LET 



during winter. These heaps are occa- 

 sionally of the height and depth of seve- 

 ral feet, and are sometimes of extreme 

 service to the horses of the sable hunters 

 in those dreadful regions, preserving 

 them from absolutely starving- ; a fate, 

 however, to which the little labourers are 

 exposed in consequence of these depre- 

 dations. 



L. pusillus, inhabits the south-east of 

 Russia, is solitary, and rarely to be ob- 

 served, even where most abundant. It 

 is only about six inches in length. It 

 generally indicates its residence by its 

 sounds, resembling- those of a quail. Its 

 pace consists of a succession of leaps, 

 rather than steps. It sleeps with its eyes 

 open, is particularly g-entle, passes but 

 little of its time in sleep, and is perfectly 

 familiarized in the course of two or three 

 days after it is taken. 



LKPUS, in astronomy, a constellation of 

 the southern hemisphere. See ASTRO- 

 NOMY. 



LERCHEA, in botany, so named in 

 honour of John Lerche ; a genus of the 

 Monadelphia Pentandria class and order. 

 Essential character : calyx five-toothed ; 

 corolla funnel-form, five-cleft; anthers 

 five, placed on the tube of the germ ; 

 style one ; capsule three-celled, many- 

 seeded. There is but one species, viz. 

 L. longicauda, native of the East Indies. 



LERNEA, in natural history, a g-enus 

 of the Vei-mes Mollusca class and order. 

 Body oblong-, somewhat cylindrical, na- 

 ked ; two or three tentacula each side 

 and round, by which it affixes itself; two 

 ovaries, projecting like tails from the 

 lower extremity. These insects are with- 

 out eyes, and are said to be very trouble- 

 some to fish, adhering very firmly princi- 

 pally to the gills and fins. There are fif- 

 teen species. L. meridiana is one of the 

 largest European species, often measur- 

 ing an inch in length, and is a very com- 

 mon insect during the decline of sum- 

 mer, generally appearing in the hottest 

 part of the day. It is brown above : bril- 

 liant tawny beneath; shining like satin. 



LESKIA, in botany, so named from 

 Nathaniel Godofr. Leske, Professor of 

 Natural History and Oeconomy, in the 

 University of Leipsic ; a genus of the 

 Cryptogamia Musci class and order. 

 Natural order of Mosses. Generic cha- 

 racter : capsule oblong ; peristome dou- 

 ble ; the exterior with sixteen teeth, 

 which are acute; the interior niembrana- 

 ceous, divided into equal segments. 

 Males, gemmaceous in different indivi- 

 duals. 



LETHARGY, in medicine, a disease 



VOL. IV. 



LET 



wherein such a profound drowsiness or 

 sleepiness attends the patient, that he 

 can be scarce awaked, and if awaked, he 

 remains stupid, without sense or memory, 

 and presently sinks again into his former 

 sleep. 



LETTER, a character used to express 

 one of the simple sounds of the voice; 

 and as the different simple sounds are 

 expressed by different letters, these by 

 being differently compounded, become 

 the visible signs or characters of all the mo- 

 dulations and mixtures of sounds used to 

 express our ideas in a regular language. 

 Thus, as by the help of speech we ren- 

 der our ideas audible, by the assistance of 

 letters we render them visible, and by 

 their help we can wrap up our thoughts, 

 and send them to the most distant parts 

 of the earth, and read the transactions of 

 different ages. As to the first letters, 

 what they were, who first invented them, 

 and among what people they were first 

 in use, there is still room to doubt : 

 Pliilo attributes this great and noble in- 

 vention to Abraham ; Josephus, St. Ire- 

 naeus, and others, to Enoch ; Bibliander, 

 to Adam ; Eusebius, Clemens Alexandri- 

 nus, Cornelius Agrippa, and others, to 

 Moses ; Pomponius Mela, Herodian, Ru- 

 fus Festus, Pliny, Lucan, 8cc. to the Phoe- 

 nicians ; St. Cyprian, to Saturn ; Tacitus, 

 to the Egyptians ; some, to the Ethio- 

 pians ; and others, to the Chinese : but, 

 with respect to these last, they can never 

 be entitled to this honour, since all their 

 characters are the signs of words formed 

 without the use of letters, which ren- 

 ders it impossible to read and write their 

 language without a vast expense of time 

 and trouble ; and absolutely impossible 

 to print it by the help of types, or any 

 other manner but by the engraving, or 

 cutting in wood. See PRINTING. 



There have also been various conjec- 

 tures about the different kinds of letters 

 used in different languages ; thus, ac- 

 cording to Crinitus, Moses invented the 

 Hebrew letters; Abraham, the Syrinc and 

 Chaldee ; the Phoenicians, those of At- 

 tica, brought into Greece by Cadmus, and 

 from thence into Italy by the Pelasgians; 

 Nicostrata, the Roman ; Isis, the Egyp- 

 tian ; and Vulfilas, those of the Goths. 



It is probable that the Egyptian hiero- 

 glyphics were the first manner of writing: 

 but whether Cadmus and the Phoenicians 

 learned the use of letters from the Egyp- 

 tians, or from their neighbours of Judea 

 or Samaria, is a question ; for since some 

 of the books of the Old Testament were 

 then written, they are more likely to 

 have given them the hint than the hiero- 



N " 



