[Laughing Philosopher], a name given to Democrates of Abdera for a certain flippancy he showed.
[Launceston] (17), on the Tamar, the second city in Tasmania, is the chief port and market in the N., a fine city, carrying on a good trade with Australian ports, and serving as a summer resort to Melbourne.
[Laura], a young Avignonese married lady, for whom Petrarch conceived a Platonic affection, and who exercised a lifelong influence over him.
[Laureate, Poet], originally an officer of the royal household whose business it was to celebrate in an ode any joyous occasion connected with royalty, originally the sovereign's birthday; it is now a mere honour bestowed by royalty on an eminent poet.
[Laurier, Sir Wilfred], Premier of Canada since 1896, and the first French-Canadian to attain that honour, born in St. Lin; bred for the bar, soon rose to the top of his profession; elected in 1871 as a Liberal to the Quebec Provincial Assembly, where he came at once to the front, and elected in 1874 to the Federal Assembly, he became distinguished as "the silver-tongued Laurier," and as the Liberal leader; his personality is as winning as his eloquence, and he stood first among all the Colonial representatives at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897; b. 1841.
[Lausanne] (33), a picturesque town on the slopes of the Jura, 1 m. from the N. shore of Lake Geneva, is the capital of the Swiss canton of Vaud; noted for its educational institutions and museums, and for its magnificent Protestant cathedral; it has little industry, but considerable trade, and is a favourite tourist resort; here took place the disputation between Calvin, Farel, and Viret, and here Gibbon wrote the "Decline and Fall."
[Lava], a general term for all rocks originating in molten streams from volcanoes, includes traps, basalts, pumice, and others; the surface of a lava stream cools and hardens quickly, presenting a cellulose structure, while below the heat is retained much longer and the rock when cooled is compact and columnar or crystalline; the largest recorded lava flow was from Skaptar Jökull, Iceland, in 1783.
[Lavalette, Count de], French general, born at Paris; condemned to death after the Restoration as an accomplice of Napoleon, he was saved from death by the devotion of his wife, who was found in the prison instead of him on the morning appointed for his execution (1769-1830).
[La Vallière, Duchesse de], a fascinating woman, born at Tours, who became the mistress of Louis XIV.; supplanted by another, she became a Carmelite nun in 1674 in the Carmelite nunnery in Paris, and continued doing penance there as would seem till her death (1644-1710).
[Lavater, Johann Kaspar], German clergyman, a mystic thinker and writer on physiognomy, born at Zurich; wrote "Outlooks to Eternity," and a work on physiognomy, or the art of judging of character from the features of the face (1741-1804).