34 I- A G 
following year he was defied director of the academy, 
He died on the 12th of April, 1734, about the age of fe- 
venty-four. He particularly excelled in arithmetic, alge¬ 
bra, and geometry, in which he made many improvements 
and dil'coveries. He, as well as Leibnitz, invented a bi¬ 
nary arithmetic, in which only two figures are concerned. 
He rendered much eafierthe refolution of algebraic equa¬ 
tions, efpecially the irreducible cafe in cubic equations ; 
and the numeral refolution of the higher powers, by 
means of fliort approximating theorems. He delivered 
the meafures of angles in a new fcience, called Goniometry j 
in which he meafured angles by a pair of compalfes, with¬ 
out fcales or tables, with great exactnefs; and thus gave 
a new appearance to trigonometry. Cyclomctry, or the mea- 
fure of the circle, was alfo an objedl of his attention ; and 
he calculated, by means of infinite feries, the ratio of the 
circumference of a circle to its diameter, to 120 places of 
figures. He gave a general theorem for the tangents of 
multiple arcs ; and he was the author of many other cu¬ 
rious or ufeful improvements, which are found in the 
great multitude of his papers that are printed in the dif¬ 
ferent volumes of the Memoirs of the Academy of Sci¬ 
ences; namely, in almoft every volume from the year 
5699 to 1729. Befides the articles already mentioned, he 
publiihed, in a feparate form, a treatife On the Cubature 
of the Sphere, 1702, 12010. As for the “General Analy- 
fis, containing New Methods of refolving Problems of 
every Kind,” &c. publifhed in 1733, 4to. under the name 
of de Lagny, by M. Richer, a very able mathematician, 
it is faid to be the undoubted production of the editor, 
who was aftifted by the papers of his friend M. de Lagny, 
of which he w’as allowed the free ule. Hutton. 
LA'GO, a town of Italy, in the department of the 
Lower Po : four miles north of Comacchio. 
LA'GO LIAS'TRO, a gulf or bay on the eaft coaft of 
Sardinia. Lat. 39. 50. N. 
LA'GO MAGGIO'RA, or Lake Major, a large lake 
of Italy, between the bailiwicks and the Milanefe; near 
fifty miles in length, and four in breadth ; in many places 
eighty feet deep ; the bottom is ftony, the water clear and 
greenifii ; on all fides it is furrounded by hills planted 
with vineyards, and plantations of chefnuts interfperfed 
with villas. There are feveralillands, two of which, Ifola 
Bella, and Ifola Madre, called Boromcean IJlands, are laid 
out in gardens and plealure-grounds, with palaces ereded 
on them, adorned with paintings, fculptures, See. The 
lake abounds with fid), particularly trout and perch. 
LA'GO NE'RO, a town of Naples, in Bafilicata, at the 
foot of the Apennines, near a lake from which it receives 
its name. In March 1806, a battle was fought here be¬ 
tween the French and the troops of the king of Naples, 
in which the former were victorious, and took poffelTion 
of the town. An edift was foon after publiihed by Jo- 
feph Bonaparte, in which it is declared that “the dy- 
nafty of Naples has ceafed to reign over that city and its 
beautiful kingdom.” Lago Nero is tw'elve miles north-ealt 
of Policaltro. 
LAGO'A, a town of the ifland of May, one of the 
Cape Verde Illands. 
LAGO'A, a town of Portugal, in Algarva : five miles 
north-eaft of Silves. 
LAGO'A, a river of Africa, which runs into the At¬ 
lantic in lat. 6. 55. N. 
LAGO'A, a bay of the Indian Sea, on the coaft of Af¬ 
rica. Lat. 33. 10. S. 
LAGO'A. See Delagoa, vol.v. p.672. 
LAGO'A D’ALBAFEI'RA, a lake on the weft coaft 
of Portugal, near the fea: twelve miles fouth-fouth-weft 
of Lilbon. 
LAGO'A DE OBI'DOS, a lake on the weft coaft of 
Portugal, which empties itfelf into the fea, four miles 
north-eaft from Cape Carvaeiro, in the province of Eftra- 
madura. 
LAGO'A DE PA'TOS, a bay on the coaft of Brafil. 
Lat. 23. 25, S. 
LAG 
LAGO'A DE PESCA'RA, a bay on the coaft of Era-* 
fil. Lat. 21. 30. S. 
LAGO'AS, a town of Africa, in the country of Ma- 
tamba, on the river Sierra Leone. Lat. 8. 40. N. Ion. 10. 
50. W. 
LAGOCH'ILUS, f. [from the Greek Xaywj, a hare, and 
a lip.] One who has a hare-lip. 
LAGO'DA, a town of Brafil: eighty-five miles weft of 
Fort Rio Negro. 
LAGOE'CIA, f. [fo named by Linnaeus, from a 
hare, and oiv.o?, Greek, a dwelling, or feat; the plant being, 
according to Bellonius, called in the Ille of Lemnos lago - 
chymeni, which means the form or feat of the hare.] Wild 
Cumin ; in botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order 
monogynia, natural order of umbellatte or umbelliferse. 
The generic characters are—Calyx: involucre univerfal, 
eight-leaved ; leaflets feathered-toothed, ciliated, reflex ; 
containing the umbellule. Involucre proper, four-leaved; 
leaflets hair-feathered ; involving a Angle footftalk (horter 
than the leaflet itfelf. Perianthium proper, five-leaved, 
hair-many-cleft, fuperior. Corolla: petals five, two- 
horned, thorter than the calyx. Stamina : filaments five, 
capillary, length of the corolla; antherte roundilh. PIT— 
tillum : germ roundifn, below the receptacle of the peri¬ 
anthium ; ftyle length of ftamens ; ftigmas two ; the one 
truncated. Pericarpium: none. Seeds: folitary, ovate- 
oblong, crowned by the perianthium. The alternate feed 
is abortive .—EJjential CharaRcr. Involucre univerfal and 
partial; petals bifid ; feeds folitary, inferior. 
Lagoecia cuminoides, wild or baftard cumin ; a Angle 
fpecies. This is an annual plant, about a foot high. The 
leaves refemble thote of honeyvvort (Cerinthe). The flow¬ 
ers are collected into fpherical heads at the extremity of 
the ltalks, and are of a greenish-yellow colour. The fruit 
is fmall, pedicelled, ovate-acuminate, crowned with a ci- 
liate calyx, villole, one feed only ripening, the other 
abortive, and fixed laterally to the apex of the other, like 
a withered fcalelet. The fertile feed is of a dufley black 
colour, fprinkled all over with hoary villofe hairs, convex 
on one fide, with five capillary raifed whitith Itreaks, flat- 
titli on the other, with three very flender ftreaks, marking 
out the place of the abortive feed ; which is conftantly 
and eafily found, when the fruit is well foftened in wa¬ 
ter. Native of the Levant; cultivated in 1708, by the 
duchefs of Beaufort; flowers in June and July. 
Propagation and Culture. Sow the feeds in autumn on a 
warm border, foon after they are ripe ; or, if they be per¬ 
mitted to fcatter, they will come up of themfelves. When 
the feeds are fown in the fpring, they commonly remain 
in the ground a year, and fometimes two or three years, 
before they grow. 
LAGOO'N, oi'Lagu'ne, /! [from lacuna, a lacus, Lat ] 
A lake. The Lagunes of Venice are marfhes or lakes in 
Italy on which Venice is ieated. They communicate with 
the fea, and are the lecurityof the city. There are about 
fixty illands in thefe Lagunes, which together make a bi- 
fhop’s fee. Eurano is the molt confiderable, next to thofe 
on which Venice Hands. 
LAGOO'N (Middle), a gulf on the coaft of Yucatan, 
in the bay of Honduras. Lat. 18. 7. N. Ion. 88. 59. W. 
LAGOO'N (North), a gulf on the coaft of Yucatan, 
on the bay of Honduras. Lat. 18. 40. N. Ion. 88. 58. W. 
LAGOO'N (South), a gulf on the coaft of Yucatan, in 
the bay of Honduras. Lat. 17- 54 - N. Ion. 88 . 59. W. 
LAGOO'N I'SLAND, an ifland in the South Pacific 
Ocean, difcovered by captain Cook in the year 1769, 
who deferibes it of an oval form, with a lagoon, or lake, 
in the middle, which occupied much the larger part of it; 
whence the name. The border of land wdiich circum- 
feribes the lagoon is in many places very low and narrow', 
particularly on the fouth fide, where it confifts principally 
of a beach or reef of rocks; it has the fame appearance 
alfo in three places on the north fide; fo that, the firm 
land being disjoined, the whole looks like many illands 
covered with wood. Capt. Cook approached it on the 
north 
