Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/47

This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
29
RIGHT

LUBECK 29 LUCBAN a man of science, being author of "Pre- historic Times"; "Origin of Civilization"; "Origin and Metamorphoses of Insects";

  • 'British Wild Flowers in their Relation

to Insects"; "Ants, Bees and Wasps"; "The Origin of Civilization and the Prim- itive Condition of Man"; "Buds and Stipules" (1898) ; "Marriage, Totemism and Religion" (1909). He died in 1913. LiJBECK (lii'bek), a free city and state of Germany, on the Trave, about 10 miles from Travemiinde, at its mouth in the Gulf of Liibeck, in the Baltic, 36 miles N. E. of Hamburg; lat. 53° 52' N., Ion. 10° 45' 5" E.; area of state, 115 square miles; pop. about 100,000; the land is very productive; chief industry, cattle raising. The city is built on a ridge between the Trave and the Wake- nitz; environs well wooded, and enli- vened with cheerful villas; streets wide, the houses generally old, built of stone, and with their gable ends toward the street, are generally lofty, six or seven stories being quite common; has schools of surgery, navigation, etc., public li- brary of 130,000 volumes. Prior to the World War Liibeck had large commercial interests, chiefly with the north and west of Europe. Its date of foundation is uncertain, but it existed in 1140, was ceded to the dukes of Saxony in 1158, taken by the Danes in 1201 ; was made a free imperial city in 1226, when the Danish garrison was expelled; became the head of the Hanseatic League in 1241. The dissolu- tion of the League marked the epoch of its decline. It was annexed to the em- pire in 1810, and regained its freedom after the battle of Leipsic in 1813. LUBLIN (lo'blin), the capital of a Polish government (area 6,501 square miles; pop. about 1,575,000), on a sub- tributary of the Vistula, 96 miles S. E. of Warsaw; has a 13th century cathedral and manufactures of tobacco, beer, candles, soap, etc., and a large trade in corn and wool. It was plundered by the Mongols in 1240, 1344, and 1477; from the end of the 14th to the end of the 16th century was the principal com- mercial town between the Vistula and the Dnieper; except the gates, nothing now remains of its former walls. Here was signed in 1569 the treaty of union between Lithuania and Poland. Lublin was captured by the Russians in 1831. The city was in the area of active war- fare during the World War, and in 1914 a Russian armv defeated Austrian forces rere. Pop. about 70,000. LUBRICANT, a substance inserted between moving contact parts of a machine for the purpose of reducing friction and preventing abrasion. The substances used as lubricants vary great- ly with the use to which they are put — solids such as soapstone or graphite, used to lubricate surfaces subjected to high pressure and running at low speed are one extreme; a light oil such as castor oil, used for the high speed, high temperature airplane motor, is the other extreme. The requirements of a good lubricant are: low coefficient of friction, stability under high temperature (high flash point), as fluid a body as possible to fulfill the requirements, since a high viscosity means a high coefficient of friction, freedom of acids or other in- jurious impurities which would react chemically with the metal of the bearing to which it was applied, and freedom from impurities which cause gumming. Various lubricants, designed for special purposes, by mixing mineral, animal or vegetable oils, are on the market. Among the methods of lubrication are direct application by hand; the gravity system, in which the oil flows through a pipe from a tank to the bearing by gravity; various mechanical systems in which the oil is circulated by means of a pump from a tank to the bearings, and frequently through a strainer back into the tank; and the splash system, in which some moving part of the motor splashes oil from a closed case over all bearing surfaces. LUCANIA (lu-ka'ni-a), a province of ancient Italy, S. E. of Calabria, and bordering on the Gulf of Tarentum. It was inhabited by an Oscan people, and corresponds nearly to the present prov- ince of Potenza and part of Salerno. LUCAS, EDWARD VERRALL, an English writer on travel and essayist. Born in 1868 at Brighton and educated in London, he was first employed by the Sussex "Daily News." Later he was associated with the "Globe," the "Acad- emy," and finally with "Punch." Among his works are essays written after the style of Lamb, anthologies of English poetry, books for children, and works of biography and travel. Among his best known publications are "Life of Charles Lamb" (2 vols., 1905), "Anne's Terrible Good Nature, and Other Stories for Children" (1908), "The Slow Coach" (1910), "A Wanderer in Venice" (1914). LUCBAN, a town on the island of Luzon, in the province of Tayabas. The chief industry is the manufacture of straw hats and mats. Rice is also grown on the terraces of the hills. Pop. about 12,500. Vol. VI— Cyc— C