Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/994

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They are all to be propagated by feeds, and the befl time for fowing them is in the beginning of April. They muft be fown upon a border of freih light earth, where they may enjoy the morning fun ; if they are expofed to too much fun, or fown on too dry a foil, they are ufually deftroyed while young by a fort of fly, but there is a way of guard- ing againft this, which is to fow a few radifhes on the fame ground ; for the flies being more fond of their leaves, will fpare the others. The radimes, however, muft not ftand too thick, for that would weaken the plants. When the young plants have got about fix leaves, they fhould be tranfplanted, to borders of light earth, where they may alfo enjoy the morning fun ; and here they fhould ftand at four inches diftance, and be watered and {haded till they have taken root, and in the latter end of the Au- guft following they may be tranfplanted to the places in the flower garden, where they will flower the fucceeding fpring. This laft trail fplanting fhould, if poffible, be done in a wet feafon.

Thefe are but biennial plants, for which reafon they mould b< fown every year ; and it is a good method to exchange feeds an- nually with a perfon who raifes good flowers in fome other place. All the kinds may be propagated by flips and cuttings, bu: they never are fo ftrong, or flower fo well this way, as-when railed from feeds. Miller's Gardners Di£t.

LEUCOLIBANON, in the materia medica of the antients, a name given to the white olibanum, or frankincenfe, which they carefully diftinguiihed from the reddiih or yellowiih olibanum. This was alfo called argyr olibanum, or the filver coloured olibanum ; and the yellow one cbalcolibanum. This latter word is ufed in the Apocalyps of St. John, and is mif- underftood fo far, as to be translated brafs, and fuppofed to be akindofbrafs from Mount Lebanon. SeeCHALcoLiBANON,

LEUCOLITHOS, in natural hiftory, a name given by fom< of the Greek writers to the pyrites argenteus, or fdvery py> rites. The antients had a great opinion of thefe foffils in difeafes of the eyes ; they ufed all the kinds of pyrites, or marcafite, after calcination, for this purpofe ; but as they diftinguiihed four kinds of them, they attributed thefe vir- tues, indifferent degrees, to the different kinds j therefore they had recourfe to fo many peculiar names for the di- ftinguifliing them ; and the white kind was called le:ieolitbos : to diiiinguifh it from the dufky one called the iron pyrites, and the deeper and paler yellow kinds, called the gold and brafly marcafites.

LEUCOMA, Arjxvpx, among the Athenians, fignified a pub- lic regifter of the whole city, in which were written the names of all the citizens, as foon as they came to be of age to enter upon their paternal inheritance. Potter, Archseol Grsec. lib. i. c. 13. Tom. I. p. 79.

LEUCOM^ENAS, in zoology, a name by which fome have called the /maris, a fmall fifh caught in great plenty in the Mediterranean. IVtllughby, Hift. Fife. p. 319. See the ar- ticle Smaris.

LEUCOPETALOS, in natural hiftory, the name of a beau- tiful ftone defcribed by Pliny, as being of a fine gold yellow, variegated with white.

LEUCOPHAGIUM, a name given by fome phyficians to a fort of medical aliment good in confumptions, and other general decays. It is compofed of fweet almonds macerated in rofe water with the tender fleih of a capon, all being finally boiled together to a pulp, capable of being pafled through a fieve.

LEUCOPIPER, in the materia medica, a name by which fome authors have diftinguifhed the white pepper. Mant, Exot. p. 10.

LEUCORHCEA, a name given by fome medical writers to the whites, or jiuor albus, a very troublefome difeafe to wo- men. See Fluor albus.

LEUCORODIUS, in zoology, a name by which fome have called the platea, or fpoonbill, a very remarkable kind of ftork or hern. See Platea.

LEUCOSTAPHYLOS, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the water elder, or opulus. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

LEVEN, in botany, a term ufed by Boccone for the milky juice contained in the globules placed at the tops of the ftalks of red coral. Thefe round buttons are the only part of the coral, which are foft while under water, and from thefe the milky juice is eafily exprefled by a gentle fqueez- ing between the fingers. The globules are each made up of five or fix little cells, not communicating with one another and each containing its own feparate quantity of this white and thick fluid. When the coral is newly taken up out of thefea, this juice is of a fharp, acrimonious, and aftrin- gent tafte; but when it has been fome time expofed to the air, it lofes the acrimony, and the aftringency of the tafte only remains. This change in the tafte is made in fix or eight hours, in hot weather, and the juice, in the fame time, lofes its colour and confiftence, growing hard and brown. Philof. Tranf. N p JOO.

LEVIRATE, in the Jewifh cuftoms, a term ufed by authors who have written on the law and cuftoms of the Jews, to denote particularly that law of Mofes, which obliges one brother to marry the widow of another, who died without children, and to raife up feed to him.

The word is derived from levir, which fignines, in Latin the hufband's brother, or the brother-in-law ; and the word leviraie has been hence formed, to exprefs the law whereof we have been fpeaking.

This law, which is an exception to that which condemns marriages between brothers and fifters, and between brothers- in-law, and fifters-in-law, feems to have been in ufe among the Hebrews and Canaanites before the time of Mofes ; lince Judah gives his firft born Er, and Onan his fecond fun, fucceflively to Tamar, and obliges himfelf to give her like- wife to Selah his third fon. Calm. DitSt. Bibl.

LEVISTICUM, in botany, a name given by fome to tigitjli- cu?n, or lovage. See Ligusticum.

LEVITICI, in church hiftory, a feci of heretics who fprung from the Gnoftics and Nicolaitans. Hofm, Lex. in voc.

LEAVING, in metallurgy, the fifting the ores of metals in water. This is done in fine fieves moved backward and forward under water ; and is the method of feparatin» the finer part of the ores which had fublided among the larger lumps, under that part of it feparatcd for ufe in the various waitings. The coarfer matter, left in the fi.eve, is pow- dered again with the larger mafles, and all thus lifted too-e- ther for the blowing-houfe. Ray's Englifh Words, p. 122.

LEXIARCHI, Ai&a^w, at Athens, fix officers, aflifted by thirty inferior ones, whole bufinefs it was to lay fines upon fuch as came not to the public aiTemblies, and alfo to make fcrutiny among fuch as were prefent. Potter, Archzol. Grasc. 1. 1. c. 13. Tom. I. p. 79.

The lexiarchi kept a regifter of the age, manners, and abi- lities of all the citizens, who were always enrolled at the age of twenty. Hift. Acad. Infcrip. Vol. 4. p. 93.

LEYGAGER, is ufed for wager of law- Stat. 1 Car. t. c. 3. Blount.

LIBADION, in botany, a name by which Pliny, and fome other authors, have called the centaureum, or centaury. Ger.

• Emac. Ind. 2.

LIBANIUM, in botany, a name given by Apuleius, and fome other authors to the common borago, or borrace. Ger, Emac. Ind. 2.

LIBANOMANTIA, Aj£*Mft«»W, in antiquity, a fpecies of divinatiqn performed with frankincenfe; which, if it pre- fently caught fire, and fent forth a grateful odour, was efteemed a happy omen, and vice verfa. Pgtter, Archaeol. Grnec. 1. 2. 14. Tom. I. p. 319.

LIBEL, in the law of Scotland, is ufed for a criminal accu- fation.

L1BELLA, in natural hiftory, the name of a very large o-enus of four winged flies, called by us adier-fiies and dragon- jlies. See Ely.

Thefe flies have all two very large and reticulated eyes, covering the whole furface of the head. They fly very fwiftly, and prey upon the wing, being of great ufe to mankind, in clearing the air of innumerable little flies. They are produced of feveral fpecies of fix-legged worms living in the waters, and figured by Mouffett, and other authors, under the name of pulices and katfles aquatices. Mr. Ray defcribes twenty three fpecies of thefe flies. 1. The common greateft libella with filvery wings. This is nearly three inches long, and is of a mixea colour of greenifli and blackifh. 2. The great Ubclla with a long and flender body, and with yellowiih wings. 3. The great libella with a long and flender body, of a lively green, inflated at both ends. 4. The common great libella with a fhort and broad yellow body. 5. The great libella with a Ihort and broad blue body. 6. The great libella with a long and flen- der yellow body, and with no fpots at the roots of the wings. 7. The great yellow winged libella with fmooth fhoulders. 8. The great libella with hairy fhoulders and re- ticulated wings, and with a very beautiful red body, thicker toward the tail than elfewhere. 9. The middle fized libella with a body partly of a green, and partly of a blue colour, with a row of large black fpots in the middle. 10. The middle fized libella with a blueiih body, and wings all over of a blueiih black. 11. The middle fized libella with a blueiih green body, and yellowifti unfpotted wings. 12. The green bodied middle fized libella with yellowifti wingsj marked with white fpots toward the ends. 13. The green bodied middle fized libella with pale green wings. 14. The middle fized libella with membranaceous filvery wings, with round brown fpots in the middle. 15. The fmall libella with reticulated wings, and with a green back with white joints. 16. The middle fized libella with a white back, with two black fpots at the joints, 17. The fmall li- bella with reticulated wings, with a red back variegated with black fpots at the joints. 18. The fmall ihort winged libella with a blue body, variegated with black fpots. 19. The fmall libella with fhort wings, variegated with white and brown fpots. 20. The flender weak libella 'with pellucid reticulated wings, marked with black fpots. 21. The fmalleft libella with a body variegated with green and black. To thefe Mr. Ray adds two flies, he took in Italy, with large and long wings, which were reticulated, and of a browniih co- lour, and were variegated with almoft innumerable brown fpots of various fizea.

Moft