LET 
Letters make the first part or elements of 
grammar; an assemblage of these com- 
pose syllables and words, and these com- 
pose sentences. The alphabet of every 
language consists of a mini her of letters, 
which ought each to have a different sound, 
figure, ami use. As the difference of arti- 
culate sounds was intended to express the 
different ideas of the mind, so one letter 
was originally intended to signify only one 
sound, and not, as at present, to express 
sometimes one sound and sometimes ano- 
ther; wliich practice has brought a great 
deal of confusion into the languages, and 
rendered the learning' of the modern tongues 
much more difficult than it would otherwise 
have been. This consideration, together 
with the deficiency of all the known alpha- 
bets, from their wanting some letters to ex- 
press certain sounds, has occasioned several 
attempts towards an universal alphabet, to 
contain an enumeration of all such single 
sounds or letters as are used in any lan- 
guage. See Ai-prlABET, and Writing, ori- 
gin of. 
Grammarians distinguish letters into 
vowels, consonants, mutes, liquids, diph- 
thongs, and characteristics. They are also 
divided into labial, dental, guttural, and 
palatal, and into capital and small letters. 
They are also denominated from the shape 
and turn of the letters ; and in writing are 
distinguished into different hands, as round- 
text, German-text, round hand, Italian, &c. 
and in printing into roman, italic, and black 
letter. The term letter, or type, among 
printers, not only includes the capitals, 
small capitals, and small letters, but all the 
points, figures, and other marks, cast and 
used in printing; and also the large orna- 
mental letters, cut in wood or metal, which 
take place of the illumined letters used in 
manuscripts. The letters used in printing 
are cast at the ends of small pieces of metal, 
about three quarters of an inch in length ; 
and the letters being’ not indented, but 
raised, easily give the impression, when, af- 
ter being blacked with a glutinous ink, pa- 
per is closely pressed upon it. 
A fount of letiers includes small letters, 
ca|)itals, small capitals, points, figures, 
spaces, &C. but besides these they have 
diff'erent kinds of two-lined letters, only 
used for titles, and the beginning of books, 
chapters, &c. See Fount. 
LETTER of attorney, a writing authoris- 
ing another to do any lawful act instead of 
ttie party himself, such as to sue and re- 
cover debts, to receive rents, seamen’s 
wages, to execute leases, to give livery of 
LEV 
seisin, &C. In all these cases the afitkofity'’ 
must be strictly pursued, and it is liable to 
be revoked by granting a new letter of attor- 
ney, or by death of either party. In cases 
of seamen, there are’’certaiu statute regula- 
tions for protecting them from imposition. 
Letters of marque, are extraordinary 
Commissions, granted to captains or mer- 
chants for reprisals, in order to make a re- 
paration for those damages they have sus- 
tained, or the goods they have been de- 
prived of by strangers at sea. These ap- 
pear to be always joined to those of reprisb 
for the reparation of a private injury ; but 
under a declared war the former only arc 
granted. 
LEVATOR, in anatomy, a name given 
to several muscles. See Anatomy. 
LEUCOlUM, in botany, snow-drop, a 
genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class 
and order. Natural order of Spathaceae. 
Narcissi, Jussieu. Essential character; co- 
rolla bell-shaped, six-parted, tliickened at 
the tips ; stigma simple. There are four 
species ; these are all bulbous rooted plants ; 
the flowers, which at first sight resemble 
those of the common snow-drop, are easily 
distinguished by the absence of the three- 
leaved nectary, and they do not appear so 
soon by a month. These plants being of a 
different genus from the true snow-drop, 
ought certainly to have another English 
name : some botanists call it spring snow 
flake; others many-flowered bulbous violet. 
In the gardens it is known by the name of 
great summer snow-drop, and late or tall 
snow-drop. They are natives of the south 
of Europe. 
LEUCOPHRA, in natural history, a 
genus of the Vermes Infusoria class and or- 
der : worm invisible to the naked eye, every 
where ciliate. There are eight species. 
L. cornuta; inversely conic, green^ opaque. 
This is found in marshy grounds. Body 
broad, truncate on the fore part, with a 
small spine on each side; the hind part 
pellucid and pointed, sometimes it appears 
oval or kidney-shaped, and when the water 
which contains it evaporates, it breaks into 
molecular vesicles. L. nodulata; ovate- 
oWoug, depressed, with a double row of 
tubercles. This species is found in the 
intestines of lumbricus terristris, and nais 
littoralis: it is very pellucid, shining like 
silver, and is propagated by a transverse 
division ; oval when young, and -growing 
more oblong with age ; truncate at the 
tip. 
LEUCOPSIS, in natural history, a genus 
of insects of the order Hymenoptera : mouth 
