LAV 
LAY «si 
buildings. There are other kinds which merit the atten¬ 
tion of the natural hiftorian. In examining thefe pumices, 
Spallanzani obtained the following refults: 
Species 
ct' Campo 
Bianco. 
fiilex 60*3 
Alumine 23 
Magnefia 6 
Lime 6 
Iron 3 
2d 3d 
Species. Species. 
80 80 
6 4 
3 a 
4'7 4 
4 ’B 53 
4th 
1* .1 mice of the 
rock ot' the 
ecics. 
Ctftle of LiparU 
6l 
63 
22*7 
24 
6 
5*6 
S'B 
3 
3 
2 
6. Lava fpuria, or baftard lava: originating from'fub- 
ftances which have been ignited by burning ftrata of foflil 
coals. Found in Bohemia, near Berlin, Seidfchuz, Laun, 
and Lobolan, in WafTovia near Datweiler, in Hungary on 
Mount Schater ; porous or compact, more or lefs ponder¬ 
ous ; of a reddilh, cinereous, black, blue, iron, lteel, or 
iridefeent, colour. 
LA'VA, in geography. See Laub. 
LAUA'CA, a fmall ifland near the fouth coaft of Sar¬ 
dinia. Lat. 39. 4. N. Ion. 8. 36. E. 
LAVA'CRUM, in botany, a name given by fome au¬ 
thors to the common wild teafel, or Dipsacus fylvejlris. 
LAVADE'RO, /. [Spanilh.] A name given to certain 
places in Chili and Peru, where gold is got out of earth 
by wafhing. M. Frezier gives us the following deferip- 
tion of the lavaderos, or lavatories, of Chili : They dig 
deep into the earth, in fuch places as they have reafon to 
expert gold in ; and, in order to facilitate this digging, 
turn a ftream of water upon the fpot, loofening the earth 
as much as poflible all the time, that the current may have 
the greater effeft, and tear up the earth more ftrongly. 
When they are got to the earth they want, they turn off 
the dream, and dig dry. The earth that they now get is 
carried on mules, and difeharged into a bafon made lome- 
what in the manner of a fmith’s bellows; into which a ri¬ 
vulet of water runs with great rapidity, diffolving the 
parts of the earth, and carrying every thing away with it, 
excepting the particles of gold, which, by their great 
weight, precipitate to the bottom of the bafon, and mix 
with fine black fand, where they are almoft as much hid¬ 
den as they were before in the earth. Sometimes they find 
very conliderable pieces, particularly pieces of twenty- 
four ounces each. There are feveral lavaderos, where 
they find pepi/.as, or pieces of virgin gold, of a prodigious 
fize. Among others, they tell of one that weighed 512 
ounces, bought by the count de la Moncloa, viceroy of 
Peru. 
Nine or ten leagues to the eaft of Coquimbo, are the 
Lavaderos of Andacoll, the gold whereof is twenty-three 
carats fine. Their works here always turn to great pro¬ 
fit, excepting when the water fails them. The natives 
maintain that the earth is creative, that is, it produces 
gold, continually; becaufe, after having been walhed fixty 
©r eighty years, they find it impregnated afrelh, and draw 
almoft as much out of it as at firlt. 
LAVA'GNA, a river which rifes in the Apennines, 
and runs into the fea near the town of Lavagna. 
LAVA'GNA, a feaport town of Genoa, at the mouth 
of a river of the fame name : fourteen miles weft-north- 
weft of Brugneto. 
LAVAL', a city of France, and capital of the depart¬ 
ment of the Mayenne, fituated oa the river Mayenne, 
containing about 18,000 fouls. Here are feveral manu¬ 
factures of linen in the town and environs, which form a 
very conliderable commerce: 9J ports eaft of Rennes, 34A 
weft-foutb-weft of Paris. Lat. 48. 5. N. Ion. o. 41. W. 
LAVAL' ALGE'RE, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Lozerre : nine miles north-weft of La- 
gogne. 
LAVAMEN'TUM, f. [from the Lat. lavo, to wafh.] 
A fomentation. Scott. 
LAVAMUN'D, a town of Carinthia, on the Drave : 
twenty-four miles eaft of Clagenfurt, forty weft of Mar- 
Burg. Lat. 46. 44. N. Ion. 14. 37. E. 
Vo h, XII. No. 823. 
LAVAMTJN'TER A'BEN, a mountain of Carinthia s 
four miles north of Lavamund. 
LAV'AN SAN'DS, fands on the north coaft of Wales, 
between the ifland of Anglefey and the county of Caer¬ 
narvon, eaft of Beaumaris. 
LAVAN'DULA, [« lavando ; from its life in fomenta¬ 
tions and baths.] Lavender ; in botany, a genus of the 
clafs didynamia, order gymnofpermia, natural order of 
verticillatae, (labiatse, JuJf. Tournef. &c.) The generic 
chararters are—Calyx: perianthium one-leafed, ovate s 
mouth obfeurely toothed, fliort, permanent, fupported by 
a brarte. Corolla: one-petalled, ringent, refupine; tube 
cylindric, longer than the calyx ; border fpreading ; one 
lip looking upwards, larger, bifid, fpreading; the other 
lip looking downw'ards, trifid; divifions all roundifh, 
nearly equal. Stamina: filaments four, fliort, within the 
tube of the corolla, deflerted, of which two are ftiorter. 
Antherae fmall. Piftillum : germ four-parted ; ftyle fili¬ 
form, length of the tube. Stigma two-lobed; obtufe, 
converging. Pericarpium none ; calyx converging with 
the mouth and guarding the feed. Seeds four, obovate. 
—EJfcntial C/iaraEler. Calyx ovate, obfeurely toothed, 
fupported by a brarte ; corolla refupine; ftamina within 
the tube. 
Species. 1. Lavandula fpica, or common lavender; con¬ 
fining of, a. L. anguftifolia, or narrow-leaved lavender j 
and | 3 . L. latifolia, or broad-leaved lavender : leaves fef- 
file, lanceolate-linear; rolled back at the edge; fpike in¬ 
terrupted, naked. Root perennial, thick, woody. Stem 
ffirubby, much branched, frequently five or fix feet high, 
four-cornered, acute-angled, tomentofe. Leaves numer¬ 
ous, blunt, hoary, the upper ones fertile, the lower pe« 
tioled. The flowers are produced in terminating fpikes 
from the young flioots, on long peduncles ; the fpikes are 
compofed of interrupted whorls, in which the flowers are 
from fix to ten, the lower whorls more remote ; each 
flower upright, on a fhort pedicel; the common colour 
of the corolla is blue, but it varies with white flowers. 
The whole plant is covered with a down compofed of 
forked hairs. 
( 3 . Broad-leaved lavender has much fliorter and broader 
leaves, and the branches are ftiorter, more compart, and 
fuller of leaves. It will continue feveral years without 
producing flowers ; and, when it does, the leaves on the 
flowering (talks approach nearer to thofe of the common 
lavender, «; but are ftill broader. The ftalks grow taller, 
the fpikes are loofer and larger, the flowers fmaller, and 
appear a little later in the feafon. Gerard obferves, that 
this variety has not only broader leaves, but twooppolite 
branches at the bottom of the Hern, and paler-coloured 
flowers. This alfo varies with the corolla entirely white. 
Native of the South of Europe, on mountains, bv way- 
fides, and in barren places; Afia, and Africa. It flowers 
here from July to September, and was cultivated in 1568, 
as appears from Turner. 
Lavender is a plant which has long been celebrated for 
its virtues in nervous diforders. According to Dr. Cul¬ 
len, it is, “ whether externally or internally, a powerful 
ftimulant to the nervous lyftem ; and amongft others of 
this order, named cephalics, the lavender has a very good, 
and perhaps the belt, title to it.” And he farther fays, 
“ It appears to me probable that it will leldom go farther 
than exciting the energy of the brain to a fuller impulfe 
of the nervous power into the nerves of the animal func¬ 
tions, and feldom into thofe of the vital.” It may how¬ 
ever be with great propriety that profeffor Murray has 
difluaded its ufe where there is any danger from a Iti- 
mulus applied to the fanguiferous fyftem. It is however 
ftill probable that lavender commonly ftimulates the ner¬ 
vous fyftem only, and therefore may be more fafe in palfy 
than the warmer aromatics, efpecially if the lavender be 
not given in a fpirituous menftruum, or along with heat¬ 
ing aromatics, which however is commonly done. The 
officinal preparations ol lavender are the effential oil, a 
Ample Ipirit, and a compound tinrture. The eifential oil 
