LA< ram 



L^MODIPODA. 



324 



,.j (Broad-Backed Saurian*), * family which come* immedUtely 

 after the Oeekotian* la their ' Erpe'tologte.' They allow thai tho 

 VannlaiM ar nearly allied (out Iris mild* rapport*) to the Laoertians, 

 a* modified by them, and rest the diitinctions of the former family 

 from the latter lt, on the presence in the latter of polygonal scales 

 which oover the head ; Sod, on the form of the Male* of the back aud 

 of the belly, and their nooeompreaMd tail ; and 3rd, on the form and 

 dMpoatton of the teeth, which are not distant, obtuse, and conical, 

 bat placed on the same line, and trenchant at their summit in the 

 aotero-posterior direction. 



For an account of the systematic arrangement of the Lizardi and 

 their oonnoen, see SAURIA. 



LACHKSia [CMuunaJ 



LACHRYMAL GLANDS. [Ey,] 



LACISTKMA'CE.E, Laeutemadi, a small and obscure natural 

 order of incomplete Exogenous Plants, containing a few arborescent 

 specie*, inhabiting the wood* of tropical America, in low places. In 

 appearance they resemble the genus Cdtit ; and in structure they 

 approach rery nearly to t'rticacttr, from which Von Martius first 

 distinguished them. The principal characters on which the order is 

 founded are the dehiscent 3-valved fruit and amentaceous inflores- 

 cence. Nothing U known of their properties. There are two genera 

 and six species. 



A knack of Latittrmt ttmltlum In (tower nod fruit. 1, flower with iU 

 *aly ; 1, u ovary with the double tUmen below it ; 9, a ripe fruit. 



LACTK ALS, a set of absorbent vesseU which take their origin in 

 the vilii of the intestines, and are the principal means by which the 

 food, in the form of chyle, U conveyed into the blood. [ABSORBENT 

 Brmit ; Diucniux ; CIITI.E ; I.fTUTME*,] 



LACTU'CA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Oamponltr, the sub-order LigtUijtunr, the tribe Cichoracca, and the 

 sub-tribe Luttwxa of Do Candolle. It has a cylindrical imbricated 

 involucre, with the scale* membranous at the margin, and few-flowered ; 

 the receptacle naked ; the aohenium compressed, wingless, with a long 

 Aliform beak ; the pappus hair-like in several rows. 



L. nrota. Acrid Lettuce, has leave* with a prickly keel, horizontal, 

 oblong, auricled, and clasping, mueronate, dentate or sinuated, the 

 beak white, equalling the fruit, which is black. This plant is found 

 on hsdg**, old walls, and the skirU of fields throughout Europe. It 

 Yields a milky juice, which when procured and dried has the name 

 Laotucaricum. This substance U also procured from the Garden Lettuce 

 (L. MJira), and in the ' London Phannaooporia ' the L. tativa U the 

 only plant reoognued for supplying this substance. Dr. Chrititison 

 remarks :" The London College however, and many cultivators, are 

 wroof In restricting themselve* to the garden lettuce for the pre- 

 paration of Uctuoaricum. From information communicated to me 

 several years ago by Mr. Duncan, chemist and druggist in this city 

 (Edinburgh), who ha* often made Uctucaricum on a large scale, it 

 appears that the L. rinta yield* a much larger quantity, and that 

 the produce U of a superior quality. Nor u there any reason for 

 dreadinc the narcotic properties of the wild lettuce, the scientific 

 name of which ha* given rise to an exaggerated notion of it* activity. 

 The remit* obtained by Mr. Duncan have been since confirmed by 

 tho** of BchulU in Germany, who found that a single plant of the 

 garden lettuce yields only 17 grains of Uctucaricum on an average, 

 while a plant of wild UtWee yields no leu than 50 grain*." Mr. 

 Duncan ha* made the observation also that, " although the milkincsa 

 of the juice increase* till the very clow of the time of flowering, 

 namely in the wild -lettuce till the month of October in this climate, 



the value of the laotuoarioum is deteriorated after the middle of tho 

 period of inflorescence; foV subsequently, while the juice becomes 

 thicker, a material decrease takes place in the proportion of bitter 

 extract contained in it" For an account of L. latira aud iU uses a* 

 a salad see LETTUCE, in ARTS AND So. Drv. This plant appear* to have 

 been cultivated amongst the Greeks, and also used in medicine. It 

 is the epi'Sof of Diosooridea (u. 165) ; also of Theophrutus. Several 

 varieties of the Garden Lettuce were uaed both among the Greeks and 

 Romans as salads. 



L. Scariola, Prickly Lettuce, has the leaves with a prickly keel, per- 

 pendicular, arrow-shaped at the base and clasping, sinuate, the beak 

 white, equalling the pale fruit It U found plentifully in waste place* 

 in many parts of Europe, but is a rare plant iu Great Britain. It ha* 

 a stem Iroui 2 to 5 feet high, leafy aud panicled. Its juice is not so 

 acrid as that of L. riroia, out possesses the same properties. It U 

 found on the higher hills of Greece, and is probably the epf&af aypla 

 and BftScuelni of Dioscorides. The BpiSaxlm of Theophrostus (i. 8 and 

 vii. 3) and of Galen (lib. 2), according to Fraas, is tho L. coriacea of 

 Schultz. 



There are two other British specie* of lettuce : L. taligna, with a 

 white elongated beak, twice OB long as the fruit, the upper leaves entire, 

 acuminate ; and L. mwalii, with the beak much shorter than the fruit 



(Babington, Manual of Britiih Botany ; Proas, Synopti* I'lantarum 

 Flora Clattica; Christison, Ditpmtalory.) 



LACTUCA'RICUM is a substance obtained from the Lactuca 

 virota, being the inspissated milky juice of the plant, and which is at 

 first white, but afterwards by exposure to the air aud sun concrete* 

 and becomes brownish. The juice of the leaves only should be col- 

 lected before the flowering has begun. Puncturing the leaves is the 

 best mode of procuring it 



Other plants are often mistaken for it, OB Lactuca tativa, L. 

 augiutana, L. qutrcina, L. Scariola, Sonchut ola-aceia, aud Dipiacut 

 lylvatrit. 



According to Klink, Laotucaricum contains'. lactucic acid. It yields 

 by distillation its odour and taste to water, which thus acquires some 

 of the virtues of the plant The inspissated concrete juice is said to 

 resemble opium in its action, but is much feebler. In pulmonary 

 diseases it is sedative. The common Garden Lettuce (Lactuca tativa) 

 also possesses sedative properties, and eaten towards bed-time has 

 been said to procure rest in cases of morbid vigilance, or to allay pains 

 of the stomach. [LACTUCA.] 



LACUNA. [LmoRisiDi.] 



LA'DANUM, sometimes written Labdanum, but incorrectly, as it 

 is the A^oavor of the Greeks and the Lodun of the Arabs. It u 

 first mentioned by Herodotus (iii. 112) as procured in Arabia, and 

 used by the Arab* for fumigation. The word is not Greek, but 

 on Arabic word with a Greek termination ; the Greeks also used the 

 word Afjjoj to indicate the shrub which produced the Ladanum. 

 This gum-resin is produced by several species of Cittui, the Klirros 

 of Dioscorides, though the name' and description are often con- 

 founded with those of the KKTO-OI, or ffcdcra. C. ladani/eriu, C. 

 Crcticut, C. laurifuliui, and C. Lcdon, Lam., are usually mentioned 

 as the species which ore indigenous in the Grecian Islands, in Spain, 

 Italy, and the south of France. That obtained from the Levant is 

 the most celebrated. The juice exudes upon the leaves and branches 

 of these shrubs, and is collected, according to Tournefort, by mean* 

 of an instrument resembling a rake, with leather thongs instead of 

 teeth, which is drawn over the plant ; and as the juice adheres to the 

 thongs, it is afterwards separated. Ladanum is also described by 

 Dioscorides u being collected from the beards of goats which had 

 been feeding on the leaves of Catut. (Compare Hurodot, iii. 112.) 

 It is now seldom employed for any purpose, as it is with difficulty 

 obtained of a sufficient degree of purity from the adulterations to 

 which it U subjected ; one analysis yielding 72 parts of ferruginous 

 sand, and another 86 of resin, out of 100 ports. Tho purest kiud, 

 seen only iu tho places where it is produced, is described as blackish, 

 homogeneous, and tenacious, easily softening under the fingers, and 

 even sticking to them; having a grayish fracture, which however 

 becomes black by exposure to the air ; rather a bitter taste, and a 

 very agreeable smell from the presence of a volatile oil. It was for- 

 merly employed as a stimulant, more recently as an expectorant, and 

 is esteemed even in the present day by the Turks as a perfume, and 

 used for fumigation. 



LADY-BIUD. [TR:MKRA.] 



LADY-FKIljr. [ASPIDIUM.] 



LADY'S-SLIPPER. [CTFIIIPBDIUII.] 



LADY'S SMOCK. [CARDAMIMB.] 



1,-KMANCTUS. [IQUANID.*.] 



L^EMODI'PODA, Latreilfe's fourth order of the Crustacea, 

 placed by him between the Amphipuila and the fsopoda. He describe* 

 them as being the only forms among the Malacoitraca with sessile 

 eyes (Ednophtltalmia) whose posterior extremity does not present 

 distinct bronchia}, and which have hardly any tail, the two last feet 

 being inserted at that end, or the segment to which they are attached 

 being followed by not more than one or two other joints, which are 

 very small They are also, he states, the only ones in which tho two 

 anterior feet (which agree with the second jaw-feet) make a part of 

 tho head. 



