LEU 
LEU 
particles from the furrounding (hell, till at laft the earth 
was formed. In the mean time, the fpherical ; .(hell was 
continually fupplied with new bodies, which, in its re¬ 
volution, it gathered up from without. Of the particles 
thus collected in the fpherical fliell, fome in their combi¬ 
nation formed humid mafles, which, by their circular 
motion, gradually became dry, and were at length ig¬ 
nited, and became (tars. The fun was formed in the 
fame manner, in the exterior furface of the (hell ; and the 
moon, in it's interior furface. In this manner the.world 
was formed ; and, by an inverfion of the proems, it will 
at length be diffolved.” From this fyftem Des Cartes 
borrowed his hypothefis of the vortices , as has been fatil- 
fadtorily proved by the learned Huet; and we may alfo 
find in it fome hints of his grand mechanical principle, 
“ that bodies, in a circular motion, remove from the cen¬ 
tre as much as pofllble.” But Kepler had preceded Des 
Cartes in his obligations to Leucippus concerning vor¬ 
tices and the caules of gravity. Diogenes Laert. Enfield's 
Hijl. Phil. vol. i. 
LEU'CITE, J. in mineralogy. See Schgrlus grana- 
tinus. 
LEUCOGiE'US, in ancient geography, a hill fituated 
between Puteoli and Neapolis in Campania, abounding 
in fulphur; now /’ Alumera. Whence there were alfo 
fprings called Leucogai fontes ; the waters of which, ac¬ 
cording to Pliny, gave a firmnefs to the teeth, clearnefs 
to the eyes, and proved a cure in wounds. 
LEUCOI'UM, f. [*t vkov ion, Gr. white violet.] 
Greater Snow-drop, or Snow-flake ; in botany, a genus 
of the clafs hexandria, order monogynia, natural order of 
fpathaceae, (narcifli, JuJfi .) The generic characters are— 
Calyx : fpathe oblcng, obtufe, comprelfed, gaping on the 
fiat fide, withering. Corolla: bell-fliaped-expanding; 
petals fix, ovate, flat, conjoined at the bafe; with the 
tips thickifli and (tiffift). Stamina: filaments fix, feta- 
ceous, very (hort; antherae oblong, obtufe, quadrangu¬ 
lar, upright, diflant. Piftillum: germ roundilh, inferior; 
ftyle clavate, obtufe. Stigma: fetaceous, upright, (harp, 
longer than the ftamens. Pericarpium : capfule top- 
fhaped, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds : feveral, round- 
iflr. —Efifential CharaElcr. Corolla bell-fliaped, fix-parted, 
thickened at the tips; ftigma fimple. 
Species, i. Leucoium vernum, great fpring fnow-drop, 
or fnow-flake : fpathe one-flowered ; llyle club-(haped ; 
leaves flat. Bulb oblong, (haped like that of the daffodil, 
but fmaller. Leaves flat, deep green, four or five in 
number, broader and longer than thofe of the common 
fnow-drop, Galanthus nivalis. Scape angular, near a 
foot high, hollow and channelled : towards the top comes 
out a whitifn fheath, opening on the fide, out of which 
come two or three flowers, hanging on (lender peduncles; 
corolla much larger than that of the common fnow-drop; 
and the ends of the petals are green ; they appear in 
March, and have an agreeable feent, not much unlike 
thofe of the hawthorn. In its wild (late, the fcape is 
only half a foot in height, or little more; and generally 
has only one flower, very feldom two. The whole plant 
is very fmooth. The flowers, which at firft fight refem- 
ble thofe of the common fnow-drop, are eaiily diftin- 
gui(hed by the abfence of the three-leaved neblary. They 
do not come out fo foon by a month. This plant, being 
of a different genus from the true fnow-drop, ought cer¬ 
tainly to have another Englilh name ; Mr. Curtis there¬ 
fore calls it fpring fnow-flake. Parkinfon had named it 
great early bulbous violet, and Gerard late-flowering bulbous 
violet. It is a native of Italy, the South of France, Ger¬ 
many, Auftria, and Swifferland. Cultivated in 1596 by 
Gerard. 
2. Leucoium reftivum, great fummer fnow-drop: fpathe 
many-flowered ; llyles club-fnaped ; leaves flat. Bulb the 
fize of a chefnut, fomewhat ovate, outwardly pale brown, 
inwardly white; coats numerous, thin, and clofely com. 
.parted. Mr. Miller fays, the bulb is nearly as large as 
■that of the common daffodil, and very like it in (hape ; 
jVpi/. XII. No. 851. 
549 
that the leaves alfo are not unlike thofe of the daffodil, 
more in number than in the preceding, and keeled at the 
bottom, where they fold over each other, and embrace 
the (talk. Leaves about a foot and a half in length, up¬ 
right, nearly linear, almoft an inch in breadth, obtufe ; 
the lower ones fhorteft. Flowers pendulous, growing all 
one way, having little feent; petals white, finely grooved 
within, not at all uniting at bottom ; the tips thickifli, a 
little puckered, and marked with a green fpot. Seeds 
large, black and gloffy. The flowers appear at the end 
of April or the beginning of May, and there is a fuccef- 
fion of them during three weeks, or longer in cool wea¬ 
ther. Native of Hungary, Auftria, Carniola, Tufcany, 
and Silefla. Mr. Curtis firft obferved it in England be¬ 
tween Greenwich and Woolwich, about half a mile be¬ 
low the former place, clofe by the Thames fide, jnft above 
high-water mark, with reed, marfti-marigold, and other 
common water-plants, and in a fimilar lituation to that 
in which it is found wild in Auftria. It has alfo been 
found wild in the Ifle of Dogs, which is the oppofite 
(bore. It grows here even more luxuriantly than in gar¬ 
dens, where it feldom has a foil or fituation fufiiciently 
naoift. Mr. Gough found it in a fmall ifland, in the li¬ 
ver, about three miles fouth of Kendal, on the dam of 
the gunpowder-mill. 
3. Leucoium autumnale, or autumnal fnow-drop : 
fpathe two-leaved, many-flowered; ftyles and leaves fili¬ 
form. Bulb thick for the fize of the plant, compofed of 
many glutinous coats, bitter, covered with a whitifli 
membrane. Scape (lender, brownifli, a hand in height, 
fupporting two or three fmall white flowers (fometimes 
only one), hanging down, having no fmell: the flowers 
are a little reddilh at the bottom next the ftalk. Native 
of Portugal, and Spain on the confines near Badajos. It 
flowers in September. 
4. Leucoium trichophyllum, or briftle-leaved fnow- 
flake : fpathe two-leaved, many-flowered ; ftyle thread- 
fliaped. Gathered on the fandy plains of Barbary, flow¬ 
ering in the midll of winter. Stalk radical, (heathed by 
the leaves at its bafe, thread-lhaped, five or fix inches 
high. Flowers from two to four, pendulous, white, oc- 
calionaliy tinted with red on the outfide. Redoute re¬ 
grets that he could not call this hyemale, as the name of 
trichophyllum had previoufly been applied by Renealmius 
to the preceding lpecies, to which indeed this is clofely 
allied. The fpecific name of hyemale would have been 
particularly defirable, on account of carrying on the ana¬ 
logy of nomenclature with the three firft fpecies. It is 
greatly to be vvjflied that botanifts who give new names 
to plants would well confider fuch analogies. 
5. Leucoium ftrumofum, or fwelling fnow-flake: fpathe 
two-leaved, many-flowered ; flowers erect ; ftyle inflated 
at the bafe, globular. Bulb roundilh, white, lefs than a 
hafel-nut. Leaves two or three, iuclofed at the bafe in a 
white iheath, filiform, dotted with white, keeled at bot¬ 
tom, flat, or a little convex on the back, weak, and more 
or lefs lying on the ground. Scape fiexuofe-eredt, (len¬ 
der, about half a foot high, roundilh, terminated by a 
fpreading umbel of from three to (even flowers. The 
whole plant is fmooth. See Crinum Tenellum. Na¬ 
tive of the Cape of Good Hope, where it was difeovered 
by Maflon. Introduced in 1774. It flowers in November. 
Propagation and Culture. Thele bulbs are increafed by 
offsets, which the two firft forts put out pretty plentifully, 
in a favourable fituation, when they are not too often re¬ 
moved. They fliould have a foft loamy foil, and an ex- 
pofure to the eaft. Plant the roots fix inches afunder, 
and four or five inches deep. They (lrould not be tranf- 
planted oftener than every third year. A north or north- 
eaft border is bed for them ; and the proper foil a mix¬ 
ture of loam and bog earth. In different afpects, how¬ 
ever, their flowering may be forwarded pr protracted, and 
thus a longer fucceilion of thefe and other flowers pro¬ 
duced. The fourth fort mull be houfed with other Cape 
bulbs, and treated as they are. See Alyssum, Arabis, 
7 A Biscutell.Aj 
