Fig. 1. LACE. crochet (fig. 1.). The wonderful durability of point- The invention of pillow-lace has been claimed by Beckmann, in his quaint way, for one of his countrywomen. He says: 'I will venture to assert that the knitting of lace is a German invention, first known about the middle of the 16th c.; and I shall consider as true, until it be fully contradicted, the account given us that this art was found out before 1561, at St Annaberg, by Barbara, wife of Christopher Uttmann. This woman died in the 61st year of her age, after she had seen sixty-four children and grandchildren; and that she was the inventress of this art is unanimously affirmed by all the annalists of Saxony.' Whether she invented, or merely introduced the art, cannot now be proved, but certain it is, that it soon became settled in Saxony, and spread thence to the Netherlands and France. Even to the present day, we occasionally hear of Saxon bone-lace,' a name which was given to indicate the use of bone-pins, before the introduction of the common brass ones. It will readily be supposed that an art depending so much on individual skill and taste, would be likely to vary exceedingly; nevertheless, all the varieties resolve themselves into few well-marked groups, under three distinct classes. The first class is the Guipure, which comprises all the true needleworked lace, whether ancient or modern; its varieties are-Rose-point, in which the figures are in high relief, having a rich embossed appearance; Venetianpoint, Portuguese-point, Maltese-point: in all of these the pattern is flatter than in the Rose-point, Point d'Alençon, and Brussels-point. The last two are still made, the modern Point d'Alençon quite equalling in beauty and value that made in the middle of the 17th c., when its manufacture was introduced by the celebrated Colbert, chief minister of Louis XIV. The Point d'Alençon has very distinctive characteristics. When the pattern is once designed, each portion may be worked by a separate person, and the various figures are then connected by a groundwork of threads, which are so passed from one figure to another as to represent a web of wonderful delicacy and regularity: small spots or other figures are here and there skilfully worked in where the threads cross each other; these are Fig. 2. The second class is Pillow-lace, sometimes called Cushion or Bobbin lace, from the pillow or cushion being used to work the pattern upon, and the various threads of which the figures are made up, each being wound upon a bobbin, usually of an ornamental character, to distinguish one from the other. The pattern on parchment or paper, being attached to the pillow or cushion, pins are stuck in at regular intervals in the lines of the pattern, and the threads of the bobbins are twisted or plaited round them so as to form the net-work arrangement which is charac- Fig. 5. The third class is machine-made lace, which, by its wonderful improvement and rapid development, has worked a complete revolution in the lace-trade, so that the prices formerly obtained for hand-made lace can no longer be commanded, whilst machine lace, of great beauty, has become so cheap and plentiful as to be worn by all classes. It has been mentioned before that the use of the pillow led to the introduction of net as the ground-work for lace figures, and it was to the manufacture of this so-called bobbin-net that the machinery was first applied (see BOBBIN-NET). The figure in the article referred to indicates very satisfactorily the structure of net. The lace-machine, or frame, as it is technically called, is so complicated, that it would be hopeless to convey any really intelligible description of it without a voluminous description of all its parts. One or two points of chief importance may, however, remove any difficulty in understanding its general principles. First, then, as in the loom (see Looм), there is a series of warp-threads, placed, however, perpendicularly instead of horizontally, and not so close as in ordinary weaving, the space LACE-BARK TREE-LACHES.' between each being sufficiently wide to admit of a shilling passing edgeways between them. Behind these threads, and corresponding to the interspaces, is a row of ingeniously constructed flat bobbins or reels resting in an arrangement called a comb-bar or bolt-bar. These are so placed, that with the first movement of the machine, each bobbin, which carries its thread with it, passes through two of the parallel and perpendicular threads of the warp, and is lodged in another and similar bolt-bar in front of the warp. But this front bolt bar, besides an advancing and receding motion, has another movement, called shogging-from right to left. When it receives a bobbin by its forward motion, it draws back, bringing the bobbin and thread through two of the upright threads; it then shogs or moves to one side, and goes forward again, taking the thread through the next two warp-threads, and lodging the bobbin on the back bolt-bar again, one distance beyond its last space; this it recovers by the next movement, and it again passes through the first space, to be again received by the front bolt-bar. By these movements, the bobbin-thread is twisted quite round one upright thread of the warp; another movement then shifts the bobbin, so that it will pass through the next pair of upright threads, and so carry on its work, the warp-threads moving at the same time, unwinding from the lower beam, and being rolled on the upper one. There being twice as many bobbins as there are threads in the warp, each bolt-bar having a set which it exchanges with the other, and all being regulated with great nicety, a width of lace is made in far less time than has been required to write this short description. The various additions to, and variations upon, these operations, which only apply to bobbin-net, for the production of patterns, are so numerous and complicated-each pattern requiring new complications-that it will be useless attempting to describe them; suffice it to say, they all depend upon the variations which can be given to the movements of the flat, disc-like bobbins. The history of the lace-machine is not very clear; it is said to have been originally invented by a frame-work knitter of Nottingham, from studying the lace on his wife's cap; but it has been continually receiving improvements, amongst which those of Heathcote in 1809-the first to work successfully— Morley, in 1811 and 1824, and those of Leaver and Turton, and of Clark and Marl, both in 1811. The manufacture of lace by machinery is chiefly located in Nottingham, whence it is sent to all parts of the world; but we have no means of knowing to what extent, for, with that strange perversity which distinguishes our statistical administration, only threadlace is mentioned in the lists of exports, whilst our vast production of cotton-lace is mixed up with the returns of calico and other fabrics of that material. Gold-lace and Silver-lace, properly speaking, are laces woven, either by the hand or by machinery, from exceedingly fine threads of the metals, or from linen, silk, or cotton threads which are coated with still finer threads of gold or silver; but in this country it is too common to designate as gold or silver lace, not only that which is rightly so-called, but also fringe made of these materials, and also gold and silver embroidery, such as is seen on state robes and trappings, and upon some ecclesiastical dresses, &c. Gold-lace is made in London, but considerable quantities of that used for decorating uniforms and other dresses, &c., in this country, is obtained from Belgium, where it is an important branch of manufacture. France supplies much of the gold and silver thread used, and excels all other countries in its production, in some of the more artistic varieties of gold and silver lace and embroidery. Italy has lately shewn great taste and skill. The works of Luigi Martini of Milan have in this respect attained great celebrity, and are said to produce about £16,000 worth per annum. LACE-BARK TREE (Lagetta lintearia), a tree of the natural order Thymeleaceae, a native of the West Indies. It is a lofty tree, with ovate, entire, smooth leaves, and white flowers. It is remarkable for the tenacity of the fibres of its inner bark, and the readiness with which the inner bark may be separated, after maceration in water, into layers resembling lace. A governor of Jamaica is said to have presented to Charles II. a cravat, frill, and ruffles made of it. LACE-LEAF. See LATTICE LEAF. LACÉPÈDE, BERNARD GERMAIN ÉTIENNE DE LAVILLE, COUNT DE, an eminent naturalist and elegant writer, was born of a noble family, 26th December 1756, at Agen. Having early devoted himself to the study of natural history, in which he was greatly encouraged by the friendship of Buffon, he was appointed curator of the Cabinet of Natural History in the Royal Gardens at Paris. This office he held till the Revolution, when he became Professor of Natural History, and also entered upon a political career, in which he rose to be a senator in 1799, a minister of state in 1809, and, after the return of the Bourbons, a peer of France, although he had previously been one of the most zealous adherents of Bonaparte. He died of small-pox at his mansion of Epinay, near St Denis, 6th October 1825. A collective edition of his works was published in 1826. Among them are works on the Natural History of Reptiles, of Fishes, and of the Cetacea, a Work on the Natural History of Man, and one entitled Les Ages de la Nature. His work on Fishes (5 vols. 1798-1803) is the greatest of his works, and was long unrivalled in that department of zoology, although it has now been in a great measure superseded. L. was a highly accomplished musician, was the author of a work entitled La Poétique de la Musique (2 vols. 1785), and of two romances intended to illustrate social and moral principles. He was an amiable man, extremely kind, delighting in domestic life, and very simple, and almost abstemious, in his habits. See LIZARD. LACERTA and LACE'RTIDE. LACHAISE, FRANCIS D'AIX DE, a Jesuit, born of a noble family, 25th August 1624, in the castle of Aix, now in the department of Loire, was a provincial of his order, when Louis XIV. selected him for his confessor on the death of Father Ferrier in 1675. His position was one of great difficulty, owing to the different parties of the court, and the strife between Jansenists and Jesuits. In the most important questions of his time, Father L. avoided extreme courses. A zealous Jesuit, and of moderate abilities, he yet sustained among his contemporaries the reputation of a man of mild, simple, honourable character. Madame Maintenon could never forgive him the little zeal with which he opposed the reasons urged against the publication of her marriage with the king; but during the thirty-four years that he filled his office of confessor, he never lost the favour of the king. He was a man of some learning, and fond of antiquarian pursuits. He died 20th January 1709.-Louis XIV. built him a country-house to the west of Paris, the large garden of which was in 1804 converted into a burial-place, and is known as the Père-la-Chaise. LA'CHES, in English Law, is a word used (from Fr. lâcher, to loosen) to denote negligence or undue delay, such as to disentitle a party to a particular remedy, or to relief. In Scotland, the word mora is often used to denote undue delay. LACHESIS-LACORDAIRE. LA'CHESIS, a genus of serpents of the Rattlesnake family (Crotalida), but differing from rattlesnakes in having the tail terminated with a spine instead of a rattle, and in having the head covered with scales, and not with plates. The species are all natives of the warm parts of America, where some of them are among the most dreaded of venomous serpents. They are usually seen coiled up, with keen glaring eyes, watching for prey, on which they dart with the swiftness of an arrow, and then coiling themselves up again, wait quietly till the death-struggle of the victim is over. Some of them attain the length of seven feet. They are said to be apt to attack men, even when not attacked or threatened. LA'CHLAN, a river of East Australia, rises in New South Wales, to the westward of the Blue Mountains, and, after a course of 400 miles, with the characteristics of the Darling (q. v.) on a smaller scale, joins the Murrumbidgee, which itself, a little further down, enters the Murray. The former of these two points of confluence is in lat. 34° 30′ S., and long. 144° 10′ E. LACHMANN, KARL, a celebrated German critic and philologist, was born 4th March 1793, at Brunswick, studied at Leipsic and Göttingen, became a professor in the university of Königsberg in 1816, and at Berlin in 1827. He died 13th March 1851. L.'s literary activity was extraordinary. He was equally devoted to classical subjects and to those of old German literature, and illustrated both by a profound and sagacious criticism. Among his most important productions are his editions of the Niebelungenlied, the works of Walter von der Vogelweide, Propertius, Catullus, Tibullus, and the New Testament (Berl. 1831; 3d edit. 1846), of which a larger edition, with the Vulgate translation, appeared in 2 vols. (Berl. 1846 and 1850). The design of the last of these works was to restore the Greek text as it existed in the Eastern Church in the 3d and 4th centuries. It is considered, on the whole, the best edition of the Greek Testament that has yet been published. LA'CHRYME CHRISTI, a muscatel wine of a sweet but piquant taste, and a most agreeable bouquet, which is produced from the grapes of Mount Somma, near Vesuvius. There are two kinds, the white and the red, the first being generally preferred. The demand for this wine being greater than the supply, large quantities of the produce of Pozzuoli, Istria, and Nola are sold under this name. A similar wine is produced in many islands of the Archipelago, as Candia, Cyprus, &c. LA'CHRYMAL ORGANS, THE, are sufficiently described in the article EYE. There are, however, certain diseases to which they are liable, which require a brief notice. There may be a deficient secretion of tears, an affection for which the term Xerophthalmia has been invented. It may be palliated by keeping the cornea constantly moist with glycerine by means of an eyecup. Ör there may be an oversecretion of tears, so that they run down the cheeks. This affection is termed Epiphora, and must not be confounded with the Stillicidium lachrymarum, or overflow of tears that arises from an obstruction of Figure of Style. the channels through which they pass into the nose. It is common in scrofulous children, and should be treated with gentle aperients, such as rhubarb combined with bicarbonate of soda, and tonics, such as the citrate of iron and quinine. This Obstruction of the nasal duct is generally caused by a thickening of the mucous membrane that lines it, and is a not uncommon affection, especially in scrofulous young persons. There is a feeling of weakness of the eye on the affected side, and tears run down the cheek, while the nostril on that side is unnaturally dry. The lachrymal sac (see fig. 6 in the article EYE) is distended with tears, and forms a small tumour by the side of the root of the nose. On pressing this tumour, tears and mucus can be squeezed backwards through the puncta, or downwards into the nose, if the closure is only partial. This affection often leads to inflammation of the sac, or to the formation of a fistulous aperture at the inner corner of the eye, communicating with the lachryfistulous aperture is caused by the bursting of an mal sac, and known as Fistula Lachrymalis. abscess, arising from inflammation of the sac. generally surrounded by fungous granulations (popularly known as proud flesh), and the adjacent skin is red and thickened from the irritation caused by the flow of tears. In these cases, the sac must be opened by a puncture, and a style (a silver probe about an inch long, with a head like a nail) should be pushed through the duct into the nose. The retention of this instrument causes the duct to dilate, so that the tears flow by its side. The flat head of the style lies on the cheek, and both keeps the instrument in its place and facilitates its occasional removal for the purpose of cleansing. Sometimes it is necessary that the instrument should be worn for life, but in less severe cases the duct remains permanently dilated, and a cure is effected in a few months. It is (whose country was called Laconia), systematically LACO'NIC. The Spartans, or Lacedæmonians endeavoured to confine themselves to a sententious brevity in speaking and writing; hence the term laconic has been applied to this style. LACORDAIRE, JEAN-BAPTISTE-HENRI, the most distinguished of the modern pulpit-orators of France, was born at Recey-sur-Ource, in the department Côte-d'or, March 12, 1802. He was educated at Dijon, where he also entered upon his legal studies; and having taken his degree, he transferred himself in 1822 to Paris, where he began to practise tion. As his principles at this period were deeply as an advocate in 1824, and rose rapidly to distinctinged with unbelief, it was a matter of universal surprise in the circle of his acquaintance that he suddenly gave up his profession, entered the College of St Sulpice, and in 1827 received holy orders. He soon became distinguished as a preacher, and in the College of Juilly, to which he was attached, he formed the acquaintance of the Abbé Lamen nais, with whom he speedily formed a close and intimate alliance, and in conjunction with whom, after the revolution of July, he published the well-known journal, the Avenir, an organ at once of the highest church principles and of the most extreme radicalism. The articles published in this journal, and the proceedings which were adopted in asserting the liberty of education, led to a prosecution in the Chamber of Peers in 1831; and when the Avenir itself was condemned by Gregory XVI., L. formally submitted, and for a time withdrawing from public affairs, devoted himself to the duties of the pulpit. The brilliancy of his eloquence, and the novel and striking character of his views, excited an interest altogether unprecedented, and attracted unbounded admiration. His courses of sermons at Notre-Dame drew to that immense pile crowds such as had never been seen within the memory of the living generation, and had produced LACQUER LACTIC ACID. descent, but studied at Sicca, in Africa, under the rhetorician Arnobius, and in 301 A. D. settled as a teacher of rhetoric in Nicomedia. He was invited to Gaul by Constantine the Great (312-318 A. D.), to act as tutor to his son Crispus, and is supposed to have died at Treves about 325 or 330. L's principal work is his Divinarum Institutionum, libri vii., a production both of a polemical and apologetic character. A supposed tendency to Manicheism in his views, and his Chiliasm, have marred his reputation for pure orthodoxy. He attacks paganism, and defends Christianity. Among his other writings are treatises De Ira Dei and De Mortibus Persecutorum. Some elegies have also been ascribed to him, but erroneously. His style is wonderful, if we consider the late age at which he wrote, and has deservedly earned for him the title of the Christian Cicero. He was, besides, a man of very considerable learning, but as he appears not to have become a Christian till he was advanced in years, his religious opinions are often very crude and singular. L. was a great favourite during the middle ages. The editio princeps of this writer is one of the oldest extant specimens of typography. It was printed at Subiaco in 1465. an extraordinary sensation even on the non-religious early part of the 4th century. He was of Italian world, when once again L. fixed the wonder of the public by relinquishing the career of distinction which was open to him, and entering the novitiate of the Dominican order in 1840. A short time previously, he had published a memoir on the re-establishment of that order in France, which was followed, after his enrolment in the order, by a Life of its founder, St Dominic; and in 1841 he appeared once again in the pulpit of Notre-Dame, in the well-known habit of a Dominican friar. From this date, he gave much of his time to preaching in various parts of France. In the first election which succeeded the revolution of 1848, he was chosen one of the representatives of Marseille, and took part in some of the debates in the Assembly; but he resigned in the following May, and withdrew entirely from political life. In 1849, and again in 1850 and 1851, he resumed his courses at Notre-Dame, which, together with earlier discourses, have been collected in three volumes, under the title of Conferences de Notre-Dame de Paris, 1835-1850. About this time, however, his health began to decline, and he withdrew in 1854 to the convent of Soreze, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1858, he wrote a series of Letters to a Young Friend, which have been much admired; and in 1860, having been elected to the Academy, he delivered what may be called his last address the customary inaugural discourse, a Memoir of his predecessor, M. de Tocqueville. L. died at Soreze in the following year. LA'CQUER is a varnish prepared for coating metal-work (see LAC), usually polished brass. The formula usually employed is, for gold colour: alcohol, 2 gallons; powdered turmeric, 1 pound, macerate for a week, and then filter with a covered filter, to prevent waste from evaporation; to this add, of the lightest-coloured shell-lac, 12 ounces; gamboge, 4 ounces; gum-sandarach, 3 pounds. This is put in a warm place until the whole is dissolved, when 1 quart of common turpentine varnish is added. A red lacquer, prepared by substituting 3 pounds of annotta for the turmeric, and 1 pound of dragon's blood for the gamboge, is extensively used. LACQUERING, the art of coating metal with varnish. The term has also a wider signification, and is made to apply to the process by which some varieties of goods in wood and papier mâché are also coated with layers of varnish, which are polished, and often inlaid with mother-of-pearl, &c. See PAPIER MÂCHÉ. It would appear, from the very fine specimens from Japan in the International Exhibition, that the Japanese excel in the art of producing articles of exquisite thinness and delicacy. The varnish used by the Chinese and Japanese appears to be the same, and is a natural secretion which flows from incisions in the stem of the Varnish-tree (q. v.) Usually, the oriental lacquered work is tastefully ornamented with designs painted in gold, or with inlaid shell-work. The Japanese have carried this art so far as to apply it to their delicately beautiful china, some of which is lacquered and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, forming landscapes and other designs. LACS D'AMOUR, in Heraldry, a cord of running knots used as an external decoration to surround the arms of widows and unmarried women, the cordelier, which differs but slightly from it, being used similarly with the shields of married women. LACTA'NTIUS, in several MSS. designated LUCIUS CELIUS, or CECILIUS FIRMIANUS L., an eminent Christian author, who flourished in the LA'CTEALS, THE, or CHYLIFEROUS VESSELS, are the Lymphatic Vessels (q. v.) of the small intestine. They were discovered in 1622 by Aselli (q. v.), and received their name from conveying the milk-like product of digestion, the Chyle (q. v.), during the digestive process, to the a, a portion of small intestine connected by the membranous structure, termed the mesentery, with the spinal column (the white lines seen in the mesentery are the lacteals, and the white patches are the mesenteric glands); b, the receptaculum forming the commencement of the thoracic duct, which enters the circulating system at the junction of c, the subclavian, and d, the jugular vein, on the right side; e, the vertebral column. The large vessel, with a portion removed, lying in front of the vertebral column, is the ascending or inferior vena cava. Thoracic Duct (q. v.), by which it is transmitted to the blood. These vessels commence, as has been shewn in the article DIGESTION, in the intestinal villi, and passing between the layers of the Mesentery (q. v.), enter the mesenteric glands, and finally unite to form two or three large trunks, which terminate in the thoracic duct. LACTIC ACID (C,H,O,,HO), in its pure state is a transparent, colourless, or slightly yellow LACTIC FERMENTATION-LADAKH. uncrystallisable, syrupy liquid, of specific gravity 1.215. It is devoid of odour, has a sharp, acid taste, and is soluble in all proportions in water, alcohol, and ether. The best method of obtaining this acid is by dissolving 8 parts of cane-sugar in about 50 parts of water, and then adding 1 part of decaying cheese, and 3 parts of chalk. If this mixture be set aside for two or three weeks at a temperature of about 80°, it becomes filled with a mass of crystals of lactate of lime, which must be purified by re-crystallisation, and treated with about one-third of their weight of sulphuric acid. The residue must be digested in alcohol, which leaves the sulphate of lime, and dissolves the lactic acid, which may be obtained pure on evaporating the solution. The mode in which the acid is produced in this process is described in the article LACTIC FERMENTATION. Lactic acid is also formed in many other ways; thus, it is a frequent product of the acidification of vegetable substances, and in this way is formed in sauer-kraut, in malt vinegar, and in the acid fermentation that takes place during the manufacture of wheat-starch. It occurs ready formed in certain plants, and is very largely produced in the animal body. It is found either free or combined, or both, in the gastric juice (although not constantly), in the contents of the small and large intestine, in the chyle (after the use of amylaceous food), in the muscular juice (both of the voluntary and involuntary muscles), in the parenchymatous juices of the spleen, liver, thymus, pancreas, lungs, and brain, and is found as lactate of lime in the urine of the horse. It has been found in certain morbid conditions of the system in the milk, where it is formed from the sugar by the fermenting action of the caseine; in the blood in leucocythæmia, pyæmia, and puerperal fever; in purulent and other transudations; in the urine when there is disturbance of the digestive and respiratory organs, and in rickets and softening of the bones (and almost always after exposure to the air for some time); in the saliva in diabetes; in the sweat in puerperal fever, and in the scales that form upon the skin in lepra. The lactic acid occurring in the system may be traced to two distinct sources: that which is found in the intestinal canal is merely the product of the decomposition of the starchy matters of the food; but that which exists in the gastric juice (even when only animal food has been taken), in the muscular juice, and in the juices of the various glands, can only be regarded as a product of the regressive metamorphosis or disintegration of the tissues, and how it is formed is not accurately known. There is no ready test for lactic acid. The best course to pursue is to obtain it, if it is present, as a lactate of lime, which crystallises in beautiful tufts of acicular prisms, or as a lactate of zinc, which crystallises in a very characteristic form in crusts consisting of delicate four-sided prisms. gas or absorption of oxygen takes place during the conversion of the sugar into the acid. Not only sugar-of-milk, but cane-sugar, starch, dextrine, and gum pass readily into lactic acid under the influence of cascine or other animal matters undergoing decomposition. Pasteur considers that a specific ferment, the germs of which exist in the atmosphere, is concerned in the production of the lactic fermentation. During the process recommended in the preceding article for the preparation of lactic acid, a layer of particles of a gray colour is observed on the surface of the sediment. This substance, when examined under the microscope, is seen to consist of little globules or very short articulations, constituting irregular flocculent particles much smaller than those of beer-yeast, and exhibiting a rapid gyratory motion. When washed with a large quantity of water, and then diffused through a solution of sugar, the formation of lactic acid at once commences. Hence it follows that these organic particles, and not the caseine, are the actual agents in the conversion that takes place. LACTUCA'RIUM, or LETTUCE OPIUM, is the inspissated milky juice of several species of Lactuca or Lettuce, and is obtained by incision of the stem. about half its weight of water, the residue being By drying in the air, the juice loses lactucarium. small lumps about the size of a pea or small bean; It usually occurs in commerce in they are of a reddish-brown colour, but are sometimes covered with a grayish efflorescence; and they have a bitter taste, and a smell resembling opium. Lactucarium has been frequently analysed, but chemistry has thrown little light on its composition. properties, and is employed where opium is conLactucarium possesses anodyne and sedative sidered objectionable; as, for instance, when there is morbid excitement of the vascular system; and it is of service in allaying cough in phthisis and other pulmonary diseases. The usual dose is five grains, but it may be safely given in larger doses. coffers of ceilings, and also of the soffits of classic LACU'NARS, or LACUNARIS, the panels or cornices. They are much used in the ceilings of porticos and similar classic structures, and are frequently ornamented with pateræ. LADA'KH, otherwise known as MIDDLE TIBET, lies between Great Tibet on the E., and Little Tibet on the W., stretching in N. lat. from 32° to 36°, and in E. long. from 76° to 79°. On the S., it is separated from Cashmere by the Himalaya, while on the N., it is divided by the Karakorum Mountains from Chinese Turkestan. It contains about 30,000 square miles, and about 125,000 inhabitants. The country was conquered by Gholab Singh, the ruler of Cashmere, in 1835. It lies chiefly within the basin of the Upper Indus, being little better than a mass of mountains with narrow valleys between them. Notwithstanding its great elevation, which is equally LACTIC FERMENTATION. Although lac-unfavourable to soil and climate, the temperature is tose or sugar-of-milk may, under certain conditions, be made to undergo alcoholic fermentation (as in the preparation of kumiss by the Tartars from mares' milk), it generally yields a very different product, viz., lactic acid, as may be seen in the case of milk turning sour in warm weather. The caseine is usually considered to act as the ferment, but being insoluble in acids, it is thrown down in flakes as soon as the milk becomes sour. In this insoluble form, it exerts little action in converting the lactose (C12H12012) into lactic acid (C,H,O,,HO); but if the acid be nentralised by carbonate of soda or by chalk, the curd is redissolved, and the transformation of the sugar into lactic acid is renewed. No evolution of sometimes singularly high-a phenomenon attributed partly to the tenuity of the atmosphere, and partly to the absence of moisture. Pretty good crops of wheat, barley, and buckwheat are raised; while the mineral products are sulphur, iron, lead, copper, and gold. The transit-trade is extensive, being carried on mostly by mules and sheep. The inhabitants are very peaceful and industrious; they are excellent farmers, and their woollen manufactures are said to be important. The women are fresh and fair, but rather lax in their morals; among the lower classes, polyandry is common. The population is essentially Mongolian, but has intermixed with the Cashme rians. The language is Tibetan, and in the opinion |