last were contributed by his son. An enumeration of Laplace’s
memoirs and papers (about one hundred in number) is rendered
superfluous by their embodiment in his principal works. The Th.
des prob. was first published in 1812, the Essai in 1814; and both
works as well as the Système du monde went through repeated
editions. An English version of the Essai appeared in New York in
1902. Laplace’s first separate work, Théorie du mouvement et de la
figure elliptique des planètes (1784), was published at the expense
of President Bochard de Saron. The Précis de l’histoire de l’astronomie
(1821), formed the fifth book of the 5th edition of the Système
du monde. An English translation, with copious elucidatory notes,
of the first 4 vols. of the Mécanique céleste, by N. Bowditch, was
published at Boston, U.S. (1829–1839), in 4 vols. 4to.; a compendium
of certain portions of the same work by Mrs Somerville appeared in
1831, and a German version of the first 2 vols. by Burckhardt at
Berlin in 1801. English translations of the Système du monde by
J. Pond and H. H. Harte were published, the first in 1809, the
second in 1830. An edition entitled Les Œuvres complètes de Laplace
(1878), &c., which is to include all his memoirs as well as his separate
works, is in course of publication under the auspices of the Academy
of Sciences. The thirteenth 4to volume was issued in 1904. Some
of Laplace’s results in the theory of probabilities are simplified in
S. F. Lacroix’s Traité élémentaire du calcul des probabilités and De
Morgan’s Essay, published in Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia. For
the history of the subject see A History of the Mathematical Theory of
Probability, by Isaac Todhunter (1865). Laplace’s treatise on
specific heat was published in German in 1892 as No. 40 of W.
Ostwald’s Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften.
Authorities.—Baron Fourier’s Éloge, Mémoires de l’institut, x. lxxxi. (1831); Revue encyclopédique, xliii. (1829); S. D. Poisson’s Funeral Oration (Conn. des Temps, 1830, p. 19); F. X. von Zach, Allg. geographische Ephemeriden, iv. 70 (1799); F. Arago, Annuaire du Bureau des Long. 1844, p. 271, translated among Arago’s Biographies of Distinguished Men (1857); J. S. Bailly, Hist. de l’astr. moderne, t. iii.; R. Grant, Hist. of Phys. Astr. p. 50, &c.; A. Berry, Short Hist. of Astr. p. 306; Max Marie, Hist. des sciences t. x. pp. 69-98; R. Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomie; J. Mädler, Gesch. der Himmelskunde, i. 17; W. Whewell, Hist. of the Inductive Sciences, ii. passim; J. C. Poggendorff, Biog-lit. Handwörterbuch. (A. M. C.)
LAPLAND, or Lappland, a name used to indicate the region
of northern Europe inhabited by the Lapps, though not applied
to any administrative district. It covers in Norway the division
(amter) of Finmarken and the higher inland parts of Tromsö and
Nordland; in Russian territory the western part of the government
of Archangel as far as the White Sea and the northern
part of the Finnish district of Uleåborg; and in Sweden the
inland and northern parts of the old province of Norrland,
roughly coincident with the districts (län) of Norbotten and
Vesterbotten, and divided into five divisions—Torne Lappmark,
Lule Lappmark, Pite Lappmark, Lycksele Lappmark and
Åsele Lappmark. The Norwegian portion is thus insignificant;
of the Russian only a little lies south of the Arctic circle, and the
whole is less accessible and more sparsely populated than the
Swedish, the southern boundary of which may be taken arbitrarily
at about 64° N., though scattered families of Lapps occur
much farther south, even in the Hardanger Fjeld in Norway.
The Scandinavian portion of Lapland presents the usual characteristics of the mountain plateau of that peninsula—on the west side the bold headlands and fjords, deeply-grooved valleys and glaciers of Norway, on the east the long mountain lakes and great lake-fed rivers of Sweden. Russian Lapland is broadly similar to the lower-lying parts of Swedish Lapland, but the great lakes are more generally distributed, and the valleys are less direct. The country is low and gently undulating, broken by detached hills and ridges not exceeding in elevation 2500 ft. In the uplands of Swedish Lapland, and to some extent in Russian Lapland, the lakes afford the principal means of communication; it is almost impossible to cross the forests from valley to valley without a native guide. In Sweden the few farms of the Swedes who inhabit the region are on the lake shores, and the traveller must be rowed from one to another in the typical boats of the district, pointed at bow and stern, unusually low amidships, and propelled by short sculls or paddles. Sailing is hardly ever practised, and squalls on the lakes are often dangerous to the rowing-boats. On a few of the lakes wood-fired steam-launches are used in connexion with the timber trade, which is considerable, as practically the whole region is forested. Between the lakes all journeying is made on foot. The heads of the Swedish valleys are connected with the Norwegian fjords by passes generally traversed only by tracks; though from the head of the Ume a driving road crosses to Mo on Ranen Fjord. Each principal valley has a considerable village at or near the tail of the lake-chain, up to which a road runs along the valley. The village consists of wooden cottages with an inn (gästgifvaregård), a church, and frequently a collection of huts without windows, closed in summer, but inhabited by the Lapps when they come down from the mountains to the winter fairs. Sometimes there is another church and small settlement in the upper valley, to which, once or twice in a summer, the Lapps come from great distances to attend service. To these, too, they sometimes bring their dead for burial, bearing them if necessary on a journey of many days. Though Lapland gives little scope for husbandry, a bad summer being commonly followed by a winter famine, it is richly furnished with much that is serviceable to man. There are copper-mines at the mountain of Sulitelma, and the iron deposits in Norrland are among the most extensive in the world. Their working is facilitated by the railway from Stockholm to Gellivara, Kirunavara and Narvik on the Norwegian coast, which also connects them with the port of Luleå on the Gulf of Bothnia. The supply of timber (pine, fir, spruce and birch) is unlimited. Though fruit-trees will not bear there is an abundance of edible berries; the rivers and lakes abound with trout, perch, pike and other fish, and in the lower waters with salmon; and the cod, herring, halibut and Greenland shark in the northern seas attract numerous Norwegian and Russian fishermen.
The climate is thoroughly Arctic. In the northern parts unbroken daylight in summer and darkness in winter last from two to three months each; and through the greater part of the country the sun does not rise at mid-winter or set at midsummer. In December and January in the far north there is little more daylight than a cold glimmer of dawn; by February, however, there are some hours of daylight; in March the heat of the sun is beginning to modify the cold, and now and in April the birds of passage begin to appear. In April the snow is melting from the branches; spring comes in May; spring flowers are in blossom, and grain is sown. At the end of this month or in June the ice is breaking up on the lakes, woods rush into leaf, and the unbroken daylight of the northern summer soon sets in. July is quite warm; the great rivers come down full from the melting snows in the mountains. August is a rainy month, the time of harvest; night-frosts may begin already about the middle of the month. All preparations for winter are made during September and October, and full winter has set in by November.
The Lapps.—The Lapps (Swed. Lappar; Russian Lopari; Norw. Finner) call their country Sabme or Same, and themselves Samelats—names almost identical with those employed by the Finns for their country and race, and probably connected with a root signifying “dark.” Lapp is almost certainly a nickname imposed by foreigners, although some of the Lapps apply it contemptuously to those of their countrymen whom they think to be less civilized than themselves.[1]
In Sweden and Finland the Lapps are usually divided into fisher, mountain and forest Lapps. In Sweden the first class includes many impoverished mountain Lapps. As described by Laestadius (1827–1832), their condition was very miserable; but since his time matters have improved. The principal colony has its summer quarters on the Stora-Lule Lake, possesses good boats and nets, and, besides catching and drying fish, makes money by the shooting of wild fowl and the gathering of eggs. When he has acquired a little means it is not unusual for the fisher to settle down and reclaim a bit of land. The mountain and forest Lapps are the true representatives of the race. In the wandering life of the mountain Lapp his autumn residence, on the borders of the forest district, may be considered as the central point; it is there that he erects his njalla, a small wooden storehouse raised high above the ground by one or more piles. About the beginning of November he begins to wander south or east into the forest land, and in the winter he may visit, not only
- ↑ The most probable etymology is the Finnish lappu, and in this case the meaning would be the “land’s end folk.”
