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LAURENS

1036

LAVAL-MONTMORENGY

about 15 feet to a tree of about 60 feet. It has rather large, lance-shaped leaves, shining and leathery and clusters of yellowish-white or rose-colored flowers. The fruit is bluish-black, and, like the leaves, bitter and astringent, and^ is used medicinally. The leaves are used in cookery and for flavoring, and contain an oil known as oil of sweet bay. The light-brown wood is heavy and strong, and is employed for toolhandles. The great laurel is common south of Pennsylvania; very abundant and at its best in the high mountains of the Carolinas and eastern Tennessee. In park and garden it is cultivated in Europe and the United States. Our mountain laurel is found in dense thickets on the southern Appalachians. The beautiful flowers bloom in May and June. The ancient Greeks considered the laurel sacred to Apollo, and used entwined twigs to crown heroes and poets.

Lau'rens, Henry, an American statesman, was born at Charleston, S. C., in 1724. Soon after the commencement of the American Revolution he was elected delegate to the continental congress, and in 1777 became its president. In 1779 he was appointed minister to Holland, and while on his way was taken by the British and imprisoned for 14 months. After his release he, in conjunction with Franklin and Jay, signed a preliminary treaty with England in 1782, He died at Charleston, S. C., in December of 1792.

Laurens, John, American patriot and soldier, was born in South Carolina in 1756, the son of Henry Laurens. He entered the army in 1777, became aide-de-camp to Washington and the intimate friend of General Hamilton. He was wounded at Germantown, and distinguished himself in every battle in which he participated. Laurens was selected by Washington to undertake a special mission to France in 1781, but returned to take part at York-town in October. He was killed at the battle on Combahee River, in South Carolina, in August, 1782.

Lauren'tian Mountains, the elevated plateau, locally known as the Height of Land, which forms the watershed between the Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence system and forms part of the archaean geological system of Canada. The range is composed of ancient crystalline rocks, and has a total area of over two million square miles. Its average elevation is about 1,500 feet, and its surface is nearly everywhere hummocky or undulating. In the Labrador peninsula the Laurentides assume a mountainous character, and rise 3,000 and, in places, even 6,000 feet.

Laurier (lo'ri-a), Sir Wilfrid, G.C.M.G., P.C., a Canadian statesman, ex-premier of the Dominion and former president of the King's Privy Council, was born at St. Lin, Quebec, Nov. 20, 1841, and educated at

L'Assomption College. He intended at first to become a priest, but studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1865, He became a journalist, and because of articles in which he attacked abuses in the church was excluded from the Roman Catholic church. After serving in the Quebec Assembly from 1871 to 1874, he entered the Dominion Parliament, and in 1877 was appointed minister of inland revenue, a position which he held until 1878. In 1887 he was chosen to succeed Edward Blake as leader of the Liberal party in Canada's parliament, and became premier in 1896. He was knighted in 1897. By birth a French Canadian, he is a member of the Roman Catholic church and one of the most attractive as well as honorable and high-minded political personalities in the Dominion—an unrivaled orator and great parliamentarian, "whom all men, without distinction of party or race, admire, whose purity of purpose and conduct all recognize, who has the well-founded confidence in all respects of the Liberal party." From Toronto University and Queen's University, Kingston, he has received the honorary degree of LL.D.; while he was awarded similar honors from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. A pronounced imperialist, he is understood to look to the day when Canada shall be directly represented in the parliament of the mother country. His administration (1896-1910) marks one of the most prosperous periods in Canadian history.

Lava (Id'vd). Lava is the name applied both to molten rock and to the same material after it has solidified. Lavas differ greatly in composition. Hardened lavas also differ physically according to the rate of cooling, the pressure under which the solidification toot place or the amount of vapors present. If lava cools so quickly that its constituents do not crystallize, it is glassy. Volcanic glass is often called obsidian. The surface of fluid lava is often so full of gas-bubbles as to be somewhat frothy. This solidified rock-froth is scoria. A special variety of scoriaceous lava is known as pumice, which often is so light that it will float on water. Lava occurs about existing or extinct volcanic vents.

Laval - Montmorency (Id - vdl' mdn -mo-ron'se''), Francois Xavier de, was born in France, March 23,1622, and died at Quebec, May 26, 1708. He was chiefly known by one of his family titles, which was the Abbe* de Montigny. He received the appoint-

SIR.  W.   LAURIER