LACTIC ACID 32! 



located in the outer coats of the intestine. 

 tmiting finally to form large trunks which end 

 in the thoracic duct. The latter tube runs up- 

 ward close to the backbone and communicates 

 with the left subclavian vein. Through this 

 duct and the subclavian vein the nutritive food 

 material contained in the chyle is carried from 

 the lacteaU into I he general circulation. See 

 TnoK.\(ic l)t <T: DICKSTION. J.H.K. 



LACTIC, lah'lik. ACID, from the Latin lac. 

 meaning mill:, is the name applied to several 

 acids containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, 

 the most important of which, ordinary lactic 

 acid, is the characteristic ingredient of sour 

 milk. It is this acid which is developed in 

 cream when it is "ripened" in preparation for 

 churning (see BUTTER). In a pure state it has 

 the form of a transparent, colorless, syruplike 

 liquid, and is a product of fermentation (which 

 In the body it is found in the stomach 

 and intestines and in the brain and muscles. 

 A watery solution containing seventy-five per 

 cent of lactic acid is a well-known drug, some- 

 times used in dissolving the membrane in cases 

 of diphtheria, and in the treatment of stomach 

 disorders, tiarcolactic acid, a stibstance having 

 the same chemical composition as ordinary 

 lactic acid, is fotmd in the blood and is an 

 important constituent of muscular tissue. 



LADING, laifl'hif/. BILL OF. See BILL OF 

 LADING, 



LADOGA, lah'dohga, Europe's largest lake, 

 situated in Northwestern Russia, forty miles east 

 of Petrograd. It is 7,000 square miles in area, 

 or nearly one-fourth as large as Lake Superior. 

 It i< the terminal point of the system of waters 

 which connects the Caspian Sea with the Gulf 

 of Finland: this makes Lake Ladoga important 

 from the standpoint of navigation. As it is 

 dangerous for small craft on account of its 

 rocks and shallows, several canals have been 

 ron>tructed along its southern and southeastern 

 shores, upon which thousands of vessels sail 

 each year. Its waters abound in fish. The 

 chief towns upon its shores are Schliisselburg, 

 9 Celebrated fortress, and Xovaya Ladoga, at 

 the mouth of the Volkhov River. 



LADRONE, la drone', ISLANDS, a group of 

 sixteen islands in the North Pacific Ocean. 

 They lie ea.-t of the Philippines and the Caro- 

 lina Island.-, and were discovered by Magellan 

 in lf>21, who named them Ladrones, the Span- 

 ish word meaning rubbers, because of the 

 thievish habit.- of the natives. In the seven- 

 teenth century .Jesuit missionaries named 

 them Mariana, in honor of the Queen of Spain. 



1 LADYSMITH 



but the iii> t name has been retained by 

 geographers. Eight of the islands are inhab- 

 ited, the bulk of the population being of Fili- 

 pino extraction. The area of the entire group 

 is about 420 square miles, one-third that of the 

 state of Rhode Island. Rice, sugar, maize, 

 coffee and tobacco are cultivated: breadfruit 

 and cocoanut trees are native to the soil. Then- 

 are few animals of any description on the 

 islands. The climate is humid, but warm and 

 healthful. 



Guam, the largest of the islands, belongs to 

 the United States; the others were sold by 

 Spain to Germany in 1899. The population of 

 the German group is less than 3,000. During 

 the War of the Nations (which see) the La- 

 drone Islands were occupied by the Japanese. 

 See GI-A.M. 



LADYBIRD, In' di bird, the name applied to 

 a large family of little beetles because of their 

 shapely bodies and attractive coloring. These 

 beetles are rounded or convex in form and often 

 bright red or yellow, with black, red. white or 



bed 



THE LADYBIRD 



(a) Larva; (b) pupa: (c) adult insect. These 

 are much enlarged. (<7) Full-grown ladybird. 

 only slightly enlarged. 



yellow spots. The ladybirds feed chiefly on 

 plant lice and scale insects, for the destruction 

 of which they are highly regarded by fruit- 

 growers. 



LADYSMITH, In 'di smith, a town of North- 

 ern Natal, South Africa, the scene of a memor- 

 able siege during the South African War. It is 

 the third largest town in the district, and is on 

 the Klip River, at the junction of two railways, 

 322 miles southeast of Pretoria. Ladysmith 

 was founded in 1851 and named after Lady 

 Smith, wife of Sir Henry Smith, then governor 

 of Cape Colony. In 1848 a party of Dutch 

 farmers who had assembled for the purpose 

 of driving across the Drakensberg Mountains 

 had their camp on the site of the town and 

 were induced by the governor to remain. The 

 growth of the settlement increased with the 

 opening of the railroad from Durban in IXSO 

 and its subsequent extension to Johannesburg. 

 In the Boer War, in 1899, Ladysmith was the 



