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LEPSIUS

1037

LESSEPS

by roughness or scaliness. Of true leprosy there are several well-marked types. The first is characterized by the formation of 4 nodules of tubercles in the skin, common "about the eyebrows, where they destroy the hair and produce a frowning or leonine aspect. After a time the nodules break down, forming ulcers, which discharge for a time and may cause extensive destruction and deformity. The tubercles may form in the nostrils; in the throat, altering the voice; on the eyelids, extending into and destroying the eyeball. In the second type the chief features are insensibility and numbness of parts of the skin, accompanied by deep-seated pains causing sleeplessness and restlessness. In the third variety much mutilation occurs owing to the loss of bones, chiefly of the limbs, a portion of a limb being frequently lopped off painlessly at a joint. All these varieties begin with the appearance on the skin of blotches of a dull coppery or purplish tint, the affected part being thickened, puffy and coarse-looking. When the redness disappears, a stain is left or a white blotch. Leprosy is now believed to be caused by a minute organism — a bacillus — and to be contagious. Though the disease is not so widespread as it was at one time, it still prevails in Norway and Iceland, the coasts of the Black Sea and Mediterranean, in Madagascar, Mauritius, Madeira, the Greek Archipelago, East and West Indies, Palestine and the Pacific islands.

Lepsius (lepf'se-obs), Karl Richard, a distinguished Egyptologist, was born at Naum-burg, Dec. 23, 1810, and studied at Leipsic, GSttingen, Berlin and Paris and between 1834 and 1842 published dissertations on the monuments of Egyptian art and their general architectural style. In 1842 he was placed at the head of an expedition sent to Egypt by the king of Prussia. When he returnee! three years later, he was appointed ordinary professor in Berlin. To the study of Egyptian archaeology he joined the investigation of the languages, history and monuments of the regions farther up the Nile, and to him, more than to any other man, belongs the honor of raising Egyptology to the rank of a scientific study. He died at Berlin July 10, 1884. See Ebers' Richard Lepsius.

Le Sage (lesdzhf), Allan Ren£, a French author, was born at Sarzeau, Brittany, May 8, 1668. His father died in 1682, leaving him. to the care of an uncle, who so wasted his inheritance that he had to begin life with no other capital but his genius and the education he had received at the Jesuit school ^in Vannes. He held an office in the collection of taxes in Brittany for a number of years, and in 1692 went to Paris to study law. He was admitted to the bar as an advocate, but soon abandoned the legal profession to devote his attention to litera-

ture. About 1695 he made the acquaintance of the Abbe* de Lionne, who granted him the use of a large Spanish library, with a pension of 600 livres, to enable him to pursue the study of Spanish literature. Le Sage achieved considerable success as a dramatist, but his fame rests mainly upon his novel, Gil Bias, which has been translated into all the languages of Europe and is still read with interest and delight. The fine delineations of character, the nervous style and the blending of the various portraits into one comprehensive picture are among the qualities of this book that have given it long life and great popularity. In the words of Scott, speaking of its author: "His muse moved with an unpolluted step, even where the path was somewhat miry." He died at Boulogne,'Nov. 17, 1747.

Lesbos (lez'bos) or Mityle'ne, a Turkish island in the ^Egean Sea, lies south of the Dardanelles, ten miles from the coast of Asia Minor, north of the Gulf of Smyrna. The island was early colonized by Molian immigrants and between 700 and 500 B. C. was the home of such poets and philosophers as Alcaeus, Sappho, Pittacus, Theophrastus and others. In the 6th century B. C., the island was subject to Persia for about 60 years. Then it belonged successively to Athens, Macedonia, Pontus, Rome and Byzantium. It came into the possession of Sultan Mohammed II in 1402. Its natural products are grapes, figs, wine and olive oil. Area 676 square miles. Population 125,500. Kastro is the chief city of the island. Population 18,500.

Leslie, Charles Robert, a painter, born of American parents at London, Oct. 19, 1794. Returning to Philadelphia in 1800, after spending a few years at school, he was apprenticed to a bookseller. In 1811 he obtained the long-desired opportunity to study the art of painting, and became a student in the Royal Academy at London. The first picture that brought him into notice was Sir Roger de Coverley going to Church. His principal pictures are scenes from Shakespeare, Cervantes, Le Sage, Moliere, Addison, Swift, Sterne, Fielding and Smollett. In 1833 he accepted the professorship of drawing at West Point, but gave up the position in the following year and returned to England, where he remained until his death, in 1859. Leslie's strongest points as a painter were power of expression and delicate perception of character as well as of female beauty.

Lesseps (Itiseps'), Ferdinand, Vicomte de, a French diplomatist and engineer, was born at Versailles, Nov. 19, 1805. Educated for the diplomatic profession, he filled various appointments at Lisbon, Madrid and other European capitals with marked ability and efficiency. In 1854 he conceived the plan of cutting a canal through the Isthmus of Suez, and in January, 1856,