I. I G 
L I G 
rand: concur to produce thefe Sallies; for they are as un¬ 
common in winter as lightning is, but in warm weather 
both are very frequent. 
The flame of lightning is generally inoffenfive, and does 
rot, except in particular circumltances, fet fire to any 
thing that it falls upon ; and, in like manner, the flafh- 
ings of the phofphorus through the water will not burn 
the flefh, nor even fire the molt combuftible things; 
though the phofphorus itfelf, like the lightning, under 
proper circumltances, may be a very conluming and ter¬ 
rible fire. The warmth of the air, or the immediate 
beams of the fun, will fet fire to the condenfed body of 
the phofphorus, and it then becomes this terrible fire ; 
and in the fame manner lightning, when condenfed and 
contracted, and wrapped up in a vehicle ot air, fo that 
it does not fo eafily diffufe itfelf through the yielding 
ether, lets fire to trees, hoiifes, or whatever it comes near. 
The phofphorus, while burning, afts the part of a cor- 
rofive, and when it goes out refoives into a menftruum, 
which difl'olves gold, iron, and' other metals; and light¬ 
ning, in the fame manner, melts the fame Jubilances. 
From the -whole, it appears that there is much more re- 
femblance between this phofphorus and lightning than 
between gunpowder, or aurum fulminans, and that fire ; 
though thefe have often been fuppofed to be nearly al¬ 
lied to its nature. See Phosphorus. 
LIGHTS, f [fuppofed to be called fo from their light- 
nefs in proportion to their bulk.] The lungs; the organs 
of breathing ; we fay, lights of other animals, and lungs ot 
men.—The complaint was chiefly from the lights, a part as 
of no quick fenfe, fo no feat for any (harp dileafe. Hayward. 
Feajt of Lights, or of the dedication. The Jews cele¬ 
brated tlie anniverfary of the dedication of their temple 
every year, for eight days; this was firit enjoined by Judas 
Maccabpeus, and the whole fynagogue, in the year of the 
Syro-Macedonian sera 148, i.e. 165 years before Chi id, on 
occafion of the victory obtained by the Maccabees over 
the Greeks. 1 Mac. iv. 59. It began every year on the 2 jth 
day of Cifleu, and was continued to the 8th day, during 
all which time they illuminated their houfes, by fctting up 
candles at every man’s door; whence it was called the JeaJl 
of lights. This fellival Chrift honoured with his prefence 
ret Jerufalem. John x. 22. Leo of Modena lays, that they 
began with one lamp, and added to the number, accord¬ 
ing to the day of the fealt; fo that on the laft day they 
had eight lamps in their houfes. Perlius feems to refer 
to this fellival in his 5th fatire, v. 179-184; and it is pof- 
fible, that the Maccabee fellival, of the dedication of the 
altar, and the commemoration of the inauguration of He¬ 
rod the Great, might be blended together at the time 
to which Perlius refers. This coincidence, which is not 
improbable, accounts for the fplendour of the illumina¬ 
tions, which he deferibes. 
LI'GHTSOME, adj. Luminous; not dark; not ob- 
•feure ; not opake.—White walls make rooms more light¬ 
fome than black. Bacon. 
The fun exalted through the Ram had run. 
Through Taurus, and the lightfome realms of love. Dryd. 
Gay; airy ; having the power to exhilarate.—The lightfome 
pallion of joy was not that which now often ufurps the 
name; .that trivial, vanilhing, fuperficial, thing, that only 
gilds the apprehenlion, and plays upon the furface of the 
ion 1 . South. 
LI'GHTSOMENESS, /. Luminoufnefs ; not opacity; 
not obfeurity; not darklomenefs.—It is to our atmofphere 
that the variety of colours, which are painted on the Ikies, 
the lightfomeni/s of our air, and the twilight, are owing. 
Cheyne's Philojophical Principles. 
LEGIST, a town of the duchy of Stiria: three miles 
fouth-eaft of Voitfberg. 
LIG'NA, a river of Hungary, which runs into the 
Drave feventeen miles well of Ziget. 
LIGNAC', a town of France, in the department of the 
Indre: thirteen miles fouth-we# of Argenton, and eleven 
.fouth-eaft of Le Blanc. 
Yol, XII. No. 864, 
69? 
• LIGNAC' (Joleph-Adrian le Large de), a learned 
French abbe in the eighteenth century, was defeended 
from a noble family, and born at Poitiers, but in what 
year we are not informed. He died in Paris in 1762. He 
was the author of, r. Memoirs iiluftrative of the Hiftory 
of Aquatic Spiders, 1748, nmo, 2. A Letter to an Ame¬ 
rican, concerning the Natural Hiflory of M. de BufFon, 
2 vols. 121110. 1751. 3. Elements of Metaphylics, deduced 
from Experience, 1753, 121110. 4. The Poffibility of Man’s 
corporeal Prefence in different Places at the fame Time, 
1754, nmo. in which lie attempts to prove, that the doc- 
-trine of tranfirbftantiation contains nothing incongruous 
with the principles of found philofophy. 5. An Exami¬ 
nation, ferious and comic, of the Treatife de i'Efp-it of 
Helvetius, 1759, 2 vols. 12100. 6. The testimony of in¬ 
ternal Senfe and Experienc‘d oppofed to the profane and 
ridiculous Creed of modern Fatalists, 1760, 3 vols. 121110. 
At the time of his death, he was employed in cornpofing 
a treatife on the Evidences ot Religion, formed on the 
plan fuggelted by M. P.afcal. 
LIGNA'GIUM, [ A law-term for the right of cutting 
fuel in woods; and fometimes it is taken for a tribute or 
payment due Tor the fame. 
LIGNA'LOES, f. [ lignum aloes, Lit.] Aloes-wood. 
See Aloe, vol. i.—The valleys'fpread forth as gardens by 
the river’s fide, as the trees of ligna/oes which the Lord hath 
planted, and as cedar-trees belide the water. Numb. xxiv. 5. 
LIGNA'NA, a town of France, in the department of 
the Seiia : fix miles weft-fouth-weft of Vercelii. 
LI'GNE, a town of France, in the department of Je- 
ma'ppe, on the river Dernier: thirteen miles north-weft-of 
Mons, and twenty north of Valenciennes. 
LIGNE', a town of France, in the department of the 
Lower Loire: nine miles north-weft of Aucenis. 
LIGNE' sur USSEAU', a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Vienne: fix miles north of Chateileraut, 
and fixteen eaft-fouth-ealt of Loudun. 
LIGNE'AN, adj. Ligneous. 
LIG'NEOUS, adj, [ ligneus, Lat.j Made of wood ; 
w'ooden; refembling wood.—Ten thouland feeds of the 
plant harts-tongue hardly make the bulk of a pepper¬ 
corn: now the covers and the true body of each feed, the 
parench.ymous and ligneous part of both, and the fibres of 
thole parts, multiplied one by another, afford a hundred 
thoufand millions of formed atoms; but how many more 
we cannot define. Grew. 
LIGNEROL'LES, a town of France, in the department 
of the Allier: four miles foutli of Montlu^on. 
LIGNEVIL'LE, a town-of France, in the department 
of the Vofges: fix miles north-welt of Darriey, and nine 
nortli-eaft of Marche. 
LIGNIE'RE, a town of France, and feat of a tribunal, 
in the department of the Cher: twenty-four miles fouth 
of Bourges,. and thirteen fouth-fouth-eaft of Ilfoudun. 
Lat. 46. 45. N. Ion. 2. 15.E. 
LIGNIE'RE la DOUCEL'LE, a town of France, in 
the department of the Mayenne : twelve miles north of 
Villains, and thirteen north-weft of Alengon. 
LIGNIE'RES CHATELAI'N, a town of France, in 
the department of the Somme : eighteen miles fouth-welt 
of Amiens. 
LIG'NITE. See the article Mineralogy. 
LIG'NITZ. See Liegnitz, p. 628 of this volume. 
LIG'NO BRASILIA'NO SI'MILE, in'botany. See 
Ctesalpinia, vol. iii. 
LIGNO'N, a town of France, in the department of the 
Marne: nine miles fouth of Vitry le Francois. 
LIG'NUM, f [Latin.] In botany, the wood, or woody 
part of the trunk. The liber, or inner bark, of the pre¬ 
ceding year, deprived of its juice, hardened and glued fait 
together. Marlyn's Language of Botany. 
LIG'NUM ALO'ES. See Cordia, vol. ?. p.195. 
LIG'NUM CAMPECHI A' NU M. See II h, mat ox y- 
lum, vol. ix. 
LIG'NUM COLUBRI'NUM. See Strychnos. 
LIG'NUM COR'NEUM. See Garcinia, vol. viii. 
8 P LIG'NUM 
