Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/531

 LITCHI LITHIUM 525 of the first young ladies' seminary established in the United States. The village has become a favorite summer resort. Bantam lake on the S. border of the town is the largest in the state, and at Bantam Falls near its outlet, where there is good water power, several fac- tories have been built. The town was settled in 1720. In 1859 the town of Morris was taken from it, and in 1866 a portion was an- nexed to Torrington. LITCHI, a Chinese edible fruit, which is oc- casionally to be found in the fruit stores of our seaport cities. It is produced by a small tree, nephelium litchi, belonging to the sapindacece, the family which includes the horse chestnut, soap berry, &c. ; the leaves are pinnate, and the small apetalous flowers are in panicles at the ends of the branches. The fruit, which is borne in clusters, is globular, about an inch and a half in diameter, and when fresh is filled with a sweet, white, nearly transparent, jelly- Litchi. like pulp, within which is a single seed. The Chinese are exceedingly fond of the pulp, and esteem the litchi above all other native fruits. The fruits come to us in the dried state only, but they are dried for home use as well as for exportation; as found in the stores, the very thin handsomely marked shell is of a reddish brown color, and partly empty from the shrink- ing of the pulp in drying, which tastes some- what like prunes. Other species of nephelium furnish the longan and rambutan, fruits highly esteemed in China and neighboring countries ; but the litchi is the only one imported. LITHARGE. See LEAD. LITHGOW, William, a Scottish traveller, born in the parish of Lanark in 1583, died there in 1640. He was of humble parentage, and as soon as he attained manhood commenced a pedestrian tour on the continent. After travelling in Germany, Bohemia, the Nether- lands, Switzerland, and France, he proceeded to Italy, then visited Greece, western Asia, and Egypt, and returned to England, bringing with him "certain rare gifts and notable relics" from Jordan and Jerusalem, which he pre- sented to King James and the queen. Having remained a year in London, he set out for Africa, and traversed Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, returning home through Hungary, Poland, and Germany. In 1619 he departed on a third tour, bearing recommendatory let- ters from King James to all kings, princes, and potentates. These documents however did not much avail him, for on arriving at Malaga in Spain he was arrested as a spy and subjected to torture; his limbs were mangled and crushed, and his body lacerated with tight- ened cords. Through the intervention of the British consul he at length obtained his lib- erty, and was conveyed to England in 1621, a helpless invalid. His condition was so deplo- rable that he had to be presented at court re- clining on a feather bed. On recovering his health Lithgow was so imprudent as to assault the Spanish ambassador in the presence cham- ber, which consigned him for nine months to the Marshalsea prison. His latter days were passed in Scotland. The first edition of his "Adventures" was published in London in 1614, the latest in 1814. He was also the au- thor of a history of the siege of Breda (1637). LITIIIA (Gr. M0of, a stone), the oxide of the metal lithium, discovered by Arf wedson in 1817 in the mineral petalite, since found in lepido- lite, spodumene, and in several varieties of mica and feldspar, also in tobacco and mineral waters ; symbol LisO, chemical equivalent 30. It is an alkaline substance closely allied to pot- ash and soda. It is separated by igniting the their weight of quicklime, treating first with hydrochloric and then with sulphuric acid. The sulphate of lithia, being soluble, is thus separated from the insoluble sulphate of lime, and is afterward decomposed by baryta water, the hydrate of lithia after filtration being re- covered by evaporation ; this fuses below red- ness ; but as the alkali powerfully attacks plati- num, the capsules employed should be of sil- ver. Lithia forms several salts, which in gen- eral are remarkably fusible. LITHIUM, a metal first obtained by Bunsen ; symbol Li, chemical equivalent 7. (See LITHIA.) It is most easily reduced from the chloride by the galvanic current. It is a soft, ductile, white metal, susceptible of being welded and drawn into wire, but has less tenacity than lead. It fuses at 356, and is not volatilized at a red heat. It is the lightest metal known, its specific gravity being only 0*5936. It burns brilliantly, floats upon water and naphtha, and soon ab- stracts oxygen, its behavior being like that of sodium. It was supposed to be a very rare sub- stance, but Bunsen and Kirchhoff have shown by spectrum analysis that, though sparingly, it is widely distributed. Three salts of lithium, the carbonate, citrate, and bromide, are used in
 * pulverized minerals that contain it with twice