544 



LORY LOTTERY. 



raine-Elboeuf. born September 25, 1751, at the com- 

 mencement of the Frt-ndi revolution, commanded the 

 regiment royal Allemand, under the title of prince 

 Lunibesc, and afterwards entered the Austrian ser- 

 vice, and died at Vienna, November 21, 1825. He 

 was the last of the younger line. The elder line 

 now rules in Austria, Tuscany, and Modena. See 

 Etienne's Retume de VHistoire de Lorraine (Paris, 

 1825). See also Hapsburg. 



LORY. This name has been given to some of the 

 parrot tribe, from their frequently repeating the 

 word. They have, however, no distinct characters 

 of sufficient importance to separate them from the 

 great genus psittacus. They are very active and gay, 

 even in captivity. They are found, for the most part, 

 in the Moluccas, and are held in great estimation in 

 some parts of the East. The most prized is the scar- 

 let lory, which was for a long time unknown in Eu- 

 rope, as the Dutch were at first wholly unsuccessful 

 in transporting it thither; the birds generally died on 

 the voyage. They are now, however, brought across 

 the ocean without much difficulty, and are marked 

 by their tenderness and attachment to their masters. 

 The Javanese appear to have a great predilection for 

 them, and raise them in great numbers. But the 

 most valuable of these birds is the yellow-collared, 

 which is of a deep red colour, with a circle of yellow 

 around its neck. It is principally found in New 

 Guinea. It is very docile and familiar, and has 

 great aptness in learning to speak ; this, added to its 

 beauty, and its extreme delicacy, as well as the diffi- 

 culty of rearing it, renders it very highly esteemed. 

 A single bird has been sold in London as high as 

 twenty guineas. 



LOT; a river of France, which rises in the depart- 

 ment of Lozere, and joins the Garonne, near Aiguil- 

 lon; length, 150 miles. It gives name to a depart- 

 ment. See Department. 



LOT; according to the Hebrew history, a nephew 

 of Abraham, who, to avoid dissensions between his 

 followers and those of Abraham, went east into the 

 plain of Jordan, towards Sodom, while his uncle 

 dwelt in Canaan. Having been taken captive by 

 some maraud ing chiefs, Lot was delivered by Abra- 

 ham from their hands. Having received two angels 

 into his house in Sodom, an attack was made upon it 

 by night, by the inhabitants, who were struck blind, 

 and the impending destruction of the city was an- 

 nounced to Lot. He escaped from the devoted spot, 

 with his family; but his wife, looking back at the 

 scene of devastation, " became a pillar of salt," which 

 Josephus, and Benjamin of Tudela, declared existed 

 in their times, and, according to some late travellers, 

 was to be seen not long ago. The text is, by some, 

 understood merely to signify, that she was rendered 

 a statue, that is, motionless, by being incrusted with 

 salt. Lot afterwards became the father of Moab and 

 Ammon, by his two daughters. 



LOT. Man often finds it extremely difficult to 

 choose between two measures, things, persons, &c. 

 In such cases, he often allows himself to be deter- 

 mined by some outward impulse. This is, in part, 

 the reason why men appeal to lot. The predomin- 

 ant motive, however, in very many cases, is a super- 

 stitious belief of the direct interference of the Divin- 

 ity in determining the result. Hence we find the lot 

 most frequently resorted to in ages and nations little 

 advanced in civilization, and less guided by reason 

 than by belief in supernatural influences; and hence, 

 too, the religious ceremonies with which the appeal 

 to lot is often accompanied in such a state of society. 

 (See Divination.) It would be endless to enumerate 

 the different modes of determination by lot, and the 

 various cases in which men have resorted to this 

 mode of resolving doubts. The Hebrews used to 



draw lota before undertaking any important enter- 

 prise; also in criminal trials, to determine the ques- 

 tion of guilt or innocence; anil at the election ot offi- 

 cers. Thus the apostle Matthew was chosen by lot. 

 For this purpose, dice or small staves were generally 

 taken. The holy lot was the Urim and Thummim. 

 The Greeks made use of dice, with signs, letters or 

 words inscribed. These were drawn out of a vessel, 

 and interpreted by priests, or the dice were thrown 

 as in games. Such dice were found in many temples, 

 and one at Preeneste was famous on that account. 

 The northern nations Russians, Germans, Swedes, 

 &c. all had their ways of prying into the future by 

 lot. The Moravian Brethren have re-introduced the 

 appeal to lot; they used it in the case of marriages 

 and appointments, in their community, though it 

 must be observed that they are not determined solely 

 by it. 



LOT-AND-GA'RONNE; a department of France. 

 See Department. 



LOTH; a German weight, the half of an ounce, 

 or the thirty-second part of a pound avoirdupois. 

 The lead used by navigators and mechanics is also 

 called Loth in German. 



LOTHIAN, EAST. See Haddingtonshire. 



LOTHIAN, MID. See Edinburghshire. 



LOTHIAN, WEST. See LMithgowshire. 



LOTICHIUS, PETER (called Secundus, to distin- 

 guish him from his uncle), born at Saalmunster, in 

 Hanau, 1528, studied philosophy, the ancient lan- 

 guages, rhetoric, and poetry under Melissus, Camer- 

 arius, and Melanchthon; served in the forces of the 

 Smalcaldic league; travelled in France and Italy, as 

 the tutor to some rich young men; during this time, 

 studied medicine at the most famous universities of 

 both countries, and afterwards received a doctorate at 

 Padua. He died very young, while professor of medi- 

 cine at Heidelberg, 1560, as it is said, in conse- 

 quence of a love potion, which was given him in 

 Bologna. His Latin poetry, particularly his elegies, 

 give him a place among the first modern Latin poets. 

 There are editions of his Poemata, by P. Burmann 

 (Amsterdam, 1754, 2 vols., 4to), and by Kretschmar, 

 (Dresden, 1773.) 



LOTION, in medicine and pharmacy, is a wash 

 for beautifying the skin, by clearing it of the deformi- 

 ties occasioned by a preternatural secretion. Almost 

 all the lotions advertised for sale, contain much dele- 

 terious matter, and therefore ought never to be had 

 recourse to. 



LOTTERY (from lot); a scheme for the distribu- 

 tion of prizes by chance. Lotteries, like every other 

 species of gambling, no doubt have a pernicious influ- 

 ence upon the character of those concerned in them. 

 Though this influence is not so direct, and the imme- 

 diate consequences are not so disastrous, as those ot 

 some other species of gambling, which call into exer- 

 cise the violent passions, and stake the gambler's 

 whole fortune upon a single chance or exertion of 

 skill, still, as this kind can be carried on secretly, alid 

 the temptations are thrown in the way of both sexes, 

 all ages, and all descriptions of persons, it spreads 

 more widely in a community, and may thus silently 

 infect the sober, economical, and industrious habits of 

 a people more extensively and deeply, than those 

 species of gambling which are attended with greater 

 turbulence, and a train of other vices. 



Lotteries are of different kinds: 1. Numerical lot- 

 tery, or lotto (lotto di Genova); invented by the Geno- 

 ese. At the elections of the counsellors, the names of 

 the candidates were cast into a vase, and then into a 

 wheel-of-fortune, when wagers were laid upon the 

 event of the elections; the state finally undertook the 

 superintendence of the bank. It is said that Bene- 

 detto Gentile, a counsellor, first introduced this lotto in 



