Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/119

Rh utensils of wood, bone, stone, bronze, and iron; 150 cart loads of bones were taken out. The ancient annals of Ireland relate that the island in Lake Lagore was plundered and burned by a hostile chief in 848, and that the buildings were pulled down by Norse pirates in 933. More than 50 crannoges have since been discovered in Ireland, and as many in Scotland. The latest discovery in Scotland (1871) is in Loch Etive, a platform 60 ft. in diameter, with a dwelling 50 by 28 ft. No essential difference of construction has been noted between those of the two countries.—See Keller, Die Pfahlbauten in den Schweizerseen (3 vols., Zurich, 1854–'60; English translation, London, 1866); Troyon, Habitations lacustres (Lausanne, 1860); Rutimeyer, Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten (Basel, 1861); Schaub, Die Pfahlbauten in den Schweizerseen (Zurich, 1864); Heer, Die Urwelt der Schweiz (Zurich, 1864–'5; English translation, "Primeval Life in Switzerland," London, 1874), and Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten (Zurich, 1865); Lyell, "Antiquity of Man" (London, 1863); Lubbock, "Pre-Historic Times" (London, 1869); and "Palafittes of the Lake of Neufchâtel," by E. Desor, in the Smithsonian report for 1865.  LAKE OF THE WOODS (Fr. Lac des Bois), a body of water in the Northwest territories of Canada, on the frontier of Minnesota, about lat. 49° N., lon. 95° W. It is 300 m. in circumference, and has an irregular outline indented with bays. A vast number of small islands dot its surface. The Winnipeg river flows from it on the north, and it receives Rainy river on the south. Wild rice grows plentifully along its shores.  LALANDE, Joseph Jérôme Le Français de, a French astronomer, born in Bourg-en-Bresse, July 11, 1732, died in Paris, April 4, 1807. His family name was Le Français, but he assumed that of Lalande at the outset of his scientific career. He was educated in the college of the Jesuits at Lyons, and was sent to Paris to study law; but making the acquaintance of De Lisle, he devoted himself to astronomy under him and Le Monnier. The latter in 1751 procured him a scientific mission to Berlin, where he was to ascertain, through astronomical observations, the distance between the earth and the moon, while La Caille was making similar observations at the Cape of Good Hope. He was presented to Frederick the Great, and, although but 19 years old, was made a member of the Berlin academy of sciences. On his return in 1753, he was elected to the French academy of sciences, assisted Clairaut in his researches on comets, especially that of Halley, and in 1760 became the editor of the Connaissance des Temps, which he conducted till 1775, and subsequently from 1794 till his death. In 1762 he succeeded De Lisle in the chair of astronomy at the collége de France, and during 45 years delivered lectures on that science. He reached the height of his fame when he published a map illustrating the two transits of Venus which were to take place in 1761 and 1769, and showing the exact time of those transits for all countries on the globe. About the same time he announced to the world the results of the calculations through which the distance between the sun and the earth had been definitely ascertained. He gave much attention to navigation, and delivered lectures and published works on this subject, which are highly valued. But the popularity acquired by his scientific labors did not satisfy his thirst for fame; and in order to keep public curiosity constantly alive, he stationed himself on the Pont-Neuf to give astronomical explanations to passers by; announced that he would travel in a balloon from Paris to Gotha, where a scientific congress was to be held; had it reported that he ate spiders, caterpillars, worms, and other insects; and professed the boldest atheism. Lalande's principal work is the Traité d'astronomie (2 vols. 4to, Paris, 1764), which exceeded in utility all previous treatises of the kind.  LALEMANT, a Parisian family, of which several members were prominent in the early French missions in Canada. I. Charles, born Nov. 17, 1587, died in Paris, Nov. 18, 1674. He became a Jesuit in 1607, and in 1625 went to Canada, where he was superior of the missions. While going with ships to the relief of Quebec in 1629, he was wrecked near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and narrowly escaped, some of his associates being drowned. He returned to Canada in 1634, after its restoration by England, when he took charge of the church of Notre Dame de Recouvrance in the lower town of Quebec, and opened the first school. After attending Champlain on his deathbed he returned to Europe in 1638, was rector of colleges at Rouen, La Flèche, and Paris, superior of the professed house, and vice provincial. Several of his letters have been printed: Copie de trois lettres escrittes ès année 1625 et 1626 (Albany, 1870, reprinted from Sagard and Martin); Lettre envoyée au P. Hierosme l'Allemant, où sont contenus les mœurs, &c., des sauvages (Paris, 1627, and in the Mercure Français, 1626; both, Albany, 1870); Lettre envoyée de Bordeaux, describing his shipwreck, published in Champlain (Paris, 1632; Albany, 1870). '''II. Jérôme,''' brother of the preceding, born in 1593, died in Quebec, Jan. 26, 1673. He entered the Jesuit order in 1609, and went to Canada in June, 1638, having been rector of several colleges in France. He was on the Huron mission till 1645, and was superior of all the missions in Canada from 1644 to 1650; made two voyages to France, where for a time he was rector of the college of La Flèche, but returned again in 1659 with Bishop Laval as superior of the missions, having been recommended to the king by the Canada company for the bishopric. He is the author of five of the "Jesuit Relations" of the Huron missions, and of six of the general volumes, for the years 1645–'8 and 1661–'4. '''III. Gabriel,''' 