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182 LASTEYRIE LATERAL LASTEYRIE, Ferdinand Charles de, count, a French archaeologist, born in Paris in 1810. He is a son of Count OHAELES PHILIBERT DE LASTEYRiE-DusAiLLAisrT (1759-1849), author of many works on natural history, industry, and education. He was an aide-de-camp of Lafay- ette in 1830, and was employed in the civil service till 1842, when he became a deputy; and from May, 1848, to Dec. 2, 1851, he was a member of the constituent and legislative as- semblies. His principal work, Histoire de la peinture sur verre ctfapres ses monuments en France (fol., 1837-'58), received an academ- ical prize. His cousin, the marquis ADRIEN JULES DE LASTEYRIE, born in 1810, is a grandson of Lafayette on his mother's side. He protected the duchess of Orleans on Feb. 24, 1848, when she visited the chamber of deputies of which he was a member. He subsequently sat in the assembly till Dec. 2, 1851. In February, 1871, he was elected to the national assembly as a partisan of Thiers. LATAKIA (anc. Laodi- cea), a town of Syria, 120 m. N. of Beyrout ; pop. about 7,000. The town is on a rocky pro- montory, from 100 to 200 ft. high, which pro- jects nearly two miles into the sea, opposite the N. E. point of the island of Cyprus. The harbor is a deep cove, almost surrounded by rocky banks, at the N. W. angle of the pro- montory, and has a pier on one side and a pro- jecting tower on the other. The town is sur- rounded by groves of myrtle, pomegranate, mulberry, orange, lem- on, and olive trees, and consists of two por- tions, the upper and lower town. The former occupies an elevated site at a short distance from the sea, and consists largely of modern houses, but is very dirty ; the latter, called La Scala, extends along the shore in the vicinity of the harbor. Latakia and Alexandretta are the ports of Aleppo, and a great part of the important trade of that city with the adjoining provinces passes through the former place. The prin- cipal articles of export are tobacco, cotton, gall nuts, sesame seed, wool, wax, camels' hair, and several minor products. In 1871 they were valued at $1,277,599. Grain can be ex- ported only in times of scarcity in Europe, when the prices compensate for the heavy ex- penses of transportation, and then chiefly to Marseilles. A portion of the Aleppo wool shipped from Latakia finds its way to the United States. The principal article of trade, how- ever, is tobacco of fine, quality, of which large quantities are raised in the neighborhood. There is also a large trade in sponge. Latakia contains numerous remnants of ancient stone structures, and the surrounding cliffs are filled with rock-cut tombs. (See LAODICEA.) LATER Ai, the name of a palace and church in Borne, so called from their being built on the estate of Plautius Lateranus, who was put to death by Nero for complicity in the con- spiracy of the Pisos. The palace, whose mag- nificence is celebrated by Juvenal, having be- come imperial property, a portion of it was given by the emperor Maximian to his daughter Fausta, the second wife of Constantine. This portion, called Domus Fau*tce, was given by Constantine to Pope Melchiades in 312, and afterward confirmed to St. Sylvester. It be- came the residence of the popes till their re- moval to Avignon (1309); it was burned at that epoch, and rebuilt in 1585. Remaining unoccupied, it was converted into an orphan asylum in 1693, and in 1843 became a deposi- Church and Palace of the Lateran. tory for works of art for which no room could be found in the Vatican. To this museum Pius IX. added another for works of Christian art. The only remains preserved of the an- cient palace after the fire of 1308 are on the north side of the basilica, under a magnificent portico by Fontana. They are: the private papal chapel built by Leo III., the end wall of the banqueting hall or triclinium, and the santa scala, or holy staircase. This is behind the triclinium, and is said to be the staircase of the house of Pilate, ascended and descended by Christ. The tradition is that it was brought from Jerusalem by Helena, mother of Con- stantine the Great. It was injured and partly cast down by the earthquake of 896, reerected in the old Lateran palace, left uninjured by the fire, and removed to its present site in 1585. It is composed of 28 marble steps, covered by order of Clement XII. with a ca-