In July, 1857, he was appointed U. S. minister to the Argentine Republic, but did not go to his post, and on 23 Dec, 1857, was commissioned min- ister, and on 20 Jan., 1858, minister resident, to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, from which posts he re- tired in May, 1859. He was the author of " Verse Memorials " (New York, 1857).
LA MARDELLE, Guillanme Francois de (lah'-mar'-del), West Indian jurist, b. in the city of
Santo Domingo in 1732; d. in Tours, France, 19
Jan., 1813. He studied law, and, while filling the
office of attorney-general of the superior court at
Port au Prince, made a special study of slavery
and the administration of justice in the colony,
aiming to better the condition of the slaves and to
improve the proceedings of the courts. While he
was in France for his health he presented to Mar-
shal Castries a memoir on these subjects, which
was approved by the government, and its author
rewarded with a seat in the council of state. In
1786 he returned to his native country, where he
carried out his ideas, though they met strong op-
position. He published "Eloge du Comte d'En-
nery," with an appendix on the administration of
justice in the colony, the first work of the kind
which appeared in the colonies (Paris and Port au
Prince, 1789). When the revolution began in
Hayti he went to France, taking up his residence
at Tours, where he published " Reforme judiciaire
en France" (Paris, 1806) and philosophical and
metaphysical works.
LAMARE-PICQUOT, N., French naturalist, b.
in Bayeux, France, about 1785 ; d. after 1835. He
established a pharmacy in Mauritius, but afterward
returned to Paris, and subsequently travelled to
the East Indies, where he made natural history
collections that were bought for the British mu-
seum. In 1841 he travelled in North America,
and returned to Paris with numerous specimens.
including a plant that he proposed to introduce
in France. It was called by the Indians " tipsina,"
and by botanists " Psoralea esculenta," and has
taken the name of Picquotiane, after its importer.
It had been known to botanists. Pursh, who first
described it about 1815, called it the famous bread-
root of the northwestern Indians, and a favorite
name with the French voyagers was pomme de
prairie. A disease was prevailing at this time in
the potato, and Picquot proposed the root of this
plant as a substitute. In 1847 Mr. Lamare-Picquot
received from the minister of commerce 7,000 francs
and the order to search in North America for nu-
tritious plants. He arrived in New York on 24
Jan., and went to the west, traversing Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the northern part
of the Mississippi. He returned to Havre in 1848,
with the plants " psoralea " and " apios," the latter
of which had been already cultivated in Europe.
LAMAS, Andrés, South American historian, b.
in Montevideo, Uruguay, 30 Nov., 1817. He received
his education in his native city, and at an early
age attained note in literature and politics, found-
ing the Historical institute of Montevideo and fill-
ing several important offices. During a part of
the nine years' siege he was prefect of Montevideo,
was subsequently minister of finance, and several
times plenipotentiary to Brazil and Buenos Ayres.
He has made large collections of South American
historical material, and his private collections of
manuscript are the most important that exist on
this subject. He has published " Apuntes histori-
cos sobre las agresiones del dictador Argentino D.
Juan-Manuel Rosas, contra la independencia de la
Repiiblica Oriental del Uruguay" (Montevideo,
1849); "Notice sur la Republique orientale de
l'Uruguay " (Paris, 1851) ; " Colleccao de memorias
e doeumentos," relating to Rio de la Plata (Rio
Janeiro, 1855) ; and poems and historical treatises.
LAMB, Edward, actor, b. in New York city, 18
Oct., 1828; d. in Brooklyn, N. Y, 5 July, 1887.
He entered his profession as utility-man in the
Chatham street theatre in 1852, and subsequently
played in the Bowery and other theatres in New
York and Brooklyn. From 1856 till 1859 he ap-
peared in low comedy parts in Richmond, Wash-
ington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and Mon-
treal, and in 1880 went with Edward A. Sothern
to San Francisco, appearing as Asa Trenchard in
"Our American Cousin." He played his most
successful engagement at the old Park theatre in
Brooklyn, of which he was lessee and manager.
LAMB, Isaac Wixan, inventor, b. in Salem,
Mich.. 8 Jan.. 1840. He is the son of Rev. Aro-
swell Lamb, a pioneer clergyman. From an early
age the son manifested a taste for mechanical
labor, and at the age of twelve began with his
brother to make whip-lashes by hand for the neigh-
bors, after which they constructed a machine that
would braid four strands. He afterward devised a
machine that would braid any number of strands,
for which he obtained a patent on 28 June, 1859.
He next began to experiment on a family knitting-
machine that could knit either flat or tubular
work, and that could widen or narrow. In this he
was finally successful, and obtained a patent on 15
Sept., 1863. After unsuccessful attempts to manu-
facture the machines, which failed on account of
the incompetency of the workmen, the Lamb knit-
ting-machine manufacturing company was organ-
ized in Springfield, Mass., in 1865, and another
company under the same name in Rochester, N. Y.,
in the same year. These companies were consoli-
dated in 1867 and their manufactory removed to
Chiopee Falls. Mass. Mr. Lamb's machine pro-
duces more than thirty kinds of knitted goods,
making about 4,000 loops a minute at ordinary
speed. The invention is patented in Great Britain,
France, and Belgium, and a large manufactory
has been erected in Switzerland. The machine has
received a great number of medals and diplomas
at different fairs in the United States, and a silver
medal at the Paris exposition of 1867. Mr. Lamb
sold his interest in the Lamb knitting-machine
manufacturing company, and is now secretary and
treasurer of the Lamb knitting company of Con-
cord. Mich. He was ordained by a Baptist coun-
cil in 1869, and since then has engaged in preach-
ing in Michigan. — His brother, Martin Thomas,
is a Baptist missionary in Utah.
LAMB, John, soldier, b. in New York city, 1 Jan., 1735 ; d. there, 31 May, 1800. He assisted his father in the business of "optician and maker of mathematical instruments, and in 1760 engaged in the liquor-trade. He was active in all the early scenes of the Revolution in New York, and took an active part in Montgomery's expedition to Quebec, where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He returned to New York in the following summer, was promoted to major and colonel of artillery under Gen. Knox, and rendered good service throughout the war. He was subsequently elected to the New York legislature, and was appointed by Washington collector of customs for the port of New York, which post he held till his death. See
his life bv Isaac Q. Leake ^Albany, 1850).
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LAMB, Martha Joanna Reade Nash, historian, b. in Plainfield, Mass., 13 Aug., 1829. She is a daughter of Arvin Nash and Lucinda Vinton, and granddaughter of Jacob Nash and Joanna Reade. She was educated in all the higher Eng-
