Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/745

* lyACHKYM^ CHRISTI. 673 LA CONDAMINE. are two kinds, the white and the red, the first being generally preferred. The demand for this wine being greater than the supply, large quan- tities of that produced in Pozzuoli, Istria, and Xola are sold under this name. LACHRYMAL ORGANS. The lachrymal organs consist of tlie gland which secretes the tears and is situated in the anterior upper and outer part of the orbit of the puncta, the canali- culi, the lachrymal sac, and the nasal duct. The diseases of these organs are limited to growths affecting the gland, e.xcessive secretion of tears, and impediments to their escape in the nose. See Eye. LACHRYMATORY, lak'rl-nia-tiri ( from ML. IdrriniiitoritDii, lacrytnatorium, vessel for tears, from Lat. locrima, OLat. d<tcrima. Gk. ioLKpv, dukry, Welsh dorr, Goth. Ingr, OHG. zahar, Ger. Zahre, AS. tfar, Eng. tear). The name applied to small bottles of glass or earth- enware foimd in ancient tombs, and used to con- tain perfumes or unguents. The name was given them under the erroneous supposition that they were used to contain the tears of the friends of the deceased. LACHTJTE^ la-shoot'. A town of Argenteuil County, Quebec, Canada, on the Ottawa River, 44 miles from Montreal (Map: Quebec, B 5), It has large paper-mills and wood-working indus- tries, and is an important port of shipping for dairy products. Population, in 1901, 2022. LAC-INSECT. Any one of the several scale- insects nf the coccid genus Carteria, which secretes lac (q.v.). Carteria lacca, of Asia, secretes the gum lac or stick lac of commerce and is found upon fig-trees (Rhamnus, Croton and Butea). Carteria larrew, of the Southwestern United States and Mexico, feeds on the creosole-bush (Larrea Mexieana) and secretes quantities of lac, which, however, has not been commercially vised. A third species {Carteria ilrxicaiia) oc- curs in Mexico upon the mimosa, but its product has not been used in commerce. The body of the adult female is sac-like in form, with no legs, and is imbedded in a mass of lac. The anal end of the body is furnished with three promi- nent tubercles, of which one. the largest, is really the tflrminal segment of the body, each of the others bearing a perforated plate which is presumably the organ through which the lac is excreted. If a bit of commercial stick lac be examined, it will be foimd to consist of an incrustation, one-fourth to three-eighths of an inch in thickness, upon small twigs. This in- crustation is filled with elongated cells in each of which is the shriveled remains of the insect which originally filled the cell and determined its size and shape. The insect is of the shape of a jug with three necks, and each of the necks fits into a tubular opening from the cell and really forms a lac-tube, each being provided with a spiracle for breathing purposes. The females are viviparous, and the young, reddish in color and provided with functional legs, issue from one of the tubes, crawl out upon the twig and settle. The males, as with other scale-insects, become winged. The lac produced by Carteria larrrtr upon the creosote-bush is chemically identical with the commercial Asiatic product, but the mas.ses produced by the individual in.sects are not crowded together as compactly, and pre- serve a rather globular form. Consult: Stillman, "Origin of the Lac," in The American Xaturalist, vol. xiv. (Philadelphia, 18S0) ; Comstock, Annual Report of the United Htutes Urpartment of Agri- culture for ISSl-S^ (Washington, 1882) ; O'Con- nor, Lac: Production, Manufacture, and Trade (Calcutta, 2d td.. 187G). LACKAWANNA, lak'a-wOn'na. A small river of Pennsylvania. It rises in the northeast- ern corner of the State, and Hows southwest through a narrow valley formed by the Shawnee and Moosie mountains, emptying, after a course of 50 miles, into the Xortli Branch of the Sus- quehanna betneen Pittston and Wilkesbarro (Map: Pennsylvania. F 2). It derives its im- portance from the fact that its valley with its southwest continuation, known as the Wyoming Valley, contains the largest and most important anthracite coal beds in the United .States. On the banks of the river are numerous cities and towns, the largest of which is Scranton,' and the valley is filled with collieries, rolling-mills, blast-furnaces, and factories. LACKEY-MOTH. A name given in England to a bombycid moth {Clisiocampa neustria) on account of the color and marking of its wings, . which remind one of a lackey's livery. It is closely related to the American tent-caterpillars (q.v.)". LACLEDE, la'kiad', Pierre Ligueste. See LiGUE-STE, Pierre L,clede. LACLOS, la'kUV. Pierre Ambboise Fb.^xcois Cuoderi.os de ( 1741-180.'{). A French novelist, best known as the author of Les liaisons dan- gereuses (1782), the most remarkable of many literary revelations of the moral dry-rot in the pre-Revolutionary French aristocracy. LACOME D'ESTALETJX, lA'kfim' di>s't:'le', P.ML .'e.vx -Tacqies (1838 — ). A French com- poser, horn at Houga. Gers. Descended from a musical family, he early began to study music, and when nineteen years of age became a pupil, in composition, of .Jose Puig y Absubide. In 1860 he went to Paris and. after having been a critic and journalist for a number of years, became one of that city's prominent comjiosers. His music is not remarkable, but it is singularly melodious, and several of his operas, e.g. La nuil de la Saint-Jean (1882). went beyond the boimdaries of Fi-ance. His other successful operas include: Jeanne, Jeannette et Jeanneton ( 187(i) : Le cadeau de noces (1893) : Le bain de '.Monsieur (1895): and Le marechal Chaudron (1898). LACON, la'kon. A city and the county-seat of Marshall County, 111., 15 miles north by east of Peoria : on the Illinois River and on the Cliicago and Alton Railroad (Map: Illinois, C 2). It has a fine high-school biiihling (#40.000) and a school library of 1400 volumes. A con- siderable grain trade is carried on. and there are a grain-elevator, a woolen-mill, a coal-mine, marble-works, etc. Population, in 1890, 1G49; in i;tnn. inoi. LA CONDAMINE, 1; knx'd.A'mfn', Cn.vBLEs M.KIE nE (1701-74). A French geographer and mathematician. He was born in Paris, passed an adventurous youth, and after sen-ing in the army began to study science. As a chemist he made some reputation, and in 1731 traveled through