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very good credit, that his father kept a goose known to be fourscore years of age, and as yet sound and lusty, and like enough to have lived many years longer, had he not been forced to kill her for her mischievousness, worrying and destroying the young geesc and goslings. In another part of his valuable work, Mr. Willoughby tells us, that he has been assured by credible persons, that a goose will live a hundred years and more. In man and quadrupeds, the duration of life bears some proportion to the times of their growth. But, in birds, their growth, and their powers of reproduction, are more rapid, though they live proportionally longer. Some species of birds, as all the gallinaceous tribes, can make use of their limbs the moment they issue from the shell; and, in a month or five weeks after, they can likewise employ their wings. A dunghill cock does not acquire his full growth in less than a year. The smaller birds are perfect in four or five months. They grow more rapidly, and produce much soon

peasant. Neither does the difference of food, or of accommodation, make any change in the duration of life. Men who are fed on raw flesh or dried fish, on sago or rice, on cassada or roots, live as long as those who use bread and prepared victuals. If luxury and intemperance be excepted, nothing can alter those laws of mechanism which invariably determine the number of our years. Any little differences which may be remarked in the term of human life, seem to be chiefly owing to the quality of the air. In general, there are more old men in high than in low countries. The mountains of Scotland, of Wales, and of Switzerland, have furnished more examples of longevity than the plains of Holland, Flanders, Germany, or Poland. But, if we take a survey of mankind, whatever be the climate they inhabit, or their mode of living, there is no very essential difference in the duration of life. When men are not cut off by accidental diseases, individuals may every where be found who live ninety or a hundred years. Our ancestors, with few exceptions, never exceed-er than quadrupeds, and yet they live proportioned this period; and, since the days of David, king ally much longer. In man and quadrupeds, the of the Jews, it has undergone no variation. Beside duration of life is about six or seven times more accidental diseases, which are more frequent, as than that of their growth. According to this rule well as more dangerous, in the latter periods of a cock or a parrot, which arrive at their full growth life, old men are subjected to natural infirmities and powers in one year, should not live above six that originate solely from a decay of the different or seven. But nature knows none of our rules. parts of the body. The muscles lose their tone, She accommodates her conduct, not to our shalthe head shakes, the hands tremble, the limbs tot- low, and often presumptuous, conclusions, but to ter, the sensibility of the nerves is blunted, the the preservation of species, and to the support and cavities of the vessels contract, the secretory or- general balance of the great system of animated gans are obstructed, the blood, the lymph, and the beings. Ravens, though capable of providing for other fluids, extravasate, and produce all those themselves in less than a year, sometimes have symptoms and diseases which are commonly as- their lives protracted more than a century. The cribed to a vitiation of the humors. The natural Count de Buffon informs us, that, in several places decay of the solids, however, appears to be the in France, ravens have been known to arrive at original cause of all these maladies. It is true, this extraordinary age, and that, at all times, and in that a bad state of the fluids proceeds from a de-all countries, they have been esteemed birds of pravity in the organization of the solids. But the great longevity. effects resulting from a noxious change in the fluids produce the most alarming symptoms. When the fluids stagnate, or if, by a relaxation of the vessels, an extravasation takes place, they soon corrupt, and corrode the weaker part of the solids. Hence the causes of dissolution gradually, but perpetually, multiply; our internal enemies grow more and more powerful, and at last put a period to our existence. With regard to quadrupeds, the causes of their dissolution are precisely the same with those which destroy the human species, with the exception of those which depend upon the vices and intemperance of mankind. The times of their growth bear, likewise, some proportion to the duration of their lives.

Some birds afford instances of great longevity. In this class of animals, the duration of life is by no means proportioned to the times of their growth. Most of them acquire their full dimensions in a few months, and are capable of multiplying the species the first spring or summer after they are hatched. In proportion to the size of their bodies, birds are much more vivacious, and live longer than either men or quadrupeds. Swans have been said to live three hundred years; but, though mentioned by respectable writers, the assertion is not supported by any authentic evidence. Mr. Willoughby, in his Ornithology, remarks, 'We have been assured by a friend of ours, a person of

From the facts which have been enumerated, it appears, that all animals, as well as vegetables, have stated periods of existence, and that their dissolution is uniformly accomplished by a gradual hardening and desiccation of their constituent parts. No art, no medicine, can retard the operations of nature. It is, therefore, the wisdom and the duty of every human being to sail down the irresistible current of nature with all possible tranquillity and resignation. Life, whether short or long, whether fortunate or unfortunate, when the fatal period arrives, is of little consequence to the individual. Society, knowledge, virtue, and benevolence, are our only rational enjoyments, and ought to be cultivated with diligence.

With regard to animals in general, the actual duration of their lives is very different. But the comparative shortness or length of life, in particular aniinals, probably depends on the quickness or slowness of the ideas which pass in their minds, or of the impressions made upon their senses. A rapid succession of ideas or impressions makes time seem proportionally long. There is likewise a connexion between the quickness and slowness of ideas, and the circulation of the blood. A man whose pulse is slow and sluggish, is generally dull and phlegmatic. Raise the same man's pulse with wine, or any other exhilarating stimulus, and you

immediately quicken his sensations, as well as the train of his ideas. In all young animals, the circulation of the blood is much more rapid than after they have acquired their full growth. Young animals, accordingly, are frolicksome, vivacious, and happy. But, when their growth is completed, the motion of the blood is slower, and their manners, of course, are more sedate, gloomy, and pensive. Another circumstance merits attention. The circulation of the blood is slower or quicker in proportion to the magnitude of animals. In large animals, such as man and quadrupeds, the blood moves slowly, and the succession of their ideas is proportionally slow. In the more minute kinds, as mice, small birds, squirrels, &c. the circulation is so rapid that the pulsations of their arteries cannot be counted. Now, animals of this description astonish us with the quickness of their movements, the vivacity of their manners, and the extreme cheerfulness of their dispositions.

Reaumur, Condillac, and many other philosophers, consider duration as a relative idea, depending on a train of conscious perception and sentiment. It is certain that the natural measure of time depends solely on the succession of our ideas. Were it possible for the mind to be totally occupied with a single idea for a day, a week, or a month, these portions of time would appear to be nothing more than so many instants. Hence a philosopher often lives as long in one day, as a clown or a savage does in a week or a month spent in mental inactivity and want of thought.

LONGIMETRY. The measuring of lengths or distances, both accessible and inaccessible.

LONGITUDE. In Geography, the distance of any given point from another, in the direction of east or west; as latitude is that distance, in the direction of north or south. Latitude is reckoned in degrees from the equator; longitude, from a meridian, (one of the perpendicular lines, on maps or globes, or a line parallel to these) which is fixed upon at pleasure. Thus the meridian that passes over Greenwich, is the meridian of Greenwich; and it is from this point, that the English reckon the distance of places.

ing one hour for every fifteen degrees, and propor tionally for minutes. So, also, difference of time may be converted into difference of longitude, by allowing fifteen degrees for every hour, and proportionally for a greater or less time. Consequently, the one known, the other is easily found.

LOOKING GLASS. A plain glass mirror, which being impervious to the light, reflects the images of things placed before it.

LOOP. A folding or doubling of a string or a noose, through which a lace or cord may be run for fastening.

LORD. In Modern History, a title of courtesy, given to all British and Irish noblemen, from the baron upwards; to the eldest sons of earls; to all the sons of marquises and dukes; and to various officers; as the mayor of London, the chamberlain of the king's household, and the high chancellor of the kingdom.

Lord is also a general term, equivalent with peer; wherefore the House of Peers is also called the House of Lords.

LORD OF A MANOR. In England, a person that had a fee, and consequently the homage of the tenants within his manor, and also the privilege of holding a court baron. Lords of the manor still retain some of the old manorial rights.

LORICATION, or COATING. In Chemistry, is the covering of a glass or earthern vessel with a coat or crust of a matter able to resist the fire, to prevent its breaking in the performing of an operation that requires great violence of fire.

When vessels are exposed to a fire too strong for their structure, or to the corrosive quality contained in them, or on the throwing on of fresh cold fuel into the fire where they stand, it frequently happens that they crack and burst; for the preventing of which, the operator has recourse to this method of coating or loricating his vessels. It is performed in the following manner: take a quantity of washed clay, with an admixture of pure sand, powder of calcined flints, or broken cruciAs perpendicular lines, drawn from the opposite bles; and instead of pure water, moisten it with poles of a globe, are necessarily wider apart at its fresh blood that has not yet been coagulated, dilutgreatest circumference, than at any other pointed with twice or three times its quantity of water; between that and those poles, it follows, that the make the clay with this into a thin paste, and work width of a degree of longitude, which is determin-into it some cow's hair, or other hair not too long ed by those lines, increases, either in a southward or northward direction, in the ratio that it approaches the equator. When, therefore, a degree of longitude is mentioned, it is impossible to know what number of miles it contains, unless the degree of latitude be also ascertained.

In order to find the longitude with the required precision, it is necessary to construct a perfect timepiece for since, by the motion of the earth round its axis, every point upon its surface describes the circumference of a circle, or three hundred and sixty degrees, in twenty-four hours' time, it is plain it must describe fifteen degrees in one hour; because the twenty-fourth part of three hundred and sixty, is fifteen. Hence the difference of longitude may be converted into time, by allow

or too stiff, and a little powdered and sifted glass, if you have it at hand; smear over the vessel intended to be used with this paste, by means of a pencil, and set it to dry; when dry, besmear it again, and repeat the operation till the vessel have a crust of a third, or a quarter of an inch, at least, thick of this matter, and let it be thoroughly dry before it is used.

LORY. This name has been given to some of the parrot tribe, from their frequently repeating the word. They have, however, no distinct characters of sufficient importance to separate them from the great genus psittacus. They are very active and gay, even in captivity. They are found, for the most part, in the Moluccas, and are held in

LUKE. Author of one of the Gospels, which LOVE. In its usual and more appropriate is distinguished for fulness, accuracy, and traces signification, denotes that affection, which, being of extensive information; also of the Acts of the compounded of intellectual and sensitive love, or Apostles, in which he gives a methodical account of animal desire, esteem, and benevolence, becomes of the origin of the Christian church, and, particthe bond of attachment and union between indi-ularly, of the travels of the apostle Paul. Though viduals of the different sexes; and makes them these two books were designed merely for his feel in the society of each other a kind of happiness friend Theophilus, they soon attained a canonical which they experience no where else.

participated in. The conjecture that he was a physician is more probable than the tradition which makes him a painter, and which attributes to him an old picture of Christ, preserved at Rome. On account of this latter tradition, however, he is the patron saint of painters, and a celebrated academy of these artists, at Rome, bears his name.

LUSTRATION. The ceremony of purification performed by the ancient Romans every five years; whence that space was called a lustrum.

LUSTRE. In Mineralogy, one character of mineral bodies, which in that respect are distinguished into splendent, shining, glistening, glim

LUNACY. A kind of madness, so called be-mering, and dull. cause supposed to be influenced by the moon.

LUNATICS. Are properly such as have diseased imaginations, which deprive them of the use of their reasoning faculty, sometimes altogether and sometimes only on particular subjects.

LUNATION. Otherwise called the Synodical Month. A revolution of the moon, or the time between one new moon and another.

LUTE. A musical instrument with strings.. The lute consists of four parts, viz. the table; the body or belly, which has nine or ten sides; the neck, which has nine or ten stops or divisions, marked with strings; and the head, or cross, where proper pitch of tone are fixed. In the middle of the screw for raising and lowering the strings to a the table there is a rose or passage for the sound; there is also a bridge that the strings are fastened LUNGS. The organs of respiration, situated to, and a piece of ivory, between the head and the in the cavity of the chest. They are divided into neck, to which the other extremities of the strings lobes, of which the right side contains three, and are fitted. In playing, the strings are struck with the left only two, in order to allow room for the the right hand, and with the left the stops are heart and great vessels. All the blood of the body pressed. The lutes of Bologna are esteemed the passes through the lungs, in order to be there ex-best, on account of the wood, which is said to have posed to the influence of the external air, by which an uncommon disposition for producing a sweet it undergoes a change necessary to make it salutary for the body, which it is not, after having once circulated through it. The blood irculates through the lungs always contained in vessels, and it is believed to be exposed to the action of the air not directly, but through the medium of thin vesicles, as the windpipe is continued by branches continually getting smaller and smaller, till at last they end in points too minute for sight.

An organ of such importance as the lungs, so close to the moving centre of action, so abundantly supplied with blood, and so delicate in their own ultimate structure, may be easily supposed to be liable to very numerous diseases, and those of the most dangerous kind. Accordingly a very large proportion of fatal diseases are those which occur in the chest, either in the substance of the lungs themselves, in the membranes that line them, or in the numerous vessels that ramify through them.

Pleurisy, asthma, catarrh, consumption, spitting of blood, are some of the dangerous or painful diseases of the lungs; but the question often asked by non-medical persons with so much anxiety, about themselves or friends, whether the lungs are affected, seems to have reference principally to the symptoms of consumption.

LUNETTE. In Fortification, an enveloped counterguard, or elevation of earth made beyond the second ditch, opposite to the places of arms; or a covered place before the courtine, consisting of two faces that form an angle inward. It is commonly raised in ditches full of water, to serve instead of fansse brays, to dispute the enemy's passage of the ditch.

LUPINE. A sort of pulse, which bears a papilionaceous flower. There are several species of lupines cultivated in gardens, as the white lupine, the small blue lupine, and the great blue lupine, &c. which are all annuals except one species, called by distinction the perennial lupine.

sound.

LYMPH. A fine fluid, separated in the body from the mass of blood, and contained in peculiar vessels. It is distinguished into watery and coagulable lymph; the former, as tears for an example, is little else than water holding in solution a small portion of salt, and still less of animal matter. Coagulable lymph, which is found in the dropsy, contains a very considerable portion of albumen, so as to be viscid to the touch, and when heated to coagulate firmly, like the white of an egg.

LYMPHATIC VESSELS. A set of vessels in the animal body, numerous and important, which open into the cellular texture and into the various cavities, and absorb the lymph and other watery fluids, convey them through glands situated in different parts of the body, till they pour the fluid into the thoracic duct, the same to which the lacteals convey the chyle; and from which the two fluids are carried into the lungs, there to be completely fitted for the purposes of the body. When the lymphatic glands are diseased or any way obstructed, they give rise to hard knotty swellings in various parts of the body; and they are thought to be peculiarly the seat of scrofulous inflammation. Such swelled glands are often seen in the neck and groin. The best way to promote the healthy action of the lymphatic vessels and glands, is to wear warm clothing, to use moderate and constant exercise, to pay attention to diet, and to the regular action of the bowels.

LYDIAN STONE. A stone of a grayish black color, which is found in Bohemia and other parts of Germany, and also in Scotland. When polished, it is used as a test stone for determining the purity of gold and silver. It was used for that purpose among the ancients, by whom it received this name, because it was found only in the Tmolus, a river of Lydia.

LYNX. A wild beast, of a tawny brown color, with black spots, and very quick sighted, which in its habits resembles the wild cat.

LYRE. A musical instrument of the stringed kind, much used by the ancients. Those odes which were sung to the lyre, and which were principally in praise of the gods and heroes, were styled lyric.

This kind of poem is distinguished from all other odes, by the happy transitions and digressions which it beautifully admits, and the surprising and natural easy returns to the subject, which is not to be obtained without great judgment and genius.

The lyric is, of all kinds of poetry, the most poetical, and is as distinct, both in style and thought, from the rest, as poetry is in general from prose: it is the boldest of all other kinds, full of rapture, and elevated from common language the most that LYRIC. Lyric, in general, signifies something is possible: some odes there are likewise, in the sung or played on the lyre; but it is more particu- free and loose manner, which seems to avoid all larly applied to the ancient odes and stanzas, an- method, and yet are conducted by a very clear one, swering to our airs and songs, and may be played which affects transitions seemingly without art, on instruments. This species of poetry was origi- but for that reason have the more of it; which are nally employed in celebrating the praises of gods above connexion, and delight in exclamations and and heroes, though it was afterwards introduced frequent invocations of the muses, which begin into feasts and public diversions. Mr. Barnes and end abruptly, and are carried on through a shows how unjust it is to exclude heroic subjects variety of matter with a sort of divine pathos, from this kind of verse, which is capable of all the elevation such matters require, The characteristic of this kind of poetry is, according to Trap, the sweetness and variety of the verse, the delicacy of the words and thoughts, the agreeableness of the numbers, and the description of things most pleasing in their own natures. At first the lyric verse was only of one kind, but afterwards they so continued to vary the feet and numbers, that the variety of them now are almost innumerable,

above rules and laws, and without regard to the common forms of grammar. Pindar has set his successors the example of digressions and excursions. To write a lyric poem are required not only a flowing imagination, brightness, life, sublimity, and elegance, but the nicest art and finest judgment, so as to seem luxuriant, and not be so; and under the show of transgressing all laws, to preserve them.

M

their motion. When they were first carried to Europe, their great beauty and size caused them to be in much request, and they were considered as valuable presents between sovereign princes.

MACE. The second coat or covering of the kernel of the nutmeg. It is a thin and membranous substance, of an oleaginous nature, and a yellowish color; being met with in flakes of an inch and more in length, which are divided into a multitude of ramifications. It is of an extremely fragrant, aromatic, and agreeable flavor, and of a pleasant, but acrid and oleaginous taste.

MACERATION. An infusion of, or soaking, ingredients in water, in order either to soften them, or draw out their virtues.

MACAW. These magnificent birds belong to the parrot tribe, and are distinguished by having their cheeks destitute of feathers, and the feathers of the tail long. They are only found in the tropical regions of South America. They prefer moist situations, from the palm growing in such spots, of the fruit of which they are very fond. They usually go in pairs; sometimes, however, they assemble, in the morning and evening, in great numbers. Although they fly well, they seldom wander far, except in quest of food, and regularly return in the evening. They build their nests in the hollow of rotten trees, and lay twice in the year, generally two eggs at a time. The male and fe- MACHINE. Any complication of artificial male share alternately in the labor of incubation bodies acting upon one another by contact, through and rearing the young. When young, they are the medium and motion of which any effect is easily tamed, and soon grow familiar with persons produced, is a machine. The initial force which whom they frequently see. But, like all the parrot puts the machine in motion, is called the first or tribe, they have an aversion to strangers and par-prime mover. The point at which that force is ticularly to children. In a domesticated state, they will feed on almost every article, but are especially fond of sugar, bread and fruits. They do not masticate the latter, but suck them by pressing their tongue against the upper mandible. Like the other parrots, these birds use their claws with great dexterity, though, in climbing, they always begin by taking hold with their bill in the first instance, using their feet only as a second point of

applied, is the acting point; and that in which the effect is produced is the working point: the machine being the medium through which the power is transferred, and by which it is modified so as to answer the intended purpose. When a simple body is the medium between the acting and the working points, it is an instrument.

MACHINE, ELECTRICAL.

The electric