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provifion, efpecially in the winter, and of a hard and black 
bread,, chiefly of rye, to the fcarcity of which corn, rather 
than to its ergotcd or dHeated condition, the igni. facer, 
malades ardens, and other fimilar maladies, fhould doubt - 
lefs be attributed. So little were vegetables cultivated, 
indeed, or gardening uaderftood, even in the fixteenth 
century, in this country, that, in the year 1509, queen Ca¬ 
tharine, could not procure a lalad, till Henry lent to the 
Netherlands, and engaged a gardener to come over to raife 
the proper articles here. How totally deftitute ot fuch 
diet mult the people in general have been at a much later 
period! 
In Ihort, in whatever country an uncultivated foil, a 
marfny furface, and a humid atmofphere, have been found, 
-together with a diet generally confiding of a falted, femi- 
putrid, infulflcient, or indigf (tible, aliment, and compofed 
chiefly of animal flelh or fifli, with a lmall proportion of 
nutritious vegetable matter; there, from theearlieft times, 
human life has been Ihortened by the multiplication of 
peltilential fevers and cachexies of a leprous and fcorbutic 
nature. Therefore, as Raymond obferves, even if the ec- 
clefiaftical writers of the middle ages had left us no re¬ 
cords of the hiflory of fuch maladies ; the hiltory of the 
foil, of the circumltances of the times, and of the food ge¬ 
nerally ufed, would afford an inconteftible monument of 
the exiftence of Jeprofy. 
For the fpecies or varieties of Lepra, as diftinguKhed by 
fyftematic writers on medicine at prelent, and their cure, 
fee the article Pathology. 
LE'PROUS, adj. Infefted with a leprofy; 
The filly amorous fucks his death, 
By*drawing in a leprous harlot’s breath. Donne. 
LEP'SIA, in ancient geography, an illand in the fea of 
Rhodes, near the coaft of Caria. Pliny. 
LEPSI'NA, a town of European Turkey, in Livadia, 
anciently called Eleufis ; celebrated for the temple of Ceres, 
and the myfteries of her worlhip: confiderable* ruins re¬ 
main. It is twelve miles north-weft of Athens. 
LEP'SIS, f. in the Greek muflc, is a name given to one 
of the rules of the ancient melopoeia, called alfo fome- 
times, eut/iia-, by which the compofer difcerns in which 
of the three fyftems of founds he fhould place his melody. 
LEP'STI, a town of European Turkey, in the province 
of Macedonia, on the gulf of Saloniki: twelve miles fouth 
of Jenitza. 
LEP'TA, a man’s name; the name of feveral Romans. 
LEP'TA,yi [fo called from Xeirlot, Gr. llender, or mi¬ 
nute; from the remarkable diminutivenefs of its flowers.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs tetrandria, order mono- 
gynia, natural order hederacese, Linn, (vites, JuJf.) The 
generic 'ch a rafters are—Calyx : perianthium inferior, 
fpreading, fmall, divided into four ovate fegments. Co¬ 
rolla : petals four, fomewhat triangular, furrowed, in<- 
flexed, twice as long as the calyx. Stamina : filaments 
four, awl-lhaped, indexed, inferted into the receptacle 
at the angle of the bafe of the petals; antheras ovate, 
two-celled. Piftillum : germen fuperior, roundilh, four- 
furrowed 5 ftyle fcarcely any ; ftigmaobtufe. Pericarpium : 
berry four-lobed, lobes ovate, flightly confluent towards 
the centre, fingle-feeded. Seeds: roundilh ,—EJJentialCha- 
ra8.tr. Calyx four-cleft. Inferior; corolla of four trian¬ 
gular petals; berry four-lobed, four-celled, each cell 
containing a feed. 
Lepta triphylla, or triple-leaved lepta ; a Angle fpecies. 
A native of woods in Cochlnchina, and called by the na¬ 
tives cay mat. This tree is about ten feet high, and ex¬ 
ceedingly branched; leaves ternate, lanceolate, entire, 
waved, fmooth ; flowers white, very fmall, in compound, 
fmall, axillary clufters. The habit of this genus very 
much refembles that of Cissus ; but the character of its 
fruit appears to be effentially different. 
LEPTADE'NIA, f. [from the Gr. hei/]o;, llender or 
{harp, and achi/o?, a gland ; expiellive of the con- 
Uafted acute termination, of the malles of pollen, which 
makes a very peculiar part of the generic charafter.] In 
botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order digynia, 
natural order contortae, Linn, (apocinete, JuJf. afclepiadeiE, 
Brown.) Generic effeutial charafter—Corolla fomewhat 
wheei-lhaped ; tube ftiqrt; orifice crowned with five fcales, 
ftanding between the legments; limb bearded. Crown of 
the ftamens wanting. Anther® unconnefted, Ample at 
the top. Malles of pollen ereft, attached by their bafe, 
contrafted and pellucid at the lummit. Stigma pointlels. 
Mr. Brown has examined three fpecies, reducible to 
this genus, in the Bankfian Herbarium, none of which 
are yet defcribcd, nor has he named or defined them fpe- 
cifically. One was gathered by Forlkall. They are all 
natives either of the Eaft Indies or of Africa. They 
appear to be perennial, herbaceous, climbing plants, 
clothed with a greyilh impalpable powdery down. Leaves 
flat, oppofite; umbels between the footftalks, fometimes 
cymofe; ftigma minute. 
LEPTAN'THUS, f. [from the Gr. AettIo?, llender, and 
a> 0 o?, a flower,] In botany, a genus of the clafs triandria, 
order monogynia, natural order junci, JuJf. The gene¬ 
ric charafters are-—Calyx : fpathe inferior, of one leaf, 
convoluted, containing one or more flowers. Corolla: of 
one petal, inferior; tube thread-lhaped, very long; limb 
regular, in fix deep, nearly equal, oblong, fegments. 
Stamina : filaments three, inferted into the bafe of the 
limb, linear, Ihorter than the limb, one of them often 
longer than the reft ; antheras vertical, roundilh or ob¬ 
long. Piftillum : germen fuperior, clofely invefted with 
the bafe of the tube, oblong; ftyle thread-lhaped, the 
length of the tube; ftigma a little dilated, downy, fome¬ 
what concave. Pericarpium : capfule invefted with the 
tube and the calyx, oblong, obfcurely triangular, of three 
cells and three valves, burfting at the angles, the parti¬ 
tions very narrow, from the centre of each valve. Seeds : 
numerous, in a double feries in each cell, ovate, longi¬ 
tudinally ftriated.— Effential Chara8er. SpathS of one 
valve ; corolla of one petal ; its limb in fix deep fegments, 
nearly equal; ftigma Ample; capfule fuperior, of three 
cells and three valves. Seeds many. 
None of the fpecies of this genus have been brought 
alive to England, nor are they fcarcely to be met with 
in herbariums. They all feem to be aquatics. Their 
flowers are inconfpicuous, and probably very tranfitory. 
Species. 1. Leptanthus acutus, or fliarp-leaved leptan- 
thus: leaves roundifh-kidney-fliaped, acute; fpathe fmooth, 
containing about three flowers. Gathered by Louis Bole 
in Pennfylvanja and Virginia. „Stem creeping, taking 
root at the joints, leafy. Leaves {talked, the earlier ones 
floating, an inch or more in length and breadth, fome¬ 
what heart-fhaped at the bafe, fmooth like the relt of the 
plant. Flowers from near the bafe of the footftalks. 
Spathe an inch long. Corolla in two principal divilions, 
each in three Ihorter ones, of which the middle one is 
broadeft in the upper half, narrowed in the lower. Two 
ftafnens bear round anther®; the third, which is longed, 
an oblong one. 
2. Leptanthus reniformis, or kidney-leptanthus : leaves 
roundilh-kidney-fliaped ; fpathe oblong, pointed, many- 
flowered. Native of marihes and pools at Lima. Stem 
branched, ftriated. Flowers three or four, of a pale green, 
their longer filament bearing a long arrow-lhaped anther.. 
3. Leptanthus pubefeens, or downy leptanthus: leaves 
heart-fhaped, acute, the radical ones downy : fpathe li¬ 
near, many-flowered. Gathered by Lcefiing in marines 
near Barcelona in South America. Stem a fpan high. 
Flowers from a flit in the uppermoft footftalk, pale pur- 
plifh blue. 
4. Leptanthus cordatus, or cordate leptanthus : leaves 
cordate-oval, very blunt; fpathe oblong, very obtufe, 
about three-flowered. Found in South America by V011 
Rohr. Stem a fpan high ; leaves riling above it, fcarcely 
more than half an inch in length, on long (talks. 
5. Leptanthus liinofus, or muddy leptanthus: leaves 
ovate-oblong; fpathe lanceolate, flngle-flowered. Native 
l a£ 
