L1G 



LIG 



not be so likely to pass through them. 

 But the safest place of all is in a hammock 

 hung by silken cords, at an equal dis- 

 tance from all the sides of the room. Dr. 

 Priestley observes, that the place of most 

 perfect safety must be the cellar, and es- 

 pecially the middle of it ; for when a per- 

 son is lower than the surface of the earth, 

 the lightning must strike it before it can 

 possibly reach him. In the fields, the 

 place of safety is within a few yards of a 

 tree, but not quite near it. Beccaria 

 cautions persons not always to trust too 

 much to the neighbourhood of a higher 

 or better conductor than their own body, 

 since he has repeatedly found that the 

 lightning by no means descends in one 

 undivided track, but that bodies of various 

 kinds conduct their share of it at the 

 same time, in proportion to their quantity 

 and conducting power. See Franklin's 

 Letters, Beccaria's Lettre dell' Ellettri- 

 cessimo, Priestley's History of Electricity, 

 and Lord Mahon's Principles of Electri- 

 city. 



Lord Mahon observes, that damage 

 may be done by lightning, not only by 

 the main stroke and lateral explosion, but 

 also by what he calls the returning stroke, 

 by which is meant the sudden and violent 

 return of that part of the natural share of 

 electricity which had been gradually ex- 

 pelled from some body or bodies, by the 

 superinduced elastic, electrical pressure 

 of the electrical atmosphere of a thunder- 

 cloud. 



The ancient notion of a thunderbolt, or 

 stony mass, falling at the stroke of light- 

 ning, seems to have obtained no small de- 

 gree of force from the modern observa- 

 tions and researches concerning stones 

 which have fallen from the atmosphere. 

 See STONES, meteoric. From which it ap- 

 pears, that other substances as well as wa- 

 ter are not unfrequently condensed and 

 precipitated from the air, and exhibit the 

 most astonishing degrees of heat and 

 electricity during their condensation. 



LIGNUM vitte. The lignum vitse tree 

 is a native of the West Indies, and the 

 A\ armer parts of America : there is also a 

 species, a native of the Cape of Good 

 Hope. It is a large tree, rising at its full 

 growth to the height of forty feet, and 

 measuring from fifteen to eighteen inches 

 in diameter ; having a hard, brittle, 

 brownish bark, not very thick. The wood 

 is firm, solid, ponderous, very resinous, 

 of a blackish yellow colour in the middle, 

 and a hot aromatic taste. It is so hard as 

 to break the tools which are employed in 

 felling it ; and is, therefore, seldom used 

 as firewood, but is of great use to the su- 



gar-planters for making wheels and cogs 

 to the sugar-mills. It is also frequently 

 wrought in bowls, mortars, and other 

 utensils. It is imported into England, in 

 large pieces of four or five hundred 

 weight each, and from its hardness and 

 beauty, is in great demand for various ar- 

 ticles in the turnery ware, and for trucks 

 of ship blocks. The wood, gum, bark, 

 fruit, and even the flowers of this plant, 

 have been found to possess medicinal 

 virtues. 



LIGULA, in natural history, a genus of 

 the Verities Intestina. Body linear, equal, 

 long ; the fore -part obtuse ; the hind-part 

 acute, with an impressed dorsal suture. 

 There are two species, viz. L. intestinalis, 

 L. abdominalis; the former is found in 

 the intestines of the merganser and guil- 

 lemot : about a foot long, and exactly re- 

 sembling a piece of tape : of the latter 

 there are, at least, eight varieties de- 

 scribed as inhabiting the intestines of 

 fish : they are found principally in the 

 mesentery, emaciating the fish they in- 

 fest, and causing them to grow deformed. 

 When they escape from the body, they 

 penetrate through the skin : they are 

 sometimes solitary, and sometimes gre- 

 garious, about half a line thick, and from 

 six inches to five feet long. 



LIGUSTICUM, in botany, tovage, a ge- 

 nus of the Pentandria Digynia class and 

 order. Natural order of Umbellate, or 

 Umbelliferse. Essential character: fruit 

 oblong, five-grooved on both sides ; co- 

 rolla equal, with involute entire petals. 

 There are eight species, of which L. le- 

 visticum, common lovage, has a strong, 

 fleshy, perennial root, striking deep into 

 the ground, composed of many strong 

 fleshy fibres, covered with a brown skin, 

 possessing a hot aromatic smell and taste. 

 The leaves are large, composed of many 

 leaflets, shaped like those of Smallage, 

 but larger and of a deeper green ; stems 

 six or seven feet high, large and chan- 

 nelled, dividing into several branches, 

 each terminated by a large umbel of yel- 

 low flowers. It is a native of the Alps, 

 of Italy, the South of France, Silesia, &c. 

 LIGUSTRUM, in botany, privet, a ge- 

 nus of the Diandria Monogynia class and 

 order. Natural order of Sepiarize. Jas- 

 minex, Jussieu. Essential character : co- 

 rolla four-cleft; berry four-seeded. There 

 are three species, of which L. vulgare, 

 common privet, is a shrub about six feet 

 in height, branched, the bark of a green- 

 ish-ash colour, irregularly sprinkled, with 

 numerous prominent points; branches 

 opposite, the young ones flexible and 

 purplish; leaves opposite, on short pe- 



