Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/222

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216 LAVERDIERE our gardens ; it belongs to the same natural order, but to a different genus. (See BASIL.) Lavender is considered an aromatic stimu- lant, but is seldom used in medicine alone. The compound spirit of lavender is prepared with oil of lavender, oil of rosemary, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, and red saunders, with alco- hol and water. This is frequently employed as an adjuvant to other drugs, or as a reme- dy for gastric disturbance or f aintness. From 30 drops to a teaspoonful may be given with sweetened water or on a lump of sugar. In cases of inflammation of the stomach it should be cautiously administered. LAVERDIERE, Charles H., a Canadian histo- rian, born at Chateau-Richer, Oct. 23, 1826, died in Quebec, March 27, 1873. He was ordained priest in August, 1851, and soon be- came a teacher in the seminary of Quebec. When the university of Laval was created, the abbe Laverdiere was appointed its libra- rian. While a student he had established, and for several years directed, L'Abeille, a college journal, to which he contributed many his- torical articles. He was distinguished as a local antiquary. He aided in the publication of the " Jesuit Relations " (3 vols., Quebec, 1858) ;' edited and completed the second volume of Ferland's Cours d'histoire, after the death of the author ; in conjunction with the abbe Casgrain, he collected all the voyages of Champlain,.and issued an edition (5 vols. 4to, Quebec, 1870), with extremely valuable notes and a biography of Champlain, and also the Journal des Jesuites (4to, 1871), a diary kept for several years by the superior of the Jesuits in Canada, of great historical importance. He also wrote Histoire du Canada a Vusage des maisons d" 1 education, which was most favorably received ; an account of Notre Dame de Recou- vrance a Quebec ; and A la memoire du R. P. Ennemond Masse, S. J., one of the earliest Jesuit missionaries, whose grave at Sillery he discovered and marked by a fine monument. He also edited several works on church music, in which he was a proficient. LA YILLEMARQUE, Theodore Claude Henri Hersart de, viscount, a French philologist, born at Quim- perle, Brittany, July 6, 1815. He has pub- lished Barzas-Breiz (2 vols., 1839 ; enlarged ed., 2 vols., 1846), containing popular Breton songs with a French text ; Conies populaires des an- cien Bretons (2 vols., 1842) ; and other works relating to the language and literature of the ancient Bretons, including an edition of Le Gonidec's French-Breton dictionary (2 vols., St. Brieuc, 1857). Tom Taylor has translated some of his Breton songs and ballads into English (London, 1865). A new edition of his La legende celtique en Irlande, en Gambrie et en Bretagne, suime de textes rares ou inedits, appeared in Paris in 1864 ; and in 1865 Le grand mystere de Jesus, a mediaeval Breton drama, with an essay on the ancient Celtic stage. LAVINIT3I, an ancient city of Italy, in Latium, situated near the sea, between Laurentum and LAVOISIER Ardea, about 17 m. S. of Rome. It is said to have been founded by .^Eneas, shortly after his arrival in Italy, and named by him after his wife Lavinia. He made it the capital of Latium, but it was never in historic times of much political importance ; and Strabo speaks of it as presenting the mere vestiges of a city, though still retaining a sacred character. It was customary for the Roman consuls and prsetors, when entering on their office, to offer sacrifices here to Vesta and the Penates. LAVOISIER, Antoine Laurent, a French chemist, born in Paris in August, 1743, died on the scaffold, May 8, 1794. He was the son of a rich merchant, studied at the Mazarin college, and learned astronomy from La Caille, chem- istry from Rouelle, and botany from Bernard de Jussieu. In 1766 he won a prize from the academy of sciences by his Memoire sur la meilleure maniere d'eclairer les rues d'une grande mile. Several . other essays, especially his Memoire sur les couches des montagnes, se- cured him admission to that academy in 1768. To meet the heavy expenditures necessitated by his experiments, he sought and received an appointment as farmer of the public revenue ; and he showed himself a skilful administrator no less than an acute philosopher. In 1776 Turgot placed him at the head of the regie des salpetres, and he introduced many improve- ments into the manufacture of gunpowder. From 1778 to 1785 he gave attention to agri- culture, and enriched the science of husbandry by many valuable suggestions. In 1787 he was elected to the provincial assembly of Or- leans. In 1788 he became one of the trustees of the bank of discount, and in 1789, as assis- tant deputy to the constituent assembly, pre- sented an interesting report upon the condition of that institution. He was a member of the commission on weights and measures in 1790, and took great interest in the preparation of the new decimal system. Being in 1791 one of the commissioners of the treasury, he pub- lished his essay De la richesse nationale de la France, in which he presented a plan for the collection of taxes ; this essay, which was to be but the forerunner of a complete treatise upon this important subject, entitles him to a high rank among political economists. But the best of his energies had been devoted to chemical investigations, which he pursued with untiring perseverance from 1772 till his death; in 1786 he had published no fewer than 40 essays or memoirs, giving incontrovertible evi- dence of great logical power and unparalleled acuteness, while successively embodying the principles out of which chemical science was to be renovated. His discoveries and general influence in this branch of natural philosophy are treated in the article CHEMISTRY. His greatest work is his Traite elementaire de chi- mie (2 vols. 8vo, 1789), a synopsis of modern chemistry, in which he exhibits no less ability as a logician than as a natural philosopher. His physical investigations were also valuable ; he