L A C--L A C
in June 1827 he was promoted to the ordinary professorship in the same department; and in 1830 he was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences. The remainder of his laborious and fruitful life as an author and a teacher presents no episode requiring special record. In January 1851 he was seized with an inflammatory affection of the left foot, to which he ultimately succumbed on March 13, 1851. See Hertz, Karl Lachmann, eine Biographie (Berlin, 1851).
Lachmann, who was the translator of the first volume of P. E. Müller's Sagaenbibliothek des Skandiniavischen Alterthums, published at Berlin in 1816, is a figure of considerable importance in the history of German philology (see Rudolf von Raumer, Gesch. d. germanischen Philologie, 1870). In his "habilitationsschrift" on the Nibelungennoth, and still more in his review of Hagen's Nibelungen and Benecke's Bonerius, contributed in 1817 to the Jenaische Literaturzeitung, he had already laid down the rules of text criticism and elucidated the phonetic and metrical principles of Middle High German in a manner which marked a very distinct advance in that branch of learned investigation. The rigidly scientific character of his method becomes increasingly apparent in the Auswahl aus den Hochdeutschen Dichtern des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts (dedicated to Benecke, 1820), in the edition of Hartmann's Iwein (the text being Lachmann's special care, while the explanatory notes are by Benecke, 1827), in those of Walther von der Vogelweide (1827) and Wolfram von Eschenbach (1833), in the papers "Ueber das Hildebrandslied," "Ueber althochdeutsche Betonung und Verskunst," "Ueber den Eingang des Parzivals," and "Ueber drei Bruchstücke niederrheinischer Gedichte" published in the Abhandlungen of the Berlin Academy, and in Der Nibelungen Not mit der Klage in der ältesten Gestalt mit den Abweichungen der gemeinen Lesart (1826), which was followed by a critical commentary in 1836. Lachmann's "Betrachtungen über die Ilias," first published in the Abhandlungen of the Berlin Academy in 1837 and 1841, in which he sought to show that the Iliad consists of sixteen independent "lays" variously enlarged and interpolated, have had considerable influence on modern Homeric criticism. See HOMER. His smaller edition of the New Testament appeared in 1831, 3d ed. 1846; the larger, in two volumes, in 1842-50 (Novum Testamentum Græce et Latine: Carolus Lachmannus recensuit, Philippus Buttmannus Græcæ lectionis audoritates apposuit..). The plan of Lachmann's edition, which has been explained by himself in the Stud. u. Krit. of 1830, is a modification of the unaccomplished project of Bentley. It seeks to restore the most ancient reading current in Eastern MSS., using the consent of the Latin authorities (Old Latin and Greek Western Uncials) as the main proof of antiquity of a reading where the oldest Eastern authorities differ. Besides Propertius, Lachmann edited Catullus, 1829; Tibullus, 1829; Genesius, 1834; Terentianus Maurus, 1836; Babrius, 1845; Avianus, 1845; Gaius, 1841-42; the Agrimensores Romani, 1848-52; and Lucretius, 1850. The last, which was the main occupation of the closing years of his life, from 1845, was perhaps his greatest achievement, and has been characterized by Monro as "a work which will be a landmark for scholars as long as the Latin language continues to be studied."
LA CONDAMINE, Charles Marie de (1701-1774), French geographer and mathematician, born at Paris, January 28, 1701, was trained for the military profession, but turned his attention to science and geographical exploration. He was a member with Godin and Bouguer of the expedition sent to Peru in 1735 to determine the length of a degree of the meridian in the neighbourhood of the equator (see vol. vii. 598), and on his homeward route made the first scientific exploration of the river Amazon. He returned to Paris in 1745, and published the results of his measurements and travels with a map of the Amazon in Mém. de l'Académie des Sciences, 1745 (English translation 1745-47). La Condamine continued to interest himself in metrical problems, and on a visit to Rome made careful measurements of the ancient buildings with a view to a precise determination of the length of the Roman foot. The journal of his voyage to the equator was published at Paris in 1751. He also wrote in favour of inoculation. He died February 4, 1774.
LACONIA, the Greek Λακωνίκή, is the name generally applied in modern times to the country which occupied the south-eastern corner of the Peloponnesus, often called Lace- dæmon, Λακεδαίμων, which is the only name used in Homer. The history of the district has already been given (see
GREECE), and it only remains to give a slight sketch of its
physical features. These are very peculiar, and had great
influence in producing the marked and distinctive character
of the section of the Dorian race which occupied Laconia
throughout the historical period. The country is a deep
valley almost completely surrounded by mountains, and it
is the general opinion that both names, Laconia and
Lacedæmon, refer to this hollow sunken character being
connected with lacus, λάκκος, &c. The mountains of Arcadia
shut in this valley on the north, and from them two parallel
chains of mountains stretch due south bounding the valley
on the east and on the west. The eastern chain bore in
ancient times the mine Taygetus, the western, Parnon;
both ridges stretched far out into the sea, forming respect
ively the promontories of Taenarus and Malea. Taygetus,
now called Pentedaktylon, is a splendid unbroken chain of
lofty peaks, well deserving its Homeric epithet (
Greek characters);
the highest point is the ancient Taleton, now St Elias,
7900 feet high. Mount Parnon is not such a fine ridge
but still forms a strong barrier along the sea-coast. Through
the whole length of the valley from north to south flows
the river Eurotas, which has only one tributary of any
consequence, the Oenus. The soil was not remarkably
fertile, except in the low ground towards the sea; but the
sides of Taygetus were covered with dense forests which
afforded excellent sport to the inhabitants of the plain.
The people were thus inured to the hardy life of moun
taineers; they were so securely defended by nature against
invasion that the victorious Epaminondas hesitated to
attack the country; while with command of the passes
they could at any time invade the neighbouring countries.
Over Mount Taygetus there was hardly any pass prac
ticable for an army; from Arcadia there were only two
entrances, both easily defended, one by the course of the
Oenus, the other by the Eurotas. Mount Parnon stretched
along the east coast, which offered no harbour, hardly even
a landing place, for foreign ships. While adding to the
security of the country, the same causes isolated it greatly
from intercourse with other peoples, tended to keep the
inhabitants backward and to prevent education, and led
to that jealous and exclusive character which distinguished
the Lacedæmonians.
LACORDAIRE, Jean Baptiste Henri (1802-1861), French orator, was born at Recey-sur-Ource, Côte d'Or, 12th March 1802. He was the second of a family of four, the eldest of whom travelled a great deal in his youth, and subsequently occupied the chair of comparative anatomy at Liége, from which he contributed some valuable treatises on entomology. For several years Lacordaire studied at Dijon, showing a marked talent for rhetoric; this naturally led him to the pursuit of law, and in the local debates of the advocates he attained a high celebrity. At Paris he for a time thought of going on the stage, but was induced to finish the course, and, having done so with credit, applied himself for eighteen months with much success to the consideration of briefs. Meanwhile a great change was passing over his convictions. Lamennais had published his Essai sur l'Indifférence, – a passionate vindication of belief as against the tolerant contempt of a generation which regarded truth and falsehood in every department of life with equal complaisance, a demonstration of the weakness of individual reason and an assertion of the rightful supremacy of a central religious authority. Lacordaire read and was convinced. His ardent and believing nature was weary of the theological negations of the Encyclopedists. He was impelled towards a deistical explanation of the universe, from which in turn he went on to Catholicism as the only faith calculated to keep society from disintegration. In 1823 he became a theological student at the seminary of Saint Sulpice; four years later
