LACONIA 889 LA CROSSE dustries, including the manufacture of cars, lumber, hosiery, machine shop pro- ducts, paper boxes, knitting machinery, etc. It has a State home for feeble- minded children, a home for the aged, opera houses, a hospital, a public li- brary and park. Pop. (1910) 10,183; (1920) 10,897. LAOONIA, a territory in ancient Greece. See Sparta. LACONIC, a term applied to the style adopted by the Spartans, or Lacedasmon- ians (whose country was called La- conia), who endeavored to confine them- selves to a sententious brevity in speak- ing and writing. ^ LACONICUM (-kon'-), among the an- cients, the semi-circular end of a bath ; a stove, for the purpose of heating the sudatories or sweating-rooms of a bath. The use of the dry bath is said to have been prevalent among the Lacedaemo- nians. LACORDAIBE, JEAN BAPTISTE HENRI (la-kor-dar) (FATHER LA- CORDAIRE), a distinguished French preacher; born near Dijon, France, May 12. 1802. He studied at Dijon, and be- came an advocate, settling at Paris in 1821. He was at that time a believer in Voltaire, but soon studied theology at the seminary of St. Sulpice and was or- dained priest in 1827. He became joint editor, with M. de Montalembert and Lamennais, of a new journal entitled "The Future" (1830), suppressed in 1832 by Pope Gregory XVI. He soon after began to distinguish himself as a preacher, and the pulpit of Notre Dame was opened to him. In 1839 he entered the Dominican order at Rome; and im- mense excitement was produced by his reappearance at Notre Dame in 1841, in the white dress of his order and with the shaven head. His eloquence attracted and charmed crowds at Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux. He was chosen member of the Constituent Assembly of March, 1848, and appeared there in his Domini- can habit. He preached his last great sermon in Paris in 1853, and was soon after appointed director of the college of Sorreze. His reception at the French Academy took place in 1860. The writ- ings of Father Lacordaire consist chiefly of a "Life of St. Dominick"; "Debates"; and "Funeral Eulogies." He died in Sorreze, Nov. 22, 1861. LACQUER or LACKER, primarily, a varnish composed of shellac dissolved in alcohol and colored. It is applied to wood, to papier-mache, and to metals to protect them from rust and improve their color. The term is also applied to .ompositions containing turpentine, resin, etc. Turmeric, dragon's blood, gum san- darach and red sanders are frequently employed in red and gold-colored lac- quers. LACRETELLE, JEAN CHARLES DOMINIQUE DE (lo-kru-tel') , a French journalist and historian; born in Metz, Sept. 3, 1766. He was attracted to Paris on the outbreak of the Revolu- tion; but there, he helped to edit "Le Journal des Debats" and "Le Journal de Paris." He managed to escape the Reign of Terror by enlisting in the army; but soon returned to journalistic work in the capital. In 1810 he was nominated censor of the press, ha ng the year previous been appointed Pro- fessor of History in the University of Paris. This post he held to 1853. From 1811 a member of the French Academy, he became its president in 1816. He wrote "History of the Eighteenth Cen- tury" (1808) ; "Historical Summary of the Revolution" (1801-1806); "History of France during the Religious Wars" (1814-1816). He died near Macon, France, March 26, 1855. LACROIX, JULES (la-krwa'), a French poet, dramatist, and novelist; brother of P. Lacroix; born in Paris, May 7, 1809. He wrote numerous ro- mances; a volume of poetry "Les Per- venches" (The Periwinkles: 1838); sev- eral dramas; and "The Year of Infamy" (1872), a collection of patriotic poems. He died Nov. 10, 1887. LACROIX, PAUL, pseudonym P. L. Jacob, Bibliophile, a French miscellane- ous ^vriter; born in Paris, France, Feb. 27, 1806. Besides actively assisting in more than one journalistic enterprise, he wrote romances, plays, books on his- tory, manners and customs, and edited memoirs, biographies, etc. His _ most valuable productions were a series of works on the habits, manners, customs, costumes, arts, sciences, and intellectual condition of France from the Middle Ages down to the 19th century. He wrote two elaborate works on the "His- tory of Prostitution," published under the name of Pieri-e Dufour. From 1855 onward Lacroix Avas custodian of the Arsenal library of Paris, and died in that city Oct. 16, 1884. LA CROSSE, city and county-seat of La Crosse co., Wis., on the Mississippi river and the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, the Chicago and Northwestern and several other railroads; 18 miles S. E. of Winona. It is the farming, manufacturing and dairying trade cen-
