Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/605

* LUNACY. 539 LXTNAK THEORY. property may be used for his maintenance, but in general the committee may sell it only upon order of the court, and then only for the lunatic's maintenance or for the ])urpose of reinvestment. The committee of the person of the lunatic has general charge of and control over the person of the lunatic, and may cause liim to be con- lined in such asylum as is authorized by law to receive and care for lunatics. It is now the uni- versal practice to regulate by statute the care of the incompetent insane, and to permit their confinement only in places designated by law and subjected to the frequent inspection of Slate huiacy commissioners or corresponding oificials. If one is improperly restrained of his liberty on the ground of insanity, he may resort to the writ of ]iahe<is corpiin; and in some States he has a statutory right to a writ de Uniatico inquircndo. The functions of the committees or guardians both of the person and the property cease ui)on the death of the lunatic, or upon the return of his sanity when judicially determined. They may also be discharged from their duties by order of the court for cause, or whenever they ask upon reasonable grounds to be relieved of their duties; and it then becomes the duty of the court to ap- piont a new committee or guardian. See In- sanity. Cimsult: Rodger. Domestic Relations (Chicago, 1899) : Browne, Domestic Relations (2d ed., Bos- ton, 1890) : Archibald. Lunacy Procedure (4th ed.. London. 1895) : Elmer, Practice in Lunacy (7th ed.. London, 1892) ; JI'Adam, Insanity and Lunacy (Xew York, 1895) : Pope, Law of Lunacy (London. 1890) ; Eeuton. Lrnr and Practice of Lunacy (London, 189G). For law of insanity and lunacy with reference to contracts, consult the authorities referred to under C'ONTR.CTS. For the law of insanity with reference to wills, consult the authorities referred to under Wn.L. For the law of insanity and lunacy with refer- ence to crime, see, particularly. Bishop, .Yf»? Criminal Law (Chicago, 1S92) : Wharton, Crini- initl Law (9th ed.. Philadelphia. 1885). and the authorities referred to under the title Criminal L.w. See also the authorities referred to under the title JIedical Jirisprudence. LTJNALILO, loo'na-le'16, William C. (1835- 74). A king of the Hawaiian Islands. On the death of Kamehameha V., the people chose Prince Lunalilo to be King, in .January. 187.'5. After a brief reign, which was marked only by a growing feeling of race hatred and by the mutiny of his household troops, he died at Honolulu on Febru- ary .3, 1874. He was succeeded by David Kala- kaua. LUNA MOTH (so called from the luniform eye-spots). One of the largest and most beauti- ful of the American moths (Tropeea luna). whose ^^■ings expand five inches. It is light green in color, with a purple-brown band along the front margin of the anterior wing, and an eye- spot on each wing consisting of a transparent centre and rings of white, yellow, blue, and black. The posterior wings are prolonged into two long tails. The caterpillar, when full grown, is three inches long, and is pale bluish green with a pearl-colored head, a pale yellow stripe along effect of the radial component is to draw the each side of the body, and a transverse yellow moon toward or away from the earth. This line on the back between each two abdominal seg- force is a maximum at syn-gies and qnadra- ments. It feeds on black walnut, hickory, beech, ture. and vanishes whetiever the disturbing force oak, maple', and other forest trees. The cocoon becomes perpendicular to the radius, which Vol. XH.— 35. is usually inclo.sed in leaves, and is not so com- pact as that of the polyplienius moth (q.v.J; it is either spun on the ground or falls there with the autumn leaves. The moth emerges the fol- lowing summer, and there is only one generation each 3car. LUNAR CAUSTIC. Fused nitrate of silver wlien cast into cylinders smaller than a slate pencil. It is white or pale gray when freshly prepared. E.xposurc to the air blackens and decomposes it, and when applied to the healthy skin it leaves a disagreeable mahogany-colored stain which later turns black. It is used locally in surgery for its antiseptic, hemostatic, astringent, caustic, and stimulant properties. Spongy or exuberant granulations ( popularly known as 'proud llesh") are destroyed by it: indolent ulcers, sores, sinuses, and cracked and fissured skin are healed by it. It may be ap- plied to the site of a wart which has been scra]>ed away. It is an excellent apjjlication for fissured nipples, for trachoma, and for mucous patches of mouth and throat. Nitrate of silver mixed with nitrate of potash and molded like lunar caustic forms the 'mitigated stick' or aryenti nitras di- lutus. This is employed when a less severe action is desired. LUNAR CYCLE. Sec ilETOxic Cycle. LUNAR THEORY. A theory dealing with the disturbances in the moon's orbit produced by the other heavenly bodies which attract the moon. Of these, the sun is the only one that affects the moon directly. The planets also act upon the moon, but their mass is loo small and their dis- tances too great to juoduce any sensible effect. They do, however, disturb the earth in her orbit, and so in an indirect way afl'ect the moon. The fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere pro- duces also a few disturbances. The lunar theory is the most difficult part of mathematical astronomy, and is still incomplete, involving as it does the 'Problem of the Three Bodies' (q.v.). The three bodies are the moon. the earth, and the sun. The sun's mass is .330.- 000 times that of the earth, and its distance 389 times that of the moon from the earth. Since the attr.action of one body on another varies di- rectly as the mass and inversely as the square of the distance, the sun's attraction on the moon equals = 2.18 times that of the earth. Thus the sun's attraction is more than twice as great as that of the earth, and if both were fixed in space the sun would naturally pull the moon away from the earth. Since this is not the case and the sun attracts the earth almost as much as it docs the moon, the result is that both fall toward it, combining this motion with that in the orbit. At new moon the moon is nearer the sun than at any other place in the orbit, and the sim's at- traction is then the greatest. Therefore, at new moon the curvature of the moon's orbit toward the earth is diminished, while at quadrature (q.v.l it is increased. It is convenient to resolve the disturbing force of the sun into three compo- nents, the radial, tanf/cntial. and orthononal. The