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208 LAUNAY LAUKEL LAUNAY, Emmanuel Lonis Henri de. See AN- TBAIGFES. LAUNCESTON, a town of Tasmania, on the Thamar, 90 m. N. by W. of Hobart Town; pop. in 1870, 10,668. There were 22 churches, a grammar school, 33 private schools, three public schools under the board of education, a mechanics' institute with a library of 5,800 volumes, five banks, and three newspapers. Steamers run to Melbourne twice a week, and to Tasmanian ports at less frequent intervals. The town was incorporated in 1858. LA UNION, a seaport town of San Salvador, on the S. W. shore of the subordinate bay of its own name, forming a part of the bay of Fonseca, 100 m. E. by S. of San Salvador city ; pop. about 2,000. The situation of the town, in front of the volcano of Conchagua, renders it an extremely hot and unhealthy place. It is nevertheless one of the principal ports of the republic. The aggregate tonnage of the ship- ping is about 35,000 annually. A railroad to connect La Union with San Miguel was re- ported in active progress in 1873. LAUNITZ. I. Nikolans Karl EdnardjSehmidt Ton der, a German sculptor, born at Grobin, Cour- land, Nov. 23, 1797, died in Frankfort, Dec. 12, 1869. He studied at Rome under Thorwaldsen, whom he assisted in restoring the ^Eginetan marbles. He spent his last 40 years chiefly in Frankfort, where he executed the Gutenberg monument and other notable works. For the villa Torlonia in Rome he made several statues, and other works of his are at the Hague. II. Robert Eberhard, nephew of the preceding, born in Riga, Nov. 4, 1806, died in New York, Dec. 13, 1870. He studied under Thorwaldsen in Rome, settled in New York in 1828 as a sculp- tor of tombstones, and was the first instructor of Thomas Crawford. He executed the Bat- tle monument at Frankfort, Ky. ; Pulaski mon- ument at Savannah, Ga. ; the monument to Gen. George H. Thomas at Troy, N. Y. ; and other similar works. He has been called the father of monumental art in America. LAURA. See PETRARCH. LAUREL, a name applied to a number of trees and shrubs, which in many cases are not related t9 one another. It should be restricted to the genus laurus or true laurel, which is the type of the lauracece or laurel family. This family includes a large number of mostly aromatic trees and shrubs, with alternate, dotted, simple leaves, and perfect or polygamous, apetalous flowers; the anthers have two or four cells, which open from below upward by small valves ; the fruit is a one-seeded drupe or berry. The lauracece are especially natives of tropical regions, but several are found in North America. The genus laurus formerly included several hundred species, among them the trees producing cinnamon and camphor, as well as our native sassafras and spice bush ; but later botanists have placed these and others in other genera of the same family, leaving only two species to represent the old genus. The true or noble laurel, L. nobilis, is a native of the south of Europe, where it sometimes grows as high as 60 ft., still retaining a shrub-like char- acter by throwing up stems from the base ; it is a handsome evergreen, the dark shining leaves of which are wavy on the margin and pleasantly aromatic ; the black berries, of the size of small cherries, are also aromatic. The tree is much cultivated in Europe, and is hardy in favorable situations in England and in the southern United States. Several garden vari- eties are known which differ from the type in the form and color of their leaves. The tree is also called the bay, from the French laie, derived from the Latin bacca; the term bay was formerly applied to berries generally, but is now restricted to those of the laurel. The custom of crowning successful poets with leaves of this tree gives origin to our expres- sion poet laureate ; wreaths of the laurel with the berries (baccce) on were formerly placed Laurel (Lauras nobilis). upon the heads of students who took their de- grees, and were hence known as baccalaureates, a name still retained in the universities, and from which, through the French lachelier, our word bachelor is derived. In the days of Roman greatness the laurel was considered an emblem of victory and likewise of clemency, crowning the victor, and being borne in the hands of the returning soldiery. It is honorably mentioned by Chaucer as the crown of the knights of the round table. The laurel is of little use except as a decorative plant. The leaves and berries were formerly used in medicine as stimulants ; in large quantities they are emetic. A solid oil is obtained from the berries by heat and press- ure ; it has the consistence of butter, a green- ish color, and the odor of the berries; it is still found in commerce as the oil of bays, and has a limited use in veterinary medicine. The leaves, under the name of bay leaves, are used in cookery for flavoring ; the better qualities