LAURENS. 13 and the British Government, he early identified himself with the Whigs or Patriots, although he asserted the constitutionality of the Stamp Act, and discountenanced forcible opposition to the exercise of authority under such statutes. He ^as one of about forty Americans who petitioned Parliament against the passage of the Boston Port Bill, most of the petitioners being South Carolinians. He was president of the Council of Safety of South Carolina, was sent as dele- gate to the Continental Congress in 1776, and became its president Xovember 1, 1777, which ofhce he resigned December 1, 1778. In 1779 he was sent to Holland, charged with the ne- gotiation of a commercial treaty, but fell into the hands of the British, and was imprisoned in the Tower for fifteen months. He was bailed out by Richard Oswald. Congress appointed him in 1781 one of the peace commissioners, and on No- vember 30, 1782, he signed the preliminary treaty in Paris, in company with Adams, -Jay, and Frank- lin. The collections of the South Carolina His- torical Society contain many of his papers, which were collected after his death. His Correspond- ence was edited by Frank iloore (New York, 1S61) : and a narrative of his capture and con- finement was published by the South Carolina Historical Society in 1857. LAtTRENS,. lo'riix', Jeax Paul ( 1838— ) . A French historical painter, born at Fourquevaux (Haute-Garonne) . He was a pupil of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Toulouse, and then in Paris of Cogniet and Bida. His compositions, depicting for the most part tragic and often gruesome epi- sodes, are intensely dramatic in style and spirited in execution, and never fail to produce a deep impression, although their effect is frequently marred by an exaggerated realism and lack of harmonious coloring. Out of their considerable number mav be mentioned : '"Death of Tiberius" (1864) ; "A Voice in the Desert" (1808. Orleans Museum) ; "Execution of the Due d'Enghien" (1872. Alencon Museum) : "Popes Formo^us and Stephen VII." (1872); "The Pool of Bethesda" (1873, Toulouse iluseum) ; "Saint Bruno Re- fusing the Offerings of Roger. Count of Cahabria" (1874, Church of Xotre Dame des Champs, Paris) ; "The Interdict" (1875. Havre Museum) ; "Excommunication of King Robert the Pious, 1004" (1875, Luxembourg) : "The Austrian Gen- eral Staff Around the Deathbed of General Mar- ceau" (1877. Ghent Museum), one of his finest works, which received the medal of honor in the Salon; "Release of the Immured at Car- cassonne. 1303" (1870, Luxembourg): "Ven- geance of Pope Urban VI." (1886); "Entrv of Louis XVI. into the Hotel de Ville, Paris'" (isni) ; and "X'apoleon and Pius VII. at Fon- taineblean" (1894). For the Pantheon he paint- ed in fresco "Two Scenes from the Life of Saint (Jenevi&ve," marked by solemn grandeur and re- plete with religious feeling. A portrait of him- self (1882) is in the T'lTizi Gallery, Florence. In 1891 he was elected a member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts, and president of the Societe des Artistes Francais. LAU'RENS, John (1753-82). An American soldier, the son of Henry Laurens (q.v.). He as born in South Carolina ; was educated in England, and in 1777 entered the Continental .rmy as one of Washington's aides. In this position he discharged many of the duties of a private secretary, and his familiarity with for- LAURENTIAN SYSTEM. eign languages enabled him to be of great ser- vice in conducting the necessary correspondence with European officers in the .service. He is said to have participated in all of Washington's bat- tles, in several of which, while fighting with the utmost bravery, he was severely wounded. Early in 17S1 he was sent on a special mission to France, and by appealing directly to the King, in spite of diplomatic precedents, succeeded in negotiating a loan. At Vorktown lie served with reckless daring, and in the following year, while on the staff of General Greene, was killed (Au- gust 27th) in an insignificant skirmish on the Conibahee River. His unusual abilities, coupled with his gallantry, his courtesy, and his chival- rous devotion to his country, made him a uni- versal favorite, and won for him the title of the 'Bayard of the Revolution.' The array cor- respondence of Laurens, together with a brief memoir, by W. G. Simms, was privately printed in 18C7 by the Bradford Club (New York). LAURENS, .Joseph Augu.stin Jl-les (1825- — ) . A French landscape painter and lithogra- pher, born in Carpentras. He was a pupil of Delaroche. He traveled extensively in Persia, Turkey, and Asia Minor, and many of the draw- ings he made at this time were published in his Xoyacje en Tnrqiiie et en Perse (1856). His paintings in oil and water-color include: "Vue de la Grande Chartreuse" (1840) ; "Les environs de Vaucluse" (1845) ; "Foret de Fontainebleau," "L'hiver en Perse" (1867) : and "Le rocher de A'annes" (1879) in the Lu.xembourg. Among his lithographs are works after Diaz, Bonheur, Corot, Troyon, and others. He received the Legion of Honor in 1868, and a bronze medal at the Uni- versal Exposition of 1889. LAURENT, 16'rax', AuGfSTE (1807-53). A French chemist, bom at La Folic, and educated under Dumas, whose assistant he became at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et JIanufactures. He was for some time chemist at the pottery at S6vres; taught chemistry at Bordeaux (1838- 46) ; made especial research in naphthalin, paraffin, and phenol: but is better known for his contributions to theoretic chemistry, his defini- tion of molecular and atomic weights, and his foundation (with Gerhardt) of the theory of types being especially important. LAURENTIAN (l.a-ren'shan) HEIGHTS; or The L.rRENTiDE.s. The name given to the pla- teau-like height of land which forms the divide between the streams running into Hudson Bay and the two great water systems of the Saint Lawrence and the JIackenzie. (See under article America. Phi/sieal Map ynrth America. J^AVnEy- TIAN" Pi,.TEAr.) It has the shape of a horseshoe or crescent of vast extent, reaching from Eastern Labrador to the Arctic Ocean west of Hudson Bay. Its average height is from 1000 to 3000 feet, and its surface is uneven, with a multitude of depressions occupied by lakes. The principal break through it is made by the Nelson River.- LAURENTIAN SYSTEM. A name given by Sir William Logan to a series of highly met- amorphosed rocks, older than the Cambrian, which are strongly developed in Canada, especial- ly in the region of the Laurcntian Mountains. The system has received different values from various geologists, but the generally accepted classification limits it to the basal or funda- mental complex of gneisses and granites of the
