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journal (1845), a complete collection of all the Old Persian cuneiform inscriptions known up to that date. He also was the first scholar in Europe who took up, with signal success, the decipherment of the newly-discovered Bactrian coins, which furnished him the materials for his important essay, Zur Geschichte der griechischen und indo-scythischen Könige in Baktrien, Kabul, und Indien (1838). He likewise contemplated bringing out a critical edition of the Vendidad; but, after pivblishing the first five fargards (1852), he felt that his whole energies were required for the successful accomplishment of the great undertaking of his life, with which his name will always be inseparably connected – his Indische Alterthumskunde. In this work – completed in four volumes, published respectively in 1847 (2d ed., 1867), 1849 (2d ed., 1874), 1858, and 1861 – which forms one of the greatest monuments of untiring industry and critical scholarship, everything that could be gathered from native and foreign sources, relative to the political, social, and intellectual development of India, from the earliest times down to Mohammedan invasion, was worked up by him into a connected historical account. Only those acquainted with Indian history and literature, where nothing is fixed, can realize the enormous difficulty of the task; but in spite of much that may turn out to be erroneous, and in spite of still more that is, and from the nature of the subject must always be, uncertain and hypothetical, there can be no doubt that Lassen has laid in this work a solid foundation for future Indian historical and antiquarian research.

LATAKIA, or Ladikiyeh, a seaport town of Syria, situated opposite the island of Cyprus, about 72 miles north of Tripoli, and administratively dependent on the mutas- sarrif of that city. It is a rather poor-looking place; but, besides being the most important town of a considerable district, the residence of several foreign consuls, and the seat of an American mission, it has considerable historical interest. Remains of the Roman period are still to be seen, the best preserved of which is a sort of triumphal arch hypothetically assigned to the time of Septimius Severus. As a trading port Latakia has recently declined. The harbour, about a mile from the town, is naturally small, and has been silted up so as to be serviceable only for the lesser native craft. The Russian and French steamers, which make Latakia a point of call, lie in the roadstead; and the whole trade of the place, with Egypt and European countries, does not exceed the value of £100,000 per annum. The great article of export is the famous Latakia tobacco, mainly purchased by Egypt and England. It is grown among the Nosairiyeh hills; and the hillmen, each with his little plot of ground, bestow great care on the cultivation of the plant. The best and most fragrant is brought from the districts of Diryus and Amamareh. Consul Jago gives the population of the town as about 12,000 in 1874; other estimates vary from 5000 to 14,000.

The oldest name of the town, according to Herennius Philo, was Pa.fj.iOa or AeuKT) OKTT/; it received that of Laodicea (ad mare) from Seleucus Nicator, who founded it in honour of his mother as one of the four "sister" cities of the Syrian Tetrapolis (Antioch, Seleucia, Apamea, Laodicea). In the Roman period it was favoured by Julius Cæsar, and took the name of Julia; and, though it suffered severely when Dolabella was besieged within its walls (43 B.C.), Strabo describes it as a flourishing port, which supplied, from the vineyards on the mountains, the greater part of the wine imported to Alexandria. The town received the privileges of an Italian colony from Severus, for taking his part against Antioch in the struggle against Niger. Laodicea was the seat of an ancient bishopric, and even had some claim to metropolitan rights. At the time of the Crusades, "Liche," as Jacques de Vitry says it was popularly called, was a wealthy city. It fell to Tancred with Antioch in 1102, and was recovered by Saladin in 1188. A Christian settlement was afterwards permitted to establish itself in the town, and to protect itself by fortifications; but it was expelled by Sultan Kiláwún and the defences destroyed. By the 16th century Laodicea had sunk very low; the revival in the beginning of the 17th was due to the new trade in tobacco. The town has several times been almost destroyed by earthquakes – in 1170, 1287, and 1822.

LATHE. In its simplest form – a form which is still employed by the natives of India – the lathe consists of two upright posts each carrying a fixed pin or dead centre, between which the work in hand is caused to revolve by an assistant pulling alternately the two ends of a cord passed round it. A tool held firmly on a bar which forms a "rest" then attacks in succession the projecting parts, and in this way the entire surface is brought to an equal distance from the central axis; in other words, the cross section becomes everywhere circular.

Fig. 1. – Dead-centre Lathe.

Fig. 1 shows a "dead-centre lathe" of the kind used in Europe during the 18th century, in which the centres are carried by "puppets" or "poppets" which can be adjusted to suit the length of the work, the turner giving the rotation by means of the treadle and spring-lath attached to the ceiling. This lath, having immortalized itself by giving its name to the "lathe," has now almost entirely disappeared, the waste of time in its upward stroke (during which the work revolves in the wrong direction) being a fatal objection to its use in an age in which economy in that respect is of such importance. Dead-centre lathes themselves are now almost things of the past, though within their own limits, – which are of course confined to such articles as are turned on the outside only, and can be supported at the ends (such as fig. 2) – they offer a steadiness of support and a freedom of rotation which others seldom equal and never surpass. The system, however, still survives in the small lathes or "throws" used by watch and clock makers; and for their purposes it is not likely to be soon superseded.

Fig. 2.

The lathe seems to have but tardily developed into the "foot-lathe," the application to it of a fly-wheel worked by a crank and treadle having been exceptional rather than usual even in the early part of the present century, though a separate fly-wheel turned by an assistant had long previously been employed, and must have rendered possible the turning of heavy work which could not have been attempted without it. The naves of cart wheels were doubtless a case in point, and for these as well as for many other purposes detached fly-wheels still render good service where steam or other motive power is not available.

Fig. 3.

The early attempts at modifying the dead-centre lathe so that articles such as fig. 3 could be turned "en l'air," or without the support of a "back-centre," cannot have been very encouraging. The introduction of a spindle or mandrel carrying a pulley for the lathe band and screwed at one