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LIBRARY....LIFE BOAT.

the Arabian, who is thought to have been cotemporary with Moses. The first mention of a public or national record in writing, is in the 17th chapter of Exodus ; when Joshua having defeated the armies of Amalek, the Lord said unto Moses, write this in a book for a memorial. In the commonly received chronological table, it is stated that Memnon, the Egyptian, invented letters, 1822 years before Christ's nativity, or 251 years before the birth of Moses. It seems, however, uncertain, whether letters were invented by the Egyptians, Phœnicians, or Arabians. It is said that Sir Isaac Newton ascribed to the Midianites, the honor of instructing Moses in the art of writing, during his abode in Arabia, with Jethro his father-in-law. Moses is supposed to have written the book of Job, in the wilderness of Ara bia, during the time that he kept Jethro's flock, at the foot of Mount Horeb.

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LIBRARY, a large collection of books, either public or private. The first public library, recorded in history, was founded at Athens by Hypparchus, five hundred and twenty-six years before the birth of our Saviour the second was founded at Alexandria in Egypt, by Ptolemy Philadelphus, two hundred and eighty-four years before Christ's nativity; and it was, burnt when Julius Cæsar set fire to that city; by which catastrophe four hundred thousand volumes in manuscript, were said to have been destroyed. A second library was founded at Alexandria by Ptolemy's successor, and was reputed to have consisted of seven hundred thousand volumes, which was totally destroyed by the Saracens, in the year 642. The largest collection of books in the United States, it is said, is the City Library of Philadelphia, which, together with the Loganian Library there, makes in the whole about fifteen thousand volumes.— The first Circulating Library, in London, was established by a Mr. Wright, a bookseller, about the year 1740. In 1800, the number of these libraries in Great Britain was not less than one thousand.

LIFE BOAT, a boat used in some parts of Europe to save the lives of seamen in stormy weather. The particular kind of life boat, the construction of which

LIFE SCALE....LIGHT.

215

is recommended by the Royal Society, is thirty feet by ten, with a flattish bottom. She is lined with cork inside and outside of the gunwale, about two feet in 'breadth, and the seats underneath are filled with cork likewise; the weight of the cork used in the boat is about seven hundred pounds. She draws very little water, and is able to carry twenty people. The boat is able to contend against the most tremendous sea and broken water, and never, in one instance, has she failed of bringing the crew in distress into safety....Public Jour

nal.

LIFE SCALE, a scale for calculating the probable value of life-leases, and life-annuities. According to the calculations of De Moivre and Dr. Hally, eighty-six years is a fair estimate of the ultimate period of human life; and the probabilities of life (after twelve years old) decrease in arithmetical progression, in such a manner, that out of a certain number of persons of the same age. one dying yearly, the whole number will be extinct at the age of eighty-six, extraordinaries excepted. Suppose, for example, seventy-four children, of twelve years old; after the expiration of one year (according to the ordinary and average decrease) there will remain seventy-three; after two years seventytwo; and so on, till in seventy-four years, that is, eighty-six years from their birth, the whole number will be extinct. According to this principle the probability of living a year longer, at the age of twenty, is as 66 to 1; at thirty, as 56 to 1; at forty, as 46 to 1; at fifty, as 36 to 1; at sixty, as 26 to 1; and at seventy, as sixteen to 1; provided the person in question, at each of these periods, begins the year in a commonly good state of health.

LIGHT, an invisible fluid, which renders objects perceptible to the sight. The velocity of light is almost inconceivable, though its motion is not instantaneous. The particles of light fly nearly two hundred thousand miles every second of time; which is above a million times swifter than a cannon ball. And as the medial distance of the globe we inhabit, is about ninety million miles from the sun, (some make the distance

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LIGHTNING....LIMA.

greater) its rays travel that vast distance in eight minutes and a quarter. It has been found from modern experiments that light is essentially necessary to vegetation.... Domestic Encyclopædia.

LIGHTNING, a bright and vivid flash of fire, suddemy appearing in the atmosphere, and commonly disappearing in an instant. The most formidable and destructive form which lightning is ever known to assume is that of balls of fire: these carry destruction wherev er they fall. The next in destructive effects, is that of the zig-zag kind; which sometimes makes only one angle, sometimes has several branches, and sometimes appears like the arch of a circle. The colour of the lightning also indicates in some measure the degree of its power to do mischief; the palest and brightest being the most destructive; such as is red, or of a darker colour, commonly doing less damage. In thunder storms the burning vapor explodes before the clap commences; the flash is conveyed to us at the rate of a hundred and ninety-eight thousand miles in a second; but the thunder rolls on at the rate of only thirteen miles in a minute. Hence, when we hear the thunder, we may know that we are safe from the lightning; which must have passed off from us before the arrival of the sound. And by this comparative calculation of the light and sound, the thunder cloud is computed to be distant about one mile, when we see the lightning five seconds before we hear the thunder. In a thunder storm it is advisable to keep at some distance from trees; and, while in a room, to avoid the fire-place, fireirons, gilded mouldings, and all articles containing metallic ingredients....Encyclopædia, et cet.

LIMA, a city of South America, and the capital of Pru: situated on a small river in the fertile valley of Rimac, near the Pacific Ocean, in about twelve degrees south latitude. This city is about four miles in length, and two in breadth. Some of the houses are two hundred feet long, and proportionably broad; but are built low on account of the earthquakes. There are trees planted all round their houses. to keep off the heat of the sun; and the river that crosses the city forms ca

nals, which run to most of the houses, and water their gardens. The churches are extremely rich, and display a wonderful magnificence of ornaments. The citizens are so rich, that when the viceroy, sent from Spain, in 1682, made his public entrance into this city, they paved the street he was to pass through with ingots of silver. The inhabitants are said to be equally remarkable for debauchery and superstition; the most profligate of them thinking they can atone for all their crimes by hearing a mass, or kissing the robe of St. Francis or St. Dominic. The most terrible earthquakes have been frequent at Lima; a circumstance that more than countervails its immense wealth and natural advantages. Three fourths of this city was laid level with the ground, by an earthquake, in the year 1746.... Walker, et cet.

LION, called the king of beasts. The largest lions are from eight to nine feet in length, and from four to six feet high those of a smaller size are generally about five feet and a half long, and about three feet and a half high. The head of this animal is very thick, and his face is beset on all sides with long bushy yellowish hair this shaggy hair extends from the top of the head to below the shoulders, and hangs down to his knees. He is no where so large or fierce as in the burning sands of Africa. There is this mark of generosity in the lion, that he takes away life, not to gratify cruelty, but merely to satisfy hunger. As Mungo Park was crossing a large open plain, in the interior parts of Africa, some few years ago, he, together with his guide, rode very near a large lion, which lay by the side of a bush, with his head couched between his fore paws. Mr. Park expecting the lion would instantly spring upon him, instinctively pulled his feet from the stirrups to throw himself off on the opposite side, so that his horse might become the victim rather than himself. But the generous beast, not being hungry, quietly suffered them to pass, although they were fairly within his reach.The arms even of a Hottentot or a negro make them more than a match for this powerful creature; and they seldom make the attack without coming off victorious. Their usual manner is to find out his retreat, U

218

LIVE OAK....LOADSTONE.

and, with spears headed with iron, to provoke him to the combat. Four men are reckoned sufficient for this encounter; and he, against whom the lion flies, receives him upon his spear, while the others attack him behind. The lion finding himself wounded in the rear, turns that way, and thus gives the man that first attacked him, an opportunity to recover. In this manner they attack him on all sides; until at last, they entirely disable, and then despatch him. The Romans used to tame this formidable beast; and Mark Anthony, we are told, rode through the streets of Rome in a chariot drawn by lions....Encyclopædia, Park's Travels, Goldsmith.

LIVE OAK, a valuable tree that grows in great abundance in the Floridas. Although the live oak is not tall, it contains a great quantity of timber. The trunk is from twelve to twenty feet in circumference, rising about ten or twelve feet from the root, and then branching into four or five great limbs, extending in a horizontal direction, sometimes fifty paces from the trunk. They bear a great quantity of small acorns, from which the Indians extract a sweet oil, which they use in their cookery. Bears and wild turkeys grow exceedingly fat by feeding on these acorns....Bartram.

LOADSTONE, or the Magnet, a kind of ferrugin ous stone, which in weight and colour resembles iron ore, though it is somewhat harder and more ponderous. Its distinguishing properties are its attraction of iron, and its polar inclination. The magnetic needle, or artificial magnet, is a needle touched by the loadstone ; and which, fixed in the mariner's and surveyor's compass, points towards the north pole. As every piece of iron which was made magnetical by the touch of a magnet became itself a magnet, many attempts were made to improve these artificial magnets, but without success, till Servington Savary, Esq. of Great Britain, made them of hardened steel-bars, which were so pow. erful, that one of them weighing three pounds averdupois, would lift another of the same weight-From the year 1302, the directive power of the magnet has been employed with great success in the affairs of naviga