L I T 



L I T 



numereus, minute, chaffy, attached to the inflexed margins 

 o/ the v;ilvcs. 



Eff. Ch. Corolla falver-lhapod. Anthers feffile, within 

 the tube. Stigma abrupt, undivided. Capfule of one cell 

 and two valves. 



I. L. rnfea. Willd. n. i. (Voyria rofea; Aubl. Guian. 

 V. I. 309. t. 83. f. I.) — Flowers in pairs. Segments ot the 

 corolla acute. Root tuberous. — Gathered by Aublet in 

 the forclls of Guiana, where the natives call it Foyr'ui, and 

 eat the roafted root, which is tuberous, rcfembling a potatoe 

 in (hape and flavour, and throws out various fprcading 

 fibres. The Jlein is fohtary, feveral inches long, chiefly 

 concealed under the ground, fquare, knotty, fmooth, hear- 

 ing feveral, oppolite or ternate, little, acute, flefhy fcales, 

 inllead of leaves, in the manner of a Laihrea, and dividing 

 at the top, where it rifes above the furface, into feveral 

 branches about an inch long, with more frequent knots, and 

 rather larger fcales. Each branch bears two large and 

 handfome, rofe -coloured flotvers, whofe tube is near two 



inches long, fwelling at the top as well as at the bafe, but for. 



X.ITAKY, in II modern fcnfe, denotes a form of prayer, 

 fung or faid in churches ; confiding of feveral periods, or 

 articles ; at the end of each of which is an invocation in 

 the fame terms. 



Before the lall review «f the common prayer, the litany 

 was a diftinft fervice by itfelf, and ufed lome time after the 

 morning prayer was over. At prelent it is made one office 

 with the morning fervice, being ordered to be read after the 

 third collect for grace, inllead of the intercefliolial prayers 

 in the daily fervice. 



It has been obferved, that none but thofe who arc avowed 

 Trinitarians can confcientioudy join in this pari of the 

 church fervice ; it has been alfo obferved, that in the peti- 

 tion to be delivered from " all deadly fin," there fecms to be 

 an intimation of the popilh doctrine of venial and mortal or 

 deadly fin, and that the petition in the mafs-book, from 

 which a great part of the litany is taken, for deliverance from 

 " fudden death," is more guardedly expreiied, " a fubita et 

 improvifa morte," i. e. from death fudden and unprovided 



contracted again at the orifice. The linii is about half an 

 inch in diameter, fpreading like a ilar, with (harp points. 

 Ca/yx fhort, bell-fliaped. Sometimes the Jloivers are 

 folitary. 



2. L. cdTiilea. Willd. n. 2.' (V'oyria casrulea ; Aubl. 

 Guian. v. 1. 211. t. S3, f. 2.) — Flowers in pairs. Segments 

 of the corolla rounded, ohtufe. Root tuberous. — Native 

 of palm foreils in Guiana, where it blofToms in May. This 

 differs from the preceding in having blue fonvers, whofe 

 limb is larger, with round or obovate blunt fegments, and 

 a more dilated orifice ; as well as a more deeply cut calyx. 

 Aublet fays the flowers are occafionally fix. cleft, with fix 

 ftamens. 



3. L. hilea. (Gentiana aphylla ; .Tacq. Amer. 87. t. 60. 

 f. 3. Helleborine aphyllos, flore luteo ; Plum. Cat. 9?) 



Stems limple, fingle-flowered. Segments of the corolla 



acute. Root fibrous, fafciculated. Gathered by Jacquin, 



LITAO, in Geography, a town on the N W. coaft of 

 the ifland of Timor. S. lat. q 2'. E. long. 124^ 42'. 



LITCHFIELD. See LirnriEi.D. 



LiTPHKiKi.ii, a townlhip of America, in Lincoln county, 

 Maine, 4, miles from Hallowell ; containing 1044 inhabit- 

 ants. — Alio, a townfhip in Hilllhorough county. New 

 Hamplhire, Ctuated on the E. fide of Merrimack river, 

 about J4 miles W. of Portfmouth : fettled in 1749 and 

 containing, in 1800, 372 inhabitants. — Alfo, a popuU)US 

 and hilly county of Connecticut, bounded N. by MafTachu- 

 fetts, S. by New Haven and Fairfield counties, E. by 

 Hartford, and W. by New York. It is dinded into 20 

 townihips, containing 41,214 inhabitants. Although the 

 face of the country is generally mountainous, the foil is 

 fertile, yielding large crops of wheat and Indian corn, and 

 affording fine paiture. The inhabitants are almoil univer- 

 fally farmers, and wholly detached from maritime commerce. 



flowering in May as well as December, in the extenfive — Alfo, the chief and poft-town of the above county, 

 damp mountainous foreils of Martinico. It is a fmall and feated on an elevated plain, expofed to the cold winds of 

 tender plant, evidently akin, as Aublet remarks, to his two winter, but enjoying a large portion of the refrefliing 

 fcecies above defcribed ; though the root confifts only of breezes of fummer. Its fituation is handiome, and it con- 

 thick entangled fibres. Stems four inches high, of a (hining tains about 60 or 70 compaft dwelling houfes, a court- 

 ftraw-colour, jointed, fingle-flowered, bearing feveral pairs houfe, a meeting-houfe, and 4285 inhabitants; 32 miles 

 of minute, oppofite, acute fcales. Flotvers an inch long, W. of Hartford. N. lat. 41' 46'. W. Iong^73' 37'. On 



flcnder, yellowifh, inodorous, with a fmall, acute, ilellated 

 "border. TVitvc JUgma is defcribed as fimple, capitate, and 

 ^btufe, as it ought by analogy to be, though in the figure 

 reprefented cloven. 



LITAD A, in Geography, a town of the ifland of Nogro- 

 ponte, in the Grecian Archipelago ; 48 miles N.W. of Ne- 

 groponte. 



LITANY, an old churcli term, applied to the pro- 

 ceflions, prayers, and fupplications ufed for appeafing the 



feveral fmall (Ireams, fome of which fall into Great Pond, a 

 beautilul Iheet of water, are three iron-works, an oil-mill, 

 and a number of faw and grill-mills. — Alfo, a townfhip in 

 Herkemer county, New York, taken from German Flats, 

 incorporated in 1796, and containing 1976 inhabitants. 

 Morfe. 



LIT-CHI, or Licrii, in Botany, .Sonnerat Voy. v. 2. 

 230. t. 129, a valuable Chinefe truit, which, after being 

 dried in an oven, becomes an objeft of commerce. It is 



wrath of God, averting his judgments, or procuring his globofe, the fize of a fmall walnut, confilling of a thick 



tuberculated coat, enclofing a large hard feed, enveloped in 

 a quantity of pleafantly acid pulp. See Euphouia, Scy- 



TALI.\, and DlMOCARPCS. 



LI-TCHUEN, in Geography, a town of Corea ; l^ 

 miles N.W. of Long-kouang. 



LITE, the name of a plafler much commended by the 



mercies. 



The word comes from the Greek Xiravsia, fupplicat'ton ; 

 ef Xiravtwi', / befeeeh. Pezron would go farther, and derive 

 the >.iTo/ixi, or Aio-e-ofixi, of the Greeks, from the Celtic lit, 

 Jeqfl, fokmnity. 



Ercclefiaftical authors, and the Roman order, by the 



word litany ufually mean the people who compofe the pro- ancients: it confilled of verdigris, wax, and refin. What- 



ceflion, and affitt. at it ; and Du-Cange obferves, that the ever virtues this plafler poffelfed, might be probably found 



word anciently fignified*ror<^on. in the melilot plafler of the (hops in general, till the late 



Simon of Thcffalonica mentions, that, in the ancient reformation made by the London Pharmacopeia, the colour 



litanies, the people went out of the church, to denote the being generally given by our wholefale dealers with verdigris, 



fall of Adam ; and returned into it again, to ihew the not with the juice of the herb from which it took its 



«eturn 01 a pious loul to God by repentance. name. 



LITERS 



