LANSFORD 



3329 



LAOCOON 



From 1895 to 1900 he was Secretary of State 

 for War in Salisbury's Cabinet, and from 1900 

 to 1905 was Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His 

 service at the Foreign Office was marked by 

 the alliances with Japan and France. 



After 1905 Lansdowne became leader of the 

 Unionist opposition in the House of Lords. 

 Although nominally a Liberal in early life, he 

 was temperamentally conservative, a fact which 

 was strongly revealed in 1909, when he bit- 

 terly opposed the Lloyd George budget, and in 

 1916, when his opposition defeated Lloyd 

 George's compromise of the Home Rule ques- 

 tion. In May, 1915, Lord Lansdowne entered 

 the coalition Ministry, formed by Premier As- 

 quith, as Minister without portfolio. With 

 the fall of the coalition Cabinet and the as- 

 cendancy of Lloyd George, Lord Lansdowne 

 retired to private life. If his half century of 

 public service did not give him a place in Eng- 

 lish history as the equal of Gladstone or Dis- 

 raeli, it at least entitles him to high rank among 

 those men who have given their lives in public 

 service. C.H.H. 



LANS 'FORD, PA., a borough in Carbon 

 County, situated in the eastern part of the 

 state about midway between the northern and 

 southern boundary lines. It is forty-four miles 

 north of Reading and on the Pennsylvania and 

 the Central of New Jersey railroads. The 

 prosperity of Lansford is derived mainly from 

 the productive anthracite-coal district in which 

 it is located. Besides its extensive coal-mining 

 interests, it has manufactories of garage sup- 

 plies, shirts and silk knit goods. An immense 

 electric-power plant is located about a mile 

 from the borough. Lansford was settled in 

 1845 and was incorporated in 1876. In 1910 

 the population was 8,321 ; in 1916 it was 10,477 

 (Federal estimate). 



LAN 'SING, MICH., the capital of the state 

 and the county seat of Ingham County, is situ- 

 ated south of the geographical center of the 

 state, at the point where the waters of the 

 Grand and Cedar rivers meet. Detroit is 

 eighty-five miles southeast and Grand Rapids 

 is sixty-four , miles northwest. Transportation 

 is provided by the Grand Trunk, the Michigan 

 Central, the New York Central, the Pere Mar- 

 quette and the Michigan United Traction Com- 

 pany. The first settlement on the site was 

 made in 1837; it was chosen for the state capi- 

 tal in 1847, chartered as a city in 1859 and 

 rechartered in 1897. The population in 1910 

 was 31,229; it had increased to 40,498 by 1916 

 (Federal estimate). 

 209 



At Lansing the rivers are spanned by several 

 bridges. In its course through the city the 

 Grand River winds around the business section. 

 In a park of ten acres stands the imposing 

 state capitol, which was completed in 1879 at a 

 cost of $1,500,000; its library contains 105,000 

 volumes. Other noteworthy buildings are the 

 government building, Elks' Home, Masonic 

 Temple, Union Depot and Y. M. C. A. quar- 

 ters. Lansing has the state school for the 

 blind, state industrial school for boys, state re- 

 form school and the state agricultural college. 

 The latter, which is the oldest agricultural col- 

 lege in the United States, has connnected with 

 it an agricultural experimental farm of 675 

 acres. A United States Weather Bureau station 

 is also located here. 



For recreation centers the city has Waverly 

 Park and Pine Lake, both summer resorts, and 

 seven other parks. Lansing is a trade center of 

 importance in its territory. Ample water power 

 for manufacture is supplied by the rivers, the 

 Grand River having a fall here of about twenty 

 feet. The largest industrial plants make auto- 

 mobiles, farm implements, engines, furniture, 

 wagons and silk and woolen goods. The auto- 

 mobile industry is particularly important. 



LANTERN FISH, a large group of deep-sea 

 fish, whose distinguishing characteristic is the 

 presence of light-giving organs along the sides 

 of the body, which may be either in the head 

 or near the tail. Living as they do in the 

 depths of the ocean, it appears that they 

 have been provided by nature with the light 

 necessary for them. Many lantern fish are 

 extraordinarily grotesque in appearance, with 

 enormous heads and huge mouths armed with 

 large teeth. A lantern fish about a foot long, 

 which dwells along the Grand Banks of New- 

 foundland, is commonly known as the viper 

 fish, because of its long, slender, snakelike body. 

 One of the most curious of these oddly-formed 

 fish is to be found only at great depths; it re- 

 sembles a whale in shape and color, but is less 

 than six inches in length. 



LAOCOON, la ok' o on, in ancient classic leg- 

 end, a priest of Neptune or Apollo, who warned 

 his Trojan countrymen against bringing into 

 the city the wooden horse by which Troy was 

 captured (see TROY; WOODEN HORSE). The 

 goddess Minerva, to w r hom the Greeks had con- 

 secrated the wooden monster, in revenge for 

 his warning caused two snakes to come out of 

 the sea. They first twined themselves around 

 the two sons of Laocoon, and when he vainly 

 endeavored to save them the serpents attacked 



