546 



LOTUS LOUDON. 



induce capitalists to put their money into the 

 of the state, by means of u lottery, which gives them 

 tin- expectation of a premium above the customary 

 interest of the country. For example : If a govern- 

 ment is uncertain of obtaining, or cannot obtain, 

 money at seven per cent., it may, perhaps, effect its 

 object by offering four per cent, fora loan, and divid- 

 ing the remaining three per cent, among the lenders 

 by means of a lottery ; for the hope of winning the 

 great prizes in the lottery, in addition to the cer- 

 tainty of disposing of their capital at four pc r cent., 

 has a stronger influence on many men than the offer 

 of seven per cent, interest. In this way, loans have 

 been raised in Austria, Denmark, Baden and other 

 states, and also in Prussia, in 1821. By this means. 

 in Prussia, stocks to the amount of 30,000,000 were 

 sold at their full nominal value, which, in the market, 

 were current only at seventy per cent. 



In most, if not all of the United States of America, 

 lotteries, not specially authorized by the. legislatures 

 of the states, are prohibited, and the persons con- 

 cerned in establishing them are subjected to a heavy 

 penalty. In some of the states, lotteries have been 

 very numerous. This is the case with several of the 

 Southern States Virginia, Maryland, and particularly 

 Tennessee. They have also been numerous in New 

 York. The object for which they have been granted 

 lias been generally the assistance of literary or bene- 

 volent institutions colleges, academies, hospitals, 

 asylums, or of public works as roads, bridges, the 

 improvement of the navigation of rivers, &c. Their 

 pernicious effects have induced the legislatures of 

 some of the United States to decline granting them 

 in any case. 



LOTUS. This name has been applied very 

 vaguely to various species of plants which have 

 been celebrated in mythology and fabulous tradition. 

 In the ancient Hindoo and Egyptian mythological 

 representations of nature, the lotus (nelumbium spe- 

 ciosum, Lin.), an aquatic plant, was the emblem of 

 the great generative and conceptive powers of the 

 world. Several varieties are found in India under 

 the names of padma, tamara, and camala. When 

 Vishnu, says the Hindoo fable, was about to create 

 the world, the god, swimming in the ocean of milk, 

 produced the lotus from his navel. It unfolded its 

 flower, and displayed Brama, the first result of the 

 creative energy. As an aquatic plant, the lotus was 

 the attribute of Ganga, the goddess of the Ganges. 

 In Egypt, it was consecrated to Isis and Osiris, and 

 was an emblem of the creation of the world from 

 water. It was also the symbol of the rise of the 

 Nile and the return of the sun. It is found in bass- 

 reliefs and paintings on the Egyptian temples, in all 

 representations of sacrifices, religious ceremonies, 

 &c., and in tombs, and whatever is connected with 

 death or another life. With both of these nations, it 

 vas regarded with religious veneration, and the 

 precept of Pythagoras to abstain from beans, has 

 been supposed to refer to the fruit of the lotus-plant. 

 The rhamnus lotus is a shrub, the fruit of which is a 

 small farinaceous berry, of a delicious taste, which 

 is used by the natives of Africa to make a sweet cake. 

 This shrub is found on the northern coast of Africa, 

 and is probably the food of the lotophagi of anti- 

 quity. The fables of the ancients concerning them 

 are well known. They were represented as a mild, 

 hospitable race of men, in northern Africa, who lived 

 on the lotus berry (hence their name Z.UTOS and Qayw, 

 to eat), which had the power of making strangers 

 who ate it, forget their native country. 



LOUDON, or LAUDON, GIDEON ERNEST, baron 

 of, one of the most distinguished generals of Austria 

 in the eighteenth century, was bom at Tootzen, in 

 Livonia, in 1716, and was a descendant of an old 



SrottMi family, a branch of which had emigrated 

 thither in the fourteenth century. In 1731, he 

 entered the Russian service, and rose to the rank of 

 lieutenant, under Munich, in the campaign against 

 the Turks. In 1739, he was discharged, in conse- 

 quence of the peace, and, intending to enter the 

 Austrian service, went by the way of Berlin, where, 

 by the advice of some of his former comrades, he 

 attempted to obtain admission into the Prussian 

 service. After being kept in suspense for a long 

 time, he became so poor, that he was obliged to 

 support himself by copying. When the king finally 

 allowed him to be presented, he turned from him, 

 with the words La physiognomic de cet hwnme ne me 

 revicnt pas. London then proceeded to Vienna, and, 

 in 1742, was made captain in the corps of Pandoors, 

 under the partisan chief Trenk. In the battle of 

 Saverne, he was wounded and taken prisoner, but 

 was exchanged, and served against Frederic the 

 Great, in the second Silesian war. Trenk imputed 

 to London the. outrages and cruelties which he had 

 himself committed, but the latter defended himself 

 from the charge, and Trenk was sentenced to im- 

 prisonment in the fortress of Spielberg. After the 

 peace, Loudon again lost his employment, and lived 

 in great poverty. He was at length appointed 

 ', major in a regiment stationed on the Turkish fron- 

 ' tier, where he married, and embraced the Catholic 

 religion. Five years afterwards, the seven years' 

 war broke out, and London's name was arbitrarily 

 struck from the list of officers destined for service. 

 This was done by his general, who commanded in 

 Croatia, a man who hated talent ; upon which he 

 went to Vienna to complain, but found the authori- 

 ties prejudiced against him, and was about to be. 

 sent back to the frontiers, when a friend succeeded 

 in getting him appointed lieutenant-colonel of 

 corps of Tight-infantry. Loudon soon distinguished 

 himseif, and was appointed, under the prince of 

 tlildburghausen, commander of the imperial forces 

 which were united with the French under Soubise. 

 Thus Loudon was obliged to witness the surprise of 

 Tiotha by the Prussian general Seidlitz, and the 

 defeat at Rossbach. At this time, Frederic the 

 Great sent him a flattering letter, with the com- 

 mission of general, which his hussars had taken 

 from an Austrian courier. In 1758, Loudon was 

 made lieutenant field-marshal. He decided the vic- 

 tory of Cunersdorf (q. v.) in 1759, which threatened 

 the destruction of the Prussian monarchy, and was 

 appointed general of artillery, with the command of 

 30,000 men. In 1760, he gained the battle of Land- 

 shut, and covered the retreat of the army of Datin, 

 after the battle of Liegnitz, in so masterly a manner, 

 that Frederic exclaimed " We must learn how to 

 retreat from Loudon : he leaves the field like a 

 conqueror." In 1761, without any previous invest- 

 ment, he took Schweidnitz, which was well pro- 

 visioned and strongly fortified, by assault an 

 achievement for which he was on the point of being 

 called to account before the council of war at 

 Vienna. At the breaking out of the Bavarian 

 war of succession, he was appointed commander- 

 in-chief and field-marshal. After the conclusion of 

 peace, he studied diligently during nine years. 

 When the war with Turkey broke out, Joseph II. 

 thought, at first, that he could conduct the campaign 

 without the assistance of Loudon, but soon found 

 himself obliged to resort to the aged general, and 

 victory returned to the Austrian banners. For the 

 conquest of Belgrade, Loudon received the star of 

 the order of Maria Theresa, which was composed of 

 I brilliants, and kept in the treasury of the imperial 

 j family, and which properly belonged only to the 

 I emperor as grand-master. After London's death, 



