬ atic race living under strict protec¬ tion in India. Lions inhabit grassy plains and open savanna. The male is 6-7 ft (1.8-2.1 m) long, excluding the 3-ft (1-m) tail, stands about 4 ft (1.2 m) high at the shoulder, and weighs 370-500 lbs (170-230 kg).
The female, or lioness, is consider¬ ably smaller. The male’s coat is usu¬
ally buff yellow or orange-brown; lionesses are more consistently tawny or sandy. The male’s outstanding characteristic is his mane. Lions are unique among cats in that they live in a group, or pride, often consisting of about 15 individuals. Lionesses are the chief hunters. They prey on animals of all sizes, including hippopotamuses, but prefer wildebeests, antelopes, and zebras. After eating, a lion may rest for a week.
Lion, Gulf of Gulf of the Mediterranean Sea, extending along the coast of southern France from the Spanish border to Toulon. Major ports along the gulf are Marseille and Sete.
lionfish Any of several species of showy Indo-Pacific fish of the scorpion-fish family (Scorpaenidae), noted for their venomous fin spines, which can inflict painful, though rarely fatal, puncture wounds. Lionfish have enlarged pectoral fins and elongated dorsal fin spines, and each spe¬ cies bears a particular pattern of bold stripes. When disturbed, the fish spread and display their fins, and, if further pressed, present and attack with the dorsal spines. Pterois volitans, sometimes kept by fish fanciers, is striped with red, brown, and white and grows to about 12 in. (30 cm) long. Several smaller Indo-Pacific species of the genus Dendrochirus are also known as lionfish.
Lions Clubs, International Association of Civilian service club. The largest such organization in the world, it was founded in Dallas, Texas, U.S. in 1917 to foster a spirit of “generous consideration” among peoples of the world and to promote good government, good citizenship, and active interest in civic, social, commercial, and moral welfare. Its activities include general community welfare projects, aid to the blind, promotion of knowledge, and support for the UN. Lions Clubs operate in some 190 countries.
Lipari Islands See Eolie Islands
Lipchitz Vlip-shits\, Jacques orig. Chaim Jacob Lipchitz (b. Aug. 10, 1891, Druskininkai, Lithuania, Russian Empire —d. May 26, 1973, Capri, Italy) Lithuanian-bom French sculptor, he was also active in the U.S. Trained as an engineer in Vilnius, he turned to sculpture after mov¬ ing to Paris in 1909. His early work was Cubist in style. Around 1925 he began producing a series of works known as “transparents,” open-spaced, curvilinear bronzes, such as Harpist (1928), which would greatly influ¬ ence the course of sculpture in the following quarter-century. After set¬ tling near New York City in 1941, he produced such massive works as The Prayer (1943) and Bellerophon Taming Pegasus (1966).
lipid \'lip-3d\ Any of a diverse class of organic compounds, found in all living things, that are greasy and insoluble in water. One of the three large classes of substances in foods and living cells, lipids contain more than twice as much energy (calories) per unit of weight as the other two (pro¬ teins and carbohydrates). They include the fats and edible oils (e.g., but¬ ter, olive oil, corn oil), which are primarily triglycerides; phospholipids (e.g., lecithin), which are important in cell structure and metabolism; WAXes of animal or plant origin; and sphingolipids, complex substances found in various tissues of the brain and nervous system. Since insolubility is the defining characteristic, cholesterol and related steroids, carotenoids (see carotene), prostaglandins, and various other compounds are also clas¬ sifiable as lipids.
lipid storage disease Any of a group of relatively rare hereditary disorders of fat metabolism in which enzyme defects cause distinctive types of lipids to accumulate. They include Tay-Sachs disease, Gaucher disease, Niemann-Pick disease, and Fabry disease. Several are unbeatable and cause death before age five; others occur in adulthood.
Lipizzaner or Lippizaner V.li-pot-'sa-noiA Breed of light horse named for the Austrian imperial stud at Lipizza, near Trieste, formerly part of Austria-Hungary. The founding of the breed, which has six strains, dates to 1580. Lipizzaners have a long back and a short, thick neck, average 15-16 hands (about 60-64 in., or 152-164 cm) in height and 1,000-1,300 lbs (450-585 kg) in weight, and are usually gray. Some are found in countries that were originally part of Austria-Hungary; a few have been exported to the U.S. The best known are those trained at Vienna’s Span¬ ish Riding School.
lipoprotein Ul-po-'pro-.tenV Any of a class of organic compounds that contain both lipid (fat) and protein. They may be soluble (those in egg yolk and blood plasma) or insoluble (those in cell membranes) in water and water solutions. Lipoproteins in blood plasma are the mode of transport for cholesterol, insoluble by itself. Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) carry
Carolus Linnaeus, detail of a portrait by Alexander Roslin, 1775; in the Svenska Portrattarkivet, Stockholm.
COURTESY OF THE SVENSKA PORTRATTARKIVET, STOCKHOLM
Male lion (Panthera leo).
R.I.M. CAMPBELL/BRUCE COLEMAN LTD.
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Lippe ► liquidity preference I 1121
cholesterol from the liver, where it is made, to the cells, where it is used; high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) may carry excess cholesterol back to the liver for breakdown and excretion. LDL-bound cholesterol is prima¬ rily responsible for deposits in arteries (see arteriosclerosis) that can lead to CORONARY HEART DISEASE, ANGINA PECTORIS, MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION, Or STROKE. HDL does not form such deposits and may actually retard or reduce their buildup.
Lippe \'li-pa\ Former German state. It lay between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser River, and its capital was Detmold. A lordship in medieval times, it became a county in the 16th century. Dynastic divisions in the early 17th century resulted in two counties, Lippe and Schaumburg-Lippe. In 1720 it was made a principality. A member of the German Confedera¬ tion in 1815, it became part of the German Empire in 1871 and of the Weimar Republic in 1918. In 1947 it was incorporated into North Rhine- Westphalia.
Lippe River River, western Germany. Rising on the western edge of the Teutoburg Forest, it follows a westerly course of 155 mi (250 km) and enters the Rhine River near Wesel. Once used for the transport of coal, tim¬ ber, and agricultural produce, it now supplies water to the Ruhr region canal system.
Lippi, Filippino (b. c. 1457, Prato, Republic of Florence—d. April 18, 1504, Florence) Italian painter. After the death of his father, Fra Filippo Lippi, when Filippino was 12, he entered the workshop of Sandro Botticelli and absorbed many aspects of his style. One of his most important assign¬ ments was the completion of the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in Flo¬ rence’s Santa Maria del Carmine (c. 1485-87), left unfinished when Masaccio died. His most popular painting is the Vision of St. Bernard altarpiece (c. 1480). His highly decorative frescoes in the Carafa Chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome (1488-93), and those in the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, Florence (completed 1502), anticipated Tuscan Mannerism of the 16th century.
Lippi, Fra Filippo (b. c. 1406, Florence—d. Oct. 8/10, 1469, Spoleto, Papal States) Italian painter. In 1421 he became a Carmelite monk at Santa Maria del Carmine in Flo¬ rence, where Masaccio was soon decorating the Brancacci Chapel with frescoes. Lippi himself painted frescoes in the church, much influ¬ enced by Masaccio’s, then disap¬ peared from the monastery in 1432.
In 1434 he was in Padua, but in 1437 he returned to Florence under the protection of the Medici family and was commissioned to execute sev¬ eral works for convents and churches. His Madonna and Child (1437) and Annunciation (c. 1442) show a maturing style characterized by warm colouring and attention to decorative effects. Later critics have recognized in Lippi a “narrative” spirit that reflected the life of his time and translated into everyday terms the ideals of the early Renais¬ sance. In 1456, while painting in a convent in Prato, he fled with one of the nuns, Lucrezia Buti. The couple was later released from their indi¬ vidual vows and permitted to marry, and from that union was born the illustrious Filippino Lippi. The former friar returned often to Prato, and his frescoes in the cathedral there stand among his finest achievements.
Lippmann, Walter (b. Sept. 23, 1889, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 14, 1974, New York) U.S. newspaper commentator and author. Educated at Harvard, he became an editor at the fledgling New Republic (1914-17). His thinking influenced Woodrow Wilson, and he took part in the nego¬ tiations that culminated in the Treaty of Versailles. After writing for and editing the reformist World, he moved to the New York Herald-Tribune, where he began his “Today and Tomorrow” column in 1931; eventually widely syndicated, it won two Pulitzer Prizes (1958, 1962), and Lippmann became one of the most respected political columnists in the world. His
books include A Preface to Politics (1913); Public Opinion (1922), per¬ haps his most influential work; The Phantom Public (1925); and The Good Society (1937).
Lipset, Seymour Martin (b. March 18, 1922, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. sociologist and political scientist. He received his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York and his Ph.D. from Columbia Uni¬ versity, where he later taught (1950-56). While teaching at the Univer¬ sity of California, Berkeley (1956-66), he also served as director of its Institute of International Studies (1962-66). Since then he has taught at Harvard University, Stanford University, and George Mason University. His many books about class structure, elite behaviour, and political par¬ ties have significantly shaped the study of comparative politics.
Lipton, Sir Thomas J(ohnstone) (b. May 10, 1850, Glasgow, Scot.—d. Oct. 2, 1931, London, Eng.) British merchant who built the Lipton tea empire. He opened a small grocery in Glasgow that grew into a chain of retail shops throughout Britain. To supply his shops cheaply, Lipton bought tea, coffee, and cocoa plantations in Ceylon as well as English fruit farms, jam factories, and bakeries. In 1898 his business was organized into Lipton, Ltd.; he was knighted the same year and made a baronet in 1902. A keen yachtsman, he raced his Shamrock yachts five times unsuccessfully for the America's Cup.
liquation Mi-'kwa-shonV Technique for separating constituents of an ore, metal, or alloy by partial melting. When the material is heated to a tem¬ perature where one of the constituents melts and the other remains solid, the liquid constituent can be drained off. It was formerly used for extract¬ ing antimony minerals from ore, separating silver from copper with the use of lead as a solvent, and refining tin.
liqueur \li-'kor\ Liquor produced by combining a base spirit, usually brandy, with flavourings and sugar syrup. Alcohol content ranges from 24% to 60% by volume, and flavourings include fruits, nuts, herbs, spices, and such ingredients as coffee and chocolate. Liqueurs were probably first produced commercially by medieval monks and alchemists. Sweet and containing ingredients that promote digestion, they are popular as after- dinner drinks and are also used in mixed drinks and dessert dishes. Vari¬ eties include apricot liqueur, creme de menthe (mint-flavoured), Curasao (with green orange peel, from Curasao), and proprietary brands such as Benedictine (an herb liqueur), Grand Marnier (an orange liqueur from France’s Cognac region), Irish Mist (flavoured with Irish whiskey and honey), and Kahlua (coffee-flavoured).
liquid One of the three principal states of matter, intermediate between a gas and a solid. A liquid has neither the orderliness of a solid nor the randomness of a gas. Liquids have the ability to flow under the action of very small shear STRESSes. Liquids in contact with their own vapour or air have a surface tension that causes the interface to assume the configura¬ tion of minimum area (i.e., spherical). Surfaces between liquids and sol¬ ids have interfacial tensions that determine whether the liquid will wet the other material. With the exception of liquid metals, molten salts, and solutions of salts, the electrical conductivities of liquids are small.
liquid crystal Substance that flows like a liquid but maintains some of the ordered structure characteristic of a crystal. Some organic substances do not melt directly when heated but instead turn from a crystalline solid to a liquid crystalline state. When heated further, a true liquid is formed. Liquid crystals have unique properties. The structures are easily affected by changes in mechanical stress, electromagnetic fields, temperature, and chemical environment. See also liquid crystal display.
liquid crystal display (LCD) Optoelectronic device used in displays for watches, calculators, notebook computers, and other electronic devices. Current passed through specific portions of the liquid crystal solu¬ tion causes the crystals to align, blocking the passage of light. Doing so in a controlled and organized manner produces visual images on the dis¬ play screen. The advantage of LCDs is that they are much lighter and consume less power than other display technologies (e.g., cathode-ray tubes). These characteristics make them an ideal choice for flat-panel dis¬ plays, as in portable laptop and notebook computers.
liquidity preference In economics, the premium that holders of wealth demand for exchanging ready money or bank deposits for safe, nonliquid assets such as government bonds. As first used by John May¬ nard Keynes, liquidity preference referred to the demand for money as an asset. He hypothesized that the amount of money held for this purpose would vary inversely with the rate of interest. Post-Keynesian analysis of
"The Madonna and Child with Two Angels/' by Fra Filippo Lippi, c. 1465; in the Uffizi, Florence
AUNARI—ART RESOURCE/EB INC.
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liquidity preference has identified other factors that influence the demand for money, including income levels and the yields of various forms of wealth.
liquor See distilled liquor
Liri River \'le-re\ River, central Italy. It rises near Cappadocia and flows south and southeast through the Apennines. Joined by other rivers, it turns southwest to empty into the Tyrrhenian Sea near Minturno. It is 98 mi (158 km) long. During World War II, the Liri valley was invaded by Allies as part of their advance on Rome.
Lisbon Portuguese Lisboa City (pop., 2001: 556,797), capital of Por¬ tugal. The country’s chief seaport and largest city, it lies on the Tagus River near the river’s entrance into the Atlantic Ocean. It was under Roman rule from 205 bc; Julius Caesar made it a municipium called Felicitas Julia. Ruled by a series of barbarian tribes from the 5th century, it was captured by Moors in the 8th century. The Crusaders under Afonso I gained con¬ trol of it in 1147, and it became the national capital in 1256. It flourished as a leading European trading city in the 14th-16th centuries. One of the greatest earthquakes ever recorded struck Lisbon in 1755, killing 30,000. Urban renewal following the earthquake was unrivaled in scope. Lisbon hosted the World’s Fair (Expo ’98). It is a major commercial, adminis¬ trative, educational, and manufacturing centre. It was the birthplace of Luis Camoes.
tions was successful. By the time of his retirement in 1893, he had seen his principle accepted almost univer¬ sally. He is regarded as the founder of antiseptic medicine.
Lister, Samuel Cunliffe, Baron Masham (of Swinton)
(b. Jan. 1, 1815, Calverley Hall, near Bradford, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Feb. 2, 1906, Swinton Park, Yorkshire) British inventor. His wool-combing machine (1845) helped lower the price of clothing and contributed greatly to the development of Aus¬ tralian sheep farming. Another invention (c. 1865) permitted the use of silk waste to make goods that could compete with those manufac¬ tured from the perfect cocoon and that could be sold at many times the cost of production. His velvet loom for making pile fabrics (c. 1878) was another important innovation.
Lisburn Town (pop., 1991: 42,110), seat of Lisburn district (pop., 2001: 108,694), Northern Ireland. Located on the River Lagan southwest of Bel¬ fast, it was a small village known as Lisnagarvey before English, Scots, and Welsh settled there in the 1620s as part of the Plantation of Ulster scheme. It later attracted French linen workers who introduced Dutch looms and reorganized the Ulster linen industry; the town is still an impor¬ tant linen-manufacturing centre. The district was created in 1973.
LISP Vlisp\ Powerful computer programming language designed for manipulating lists of data or symbols rather than processing numerical data, used extensively in artificial-intelligence applications. It was devel¬ oped in the late 1950s and early 1960s by a group headed by Jofin McCar¬ thy at MIT. Its name derives from “list processor.” Radically different from such other programming languages as ALGOL, C, C++, FORTRAN, and Pascal, it requires large memory space and is slow in executing programs.
Lissitzky, El or El Lisitsky orig. Lazar Markovich Lisitskii (b.
Nov. 10, 1890, Pochinok, near Smolensk, Russia—d. Dec. 30, 1941, Mos¬ cow) Russian painter, typographer, and designer. As a teacher at Marc Chagall’s revolutionary art school in Vitebsk, he met Kazimir Malevich, whose influence is seen in a series of abstract paintings that were Lissitz¬ ky’s major contribution to Constructivism. In 1922, after the Soviet gov¬ ernment turned against modern art, he went to Germany. There Theo van Doesburg and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy transmitted his ideas to the West through their teaching at the Bauhaus. In 1925 he returned to Russia and devoted himself to devising new techniques of printing, photomontage, and architecture.
List, (Georg) Friedrich (b. Aug. 6, 1789, Reutlingen, Wiirttemberg, Ger.—d. Nov. 30, 1846, Kufstein, Austria) German-born U.S. economist. He first gained prominence as the founder of an association of German industrialists that favoured abolishing tariff barriers between the German states. Exiled in 1825 for his liberal views, he went to the U.S. In his Out¬ lines of American Political Economy (1827) he maintained that a national economy in an early stage of industrialization required tariff protection to stimulate development. After becoming a U.S. citizen, he returned to Ger¬ many as U.S. consul at Baden (1831—34) and Leipzig (1834-37). His best- known work was The National System of Political Economy (1841). Financial and other difficulties eventually drove him to suicide.
Lister, Joseph later Baron Lister (of Lyme Regis) (b. April 5, 1827, Upton, Essex, Eng.—d. Feb. 10, 1912, Walmer, Kent) British sur¬ geon and medical scientist. He received a medical degree from Oxford in 1852 and became an assistant to James Syme, the greatest surgical teacher of the day. In 1861 he was appointed surgeon to the Glasgow Royal Infir¬ mary, where he observed that 45-50% of amputation patients died from sepsis (infection). Initially he theorized that airborne dust might cause sepsis, but in 1865 he learned of Louis Pasteur’s theory that microorgan¬ isms cause infection. Using phenol as an antiseptic, Lister reduced mor¬ tality in his ward to 15% within four years. Most surgeons were unconvinced until a widely publicized operation under antiseptic condi¬
Liszt \'list\, Franz Hungarian Ferenc Liszt (b. Oct. 22, 1811, Raid¬ ing, Hung.—d. July 31, 1886,
Bayreuth, Ger.) Hungarian composer and pianist. Encouraged by his father, who was a talented amateur musician, Liszt developed an early interest in music and began compos¬ ing at age eight. He studied piano with Karl Czerny and composition with Antonio Salieri in Vienna, mak¬ ing his debut there in 1822. After a Paris success in 1823, he toured Europe, but his father’s early death (1828) and a disastrous love affair led to a desire to give up music for the priesthood. Hearing violinist Nic- colo Paganini perform in 1831, Liszt was inspired to develop his own technique to the utmost and to com¬ pose his first mature pieces, includ¬ ing the Transcendental Etudes (1837) and Paganini Etudes (1839). An affair with Countess Marie d’Agoult resulted in the birth of his daughter, Cosima (1837-1930), who would marry his friend, the composer Richard Wagner. Liszt’s brilliance and success were at their peak during the 1840s, when he toured Europe as a virtuoso, earning great adulation for his panache and his astounding technique. He ceased concertizing in the late 1840s to devote himself to composition and furthering the work of progressive composers. In the 1850s he wrote many of his most ambi¬ tious works, including A Faust Symphony (1854) and the Piano Sonata in B Minor ( 1853). In 1865 he took minor Roman Catholic church orders, though he never became a priest. His later output is remarkable in antici¬ pating many 20th-century developments; for instance, his development of chromatic harmony influenced atonal music.
Litani \li-'ta-ne\ River River, southern Lebanon. Rising west of Baal¬ bek, it flows southwest between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains to enter the Mediterranean Sea south of Sidon. Its lower course is known as Qasimiyyah. Although only 90 mi (145 km) long, the river irrigates one of Lebanon’s most extensive farming regions, the Biqa' Valley.
litchi or lichee or lychee \Te-che, 'li-che\ Fruit of the tree Litchi chin- ensis (family Sapindaceae), believed to be native to southern China and adjacent regions but now also cultivated elsewhere. It has been a favour¬ ite fruit of the Cantonese since ancient times and is a popular dessert in U.S. Chinese restaurants. The fresh pulp tastes musky; when dried, it is acidic and very sweet. The handsome tree develops a compact crown of foliage, with compound leaves that are bright green year-round. Clusters of small, inconspicuous flowers form small, oval red fruits.
literacy Ability to read and write. The term may also refer to familiar¬ ity with literature and to a basic level of education obtained through the
Franz Liszt, lithograph by Joseph Krie- huber, 1846.
COURTESY OF THE MUSEO TEATRALE ALIA SCALA, MILAN
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literary criticism ► Lithuania I 1123
written word. In ancient civilizations such as those of the Sumerians and Babylonians, literacy was the province of an elite group of scholars and priests. Though more prevalent in classical Greece and Rome, it was often limited to members of the upper classes. The spread of literacy in Europe in the Middle Ages was evidenced by the use of writing for functions once conducted orally, such as the indenture of servants and the notation of evidence at trials. The rise of literacy in Europe was closely tied to great social transformations, notably the Protestant Reformation, which brought individual study of the Bible, and the development of modern science. The spread of literacy during the Reformation and the Renais¬ sance was greatly facilitated by the development of printing from movable type and by the adoption of vernacular languages in place of Latin. Com¬ pulsory schooling, established in Britain, Europe, and the U.S. in the 19th century, has led to high rates of literacy in the modern industrialized world.
literary criticism Discipline concerned with philosophical, descrip¬ tive, and evaluative inquiries about literature, including what literature is, what it does, and what it is worth. The Western critical tradition began with Plato’s Republic (4th century bc). A generation later, Aristotle, in his Poetics, developed a set of principles of composition that had a lasting influence. European criticism since the Renaissance has primarily focused on the moral worth of literature and the nature of its relationship to real¬ ity. At the end of the 16th century, Sir Philip Sidney argued that it is the special property of literature to offer an imagined world that is in some respects superior to the real one. A century later John Dryden proposed the less idealistic view that literature must primarily offer an accurate rep¬ resentation of the world for “the delight and instruction of mankind,” an assumption that underlies the great critical works of Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson. A departure from these ideas appeared in the criticism of the Romantic period, epitomized by William Wordsworth’s assertion that the object of poetry is “truth...carried alive into the heart by pas¬ sion.” The later 19th century saw two divergent developments: an aes¬ thetic theory of “art for art’s sake,” and the view (expressed by Matthew Arnold) that literature must assume the moral and philosophical functions previously filled by religion. The volume of literary criticism increased greatly in the 20th century, and its later years saw a radical reappraisal of traditional critical modes and the development of a multiplicity of criti¬ cal factions (see deconstruction; poststructuralism; structuralism).
literati Scholars in China and Japan whose poetry, calligraphy, and paintings were supposed primarily to reveal their cultivation and express their personal feelings rather than demonstrate professional skill. The concept of literati painters was first formulated in China in the Northern Song dynasty but was enduringly codified in the Ming dynasty by Dong Qichang. In the 18th—19th century, literati painting became popular with the Japanese, who exaggerated elements of Chinese composition and brushwork. See also Ike no Taiga.
lifrhification Complex process whereby loose grains of sediment are converted into rock. Lithification may occur at the time a sediment is deposited or later. Cementation is one of the main processes involved, par¬ ticularly for sandstones and conglomerates. In addition, reactions take place within a sediment between various minerals and between minerals and the fluids trapped in the pores; these reactions may form new min¬ erals or add to others already present in the sediment.
lithium Chemical element, lightest alkali metal, chemical symbol Li, atomic number 3. It is soft, white, lustrous, and very reactive, forming compounds in which it has valence 1. The metal is used in certain alloys, as a coolant in nuclear reactors, and (because of its reactivity) as a reagent, scavenger, and rocket fuel. Lithium hydride is used as a source of hydro¬ gen; lithium hydroxide is used as an additive in storage batteries and to absorb carbon dioxide. Halides (see halogen) of lithium are used as mois¬ ture absorbents, and lithium soaps are used as thickeners in lubricating greases. Lithium carbonate is an important drug for treating depression and BIPOLAR DISORDER.
litho-offset See offset printing
lithography \li-'tha-gr3-fe\ Printing process that makes use of the immiscibility of grease and water. Aloys Senefelder of Prague (1771— 1834) exploited the properties of a stone with a calcium carbonate base and a fine, porous surface, and perfected his printing process in 1798. In Senefelder’s process, the stone, with a design drawn on it with crayon or greasy ink, was wetted with water; after various etching and protecting steps, it was brushed with oily ink; it retained the ink only on the design.
This inked surface was then printed—either directly on paper, by a spe¬ cial press (as in most fine-art printmaking), or onto a rubber cylinder and thence onto paper (as in commercial printing). The method of preparing stones for hand printing, still the lithographic method preferred by artists, has hardly changed. Commercial lithographic printing on a modern rotary OFFSET printing press can produce high-quality, finely detailed impressions at high speed, reproducing any material that can be photographed in the platemaking process. It now accounts for more than 40% of all printing, packaging, and publishing, more than twice the percentage produced by any other single printing process.
lithosphere Rigid, rocky outer layer of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the solid outermost layer of the upper mantle. It extends to a depth of about 60 mi (100 km). It is broken into about a dozen separate, rigid blocks, or plates (see plate tectonics). Slow convection currents deep within the mantle, generated by radioactive heating of the interior, are believed to cause the lateral movements of the plates (and the continents that rest on top of them) at a rate of several inches per year.
Lithuania officially Republic of Lithuania Country, northeastern Europe. Area: 25,212 sq mi (65,300 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 3,413,000. Capital: Vilnius. Lithuanians make up about four-fifths of the
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population; there are smaller numbers of Russians, Poles, and Belarusians. Lan¬ guages: Lithuanian (official), Russian, Pol¬ ish, Belarusian. Religion: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic; also Eastern Orthodox). Currency: litas. The country consists of low-lying plains alternating with hilly uplands, watered by rivers that meander west¬ ward to the Baltic Sea. Manufacturing, including metalworking, wood¬ working, and textile production, is especially important in the east and south. Agriculture focuses on livestock breeding, especially dairy farm¬ ing and pigs, and the cultivation of cereals, flax, sugar beets, potatoes, and fodder crops. Lithuania is a multiparty republic with one legislative house; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. Lithuanian tribes united in the mid-13th century to oppose the Teutonic Knights. Gediminas, one of the grand dukes, expanded Lithuania into an empire that dominated much of eastern Europe in the 14th—16th centuries. In 1386 the Lithuanian grand duke became the king of Poland, and the two countries remained closely associated for the next 400 years. Lithuania was acquired by Russia in the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 and joined in the Polish revolt in 1863. Occupied by Ger¬ many during World War I, it declared its independence in 1918. In 1940 the Soviet Red Army gained control of Lithuania, which was soon incor¬ porated into the Soviet Union. Germany occupied Lithuania again from 1941, but the Red Army regained control in 1944. With the breakup of
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1124 I Lithuanian language ► Liturgical movement
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the U.S.S.R., Lithuania declared its independence in 1990 and gained full independence in 1991. In the 1990s and early 21st century it sought eco¬ nomic stability, and in 2004 it became a member of the European Union.
Lithuanian language East Baltic language spoken by more than four million people in the Republic of Lithuania and in diaspora communities, with perhaps 70,000 speakers in North America. Lithuanian is sparsely attested until 1547, when the first book in the language was printed. Efforts to develop a standard language in the late 19th century were dominated by speakers of the West High dialect spoken in German-ruled East Prussia. Among them was Jonas Jablonskis (1860-1930), whose orthography (based on the Latin alphabet with numerous diacritics) and grammar (1901) won official acceptance when Lithuania became independent. Lithuanian is renowned for its archaism among living Indo-European languages.
litmus \Tit-mos\ Mixture of coloured organic compounds obtained from several species of lichens. In the form of a water solution or as litmus paper, it is the oldest and most-used indicator of whether a substance is an acid or a base. It turns red or pink in acid solutions and blue or purple- blue in alkaline solutions.
Little Armenia or Lesser Armenia Ancient kingdom, southeastern coast of Anatolia. After initial struggles with the Byzantine Empire, it was established in Cilicia by the Armenian Rubenid dynasty in the 12th cen¬ tury and developed contacts with the West. It was influenced by cultural contacts with Crusaders and with Venetian and Genoese merchants. It was conquered by the Muslim Mamluk dynasty in 1375.
Little Bighorn, Battle of the or Custer's Last Stand (June 25, 1876) Battle at the Little Bighorn River, Montana Territory, U.S., between federal troops led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and a band of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. The U.S. government had ordered the north¬ ern Plains tribes to return to designated reservations and had sent troops under Gen. Alfred H. Terry to enforce the order. Terry hoped to surround an Indian encampment at the mouth of the Little Bighorn, but a party of some 200 soldiers led by Custer launched an early attack and was slaugh¬ tered. Government troops subsequently flooded into the area and forced the Indians to surrender.
Little Entente \an-'tant\ Mutual defense arrangement formed in 1920-21 between Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania, with French support. It was directed against German and Hungarian domination in the Danube River basin and toward protection of its members’ territorial integrity. It was successful in the 1920s, but after Adolf Hitler’s rise to power (1933) its members adopted increasingly independent foreign poli¬ cies. The entente collapsed after Germany annexed the Czech Sudeten- land (1938).
Little League International baseball organization for children and youth, started in 1939 in Williamsport, Pa., by Carl E. Stotz and brothers Bert and George Bebble. The league originally included boys aged 8-12; girls were admitted in 1974. It now includes two upper divisions for youths aged 13-15 and 16-18. In the junior division the game is played on a field two-thirds the size of a professional baseball diamond. A sea¬ son comprises about 15 games. The organization expanded rapidly after World War II; by the 1990s there were about 2.5 million players in some 30 countries. The Little League World Series is held in Williamsport each year in August.
little magazine Any of various small, usually avant-garde periodicals devoted to serious literary writings. The name signifies most of all a usu¬ ally noncommercial manner of editing, managing, and financing. They were published from c. 1880 through much of the 20th century and flour¬ ished in the U.S. and England, though French and German writers also benefited from them. Foremost among them were two U.S. periodicals, Poetry and the more erratic and often more sensational Little Review (1914-29); the English Egoist (1914-19) and Blast (1914-15); and the French transition (1927-38).
Little Missouri River River, northwestern U.S. It rises in northeast¬ ern Wyoming and flows northeast across the southeastern comer of Mon¬ tana and the northwestern comer of South Dakota. It continues north into North Dakota, turning east to empty into the Missouri River after a course of 560 mi (900 km). The Theodore Roosevelt National Park lies along its shores in North Dakota.
Little Richard orig. Richard Wayne Penniman (b. Dec. 5, 1932, Macon, Ga., U.S.) U.S. rhythm and blues singer and pianist. Born into a
strict religious family, he sang and played piano in church but was later ejected from his home by his father, reportedly for homosexual behav¬ iour. He performed in nightclubs, traveled with a medicine show, and recorded as a blues artist from the early 1950s. His first big hit came with “Tutti Frutti” (1956), an energetic performance that, with his penchant for the outrageous, set a standard for the emerging rock idiom. Similar hits followed, including “Long Tall Sally,” “Lucille,” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly.” In 1957 he underwent a religious conversion and was later ordained a minister. He soon returned to music, becoming a regular attrac¬ tion in Las Vegas, and he continued to tour and appeal - in films with much success. He was an original inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Little Rock City (pop., 2000: 183,133), capital of Arkansas, U.S., located on the Arkansas River. In 1722 Bernard de la Harpe, a French explorer, named the site La Petite Roche for a rock formation on the riverbank. It became the capital of Arkansas in 1821. It was strongly anti- Union at the outbreak of the American Civil War; Federal troops occupied the city in 1863. It grew as the commercial centre of a farming region and as a hub of railway and river transportation. In 1957 federal troops were sent there to prevent state authorities from interfering with desegregation at Central High School. The state’s largest city, it has many institutions of higher learning, including the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
(1927).
Little St. Bernard Pass Mountain pass, Savoy Alps. Situated south¬ west of the Italian border in southeastern France, it connects Bourg-St.- Maurice, France, with La Thuile, Italy. Hannibal probably led the Carthaginian army over the pass on his way toward Rome in 218 bc. It was the principal route across the Alps into Gallia Comata, a province of Gaul, until Montgenevre Pass was opened in 77 bc. Beside the pass is a hospice founded in the 11th century by St. Bernard of Menthon.
little theatre Movement in U.S. theatre to free dramatic forms and methods of production from the limitations of the large commercial the¬ atres by establishing small experimental centres of drama. Young drama¬ tists, stage designers, and actors influenced by the vital European theatre of the late 19th century, especially by the theories of Max Reinhardt, estab¬ lished community playhouses such as the Little Theatre, New York City (1912), the Little Theatre, Chicago (1912), and the Toy Theatre, Boston (1912). A few became important commercial producers; the Washington Square Players (1915), for example, later became the Theatre Guild (1918). Playwrights such as Eugene O'Neill, George S. Kaufman, and Max¬ well Anderson found their early opportunities in the little theatres.
Little Turtle (b. c. 1752, near Fort Wayne, Ind.—d. July 14, 1812, Fort Wayne, Ind., U.S.) American Indian leader. Chief of the Miami tribe, he led raids on settlements in the Northwest Territory in the early 1790s. Defeated by Gen. Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), he was obliged to sign the Treaty of Greenville (1795), which ceded to the U.S. much of Ohio and parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. He then advocated peace and prevented the Miami from joining the Shaw¬ nee confederacy of Tecumseh.
Littleton, Sir Thomas (b. 1422, probably at Frankley, Worcestershire, Eng.—d. Aug. 23, 1481, Frankley) British jurist. In a turbulent period he held several high offices, including judge of the Court of Common Pleas (from 1466). His Littleton on Tenures (1481 or 1482) was the earliest treatise on English law ever printed. It long remained the principal author¬ ity on English real property law.
liturgical drama Play acted in or near the church in the Middle Ages. The form probably dated from the 10th century, when the “Quern quaeri- tis” (“Whom do you seek”) section of the Easter mass was performed as a small scene in the service. The plays gradually increased in length, with themes derived from biblical stories (particularly those of Easter and Christmas), and they flourished in the 12th—13th centuries. Their Latin dialogue was frequently chanted to simple melodies. They continued to be written into the 16th century, but the connection with the church even¬ tually ended as the plays came under secular sponsorship and were acted in the vernacular. See also miracle play; morality play; mystery play.
Liturgical movement 19th- and 20th-century effort to encourage the active participation of the laity in the liturgy of the Christian churches by creating simpler rites more attuned to early Christian traditions and more relevant to modern life. The movement began in the Roman Catholic church in the mid-19th century and spread to other Christian churches in Europe and the U.S. The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) called for
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Litvinov ► Livingston I 1125
translation of Latin liturgies into the vernaculars of individual countries and the reform of all sacramental rites. The Lutheran Church revised the Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978, and the Episcopal Church adopted a revised Book of Common Prayer in 1979.
Litvinov \lyit-'ve-nof\, Maksim (Maksimovich) orig. Meir Walach (b. July 17, 1876, Bialystok, Pol.—d. Dec. 31, 1951, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet diplomat and commissar of foreign affairs (1930-39). He joined the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party (1898), was arrested for revolutionary activity (1901), and fled to Britain. In 1917-18 he represented the Soviet government in London, then returned to Russia, where he joined the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and led Soviet delegations to disarmament conferences. As commissar for foreign affairs, he established diplomatic relations with the U.S. (1934), negotiated anti-German treaties with France and Czechoslovakia (1935), and urged the League of Nations to resist Germany (1934-38). He was dismissed before the signing of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (1939). He served as ambassador to the U.S. (1941-43).
Liu Bang See Gaozu
Liu Shaoqi Ue-'ii-'shau-'cheN or Liu Shao-ch'i (b. Nov. 24, 1898, Ningxiang district, Hunan province, China—d. Nov. 12, 1969, Kaifeng, Henan province) Chairman of the People’s Republic of China (1959-68) and chief theoretician of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). An activist communist background from the 1920s helped Liu’s rise within the CCP in the 1930s and ’40s, while his excellent education and studies in the Soviet Union made him an effective spokesman for the new government in China. When Mao resigned as chairman after the failure of his Great Leap Forward, Liu assumed the title. His policies for revitalizing agricul¬ ture by permitting peasants to cultivate private plots and giving them monetary incentives were ones to which Mao later strongly objected. In
1968 Liu was purged from power for being a “capitalist roader” and Lin Biao was appointed Mao’s successor. Not until 1974 was Liu’s death in
1969 made public.
Liu Songnian or Liu Sung-nien (b. 1174—d. 1224, Qiantang, Zhe¬ jiang province, China) Chinese figure and landscape painter. Liu entered the Southern Song Painting Academy as a student in the Chunxi period (1174-89) and went on to become a daizhao (“painter-in-attendance”) in the Shaoxi period (1190-94). During the reign of the emperor Ningzong (1195-1224) he was awarded the prestigious Golden Belt. Liu followed the tradition of Li Tang. Typically his works featured relatively large fig¬ ures executed in a detailed manner and placed close to the spectator in the picture plane. The facial expressions of his figures are vivid, and the patterns in which their clothing drapes are very intricate. His most impor¬ tant landscape paintings depict a human in harmony with nature. Liu paved the way for an academic style that would be further developed by his contemporaries Ma Yuan and Xia Gui.
live oak Any of several North American ornamental and timber trees in the red-oak group of the genus Quercus in the beech family. The south¬ ern live oak ( Q. virginiana ) is a massive (50 ft, or 15 m, tall), durable evergreen tree. The trunk divides near the ground into several limbs that extend horizontally as much as two to three times the height of the tree. The elliptical leaves are dark green and glossy above, whitish and hairy below. A valuable timber tree, the southern live oak is also planted as a shade and avenue tree in the southern U.S. The oldest trees are 200-300 years old.
liver Largest gland in the body, with several lobes. It secretes bile; metabolizes proteins, carbohydrates, and fats; stores glycogen, vitamins, and other substances; synthesizes coagulation factors; removes wastes and toxic matter from the blood; regulates blood volume; and destroys old red blood cells. The portal vein carries blood from the gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder, pancreas, and spleen to the liver to be processed. A duct sys¬ tem carries bile from the liver to the duodenum and the gallbladder. Liver tissue consists of a mass of cells tunneled with bile ducts and blood ves¬ sels. About 60% are hepatic cells, which have more metabolic functions than any other cells. A second type, Kupffer cells, play a role in blood¬ cell formation, antibody production, and ingestion of foreign particles and cell debris. The liver manufactures plasma proteins, including albumin and clotting factors, and synthesizes enzymes that modify substances such as nutrients and toxins, filtered from the blood. Liver disorders include jaun¬ dice, hepatitis, cirrhosis, tumours, vascular obstruction, abscess, and
GLYCOGEN-STORAGE DISEASES.
Liverpool City (pop., 2001:439,476), northwestern England, on the estu¬ ary of the River Mersey. It forms the nucleus of the metropolitan county of Merseyside in the historic county of Lancashire. King John granted its char¬ ter in 1207. Its growth was slow until the 18th century, when it expanded rapidly as a result of trade with the Americas and the West Indies, becoming Britain’s most important port after London. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (opened 1830) was the first in England to link two major cities. Heavily damaged in World War II, it declined in importance as a port and an industrial centre in the postwar era. The birthplace of the Beatles, it is also the seat of the University of Liverpool (1903).
Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd earl of (b. June 7, 1770, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 4, 1828, Fife House, Whitehall, London) British prime minister (1812-27). He entered the House of Commons in 1790 and became a leading Tory, serving as foreign secretary (1801-04), home secretary (1804-06, 1807-09), and secretary for war and the colo¬ nies (1809-12). The War of 1812 with the U.S. and the final campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars were fought during his premiership. He urged abolition of the slave trade at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15). Although sometimes overshadowed by his colleagues and by the duke of Welling¬ ton’s military prowess, he conducted a sound administration.
liverwort Any of more than 8,000 species of small, nonvascular, spore- producing land plants that make up the class Hepatopsida (or Hepaticae) of bryophytes, found worldwide but mostly in the tropics. Thallose liver¬ worts commonly grow on moist soil or damp rocks; leafy liverworts are found in similar habitats and on tree trunks in damp woods. Sexual (game- tophyte) and asexual (sporophyte) generations alternate in the life cycle (see alternation of generations). The thallus of thallose liverworts, resembling a lobed liver, gives liverworts their name. Though not economically important to humans, liverworts provide food for animals, facilitate the decay of logs, and aid in the disintegration of rocks by their ability to retain moisture.
livestock Farm animals, with the exception of poultry. In Western coun¬ tries the category encompasses primarily cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, donkeys, and mules; other animals (e.g., buffalo, oxen, or camels) may pre¬ dominate in other areas. See also ass, cow, dairy farming.
Living Theatre, The Theatrical avant-garde repertory company. It was formed in New York City in 1947 by Julian Beck (1925-85) and Judith Malina (b. 1926) to produce experimental plays, often on radical themes. Its first big success was Jack Gelber’s The Connection (1959), a drama of drug addiction. After problems with U.S. tax authorities, the company was relocated to Europe (1964-68). It returned to New York City to present the confrontational Paradise Now (1968), a production intended to spark revolution. In the 1970s the group presented a cycle of plays in public spaces and nontraditional venues (Pittsburgh steel mills, Brazilian prisons, the streets of Palermo, Italy) under the collective title The Legacy of Cain. Thereafter the company performed again in theatres, continuing to examine new dramatic techniques. After 1999 The Living Theatre divided its time between headquarters in Italy and New York City.
living will Document specifying medical measures to be taken or withheld in the event the writer is disabled. Advances in medical tech¬ nology now allow the body to be kept alive in circumstances that would normally result in death (e.g., inability to eat, breathe, or maintain the heartbeat), but many people do not want to be kept alive if there is no chance of recovery. Because it is impossible to express one’s wishes when in a vegetative state, a living will allows them to be stated in advance. Such a document usually specifies conditions under which a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order is to take effect and authorizes another person to make decisions on the patient’s behalf.
Livingston, Robert R. (b. Nov.
27, 1746, New York, N.Y.—d. Feb.
26, 1813, Clermont, N.Y.) U.S. law-
Robert R. Livingston, portrait by Charles Willson Peale, c. 1782; in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia
COURTESY OF THE INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK COLLECTION, PHILADELPHIA
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1126 I Livingston ► Lloyd
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yer and diplomat. He served in the Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. As New York state’s first chancellor (1777-1801), he administered the oath of office to Pres. George Wash¬ ington (1789). From 1781 to 1783 he was U.S. secretary of foreign affairs. As minister to France from 1801 to 1804, he helped effect the Louisiana Purchase. In partnership with Robert Fulton, he later received a steamboat monopoly for New York waters; the first vessel to operate on the Hudson River (1807) was named the Clermont, after his ancestral home.
Livingston, William (b. Nov. 30, 1723, Albany, N.Y.—d. July 25, 1790, Elizabeth, N.J.) American politician. He served in the New York legislature (1759-60), wrote political pamphlets and newspaper articles, and helped prepare a digest of New York laws for the period 1691 to 1756. He moved to New Jersey in 1772 and represented the colony in the Con¬ tinental Congress (1774-76). As New Jersey’s first governor (1776-90), he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and led his state to an early ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Livingstone, David (b. March 19, 1813, Lanarkshire, Scot.—d. May 1, 1873, Chitambo, Barotseland)
Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa. Of working-class origins,
Livingstone studied theology and medicine in Glasgow before being ordained (1840) and deciding to work in Africa to open up the inte¬ rior for colonization, extend the Gos¬ pel, and abolish the slave trade. By 1842 he had already penetrated far¬ ther north of the Cape Colony fron¬ tier than any other white man. He was the first European to reach Lake Ngami (1849) and the first to reach Luanda from the interior (1854). He encountered and named Victoria Falls (1855), journeyed across the conti¬ nent to eastern Mozambique (1856,
1862), explored the Lake Malawi region (1861-63), came across Lakes Mweru and Bangweulu (1867), and penetrated to points farther east of Lake Tanganyika than any previ¬ ous expedition had managed (1871). His attempt to find the source of the Nile (1867-71) failed. When he was found by Henry Morton Stanley in 1871, his health was failing; he refused to leave, and in 1873 he was found dead by African aides. Livingstone produced a complex body of knowledge—geographic, technical, medical, and social—that took decades to mine. In his lifetime he stirred the imagination of English- speaking peoples everywhere and was celebrated as one of the great fig¬ ures of British civilization.
Livonia Region, eastern coast of Baltic Sea, north of Lithuania. Origi¬ nally inhabited by the Livs, a Finno-Ugric people, it eventually expanded to include nearly all of modem Latvia and Estonia. In the 13th century it was conquered and Christianized by the Order of the Brothers of the Sword and organized into the Livonian confederation. A Russian invasion set off the Livonian War (1558-82), in which Russia, Poland, and Swe¬ den seized portions of it. Sweden eventually gained control of most of it but ceded the region to Russia in 1721. In 1918 the northern portion became part of independent Estonia and the southern portion joined inde¬ pendent Latvia.
Livorno English Leghorn City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 148,143), Tuscany region, central Italy, on the Ligurian Sea. Originally a fishing village, it came under Florentine rule in 1421. Cosimo I began construction of the Medici Harbour in the 16th century, and under Ferdinand I of Tuscany (1549-1609) the city became a haven for refugees. In the 18th century Leopold II enlarged the harbour and gave privileges to foreign merchants. Livorno became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860. One of Italy’s larg¬ est ports, it has extensive commercial activities and a large shipbuilding yard. Historic sites include a cathedral and a 16th-century fort.
Livy \Ti-ve\ orig. Titus Livius (b. 59/64 bc, Patavium, Venetia—d. ad 17, Patavium) Roman historian. Little is known of his life, most of which must have been spent in Rome. His lifework was a history of the city, written in 142 books; Books 11-20 and 46-142 have been lost, and those
after Book 45 are known only from fragments and later summaries. Unlike earlier Roman historians, Livy played no part in politics, and as a result he presented history not as partisan politics but in terms of character and morality. The Latin prose style he developed suited his subject matter. His history, a classic in his lifetime, profoundly influenced the style and phi¬ losophy of historical writing down to the 18th century.
lizard Any of about 3,000 species of reptiles constituting the suborder Sauria. They are most diverse and abundant in the tropics but are found from the Arctic Circle (one species) to southern Africa, South America, and Australia. Like snakes, lizards have scales, paired male copulatory organs, and a flexible skull. Typical lizards have a moderately cylindrical body, four well-developed legs (although some lizards are legless), a tail slightly longer than the head and body combined, and movable lower eyelids. They range in size from 1-in. (3-cm) geckos to the 10-ft (3-m) Komodo dragon, but most are about 12 in. (30 cm) long. Ornamentation includes crests on the head, back, or tail; spines; brightly coloured throat fans; and throat frills. Most species feed on insects and rodents, but some, such as the iguana, eat plants. See also Gila monster; horned toad.
Ljubljana Me-.u-ble-'a-noV City (pop., 2002 prelim.: 257,338), capital of Slovenia. Located on the Ljubljanica River, it is surrounded by the north¬ ern Dinaric Alps. The site of the Roman city of Emona in the 1st century bc, it was destroyed in the 5th century ad and rebuilt by the Slavs as Luvi- gana. It passed to Carniola in the 12th century and came under Habsburg rule in 1277. Taken by the French in 1809, it was the administrative seat of the Illyrian Provinces until 1813 and the capital of the kingdom of Illyria from 1816 to 1849. It was the centre of Slovene nationalism under Aus¬ trian rule, and in 1918 it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). It remained the Slovene capital after Slo¬ venia’s independence in 1992. A railroad and commercial centre, it is the site of the University of Ljubljana (founded 1595).
llama \'la-mo\ Domesticated South American lamoid (see alpaca), main¬ tained in herds in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. The llama {Lama glama) is used primarily as a pack animal but also as a source of food, wool, hides, tallow for candles, and dried dung for fuel. A 250-lb (113-kg) llama can carry a load of 100-130 lb (45-60 kg) and travel 15-20 mi (25-30 km) a day. It can subsist on little water and a wide variety of plant materials. Though usually white, it may be solid black or brown, or white with black or brown markings. It is usually gentle, but when over¬ loaded or mistreated it will lie down, hiss, spit and kick, and refuse to move. Not known to exist in the wild state, it appears to have been bred from guanacos during or before the Inca civilization.
Llandrindod Uilan-'drin-.dadX Wells Town (pop., 1991: 4,362), administrative centre of Powys county, historic county of Radnorshire, eastern Wales. Its medicinal waters were first discovered c. 1696, and in the 19th century it became a popular spa. The spa declined after World War II and closed in the 1960s but reopened in 1983. To the northwest lie the remains of a Roman fort.
Llano Estacado Vla-no-.es-to-'ka-doX or Staked Plain Plateau, southeastern New Mexico and western Texas, U.S. Occupying an area of about 30,000 sq mi (78,000 sq km), it is a semiarid plain with occasional pools of rainwater. Its soil supports grazing, dryland farming of grains, and irrigated cotton production. Production of petroleum and natural gas is also important. Lubbock and Amarillo, Texas, are its most important cit¬ ies.
Llanquihue \laq-'ke-w9. Lake Lake, south-central Chile. The coun¬ try’s largest lake, it has an area of about 330 sq mi (860 sq km); it is 22 mi (35 km) long and 25 mi (40 km) wide. In the distance stand volca¬ noes and beyond them, on the Argentine border, Mount Tronador (11,660 ft [3,554 m]). Popular resort towns are located on its shores.
Llosa, Mario Vargas See Mario Vargas Llosa
Lloyd, Chris Evert See Chris Evert
Lloyd, Harold (b. April 20, 1893, Burchard, Neb., U.S.—d. March 8, 1971, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. film comedian. He began to appear in one- reel comedies in 1913 and mastered the comic chase scene as a member of Mack Sennett’s troupe. He joined Hal Roach’s company and created his Lonesome Luke character in popular movies such as Just Nuts (1915). He developed his trademark white-faced character wearing round glasses in 1918. Noted for his use of physical danger as a source of laughter, he performed his own daring stunts, hanging from the hands of a clock far
David Livingstone, oil painting by F. Havill after photographs; in the National Portrait Gallery, London
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Lloyd George of Dwyfor ► Lobengulo I 1127
above the street in Safety Last (1923) and standing in for a football tackling-dummy in The Freshman (1925). He was the highest paid star of the 1920s. He received a special Academy Award in 1952.
Lloyd George of Dwyfor, David Lloyd George, Earl (b. Jan. 17, 1863, Manchester, Eng.—-d. March 26, 1945, Ty-newydd, near Llanystumdwy, Caernarvonshire, Wales) British prime minister (1916— 22). He entered Parliament in 1890 as a Liberal and retained his seat for 55 years. He served as president of the Board of Trade (1905-08), then as chancellor of the Exchequer (1908-15). Rejection of his controversial “People’s Budget” (to raise taxes for social programs) in 1909 by the House of Lords led to a constitutional crisis and passage of the Parliament Act of 1911. He devised the National Insurance Act of 1911, which laid the foundation of the British welfare state. As minister of munitions (1915- lb), he used unorthodox methods to ensure that war supplies were forth¬ coming during World War I. He replaced H.H. Asquith as prime minister in 1916, with Conservative support in his coalition government. His small war cabinet ensured speedy decisions. Distrustful of the competence of the British high command, he was constantly at odds with Gen. Douglas Haig. In the 1918 elections his decision to continue a coalition govern¬ ment further split the Liberal Party. He was one of the three great states¬ men responsible for the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference. He began the negotiations that culminated in the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921. He resigned in 1922 and headed an ailing Liberal Party (1926-31).
Lloyd Webber, Andrew later Baron Lloyd Webber (b. March 22, 1948, London, Eng.) British composer. He studied at Oxford and at the Royal College of Music. His first collaboration with lyricist Tim Rice (b. 1944), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968), was followed by the “rock opera” Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), which blended classical forms with rock music. Their last major collaboration was Evita (1978). Lloyd Webber’s eclectic, rock-based works helped revi¬ talize musical theatre. In both London and New York City, his musical Cats (1981), based on poems by T.S. Eliot, became the longest-running musical in history. He later collaborated on Starlight Express (1984), Phantom of the Opera (1986), and Sunset Boulevard (1993), among other stage works. He was knighted in 1992 and ennobled in 1996.
Lloyd's of London Insurance marketing association in London, spe¬ cializing in high-risk insurance services. Its history dates to 1688, when Edward Lloyd kept a London coffeehouse where merchants, seafarers, and marine-insurance underwriters met to transact business. The underwriters at Lloyd’s eventually formed a marine-insurance association (incorpo¬ rated 1871); it expanded to include other forms of insurance in 1911. After a series of financial scandals, the corporation was reorganized under the Lloyd’s Act of 1982. Today Lloyd’s consists of more than 20,000 indi¬ vidual members organized in several hundred syndicates, which are rep¬ resented at Lloyd’s by underwriting agents. Individual syndicate members, rather than the corporation, are liable for losses. Until record losses in the 1980s and ’90s bankrupted some syndicate members, they had unlimited liability for business transacted for them; in 1993 that liabil¬ ity was limited. See also insurance, liability insurance.
Llull VlyiiPA, Ramon English Raymond Lully (b. 1232/33, Ciutat de Majorca, Majorca—d. 1315/16, Tunis or near Majorca) Spanish (Cat¬ alan) mystic, poet, and missionary. He was reared at die court of Majorca, where he wrote lyrical troubadour poetry. He later traveled widely, attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity; he is said to have been stoned to death at Bejai'a. As a philosopher, he is best known as the inven¬ tor of an “art of finding truth.” Primarily intended to support the church in its missionary work, it was also designed to unify all branches of knowledge. In his principal work, Ars magna (1305-08), he tried to depict all forms of knowledge, including theology, philosophy, and the natural sciences, as mutually analogous and manifestations of the godhead in the universe. His writings influenced Neoplatonic mysticism throughout medieval and early modern Europe. In Catalan culture, his allegorical novels Blanquerna (c. 1284) and Felix (c. 1288) enjoy wide popularity; he is also known for his treatise on chivalry, his animal fables, and an encyclopaedia of medieval thought.
Llyr Vhlir\ In Celtic religion, the leader of one of the two warring fami¬ lies of the gods. According to one interpretation, the Children of Llyr were the powers of darkness, constantly in conflict with the Children of Don, the powers of light. In Welsh tradition, Llyr and his son Manawydan were associated with the sea. Llyr’s other children included Bran, Creidylad, and Branwen, wife of the sun god Matholwch, king of Ireland.
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Milo-'we-lin-ap-'gri-fithX (d. Dec. 11, 1282, near Builth, Powys, Wales) Prince of Wales (1258-77). As prince of Gwynedd in northern Wales from 1255, he sought to extend his rule throughout his native country, and he proclaimed himself prince of Wales in 1258. He fought the English lords of southern Wales (1262) and allied himself with Henry Ill’s opponent, Simon de Montfort. After Montfort’s death, however, he signed a treaty recognizing Henry as overlord (1267). Llywelyn rebelled against Edward I but was defeated by him in 1277. He was killed in a final rebellion in 1282, and Wales soon fell entirely under English rule.
Llywelyn ap lorwerth Milo-'we-lin-ap-'yor-wertlA known as Lly- welyn the Great (d. April 11, 1240, Aberconway, Gwynedd, Wales) Welsh prince. The grandson of a powerful Welsh prince, he was exiled as a child from Gwynedd in northern Wales but returned in 1194 and deposed his uncle, gaining control of most of northern Wales by 1202. Though Llywelyn married King John’s daughter, the English king invaded Wales when Llywelyn’s authority reached too far (1211). Llywelyn soon recovered his lands and allied with John’s baronial opponents. Henry III acknowledged his rule in most of Wales (1218), but by 1223 Llywelyn was forced to withdraw to the north.
Lo-lang See Nangnang
load-bearing wall See bearing wall
loam Rich, friable (crumbly) soil with nearly equal parts of sand and silt, and somewhat less clay. The term is sometimes used imprecisely to mean earth or soil in general. Loam in subsoil receives varied minerals and amounts of clay by leaching (percolation) from the topsoil above.
Loanda See Luanda
Lobachevsky Uo-bo-'chev-skeV Nikolay (Ivanovich) (b. Dec. 1, 1792, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia—d. Leb. 24, 1856, Kazan) Russian math¬ ematician. His entire life centred around the University of Kazan, where he studied and later (from 1816) taught. In 1829 he published his ground¬ breaking theory, a geometry that rejected Euclid’s parallel postulate. It was the final solution to a problem that had baffled mathematicians for 2,000 years. Lobachevsky also did distinguished work in the theory of infinite series, especially trigonometric series, as well as in integral calculus, alge¬ bra, and probability. He was largely ignored during his lifetime; acceptance of his new geometry came a decade after his death, though much of the credit went to others. With Bolyai Janos of Hungary (1802-60), Lobachevsky is considered the founder of non-Euclidean geometry.
Lobamba Town (pop., 1995 est.: 10,000), legislative capital of Swazi¬ land. Located near Mbabane, it is in a densely populated rural area. It is, according to traditional Swazi customs, the residence of the Queen Mother and is thereby the spiritual home of the Swazi nation. It is the site of par¬ liamentary buildings and an official residence of the king.
lobbying Any attempt by a group or individual to influence the decisions of government. The term originated in 19th-century efforts to influence the votes of legislators, generally in the lobby outside a legislative chamber. The effort may be a direct appeal to a decision maker in either the executive or legislative branches, or it may be indirect (e.g., through attempts to influ¬ ence public opinion). It may include oral or written efforts of persuasion, campaign contributions, public-relations campaigns, research supplied to legislative committees, and formal testimony before such committees. A lobbyist may be a member of a special-interest group, a professional will¬ ing to represent any group, or a private individual. In the U.S., the Lederal Regulation of Lobbying Act (1946) requires that lobbyists and the groups they represent register and report contributions and expenditures.
lobelia family Uo-'bel-yoX Lamily Lobeliaceae, which contains about 750 species of flowering plants in 25 genera. Some are grown for their attractive, two-lipped flowers. Postlike and shaggy-tree forms are found on mountains in Africa. The family includes the cardinal flower, great blue lobelia (L. siphilitica), and Indian tobacco (L. inflata). Once used for smoking and for the vomit-inducing alkaloid in its roots, lobelia is now regarded as poisonous.
Lobengula V.lo-beq-'gyii-loV (b. c. 1836, Mosega, Transvaal—d. Janu¬ ary 1894, near Bulawayo, Rhodesia) Second and last king of the South African Ndebele nation. Son of the founder of the Ndebele kingdom, Mzi- likazi, Lobengula succeeded to the throne in 1870 after a period of civil war. He attempted to form an alliance with the British, granting them first farming (1886) and then mineral (1888) concessions. Not satisfied, the
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1128 I lobotomy ► Locke
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British South Africa Co. under Cecil Rhodes undertook a military expedi¬ tion that destroyed the Ndebele kingdom in 1893. See also Khama III.
lobotomy Uo-'ba-to-meX Surgical procedure in which nerve pathways in a lobe or lobes of the brain are severed from those in other areas. Intro¬ duced in 1935 by Antonio Egas Moniz and Almeida Lima, it came to be used to help grossly disturbed patients. Favoured for patients who did not respond to shock therapy, it did reduce agitation but often caused increased apathy and passivity, inability to concentrate, and decreased emotional response. It was widely performed until c. 1956, when drugs that were more effective in calming patients became available. Lobotomies are no longer performed; however, psychosurgery, the surgical removal of spe¬ cific regions of the brain, is occasionally used to treat patients whose symptoms have resisted all other treatments.
lobster Any of numerous species of marine shrimplike decapods that are bottom-dwellers and mostly noctur¬ nal. Lobsters scavenge for dead ani¬ mals but also eat live fish, small mollusks and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates, and seaweed. One or more pairs of legs are often modified into pincers, usually larger on one side than the other. True lobsters have a distinct snout on the upper body shell. The American lobster (Homarus americanus) and SCAMPI are the most commercially impor¬ tant, being highly prized as food. The American lobster, found from Labra¬ dor to North Carolina, weighs about 1 lb (0.5 kg) and is about 10 in. (25 cm) long when caught in shallow water. Most deepwater specimens weigh about 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg); some may weigh 40 lbs (20 kg). See also shellfish.
local area network (LAN) Communications network consisting of many computers within a local area, such as a single building or company complex. Individual users can share data or files on a LAN as if the data or files resided on their respective computers; a central computer used for this purpose is called a server. Laser printers and other peripheral equip¬ ment can be connected to a LAN for common use. Coaxial and fibre-optic cables are popular communication lines for LANs because they provide fast data transmission and are easy to install. See also computer network.
Local Group Concentration of about 40 galaxies to which the Milky Way Galaxy belongs. Nearly half are dwarf elliptical galaxies, but the six larg¬ est are spiral or irregular galaxies. They are probably kept from separat¬ ing by mutual gravitational attraction. The Milky Way system is near one end of the group; the great Andromeda Galaxy is near the other end, about two million light-years away.
Locarno, Pact of (1925) Multilateral treaty signed in Locarno, Switz., intended to guarantee peace in western Europe. Its signatories were Bel¬ gium, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. Germany’s borders with France and Belgium as set by the Treaty of Versailles were decreed inviolable, but its eastern borders were not. Britain promised to defend Belgium and France. Other provi¬ sions included mutual defense pacts between France and Poland and between France and Czechoslovakia.
The treaty led to the Allied troops’ departure from the Rhineland by 1930, five years ahead of schedule.
See also Kellogg-Briand Pact.
Loch Leven See Loch Leven Loch Lomond See Loch Lomond Loch Ness See Loch Ness
Lochner \'16k-nor\, Stefan (b. c.
1400, Meersburg am Bodensee,
Bishopric of Constance—d. 1451,
Cologne) German painter. Nothing is
known of his early life, but he may have studied in The Netherlands before settling in Cologne c. 1430, for Flemish influence is evident in his atten¬ tion to minute details. Jan van Eyck’s influence is seen in The Adoration of the Magi, his altarpiece for Cologne’s great cathedral, but Lochner adds his own naturalistic observation and masterly sense of colour and design. Known for his highly mystical religious paintings, he is considered the greatest representative of the school of Cologne.
lock Mechanical or electronic device for securing a door or receptacle so that it cannot be opened except by a key or a code. The lock originated in the Middle East; the oldest known example was found near Nineveh. Possibly 4,000 years old, it is of the pin tumbler type, otherwise known as an Egyptian lock. The Romans were the first to use metal locks and to make small keys for them. They also invented wards, projections in the keyhole that prevent a key from turning unless it has slots that avoid the projections. Probably the most familiar lock today is the cylinder lock, a pin tumbler lock opened by a flat key with a serrated edge; the serrations raise pins in the cylinder to the proper heights, allowing the cylinder to turn. Also common are the unit lock, housed within a rectangular notch cut into the edge of a door, and the mortise lock, housed in a mortise cut into the door edge, the lock mechanism being covered on both sides. Other types include lever and combination locks. Electronic locks that open with a magnetic card key are popular for banks, hotel rooms, and offices.
A cylinder lock's tumbler consists of a series of pins arranged in pairs. The pins are spring-loaded to press against the contours of the inserted key. A wrong key will cause one or more of the pins to block the cylinder from turning; only when the tops of all the lower pins line up with the edge of the cylinder can the cylinder turn.
© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.
Locke, John (b. Aug. 29, 1632, Wrington, Somerset, Eng.—d. Oct. 28, 1704, Oates, Essex) English philosopher. Educated at Oxford, principally in medicine and science, he later became physician and adviser to the future 3rd earl of Shaftesbury (1667-72). He moved to France, but after Shaftesbury’s fall in 1683 he fled to the Netherlands, where he supported the future William III. Locke returned to England after the Glorious Revo¬ lution (1688) to become commissioner of appeals, a post he held until his death. In his major philosophical work, Essay Concerning Human Under¬ standing (1690), he argued that knowledge begins in sensation or intro¬ spection rather than in innate ideas, as the philosophers of rationalism held. From sensation and reflection the mind receives “ideas,” which are the material of knowledge. Some ideas represent actual qualities of objects (such as size, shape, or weight) and others perceived qualities, which do not exist in objects except as they affect observers (such as colour, taste, or smell); Locke called the former qualities “primary” and the latter “sec¬ ondary.” Ideas that are given directly in sensation or reflection are simple, and simple ideas may be “compounded” to form complex ideas. Locke did not succeed in giving a clear account of the origin of the idea of sub¬ stance (it is “a something-I-know-not-what”) or the idea of the “self,” though his account of personal identity in terms of memory was influen¬ tial. In the philosophy of language, he identified the meanings of words
"Madonna of the Rose Bower," paint¬ ing on wood by Stefan Lochner; in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne.
COURTESY OF THE WALLRAF-RICHARTZ-MUSEUM, COLOGNE
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corp. ► Lodge I 1129
with ideas rather than things. In Two Treatises of Government (1690), he defended a doctrine of natural rights and a conception of political author¬ ity as limited and conditional on the ruler’s fulfillment of his obligation to serve the public good. A classic formulation of the principles of politi¬ cal liberalism, this work influenced the American and French revolutions and the Constitution of the U.S. He is considered the founding figure of British empiricism.
Lockheed Martin Corp. U.S. diversified company that is one of the world’s largest aerospace manufacturers. It was established in 1995 through the merger of Lockheed Corp. (formed 1926 as Lockheed Air¬ craft Co.) and Martin Marietta Corp. (formed 1961 from the merger of Martin Co. and American-Marietta Co.). During World War II, Lockheed established a secret division (“Skunk Works”) that became the leading U.S. developer of military aircraft (e.g., F-104 fighter, U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, and F-117A stealth fighter). In the early 1970s its financially troubled production of the L-1011 TriStar commercial jetliner necessitated its rescue from bankruptcy by massive U.S. government aid. Lockheed’s work in missile development resulted in the Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile systems; in the space sector its activities included the construction and systems integration of the Hubble Space Telescope. In the early 1990s, in partnership with Boeing Co., it con¬ tracted to build the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter (first flown 1997). Martin Co.’s major business after World War II was the development of rockets (e.g., Titan) and electronics systems for the U.S. government. Later, as Martin Marietta, it constructed the Viking Mars landers and the Magellan spacecraft to Venus and designed and produced the external fuel tank for the space shuttle. In the mid-1990s Lockheed Martin formed a joint ven¬ ture, International Launch Services, with the Russian firms Energia and Khrunichev to market commercial space launch services.
lockjaw See tetanus
lockout Tactic used by employers in labour disputes, in which employ¬ ees are locked out of the workplace or otherwise denied employment. In the 1880s and ’90s, factory owners in the U.S. often used lockouts against the Knights of Labor, which was struggling to organize industries such as meatpacking and cigar making. The lockout has been used less frequently in modern times, usually as part of a pact among members of employers’ associations to frustrate labour unions by closing work facilities in response to strikes.
Locofoco \,lo-ko-'fo-ko\ Party Radical wing of the Democratic Party organized in New York City in 1835. Made up largely of workingmen and reformers, the party opposed state banks, monopolies, tariffs, and special interests. Its name derives from the friction matches, known as locofocos, that radicals used to light candles when Democratic Party regulars tried to oust them from a Tammany Hall meeting by turning out the gas lights. Never a national party, the Locofocos reached the height of their influ¬ ence when Congress passed the Independent Treasury Act (1840), which effected the primary Locofoco aim of complete separation of government and banking. The party was reabsorbed into the Democratic Party in the 1840s.
locomotion Any of various animal movements that result in progres¬ sion from one place to another. Locomotion is classified as either appen¬ dicular (accomplished by special appendages) or axial (achieved by changing the body shape). Aquatic protozoans move by ciliary or flagel¬ lar appendages or by pseudopods, footlike appendages. Other forms of aquatic locomotion include walking on legs (some arthropods), crawling (by contracting the body muscles, anchoring to the substrate, and extend¬ ing), and swimming by either hydraulic propulsion (e.g., jellyfish) or undu¬ lation (fishes). Terrestrial arthropods and vertebrates move by means of jointed appendages, the legs. Snakes and other limbless vertebrates crawl by means of muscular thrusts against the substrate. Flight is achieved by the forward thrust of wings.
locomotive Self-propelled vehicle used for hauling railroad cars on tracks. Early experimental steam locomotives were built in Wales and England by Richard Trevithick from 1803. The first practical steam loco¬ motive, the Rocket, was developed in 1829 by George Stephenson, in whose “steam blast” system the steam from a multitube boiler drove pis¬ tons connected to a pair of flanged driving wheels. The first U.S. steam locomotive was built by John Stevens in 1825, and the first commercially usable locomotive, the Tom Thumb, by Peter Cooper in Baltimore in 1830. Later improvements enabled a locomotive to move up to 200 freight cars at 75 mph (120 kph). Steam from wood or coal fuel was the main source
of power until the mid-20th century, though electric power had been used from the early 20th century, especially in Europe. After World War II die¬ sel power replaced steam because of its higher efficiency and lower cost, though diesel-electric and gas turbine-electric combinations were also used.
locoweed Any of several species of poisonous plants of the genera Astragalus and Oxytropis, in the pea family (see legume), native to the prairies of north-central and western North America. These low-growing plants (up to 1.5 ft [45 cm] high) have variably hairy, fernlike leaves and spikes of pealike flowers. They pose a danger to grazing animals because they contain a toxin that affects muscle control, producing frenzied behav¬ iour, impaired vision, and sometimes death. Because they taste bad, live¬ stock usually eat them only when other forage is scarce. Decaying locoweeds release toxins into the soil that are sometimes absorbed by otherwise harmless forage crops.
Locri Epizephyrii \ , lo- l kri- l e-pi-z9- , fir-e- l i\ Ancient city in Magna Graecia, on the eastern coast of Italy’s southwestern extremity. Founded by Greeks c. 680 bc, it was the first Greek community to have a written code of laws, the Locrian code (c. 660 bc). It founded colonies and resisted Athenian intervention during the Peloponnesian War. Fickle in its alle¬ giance, it was captured by Rome in 205 bc and destroyed by Sicilian Muslims in 915.
locust In botany, any of about 20 tree species in the genus Robinia of the pea family (see legume), all native to eastern North America and Mexico. Best-known is the black locust (R. pseudoacacia ), often called false acacia or yellow locust.
Widely cultivated in Europe as an ornamental, it grows 80 ft (24 m) high and bears long, compound leaves. The fragrant white flowers hang in loose clusters. There are many varieties, some thornless. The black locust has long been used for erosion control and as a timber tree.
The so-called honey locust ( Gledit - sia triacanthos), also of the pea family, is a North American tree com¬ monly used as an ornamental and often found in hedges.
locust Any of several species of grasshoppers (family Acrididae) that undergo population explosions and migrate long distances in destructive swarms. In North America the names locust and grasshopper are inter- changable and used for any acridid; cicadas are sometimes called locusts. In Europe, locust refers to large species and grasshopper to small ones. Locusts are found worldwide. Sporadic locust swarms may be explained by the theory that swarming species have a solitary phase (the normal state) and a gregarious phase. Nymphs that mature in the presence of many other locusts develop into the gregarious type; thus migratory swarms form as a result of overcrowding. Swarms may be almost unimaginably large, towering 5,000 ft (1,500 m) high; in 1889 a Red Sea swarm was estimated to cover 2,000 sq mi (5,000 sq km). Locust plagues can be extremely destructive of crops.
lodestone See magnetite
lodge Originally an insubstantial dwelling, or one erected for a tempo¬ rary occupational purpose (e.g., woodcutting or masonry) or for use dur¬ ing the hunting season. The lodge became a more permanent type of house as the lands around European mansions were developed as parks. The lodge was often the cottage of the gamekeeper, caretaker, gatekeeper, or gardener, or it could be a larger building for occupation by a higher¬ ranking person. Today the word suggests a rustic dwelling or inn in a natural setting, often one used seasonally (e.g., a ski lodge).
Lodge, Henry Cabot (b. May 12,1850, Boston, Mass., U.S.—d. Nov. 9, 1924, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. politician. He was the recipient of the first Ph.D. in political science awarded by Harvard University. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1887 to 1893 and in the Sen¬ ate from 1893 to 1924. He supported U.S. entry into World War I but opposed participation in the League of Nations; as chairman of the Sen¬ ate’s foreign relations committee he delayed action on the adoption of the Treaty of Versailles with its covenant establishing the League. He pro¬ posed amendments (the Lodge reservations) that would require Senate
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
JOHN H. GERARD-EB INC.
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1130 I Lodge ► loganberry
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approval before the U.S. would accept certain League decisions. Pres. Woodrow Wilson refused to accept the amendments, and the Senate rejected the treaty.
Lodge, Henry Cabot (b. July 5, 1902, Nahant, Mass., U.S.—d. Feb. 27, 1985, Beverly, Mass.) U.S. politician and diplomat. The grandson of Sen. Henry C. Lodge, he served in the U.S. Senate (1937—44, 1947-52) and as U.S. representative to the UN (1953-60). In 1960 he was the Republican vice presidential candidate under Richard Nixon. During the 1960s he served as U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam and as ambassa¬ dor to West Germany. In 1969 he was the chief U.S. negotiator at the Paris peace talks with North Vietnam. He later served as special envoy to the Vatican.
Lodi \'lo-de\, Peace of (1454) Treaty between Venice and Milan end¬ ing the war of succession to the Milanese duchy in favor of Francesco Sforza. It recognized Sforza as ruler of Milan and restored Venice’s ter¬ ritories in northern Italy, including Brescia and Bergamo. It also provided for a 25-year mutual defensive pact to maintain existing boundaries and established an Italian League. The treaty created a balance of power among Venice, Milan, Naples, Florence, and the Papal States, and it began a 40-year period of relative peace.
Lodz Vwiich,\ English \'lodz\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 793,217), cen¬ tral Poland. Located southwest of Warsaw, it was a village in the 14th century and gained municipal rights in 1798. The Russian-ruled Congress Kingdom of Poland established it as a centre of the textile industry in 1820, and by the late 19th century it was Poland’s leader in the produc¬ tion of cotton textiles. It was occupied by the Germans during World Wars I and II. It is now a cultural centre and Poland’s second largest city.
loess Vies, 'lo-3s\ Unstratified, geologically recent deposit of silty or loamy material that is usually buff or yellowish brown and is deposited chiefly by the wind. Loess is a sedimentary deposit composed largely of silt-sized grains that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate. It is usu¬ ally homogeneous and highly porous and is traversed by vertical capil¬ laries that permit the sediment to fracture and form vertical bluffs.
Loesser Vle-sorX, Frank (Henry) (b. June 29, 1910, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. July 28, 1969, New York City) U.S. composer, librettist, and lyricist. The son of a piano teacher, in 1936 he moved to Hollywood, where he worked with Burton Lane, Jule Styne, Jimmy McHugh, and Hoagy Carmichael. His wartime songs include “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” and “What Do You Do in the Infantry?”; postwar hits include “On a Slow Boat to China” and “Baby It’s Cold Outside” (Acad¬ emy Award, 1949). His first Broadway musical was Where’s Charley? (1948; film, 1952). In 1950 he produced Guys and Dolls (film, 1955), one of the greatest American musicals. It was followed by The Most Happy Fella (1956) and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1962, Pulitzer Prize). His work for film includes the score for Hans Christian Andersen (1952).
Loewe Vlo\, Frederick (b. June 10, 1901, Berlin, Ger.—d. Feb. 14, 1988, Palm Springs, Calif., U.S.) German-born U.S. songwriter. Son of a Viennese tenor, Loewe was a piano prodigy; at age 13 he became the youngest soloist ever to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied with Ferruccio Busoni and Eugene d’Albert. His song “Kat¬ rina,” written at age 15, sold more than a million copies. Arriving in the U.S. in 1924, he contributed music to Broadway revues. In 1942 he met Alan Jay Lerner; their 18-year collaboration would produce five classic musicals. Personal differences ended their partnership after Camelot (1960), but they reunited to adapt their film Gigi (1958) for the stage (1973) and to write songs for the film The Little Prince (1974).
Loewy \'lo-e\, Raymond (Fernand) (b. Nov. 5, 1893, Paris, Fr.—d. July 14, 1986, Monaco) French-bom U.S. industrial designer. After obtaining an advanced degree in electrical engineering, he immigrated in 1919 to New York City, where he worked as a fashion illustrator and designer of department store window displays. He opened his own design firm in 1929, and in the 1930s and ’40s he designed a variety of house¬ hold products with rounded corners and simplified, “streamlined” out¬ lines. A refrigerator he designed for Sears, Roebuck & Co. (1934) won first prize at the 1937 Paris International Exposition. In later years his highly functional designs for everything from locomotives to soda dispensers helped shape U.S. industrial design.
Loffler Vlcef-lorV Friedrich (August Johannes) (b. June 24, 1852, Frankfurt an der Oder, Prussia—d. April 9, 1915, Berlin, Ger.) German
bacteriologist. In 1884, with Edwin Klebs (1834-1913), he discovered the organism that causes diphtheria. Simultaneously with Emile Roux (1853— 1933) and Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943), he indicated the existence of a diphtheria toxin. His demonstration that some animals are immune to diphtheria was basic to Emil von Behring’s work in developing antitox¬ ins. Loffler also discovered the cause of some swine diseases and iden¬ tified, with Wilhelm Schtitz, the organism that causes the horse disease glanders. With Paul Frosch he found that foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a virus (the first time a virus was found to be the agent of an animal disease) and developed a serum against it.
loft Upper space within a building, often open on one side, used for stor¬ age or other purposes (e.g., sleeping loft, hayloft). The term also refers to one of the upper floors in a factory or warehouse, typically undivided by partitions and now often converted to other uses, such as residences or artists’ studios. In churches the rood loft is a display gallery above the rood screen (see cathedral), and a choir or organ loft is a gallery reserved for church singers and musicians. In theaters, the loft is the area above and behind the proscenium.
Lofting, Hugh (John) (b. Jan. 14, 1886, Maidenhead, Berkshire, Eng.—d. Sept. 26, 1947, Santa Monica, Calif., U.S.) British-bom U.S. author and illustrator. He lived principally in the U.S. from 1912. He is known for his classic children’s books about Doctor Dolittle, a chubby, gentle, eccentric physician to animals who learns their language the bet¬ ter to treat them. He originally created the character to entertain his chil¬ dren in letters he sent from the front during World War I. The Story of Dr. Dolittle (1920) won instant success; it was followed by The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (1922, Newbery Medal), Dr. Dolittle in the Moon (1928), and Dr. Dolittle’s Return (1933), among many other volumes.
log cabin Small, one-room house built of logs notched at the ends and laid one upon another with the spaces filled with plaster, moss, mor¬ tar, mud, or dried manure. In North America they were built by early set¬ tlers, hunters, loggers, and other wil¬ derness dwellers. They have also been built in Europe, particularly Scandinavia. Though designs vary, a common style features a sloping, single-gabled timbered roof and small windows. Modern summer cottages may be built of logs (or given log-cabin siding) to achieve a rustic effect.
Logan, James orig. Tah-gah- jute (b. c. 1725, probably at Shamokin, Pa.—d. 1780, near Lake Erie) American Indian leader. He was the son of the Oneida chief Shikellamy, who was a friend of the secretary of the Pennsylvania colony, James Logan (1674-1751). He moved to the Ohio River valley, where he became friendly with Indians and white settlers. After his family was massacred by a frontier trader in 1774, he led Indian raids on white settlements in Lord Dunmore's War. He refused to participate in peace negotiations, sending his grievances in a message known as “Logan’s Lament.” He was allied with the British in the American Revolution.
Logan, Mount Peak, St. Elias Mountains, southwestern Yukon Terri¬ tory, Canada, near the Alaskan boundary. Reaching 19,524 ft (5,951 m), it is the highest mountain in Canada and is second in North America only to Mount McKinley. It is located in Kluane National Park, which occupies 8,500 sq mi (22,000 sq km). The summit was first reached in 1925. The peak was named for William Logan, founder of the Geological Survey of Canada.
loganberry Bramble plant ( Rubus loganobaccus ) of the rose family. It originated in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1881, apparently as a natural hybrid between the wild blackberry of the Pacific coast and the red raspberry. It is grown in large quantities in Oregon and Washington and is cultivated in Britain and Tasmania. The loganberry is a vigorous, nearly trailing, blackberry-like plant with compound leaves and prickly canes. Its wine- red, tart berries are canned, frozen, used in preserves or pies, or made into wine.
Log cabin, Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home, Knob Creek, Kentucky, origi¬ nally built early 19th century.
WETTACH/SHOSTAL
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logarithm ► Loki I 1131
logarithm In mathematics, the power to which a base must be raised to yield a given number (e.g., the logarithm to the base 3 of 9, or log 3 9, is 2, because 3 2 = 9). A common logarithm is a logarithm to the base 10. Thus, the common logarithm of 100 (log 100) is 2, because 10 2 = 100. Logarithms to the base e, in which e = 2.71828..., called natural loga¬ rithms (In), are especially useful in calculus. Logarithms were invented to simplify cumbersome calculations, since exponents can be added or subtracted to multiply or divide their bases. These processes have been further simplified by the incorporation of logarithmic functions into digi¬ tal calculators and computers. See also John Napier.
loggia \'lo-je-9\ Hall, gallery, or porch open to the air on one or more sides. It evolved in the Mediterranean region as an open sitting room with protection from the sun. It is often a roofed, arcaded open gallery on an upper story overlooking a court, though it can also be a separate arcaded or colonnaded structure. In medieval and Renaissance Italy, it was often used in conjunction with a public square, as in Florence’s Loggia dei Lanzi (begun 1376).
logic Study of inference and argument. Inferences are rule-governed steps from one or more propositions, known as premises, to another proposition, called the conclusion. A deductive inference is one that is intended to be valid, where a valid inference is one in which the conclu¬ sion must be true if the premises are true (see deduction; validity). All other inferences are called inductive (see induction). In a narrow sense, logic is the study of deductive inferences. In a still narrower sense, it is the study of inferences that depend on concepts that are expressed by the “logical constants,” including: (1) propositional connectives such as “not,” (sym¬ bolized as — i), “and” (symbolized as a), “or” (symbolized as v), and “if- then” (symbolized as z>), (2) the existential and universal quantifiers, “(3x)” and “(Vx),” often rendered in English as “There is an x such that ...” and “For any (all) x, respectively, (3) the concept of identity (expressed by “=”), and (4) some notion of predication. The study of the logical constants in (1) alone is known as the propositional calculus; the study of (1) through (4) is called first-order predicate calculus with iden¬ tity. The logical form of a proposition is the entity obtained by replacing all nonlogical concepts in the proposition by variables. The study of the relations between such uninterpreted formulas is called formal logic. See also deontic logic; modal logic.
logic, many-valued Formal system in which the well-formed formu¬ lae are interpreted as being able to take on values other than the two clas¬ sical values of truth or falsity. The number of values possible for well- formed formulae in systems of many-valued logic ranges from three to uncountably many.
logic, philosophy of Philosophical study of the nature and scope of logic. Examples of questions raised in the philosophy of logic are: “In virtue of what features of reality are the laws of logic true?”; “How do we know the truths of logic?”; and “Could the laws of logic ever be fal¬ sified by experience?” The subject matter of logic has been variously characterized as the laws of thought, “the rules of right reasoning,” “the principles of valid argumentation,” “the use of certain words called logi¬ cal constants,” and “truths based solely on the meanings of the terms they contain.”
logic design Basic organization of the circuitry of a digital computer. All digital computers are based on a two-valued logic system—1/0, on/off, yes/no (see binary code). Computers perform calculations using compo¬ nents called logic gates, which are made up of integrated circuits that receive an input signal, process it, and change it into an output signal. The components of the gates pass or block a clock pulse as it travels through them, and the output bits of the gates control other gates or output the result. There are three basic kinds of logic gates, called “and,” “or,” and “not.” By connecting logic gates together, a device can be constructed that can perform basic arithmetic functions.
logical positivism Early school of analytic philosophy, inspired by David Hume, the mathematical logic of Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead, and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (1921). The school, for¬ mally instituted at the University of Vienna in a seminar of Moritz Schlick (1882-1936) in 1922, continued there as the Vienna Circle until 1938. It proposed several revolutionary theses: (1) All meaningful discourse con¬ sists either of (a) the formal sentences of logic and mathematics or (b) the factual propositions of the special sciences; (2) Any assertion that claims to be factual has meaning only if it is possible to say how it might be verified; (3) Metaphysical assertions, including the pronouncements of
religion, belong to neither of the two classes of (1) and are therefore meaningless. Some logical positivists, notably A.J. Ayer, held that asser¬ tions in ethics (e.g., “It is wrong to steal”) do not function logically as statements of fact but only as expressions of the speaker’s feelings of approval or disapproval toward some action. See also Rudolf Carnap; emotivism; verifiability principle.
logicism Vla-ji-.si-zomN In the philosophy of mathematics, the thesis that all mathematical propositions are expressible as or derivable from the propositions of pure logic. Gottlob Frege attempted to establish the thesis in his Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik (1884) and other works; Bertrand Russell argued for logicism in The Principles of Mathematics (1903) and attempted a formal proof with Alfred North Whitehead in Principia Math- ematica (1910-13).
logistic system See formal system
logistics \lo-'jis-tiks, b-'jis-tiks\ In military science, all the activities of armed-force units in support of combat units, including transport, supply, communications, and medical aid. The term, first used by Henri Jomini, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and others, was adopted by the U.S. military in World War I and gained currency in other nations in World War II. Its importance grew in the 20th century with the increasing complexity of modern warfare. The ability to mobilize large populations has escalated military demands for supplies and provisions, and sophisticated technol¬ ogy has added to the cost and intricacy of weapons, communications sys¬ tems, and medical care, creating the need for a vast network of support systems. In World War II, for instance, only about three in 10 U.S. sol¬ diers served in a combat role.
Logone \lo-'gon\ River River, north-central Africa. The chief tributary of the Chari River of the Lake Chad basin in equatorial Africa, it drains northeastern Cameroon and Chad. It flows 240 mi (390 km) northwest to join the Chari at N'Djamena, Chad. It is seasonally navigable for small steamers below Bongor.
logos (Greek: “word,” “reason,” “plan”) In Greek philosophy and the¬ ology, the divine reason that orders the cosmos and gives it form and meaning. The concept is found in the writings of Heracleitus (6th century bc) and in Persian, Indian, and Egyptian philosophical and theological systems as well. It is particularly significant in Christian theology, where it is used to describe the role of Jesus as the principle of God active in the creation and ordering of the cosmos and in the revelation of the divine plan of salvation. This is most clearly stated in the Gospel of John the Apostle, which identifies Christ as the Word (Logos) made flesh.
Logrono \lo-'gro-nyo\ City (2001: 133,058), capital of La Rioja autono¬ mous community, Spain. Originating in Roman times, it owed its growth during the Middle Ages to its position on the pilgrimage route to Santi¬ ago de Compostela. An ancient walled town, it is a trade centre in an agri¬ cultural region and is known for its Rioja wine.
Lohengrin \'\d-dn-,gren,\ English Vlo-on-.grinV Hero-knight of medieval Germanic legends. He was called the knight of the swan because he arrived in a boat drawn by a swan to help a noble lady in distress. He married her but forbade her to ask his origin; when she forgot this prom¬ ise, he left her, never to return. The first version of his legend appeared c. 1210 in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, in which the swan knight was the son and heir of Parzival (Perceval). The anonymous 15th-century epic Lorengel provided the basis for Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin
(1850).
Loire \'lwar\ River River, southeastern France. The longest river in France, it flows north and west for 634 mi (1,020 km) to the Bay of Bis¬ cay, which it enters through a wide estuary below Saint-Nazaire. Embank¬ ments were built as early as the 12th century, and in subsequent centuries it was used extensively for the transport of goods. A canal system built in the 17th and 18th centuries is inadequate for modem vessels.
loka \'lo-ko\ In Hinduism, the universe or any particular division of it. The most common division of the universe is the tri-loka, or three worlds (heaven, earth, and atmosphere, or heaven, world, and netherworld), each of which is divided into seven regions. Sometimes, instead of the tri-loka, 14 worlds are envisioned, seven above the earth and seven below. What¬ ever the division, it illustrates the basic Hindu concept of hierarchically ordered worlds.
Loki Vlo-ke\ In Norse mythology, a trickster who was able to change his shape and sex. His father was the giant Farbauti, but he was included
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1132 I Lollards ► Lomonosov
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among the Aesir, a tribe of the gods. A companion of the great gods Odin and Thor, Loki helped them with his clever plans but sometimes embar¬ rassed them. He also appeared as the enemy of the gods, entering their banquets uninvited and demanding drink. After causing the death of the god Balder, he was punished by being bound to a rock. Loki created a female, Angerboda, with whom he produced three evil progeny: Hel, the goddess of death; Jormungand, the evil serpent surrounding the world; and Fenrir, the wolf.
Lollards Followers of John Wycliffe in late medieval England. The pejo¬ rative name (from Middle Dutch lollaert, “mumbler”) had been applied earlier to European groups suspected of heresy. The first Lollard group centred on some of Wycliffe’s colleagues at Oxford led by Nicholas of Hereford. In 1382 the archbishop of Canterbury forced some of the Oxford Lollards to renounce their views, but the sect continued to mul¬ tiply. The accession of Henry IV in 1399 signaled a wave of repression. In 1414 a Lollard rising was quickly defeated by Henry V; it brought severe reprisals and marked the end of the Lollards’ overt political influ¬ ence. A Lollard revival began c. 1500, and by 1530 the old Lollard and the new Protestant forces had begun to merge. The Lollard tradition pre¬ disposed opinion in favor of Henry VIII ’s anticlerical legislation. The Lol¬ lards were responsible for a translation of the Bible by Nicholas of Hereford, and their core teachings included an emphasis on personal faith and the authority of the Bible and the rejection of clerical celibacy, tran- SUBSTANTIATION , and INDULGENCES.
Lomax Vlo- l maks\ / John (b. Sept. 23, 1867, Goodman, Miss., U.S.—d. Jan. 26, 1948, Greenville, Miss.) U.S. ethnomusicologist. He attended Harvard University and soon thereafter began publishing collections of cowboy songs. In the 1930s he and his teenage son Alan (1915-2002) collected folk songs of the Southwest and Midwest. Jelly Roll Morton, Leadbelly, and Muddy Waters were perhaps the most significant of their many important discoveries; the Lomaxes’ archive of Morton’s perfor¬ mance and storytelling was of particular significance. Both men did important work at the Library of Congress’s Archive of Folk Music. Their many books and anthologies spurred the folk music revival of the 1950s and ’60s.
Lombard Any member of a Germanic people who from 568 to 774 ruled a kingdom in the region of Lombardy. Originally a pastoral tribe from northwestern Germany, the Lombards migrated southward and adopted an imperial military system. In the 6th century they moved into northern Italy, conquering the cities that had been left defenseless after the over¬ throw of the Ostrogoths by the Byzantine Empire. In the 8th century Liud- prand, probably the greatest of the Lombard kings, steadily reduced the area of Italy still under Byzantine rule. When the Lombard kings invaded papal territories. Pope Adrian I sought aid from Charlemagne. In 773 the Franks besieged the Lombard capital, capturing Desiderius, the Lombard king; Charlemagne became king of the Lombards as well as of the Franks, and Lombard rule in Italy ended.
Lombard, Carole orig. Jane Alice Peters (b. Oct. 6, 1908, Fort Wayne, Ind., U.S.—d. Jan. 16, 1942, near Las Vegas, Nev.) U.S. film actress. She made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921) and appeared in comedy shorts from 1925. She starred in the classic screw¬ ball comedy Twentieth Century (1934), which showcased her unique blend of sophisticated glamour and earthy audacity and established her as a leading comic actress. She appeared in a series of popular comedies, including My Man Godfrey (1936), Nothing Sacred (1937), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941), and To Be or Not to Be (1942). She married Clark Gable in 1939. She died in a plane crash while on tour to sell war bonds.
Lombard, Peter See Peter Lombard
Lombard League Italian league that resisted attempts by the Holy Roman emperors to curtail the liberties of the communes of Lombardy in northern Italy in the 12th-13th century. Founded in 1167, it was backed by Pope Alexander III, who saw it as an ally against Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. After several military setbacks at the hands of the league, Frederick was forced to grant the Lombard cities communal liberties and jurisdiction under the Peace of Constance. The league again was renewed in 1226 and resisted Frederick ll's attempt to reassert imperial power in northern Italy.
Lombardi, Vince(nt Thomas) (b. June 11, 1913, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 3, 1970, Washington, D.C.) U.S. football coach. He attended Fordham University, where he played on the famous line known
as the “Seven Blocks of Granite.” As head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers (1959-67), he imposed a strenuous regimen and led the team to five NFL championships (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967) and to victories in Super Bowls I and II (1967, 1968). Because of his success, he became a national symbol of single-minded determination to win. As coach, general manager, and part owner of the Washington Red¬ skins in 1969, he led that team to its first winning season in 14 years.
Lombardo, Guy (Albert) (b. June 19, 1902, London, Ont., Can.—d. Nov. 5, 1977, Houston, Texas, U.S.) Canadian-born U.S. bandleader. He trained as a violinist and in 1917 formed his band, the Royal Canadians. They began broadcasting nationally from Chicago in 1927, and from 1929 he was the winter attraction at New York City’s Roosevelt Grill, a book¬ ing repeated for more than 30 years. He later moved to the Waldorf- Astoria Hotel, continuing the famous New Year’s Eve broadcasts, begun in 1954, that climaxed with “Auld Lang Syne.” Though derided by crit¬ ics as the “king of com,” Lombardo gained long-lasting popularity by conducting what was billed as “the sweetest music this side of heaven.”
Lombardy \Tam-bor-de\ Region (pop., 2003 est.: 9,108,645), northern Italy. Bounded on the north by Switzerland, it contains many Alpine peaks as well as the fertile valley of the Po River. Its capital is Milan. Inhabited by Celtic peoples from the 5th century bc, it was conquered by Rome after the Second Punic War and became part of Cisalpine Gaul. In ad 568-774 it was the centre of the kingdom of the Lombards. During the Middle Ages several of its towns became self-governing municipalities; they formed the Lombard League in the 12th century and won autonomy by defeating Frederick I Barbarossa in 1176. The area was later ruled by Spain (1535-1713), Austria (1713-96), and France (1796-1814). In 1859 Lombardy joined the newly unified Italy. Italy’s most populous region, it is a thriving commercial area centred on Milan.
Lombok Vlom-.bokV Island, Indonesia. It is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, separated from Bali by the Lombok Strait and from Sumbawa by the Alas Strait. It is 70 mi (115 km) long and 50 mi (80 km) wide and occupies an area of 2,098 sq mi (5,435 sq km). It is divided by two moun¬ tain chains; its northern range includes Mount Rindjani (12,224 ft [3,726 m]), Indonesia’s tallest mountain. It was ruled by the sultan of Makasar in 1640. The Balinese later seized control and established four kingdoms there; the Dutch ruled the kingdom of Mataram from 1843 and gained control of the entire island by the late 19th century. Following World War II, it became part of Indonesia.
Lome \lo-'ma\ City (pop., 2003 est.: 676,400; urban agglom.: 749,700), capital of Togo. Located on the Gulf of Guinea in southwestern Togo, it was chosen as the capital of German Togoland in 1897 and developed as an administrative and commercial centre. Its port was modernized in the 1960s, and its deepwater harbour is a major shipping centre. It is the site of the University of Benin (1965).
Lomenie de Brienne Mo-ma-'ne-do-bre-'enV Etienne Charles de
(b. Oct. 9, 1727, Paris, France—d. Feb. 19, 1794, Sens) French ecclesi¬ astic and minister of finance (1787-88) before the French Revolution. Unable to cope with the worsening financial crisis, he resigned in favour of Jacques Necker. Made archbishop of Sens and then cardinal (1788), he was one of the few prelates who took the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790). He died in prison during the Reign of Terror.
Lomond Vlo-monV Loch Lake, Scotland. Located at the southern edge of the Highlands, it is the country’s largest lake 24 mi (39 km) long and 0.75 to 5 mi (1.2 to 8 km) wide, with an area of 27 sq mi (70 sq km). It drains by the short River Leven into the Firth of Clyde at Dumbarton. Its eastern shore near Ben Lomond is the region made famous by the outlaw Rob Roy.
Lomonosov Mo-.mo-'no-soA, Mikhail Vasilyevich (b. Nov. 19, 1711, near Kholmogory, Russia—d. April 15, 1765, St. Petersburg) Rus¬ sian scientist, poet, and grammarian, considered the first great Russian linguistic reformer. Educated in Russia and Germany, he established what became the standards for Russian verse in the Letter Concerning the Rules of Russian Versification. In 1745 he joined the faculty at the St. Peters¬ burg Imperial Academy of Sciences, where he made substantial contri¬ butions to the physical sciences. He later wrote a Russian grammar and worked to systematize the Russian literary language, which had been an amalgam of Church Slavonic and Russian vernacular. He also reorganized the academy, founded Moscow State University (which now bears his name), and created the first coloured-glass mosaics in Russia.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Lon Nol ► Long I 1133
Lon Nol (b. Nov. 13, 1913, Prey Veng, Camb.—d. Nov. 17, 1985, Ful¬ lerton, Calif., U.S.) Cambodian military and political leader. A magistrate in the French colonial service, he became successively head of the national police (1951), army chief of staff (1955), and commander in chief (1960). He was twice premier (1966-67, 1969-70) under Norodom Sih¬ anouk. In 1970 he was the chief architect of the U.S.-supported coup that deposed Sihanouk. He abandoned Sihanouk’s policy of neutrality in the Vietnam War and threw Cambodia’s support behind the U.S. and South Vietnam. In 1972 he assumed total power in Cambodia; he fled to the U.S. in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge takeover was imminent.
London officially Greater London Capital and largest city (pop., 2001: 7,172,036) of the United Kingdom, situated in southeastern England on the River Thames. It is the political, industrial, cultural, and financial centre of the country. Formally known as the metropolitan county of Greater London (established 1965), it has an area of 659 sq mi (1,706 sq km) and consists of two regions: Inner London comprises 14 of London’s 33 boroughs (including the original City of London), and Outer London encompasses the other 19 boroughs. Greater London is an administrative entity, with an elected mayor and assembly. Founded by the Romans as Londinium in the 1st century ad, it passed to the Saxons in the 5th-6th century. The Danes invaded England and London in 865. Following the Norman Conquest (1066), William I (the Conqueror) estab¬ lished the central stronghold of the fortress known as the Tower of Lon¬ don. Norman kings selected Westminster as their seat of government. The church known as Westminster Abbey had been built earlier by Edward the Confessor. The largest city in Europe north of the Alps by 1085, it was struck by the Black Death in 1348—49. Trade grew significantly in the mid-16th century, fueled by the establishment of Britain’s overseas empire. In 1664-65 the plague killed about 70,000 Londoners, and in 1666 the Great Fire of London consumed five-sixths of the City of Lon¬ don; it was afterward rebuilt (see Christopher Wren). London was the cen¬ tre of world trade from the late 18th century to 1914. It opened the world’s first electric underground railway in 1890. Severely damaged by German bombs in the Battle of Britain during World War II, it was again rebuilt and grew rapidly in the postwar period. Among its sites of interest are Buckingham Palace, the Tate galleries, the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
London City (pop., 2001: metro area, 432,451), southeastern Ontario. It lies on the Thames River, near several of the Great Lakes. Its name and site were chosen in 1792 for the location of a capital of Upper Canada, but the plans failed to materialize. First settled in 1826, it was incorpo¬ rated as a city in 1855. It became an important transportation and indus¬ trial centre as a result of its interlake location. It is the seat of the University of Western Ontario.
London, Great Fire of See Great Fire of London London, Great Plague of See Great Plague of London
London, Jack orig. John Griffith Chaney (b. Jan. 12, 1876, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—d. Nov. 22,
1916, Glen Ellen, Calif.) U.S. nov¬ elist and short-story writer. Born to poverty, the largely self-educated London became a sailor, hobo, Alas¬ kan gold miner, and militant social¬ ist. He gained a wide audience with his first book, The Son of the Wolf (1900), and the story “To Build a Fire” (1908). Thereafter he wrote steadily; his 50 books of fiction and nonfiction, including many romantic depictions of elemental struggles for survival as well as socialist tracts, include The Call of the Wild (1903),
The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906), The Iron Heel (1907), Mar¬ tin Eden (1909), and Burning Day¬ light (1910). Though his work brought him wealth and fame, his suicide at age 40 was the result of alco¬ holism and mounting debt.
London, Treaty of (April 1915) Secret treaty between neutral Italy and the Allied forces of France, Britain, and Russia to bring Italy into World War I. The Allies wanted Italy’s participation because of its bor¬
der with Austria. Italy was promised Trieste, southern Tyrol, northern Dalmatia, and other territories in return for a pledge to enter the war within a month. Despite the opposition of most Italians, who favoured neutral¬ ity, Italy joined the war against Austria-Hungary in May.
London, University of Federation of more than 50 British institu¬ tions of higher learning, located primarily in London, England. It was established by liberals and religious dissenters in 1828, and it accepted for enrollment Roman Catholics, Jews, and other non-Anglicans. The first two colleges were University College and King’s College. From 1849 a student enrolled in any university in the British Empire could be awarded a University of London degree after examination. By the early 20th cen¬ tury many institutions had become affiliated with the university, includ¬ ing Bedford College, the first British university to grant degrees to women; the London School of Economics and Political Science, now an internationally renowned centre for the social sciences; and three other institutions that later became the Imperial College of Science and Tech¬ nology.
London Bridge Any of several successive structures spanning the River Thames. The Old London Bridge of nursery-rhyme fame was built by Peter of Colechurch between 1176 and 1209, replacing an earlier tim¬ ber bridge. Because of obstructions encountered in building the coffer¬ dams, the arch spans varied from 15 to 34 ft (4.6-10.4 m); the uneven construction resulted in frequent need for repair, but the bridge survived more than 600 years. Its roadway was loaded with a jumble of houses and shops, many projecting out over the river. It was demolished and replaced in the 1820s by New London Bridge, designed and built by John Rennie, Sr. (1761-1821), and his son John Rennie, Jr. (1794-1874). In the 1960s it was again replaced; the old masonry facing was dismantled and reerected at Lake Havasu City, Ariz., as a tourist attraction.
London Naval Conference (Jan. 21-April 22, 1930) Conference held in London to discuss naval disarmament and review the treaties of the Washington Conference. Representatives of Britain, the U.S., France, Italy, and Japan agreed to regulate submarine warfare and to place limits on new construction of cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and other war¬ ships. A treaty limiting battleship size was not signed, and the treaties renewed in 1935 were canceled on the outbreak of World War II.
London Stock Exchange London marketplace for securities. It was formed in 1773 by a group of stockbrokers who had been doing business informally in local coffeehouses. In 1801 its members raised money for construction of a building in Bartholomew Lane; they established rules for the exchange the following year. In 1973 the London Stock Exchange merged with several regional British stock exchanges. In 1991 the exchange replaced its governing council with a board of directors, and it became a public limited company.
Londonderry locally and historically Derry District (pop., 2001: 105,066), northwestern Northern Ireland. It is also the name of a former traditional county, colonized by the English in 1609; the 1973 adminis¬ trative reorganization broke up the county into several districts, includ¬ ing Londonderry. Bordered by the Irish republic and Lough Foyle, it is centred around the seaport city of Londonderry. In 1969 the old city and the adjacent area were merged administratively, and in 1973 it became one of Northern Ireland’s 26 districts.
Londonderry locally and historically Derry Seaport (pop., 1995 est.: 77,000) and district seat of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. St. Columba established a monastery there in the 6th century, but the settlement was repeatedly destroyed by Norse invaders. In 1600 an English force seized the city; shortly thereafter James I of England granted the city to the citi¬ zens of London, who brought in Protestant settlers, and it was then that it became officially known as Londonderry. Growth of the modern city dates from the 1850s, when linen shirt making became important, and clothing manufacture remains a major industry. Home to two cathedrals, Anglican and Roman Catholic, it has been the site of terrorist violence. Steeped in the region’s political turmoil, controversy surrounds the city’s name. The British government officially refers to the city and district as Londonderry City, but since 1984 the nationalist-controlled city council has called itself the Derry City Council.
Long, Huey (Pierce) (b. Aug. 30, 1893, near Winnfield, La., U.S.—d. Sept. 10, 1935, Baton Rouge, La.) U.S. politician. Despite an impover¬ ished background, he managed to obtain enough formal schooling to pass the bar in 1915. Politically ambitious, he was elected state railroad com-
Jack London writing The Sea Wolf,
JACK LONDON STATE HISTORIC PARK
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1134 I Long Beach ► longhouse
L_
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missioner at 25. His call for state regulation of the utilities and his attacks on the Standard Oil Com¬ pany won him widespread popular¬ ity. As governor (1928-31) of Louisiana, he became nationally famous for his fiery oratory and unconventional behaviour, and his nickname, “Kingfish,” became widely known. He implemented public works projects and education reform but used autocratic methods to control the state government.
Elected to the U.S. Senate (1932—
35), he sought national power with a Share-the-Wealth program. In 1935 he was assassinated by Carl A.
Weiss, whose father Long had vili¬ fied. His brother Earl K. Long (1895-1960) later served as gover¬ nor (1939-40, 1948-52, 1956-60).
Long Beach City (pop., 2000: 461,522), southwestern California, U.S. The site was originally an Indian trading camp, and Spanish ranches were located there in the 18th century. Laid out as Willmore City in 1880 and incorporated in 1888, it was renamed for its 8.5-mi (13.5-km) beach. The discovery of oil nearby in 1921 led to rapid growth. An earthquake in 1933 caused extensive damage. It is connected to the Los Angeles harbour by the Cerritos Channel. The British ocean liner Queen Mary has been moored in the harbour since 1969.
long-distance running In track and field, any foot race over 5,000 m in length. Marathons and cross-country running are also considered long-distance events. Women rarely ran in races beyond 3,000 m until the late 20th century.
Long Island Island (pop., 2000: 7,448,618), southeastern New York, U.S., lying between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It has four counties: Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk. Kings County (the borough of Brooklyn) and Queens County (the borough of Queens) form part of New York City. At its western end it is separated from the Bronx and Man¬ hattan by the East River and from Staten Island by the Narrows. It is 118 mi (190 km) long, 12-23 mi (19-37 km) wide, and has an area of 1,401 sq mi (3,629 sq km). Its eastern portion has many beaches; it serves as a recreation area for New York City. Its southern shore, lined by sand spits (see Fire Island), shelters several bays, including Jamaica Bay. Originally inhabited by Indians (mostly Delaware), it was included in a grant to the Plymouth Co. It was settled by Dutch and English, but the whole island became part of the British colony of New York in 1664. It was the site of the Battle of Long Island (Aug. 27, 1776), an American defeat in the American Revolution.
Long Island Sound Body of water between the southern shore of Connecticut and the northern shore of Long Island, New York, U.S. It connects with the East River and with Block Island Sound. Covering 1,180 sq mi (3,056 sq km), it is 90 mi (145 km) long and 3-20 mi (5-32 km) wide. Its shores have many residential communities and summer resorts.
long jump or broad jump Track-and-field sport consisting of a hori¬ zontal jump for distance. It was formerly performed from both standing and running starts, as separate events, but the standing long jump is no longer included in major competitions. The running long jump was an event in the Olympic Games of 708 bc and in the modern Games from 1896. In 1948 the women’s long jump became an Olympic event.
Long March (1934-35) Trek of 6,000 mi (10,000 km) by Chinese Communists, resulting in the relocation of their revolutionary base from southeastern China to northwestern China and the emergence of Mao Zedong as their undisputed leader. Having withstood four of Chiang Kai- shek’s campaigns against their base area, the Communists were nearly defeated by his fifth attack. The remaining 85,000 troops broke through Nationalist lines and fled first westward under Zhu De and then north under Mao. By the time Mao arrived at Shaanxi, he was followed by only about 8,000 survivors, most of the rest having been killed by fighting, disease, and starvation (among the casualties were Mao’s two children and a
brother). At their new base the Communists were able to build up their strength at a safe remove from the Nationalists in preparation for their eventual victory in 1949.
Long Parliament Session of the English Parliament summoned in November 1640 by Charles I, so named to distinguish it from the Short Parliament of April-May 1640. Charles called the session to raise the money needed for his war against the Scots. Resistant to Charles’s demands, the Parliament caused the king’s advisers to resign and passed an act forbidding its own dissolution without its members’ consent. Ten¬ sion between the king and Parliament increased until the English Civil War broke out in 1642. After the king’s defeat (1646), the army, led by Tho¬ mas Pride, exercised political power and in 1648 expelled all but 60 mem¬ bers of the Long Parliament. The remaining group, called the Rump, brought Charles to trial and execution (1649); it was forcibly ejected in 1653. In 1659, after the end of Oliver Cromwell’s protectorate, the Parlia¬ ment was reestablished; those who were excluded in 1648 were restored to membership. The Parliament dissolved itself in 1660.
longbow Leading missile weapon of the English from the 14th century into the 16th century. Probably of Welsh origin, it was usually 6 ft (2 m) tall and shot arrows more than a yard long. The best were made of yew, might require a force of 100 lbs (45 kg) to draw, and had an effective range of 200 yards (180 m). English archers used longbows in the Hun¬ dred Years' War, and the weapon played an important role in the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. See also bow and arrow, crossbow.
(b. Feb. 27, 1807, Portland,
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Mass., U.S.—d. March 24, 1882,
Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. poet. Long¬ fellow graduated from Bowdoin Col¬ lege and traveled in Europe before joining the modern-language facul¬ ties of Bowdoin (1829-35) and Har¬ vard (1836-54). His Voices of the Night (1839), containing “The Psalm of Life” and “The Light of the Stars,” first won him popularity. Ballads and Other Poems (1841), including “The Wreck of the Hesperus” and “The Village Blacksmith,” swept the nation, as did his long poem Evan¬ geline (1847). With Hiawatha (1855), The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858), and Tales of a Way- side Inn (1863), including “Paul Revere’s Ride,” he became the best¬ loved American poet of the 19th cen¬ tury. He later translated Dante’s Divine Comedy (1867) and published his intended masterpiece, Christus, a trilogy on Christianity (1872). The hallmarks of his verse are gentle¬ ness, simplicity, and an idealized vision of the world.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
HISTORICAL PICTURES SERVICE, CHICAGO
longhair Generic term for any member of breeds of domestic cats noted for their long, soft, flowing coat. Longhair breeds include Balinese, Bir¬ man, Cymric, Himalayan, Javanese, Norwegian forest cat, Maine coon cat, Persian, Ragdoll, Somali, and Turkish Angora. Though considered more lethargic than shorthair cats, longhairs are, like shorthairs, noted for playfulness, affection, and the ability to defend themselves if necessary.
Long hi \Toq-ge\, Pietro orig. Pietro Fa lea (b. 1702, Venice—d. May 8, 1785, Venice) Italian painter. Son of a Venetian goldsmith, he studied painting in Bologna and thereafter became known for his scenes of every¬ day life among Venice’s upper class and bourgeoisie. Popular for their charm and seeming naivete, his paintings have a Rococo sense of the inti¬ mate and manifest the interest in social observation characteristic of the Enlightenment. He also painted landscapes and portraits.
longhouse Traditional communal dwelling of the Iroquois Indians until the 19th century. The longhouse was a rectangular box built out of poles, with doors at each end and saplings stretched over the top to form the roof, the whole structure being covered with bark. It was about 20 ft (6 m) wide and could be more than 200 ft (60 m) in length, depending on the number of families living in it. Down the middle of the house were fires, which were shared by families on either side. The term is also applied today to an Iroquois building designated as church and meeting hall, though its form is entirely different. See also pole construction.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
longitude ► Loos I 1135
longitude See latitude and longitude
Longmen caves or Lung-men caves Series of Chinese cave temples carved into the rock of a high riverbank south of Luoyang, in Henan province. Construction began late in the Northern Wei dynasty (ad 386-535) and continued sporadically through the 6th century and the Tang dynasty. Delicately crafted to create ethereal effects in stone, the temples contain images of the Buddha clothed as a Chinese scholar. Work at Long- men culminated in 672-675 with the construction of a monumental shrine known as Fengxian Si, which includes a seated Buddha more than 35 ft (10.7 m) high.
Longshan culture or Lung-shan culture (2500-1900 bc) Neolithic culture of China’s Huang He (Yellow River) valley. Large sites with rammed-earth walls have been found. Characteristic Longshan pot¬ tery has thin walls and is well crafted; there are tall-stemmed black cups with eggshell-thin walls as well as polished black beakers. Oracle bones were used for divination. There is evidence of differentiation in social sta¬ tus, and jade artifacts and traces of metallurgy have been found.
longship or Viking ship Sail-and-oar vessel widely used in northern Europe for more than 1,500 years. It was a 45-75-ft (14-23-m) galley with up to 10 oars on a side, a square sail, and a 50-60-man capacity. Double-ended and built with overlapped planks, it was exceptionally sturdy in high seas. Examples have been found from as early as 300 bc. It carried the Vikings on their piratical raids of the 9th century and bore Leif Eriksson to America in 1000. Dutch, French, English, and German merchants and warriors also used it.
Longstreet, James (b. Jan. 8, 1821, Edgefield District, S.C., U.S.—d. Jan. 2, 1904, Gainesville, Ga.) U.S. army officer. He graduated from West Point but resigned from the U.S. Army when South Carolina seceded. Appointed brigadier general in the Confederate army, he fought in the battles of Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. He was second in com¬ mand to Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg, where his delay in attacking contributed to the Confederate defeat. He later directed the Con¬ federate attack at Chickamauga. He was badly wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness but later resumed his command. He surrendered with Lee at Appomattox Court House. He later served as U.S. minister to Turkey (1880-81) and commissioner of Pacific railways (1898-1904).
Lonnrot \Tcen-rutV Elias (b. April 9, 1802, Sammatti, Swedish Finland—d. March 19, 1884, Sammatti, Russian Finland) Finnish folk¬ lorist and philologist. While serving as a medical officer for 20 years in a remote part of eastern Finland, Lonnrot collected linguistic information and folk poetry from the region’s inhabitants. Believing that the short poems were fragments of a continuous epic, he added connective mate¬ rial of his own and assembled them into the Kalevala (1835, enlarged 1849), which became the Finnish national epic. He also published Old Songs and Ballads of the Finnish People (1840—41) and other collections.
Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen orig. Kathleen Yardley (b. Jan. 28, 1903, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ire.—d. April 1, 1971, London, Eng.) Irish-born British crystallographer. In 1929 her X-ray crystallography techniques established the regular hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms in molecules of benzene compounds. She developed a technique with which she measured (to seven figures) the distance between carbon atoms in diamond. She also applied crystallographic techniques to medical prob¬ lems, in particular the study of bladder stones and certain drugs. In 1945 she became the first woman elected to the Royal Society of London, and in 1956 she was created Dame of the British Empire.
loofah or luff a \Tii-fa\ Any of six species of annual climbing vines, also called vegetable sponge or sponge gourd, that make up the genus Luff a in the gourd family, native to the Old World tropics. Two species cultivated in temperate areas (L. acutangula and L. aegyptiaca ) produce 1 -ft (30-cm) cucumber-shaped fruits. Edible and greenish when young, these fruits become straw-coloured with age. On removal of the skin, pulp, and seeds, there remains a complex of closely netted vascular bundles (food- and water-carrying tubes) that resembles a sponge in texture. This spongelike product is used for bathing, for washing dishes, and as an industrial fibre.
loom Machine for weaving cloth. The earliest looms, from the 5th mil¬ lennium bc, consisted of bars or beams forming a frame to hold a num¬ ber of parallel threads in two alternating sets. By raising one set of these threads (which together formed the warp), it was possible to run a cross thread (a weft, or filling) between them. A shuttle carried the filling strand
through the warp. The fundamental operation of the loom remained unchanged, but over centuries many improvements were introduced in both Asia and Europe. The drawloom, probably invented in Asia for silk weaving, provided a means for raising warp threads in groups as required by a pattern. In the 18th century Jacques de Vaucanson and J.-M. Jacquard mechanized this function by the ingenious use of punched cards; the cards programmed the mechanical drawboy, saving labour and eliminating errors (see Jacquard loom). In England the inventions of John Kay (flying shuttle), Edmund Cartwright (power drive), and others contributed to the Industrial Revolution, in which the loom and other textile machinery played a central role.
weft
cross
beam
breast beam
motion handle crosspiece
head roller
upright
beater
back
beam
beater
handtree
shuttle
cloth
roller
warp
roller
handle
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