3 -2 



LARCH LARD. 



rcul estate may bo trespassed upon, it cannot be sto- 

 len ; and so fixtures, ami whatever is a j>art of the 

 reality, as it is called, could not be subjects of lar- 

 ceny. Thus it was held that a standing tree, fruit 

 upon the lice, ore in a mine, a fence, lea, I, bra->, i- 

 oilier metal, attached to a building, a copper boiler 

 set in bricks, and whatever else would pass by a 

 conveyance of an e>late. was not a subject of larceny, 

 and the taking of such things was only a trespass on 

 Uie real estate. But this distinction is mostly abol- 

 ished by statutes, for which there was the stronger 

 reason, as many of these tilings were such as were 

 peculiarly exposed to be stolen. So, again, by the 

 common law, the feloniously taking of written instru- 

 ments, they not being considered as property, but 

 merely as evidence ot contracts, was held not to be 

 larceny ; but this doctrine has been partially abro- 

 gated by statutes, and the felonious taking of bonds, 

 bills of exchange, &c., is larceny. As to animals, 

 birds, &c., the felonious taking of domesticated ones 

 is felony ; but it is not so with those esteemed to be 

 of a wild nature, as bears, foxes, &c., although 

 they may belong to, or have been purchased by 

 some individual, unless they are tamed, or are in 

 the possession and under the control of some one. 

 The felonious taking of a hive of bees is held to be 

 larceny, unless it be a wild hive in the forest, the 

 taking of which is held not to be larceny. Nothing 

 can be stolen which is not a subject of property ; but 

 the crime of larceny is not confined to the depriv- 

 ing the owner of the possession of the article. It is 

 sufficient to constitute the offence, to take the article 

 from the possession of one having only a special 

 property, as a carrier or other bailee ; and it is a 

 sufficient allegation of the ownership, in the indict- 

 ment, to state that the article belonged to such per- 

 son having a special property. In regard to shrouds 

 and coffins of lead, or other materials of value, the 

 question of ownership has heretofore been made, and 

 they are held to belong to the heirs, executors, or 

 legatees of the person deceased, and it may be so 

 alleged in the indictment. 



Larceny was formerly divided in England into 

 two kinds, grand and petty; the former being the 

 stealing of an article over the value of one shilling, 

 the latter, that of an article not over that value. 

 But this distinction was abolished by a statute of 7 

 and 8 George IV. In England, the punishment for 

 grand larceny was death ; but, most frequently, of 

 late years, it lias been commuted for transportation ; 

 and, now, the punishment of all simple larceny, of 

 whatever value, is, by the statute above-mentioned, 

 imprisonment or transportation. Great discretion is 

 necessarily left with the court, in regard to the 

 punishment for this ofience. Some species of lar- 

 ceny, as from the person, are more severely punished 

 than others, by the English law ; and a larceny com- 

 mitted in a dwelling-house, by night, is generally 

 considered an aggravated crime, and is punished 

 accordingly. A severer punishment is awarded, on 

 a second or third conviction of the same offender. 



LARCH (larix); a genus of plants, included, by 

 many able botanists, together with the spruces, under 

 pinna ; and, indeed, there seems to be no essential 

 difference in the parts of fructification ; the leaves, 

 however, are in separate sheaths, and differ from 

 those both of pines and spruces, in being fasciculate 

 and deciduous. The American larch, or hackmatack, 

 !> a noble tree, with a straight trunk, often rising to 

 the height of 100 feet, and giving out numerous 

 slender branches. It is a native of Canada, the 

 northern parts of the United States of America, and 

 the higher regions of the Alleghany mountains. Its 

 southern limit along the sea-coast may be placed at 

 about latitude 41 ; but it is not very abundant 



even in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. In 

 Canada, recording to Michaux, it constitutes exten- 

 sive masses of forest on the upper parts of the 

 Satien;ii, and about lake Mistassins ; and it was 

 observed, by major Long, as far westward as lake 

 Winnipeg. The wood, though heavy, is very highly 

 valued, being remarkably strong and durable, and 

 far superior to that of any pine or spruce. In Maine, 

 it is always used for the knees of vessels, when it 

 can be procured. The European larch, a tree very 

 similar in stature and appearance, but having cones 

 of double the size, is found throughout Siberia, and 

 in most of the northern and mountainous parts of 

 Europe. It is, however, entirely wanting in Britain 

 and the Pyrenees. The wood is used for a variety 

 of purposes, and is exceedingly durable. An instance 

 is recorded of a vessel built of cypress and larch, 

 which must have remained under water for a thou- 

 sand years, and the timber of which had become so 

 hard as to resist, entirely, the tools of the workmen. 

 It is much used, in naval architecture, for masts and 

 the frame-work of vessels, being capable of sus- 

 taining much greater pressure even than oak ; and, 

 in Switzerland, entire houses have been constructed 

 of it, which, however, have the disadvantage of 

 becoming brown, or even black, with age. It 

 affords excellent staves for casks, capable of holding 

 spirituous liquor. The article of commerce called 

 Venice turpentine is obtained from this tree ; and a 

 single individual will yield seven or eight pounds, 

 annually, for forty or fifty years. The wood, how- 

 ever, is injured by the process. The celebrated 

 cedar of Lebanon, the largest and most majestic of 

 the conifercE of the eastern continent, is also a 

 species of larch. Besides mount Lebanon, where 

 the few remaining stocks are preserved with religi- 

 ous veneration, it inhabits Siberia and the Hiinma- 

 laya mountains. The cones are much larger than 

 those of the preceding species. The wood is said to 

 be soft, and of very little value. 



LARCHER, PETER HENRY, an eminent French 

 scholar and translator, was born at Dijon, October 

 12, 1726. He was an intense student of Greek 

 literature, and an assiduous collector of early edi- 

 tions. His first translation was the Electro, of 

 Euripides, which attracted little attention ; but he 

 became a contributor to several literary journals, 

 and translated from the English the Martinus 

 Scriblerus, from Pope's Miscellanies, and Sir John 

 Pringle's Observations on the Diseases of the Army. 

 He also wrote notes to the French version of Hudi- 

 bras. He followed with a translation of the Greek ro- 

 mance of Chereas and Callirhoe, which was reprinted 

 in the Bibliotheque des Romans. In 1767, a dif- 

 ference took place between him and Voltaire, on 

 whose Philosophy of History he published remarks, 

 under the title of a Supplement ; to which the latter 

 replied in his well known Defense de mon Oncle. 

 Larcher rejoined in a Reponse d la Defense de mon 

 Oncle, with which the controversy ceased on his 

 part ; but not so with the merciless wit of his oppon- 

 ent. He soon after undertook a translation of 

 Herodotus, and, in 1774, published his learned 

 Memoire sur Venus, to which the academy of in- 

 scriptions awarded their prize. His translation of 

 Xenophon led to his being elected into that academy. 

 His Herodotus was published in 1786, of which a 

 new and very improved edition appeared in 1802. 

 He was subsequently received into the institute, and 

 finally appointed professor of Greek in the imperial 

 university, but was too aged for active service. He 

 died December 22, 1812, and was regretted as an 

 accomplished scholar and amiable man. 



LARD; the fat of swine, which differs in its situ- 

 ation from that of almost every other quadruped, as 



