The religious wars, pestilence and famine desolated Limoges in turn, and the plague of 1630–1631 carried off more than 20,000 persons. The wise administrations of Henri d’Aguesseau, father of the chancellor, and of Turgot enabled Limoges to recover its former prosperity. There have been several great fires, destroying whole quarters of the city, built, as it then was, of wood. That of 1790 lasted for two months, and destroyed 192 houses; and that of 1864 laid under ashes a large area. Limoges celebrates every seven years a curious religious festival (Fête d’Ostension), during which the relics of St Martial are exposed for seven weeks, attracting large numbers of visitors. It dates from the 10th century, and commemorates a pestilence (mal des ardents) which, after destroying 40,000 persons, is believed to have been stayed by the intercession of the saint.
Limoges was the scene of two ecclesiastical councils, in 1029 and 1031. The first proclaimed the title of St Martial as “apostle of Aquitaine”; the second insisted on the observance of the “truce of God.” In 1095 Pope Urban II. held a synod of bishops here in connexion with his efforts to organize a crusade, and on this occasion consecrated the basilica of St Martial (pulled down after 1794).
See Célestin Poré, Limoges, in Joanne’s guides, De Paris à Ager (1867); Ducourtieux, Limoges d’après ses anciens plans (1884) and Limoges et ses environs (3rd ed., 1894). A very full list of works on Limoges, the town, viscounty, bishopric, &c., is given by U. Chevalier in Répertoire des sources hist. du moyen âge. Topo-bibliogr. (Mont Céliard, 1903), t. ii. s.v.
LIMON, or Port Limon, the chief Atlantic port of Costa Rica, Central America, and the capital of a district also named Limon, on a bay of the Caribbean Sea, 103 m. E. by N. of San José. Pop. (1904) 3171. Limon was founded in 1871, and is the terminus of the transcontinental railway to Puntarenas which was begun in the same year. The swamps behind the town, and the shallow coral lagoon in front of it, have been filled in. The harbour is protected by a sea-wall built along the low-water line, and an iron pier affords accommodation for large vessels. A breakwater from the harbour to the island of Uvita, about 1200 yds. E. would render Limon a first-class port. There is an excellent water-supply from the hills above the harbour. Almost the entire coffee and banana crops of Costa Rica are sent by rail for shipment at Limon to Europe and the United States. The district (comarca) of Limon comprises the whole Atlantic littoral, thus including the Talamanca country inhabited by uncivilized Indians; the richest banana-growing territories in the country; and the valuable forests of the San Juan valley. It is annually visited by Indians from the Mosquito coast of Nicaragua, who come in canoes to fish for turtle. Its chief towns, after Limon, are Reventazon and Matina, both with fewer than 3000 inhabitants.
LIMONITE, or Brown Iron Ore, a natural ferric hydrate
named from the Gr. λειμών (meadow), in allusion to its occurrence
as “bog-ore” in meadows and marshes. It is never crystallized,
but may have a fibrous or microcrystalline structure, and
commonly occurs in concretionary forms or in compact and
earthy masses; sometimes mammillated, botryoidal, reniform
or stalactitic. The colour presents various shades of brown and
yellow, and the streak is always brownish, a character which
distinguishes it from haematite with a red, or from magnetite
with a black streak. It is sometimes called brown haematite.
Limonite is a ferric hydrate, conforming typically with the formula Fe4O3(OH)6, or 2Fe2O3·3H2O. Its hardness is rather above 5, and its specific gravity varies from 3.5 to 4. In many cases it has been formed from other iron oxides, like haematite and magnetite, or by the alteration of pyrites or chalybite.
By the operation of meteoric agencies, iron pyrites readily pass
into limonite often with retention of external form; and the masses
of “gozzan” or “gossan” on the outcrop of certain mineral-veins
consist of rusty iron ore formed in this way, and associated with
cellular quartz. Many deposits of limonite have been found, on
being worked, to pass downwards into ferrous carbonate; and
crystals of chalybite converted superficially into limonite are well
known. Minerals, like glauconite, which contain ferrous silicate,
may in like manner yield limonite, on weathering. The ferric
hydrate is also readily deposited from ferruginous waters, often
by means of organic agencies. Deposits of brown iron ore of great
economic value occur in many sedimentary rocks, such as the
Lias, Oolites and Lower Greensand of various parts of England.
They appear in some cases to be altered limestones and in others
altered glauconitic sandstones. An oolitic structure is sometimes
present, and the ores are generally phosphatic, and may contain
perhaps 30% of iron. The oolitic brown ores of Lorraine and
Luxemburg are known as “minette,” a diminutive of the French
mine (ore), in allusion to their low content of metal. Granular and
concretionary limonite accumulates by organic action on the floor
of certain lakes in Sweden, forming the curious “lake ore.” Larger
concretions formed under other conditions are known as “bean ore.”
Limonite often forms a cementing medium in ferruginous sands and
gravels, forming “pan”; and in like manner it is the agglutinating
agent in many conglomerates, like the South African “banket,”
where it is auriferous. In iron-shot sands the limonite may form
hollow concretions, known in some cases as “boxes.” The “eagle
stones” of older writers were generally concretions of this kind,
containing some substance, like sand, which rattled when the hollow
nodule was shaken. Bog iron ore is an impure limonite, usually
formed by the influence of micro-organisms, and containing silica,
phosphoric acid and organic matter, sometimes with manganese. The
various kinds of brown and yellow ochre are mixtures of limonite
with clay and other impurities; whilst in umber much manganese
oxide is present. Argillaceous brown iron ore is often known in
Germany as Thoneisenstein; but the corresponding term in English
(clay iron stone) is applied to nodular forms of impure chalybite.
J. C. Ullmann’s name of stilpnosiderite, from the Greek στιλπνός
(shining) is sometimes applied to such kinds of limonite as have a
pitchy lustre. Deposits of limonite in cavities may have a rounded
surface or even a stalactitic form, and may present a brilliant
lustre, of blackish colour, forming what is called in Germany Glaskopf
(glass head). It often happens that analyses of brown iron ores
reveal a larger proportion of water than required by the typical
formula of limonite, and hence new species have been recognized.
Thus the yellowish brown ore called by E. Schmidt xanthosiderite,
from ζξανθός (yellow) and σίδηρος (iron), contains Fe2O(OH)4, or
Fe2O3·2H2O; whilst the bog ore known as limnite, from λίμνη (marsh)
has the formula Fe(OH)3, or Fe2O3·3H2O. On the other hand there
are certain forms of ferric hydrate containing less water than limonite
and approaching to haematite in their red colour and streak: such
is the mineral which was called hydrohaematite by A. Breithaupt,
and is now generally known under R. Hermann’s name of turgite,
from the mines of Turginsk, near Bogoslovsk in the Ural Mountains.
This has the formula Fe4O5(OH)2, or 2Fe2O3·H2O. It probably
represents the partial dehydration of limonite, and by further loss
of water may pass into haematite or red iron ore. When limonite
is dehydrated and deoxidized in the presence of carbonic acid, it
may give rise to chalybite.
LIMOUSIN (or Limosin), LÉONARD (c. 1505–c. 1577), French painter, the most famous of a family of seven Limoges enamel painters, was the son of a Limoges innkeeper. He is supposed to have studied under Nardon Pénicaud. He was certainly at the beginning of his career influenced by the German school—indeed, his earliest authenticated work, signed L. L. and dated 1532, is a series of eighteen plaques of the “Passion of the Lord,” after Albrecht Dürer, but this influence was counter-balanced by that of the Italian masters of the school of Fontainebleau, Primaticcio, Rosso, Giulio Romano and Solario, from whom he acquired his taste for arabesque ornament and for mythological subjects. Nevertheless the French tradition was sufficiently ingrained in him to save him from becoming an imitator and from losing his personal style. In 1530 he entered the service of Francis I. as painter and varlet de chambre, a position which he retained under Henry II. For both these monarchs he executed many portraits in enamel—among them quite a number of plaques depicting Diane de Poitiers in various characters,—plates, vases, ewers, and cups, besides decorative works for the royal palaces, for, though he is best known as an enameller distinguished for rich colour, and for graceful designs in grisaille on black or bright blue backgrounds, he also enjoyed a great reputation as an oil-painter. His last signed works bear the date 1574, but the date of his death is uncertain, though it could not have been later than the beginning of 1577. It is on record that he executed close upon two thousand enamels. He is best represented at the Louvre, which owns his two famous votive tablets for the Sainte Chapelle, each consisting of twenty-three plaques, signed L. L. and dated 1553; “La Chasse,” depicting Henry II. on a white horse, Diane de Poitiers behind him on horseback; and many portraits, including the kings by whom he was employed, Marguerite de Valois, the duc de Guise, and the cardinal de Lorraine. Other representative examples are
