of North America, and of China near Canton.

LECYTHIS, in botany, a genus of the Polyandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Myrti, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx six-leaved; corolla sixpetalled; nectary ligulate, staminiferous; pericarpium circumcised, many-seeded. There are six species. These are trees or shrubs, with alternate leaves; flowers in terminating spikes from the axils of the shoots. It is peculiar to this genus to have a pitchershaped body in the centre of the flower, which Linnæus calls the nectarium, inserted into the calyx below the petals, perforated in the middle for the passage of the style, shaped like a petal, coriaceous entire at the edge, but covered on the inside with numerous subsessile stamens. Native of the forests of Guiana.

LEDUM, in botany, a genus of the Decandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Bicornes. Rhododendra, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx fivecleft; corolla flat, five-parted; capsule fivecelled, gaping at the base. There are three species, all natives of the North of Europe. These shrubs growing on mosses or bogs, where the roots spread freely, cannot be preserved in gardens, at least so as to thrive, but in a proper soil and a shady situation.

LEE, an epithet to distinguish that half of the horizon to which the wind is directed from the other part whence it arises, which latter is accordingly called to windward. This expression is chiefly used when the wind crosses the line of a ship's course, so that all on one side of her is called to windward, and all on the opposite side to leeward; and hence "Lee side," all that part of a ship or boat which lies between the mast and the side farthest from the direction of the wind; or that half of a ship which is pressed down towards the water by the effort of the sails, as separated from the other half by a line drawn through the middle of her length: that part of the ship which lies to the windward of this line is accordingly called the weather side. Thus, if a ship sail southward with the wind at east, then is her starboard, or right side, the lee-side; and the larboard, or left, the weather-side.

LEE way, or LEEWARD way, is the late ral movement of a ship to the leeward of her course, or the angle which the line of her way makes with her keel when she is close hauled. This movement is produced by the mutual effort of the wind and sea

upon her side, forcing her to leeward of the line upon which she appears to sail, and in this situation her course is necessarily a compound of the two motions by which she is impelled. All ships are apt to make some lee-way; so that in casting up the logbook something must be allowed for leeway. But the lee-way made by different ships, under the same circumstances, will be different: and even the same ship, with different lading, and having more or less sail on board, will make more or less leeway.

However, the common allowances made for lee-way, are these: 1. If the ship be close hauled, has all her sails set, the water smooth, and a moderate gale of wind, she is supposed to make little or no lee-way. 2. If it blow so fresh, as to cause the small sails to be handed, it is usual to allow one point. 3. If it blow so hard, that the tops must be close reefed, the ship then makes about two points lee-way. 4. If one topsail must be handed, it is common to allow two and three quarters, or three points leeway. 5. When both topsails must be handed, they allow about four points leeway. 6. When it blows so hard, as to occasion the fore-course to be handed, the allowance is between five and a half and six. points. 7. When both main and fore-courses must be handed, then six, or six and a half points must be allowed for her lee-way. 8. When the mizen is handed, and the ship is trying a hull, she then makes her way good about one point before the beam, that is, about seven points lee-way.

Though these rules are such as are generally used, yet as the lee-way depends much upon the mould and trim of the ship, we shall here give the method of ascertaining it by observation. Thus, let the ship's wake be set by a compass in the poop, and the opposite rhumb is the true course made good by the ship; then the difference between this and the course given hy the compass in the bittacle, is the lee-way required. If the ship be within sight of land, the leeway may be exactly found by observing a point on the land which continues to bear the same way; for the distance between the point of the compass it lies on, and the point the ship capes at, will be the leeway.

LEEA, in botany, so called from James Lee, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Trihilatæ. Sapotæ, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla one-petalled; nectary on the

tube of the corolla, upright, five-cleft; berry five-seeded. There are three species, natives of the East Indies, Africa, and New Sorth Wales.

LEECH. See HIRUDO.
LEEK. See ALLIUM.

LEERSIA, in botany, so named from John Daniel Leers, a genus of the Triandria Digynia class and order. Natural order of Gramina or Grasses. Essential character: calyx none; glume two-valved, closed. There are three species.

LEGACY, is a bequest of a sum of money, or any personal effects of a testator, and these are to be paid by his representative, after all the debts of the deceased are discharged as far as the assets, or property liable to payment of debts and legacies, will extend. All the goods and chattels of the deceased are by law vested in the representative, who is bound to see whether there be left a sufficient fund to pay the debts of the testator, which, if it should prove inadequate, the pecuniary legacies must proportionably abate; a specific legacy, however, is not to abate unless there be insufficient without it to pay debts, that is, the general legacies must all be exhausted first. If the legatee die before the testator, it will in general be a lapsed legacy, and fall into the general fund, as it will also, where it is given upon a contingency, as to A B, if he shall attain twenty-one. Where, however, from the general import of the will, it can be collected that the testator intended it a vested legacy, it will go to the representative of the deceased legatee. Thus, if a legacy is made payable, or to be paid, to the legatee at a certain age, and he die, under that age, it is a vested and transmis sible interest in him; but it is otherwise if it is generally to him at or when he attains such age. If the legacy is to bear interest, it is vested though the words payable are omitted. So, if it is to A for life, and after the death of A to B, the legacy to B is vested in B upon the death of the testator, and will not lapse by the death of B in the lifetime of A.

In case of a vested legacy due immediately, and charged on land, or money in the funds, which yields an immediate profit, interest shall be payable from the death of the testator; but if it be charged on the personal estate only of the testator, which cannot be collected in, it will carry interest only from the end of the year after the death of the testator. A legacy to an infant ought not to be paid to his father; a legacy to a married woman can only be paid to her

husband; and executors are not bound to pay a legacy without security to refund.

When all the debts and particular legacies are discharged, the residue or surplus must be paid to the residuary legatee, if any be so appointed in the will; but if there be none appointed or intended, it will go to the executor or next of kin. When this residue does not go to the executor, it is to be distributed among the intestate's next of kin, according to the statute of distribu tions, except it is otherwise disposeable by particular customs, as those of London, York, &c. See EXECUTOR.

LEGNOTIS, in botany, a genus of the Polyandria Monogynia class and order. Essential character: calyx five-cleft; petals five, jagged, inserted into the receptacle; capsule three-celled. There are two species, viz. L. elliptica and L. cassipourea.

LEGUMEN, in botany, that species of seed-vessel termed a pod, in which the seeds are fastened along one suture only. In this the seed-vessel in question differs from the other kind of pod, termed by botanists siliqua, in which the enclosed seeds are fastened alternately to both the sutures or joinings of the valves. The seed-vessel of all the pea-bloom or butterfly-shaped flowers, the Diadelphia of Linnæus, is of the leguminous kind; such is the seed-vessel of the pea, vetch, lupine, &c. See PAPILIONA

CEOUS.

LEIBNITZ (GODFREY WILLIAM), an eminent mathematician and philosopher, was born at Leipsic, in Saxony, in 1646. At the age of fifteen, he applied himself to mathematics at Leipsic and Jena; and in 1663, maintained a thesis de Principiis Individuationis. The year following he was admitted Master of Arts. He read with great attention the Greek philosophers, and endeavoured to reconcile Plato with Aristotle, as he afterwards did Aristotle with Des Cartes. But the study of the law was his principal view; in which faculty he was admitted Bachelor in 1665. The year following he would have taken the degree of Doctor, but was refused it on pretence that he was too young; though, in reality, because he had raised himself many enemies by rejecting the principles of Aristotle and the schoolmen.

Upon this he repaired to Altorf, where he maintained a thesis de Casibus Perplexis with such applause, that he had the degree of Doctor conferred on him.

In 1672 he went to Paris, to manage some affairs at the French court for the Ba

theran religion; but he never went to sermons; and when in his last sickness his favourite servant desired to send for a minister, he would not permit it, saying he had no occasion for one. He was never married, nor ever attempted it but once, when `he was about fifty years old; and the lady desiring time to consider of it, gave him time to do the same: he used to say, "that marriage was a good thing; but a wise man ought to consider of it all his life."

Leibnitz was author of a great multitude of writings, several of which were published separately, and many others in the memoirs of different academies. He invented a binary arithmetic, and many other ingenious matters. His claim to the invention of fluxions was the subject of much controversy, for which the authors of the time may be consulted.

Hanschius collected with great care every thing which Leibnitz had said in different passages of his works on the principles of philosophy; and formed of them a complete system, under the title of "G. G. Leibnitzii Principia Philosophiæ more geometrico demonstrata, &c." 1728, in 4to. There came out a collection of our Author's letters in 1734 and 1735, entitled "Epistolæ ad diversos theologici, juridici, medici, philosophici, mathematici, historici, et philologici augmentile MSS. auctores: cum annotationibus suis primum divulgavit Christian Cortholtus." But all his works were collected and distributed into classes by M. Dutens, and published at Geneva in six large volumes 4to., in 1768, intitled "Gothofredi Gulielmi Leibnitzii Opera Omnia, &c."

LEMMA, 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 more easy and short. Thus, to prove a pyramid one-third of a prism, or parellelopiped, of the same base and height with it, the demonstration whereof, 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.

LEMNA, in botany, a genus of the Monoecia Diandria class and order. Natural order of Miscellaneæ. Naiades, Jussieu. Essential character: male, calyx one leafed corolla none : female, calyx one-leafed; corolla none; style one; capsule one-celled. There are six species. These plants are well known by the name of " duck's meat," or "duck weed." They are all annuals, and are found floating on stagnant water. They are natives of most parts of Europe, in ditches, ponds, &c.

LEMNISCIA, in botany, a genus of the Polyandria Monogynia class and order. Essential character: calyx five-toothed; corolla five-petalled, recurved; nectary cupshaped, girding the germ; pericarpium fivecelled; seeds solitary. There is but one species, viz. L. guianensis. The trunk of this tree is about twenty feet in height, and one foot in diameter; the bark is brown and smooth; the wood is white and compact; abundance of twisted branches spread in every direction; leaves alternate, firm, and smooth; flowers at the ends of the shoot, very numerous, in large corymbs, on a woody peduncle: corolla of a fine coral red. Native of Guiana.

LEMON. See CITRUS.

LEMONS, salt of, used to remove inkstains from linen, is the native salt of sorrel, the super oxalate of potash. The effect is produced by the oxalic acid dissolving with facility the oxide of iron in the ink, on the combination of which with the tannin and gallic acid the colour depends; while, at the same time, it can be used without any risk of injury to the cloth, on which it has no effect. See OXALATE.

LEMONADE, a liquor prepared of water, sugar, and lemon or citron juice. It is very cooling and grateful.

LEMUR, the macauco, in natural history, a genus of Mammalia, of the order Primates. Generic character: in the upper jaw four front teeth, the intermediate ones remote; in the lower jaw six, longer, extended forwards, compressed, parallel, and approximated; tusks solitary and approximated; grinders several, and sometimes many, sublobated, the foremost somewhat longer and sharper. This genus of animals is very similar to that of monkeys in the structure of the feet. Some are destitute of a tail, and others have extraordinary

long ones. Their manners are very dif ferent from those of monkeys, and display nothing of the active mischief and intrusive impertinence of that animal. There are thirteen species, of which we shall notice the following:

L. tardigradus, or the loris. This is of a light brown colour, and of the usual size of a cat. It walks and climbs with great slowness, and is supposed incapable of leaping. Its manners are gentle and interesting, it is extremely susceptible of cold, and when exposed to a strong degree of it is agitated with extreme uneasiness, and with considerable exasperation. It sleeps from sunrise to sun-set without intermission, rolled up in the manner of the hedge-hog; it is extremely attentive to cleanliness, licking its full and rich fur with the same assiduity as a cat. Its food consists of plantains, mangoes, and other fruits, and it is scarcely capable of satisfying itself with grasshoppers when it has access to them. Many species of insects, indeed, form a repast particularly gratifying to it, and the sight of them excites in its look the most glowing animation, and summons to exertion all the energies of its frame. Several of the above particulars are taken from an account given of one kept in a state of confinement by the late Sir William Jones. It is a native of various parts of India.

L. indri, is a native of Madagascar, is the largest of the genus, has a face of a dog. like form, and a fur thick and soft. It has no appearance of a tail: it is very docile, and sometimes trained by the natives to hunt various animals. It is three feet and a half in height.

L. macanco, or the ruffed macanco, is found in some of the Indian islands, and is particularly numerous at Madagascar. It is full of energy and fierceness, and its voice is so strong as to fill the woods with its cries. It will endure captivity, notwithstanding the violent passions it exhibits in a natural state, without discontent or depression, and is stated to be extremely inoffen. sive, and even sociable in it, with those by whom it is surrounded. It possesses neither craft nor malice in it.

L. catta, or the ring-tailed macanco. In their state of nature these animals are seen in companies of twenty or thirty. They feed on almost every species of fruits, and, in a state of confinement, like several others of this genus, will take animal food without any hesitation. They are the most elegant and beautiful species of the whole

genus, are lively and gentle, and so agile and elegant in their movements, as to be highly interesting. They delight much in sunshine, and will sit before a fire, like the squirrel, extending towards it their outspread hands. It inhabits Madagascar, is of the size of a small cat, and resembles that animal in purring. See Mammalia, Plate XV. fig. 1 and 2.

LENS, in dioptrics, properly signifies a small roundish glass, of the figure of a lentil; but is extended to any optic glass, not very thick, which either collects the rays of light into a point, in their passage through it, or disperses them further apart, according to the laws of refraction.

Lenses have various figures, that is, are terminated by various surfaces, from which they acquire various names. Some are plane on one side, and convex on the other; others convex on both sides, both which are ordinarily called convex lenses: though where we speak accurately, the former is called plano-convex. Again, some are plane on one side, and concave on the other; and others are concave on both sides; which are both usually ranked among the concave lenses; though, when distinguished, the former is called a plano-concave. Others, again, are concave on one side, and convex on the other, which are called convexo-concave, or concavo-convex lenses, according as the one or the other surface is more concave, or a portion of a less sphere. It is here to be observed, that in every lens terminated in any of the forementioned manners, a right line, perpendicular to the two surfaces, is called the axis of the lens; which axis, when both surfaces are spherical, passes through both their centres; but if one of them be plane, it falls perpendicularly upon that, and goes through the centre of the other. Sce OPTICS.

LEO, in astronomy, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, the fifth in order. See ASTRONOMY.

LEONTICE, in botany, a genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Corydales. Berberides, Jus- ́ sieu. Essential character: calyx six-leaved, deciduous; corolla six-petalled; nectary six-leaved, placed on the claws of the corolla, spreading. There are three species.

LEONTODON, in botany, dandelion, a genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Æqualis class and order. Natural order of Compo sitæ Semiflosculosi. Cichoraceæ, Jussien. Essential character: calyx imbricate, with