68 
L I C 
L I E 
L I F 
moss, at the roots of trees in shady woods, 
and is.frequent also in heaths and stony places. 
The leaves are large, gradually dilated to- 
wards the extremities, and divided into 
roundish elevated lobes. Their upper side, 
in dry weather, is : ash-coloured ; in rainy 
weather, of a dull fuscous green colour; their 
under-side white and hoary, having many 
thick downy nerves, from which descend nu- 
merous long, white, pencil-like radicles. 'The 
pelt®, or shields,, grow at tiie extremities of 
the elevated lobes, shaped like the human 
nail ; of a roundish oval form, convex above, 
and concave beneath ; of a chocolate colour 
on the upper side, and the same colour with 
the leaves on the under. There are two va- 
rieties. the one called reddish, and tlye other 
many-tingered, ground-liverwort. '1 he for- 
mer is more common than the other. This 
species has been rendered famous by the ce- 
lebrated Dr. Mead, who asserted that it was 
an infallible preventative of the dreadful 
consequences attending the bite of a mad 
dog. 
16. 1 he aphthosus, or green ground liver- 
wort with black warts, grows upon the 
ground at the roots of trees in woods, and 
other stony and mossy places. It differs very 
little from the foregoing, and according to 
some is only a variety of it. Linnaeus in- 
forms us, that the country-people ot Upland 
in Sweden give an infusion ot this lichen in 
milk to children that are troubled with the 
disorder called the thrush or aphthae, which 
induced th.d ingenious naturalist to be-tow 
upon it the trivial name of aphthosus. The 
same writer also tells us, that a decoction of 
it in water purges upwards and downwards, 
and will destroy worms. 
1 7-. The cocciferus, or scarlet-tipped cup- 
lichen, is frequent in moors and heaths. It 
has in the first state a granulated crust tor its 
ground, which is afterwards turned into small 
laciniated leaves, green above, and hoary un- 
derneath. The plant assumes a very different 
aspect, according to the age, situation, and 
other accidents of its growth; but may be in 
general readily distinguished by its fructifi- 
cations, which are fungous tubercles of a tine 
scarlet colour, placed on the rim of the cup, 
or on the top of the stalk. These tubercles, 
steeped in an alcaline lixivium, are said to 
dye a fine durable red colour. 
18. The rangiferinus, or rein-deer lichen, 
is frequent in woods, heaths, and mountain- 
ous places. Its general height, when full- 
grown, is about two inches, The stalk is hol- 
low, and very much branched from bottom 
to t >p : the branches are divided and subdi- 
vided, and at last terminated by two, three, 
four, or live very tine, short, nodding horns. 
The axil lie of the branches are often perfo- 
rated. The whole plant is of a hoary white 
or grey colour, covered with white farina- 
ceous particles, light and brittle when dry, 
soft and elastic when moist. The fructifica- 
tions are very minute, round, fuscous, or 
reddhhrbrown tubercles, which grow on the 
very extremities of the finest branches; but 
these tubercles are very seldom found. r J he 
plant seems to have no foliaceous ground for 
the base, nor scarcely any visible roots. 
Linnaeus tel's us, that in Lapland this moss 
grows so luxuriant that it is sometimes found 
a foot high. There are many varieties of this 
species, of which the principal is the sylvati- 
ous, or brown-tipt rein-deer lichen. The 
most remarkable difference between them 
is, that the sylvaticus turns fuscous by age, 
while the other always continues white. 
19. The piicatus, or officinal stringy lichen, 
grows on the branches of old trees, but is not 
very common. The stalks are a foot or more 
in length, cylindrical, rigid, and string- 
shaped, very irregularly branched, the 
branches entangled together, of a cinereous 
or ash-colour, brittle and stringy if doubled 
short, otherwise tough and pliant, and hang 
pendant from the trees on which they grow. 
'Lhe shields grow generally at the extremi- 
ties of the branches, are nearly fiat, or slight- 
ly concave, thin, ash-coloured above, pale- 
brown underneath, and radiated with fine 
rigid fibres. As the plant grows old, the 
branches become covered with a white, 
rough, warty crust; but the young ones are 
destitute of it. It was formerly used in the 
shops as an astringent to stop haemorrhages, 
and to curef ruptures; but is out of the mo- 
dern practice. Linnaeus informs us, that the 
Laplanders apply it to their feet to relieve 
the excoriations occasioned by much walk- 
ing. 
20. The barbatus, or bearded lichen, 
grows upon the branches of old trees in thick 
woods and pine-forests. The stalks or strings 
are slightly branched and pendulous, from 
half a foot to two feet in length, little bigger 
than a taylor’s common sewing-thread ; cy- 
lindrically jointed towards the base; but sur- 
rounded every where else with numerous ho- 
rizontal capillary fibres, either simple or 
slightly branched. Their colour is a whitish 
green. This has an astringent quality like 
the preceding. When steeped in water, it 
acquires an orange colour; and, according to 
Dillenius, is used in Pennsylvania for dyeing 
tiiat colour. 
21. The vulpinus, or gold wiry lichen, 
grows upon the trunks of old tree's, but is not 
very common. It is produced in erect tufts, 
from half an inch to two inches in height, ot a 
fine yellow or lemon-colour, winch readily 
discovers it. The filaments which compose 
it are not cylindrical, but a little compressed 
and uneven in the surface, variously branched, 
the angles obtuse, and the branches straggling 
and entangled one with another. Linnaeus 
informs us, that the inhabitants of Smaland in 
Sweden dye their yarn of a yellow colour 
with this lichen; and that the Norwegians 
destroy wolves by stuffing dead carcases with 
this moss reduced to powder, and mixed 
with pounded glass, and so-exposing them in 
the winter-season to be devoured by those 
animals. 
LICONIA, in botany; a genus of the di- 
gynia order, belonging to the pentandria class 
of plants. There are five petals inlaid in the 
pit of the nectarium at its base; the capsule 
is bilocular and seed-bearing. 
LICUALA, a genus of the nat. order of 
palm®. The flowers are all hermaphrodite; 
cal. and cor. three-parted ; nect. sertiform 
drupe. There is one species. 
LIEUTENANTS, Lords, of counties, 
are officers who, upon any invasion or rebel- 
lion, have power to raise the militia, and to 
give commissions to colonels and other offi- 
cers, to arm and form them into regiments, 
troops, and companies. Under the lords- 
lieutenants, are deputy-lieutenants, who have 
the same power ; these are chosen by the 
lords-lieutenants, out of the principal gentle- 
men of each county, and presented to the 
king for his approbation. 
LIFE ANNUITIES, annual payments, 
to continue during any given life or lives. 
The present value of a life annuity is tne sum 
which would be sufficient (allowing for the 
chance of the life failing) to pay the annuity 
without loss ; and supposing money to bear 
no interest, the value of an annuity of 1/. is- 
equal to the expectation of the life. Thus it 
will be found by the table given under the 
article Expectation of life, that the ex- 
pectation of a life aged forty, is twenty-three 
years ; or, in other words, that a set of lives 
at this age, will, one with another, enjoy 
twenty-three years each ot existence, some 
of them enjoying a duration as much longer 
as others fall short of it. Therefore, sup- 
posing money to bear no interest, 23/. in 
hand lor each life would be sufficient to pay 
to any number of such lives 1/. per annum, 
for -their whole duration ; or, in other words, | 
23/. is, on this supposition, the value of a life \ 
aged forty. But it any improvement is made 
of money by putting it out to interest, the 
sum just mentioned will be more than the va- s 
lue, because it will be more than sufficient to 
pay the annuity ; and it will be as much 
more than sufficient as the improvement- or 
the interest is greater. If, for instance, mo- 
ney may be so improved by being put out to 
interest, at 5/. percent, as to double itself in 
fourteen years, the seller ot such an annuity,, j 
on putting out luttf the purchase money to- i 
interest, v ill at the end ot fourteen years find 
himself in possession ot 20/. I Os. or of )\l. 
]0s. more than is sufficient to pay the re- 
mainder of the annuities, though he should 
make no further improvement of the pur- 
chase money. At whatever rate of^ interest 
the money is improved, there must be a sur- 
plus; and if it is fully improved at 5/. per ! 
cent., it will be found that 11/. l6.v. 8 d. tor 
each annuity, will be sufficient (instead of- 
23/.) to make all the annua! payments; or, if 
money can be improved at 61. per cent.,, 
10/. l’4s. If/, will be sufficient. 
Many persons have fallen into an error 
with respect, to the value of life-annuities, by 
considering it the same as the value ot an an- 
nuity certain for a term of years equal to the- 
expectation of the life. The inaccuracy of 
this mode of computation arises from the dif- 
ference between the value of a certain num- 
ber of payments to be made every year regu- 
larly till the term is completed, and the va- 
lue of the same number of payments to be j 
made at greater distances of time from one 
another, and not to be all made till many 
years. after the expiration of the term equal, 
to the expectation. 
The true method of computing the values of 
life-annuities cannot be more clearly expressed' 
than as it is given in “ The Doctrine of Annui- 
ties and Assurances on Lives and Survivorships, 
by William Morgan. — ■“ Was it certain that a 
person of a given age would live to the end of a 
year, the value of an annuity of 1 1. on such a3 
life would be the present sum that would in- 
crease in a year to the value of a life one year 
older, together witty the value of the single pay- 
ment of 1/. to be made at the end of a year ; 
that is, it would be 1/. together with the value 
of a life aged one year older than the given life,, 
multiplied by the value of 1/. payable at the 
end of a year. Call the value of a life one year 
older than the given life N, and the value oi ll . . 
3 
