7.59 
L U E 
ea), length of the ftamens; ftigma obfoletely four-cor¬ 
nered, 'capitate. Pericarpium : capfule four-cornered, 
blunt, covered and crowned by the calyx, four-celled, 
four-valved ; partitions oppofite to the valves. Seeds : 
numerous, fmall. Receptacle : columnar, membranace¬ 
ous, four-winged ; wings in the angles of the partitions, 
feed-bearing on each fide.— EJJ'entialCharacter. Calyx four- 
parted, fuperior ; corolla four-petalled ; capfule inferior, 
four-cornered, four-celled ; receptacle diftind from the 
axis of the fruit, bearing the feeds on each fide. 
Species, i. Ludwigia alternifolia, or alternate-leaved 
ludwigia: leaves alternate, lanceolate; (tern upright. 
This is an annual plant, rifing with an upright branching 
ftalk a foot high. The flowers come out fingly at the axils: 
they are fmall, orrfliort peduncles ; corolla yellow. Cap¬ 
fule (hotter than the permanent calyx, from a rounded 
bale, cubical, opening at the angles ; partitions membra¬ 
naceous, inferted on one fide into the middle of the valves, 
on the other into the axis, not feparating; receptacle, a 
compreffed fungofe lamina, or plate, fixed to the inner 
angle of each cell, covered on both fides with the feeds ; 
which are ovate, fmooth, fomewhat fhining, pale yellow. 
Native of Virginia ; or, according to Mr. Miller, of South 
Carolina, whence the feeds were fent him by Thomas 
Dale, M.D. before 1752. It flowers in June and July. 
2. Ludwigia oppofitifolia, or oppofite-lesved ludwigia: 
leaves oppofite, lanceolate ; (tern ditfufed. Stems procum¬ 
bent, a fpan long. Branches at the root, and fcarcely any 
others. Leaves fmooth, quite entire, ltriated, ending in 
the petioles : in Flora Zeylanica the leaves are faid to be 
alternate -, the herb like Lythrum hyffopifolium, and the 
flower in the form of Caryophyllus officinarum. Native 
of the Ealt-Indies. 
3. Ludwigia repens, or creeping ludwigia : leaves crp- 
pofite, ovate; peduncles folitary, axillary; Item creeping. 
This is an annual plant, native of Jamaica. See Isnardia 
paluftris, which is the fame; vol. xi. 
4. Ludwigia erigata, or upright ludwigia: leaves op¬ 
pofite, lanceolate; Item upright. This alfo is annual. 
Stern herbaceous a foot high, and fmooth. Native of the 
Ealt-Indies. Jullieu doubts whether this fpecies belongs 
to the genus; the leaves being oppofite, and the flowers 
terminating. 
Propagation and Culture . —The plants mult be raifed from 
feed in a hot-bed, in the fpring, and treated as diredled 
for Amaranthus. If they be not brought forward in the 
fpring, they leldom produce good feeds in England. See 
Ammannia, Isnardia, and Jussieua. 
LUD'WIGSBURG, a town of Anterior Pomerania, on 
the coaft of the Baltic: five miles eaft-north-eaft of Grief- 
iwalde. 
LUD'VVIGSTA.T, a town of the principality of Culm- 
bach: fourteen miles north-weft of Lichtenburg, and thir¬ 
teen fouth of Saalfeld. 
LUD'WIGSTEIN, a town of the principality of Heffe 
Rhinfels : fourteen miles eaft of Caffel, and fixteen fouth 
of Gottingen. 
LUD'WIGSTHAL, a town of Wirtemburg, noted for 
its iron-forges : about a mile from Duttlingei). 
LUD'WIGWALL, a town of Pruflia, in Natangen : 
four miles fouth of Konigfberg. 
LUD'WORTH, a village of Derbyfhire, in the high 
peak ,—a village in the county of Durham, eaft of Dur¬ 
ham. 
LU'F.G, or Jam'ma, a citadel of Carniola, on the centre 
of a high mountain, which rifes perpendicularly. This 
large building Hands fo in a hole in the rock, that no rain 
falls on it; notwithftanding which, it has a roof for its 
defence againft the water which trickles down from the 
rock. From this citadel is no other profpedt than that 
which looks up towards the heavens. One half of the 
forfe tower alone projedfs. It is fix miles north-weft of 
Cirknitz. 
LU'EG, a pafs in the archbifliopric of Salzburg ; four 
miles fouth of Golling. 
L U E 
LIVES, f. A deftruction ; a great mortality. 
LU'ES VENE'REA, /. [from the Lat. lues, a difeafe, 
and Venus, the patronefs of love.] The foul difeafe; called 
alfo morbus gallicus, fyphilis, morbus neapolitanus, morbus 
aphrodifnis, &c. 
Several writers have endeavoured to prove the great an¬ 
tiquity of this diitemper. The principal of thefe are, 
Mr. William Becket, whofe papers are contained in the 
30th and 31ft vols. of the Philofophical Tranfadfions; 
Dr. Charles Patin, and Dr. Sanchez, authors of differta- 
tions on the origin of the difeafe. The opinion has even 
been maintained, that the venereal malady has exifted 
from time immemorial ; and paffages in fupport of this fen- 
timent are referred to in Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, 
Celfus, and likewife the Holy Scriptures. But that the 
Greeks and Romans were at all acquainted with the ve¬ 
nereal difeafe feems extremely improbable, and is an affer- 
tion quite uneftablilhed. Dr. Adams has well obferved, 
that the ancient phyficians, being ignorant of the medical 
powers of mercury, mult have been infinitely more fami¬ 
liar with every form of the difeafe, had it been known, 
than ourfelves : yet, till near the clofe of the filteenth 
century, we have no defeription of local appearances that 
can be miltaken for venereal ; and during the following 
century, the indultrious Aftruc enumerates more than 
a hundred writers on the fubject. If other proofs are 
required, let us mark the difference between the licenti¬ 
ous poets of former times and our own. Can a reader of 
common lenfe fuppofe that Horace, Juvenal, Perfius, or 
Ovid, could have been filent on a fubjeft fo perpetually 
occurring in the fatirical writings of Pope and Swift ? 
Giving up the fuppolition of lues venerea being of fuch 
antiquity, ltill it is contended that the diforder prevailed 
in Europe long before the return of Columbus from his 
voyage to America, or Charles VIII. befieged Naples ; two 
events which happened at the clofe of the fifteenth cen¬ 
tury, when it is commonly thought that the difeafe firft 
began its ravages in Spain and Italy, and thence fpread to 
other parts of the old world. We are told that Gulielmus 
Salicetus, who praftifed at Verona in 1210, was well ac¬ 
quainted with the caufe and effects of fyphilis; and, in 
confirmation of this remark, we are referred to his work 
on furgery, where may be found a chapter, intitled, “ De 
puftulis albis, et feiffuris et corruptionibus quae fiunt in 
virga et circa praeputium, propter coitum cum meretrice, 
vel alia caula.” Gordon, who le&ured on phyfic at the 
univerlity of Montpelier in 1289, mentions in chap. 5, 
“ De paflionibus virgae,” the affections originating from 
connections with women whofe wombs are foul, virulent, 
fanious, infectious, See. and he likewife fpecifiesa remedy 
fora chancre proceeding from fuch a caufe. Lombard fur La 
Maladie Yen. 
In the 30th and 31ft vols. of the Philofophical Tranf- 
aCtions, Mr. W. Becket publilhed his papers in fupport of 
the antiquity of lues venerea. In the firft difi’ertarion, he 
labours to prove that a venereal gonorrhoea was known in 
England fome ages before the year 1494, under the name 
of ardor, arfura, incendinm, &c. in Englilh, brenning or 
burning-, of which, indeed, there is frequent mention 
made by Britilh hiftorians. In confirmation of this opi¬ 
nion, Mr, Becket produces authorities, of which fome 
are earlier, and others later, than the year 1494, the pe¬ 
riod when kies venerea is generally imagined to have firft 
fliown itfelf in Europe. 
The earlie'tof thefe authorities, being the moft material, 
will alone be noticed by us. 1. The firft is a manufeript 
treatife of John Arden, an eminent furgeon in England, 
about the clofe of the fourteenth century. In this book 
mention is made of turning, which, according to Becket 
is defined “a certain inward heat and excoriation of the 
urethra.” 2. The fecond authority refts upon certain phy- 
fical pieces fuppofed to have been written about the years 
1390 and 1440. Thefe works are laid to contain fome re¬ 
ceipts for the cure of this brenning, both in men and wo¬ 
men. 3. The third and laft that we fliall notice is founded 
upon 
