pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
LEMERY, Nicholas, a celebrated chemist, born at Rouen, in Normandy, in 1645. After having made the tour of France, he, in 1672, commenced an acquaintance with Martyn, apothecary to the prince, and performed several courses of chemistry in the laboratory of this chemist; at the Hôtel de Condé, which were the means of making him known to the prince. He provided himself at length with a laboratory of his own, and might have been created a doctor of physic; but he chose to continue an apothecary, from his attachment to chemistry. He opened public lectures on that subject; and his confluence of scholars was so great as scarcely to allow him room to perform his operations. The true principles of chemistry were but ill understood in his time. Lemery was the first who abolished the senseless jargon of barbarous terms, reduced the science to clear and simple ideas, and promised nothing which he did not perform. In 1681 he was disturbed on account of his religion, and came to England, where he was well received by Charles II.; but affairs not promising him the tranquillity he had sought for, he returned to France, and took shelter under a doctor’s degree. The revocation of the edict of Nantes, however, drove him into the communion of the Catholic church to avoid persecution. He then became associate-chemist and pensionary in the Royal Academy of Sciences, and died in 1715. He wrote, 1. A Course of Chemistry; 2. An universal Pharmacopoeia; 3. An universal Treatise of Drugs; and, 4. a Treatise on Antimony.
LEMGO, a city of the principality of Lippe-Detmold, in Germany, the capital of the bailiwick of Brake. It is situated on the river Vega, and is the largest place in the dominion, containing the palace of the sovereign, the courts [7:13:226]of justice, the institutions for education, and 640 houses, with 3570 inhabitants. It was formerly one of the Hans Towns, but has now little trade, and only manufactures fine linen. Long. 8. 49. 13. E. Lat. 52. 1. 40. N.
LEMMA (from λαμCαvω, I assume), in Mathematics, denotes a previous proposition, laid down in order to clear the way for some following demonstration, and prefixed either to theorems, in order to render their demonstration less perplexed and intricate, or to problems, to make their resolution shorter and more easy. Thus, to prove a pyramid one third of a prism or parallelopiped, of the same base and altitude, the demonstration of which in the ordinary way is difficult and troublesome; this lemma may be premised which is proved in the rules of progression, that the sum of the series of the squares, in numbers in arithmetical progression, beginning from 0, and going on, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, &c. is always subtriple of the sum of as many terms, each equal to the greatest; or is always one third of the greatest term multiplied by the number of terms. Thus, to find the inflection of a curve line, this lemma is first premised, that a tangent may be drawn to the given curve in a given point. So, in physics, to the demonstration of most propositions, certain lemmata are necessary to be allowed, as that there is no penetration of dimensions, that all matter is divisible, and the like.
LEMNIAN Earth, Terra Lemnia, a medicinal, astringent sort of Oar th, of a fatty consistence and reddish colour. It derives its name from the island of Lemnos, whence it is chiefly brought. Many form it into round cakes, and impress a seal upon it; and hence it is also called terra sigillata.
LEMNIUS, Laevinus, a famous physician, born in Zealand in 1505. He practised physic with much applause; and, having taken holy orders, became canon of Ziric Zee, where he died in 1560. He left several works, the principal of which is entitled De occultis Naturae Miraculis.
LEMNOS, an island in the Archipelago, in the Turkish province of Lesbos or Midilly. It extends over 165 square miles, from north latitude 39. 46. to 40. 2. and from east longitude 24. 52. to 25. 33. It is very narrow in the middle, where there are two harbours on the opposite sides of the tongue of land which joins the two parts. These are mountainous, and, though not lofty, were in ancient times said to have been volcanic; and the warm springs near the mountain Therma confirm the opinion. The soil is not highly fertile, but it produces wheat, barley, grapes, figs, almonds, and some oil. Water is not abundant, and there is a great scarcity of fuel. The inhabitants are about 8000, mostly Greeks, and inhabit two towns and fifty villages, some of whom find occupation in the fisheries. The capital is the town of the same name, the ancient Myrina. It is the scat of a Greek bishop, is without walls, but protected by a castle, and has a small haven, and about 1000 inhabitants, of whom 300 are Turks. There are some establishments for building vessels, which is the principal employment of the population.
LEMON Island, one of the Skelig Islands, situated off the coast of the county of Kerry, in the province of Munster, in Ireland. It is a round rock, always above water, and therefore nowise dangerous to ships. An incredible number of gannets and other birds breed here; and it is remarkable that gannets nestle nowhere on the southern coasts of Ireland except on this rock, though many of them are seen on all parts of the coast upon the wing. There is another rock on the northern coast of Ireland, remarkable for the same peculiarity.
LEMONADE, a liquor prepared from water, sugar, and lemon or citron juice, and which is very cooling and grateful.
LEMURES, in Antiquity, spirits or hobgoblins, restless ghosts of departed persons, who return to terrify and torment the living.

These are the same with larvoe, which, according to the ancients, wandered throughout the world frightening good people, and plaguing the bad. For this reason, lemuria or feasts were instituted at Rome to appease the manes of the defunct.

Apuleius explains the ancient notion of manes. The souls of men released from the bonds of the body, and freed from performing their corporeal functions, become a kind of demons or genii, who were formerly called lemures. Of these lémures, those that were kind to their families were called lares familiares ; but those who, for their crimes, were condemned to wander continually, without meeting with any place of rest, terrifying good men, and vexing the bad, were vulgarly called larvoe.

An ancient commentator on Horace mentions, that the Romans wrote lemures for remures, a word formed from Remus, who was killed by his brother Romulus, and who returned to the earth to torment him. But Apuleius observes, that, in the ancient Latin tongue, lemures signifies the soul of a man separated from the body by death.
LEMURIA, or Lemuralia, afcast solemnized at Rome on the 9th of May, to pacify the manes of the dead, or in honour of the lemures. It was instituted by Romulus to appease the ghost of his murdered brother Remus, which he thought was continually pursuing him to revenge the crime. Sacrifices continued for three nights, the temples were shut up, and marriages were prohibited during the solemnity. A variety of whimsical ceremonies were performed, and the ghosts were desired to withdraw, without endeavouring to hurt or affright their friends above ground. The chief formalities were ablution, putting black beans into their mouths, and beating kettles and pans, to make the goblins keep at a respectful distance.
LENA, a large river of Asiatic Russia, which rises in the ridge of mountains to the north-west of Lake Baikal, and which flows almost from south-west to north-east, till near Yakoutsk. In this part of its course its tributaries are the Wilime and the Olekma; and, combined with the Obi and the Toungouska, it furnishes an almost continued navigation across Siberia. Soon after passing the Yakoutsk, it receives the Aldane, the largest of its tributaries, by which the navigation is continued nearly to Okhotsk. Turning north-west from this point, and slightly declining to the west, it rolls through vast and uninhabited plains. The Wilhoui is the only other considerable one of its tributaries. It has a broad and deep channel, and it forms numerous islands, both in its course and in the sea at its mouth. The length of its course may be estimated at 2000 miles.
LENAEA, a festival observed by the Greeks in honour of Bacchus, at which there was much feasting and jollity, accompanied with poetical contentions, and the exhibition of tragedies.
LENFANT, James, a learned French writer, was born in 1661. After studying at Saumur, he went to Heidelberg, where he received imposition of hands for the ministry in 1684. He discharged the functions of this character with great reputation there, as chaplain of the electress dowager palatine, and pastor in ordinary to the French church. But the descent of the French into the palatinate obliged him to depart from Heidelberg in 1687. He went to Berlin, where the elector Frederick, afterwards king of Prussia, appointed him one of the ministers. He [7:13:229] continued there thirty-nine years, distinguishing himself by his writings. He was preacher to the queen of Prussia, Charlotte" Sophia, and, after her death, to the king of Prussia. In 1707 he took a journey to England and Holland, where he had the honour to preach before Queen Anne, and might have settled in London, with the title of chaplain to her majesty. In 1712 he went to Helmstadt, in 1715 to Leipsig, and in 1725 to Breslau, to search for rare books and manuscripts. It is not certain whether it was he that first formed the design of the Bibliothèque Germanique, which began in 1720; or whether it was suggested ;o him by one of the society of learned men, which took the name of Anonymous, and who ordinarily met at his house. He died in 1728. His principal works are, 1. The History of the Council of Constance, in two vols. 4to; 2. A History of the Council of Pisa, in two vols. 4to; 3. The New Testament, translated from the Greek into the French, with Notes by Beausobre and Lenfant, in two vols. 4to; 4. The History of Pope Joan, from Spanheim’s Latin Dissertation; 5. Several pieces in the Bibliothèque Choisie, La République des Lettres, La Bibliothèque Germanique, and other publications.
LENGLET, Nicholas du Fresno y, born at Beauvais, in France, 1674, was a prolific and useful French writer on a variety of subjects, historical, geographical, political, and philosophical. His chief productions are, a Method of Studying History, with a Catalogue of the Principal Historians of every Age and Country, published in 1713, a work which established his reputation as an historical writer, and was translated into most of the modern languages; and a Copious Abridgment of Universal History and Biography, in chronological order, under the title of Tablettes Chronologiques, which made its first appearance at Paris in 1744, in two vols. 8vo, and was universally admired by the literati in all parts of Europe. The author attended, with great candour, to well-founded and judicious criticisms. In subsequent editions he made several alterations and improvements; and from one of these, that of 1759, an English translation was made, and published at London in 1762, in two vols. 8vo. Du Fresnoy died in 1755. The Paris edition of 1759 was printed from the author’s corrected copy; and the impression being sold off, another edition appeared in 1763, with considerable improvements by an unknown editor. To the biographical part a great number of names of respectable persons are added, not to be found in the former edition; and it has this advantage in the historical parts, that the general history is brought down to the year 1762. Du Fresnoy, however, has loaded his work with catalogues of saints, martyrs, councils, synods, heresies, schisms, and other ecclesiastical matters, fit only for the libraries of convents and colleges.
LENGTH, the extent of any thing material from end to end. In duration, it is applied to any space of time, whether long or short.
LENGTHENING, in ship-building, the operation of cutting a ship down across the middle, and adding a certain portion to her length. It is performed by sawing her planks asunder in different places of her length, on each side of the midship frame, to prevent her from being too much weakened in one place. The two ends are then drawn apart to it limited distance, which must be equal to the proposed addition of length. An intermediate piece of timber is next added to the keel, upon which a sufficient number of timbers are erected to fill up the vacancy produced by the separation. The two parts of the kelson are afterwards united by an additional piece, which is scored down upon the floor timbers, and as many beams as may be necessary are fixed across the ship in the new interval, finally, the planks of the side are prolonged so as to unite ŵ'ith each other, and those of the ceiling are refitted in the ⅛ame manner, by which the whole process is completed.
LENHAM, a town in the hundred of Eyhorne, and lathe of Aylesford, in the county of Kent, forty-five miles from London and ten from Maidstone, situated at the source of the river Len. It had formerly a market, which has been long discontinued. The population amounted in 1801 to 1434, in 1811 to 1509, in 1821 to 1959, and in 1831 to 2197.
LENNEP, a city, the capital of a circle of the same name, in the Prussian government of Dusseldorf. It is the chief seat of the fine broad cloth manufacture, in which machinery has been much extended of late years. It contains 480 houses, and about 5000 inhabitants, who have much increased, from the state of the trade.
LENKEROON, a port of Ghilan, in Persia, on the Caspian. Its harbour, being much safer than that of Reshd, is more frequented by the merchants. It exports silk in considerable quantity. The Russians attempted to storm it, but were repulsed with great loss. It is 110 miles northwest of Reshd.
LENNOX, or Dumbartonshire, a county of Scotland. See Dumbartonshire.
LENS, a piece of glass, or any other transparent substance, the surfaces of which are so formed that the rays of light, by passing through it, are made to change their direction, either tending to meet in a point beyond the lens, or rendered parallel after .converging or diverging, or, lastly, proceeding as if they had issued from a point before they fell upon the lens. Some lenses are convex, or thicker in the middle; some concave, or thinner in the middle; some plano-convex, or plano-concave, that is, with one side flat, and the other convex or concave; and some are called meniscuses, or convex on one side and concave on the other.

Lenses are of two kinds, either blown or ground. Blown lenses are only made use of in the single microscope, and the common method of making them has been to draw out a fine thread of the soft white glass called crystal, and to convert the end of it into a spherule by melting it at the flame of a candle. Mr Nicholson observes, that windowglass affords excellent spherules. A thin piece from the edge of a pane of glass one tenth of an inch thick was held perpendicularly, and the flame of a candle was directed against it by means of the blow-pipe, when it became soft, and the lower end descended by its own weight to the distance of about two feet, where it remained suspended by a thin thread of glass about y 1 -θth of an inch in diameter. A part of this thread was applied endwise to the lower blue part of the flame of the candle without the blow-pipe, when the end became instantly white-hot, and formed a globule, which was gradually thrust towards the flame till it became sufficiently large. A number of these were made, and examined by viewing their focal images with a deep magnifier, when they appeared to be bright, perfect, and round. Ground lenses are such as are rubbed into the shape required, and polished.
LENT, a solemn time of fasting in the Christian church, observed as a time of humiliation before Easter, and the great festival of our Saviour’s resurrection.

Those who belong to the Catholic church, and some of the Protestant communion, maintain that it was always a fast of forty days, and, as such, of apostolical institution. Others think that it was only of ecclesiastical institution, and that it was variously observed in different churches, and grew by degrees from a fast of forty hours to a fast of forty days. This is the opinion of Morton, Bishop Taylor, Dumoulin, Daillé, and others.

Anciently the manner of observing Lent amongst those who were piously disposed, was to abstain from food till evening. Their only refreshment was a supper; and then it was indifferent whether it was flesh or any other food, provided it was used with sobriety and moderation.

Lent was thought to be the proper time for exercising [7:13:230]more abundantly every species of charity. Thus what they spared from their own use, by abridging themselves of a meal, was usually given to the poor; they employed their vacant hours in visiting the sick and those that were in prison, in entertaining strangers, and in reconciling differences. The imperial laws forbade all prosecution of men in criminal actions, that might bring them to corporeal punishment and torture, during the whole of this season. It was a time of more than ordinary strictness and devotion, and therefore in many of the great churches they had religious assemblies for prayer and preaching every day. All public games and stage-plays were prohibited at this season; also the celebration of all festivals, birth-days, and marriages, as unsuitable to the occasion.

The Christians of the Greek church observe four lents. The first commences on the 15th of November; the second is the same with our lent; the third begins the week after Whitsuntide, and continues till the festival of St Peter and St Paul; and the fourth commences on the first of August, and lasts no longer than till the 15th. These lents are observed with great strictness and austerity; but on Saturdays and Sundays they indulge themselves in drinking wine and using oil, which are prohibited on other days.
LENTINI, a parliamentary city of the island of Sicily, in the kingdom of Naples, and province of Noto, 120 miles from Palermo. It is situated on some broken ground above the Leontine fields. The situation is subject to malaria, and, though it contains 1400 houses, the inhabitants scarcely exceed 5000. The surrounding district is highly productive of rice, hemp, corn, oil, and liquorice.
LEOMINSTER, a borough and market-town of the hundred of Wolphy, in Herefordshire, situated on the river Wye, 137 miles from London. It has a corporation, consisting of a high steward, bailiff, recorder, and twelve burgesses, and still sends, as before, two members to parliament. The church is a neat and spacious building, adorned with an altar-piece by the celebrated Rubens. The tower of it has a musical peal of eight bells. There was formerly some woollen manufactures, which have disappeared. The chief trade now is in wool and flax, the latter of which grows of excellent quality. The market was formerly held on Thursday, but has been exchanged for Friday by act of parliament. The magistrates of Leominster have an exempt jurisdiction. The population of the borough amounted in 1801 to 3019, in 1811 to 3238, in 1821 to 3651, and in 1831 to 4300; but the whole parish at the last census contained 5249 inhabitants.
LEOBSHL 1 TZ, a city, the capital of a circle of the same name, in Prussian Silesia, situated at the foot of the mountains. It is surrounded with walls, and contains five Catholic churches, an hospital, 530 houses, and 3670 inhabitants employed in making woollens, hosiery, and linen goods.
LEOBEN, a city of Austria, in the circle of Bruch, in the province of Steycrmark. It stands on the river Mur, and is the see of a bishop; contains 278 houses, and 2200 inhabitants, who are employed in making iron. It is remarkable for the peace concluded at it in 1798, between Austria and France. Long. 15. 0. 25. E. Lat. 47. 23. 36. N.
LEONARD, St, a city of France, in the department of the Upper Vienne, and arrondissement of Limoges. It is situated on the Vienne; was formerly surrounded with walls, now converted into pleasing promenades, planted with trees. It contains 410 houses, and 4950 inhabitants, who carry on manufactories of flannels and druggets, make much leather, and some copper ware. Long. 1. 25. E. Lat. 45. 50. N.
LEONARDO da Vinci. See Vinci.
LEONESSA, a city of the kingdom of Naples, in the province Abruzzo Ulteriore. It stands on the river Corno, at the foot of the mountain Triglia. It contains 4719 inhabitants, who have some trade in corn, from living in a frontier town.
LEONIDAS I. king of Sparta, a renowned warrior, slain in defending the straits of Thermopylae against Xerxes, 480 B. c.
LEONINE, in poetry, is applied to a kind of verses which rhyme at every hemistic, the middle always chiming to the end. The origin of the word is somewhat obscure. Pasquier derives it from one Leoninus or Leonius, who excelled in this species of composition, and dedicated several pieces to Pope Alexander III.; others derive it from Pope Leo, and others from the lion, by reason it is the loftiest of all verses.
LEONTICA, feasts or sacrifices celebrated amongst the ancients in honour of the sun. They were called Leontica and the priests who officiated at them Leones, because they represented the sun under the figure of a lion radiant, bearing a tiara, and griping in his two fore paws the horns of a bull, which struggled with him in vain to disengage himself. The critics are extremely divided about this feast. Some will conceive it to have been anniversary, and make its return, not in a solar, but in a lunar year; others hold its return more frequent, and give instances where the period was not above two hundred and twenty days. The ceremony was sometimes also called Mithriaca, Mithras being the name of the sun amongst the ancient Persians. There was always a man sacrificed at these feasts till the time of Hadrian, who prohibited it by a law. Commodus introduced the custom anew, but after his time it was again exploded.
LEOPARD. See Mammalia.
LEPANTO, a town of Turkey in Europe, the capital of the province Ainabachti. It is situated in a bay celebrated for a victory over the Turkish fleet, by Don Juan, in 1751. It is defended by two forts, and contains a population of 2000 persons, chiefly Greeks, who carry on several tanneries, and other trades. Long. 21. 57. E. Lat. 38. 30. N.
LEPER’S Island, one of the New Hebrides, in the South Pacific Ocean, so called by Monsieur Bougainville, by whom it was visited in 1768. Long. 168. 4. E. Lat. 15. 21. N.
LEPID OPTERA, in Zoology, an order of insects with four wings, which are covered with imbricated scales.
LEPROSY, a cutaneous disease, appearing in dry, white, thin scabs, either on the whole body, or only on parts of it, and usually attended with a violent itching and other pains. The leprosy is of various kinds, but the Jews were particularly subject to that called Elephantiasis. Hence the Jewish law excluded lepers from communion with mankind, banishing them into the country or uninhabited places, without excepting even kings. "When a leper was cleansed, he came to the city gate, and was there examined by the priests. After this he took two live birds to the temple, and fastened one of them to a wisp of cedar and hysop tied together with a scarlet ribbon; the second bird was killed by the leper, and the blood of it received into a vessel of water; with this water the priest sprinkled the leper, dipping the wisp and the live bird into it. The live bird was then let go; and the leper having undergone this ceremony, was again admitted into society, and to the use of things sacred. (See Levit, xiii. 46, 47; and Levit, xiv. 1, 2, et seq.)
LEPTUM, in Antiquity, a small piece of money, which, according to some, was only the eighth part of an obolus; but others think it was a silver or brass drachm.
LEPUS, the hare, in Astronomy, a constellation of the southern hemisphere, the stars of which in Ptolemy’s catalogue are twelve, in that of Tycho’s thirteen, and in the Britannic nineteen.