LITHOTOMY 



3465 



LITTLE FALLS 



resists the ink, which the oiled surface readily 

 absorbs. 



Printing was originally done on a hand press. 

 The flexible aluminum plate, however, has made 

 it possible to print on the rotary press, which 

 prints two or more colors in succession. See 

 PRINTING PRESS. 



Color Process. This consists in reproducing 

 the natural colors of the object. As many as 

 thirty tones and an equal number of printings 

 may be used, but for ordinary purposes the 

 number is much less. Each color or tone is laid 

 on a special plate and great care must be taken 

 to see that the colors do not overlap and that 

 they are exactly placed in the finished picture. 

 A key or a series of registering marks on the 

 margins of the plate guide the printer. 



Photolithography. Photography is now used 

 in conjunction with the lithographic process. 

 In this process a photographic reproduction of 

 the original on stone serves as a basis for the 

 various color plates. A half-tone negative is 

 placed on a stone previously coated with a solu- 

 tion of albumin and bichromate of potassium. 

 The solution will be affected only by such light 

 as can pass through the negative. Turpentine 

 is then used to dissolve the unaffected parts and 

 a positive is left on the stone. See PHOTOG- 

 RAPHY. 



The progress of lithography since its inven- 

 tion in 1798 has been remarkable. The Ger- 

 mans, who discovered the process, early used it 

 to reproduce the paintings of the great masters, 

 but its high artistic possibilities were first re- 

 vealed by French artists. However, other proc- 

 esses are largely superseding lithographic proc- 

 esses, because of the greater cost of the latter. 

 The advent of the present-day half-tone illus- 

 trations, the so-called three-color and four-color 

 painting from half-tone plates and what are 

 known as the rotogravure and offset processes, 

 are crowding lithography for supremacy. G.B.D. 



Consult Rhodes' Art of Lithography; Brown's 

 Practical Text Book of Lithography. 



LITHOTOMY, lithot'omi, from two Greek 

 words, lithos, meaning stone, and tamein, mean- 

 ing to cut, is a surgical operation for removing 

 stones which form in the gall bladder, the blad- 

 der, the kidneys or the biliary ducts. Formerly 

 , the operation was very serious, but modern sur- 

 gery has made it a safe minor operation, per- 

 formed in a few minutes. The wound heals 

 within a month. 



LITHUA'NIA, a former Russian province 

 which suffered throughout the War of the Na- 

 tions and emerged in 1919 as a republic. For 



hundreds of years it has had a troubled history. 

 In the eleventh century it was independent; in 

 the fourteenth it became a part of Poland ; in 

 1795, at the partition of Poland, it was divided 

 between Russia and Prussia. Russia tried in 

 vain to exterminate the Lithuanian language 

 and to discourage the idea of nationality. 



In 1918, after the overthrow of the new Rus- 

 sian republic and the ascendancy of the Lenine 

 bolshevik regime, Germany seized the province 

 and started to Germanize it, but at the end of 

 the war withdrew. On the last day of Novem- 

 ber, 1918, a republic was proclaimed, and Riga 

 was made the capital. Whether this arrange- 

 ment will be permanent cannot be predicted; 

 union may be effected with Livonia. 



The Lithuanians, who probably number about 

 2,000,000 are a well-built people and represent 

 a distinct physical type, having fair hair and 

 skin, blue eyes and long thin nose and thin 

 lips. They are woodmen, teamsters and tillers 

 of the land. Their language is much like the 

 old Prussian, and their literature consists chiefly 

 of folk-songs and religious tales. During the 

 decade which closed in 1915 nearly 172,000 

 Lithuanian immigrants were registered at Ellis 

 Island, New York. 



LIT'MUS, a coloring matter made from 

 lichens, used by chemists as an indicator be- 

 cause it turns red in the presence of acids and 

 blue or deep violet in the presence of alkalies. 

 It is used either as a solution or in the form of 

 red or blue test papers. A chemist neutralizing 

 an acid solution adds alkali until the red of the 

 litmus fades to violet; one more drop turns it 

 blue. With test paper, the solution is shown 

 neutral when neither the red nor the blue is 

 changed by moistening with the solution. See 

 LICHENS. 



LITTLE FALLS, N. Y., in Herkimer 

 County, in the east-central part of the state, is 

 situated in a narrow pass between foothills of 

 the Adirondack and Catskill mountains. 

 Through this natural gateway runs the Mo- 

 hawk River, the Erie Canal, the New York 

 Central and the Little Falls & Dolgeville rail- 

 roads and the New York State Railway, an 

 electric line. The population, which in 1910 was 

 12,273, was 13,451 (Federal estimate) in 1916. 



A portion of this picturesque city is built 

 upon the steep sides of the hills. Prominent 

 public buildings include a city hall, a Federal 

 building, Y. M. C. A. building, Masonic Tem- 

 ple, Saint Mary's group of buildings church, 

 school and deanery, and a public library and a 

 hospital. 



