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342 LENORMAND LENS gonnerie rendue d sa veritable origine (5 vols., 1814) ; and Nouveaux essais sur les hieroglyphes (4 vols., 1819-'22). II. Alexandre Albert, a French architect, son of the preceding, born in Paris, Oct. 21, 1801. He studied under Debret in Paris and in Italy, and was the architect of a museum in the Palais des Thermes, uniting this palace with the museum of Cluny. In 1862 he became secretary of the school, and in 1869 a member of the academy of fine arts. His principal works are : Architecture et archeologie (Paris, 1839) ; Architecture militaire au moyen age et monuments religieux du moyen age (1847) ; and Architecture monastique (1852). LENORMAND, Marie Anne Adelaide, a French fortune-teller, born in Alencon, May 27, 1772, died in Paris, June 25, 1843. She was of a respectable family, but owing to the death of her father received a very incomplete educa- tion, and was for some time a seamstress. About 1790 she went to Paris, and entered a linen shop as saleswoman. In 1793 she formed a partnership with Mme. Gilbert and a baker's boy named Flammermont for the purpose of carrying on the trade of fortune-telling. Hav- ing been complained of to the police, ffhe was arrested and imprisoned for several months. After obtaining her freedom she opened a " cabinet of divination." Her popularity was remarkable ; during 40 years she was con- stantly visited by persons of all ranks. The court of Napoleon itself contributed much to bring her into vogue, and her ignorance and commonplace manner of divining did not in- jure her credit. After the fall of the empire she went to Aix-la-Chapelle, to the congress of the allied sovereigns, where she attracted much attention, especially from the emperor Alexander. She was arrested in 1809 in consequence of "indiscreet revelations," and again in 1821 for some political offence con- tained in a book published by her under the title of La sibylle au congrfa d* Aix-la-Cha- pelle. About 1830 she sank into obscurity, and finally died at the age of 71, after pre- dicting in one of her books that she should live to the age of 125. She became rich by her calling. She published many pamphlets, and a few books of no value with the excep- tion of her Souvenirs de la Belgique, cent jours d'infortune (1822), and the Memoires histo- riques et secrets de V imperatrice Josephine. &c. (3 vols., 1829). LENORMANT. I. Charles, a French archaeol- ogist, born in Paris, June 1, 1802, died in Athens, Nov. 24, 1859. He studied law, but during a visit to Italy became interested in archaeology. In 1825 he was made inspec- tor of fine arts ; and in 1828 he accompanied the younger Champollion to Egypt, and sub- sequently explored the Morea. Returning to Paris, he held important positions in connec- tion with art, antiquities, and numismatics. In 1835 he was adjunct professor to Guizot in the Sorbonne, but resigned in consequence of his alleged ultramontane views. In 1848 he was made professor of Egyptology in the college de France. Besides many special memoirs, he wrote, separately or in conjunc- tion with others, Des artistes contemporains (2 vols., 1833) ; Tresor de numismatique et de glyptique (5 vols., 1836-'50) ; lite des monu- ments ceramo-graphiques (4 vols., 1837-'61) ; Introduction d Vhistoire orientale (1838) ; Musee des antiquites egyptiennes (1842); and Questions historiques (1848 ; 2d ed., 2 vols., 1854). His wife, AMLIE, a niece of Mme. Recamier, acquired celebrity as a leader of fashion and by her anonymous works, among which are: Souvenirs et correspondance tires des papiers de Mme. Recamier (2 vols., 1859) ; Coppet et Weimar : Mme. de Sta'el et la grande duchesse Louise (1862) ; and Quatrefemmes au temps de la revolution (1865). II. Francois, a French archaeologist, son of the preceding, born in Paris in 1835. He was educated by his father, and in 1874 succeeded Beule as professor of archaeology in the national library. He has published Manuel d'histoire ancienne de Vorient (in conjunction with E. Chevallier, 3 vols., 1868-'9; English ed., 2 vols., London and Philadelphia, 1869-'70) ; Lettres assyriolo- giques et epigraphiques (2 vols., 187l-'2); Etudes accadiennes (1873 et seq.); La magie chez les Assyriens (1874); Souvenirs d'enfanco et de jeunesse de Chateaubriand (1874) ; and Les premieres civilisations (1874). LENOX, a town of Berkshire co., Massachu- setts, on the Housatonic river and railroad, 110 m. W. of Boston and 125 m. N. by E. of New York; pop. in 1870, 1,965. The principal vil- lage is situated on the summit of a range of hills, and has a number of elegant residences. In beauty of natural scenery Lenox is not surpassed by any town in western Massachusetts, and has become a favorite summer resort. It abounds in marble of excellent quality, which has been employed in the construction of public build- ings in Washington and elsewhere, and also in iron ore, and contains extensive iron works, manufactories of window and plate glass, seven public schools, including a high school, and an incorporated academy. Lenox was settled in 1750, and incorporated in 1767, receiving the family name of the duke of Richmond. LENS (Lat. lens or lentis, a lentil or pea), a transparent body used for refracting light. A convex lens is usually of the form of two seg- ments of spheres, united by their bases ; such a lens is called a double convex; if the lens consist of only one segment of a sphere, that is, is spherical on one side and plane on the other, it is called a plano-convex lens. A con- cave lens, on the contrary, has a concavity on either side, into which part of a sphere will fit, and is called a double concave ; if one side is plane and the other concave, it is called plano-concave. When one side of the lens is convex and the other concave, if the edges of the lens are thinner than the centre, it is called concavo-convex, and also a converging menis- cus ; if the centre of the lens is thinner than