Hebrew Peres is rightly translated in the Authorized Version of the Bible (Lev. xi. 13; Deut. xiv. 12)—a word corrupted into osprey, and applied to a bird which has no habit of the kind.
The lämmergeyer of north-eastern and south Africa is specifically distinct, and is known as Gypaetus meridionalis or G. nudipes. In habits it resembles the northern bird, from which it differs in little more than wanting the black stripe below the eye and having the lower part of the tarsus bare of feathers. It is the “golden eagle” of Bruce’s Travels, and has been beautifully figured by Joseph Wolf in E. Rüppell’s Syst. Übers. der Vögel Nord-Ost-Afrika’s (Taf. 1). (A. N.)
LAMOIGNON, a French family, which takes its name from Lamoignon, a place said to have been in its possession since the 13th century. One of its several branches is that of Lamoignon de Malesherbes. Several of the Lamoignons have played important parts in the history of France and the family has been specially distinguished in the legal profession. Guillaume de Lamoignon (1617–1677), attained eminence as a lawyer and became president of the parlement of Paris in 1658. First on the popular, and later on the royalist side during the Fronde, he presided at the earlier sittings of the trial of Fouquet, whom he regarded as innocent, and he was associated with Colbert, whom he was able more than once to thwart. Lamoignon tried to simplify the laws of France and sought the society of men of letters like Boileau and Racine. Having received rich rewards for his public services, he died in Paris on the 10th of December 1677. Guillaume’s second son, Nicolas de Lamoignon (1648–1724), took the surname of Basville. Following his hereditary calling he filled many public offices, serving as intendant of Montauban, of Pau, of Poitiers and of Languedoc before his retirement in 1718. His administration of Languedoc was chiefly remarkable for vigorous measures against the Camisards and other Protestants, but in other directions his work in the south of France was more beneficent, as, following the example of Colbert, he encouraged agriculture and industry generally and did something towards improving the means of communication. He wrote a Mémoire, which contains much interesting information about his public work. This was published at Amsterdam in 1724. Lamoignon, who is called by Saint Simon, “the king and tyrant of Languedoc,” died in Paris on the 17th of May 1724. Chrétien François de Lamoignon (1735–1789)
entered public life at an early age and was an actor in the troubles which heralded the Revolution. First on the side of the parlement and later on that of the king he was one of the assistants of Loménie de Brienne, whose unpopularity and fall he shared. He committed suicide on the 15th of May 1789.
LAMONT, JOHANN VON (1805–1879), Scottish-German astronomer and magnetician, was born at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, on the 13th of December 1805. He was sent at the age of twelve to be educated at the Scottish monastery in Regensburg, and apparently never afterwards returned to his native country. His strong bent for scientific studies was recognized by the head of the monastery, P. Deasson, on whose recommendation he was admitted in 1827 to the then new observatory of Bogenhausen (near Munich), where he worked under J. Soldner. After the death of his chief in 1835 he was, on H. C. Schumacher’s recommendation, appointed to succeed him as director of the observatory. In 1852 he became professor of astronomy at the university of Munich, and held both these posts till his death, which took place on the 6th of August 1879. Lamont was a member of the academies of Brussels, Upsala and Prague, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of the Cambridge Philosophical Society and of many other learned corporations. Among his contributions to astronomy may be noted his eleven zone-catalogues of 34,674 stars, his measurements, in 1836–1837, of nebulae and clusters, and his determination of the mass of Uranus from observations of its satellites (Mem. Astron. Soc. xi. 51, 1838). A magnetic observatory was equipped at Bogenhausen in 1840 through his initiative; he executed comprehensive magnetic surveys 1849–1858; announced the magnetic decennial period in 1850, and his discovery of earth-currents in 1862. His Handbuch des Erdmagnetismus (Berlin, 1849) is a standard work on the subject.
See Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (S. Günther); V. J. Schrift, Astr. Gesellschaft, xv. 60; Monthly Notices Roy. Astr. Society, xl. 203; Nature, xx. 425; Quart. Journal Meteor. Society, vi. 72; Proceedings Roy. Society of Edinburgh, x. 358; The Times (12 Aug., 1879); Sir F. Ronalds’s Cat. of Books relating to Electricity and Magnetism, pp. 281-283; Royal Society’s Cat. of Scientific Papers, vols. iii. vii.
LAMORICIÈRE, CHRISTOPHE LÉON LOUIS JUCHAULT DE (1806–1865), French general, was born at Nantes on the 11th of September 1806, and entered the Engineers in 1828. He served in the Algerian campaigns from 1830 onwards, and by 1840 he had risen to the grade of maréchal-de-camp (major-general). Three years later he was made a general of division. He was one of the most distinguished and efficient of Bugeaud’s generals, rendered special service at Isly (August 14, 1844), acted temporarily as governor-general of Algeria, and finally effected the capture of Abd el-Kader in 1847. Lamoricière took some part in the political events of 1848, both as a member of the Chamber of Deputies and as a military commander. Under the régime of General Cavaignac he was for a time minister of war. From 1848 to 1851 Lamoricière was one of the most conspicuous opponents of the policy of Louis Napoleon, and at the coup d’état of the 2nd of December 1851 he was arrested and exiled. He refused to give in his allegiance to the emperor Napoleon III., and in 1860 accepted the command of the papal army, which he led in the Italian campaign of 1860. On the 18th of September of that year he was severely defeated by the Italian army at Castelfidardo. His last years were spent in complete retirement in France (he had been allowed to return in 1857), and he died at Prouzel (Somme) on the 11th of September 1865.
See E. Keller, Le Général de Lamoricière (Paris, 1873).
LA MOTHE LE VAYER, FRANÇOIS DE (1588–1672), French writer, was born in Paris of a noble family of Maine. His father was an avocat at the parlement of Paris and author of a curious treatise on the functions of ambassadors, entitled Legatus, seu De legatorum privilegiis, officio et munere libellus (1579) and illustrated mainly from ancient history. François succeeded his father at the parlement, but gave up his post about 1647 and devoted himself to travel and belles lettres. His Considérations sur l’éloquence française (1638) procured him admission to the Academy, and his De l’instruction de Mgr. le Dauphin (1640) attracted the attention of Richelieu. In 1649 Anne of Austria entrusted him with the education of her second son and subsequently with the completion of Louis XIV.’s education, which had been very much neglected. The outcome of his pedagogic labours was a series of books comprising the Géographie, Rhétorique, Morale, Économique, Politique, Logique, and Physique du prince (1651–1658). The king rewarded his tutor by appointing him historiographer of France and councillor of state. La Mothe Le Vayer died in Paris. Modest, sceptical, and occasionally obscene in his Latin pieces and in his verses, he made himself a persona grata at the French court, where libertinism in ideas and morals was hailed with relish. Besides his educational works, he wrote Jugement sur les anciens et principaux historiens grecs et latins (1646); a treatise entitled Du peu de certitude qu’il y a en histoire (1668), which in a sense marks the beginning of historical criticism in France; and sceptical Dialogues, published posthumously under the pseudonym of Orosius Tubero. An incomplete edition of his works was published at Dresden in 1756–1759.
See Bayle, Dictionnaire critique, article “Vayer”; L. Étienne, Essai sur La Mothe Le Vayer (Paris, 1849).
LA MOTTE, ANTOINE HOUDAR DE (1672–1731), French author, was born in Paris on the 18th of January 1672. In 1693 his comedy Les Originaux proved a complete failure, which so depressed the author that he contemplated joining the Trappists, but four years later he again began writing operas and ballets, e.g. L’Europe galante (1697), and tragedies, one of
Atlas range the food of this bird is said to consist chiefly of the Testudo mauritanica, which “it carries to some height in the air, and lets fall on a stone to break the shell” (Ibis, 1859, p. 177). It was the ἅρπη and φήνη of Greek classical writers.
