786 L I S 
of its calcareous earth ? which neutralizes the putrid ex¬ 
halations, or feptie acid, that impregnates the atmof- 
phere ; and thus prevents its bad and fatal effects, prefei'v- 
ing that city, which otherwife would be the fountain of 
peftilence, and the anti-chamber of deatii. 
“If no’ other caufe can be difcovered for the healthinefs 
of Lifbon amongft its continual putrid infection, recourfe 
may be had to the climate, and to the temperature of the 
atmofphere ; but I believe it can be fufficiently proved, 
that the caufe is the influence of the calcareous earth, 
and not of the climate ; becaufe, if this lalubrity were 
owing to the climate, all the neighbourhood of Lifbon, 
winch enjoys the fame climate, would enjoy the fame 
healthinefs ; but this is not the cafe. On the oppofite 
bank of the Tagus, over againft Lifbon, there are three 
or four villages, called Almada, Caparica, and Caflilhas, 
fituated on fmall hills, and furrounded by beautiful farms : 
the buildings there are in general of good filicecus fonts ; 
tiie foil is fandy, and in fome parts clayey ; and the ftreets 
in thefe villages infinitely cleaner than in Lifbon ; but in¬ 
termittent and remittent fevers prevail in thefe villages 
and their neighbourhoods almoft every fuminer, while in 
the '.pean. time Lifbon is perfectly free. Near the other 
part of the river, In the neighbourhood of Lifbon, on the 
fhore of the ocean, there are other fmall villages, as Cin- 
tra and Collares, from whofe neighbourhoods the (tone of 
the Lifbon buildings comes; and the foil is in a great part 
calcareous. Thefe places are pointed out as the feat of 
health, and, indeed, are the mod beautiful and pleafant 
fummer-retreats yon can imagine. 
“ After this llatement, can any body attribute the falu- 
brity of Lifbon to its climate merely ? Certainly not: be¬ 
caufe I obferve, that where there is calcareous earth there 
is no infection, notwithflanding the continual exigence of 
putrid exhalations; and, where there is not calcareous 
earth, and the foil is fandy, gravelly, and clayey, there 
are fevers, although the climate is the fame; the diftance 
of thefe places being only the breadth of the river, aboqt 
three miles. To thefe unanfwerable facts I muft add, 
that I have obferved, two or three times, in Lifbon, dead 
animals upon the ruins of houfes, and of courfe fur- 
rounded with calcareous earth, in a ftate of deiiccation ; 
and, at the fame time, two or three fathoms diftant, ano¬ 
ther animal dead too, and lying upon another kind of 
foil, in a ftate of complete putrefafiion. The reafon of 
their prefervation is obvious ; the feptie acid was abforbed 
by the calcareous earth as foon as it was formed by the 
union of fepton with oxygen ; likewife, the oil formed 
by the union of their hydrogen with carbon has been 
imbibed, the water formed by the jundion with oxygen 
evaporated, and the remaining parts of the animal were 
left in a dry ftate. The effects of calcareous earth and 
alkalis feem to be very well underftood by the people of 
Portugal; they put chalk and piafter with the bodies they 
bury in the churches; and they wafli with piafter the 
rooms where there have been any fick or contagious dif- 
erders. This precaution they never omit.” 
Lifbon, all Portugal, and great part of Spain, are now 
under the protedion of the Britifh arms, and of the Bri- 
tifh hero, field-marlhal marquis Wellington. It is well- 
known, that the prince-regent of Portugal has transferred 
his feat of government, for the prefent, to South Ame¬ 
rica; but it is a curious fad, not fo-generally known, 
that the project of removing the feat of the Portuguefe 
government to the Brafils, which has fo recently been put 
in execution, was ferioufiy in contemplation, with the 
marquis of Pombal, as long ago as the year 1761, when 
that country was invaded by the Spaniards. Calculations 
were made at that time, and precautions taken, as to the 
number of veffels necefiary to tranfport acrofs the Atlan¬ 
tic the whole of the royal family, with the principal offi¬ 
cers of the court, and their feveral attendants. The pro¬ 
ject was laid afide when the danger ceafed ; and the Bra¬ 
ids continued to be conlidered as a colony deftined exclu- 
ftvely to enrich the parent ftate, till the year 1807. On 
LIS 
the 39th of November in that year, the queen, the prince- 
regent, and all the court, attended by the whole Portu- 
guefe fleet, failed from the Tagus, leaving then Euro¬ 
pean dominions in the care of a regency, or rather, as we 
have laid, under the protection of the Engiifl) ; and ar¬ 
rived Cafe at Rio de Janeiro on the 8th of January, 1808 ; 
which place has ever iince been the feat of government 
for the kingdom of Portugal and its dependencies. Lat. 
38.43. N. lon._9.-3. W. Gib fan's Geography, .vol. id. Gent. 
Mag. vol. xxvi. Phil. Mag. voi. iv. Link's Travels in Por¬ 
tugal. Murphy's Travels in Portugal. 
LISTON, a town of America, in New-London county, 
Connecticut, lately a part of Norwich; containing two 
parifh-churches, and n68 inhabitants. 
LIS'BON, f. [from the city.] A kind of white wine. 
A kind of loft fugar. 
LIS'BURG. See Lysburg. 
LIS'BURN, a town of Ireland, in the county of An¬ 
trim, on the borders of the county of Down, which fends 
one member to the imperial parliament: feven miles fouth- 
fouth-weft of Belfalt, and fixteen north-north-welt of 
Downpatrick. 
LIS'BURN (Cape). See Cape Lisburn, vol.iii. p.754. 
LIS'CA BIAN'CA, one of the fmallelt of the Lipari 
Iflands, anciently called Euonymus : thirty-three miles welt 
ot Cape Vaticano, and ten north-eaft of Lipari. 
LIS'CHAN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Rako- 
nitz : three miles north of Rakonitz. 
LIS'CHAU, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Be- 
chin: fix miles north-eaft of Budweifs. 
LIS'CHITZ, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Czaf- 
lau : eight miles north of Czaflau. 
LISCIA'NO, a town of Naples, in the province of 
Otranto : eight miles fouth-eaft of Tarento. 
LI'SER, LIE'SER, or Ly'zer, a river of Carinthia, 
which riles in a lake about four miles north of Gmund, 
and runs into the Drave one mile from Spital. 
LI'SERHOFEN, a town of the duchy of Carinthia: five 
miles weft of Millftatt. 
LISIAN'THUS, f. [from the Gr. 7.1 fmootb, and 
avBor, a flower.] In botany, a genus of the clafs pentan- 
dria, order monogynia, natural order of rotaceae, (gen- 
tian x/Ji/Jf.) The generic characters are—Calyx: perianth 
five-parted; leaflets lanceolate, keeled, membranaceous on 
the margin, very fliort, pennanent. Corolla: one-petalled, 
funnel-form; tube long, lomewhat ventricofe, Itraight- 
ened at the bale within the calyx; border five-parted; di- 
viiions lanceolate, Ihorter than the tube, recurved. Sta¬ 
mina: filaments five, filiform, longer than the tube; an¬ 
thers ovate, incumbent. Piftillum : germ oblong, fharp- 
pointed ; ftyle filiform, length of the Itamens, permanent; 
itigma headed, two-plated. Pericarpium: capfule oblong, 
acuminate, two-celled ; the margins of the valves intorted. 
Seeds numerous.— EJfential CharaEler. Calyx keeled ; co¬ 
rolla with a ventricoie tube and recurved divifions; ftigma 
two-plated 5 capfule two-celied, tvvo-valved ; the margins 
of the valves intorted. 
Species. 1. Lifianthus longifolius, or long-leaved lifi- 
antiius: leaves lanceolate, fegments of the corolla lanceo¬ 
late, acute. This elegant little plant rifes generally to 
the height of fourteen or fixteen inches or more; it is not 
much divided, but all the brandies Ihoot commonly to 
the lame height, and abe furnilhed with oblong pointed 
leaves, placed oppofite. The flowers are large in propor¬ 
tion to the plant; are generally longer than the leaves, 
and ftand at the extremities of the branches. According 
to Sloane, it rifes to about four or five feet high, being 
branched on every fide. The pairs of leaves an inch dil- 
tance from each other, and an inch and a half.long, and half 
as much broad in the middle, fmooth, dark green, on pe¬ 
tioles an eighth part of an inch in length. Flowers yel¬ 
low, fuperior. Capfule pyramidal, oblong, covered with 
a few fmall leaves, three-celled, with great plenty of fmall 
brown feed in eacli cell. Native of Jamaica, in a dry, 
fandy, but cooi, foil. 
2. Liliantlius 
