121 



LAUREATE, POET. 



LAW. 



123 



opposite style of address. But the maxim of Shaftesbury admits only 

 of a negative application, for ridicule, at most, is only fitted to refute 

 error. In truth however it is not properly levelled at the false, but 

 at the absurd in tenets and opinions. The ridiculous is not any fixed 

 and constant property of certain objects, but it is purely relative and 

 dependent upon the subjective states and conditions of individual 

 minds. The simpleton and the boor laugh heartily at what scarcely 

 provokes a smile in the educated man and the sage ; and on the other 

 hand, much will excite a laugh in the latter, which would not move a 

 muscle in the face of the former. Such again is the effect of a gay or 

 a gloomy temperament, that a Democritus will laugh where a Herach'tus 

 would weep. 



LAUREATE, POET, an officer in the lord chamberlain's department 

 of the royal household. The appellation "laureate" seems to have 

 been derived through the Italian, from the Latin laurus, " a bay," in 

 allusion to the ancient practice of crowning poets. Petrarch received 

 the crown at Rome in 1341, and Tasso in 1594. The earliest mention 

 of a poet-laureate in England, under that express title, is in the reign 

 of Edward IV., when John Kay received the appointment. Warton, 

 however, in his ' History of English Poetry," shows that the poet- 

 laureate is undoubtedly the same officer who in the reign of Henry III. 

 is styled Versifaator regis, the " king's versifier," and to whom a hundred 

 shillings were paid as his annual stipend. Skelton (writing in the 

 reign of Henry VII.), in three or four of his poema. styles himself 

 ' poet laureate ; " but the laureateship of which he speaks was a degree 

 granted by the university (in his case of Oxford) for proficiency in 

 ' grammar,' in which versification was included. With the degree was 

 given a laurel wreath. Skelton was one of the last who received this 

 degree. But though 



" By hole consent of thcr Senate 

 Be was made poete lawrcate," 



and in consequence, wore as laureate a suit of white and green, on 

 which the word Calliope was embroidered, he also held the office of 

 ' laureate to the king,' Henry VIII., whose tutor he had been. Ben 

 Jonson is said to have been the poet-laureate to King James I. In 

 tlie reign of Charles I., 1630, the first patent of this office appears to 

 have been granted, which fixed the salary or pension attached to it 

 at 100<. a year, with an additional grant of a tierce of Canary wine 

 from the king's stores ; before this there seems to have been no fixed 

 salary, the sum paid being rather in the shape of a gratuity. The 

 succession of poets-laureate since the time of Charles II. has been 

 John Dryden, Nahum Tate, Nicholas Rowe, Laurence Eusden, Colley 

 Gibber, William Whitehead, Thomas Warton, Henry James Pye, Robert 

 Southi-y, William Wordsworth (with a salary of 3001. a-year), and, 

 since 1850, Alfred Tennyson. A commutation was agreed to of 271. 

 for the allowance of wine, by Southey, while he held the office. 



LAUKIC ACID. [LACBYL.] 



LAURINE (C 4 ,H V ,O ?), an acrid and bitter principle contained in 

 the berries of the laurel ; its smell resembles that of laurel oil. It is 

 insoluble in water, and little soluble in cold alcohol, but more so in 

 boiling alcohol and in ether ; it crystallises from solution in needles. 

 Wlit-n heated it melta/and volatilises without leaving any residue. To 

 sulphuric acid it first imparts a yellow and afterwards a reddish-yellow 

 colour ; in cold nitric acid it liquefies, and floats upon the surface ; it 

 bears considerable resemblance to solid expressed oils; the berries 

 contain only about 1 per cent, of this substance. 



LAUROXE. [LAUBYL.] 



LAUROSTEARIC ACID. [LACBYL.] 



LAUROSTEARIN. [LATIRYL.] 



LAUROSTEARONE. [LAUBYL.] 



LAURUS NOBILIS, the true ( Co-tar's ) laurel, or sweet bay, 

 Medical properties of. Of this tree or large shrub, the berries only are 

 officinal in this country, the leaves and berries on the Continent. Both 

 contain a volatile oil ; the berries also a fixed or expressed oil, called 

 laurel fat or oil of bays. The berries analysed by Bonastre yielded : 

 volatile oil, 0'8; laurin, TO; fixed oil, 12'8; wax (stearin), 7'1 ; resin, 

 1'6 ; uncrystallisable sugar, 0'4 ; gummy extractive, 17'2 ; bassorin, 6'4 ; 

 starch, 25'9 ; woody fibre, 18'8 ; soluble albumen, traces only ; an 

 acia, O'l ; water, 6'4 ; salts, 1'5 ; ashes, 1'2. The volatile oil can be 

 procured from the leaves or berries by distillation. It consists of two 

 nicric oils, separable by re-distillation. Laurin is a true 

 camphor, similar to that obtained from other Laurinete. It may be 

 extracted by rectified alcohol. 



fixed oil may be obtained from eitherHhe fresh or dried berries ; 



Her require to be macerated or exposed to steam previous to 



being pressed. The most remarkable point in regard to this oil is, the 



r the fruit in which it is lodged, viz. : the endocarp, most fixed 



ing in the seed, but this fruit, the olive, and a few others, have 



it in the endocarp. 



The bruised leaves, and the berries, are tonic, carminative, and febri- 

 fugal ; but they aru little used in medicine. The fixed oil is in exten- 

 sive use in veterinary medicine. 



It in important to remark that the use of bay leaves, in cookery, to 



flavour puddings, clieexe-cakesi, custarcU, &c., has led in several 



instance* to serious mistakes. In many cases the leaves of cherry- 



l.vnvl, which contain a volatile 'poisonous oil, and the elements of 



;>; acid, are used by cooks as recklessly as bay-leaves having got 



the name simply of laurel, instead of cherry-laurel. Even sculptors 

 have encircled the brows of their marble heroes with the wrong 

 leaf. 



LAURYL (C it H., 3 0.,). An hypothetical radical contained in lauric 

 acid and the compounds derived from lauric acid. It is homologous 

 with acetyl, propyl, butyl, &c. [NEGATIVE RADICALS.] 



Sydrids of lauryl (H, C 21 H 23 2 ) is not known, but a derivative of it, 

 termed laurone, or laurostearcme, has been obtained by the destructive 

 distillation of laurate of lime. It is a crystalline body : melting 

 point 151 Fahr. It contains (C.,,,H,, 3 , C 24 H a3 2 ), the electropositive 

 hydrogen in hydride of lauryl being replaced by the electro- 

 positive radical (C 22 H 23 ) ; a radical bearing exactly the same relation 

 to the lauryl that the methyl does to the acetyl in acetone. 



Lauric acid, laurostearic acid, or pichurinstcaric acid (C^H^O, 



= c * H =g" 1 2 ), was first obtained from the fixed oil of bay-berries 



(Lauras nobilis), hence the name. It is also contained in the solid fat 

 of sassafras nuts or pichurin beans [NECTANDRA, Puchury minor, in 

 NAT. HIST. Drv.], in cocoa-nut oil, and in cacao butter. By saponi- 

 ficatiou with potash these fatty matters yield laurate of potash, from 

 which the lauric acid may be separated by tartaric acid, gentle appli- 

 cation of heat causing the bitartrate of potash to subside and the 

 melted laurie acid to float on the surface. 



Lauric acid is, at ordinary temperatures, a transparent crystalline 

 mass. It is very soluble in alcohol or ether, the solution possessing a 

 strongly acid re-action. By careful manipulation it may be obtained 

 in silky needles. Its specific gravity is 0'883 ; melting point between 

 108 and 110 Fahr. 



Laurostearin is a combination of lauric acid and glycerin, forming 

 the natural fats already mentioned. When purified by repeated crys- 

 tallisation from boiling alcohol it forms a mass of white, brilliant, 

 acicular crystals. Melting point about 112 Fahr. 



Laurates have the general formula (C 2 ,H 23 MOJ ; they are uncrys- 

 tallisable. 



Laurin is a substance crystallising in prisms on evaporating the 

 alcoholic mother liquors from the preparation of laurostearin. It 

 differs from the latter body in being very soluble in cold alcohol. Its 

 composition is said to be C^H^O,,. 



LAVANDULA. The medical uses of the products of various species 

 are given under this head in the NAT. HIST. Div. 



LAW. In treating of the word law we will first explain its ety- 

 mology, and the etymology of the equivalent words in the principal 

 languages of the civilised world ; we will next determine the strict 

 and primary meaning of law, together with its various secondary mean- 

 ings ; we will afterwards state the most important species of law, in 

 the strict sense of the word ; and finally, we will make a few remarks 

 on the origin and end of law. 



1. Etymology of Lam, and the equivalent words in other languages. 

 In the Greek language the most ancient word for law is th(mvs (St/us, 

 which contains the same root as TiSijfu), meaning " that which is esta- 

 blished or laid down." The common Greek word for law, after the 

 Honleric period, is vofua, which first occurs in the ' Works and Days ' 

 of Hesiod (v. 274-386, Gaisf ord), and contains the same root as re/w, to 

 allot or distribute. The only word which the Greek language possessed 

 to signify a legal right was SiKawv, or SiKaiu/uo. (See Hugo, ' Geschichte 

 des Romischen Rechts,' p. 962, ed. xi.) 



Jurisprudence was never cultivated as a science by the Greeks 

 before the loss of their independence. Many causes concurred to 

 prevent the Greeks from adding jurisprudence to the numerous sub- 

 jects which they first subjected to a scientific treatment. The chief 

 of these causes was perhaps the generally arbitrary character of the 

 Greek tribunals, both in the democratic and oligarchical states. The 

 Lacedaemonians had no written laws (see Aristotle's account of the 

 jurisdiction of the Ephors in ' Polit.,' ii. 9 ; compare Miiller's ' Dorians,' 

 b. iii., ch. 6, s. 2 ; ch. 11, s. 2 ; and see Justinian's ' Institutes,' lib. i., 

 tit. 2, s. 10), and they were besides too great contemners of learning 

 and science to cultivate law in a systematic manner. The Athenians 

 possessed a considerable body of written laws, and, with their extra- 

 ordinary talent both for speculation and action, they would probably 

 have contributed something towards reducing law to a science, if the 

 large numbers of the judges (Sutvrrai) in their courts had not led to a 

 popular and rhetorical treatment of the questions which came before 

 them, and, by diminishing the sense of personal responsibility, facili- 

 tated arbitrary decisions. (Xen., ' Mem.' iv. 4, 4.) 



For the first scientific cultivation of law the world is indebted to 

 the Romans. " How far our ancestors," says Cicero, " excelled other 

 nations in wisdom, will be easily perceived on comparing our laws with 

 the works of their Lyeurgus, Draco, and Solon ; for it is incredible 

 how rude and almost ridiculous every system of law is, except that o 

 Rome." (' De Orat.,' i. 44.) Apart from the general ability of the 

 Romans in the business of civil and military government, the systematic 

 cultivation of law in Rome is perhaps owing chiefly to the fact that 

 tho Roman tribunals were composed of a single judge, or magistral. 

 (Hugo, Ibid., p. 345.) The persons filling the offices of pra'tor urbamts 

 and prait/ir peregrinus (the magistrates who ultimately exercised the 

 chief civil jurisdiction) were changed annually ; and it was found con- 

 venient that every new prictor should, on his accession to his office, 

 publish an authentic statement of the rules which ho intended to 



