LAZARUS LEAD. 



409 



country, is, in some measure, to be ascribed to their 

 influence. In Spain, also, this order has flourished, 

 though the influence of the Lazariles there lias not 

 been so great. Austria has admitted them more 

 recently. 



LAZARUS ; the name of a leprous beggnr men- 

 tioned in sacred history. (Luke xvi, 20.) The 

 memory of a monk of this name, belonging to the 

 ninth century, is celebrated by the Roman church 

 (Feb. 21), because neither the threats nor the violence 

 of Theophilus, emperor of Constantinople, could pre- 

 vent him from painting images of the saints. The 

 former afterwards became patron of the sick, parti- 

 cularly of lepers, and in Palestine was instituted the 

 order of St Lazarus, whose members, called knights 

 hospitallers of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, took care 

 chiefly of persons afflicted with the leprosy. This 

 disease was spread in Europe by the crusaders ; and 

 the hospitals, which, till the thirteenth century, were 

 frequently established for lepers, received the name 

 of lazarettos, which, at a later period, was extended 

 to all hospitals, (q. v.) 



LAZULITE is rarely found in perfect crystals, 

 more often granular, or in pieces not exceeding the 

 size of a hazel-nut. It is somewhat translucent, of a 

 fine blue colour, of different shades; nearly as hard 

 as quartz. Its primary form is a right rhombic prism; 

 the direction of its cleavages has not been deter- 

 mined; specific gravity, 3 05. Before the blow-pipe, it 

 intumesces a little, and assumes a glassy appearance, 

 where the heat has been highest, but does not melt. 

 It consists of phosphoric acid 41-81, alumine 35-73, 

 magnesia 9-34, siiex, 2'10, oxide of iron 2'64, and 

 water 6-06. It is found in narrow veins, traversing 

 clay-slate, with quartz, in Salzburg-. 



LAZZARONI; a class of persons in Naples (for- 

 merly about 40,000), without employment or home, 

 and without any settled means of support, the greatest 

 part of them living for the whole year, both day and 

 night, in the streets and public places. The extreme 

 fruitfulness of the soil, which renders subsistence very 

 easy, the extraordinary temperance of the inhabitants, 

 the warmth of the climate, and the indolence which it 

 produces, have given rise to this class of men. The 

 little which is absolutely necessary, they easily pick 

 up, in the capacity of messengers, porters, and day- 

 labourers, without hard work. Hence, in spite of their 

 great number, they are extremely good-natured and 

 peaceful, and mildly put up with insults and provoca- 

 tions from the other classes. In Naples is found every 

 thing which can make such a life practicable; hence 

 a lazzarone never leaves the city without the most 

 pressing necessity. The desire of property and of 

 more of the comforts of life, with more industrious 

 habits, was first introduced among these people in 

 modern times, under the reign of Joseph Bonaparte, 

 when they were employed in making excavations, 

 S:c., and received part of their pay in domestic 

 utensils and furniture, that they might become ac- 

 customed to a home. They were also collected in 

 villages, where it was intended to educate their 

 children. The police regulations of king Joachim 

 (Murat) also contributed to improve their condition. 

 The lazzaroni consisted at first principally of sick 

 persons from the lowest class, who, after leaving the 

 hospitals, retained their wretched clothes, and were 

 hence called lazzaroni, as being under the protection 

 of St Lazarus. 



LEAD is a metal very anciently known ; it is 

 often mentioned by Moses. Its alchemical name was 

 Saturnus. It has a bluish-gray colour, and, when 

 recently cut, a strong metallic lustre ; but it soon 

 tarnishes from exposure to the air; specific gravity, 

 11.358. It is soft, flexible, and inelastic. It is mal- 

 leable and ductile. In tenacity, it is inferior to all 



ductile metals. It soils paper and the fingers, im- 

 parts a slight taste, and emits, by friction, a peculiar 

 smell. It is a good conductor of heat, melts at 612 

 Fahr., and, when cooled, slowly crystallizes in quad- 

 rangular pyramids. It is but slowly affected by the 

 atmosphere at common temperatures; but, when 

 maintained in a state of fusion, it absorbs oxygen 

 rapidly, and is converted into a dull-gray dross or 

 powder. When this dross is heated to a low ignition, 

 it becomes of a dull-yellow colour, and is called 

 common massicot ; and, by a higher heat and longer 

 exposure to the air, it assumes a deeper yellow, and 

 is then called massicot. This is the protoxide of lead, 

 and consists, in 112 parts, of 104 lead and eight 

 oxygen. It is insoluble in water, melts at ignition, 

 and is unchanged by heat in close vessels. When it 

 contains about four per cent, of carbonic acid, it is 

 called lit/iarge. It unites with acids, and is the base 

 of all the salts of the lead. If the protoxide, or me- 

 tallic lead, be subjected, during forty-eight hours, 

 to the heat of a reverberatory furnace, it passes to 

 the condition of red oxide, or what is commonly 

 called minium, or red lead. This is regarded by 

 doctor Thomson as a mixture of the protoxide and 

 deutoxide of lead. After tiie protoxide is separated 

 by acetic acid, the deutoxide, of a dark red colour, 

 remains. Its composition is, in 116 parts, 104 lead 

 and 12 oxygen. The peroxide of lead is formed by 

 passing chlorine gas through a solution of acetate of 

 lead. Its colour is brown. Heated moderately, 

 especially with the addition of sulphuric acid, it gives 

 out oxygen, and becomes deutoxide, and at a cherry- 

 red heat it passes to the state of the protoxide : 120 

 parts contain 104 of lead. Lead forms a compound 

 with chlorine, as it is supposed at present, in the 

 ratio of 104 of the former to thirty six of the latter. 

 The union is effected by exposing the metal in thin 

 plates to the action of chlorine gas, or, more easily, 

 by adding muriatic acid, or a solution of common 

 salt, to the acetate or nitrate of lead dissolved in 

 water. This chloride fuses at a temperature below 

 redness, and forms, as it cools, a semi-transparent, 

 homy mass, sometimes called horn lead, or plum- 

 bum corneum. It bears a full red heat in close 

 vessels without subliming. The pigment called 

 mineral, or patent yellow (also,fttsed sub muriate of 

 lead], is a compound of the chloride and protoxide 

 of lead. It is prepared for the purposes of the arts 

 by the action of moistened sea-salt on litharge, by 

 which means a portion of the protoxide is converted 

 into chloride of lead. It is a paint little used, how- 

 ever, in consequence of the preference given to the 

 chrome yellow. An iodide of lead is easily formed 

 by mingling a solution of hydriodic acid, or hydrio- 

 date of potassa, with the acetate or nitrate of lead 

 dissolved in water. It is of a rich yellow colour, 

 and is deposited from boiling water on cooling, in 

 crystalline grains of a brilliant lustre. Lead com- 

 bines with sulphuric phosphorus. The sulphuret 

 may be made by simply heating lead and sulphur 

 together, or by the action of sulphureted hydrogen 

 on a salt of lead. It is an abundant natural pro- 

 duct, and is known under the name of galena hi 

 mineralogy. The phosphuret of lead is formed by 

 dropping phosphorus into melted lead contained in a 

 crucible, or by heating equal parts of lead filings and 

 phosphoric glass with one-eighth of charcoal powder. 

 It breaks into laminae, and is composed of 88 

 lead, and 12 phosphorus. As respects the use 

 of metallic lead and the oxides, it is well known that 

 the former is much employed in the arts, particularly 

 for buildings and cisterns. For the first of these uses 

 it has many advantages. It is easily worked into 

 any shape, on account of its great softness, and is 

 sufficiently malleable to fold two edges over each 



