LOG 



LOG 



•f three cells. SefJs folitary or two togetlier, flightly 

 angulated. 



Obf. Girtner remarks, that he found five ftamens in all 

 the flowprs of this genus which he had examined, though 

 one of them was conltai)tIy (horter than the reft. Hence it 

 has been fuggolled that LoefeVia fhould be referred to Pcn- 

 tanlna. 



Efl". Ch. Calyx four-cleft. Corolla with its fegmeiits all 

 leaning one way. Stamens oppofite to the petal. Capfule 

 of three cells. 



I. L. ci/'uifa. Fringed Loefelia. Linn. Sp. PI. 875. 

 G^ertn. t. 62. f. 3. — Found by Dr. Houftoun at Vera 

 Cruz in South Arneric*. — Stem ercft, (lightly quadrangular. 

 Leaves oppofite, lanceolate-ovate, (harply ftrrated. Fli'w- 

 ers yellow, forming a head at the ends of the branches, ac- 

 companied by imbricated, ovate, fringed hradeas. 



This genus is fully defcribed by Gxvtncr, who mod pro- 

 bably muft have made his description from the fpecimen fent 

 bv I>r. Houftoun to Mr. Miller's collection, now in the 

 pofleffion of the right honourable fir .loleph Banks. - Lin- 

 m«s had it not in his own herbarium, but appears to have 

 feen it in the hands of Adrian Van Royen during his ftay at 

 Leyden. Hence it found admidion into the appendix of 

 the tiril edition of his G<nera Planiarum, p. 34S. 



LOEVESTEIN, or Louvestein, in Geography, a for- 

 tvels of Holland, where Grotius was confined, and whence 

 he was dehvered by a ftratagem of his wife. See the article 

 GnoTius. 



LOEVI, in /Indent Geography, a people of Italy, whofe 

 cantonment lay between the rivers Seffilis and Ticinus, now 

 the Sefia and Tefino. 



LOFANGER, in Geography, a town of Sweden, in Weft 

 Bothnia ; 40 miles N.N.E. ot Umea. 



LOFANGO, one of the fmaller Friendly iflands ; five 

 miles E.S.E. of Neeneeva. 



LOFEEREN, a clufter of fmall iflands in the North 

 fea, ne«r the coaft of Norway. N. lat. 6S'. 



LOFFALO, a fmall ifland in the gulf of Finland. N. 

 lat. 60' 2'. E. long. 46 3'. 



LOFFINGEN, a town of Germany, in the lordfhip ©f 

 Furilenberg, having a medicinal bath ; fix miles W. of 

 Furftenberg. 



LOFFODEN Islands, a clufter of iflands off the Nor- 

 wegian coaft, in N. lat. 67^ to 68'. Thefe iflands are nu- 

 merous and extenfive, and noted for the whirlpool of Malc- 

 trom. They have excellent fifheries, and the palturage 

 fuffices for a great number of fheep. 



LOFSTA, a town of Sweden, in Smaland ; 70 miles 



N. of Calmar Alfo, a town of Sweden, in the province 



of Upland, in which are a hammer-mil!, eight forges, and 

 a fmelting furnace ; 40 miles N. of Upfal. 



LOFTUS Heights, the barrier-port in the S.W. corner 

 of the United States, on the E. fide of the Miffifippi, in 

 Adams county, Miffifippi territory, about 40 miles below 

 Natchez. The plan of the works here conftrwrted prelents 

 the handfomeil military object in the United States. 



LOFVESTA, a fea-port town of Sweden, in the pro- 

 vine- of Sch jneii ; 25 miles S. of Chriftianftadt. 



LOG, ic the Jeivi/b y/ntlquities, a mcalure which held a 

 <juarter of a cab, and confequently five-fixths of a pint. 

 There is mention of a log, 2 Kings, vi. 25. under the name 

 of a fourth part of a cab. But in Leviticus the word log is 

 often met with, and fignifies that meafure of oil, which 

 lepers were to offer at the temple after they were cured of 

 any difeafe. 



Dr. Arbuthnot fays, that the log was a meafure of li- 

 quids, the feventy-fecond part of the bath or ephali, and 



twelfth part of the hin, according to all the accounts of the 



Jewifh writers. 



Log, a fea-tcrm, fignifying a fmall piece of timber of a 

 triangular, feCforal, or quadrantal figure, on board a [hip, 

 generally about a quarter of an inch thick, and five or fix 

 inches from the angular point to the circumference. It ib 

 balanced by a thin plate of lead, nai'cd upon the arch, or 

 circular iidc, fo as to fwim perpendicularly in the water, 

 with about two-thirds immerfed under the furface. 



L,aG-/ine, a little cord, or line, about a hundred and fifty 

 fathoms long, fattened to the log, by means of two legs, 

 one of which paffes through a hole at the corner, and is 

 knotted on the oppofite fide, while tiie other leg is attached 

 to the arch by a pin fixed into another hole, fo as to draw 

 out occafionally. By thefe legs the log is hung in equilibrio; 

 and the fine thus annexed to it is wound round a reel fixed 

 for that purpofe in the gallery of the fhip. 



This line, from the diftance of about ten, twelve, or 

 fifteen fathoms off the log, has certain knots or divifions, 

 which ought to be at lead fifty feet from each other ; 

 though it was the common praclice at fea, not to have theiu 

 above forty-two feet afunder. 



The length of- each knot ought to be the fame part of a 

 fea-mile as half a minute is of an hour ; and admitting the 

 meal'urem'ent of Mr. Norwood, who makes a degree on a 

 great circle of the earth to contain 367,200 Englifh feet, 

 or about 693 Engliih (latute miles ; and, therefore, -J^ of it, 

 or a nautical mile, will be 61 23 feet; ^i^'-h of 6120, or 51 

 feet, fhould be the length of each knot. But becaufe it is 

 fafer to have the reckoning rather before the fhip than after 

 it, therefore fifty feet may be taken as the proper length of 

 each knot. The knots are fometimes made to confilt only 

 of forty-two feet each, even in the prefent practice ; and 

 this method of dividing the log-line was lounded on the 

 fuppofition that fixcy miles, each of j'cxso Englifh feet, 

 made a degree ; for xi^th of ^000 is 4I7, or,in round num- 

 bers, 42 feet. Mariners, rather than quit the old way, 

 though known to be erroneous, ufe glaffes for half minute 

 ones, that run but 24 or 25 feconds. They have alfo iifed a 

 line of 45 feet to 30 feconds, or a gla/s of 28 feconds to 42 

 feet. When this is the cafe, the diftance between the knots 

 fhould be correfted by the following proportion : as 30 is 

 to 50, fo is the number of feconds of tlie glafs to ths dif- 

 tance between the knots upon the line. The heat or moif- 

 ture of the weather has often a confiderable effeft upon the 

 glafs, fo as to make it run flower or fifter ; it fhould, there- 

 fore, be frequently tried by the pendulum in the following 

 manner. On a round nail hang a firing that has a mufliet- 

 ball fixed to one end, carefully meafuring between the cen- 

 tre of the ball and the firing's loop over the peg 39T inches, 

 being the length of a fecond pendulum ; then fwing it, and 

 count one for every time it pafies under the peg, bsginning 

 at the fecond time it paffes, and the number of fwings made 

 during the time the glals is running out, fhews the leconds 

 it contains. The line alfo is liable to relax and flirink, and 

 fhould, therefore, be occafionally meafured. 



The ufe of the log and line is, to keep account, and make • 

 an eltimate of the fhip's way, or diftance run ; which is 

 done by obfervmg the length of line unwound in half a 

 minute's time, told by a half-minute glafs ; for fo many 

 knots as run out in that time, fo many miles the fhip fails in 

 an hour. Thus, if there be four knots veered out in half a 

 minute, the fhip is computed to run four miles an hour. 



The author of this device for meafuring the fhip's way is 



not known ; and no mewtion of it occurs till the year l6o~, 



in an Eaft India voyage, publiftied by Purchas : but from 



that lime its name occurs in other voyages among his coi- 



K k 3 lectiuus ; 



