LIC 



428 



LIF 



bark of a tree. 2. A book, originally 



made of bark. 3. la mythotoyy, a. sur- 

 name of Bacchus. 



LIB'ERI, LIBER'TI. In law, the liberi 

 were freemen born ; the liberli such as 

 were made free by manumission. 



LIBERTY, Lat. libertas, freedom. Na- 

 tural liberty consists in the power of act- 

 ing as one thinks fit. Civil liberty is that 

 which exempts a man from the arbitrary 

 will of others, which exemption is secured 

 by established laws. Hence the restraints 

 of law are necessary to civil liberty. Po- 

 litical liberty designates the liberty of a 

 nation, as civil liberty does that of an in- 

 dividual, and is secured by the laws of 

 nations. Religious liberty is the freedom 

 of adopting and enjoying opinions on re- 

 ligious subjects without external control. 

 The liberty of the press consists in the free 

 power of publishing what one pleases, 

 subject, however, to punishment for pub- 

 lishing what is mischievous to the public 

 morals, or injurious to individuals. The 

 cap of liberty is used in England as a sym- 

 bol of the constitutional liberty of the 

 nation. It is blue with a white border, 

 and is sometimes borne by Britannia on 

 the point of a spear. 



LI'BERTINES. In ecclesiastical history, 

 the early anabaptists in England, in the 

 16th century. 



LI'BRA (Lat.), the balance. In astro- 

 nomy, the seventh sign of the zodiac ; 

 thus named because when the sun is in 

 this sign, at the autumnal equinox, the 

 days and nights are equal. Symbol ^ 



2. The Roman pound, equal to 5040 



troy grains ; also a Roman gold coin, 

 equal to 20 denarii. 



LIBRA'TION, from libra, a balance; a 

 state of equipoise. The libration of the 

 earth is that motion whereby the earth is 

 so retained within its orbit as that its 

 axis continues constantly parallel to the 

 axis of the world. The libration of the 

 moon is an apparent irregular libratory 

 motion of that body about its own axis, 

 whereby we see a little more than one- 

 half of the lunar disc ; or, rather, it is in 

 consequence of our seeing a little more 

 than one-half of the disc that the moon 

 appears to have such a motion. 



LI'CENSE, I Fr. from Lat. licentia ; per- 



LI'CENCE. | mission. A license may be 

 verbal or written ; when written, the pa- 

 per containing the authority is called a 

 license. A license cannot be transferred. 



LICEN'TIATE, from licentia, a license. 

 One who has a license to practise any art 

 or faculty. 



LICH'EN , Xi/^j, a roughness of the skin. 

 1. In pathology, the lichen, a disease 

 characterised by an extensive eruption 

 of papulae affecting adults, connected with 

 internal disorder, usually terminating in 



scurf. It is not contagious. 2. In bo- 

 tany, an extensive genus of cryptogamic 

 plants; order alga. The name was applied 

 by the Romans to a plant, supposed by 

 them to cure the lichen or tetter. The 

 Iceland moss or liverwort, the tree liver- 

 wort, the tree lung-wort, oak-lungs, or 

 hazel croteles, the cup-moss and canary, 

 or herb archil, are species. This last yields 

 archil and litmus. 



LICKS, the name of sandy tracts in North 

 America, on which common salt efflores- 

 ces, which is licked by graminivorous 

 animals. 



LIC'TORS, officers among the Romans, 

 who carried the fasces before the chief 

 magistrates when they appeared in public. 

 The lictors were also the public execu- 

 tioners in beheading, scourging, &c. 



LIE'GE, Lat. legius. 1. In law, a vassal 

 bound by feudal tenure. By liege homage 

 a vassal was bound to serve his lord 

 against all, not excepting his sovereign. 



2. The word has been falsely used in 



the sense of superior, probably by trans- 

 ferring the word from the vassal to the 

 lord, the lord of liege men being thereby 

 termed liege lord. 



LI'EN, Fr. lien, bond. In law, the right 

 of a creditor to retain the property of a 

 debtor until the debt be paid. 



LI'ENTERYJ from Xtict, soft, and tvT6v, 

 the intestine ; diarrhoea. 



LIEUTEN'ANT, Fr. from lieu, place, and 

 tenant. An officer who supplies the place 

 of a superior in his absence. Officers of this 

 kind are civil, as the lord-lieutenant of a 

 county, and military, as a lieutenant- 

 colonel. 2. In the navy and army, the 



officer next in rank to the captain. 



LIFE, a term used to denote (1.) The 

 aggregate phenomena resulting from the 

 activities of an organised body. (2.) The 

 cause of these activities ; the vital prin- 

 ciple or unknown cause of life. Many 

 theories of life have been advanced by 

 physiologists, but none of a satisfactory 

 nature. 



LIFE ANNUITIES, are such periodical 

 payments as depend on the continuance 

 of some particular life or lives. See AN- 

 NUITT. 



LIFE-BOAT, a boat constructed expressly 

 to save shipwrecked persons. There are 

 various contrivances of this kind, usually 

 of the form of a boat, rendered highly 

 buoyant by means of cork- wood, air-tight 

 tubes, &c. 



LIFE-BUOY, a buoy, with a mast, to ren- 

 der it conspicuous, thrown into the sea 

 upon a man's falling overboard. 



LIFE-ESTATES, are such as are not in in- 

 heritance, but continue only during the 

 lives of the possessors. 



LIFE-LINE. In a s/ip,any rope stretched 

 along for the safety of the men in bad 

 weather. 



