Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/833

* LANGLEY. 7 and many other foreign societies. He has re- ceived the Janssen medal of the Institute of France, and the Kumford medal of the Royal So- ciety of London. For several year^ he gave much study to aerial locomotion, and in 1897 otlicially reported that mechanical flight could be attained. LANGLOIS, lU.N'ghva', Victor (1829-69). A French Orientalist, born at Dieppe. After devot- ing considerable time to the study of Oriental languages, he was sent in 18.52-53 by the iliu- ister of Public Instruction to Cilicia and Ar- menia, where he made exten.sive excavations and collected numerous antiquities, including more than eighty new Greek inscriptions and a collec- tion of figures in terracotta found in the cem- etery of Tarsus in Cilicia. He ne.t went to Italy, where, besides procuring ancient documents con- cerning the relations between France and Ar- menia during the Crusades, he collected data for an important work on the doctrines of the Mechi- tarists. the most celebrated of the Armenian monks. In addition to this work, which appeared in 1862, he published Le mont Athos et ses mo- nastcrcn ( 1807 ). with a lithographic copy of the Greek manuscript of the geography of Ptolemy (seventeenth eenturj'), found by him in the libra- ries of the monasteries of Mount Athos. Turkey. He al.so undertook the publication of an account of his researches, in his Collection des historiens aiiciens et modernes de I'Arm^tiie (1868), of which, however, only one volume appeared. LANGNATJ, liing'nou. A town of Switzer- land, situated on the Ilfis, 13 miles east of Bern (Map: Switzerland. B 2). Langnau is the prin- cipal market for the cheese and linen thread of the Emmenthal. Population, in IdOO. 8200. LANGBAND-DTJMONCEATT, lax'griiN'-du'- niOx'sy. ANDREAS. Count (1826-1900). A Bel- gian banker, born in Li&ge. He attracted atten- tion by his plan for bringing capital under the influence of the Church. Thanks to the patron- age of many high Church dignitaries, he was en- abled to found a bank in Brussels, and often ren- dered financial assistance to the Pope. who. in recognition of his services, made him a count. Langrand-Dumonceau was intrusted with an enormous amount of capital by many wealthy people. He carried on his business transactions till 1870. when he became bankrupt. While judicial inquiries were being made into his alTairs, he managed to abscond. He was. how- ever, sentenced in contumaciam to fifteen years' imprisonment for embezzlement. LANGREO, lan-gra'6. A mining town of Northern Spain, in the Province of Oviedo, situ- ated among the mountains. IS miles from the coast and 10 miles east of Oviedo. Tn the neigh- borhood are important coal and iron mines, and the town has iron-foundries and considerable iron manufactures. Population, in 1900. IS.?.";!. liANGRES, liiN'gr'. An ancient town of France, a first-class fortress and capital of the arrondissement of the same name, in the Depart- ment of flaute-Marne (ilap: France. M 4). Tt is situated on an elevated plateau. 21 miles by rail from Chaumont. Tt has a fine twelfth-cen- tury cathedral in Transition style, numerous con- vents, a comnuinal college, a museum with col- lections of antiquities and paintincrs. a library, .nnd a monument to Diderot, a native of T.ansrres. Tlie chief industry is the manufacture of cutlery, for which the town is famous. The trade is >5 LANGSTON. chiefly in iron products, grain, oil, and textiles. The town has been the seat of a bishopric since the Roman jjeriod. Population, in 1891, 10,719; in 1901, 9921. Langres is believed to have de- rived its name from the Celtic people Lingones, who occupied it in Casar's time, when it was known as Andomatunnum. LANG'SHAN (Chinese name). A breed of domestic fowls, the smallest in the Asiatic class. They are active and lively; the cocks weigh 10 pounds, and the hens 7 pounds. Howard de- scribes two varieties, the black and the white. The black, in plumage of neck, back, saddle, and sickles, is glossy metallic black, with greenish sheen; brea.st, primaries, secondaries, tail, fluff, .shank, and toe-feathers, black ; the under color is black or dark .slate. The white Langshan is pure white throughout. This is an old and well- known breed, highly esteemed for all good quali- ties. LANGSIDE. A village two miles south of Glasgow, Scotland, where on May 13, 1.568, a skirmish was fought between the forces of Mary Stuart (q.v. ) and those of the Regent ilurray. On May 2, 1508. Mary had escaped from the Castle of Lochleven, where she had been a prison- er, and immediately revoked the abdication which she had been compelled to make in favor of her infant son, .James VI. ( later .James I. of Eng- land). An army of 6000 men collected about her, but she was unable to take Dunbar Castle, and so marched in the direction of Dumbarton. At Langside Murray, with 4500 men, stopped the army of Mary, and defeated it in three-quarters of an hour. Mary fled to England after the bat- tle, crossing the border on May 16. 1658. In England she was kept a prisoner until her execu- tion in I.5H7. LANG-SON, lang'son'. The capital of the province of the same name in Tongking, French Indo-China, situated about 80 miles northea.st of Hanoi, with which it is connected by rail (ilap: French Indo-China, E 2). It is d"ivided into two parts; one contains the strong citadel, and the other the commercial and residential town. It is a station on the railway line from Hanoi to Yun-nan-fu. China, now in process of construction ( 1903). The town was taken by the French, after a hard struggle, in 1885. LANG^TAFF, L.^uxcelot, Esq. The name imdcr which Washington Irving. William Irving, and .Tames Kirke Paulding published Salma- (fundi. LANGSTON, .John Mebcer (1829-97). An American educator, born in I^ouisa County, Va. He was horn in slavery, the son of a white man, Ralph Quarles. by a negro slave, but was emanci- pated when he was six years old. He graduated at Obcrlin College in 1849. and from the theo- logical department there in 1853. In 1S54 he was admitted to the bar in Ohio, where for the next thirteen years he practiced his profession and held several town offices. In 1869 he became professor of law at Howard T'niversity. was ap- pointed dean of the law department, and in 1873 became vice-president of the university. Tn 1S71 he had lioen appointed a member of the hoard of health of the District of Columbia, and in 1871 was elected secretary of the District. He was T'nited States Minister and Consul-Oeneral in Haiti from 1877 to 1SS5. and upon his return accepted the presidency of the Virginia Normal