gates of Ardon, Chenizelles and Soissons; the ancient abbey of Saint Vincent and the church of Saint Martin, built in the 12th century. Laon was the seat of a bishopric until the Revolution. Its modern fortifications consist of an inner line of defense works and two groups of forts to the southeast and southwest. It has sugar and metal-manufacturing industries and is famous for its artichokes, asparagus and fruits. The town possesses an excellent museum, a lycée for boys, a girls' college and agricultural and normal schools. Pop. 15,228.

a

LAOS, lä'ŏz, or LAOTIANS, division of the Thai or Shan race of Indo-China, occupying the territory in northern India from Tongking to Cambodia in the Malay Peninsula. The people prefer to be called Thai rather than Lao, which is a political name, indicating the Thai peoples governed by Siam. Shan also is a political name, probably from the Chinese, and means the Thai peoples under Burmese rule. They are at present chiefly under French and Siamese rule although a species of independence is accorded a few tribes. The Laos came from the mountain districts of Yunnan. Szechuan and Kueichow, driving the wild tribes of the Kwa peoples away. Their civilization was of a comfortable order, with small states having few and easy laws and low taxes, and embodied for the greater part the adoption of Buddhism. The Laos are of a friendly, pleasant disposition, too easy-going to compete successfully in commerce; their chief occupations are along agricultural lines in connection with rice, silk and herds. The cutting of teak timber is done mostly by the wilder tribes in the mountains. There are two distinct divisions of the Laos, the Lao Pong Dam, or North Laos, and the Lao Pong Kao, or Eastern Laos. They possess written language, the Lao Pong Dam deriving theirs from the Burmese, while the Lao Pong Kao language is similar to the Siamese. The physical characteristics of the race are low stature, yellow complexion, high cheek bones, small, flat nose, oblique eyes, black hair and scanty beard. While polygamy is practised it is rare and the women of the race enjoy considerable freedom and are kindly treated. They have a distinct taste for music, their instrument being the "khen," a mouth organ of rather sweet tone; and they have a considerable development of folklore. From 1828 the Laos were governed by Siam, the most powerful Laotian state, Vien-Tiane being destroyed at that time. The government was thereafter conducted in part by native hereditary princes and partly by mandarins sent from Bangkok. The government is now divided between France and Siam. As a whole the Laos are lazy but peace-loving; they are superstitious, crediting disease to evil spirits and believing in wer-wolves. Men, women and children are alike addicted to tobacco smoking. Consult Granier, M. J. F.. 'Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine) (1873); Mouhout, A H., 'Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China, Cambodia and Laos (1864); Hallett, H. S., 'A Thousand Miles on the Elephant in the Shan States (1890); Gosselin. C., Le Laos et le protectorat français (1900); Reinach, L. de, Le Laos' (1902) and 'Notes sur le Laos (1906).

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LAOS, a territory in the French IndoChina Peninsula, surrounded by the British Shan states, Anam, Tongking and the Chinese province of Yuan-nan. Its boundaries and political status have been the subject of four international agreements, the last concluded in 1907, when the Luang-Prabang territory on the west side of the Mekong was partially restored to Siam. Its extent and the number of its inhabitants are unknown, but they have been estimated at one and a half million. country is intersected by mountain ranges and traversed by the Mekong or Cambodia River, the alluvial valley of which produces abundant sugar, rice, tobacco, etc. Laos exports to the ivory, gold, silver, precious stones, silk, etc. neighboring states a considerable quantity of The inhabitants are reported to be connected with the Burmese in their racial, social and religious peculiarities. The capital is ChingMai.

The

LAOSAURUS, lã-ō-sâ'rŭs, a genus of unarmored, herbivorous dinosaurs (q.v.) of the suborder Ornithopoda, whose remains are found fossil in the Jurassic rocks of western North America.

LAPAROTOMY, surgical operation consisting of the opening of the abdomen by making an excision in the loin in order to reach the abdominal cavity or pelvic viscera.

LAPEER, lạ-pēr', Mich., city and countyseat of Lapeer County, on the Michigan Central and the Grand Trunk railroads, 60 miles north of Detroit, 45 miles west of Port Huron and 41 miles south of Bay City. It was first settled in 1836 by A. N. Hart and was incorporated as a city in 1868. The municipal government is administered by a mayor and city council of eight members, elected every two years. It is located in a fertile agricultural region and is an important trading centre for poultry and farm produce. The waterworks are the property of and are operated by the municipality. The city has four banks, and its industries include numerous large factories, stone works, planing mills, flouring mills, stove works, a tannery, machine works and iron foundries. The Michigan Home for the FeebleMinded is located here; also the Lapeer Business College, High School and various church buildings. Pop. 3,946.

LAPHAM, lāp'ăm, Increase Allen, American naturalist: 6. Palmyra, Wayne County, N. Y., 7 March 1811; d. Oconomowoc, Wis., 14 Sept. 1875. From 1825 to 1832 he assisted in the survey of the Erie Canal, the Ohio Canal and the Welland and Miami canals. In 1833

he removed to Columbus, Ohio, as secretary of the State Board of Canal Commissioners, and also turned his attention to botany, meteorology and geology. He removed to Milwaukee in 1836 where he dealt in real estate and also made a thorough study of the Wisconsin climate, topography, geology, fauna and flora, its resources and its commerce. He was chief geologist of Wisconsin in 1873-75. He was a member of most of the scientific and historical associations of the United States. His publications, including maps, number more than 100 and represent an immense amount of research; the best known are 'Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin'

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(1844); Antiquities of Wisconsin (1855); Geological Map of Wisconsin' (1855). The first-named work was the chief authority on the subject for many years and had much influence in directing emigration toward Wisconsin.

LAPIDARY WORK. The lapidary is the skilled cutter, polisher and engraver of precious and semi-precious stones. This work was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who excelled in it, as the "glyptic» art, which term is used to this day to express the work done on intaglios and cameos. In the case of precious stones intended for jewelry or adornment the ancients at first had to satisfy themselves with rounding off the edges and irregularities of the crude stone and then polishing their surface. These rounded or pebble forms are known as "en cabochon" and are still usual in our carbuncles. The method of facetting to bring about a greater brilliance from light reflections on the many-faced surface required too great an amount of grinding until better abrasives were discovered, and the hardest gemstones, as the ruby and diamond, had to wait till the great cutting power of diamond dust was learned. See GEMS.

The invention of lapidary work dates back far behind the days of civilization, in fact to the time when the mind of the savage found that hard stones would cut softer ones. And hence we have our earliest extant engraved stone work on steatite, serpentine, limestone, lapis, etc., all of which are easily cut with splinters of flint or other hard stones available to the savage. Many specimens of real art engraving on stone are extant from such early states of civilization, as those of Babylonia, Egypt, the Ægean Islands, etc. These early engravings were done in the production of seals; those of the Babylonians, early Egyptians and Assyrians assumed the form of a stone cylinder, the incised characters on which were impressed on soft clay by the simple process of rolling, the engraved devices appearing in relief on the clay. Later we find the Egyptians reduced the proportions of their stone seals to what we would now call signet size, soon to receive a bored hole threaded with leather, wire or other material so as to be hung portably on the person. Later again the religiously venerated scarab beetle was carved on the obverse side of the signet by the lapidary. Soon the loop was reduced and used for the circlet of a finger ring- the embryo of the finger ring was therefore a signet.

As to the lapidary's technique in early days we know a little but not much, though the amount of deductive conjecture written by experts would cover many pages. The close examination of the surfaces of extant ancient examples affords fair evidence that sharp splinters of stone or chisels of metal were the tools used. The point rendered by a splinter of corundum set in some kind of handle could furnish the work we find done on the earliest pieces; in fact there are proofs that just before Roman times this tool was in use. Besides incising, however, we come across work impossible by such method. Here the drill was used to obtain the depth of cutting, the frequent use of holes is evidenced under a magnifying glass, the lines showing the drill perforation deeper than the chipped-out depths

done between to bring the connected holes into a line. This work was, no doubt, done with the very ancient bow-drill, the bit or drilling piece being pointed with a quartz or corundum end moistened with corundum powder and oil to create a cutting edge. Ancient specimens found on the island of Crete show us they used tubular drills, thus permitting, at a single process, the cutting of a ring or circle. It may be here stated that the Chinese, even the Maoris of New Zealand, still use the tube drill; the ancient Aztecs also used it. A great advance in lapidary work was brought about by the later discovery of the disc tool. By the 5th century B.C. the Greeks created marvelous stone engraving through the use of the revolving disc as an adjunct with the drill. The cutting power of a rapidly revolving disc edge is comparatively speedy and produces lines of mathematical accuracy and cleanness of incision. The potter's lathe dates back to very early civilization, with its motion produced by foot power on a large wheel or disc near the ground. Such a machine was, no doubt, used by the Greeks.

So far we have discussed only the production of incising devices in negative below the surface, the design being brought about in relief by impressing on soft surfaces (seals); such work is termed "intaglio." It was probably about the 5th century B.C. when the creation of positive engraving on stone, known as "Cameo" (see CAMEOS), was started. By this method a design in relief is brought about directly by cutting away the background and carving the subject in different depths as is done by the sculptor. The lapidaries producing intaglio work were known as cavatores or signarii by the Latins, and the workers in cameo were termed calatores or scalptores. Recent discoveries in the production of metals for cutting tools and inventions in lathes and other machines for lapidary work have aided our artisans to quicker production, but their output will not compare in quality and perfection of art with the marvelous intaglios and cameos of the ancients, done with great patience and paucity of tools. Consult Pannier, L., 'Les Lapidaires français du Moyen Age) (Paris 1882); Claremont, L., "The Gem Cutters' Craft' (London 1906); Natter, L., Traité de la Méthode antique de graver en Pierres fines, comparé avec la Methode moderne) (London 1754).

CLEMENT W. COUMBE
LAPILLI. See PYROCLASTIC.

LAPIS-LAZULI, the sapphire of the ancients, is a highly-prized ornamental stone. It was long supposed to be a simple mineral, but now has been shown to be a variable mixture of lazurite, haüynite, diopside, amphibole, muscovite, calcite, pyrite and other minerals. The most important mineral in the stone is lazurite, which is itself a highly complex compound, essentially Na. (Na S. Al) AlSiO2, but containing also in molecular combination varying amounts of haüynite and sodalite. Lazurite is usually massive, has a hardness of 5 to 5.5, a specific gravity of 2.45, and rich_azure-blue color.

Its most important localities are in Siberia, Persia, China and Chile.

LAPITHAE, a mythical race of Thessaly, whose struggles under the leadership of their king, Pirithoüs, against the Centaurs are a fre

quent subject in art and literature. The final contest was due to the unsuccessful attempt of the Centaurs to carry off Hippodamia, the bride of Pirithoüs, at their marriage-feast.

LAPLACE, Pierre Simon, pē-ār se-môn lä-pläs, MARQUIS DE, French mathematician and astronomer: b. Beaumont-en-Auge (Calvados), 28 March 1749; d. Paris, 5 March 1827. He studied the higher mathematics at the academy of Beaumont; in 1767 went to Paris and there by the influence of D'Alembert became professor of mathematics in the Ecole Militaire. By his brilliant memoirs on the theory of probability he attracted wide notice and in recognition was elected membre-adjoint (1773) and titular member (1785) of the Academy of Sciences. He was appointed examiner in the royal artillery corps (1784) and professor of analysis at the Normal College (1794); and in 1816, for the elegance of his style in the 'Exposition du Système du Monde' (1796), was admitted to the Académie Française, of which in 1817 he became president. Appointed by Napoleon Minister of the Interior (1799), he was shortly dismissed, being, according to the emperor, "below mediocrity as a minister," and aiming to "conduct the government on the principles of the infinitesimal calculus." He was, however, given a seat in the Senate, became its vice-president and in 1803 chancellor. He also held the post of president of the Bureau of Longitudes and was a member of the commission for the establishment of the metric system. On the creation of the empire he was made a count; but he acquiesced in the downfall of Napoleon, and was the recipient of a marquisate at the hands of the monarchy in 1817.

Nichol called him the "titanic geometer," and he has been styled also "the Newton of France." Among the more important of his remarkable investigations are the discovery of the inequality in the movements of Jupiter and Saturn; his researches in probabilities (contained in the Théorie analytique des probabilités, 1812, and the Essai philosophique sur les probabilités, 1814); his improvements in the lunar theory, and his theory of the tides. His chief work is the great 'Mécanique céleste' (1799-1825), a compendious solution of the problems of physical astronomy, and one of the greatest contributions ever made to science. It was translated into English by Nathaniel Bowditch (q.v.) (1829-39). A collection of Laplace's works in 13 volumes was made by the French government (1878 et seq.). Consult the life by Kaufman (Paris 1841), and Arago, 'Biographies of Scientific Men' (in Eng. trans., Boston 1859).

LAPLACIAN HYPOTHESIS. See CosMOGONY, GEOLOGY and LAPLACE.

LAPLAND, an extensive territory in the north of Europe, between lat. 64° and 66° N., and from the shores of Norway east to those of the White Sea; area, about 150,000 square miles, of which more than a half belongs to Russia; and the remainder is shared in nearly equal proportions between Sweden and Norway. Both from its geographical position and its physical conformation Lapland, or the country of the Lapps, is one of the most forbidding regions of the globe, consisting either of rugged mountains, some of them covered

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with perpetual snow, and many of them only for a short period free from it, or of vast monotonous tracts of moorland wastes. This extensive territory appears to have been at one time wholly occupied by the people to whom it owes its name; but its southern and better portions have been gradually encroached upon by Norwegians, Swedes and Finlanders. The Lapps call themselves Sabme or Sabmeladsjak (the Norwegians call them Finns), belong to the Ural-Altaic stock, and are consequently closely related to the Finns (Suomi). As a race they are the shortest people in Europe (four or five feet in height). They are spare of body, with dark, bristly hair and scanty beard, and short, often bandy legs. Though not very muscular, they are capable of great exertion and fatigue, and frequently live to a great age. The mouth is large, the lips thick and the eyes small and piercing.

The Lapps are usually distinguished_as Mountain, Sea, Forest and River Lapps. The Mountain Lapps, the backbone of the race, are nomads; they move constantly from place to place in order to find sustenance for their reindeer herds, their only source of wealth. In summer they go down to the fiords and coasts, but spend the rest of the year in the mountains and on the plains of the interior. The Sea Lapps, mostly impoverished Mountain Lapps, or their descendants, dwell in scattered hamlets along the coast, and live by fishing. The Forest and River Lapps are nomads who have taken to a settled mode of life; they not only keep domesticated reindeer, but hunt and fish. The nomad Lapps live all the year round in tents. The reindeer supplies nearly all their wants, except coffee, tobacco and sugar. They live on its flesh and milk; they clothe themselves in its skin, and use it as a beast of burden. It is computed that there are 400,000 reindeer in Lapland, for the most part semiwild. In his personal habits and in his clothing the Lapp is the reverse of cleanly: he gets his last bath when two years old. He is rather prone to self-indulgence, is good natured, but sad-featured and melancholy, miserly and selfish; he is passionately attached to his country. He is opposed to everything that has an appearance of frivolity or pleasure, especially dancing; although the nation is rich in folklore, hymns are preferred to the weird old national songs. The Lapps all profess Christianity; but there still lingers among them vestiges of the old pagan super stitions. Their imagination is easily excited, and they are readily susceptible to religious impressions of a sensational type; a notable "epidemic of this kind occurred at Koutokeino in Norwegian Lapland in 1848-51. Climatic conditions make their attendance at church infrequent; but the Lapp goes at least once a year, when the burials, christenings, marriages and communions follow each other in succession. It is regarded as a degradation for a Lapp to marry a non-Lapp.

Valuable beds of iron ore have been found within recent years in the southern part of Swedish Lapland, at Gillivari and Kiruna, respectively 44 and 100 miles north of the Arctic circle, and these are being developed by the Swedes with rapidity and thoroughness. Kiruna in 1886 there was not a single house; in 1914 there was a population of 10,000, with

At

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"movie" shows, a Salvation Army band and a trolley car system (the most northerly in the world) and other marks of an advanced civilization. On the opposite side of Luossajäryi there is a great mountain of iron ore (7 per cent pure metal), the largest deposit in the world, yielding over 3,000,000 tons a year. The Lapps themselves will not work in mines, regarding it as devil's work, and in consequence the mines are operated by a motley crowd of cosmopolitans.

The Lapps of Norway and Sweden belong to the Lutheran Church, those of Russia to the Greek Church. The Norsemen treated

the Lapps as a subject race as early as the 9th century, but had to reconquer them in the 14th; the Russians followed in the 11th, and the Swedes in the 16th. From the 13th to the 17th century the Lapps were kept in a state little better than slavery by Swedish adventurers known as Birkarlians. But at the present day both the Scandinavian governments bestow on them every consideration; they pay no taxes of any kind; they have an organized system of local government; stationary and ambulatory schools are maintained for the benefit of their children; and they are exempt from military service. The number of Laplanders is not supposed to exceed 30,000 of all descriptions, of whom Norway has nearly 15,000, Sweden about 7,000, the rest belonging to Russia. Probably one-third of them are nomadic. Consult Acerbi, G., Travels through Sweden, Finland, and Lapland . . . in 1798 and 1799) (2 vols., 1882): Du Chaillu, P. B., 'Land of the Midnight Sun' (New York 1882); and 'Land of the Long Night' (ib. 1899); Fulton, J. W. H., 'With Ski in Norway and Lapland' (ib. 1912); Rae, Ed., "The Land of the North Wind (London 1875); and The White Sea Peninsula' (ib. 1882); Tromholt, S., 'Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis) (2 vols., London 1885); Walter, L. E., 'Norse and Lapp' (New York 1913); and Lapland, Sweden's America, in "The American-Scandinavian Review (Vol. II, 1914).

LAPLAND LONGSPUR. See LONG

SPUR.

LAPORTE, la-port', Ind., city and countyseat of Laporte County, on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, the Père Marquette, Lake Erie and Western and several other railroads, 59 miles east of Chicago. It is the farming trade centre for the county; and is also engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods, agricultural implements, saw mills, cooperages, braiding mills, foundry and machine shops, sash and door factories, a brewery, manufactories of furniture, carriages, woolen goods, radiators, pianos, blankets, bicycles, flour, wheels, hubs, etc. It is an attractive summer resort, having several beautiful lakes in its vicinity; contains a handsome courthouse, city hall, Saint Rose's Academy, the Ruth C. Sabin Home, the Association House for women and girls, a hospital, Fox Memorial Park and public library; and has an electriclight plant, waterworks supplied from one of the lakes; several churches, national and State banks, daily, weekly and monthly periodicals, and an assessed property valuation of about $4,000,000. In the winter large quantities of ice are cut at the lakes here and shipped to

Chicago. The city is governed by a mayor and council, elected for a term of four years. The waterworks are the property of the city. Laporte was incorporated in 1832 and received its charter as a city in 1852. Pop. 12,533. Consult Packard and Daniel, 'History of Laporte County) (Laporte 1876)..

LAPPARENT, la'pa'rän', Albert Auguste Cachon DE, French engineer and geologist: b. Bourges, 30 Dec. 1839; d. Paris, 5 May 1908. He was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique and at the École des mines. In 1858-60 he was an engineer in the mining corps engaged in making a geological map of France; and in 1874 he became secretary of the Channel Submarine Tunnel Committee, and with A. Potier made the geologic surveys in connection with the Channel Tunnel project. He received the appointment of professor of geology and mineralogy at the Catholic Institute, Paris, in 1875; and was also professor of mineralogy, geology and physical geography of the École Libre des Haute Études. He was president of the French Geological Society in 1880, and was elected to the Académie des Sciences in 1897. He published Traité de Géologie (1 vol., 1881; 5th ed., 3 vols., 1905); 'Cours de mineralogie) (1884; 3d ed., 1899); 'Les Tremblements de terre) (1887); 'La Philosophie minerale) (5th ed., 1910), etc.

LAPPENBERG, Johann Martin, German historian: b. Hamburg, 30 July 1794; d. there, 28 Nov. 1865. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, later studying in London, Berlin and Göttingen. In 1820 he was elected by the Hamburg Senate as Resident Minister at the Prussian court. In 1823 he became keeper of the Hamburg archives, and he there laid the foundations of his fame as a historian through his exhaustive researches, continuing in the office until 1863. He served as Hamburg's representative in the German Parliament at Frankfort in 1850. His publications include 'Geschichte von England' (2 vols., 1834–37); 'Ueber den ehemaligen Umfang und die Gechichte Helgolands (1831); Hamburgisches Urkendenbuch' (1842); "Urkundliche Geschichte des Hansischen Stahlhofes zu London) (1851), etc. He was also an editor of the 'Monumenta Germaniæ historica.'

LAPRADE, la'prad', Pierre Martin Victor Richard de (VICTOR DE LAPRADE), French poet and critic: b. Montbrisen, 13 Jan. 1812; d. Lyons, 13 Dec. 1883. He was educated for the law at Lyons but turned to literature for a career. He produced four volumes of verse in the years 1839-44, and in 1845 traveled in Italy engaged in literary research. He received the professorship of literature at Lyons in 1847 and in 1858 he was elected to the French Academy. The publication of his political satire Les Muses d'Etat (1861) caused his removal from his professorship at Lyons. He was elected to the National Assembly in 1871. His patriotic poetry ranks highest among his work. His verse includes 'Les Parfums de Madeleine) (1839); 'La Colère de Jésus (1840); Psyche' (1841); 'Odes et poèmes (1844); Idylls Héroïques' (1858); 'Poémes civiles' (1873); 'Le livire des adieux' (1878), etc. In prose he was author of 'Des habitudes intellectuelles de l'avocat. (1840); 'Questions d'art et de morale' (1861); 'Edu

cation Liberale) (1873), etc. Consult Biré, E., 'Victor de Laprade.'

LAPRADELLE, la'pra'děl', Geouffre de, French international lawyer: b. Paris, 1871. He was professor of international law at the universities of Paris and Grenoble, and in 1914 was exchange professor at Columbia University, where he received an honorary LL.D.; with Professor Politis he established in 1905 the Recueils des arbitrages internationaux. His writings cover discussions of international rights over territorial waters, disarmament and similar matters. Author of 'Imperialism and Monroeism'; 'Théories et practiques des fondations (1894); 'La questione du Maroc' (1904); La Guerre et le droit des gens' (1908).

LAPRAIRIE, la'pra'rē, Canada, capital, village of Laprairie County, Quebec province, on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River and eight miles southwest of Montreal on the Grand Trunk Railway. It is a summer resort and is growing in industrial importance. It was the starting point of the first railway built in British North America, in 1832. It possesses an old fort which in June 1700 was attacked by Col. Peter Schuyler and his New England troops in the "Battle of Laprairie." Pop. 2,388. Laprairie, also a district of 319 square miles in Quebec province.

LAPSE, legal term with several definitions. In the law of wills lapse is where a beneficiary under the will dies before the testator and the legacy is lost, or fallen and automatically becomes a part of the residuum of the testator's estate, unless provision is made in the will to prevent such lapse. In several States the law provides against total lapses in certain cases, as in the instance of children or grandchildren surviving the legatee, in which case the bequest would go to the heirs by direct descent. There is a distinction between "void" and "lapse," a bequest becoming void when the legatee is dead at the time of the making of the will.

In ecclesiastical law a benefice is adjudged to have lapsed when the patron fails within six months after the avoidance of the benefice to exercise his right of presentment. In such case the rights of patronage devolve upon the bishop as ordinary patron, the metropolitan as superior patron, and the sovereign as patron paramount of all the benefices in the realm.

In English criminal procedure "lapse" is used in the sense of "abate," to indicate that the death of one of the parties involved brought the proceedings to a conclusion.

LAPSED, term applied in the early days of Christianity to those converts who fell away from faith in times of persecution, returning to heathen practices such as idol worship, burning incense or sacrificing to the heathen gods. Excommunication was the punishment accorded such as denied the faith or reverted to heathen practices, and there was vigorous opposition to their being restored to the Church. However, on profession of penitence they were permitted to hope for reinstatement in the Church, but were compelled to pass a long probation and perform special penances, and most often were admitted to communion only at the time of death.

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LAPUTA, island described in Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels' as floating in the air guided by a loadstone under the control of the inhabitants. It was peopled by a race of philosophers devoted to mathematics and music, and who let their land run to waste and their people live in penury while they devoted themselves to visionary schemes such as softening marble "for "for pillows and pincushions, extracting "sunbeams from cucumbers" for use in raw weather, and similar absurdities, directed as satire against Sir Isaac Newton and the Royal Society. The duty it was to awaken them from their deep philosophers were attended by "flappers" whose introspection when addressed. Laputa in many respects resembles the "lantern-land” in Rabelais' "Pantagruel," Swift being generally believed to have imitated that work.

LAPWING, a plover (Vanellus vanellus or cristatus), found throughout temperate Europe and Asia, across the whole breadth of which it breeds. It has a hind toe and in this respect departs from the true plovers. In the summer a few are found as far north as Norway, Iceland and Greenland, and in winter they migrate for the most part to Africa and India. In its habits the lapwing much resembles the American killdeer; and, like that bird, it is hated by gunners on account of its alarm-cries. This pursuit and the market demand for its flesh, and more especially for its eggs, greatly reduced its numbers, especially in Great Britain, where it is again on the increase due to its recent protection by law. The lapwing is noteworthy for the long flowing crest on the head, the contrasting white and deep iridescent green of its plumage, and for its peculiar jerking, yet rapid flight. In the breeding season it is always seen in pairs, but in the winter months great flocks are visible on the seashore and on the borders of marshes. Consult Newton, 'Dictionary of Birds' (London 1896), and 'The Lapwing, Green Plover, or Peewit' (in Agriculture and Fisheries Board of Great Britain, Leaflet No. 44' 9th ed., ib. 1905).

LAPWORTH, Charles, English scientist: b. Farringdon, Berkshire, 1842. He was trained as a schoolmaster at Culham College, ham University, holding the chair until 1913. 81. The whole of his leisure was devoted to geology, and in 1881 he was appointed professor of geology and physiography at Birmingham University, holding the chair until 1913. He has done notable work in his geological investigations, especially in the Durness-Eriboll district of Scotland, which he began in 1882, and during the course of which he established his theory of "rock-fold" and interpreted the complicated strata which had baffled previous observers. Among his works are 'The Geological Distribution of the Rhabdophora' (1880) 'Intermediate Text-Book of Geology) (1899); 'British Grapholites' (1900-08), etc.

LARAMIE, lăr'a-mē, Wyo., city and county-seat of Albany County, on the Laramie River and the Union Pacific Railroad, 58 miles west of Cheyenne, the State capital. It is a popular summer resort, being situated on the plains in close proximity to the mountains. It is the shipping and trade centre for a large stock-raising and mining section; and is also