treatment, can be well tanned in 10 days. It is a common but mistaken impression that leather tanned rapidly is necessarily weak. On the contrary, the longer the hides remain in the liquor the more gelatine must be dissolved and lost, and consequently the more imperfect is the process. The late Hon. Gideon Lee, in a course of lectures delivered in New York upon tanning, remarked that in all of numerous experiments he had observed of both slow and quick tanning (the preparation of the hides for the ooze being equally well done), he had found the quick-tanned leather of a firmer and closer texture, more solid, less pervious, vastly greater in weight, and far more durable in the wear than the slowtanned leather. And when all the gelatine composing the hide is combined with the tannin, not a single additional ounce can be gained from the strongest ooze, however long the process is continued. By the ordinary process in the United States the tanning is continued from 3 to 6 or 7 months, varying in different years from different qualities of hides, and sometimes owing to the different conditions of the seasons. The largest tanneries are usually in the vicinity of hemlock forests, where the bark can be most economically procured. Some of these establishments are of immense extent, with several hundred vats, and a capacity of tanning nearly 100,000 sides of leather. The consumption of bark is rated at about a cord to 10 sides, and the sides average over 18 lbs. each. The tanneries include extensive buildings for storing bark, mills for grinding it, and those for softening the dry South American hides, which is done by beating them after they are soaked in water. There are also machines for rolling the leather, and copper heaters for warming the liquors.

LEAVENWORTH, a N. E. co. of Kansas, bounded N. E. by the Missouri river, which separates it from Missouri, and S. by the Kansas; area, about 500 sq. m.; pop. in 1860, about 16,000.-LEAVENWORTH, a city and the capital of the preceding co., founded in 1854, on the right bank of the Missouri river, 3 m. below Fort Leavenworth and 500 m. from the mouth of the river; pop. in 1857, 2,000; in 1860, about 10,000. The river is here swift and deep, and bordered on the Kansas side by a natural levee of rocks. The city has straight avenues, crossing each other at right angles, is lighted with gas, and contains (1860) 12 churches, 7 schools, 8 banking houses, 11 hotels, 13 lumber yards, 7 steam saw mills, a flour mill, a machine shop, 3 soap and candle factories, 6 breweries, 2 coach and wagon factories, 1 sash and blind factory, 4 brick yards, and several miscellaneous manufactories. Messrs. Russell, Major, and Waddell, the government contractors, have an immense establishment here connected with the transportation business, in which are employed 6,000 teamsters and 45,000 oxen. Three daily and five weekly newspapers are published, one of which is in German and one in French. The city is connected with St. Joseph and Jefferson City by

steamboat lines, and by daily stages with Lawrence, Fort Riley, Lecompton, Topeka, St. Joseph, Atchison, Wyandot, and Kansas City. Telegraphic communication with the East was established in 1859.

LEBANON, a S. E. co. of Penn., bounded N. W. by Kittatinny or Blue mountain, and S. E. by South mountain, and drained by Swatara river and its branches; area, 288 sq. m.; pop. in 1850, 26,071. It consists almost wholly of a valley, and has mines of excellent iron ore in connection with rich veins of copper; slate, limestone, and marble also abound. The soil is very fertile. The productions in 1850 were 241,939 bushels of Indian corn, 274,095 of wheat, 372,542 of oats, 25,602 tons of hay, and 417,074 lbs. of butter. There were 36 grist mills, 13 saw mills, 15 tanneries, 5 newspaper offices, 52 churches, and 5,738 pupils attending public schools. The Union canal and the Lebanon valley branch of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad traverse the country. Capital, Lebanon.

LEBANON. I. A village of South Lebanon township, and the capital of Lebanon co., Penn., situated on Quitopahilla creek and on the Union canal, 24 m. E. from Harrisburg; pop. in 1852, about 3,000. The Lebanon valley branch of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad connects it with Reading and Harrisburg, and the North Lebanon railroad with Cornwall ore banks. It has an active trade, and stands in the midst of a rich iron mining district, having several large furnaces in operation in the immediate vicinity. The village is regularly and substantially built; the houses are mostly of brick or stone; and there are several schools, newspaper offices, warehouses, a bank, a library, and various manufacturing establishments, chiefly of iron, malt liquors, leather, earthenware, &c. II. The captal of Marion co., Ky., situated on Hardin's creek, at the terminus of the Lebanon branch of the Louisville and Nashville railroad, 5 m. from Rolling fork of Salt river, and 55 m. S. S. W. from Frankfort; pop. in 1859, about 1,200. It contains 6 churches, a female seminary, an academy for boys, a flour mill, and 3 hotels, and is the seat of St. Mary's Roman Catholic college, which in 1859 had 115 students. III. The capital of Wilson co., Tenn., situated on a branch of Cumberland river, 30 m. E. from Nashville; pop. in 1851, about 2,000. It contains several academies, churches, &c., has manufactories of cotton and woollen goods, and is the seat of Cumberland university, founded in 1844, and having, in 1859, 11 professors, 165 students, and a library of 4,000 volumes. This institution is under the care of the Cumberland Presbyterians; attached to it are a law school with 8 professors and 188 students, founded in 1847, and a theological department with 2 professors and 33 students, founded in 1855. IV. A village and the capital of Warren co., Ohio, on Turtle creek, a branch of the Little Miami river, 37 m. N. N. E. from Cincinnati; pop. in 1859, about 3,000. It is situated on the Little Miami railroad, and is the terminus of the Warren

county canal, which connects the village with the Miami canal. In 1859 it contained 7 churches (2 Baptist, 1 Congregational, 1 Cumberland Presbyterian, 2 Methodist, and 1 Presbyterian), a normal school, a public library, 2 saw mills, 2 flour mills, and 2 private banking offices. Two weekly newspapers and a monthly magazine are published here. V. A post village of St. Clair co., Ill., on the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, 20 m. E. from St. Louis; pop. in 1850, 507. It is pleasantly situated, has a newspaper office, several stores and mills, and is the seat of McKendree college, a Methodist institution founded in 1835, and having 6 professors, 82 students, and a library of 5,500 volumes.

LEBANON, LIBANUS, or JEBEL LIBNAN, the western of two mountain chains in Syria which are thrown off from the Taurus range near the N. E. extremity of the Mediterranean, and extend S. S. W. almost parallel with the coast. The eastern of these ridges is called Anti-Libanus, Anti-Lebanon, or Jebel esh-Shurki. The Lebanon is the higher of the two, its average altitude being estimated at 8,000 feet, while its culminating peak, Jebel Makmel, in lat. 34° 12' N., is about 12,000 feet above sea level. On its W. side it sends off several spurs which traverse the narrow strip of coast and terminate at the Mediterranean in bold promontories. On the E. lies the valley of Cole-Syria, now called El Bukaa, which separates this range from Anti-Libanus. It is about 100 m. long and from 10 to 20 m. in breadth, with an elevation, near the source of the Orontes, of 2,000 feet above the sea. S. of it lies the valley of the Jordan, the most important of the rivers of this mountain system. The next largest is the Orontes (Arab. El Aasy), which cuts through the Lebanon at Antakia (Antioch), about lat. 36° 7'. The general geological formation of the Lebanon is carboniferous and mountain limestone, the whiteness of which is said to have given to the range its name, signifying "white." The rock is very porous, and has been worn by the action of air and water into numerous caves and hollows, which once sheltered the persecuted Jews and Christians. Graywacke, slate, basalt, and other igneous rocks, granite, gneiss, dolomite, iron, and coal are also found. Mines of the last two minerals are worked to some extent. The scenery of the mountains when viewed from the sea or plains is in the highest degree picturesque; but on a nearer approach little is presented to interest the traveller except rugged ravines and dangerous precipices. The vegetation is scanty, although here and there appear pleasant groves, of which the famous cedars of Lebanon form the most remarkable part, or good pasture grounds to which the Arabs resort in summer. The lower parts of the range, however, are exceptions to these remarks; they are well watered and cultivated, and their valleys contain orchards, vineyards, mulberry plantations, and grain fields. Olives are also produced, and on the E. side are scrub oaks. The habitable regions of the Lebanon are

chiefly in the possession of the Maronites and Druses. (See PALESTINE, and PHOENICIA.)

LE BAS, PHILIPPE, a French historian and archæologist, born in Paris, June 17, 1794. At the age of 16 he entered the navy, which he left 3 years later for the army. He shared in the campaigns of 1813-'14, and then leaving the service was employed for 6 years in the office of a magistrate. In 1820 he was chosen by Queen Hortense to act as tutor to Prince Louis Napoleon, now Napoleon III., with whom he remained until Oct. 1, 1827. After holding professorships at Paris successively of history and of the Greek language and literature, he was commissioned in 1842 by the French government to undertake a tour of archæological investigation in Greece and Asia Minor, during which he made many valuable discoveries. He is the author of a great number of books on very varied subjects, embracing essays on classical inscriptions, editions of ancient authors, travels, ancient and mediæval history, politics, instruction in German, and translations from German and English. His best known works are his Explication des inscriptions Grecques et Latines recueillies en Grèce (1835-'7), and Voyage archéologique en Grèce et en Asie Mineure (1847 et seq., still unfinished).

LE BRUN, CHARLES, a French painter, born in Paris, March 22, 1619, died there, Feb. 12, 1690. He studied in the school of Simon Vouet, and at the age of 15 produced a picture of "Diomedes devoured by his own Horses." He afterward studied under Nicolas Poussin in Rome, and for 6 years he devoted himself to the study of the antique and of the old masters, and returned to Paris in 1648. At the recommendation of Colbert, Louis XIV. appointed him his first painter, and conferred upon him the direction of the manufactory of Gobelin tapestry. He painted a grand series of pictures, now at Versailles, illustrating the military triumphs and public works of the reign of Louis XIV., executed in a half classical, half allegorical style, the monarch being represented in a Roman toga with the flowing peruke of the 17th century, and with other incongruities and anachronisms. For the Louvre he painted a series entitled the "Battles of Alexander," which are considered among his finest works, and are well known through the spirited engravings of Gérard Audran. Another of his pictures, "Mary Magdalen washing the Feet of the Saviour in the House of Simon the Pharisee," was so highly esteemed, that in 1815 the emperor of Russia accepted it in exchange for the celebrated "Marriage at Cana," by Paul Veronese, now in the Louvre. He remained in favor with Louis XIV. until his death.

LEBRUN, CHARLES FRANÇOIS, duke of Piacenza, a French statesman and author, born in St. Sauveur-Lendelin, Normandy, March 19, 1739, died near Dourdan, June 16, 1824. He was fortunate in early life in securing the protection of Chancellor Maupeou. After the downfall of his patron he occupied himself

with prose translations of Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, Homer's Iliad, and other works. A letter advocating political and social reforms, published by him in 1789 under the title of La voix du citoyen, brought him into considerable notice, and he was elected a deputy to the states-general. As a member of the constituent assembly he opposed the issuing of assignats and the establishment of lotteries. He subsequently became president of the directory of Seine-et-Oise, was twice imprisoned during the reign of terror, entered the council of the ancients in 1795, and after the 18th Brumaire was appointed by Bonaparte 3d consul. He owed this elevation to his integrity of character, as well as to his abilities as a financier, which had been advantageously displayed while he was a legislator. Napoleon wished also to afford a proof of his moderation by selecting for so high an office a man of aristocratic connections and predilections. Lebrun rendered important services to the country in the adjust ment of its finances and the establishment of the court of accounts, and after the coronation of the emperor was created arch-treasurer and duke of Piacenza. He was also at different times governor-general of Genoa and of Holland. After the abdication of Napoleon he adhered to the Bourbons; but having accepted office under the emperor during the Hundred Days, he was subsequently excluded from the chamber of peers until 1819. His latter years were passed in retirement, during which he finished a translation of the Odyssey.

LEBRUN, PIERRE ANTOINE, a French poet, born in Paris, Nov. 29, 1785. At an early age he wrote a tragedy entitled Coriolan, and other poetical compositions, which secured for him the patronage of François de Neufchâteau, one of the ministers of the directory. On the battle of Austerlitz he wrote a poem, for which he received a pension of 1,200 francs from the government. After the fall of the empire, he celebrated the glories of Napoleon in a series of poems. In 1828 he succeeded his patron, Count Neufchâteau, as a member of the French academy. From 1831 to 1848 he officiated as director of the royal printing establishment. For some time he was under Louis Philippe a member of the chamber of peers, and since 1853 he has been a member of the imperial senate. The publication of his complete works was commenced in 1844. They include a number of dramas, of which his Marie Stuart is based upon Schiller's tragedy of that name.

LEBRUN, PONCE DENIS ECOUCHARD, a lyric poet, sometimes called the "French Pindar," born in Paris, Aug. 11, 1729, died there, Sept. 2, 1807. He was brought up in the family of the prince de Conti, and as early as his 12th year he began to write verses. By the advice of L. Racine he founded his style upon classic models, and his odes and epigrams soon brought him into notice. His early life was not fortunate, his wife, a beautiful woman, celebrated in many of his poems under the name of "Fanny," hav

ing procured a legal separation after a stormy union of 14 years, and his little property having been dissipated by the insolvency of the prince de Guémené. He avenged himself on his enemies by stinging epigrams and passionate lyrics. Upon the appointment of Calonne as comptroller-general of finance, he received a pension of 2,000 livres, and his muse was energetically employed in celebrating the virtues of the king. Upon the downfall of the monarchy he sang the praises of the republic with no less enthusiasm. He subsequently ingratiated himself with the first consul, and received a pension of 6,000 francs, on which he subsisted comfortably until the close of his life. His literary remains include 140 odes of all kinds, 600 epigrams, 4 books of elegies and 2 of poetical epistles, and a mass of miscellaneous pieces.

LECLERC, JOSEPH VICTOR, & French writer and philologist, born in Paris, Dec. 2, 1789. After distinguishing himself as a teacher in various schools, he became in 1824 professor of Latin eloquence and in 1832 dean of the faculty of letters of Paris, which position he still holds; he is also a member of the academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres, and ordinary councillor of the board of public instruction. He has edited the works of many old French writers, and commented on the Fabliaux and other literary remains of the middle ages. He has also translated or edited several classic authors. Among his principal works are: the Eloge de Montaigne (Paris, 1812); Les pensées de Platon, in Greek and French with a commentary (1818); Nouvelle rhétorique (1823); and Des journaux chez les Romains (1838). For many years past M. Leclerc has been the editor-in-chief of the great Histoire littéraire de la France, of which the 23d volume, bringing the history down to the 13th century, appeared in 1856.

LECOMPTON, a town of Kansas and capital of the territory, situated on the Kansas river, about midway between Topeka and Lawrence, and 60 m. W. from Westport, Mo. It is the seat of a U. S. land office, and $50,000 was appropriated by congress to erect the government buildings in it.

LE CONTE, JOHN, an American naturalist, born near Shrewsbury, N. J., Feb. 22, 1784. He entered the corps of U. S. engineers in 1813, and was early employed in various important surveys and fortifications. He always manifested a taste for the natural sciences, to which he has contributed many important papers in the departments of botany and zoology. His principal publications are: "Monographs of the North American Species of Utricularia, Gratiola, and Ruellia" (in the "Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History," vol. i.); "Observations of the North American Species of Viola" (ibid., vol. ii.); "Descriptions of the Species of North American Tortoises" (ibid., vol. iii.); "A Monography of North American Histeroides" (Boston "Journal of Natural History," vol. v.); "Descriptions of Three New Species of Arvicola, with Remarks upon other

North American Rodents" ("Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," vol. vi.)-JOHN L., M.D., an American naturalist, son of the preceding, born in New York, May 13, 1825. He was graduated at the New York college of physicians and surgeons in 1846. During his studies at this institution he made several scientific journeys, to Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi in 1844, to the Rocky mountains in 1845, and to Lake Superior again in 1846. In 1848 he made a third journey to the shores of this lake in company with Agassiz and a number of others, and contributed the account of the coleoptera to the volume in which the results of the expedition were given to the world. In the following year he visited California, where he remained until 1851, and explored the Colorado river. He has contributed many papers, chiefly on coleopterous insects, to the transactions of various American learned societies, and to the Smithsonian "Contributions to Knowledge." His principal published works are: "Catalogue of Geodaphagous Coleoptera of the United States" (in the "Annals of the New York Society of Natural History," vol. iv.); "On the Pselaphide of the United States" (Boston "Journal of Natural History," vol. vi.); "On the Classification of the Carabidae of the United States" ("Transactions of the American Philosophical Society," vol. x.); "Attempt to Classify the Longicornia of the United States" ("Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," new series, vols. i. and ii.); "Synopsis of the Melolonthida of the United States" (ibid., vol. iii.); "Coleoptera of the Regions adjacent to the Boundary Line between the United States and Mexico" (ibid., vol. iv.); "Revision of the Elaterida of the United States" ("Transactions of the American Philosophical Society," vol. x.); "Revision of Cicindela of the United States” (ibid., vol. xi.); "Revision of the Buprestidae of the United States" (ibid., vol. xi.); "Report on the Coleopterous Insects of the 47th Parallel" ("U. S. Pacific Railroad Explorations and Surveys," vol. xi.).

LE CONTE, JOHN, M.D., an American physician and naturalist, born in Liberty co., Ga., Dec. 4, 1818. On his father's side he is a descendant of a French Huguenot who emigrated from Rouen near the close of the 17th century to New Rochelle, N. Y. Through his mother he descends from the New England Puritans who planted the Dorchester colony in South Carolina, a portion of whom subsequently established the Midway settlement in Liberty co., Ga. His grandfather removed to Georgia prior to the revolution. His father, Lewis Le Conte, jr., was a graduate of Columbia college, N. Y., and was through life a diligent and enthusiastic student of the natural sciences. After receiving his preparatory education near home, the son entered, in Jan. 1835, Franklin college, Athens, Ga. (Georgia university), and was graduated with high honors in 1838. In 1841 he received the degree of M.D. from the college of

physicians and surgeons in New York city, and in the following year established himself as a practitioner in Savannah, Ga. He contributed largely to medical periodical literature from 1842 to 1846. In the autumn of the latter year he was elected to the chair of natural philosophy in Franklin college, his alma mater, which position he held for 9 years. During this period he continued a frequent contributor to the leading scientific journals of the country on questions of physical science. He resigned his chair in 1855 to become lecturer on chemistry in the college of physicians and surgeons in New York city. In 1856 he accepted a call to the South Carolina college at Columbia, where he had been unanimously elected to fill the chair, then first created, of natural and mechanical philosophy, which office he still holds (1860). His numerous papers in periodicals embrace a great variety of important subjects in medicine and natural science. JOSEPH, M.D., brother of the preceding, born in Liberty co Ga., Feb. 26, 1823. After a preparatory education in his native county, he entered Franklin college, Ga., in 1838, was graduated with distinction in 1841, and in 1845 was graduated as M.D. in the college of physicians and surgeons, New York. He removed in 1848 to Macon, Ga., where he practised his profession. In 1850 he went to Cambridge, Mass., to complete under Agassiz a course of studies long before undertaken in natural history and geology. He remained 18 months under that distinguished savant, whom he accompanied in 1851 on an exploring expedition to the reefs, keys, and peninsula of Florida, assisting him in the observations which resulted in the discoveries made concerning the recency and the coral origin of those regions. After being graduated at the Lawrence scientific school in Cambridge, he returned to Georgia, and was elected to the chair of natural sciences in Oglethorpe university. He resigned this office after one year to accept the chair of natural history and geology in Franklin college, which he held for 4 years. In 1856 he was elected to the professorship of chemistry and geometry in the South Carolina college, which he now holds. He is an occasional contributor and a frequent lecturer on scientific subjects. Among his more important papers are those "On the Agency of the Gulf Stream in the Formation of the Peninsula and the Keys of Florida," "On the Correlation of Physical, Chemical, and Vital Forces, and the Conservation of Forces in Vital Phenomena," and "On the Formation of Continents and Ocean Bottoms," all of which were read before the American association for the advancement of science.

LEDA, in Greek mythology, the daughter of King Thestius or Glaucus. She was wife of Tyndareus, by whom she was at first mother of Timandra and Philonce. Her great beauty attracted the love of Jupiter, who under the form of a swan surprised her in the bath. In time she produced two eggs, from which were hatch