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LOOMIS LOPEZ 633 Kay of Bury, England, about 1740, by the ap- plication of a fly shuttle ; but the most impor- tant advance was made by Dr. Cartwright in 1787, who, it is said, without ever having seen a loom, constructed one to work by machine power. (For the construction and use of mod- ern looms, see WEAVING.) LOOMIS, Elias, an American mathematician, born in Tolland co., Conn., in August, 1811. He graduated at Yale college in 1830, where he was tutor from 1833 to 1836. He was the first person in America to obtain a view of Halley's comet, at its return in August, 1835, and his observations on that body, with a com- putation of its orbit, were published in the " American Journal of Science." He also made a series of hourly observations on the declina- tion of the magnetic needle, continued through more than a year. In 1836 he visited Europe, spending a year in Paris, where he attended the lectures of Poisson, Biot, Dulong, and Pouillet. Returning home in 1837, he became professor of natural philosophy in the Western Eeserve college, Ohio. Here he made many astronomical and magnetic observations, and kept a full meteorological journal. The larger portion of his researches appear in 10 memoirs contributed to the " Transactions of the Amer- ican Philosophical Society," vols. vii.-x. In 1844 he became professor of natural philoso- phy in the New York university, which office he retained till 1860. A portion of the time between 1845 and 1849 he was employed, un- der the direction of the superintendent of the coast survey, in determining the difference of longitude between New York and other cities, by means of the electric telegraph. In the course of these experiments the velocity of the electric current through telegraph wires was first determined. In 1860 he succeeded Prof. Olmsted as professor of natural philosophy in Yale college. His contributions to science re- late for the most part to astronomy, magnet- ism, and meteorology. Besides the memoirs above referred to, some 30 or more papers of his have appeared in the " American Journal of Science ;" one, on storms, in the " Smithso- nian Contributions to Knowledge;" two as- tronomical papers in Gould's " Astronomical Journal;" and one or more yearly in the "Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science." He has also published the following works : " Plane and Spherical Trigonometry" (New York, 1848); "Progress of Astronomy" (1850 and 1856); "Analytical Geometry and Calculus," and "Elements of Algebra" (1851); "Ele- ments of Geometry and Conic Sections" (1851 and 1871); "Tables of Logarithms" (1855); " Natural Philosophy " (1858) ; " Practical As- tronomy" (1855 and 1865); "Elements of Arithmetic" (1863); "Treatise on Meteor- ology" (1868); "Elements of Astronomy" (1869) ; and " The Descendants of Joseph Loo- mis" (1870). LOOff, a web-footed bird. See DIVEE. LOOSESTRIFE. See LYSIMAOHIA, and LY- THETJM. LOPE DE VEGA. See VEGA. LOPEZ. I. Carlos Antonio, president of Para- guay, born in Asuncion, Nov. 4, 1790, died there, Sept. 10, 1862. He received the best education attainable in the ecclesiastical semi- nary of Asuncion, and escaped the persecution of Dr. Francia, the dictator, only by hiding him- self for many years in a remote village. On the death of Francia in September, 1840, he re- turned to Asuncion, when, being the only native of Paraguay having any knowledge of theories of government, he became the secretary of the military junta then exercising supreme power. In 1841 he was one of the two consuls elected for three years, and in 1844 the congress elect- ed him president for ten years. In 1854 he was reflected for three years, and again in 1857 for seven years, with power to appoint his tem- porary successor by will. His government was arbitrary, but in general not oppressive or san- guinary. He gradually opened Paraguay to foreign trade and immigration, made treaties with several powers, laid the foundations of a formidable army, with suitable fortifications, arsenal, and flotilla, constructed a railway, and provided for the education of numerous youths in European mechanical and scientific schools. His extreme jealousy of all encroachments upon the independence of Paraguay brought him into conflict with the dictator Rosas of Buenos Ayres, and his dislike of foreigners in- volved him in diplomatic controversies with England, France, and Brazil, which in each case were carried to the verge of hostilities, from which he escaped by shrewd diplomacy. His treatment of the American consul, and the firing into the exploring steamer Water Witch, in 1855, led to a large American squadron be- ing sent to enforce a demand for reparation, which was promised by a new treaty, but ulti- mately evaded. His long administration greatly advanced the material welfare of Paraguay, and the security of life and property was com- 1 mensurate with the powers which he exercised, unlimited except by laws of his own enact- ing. II. Francisco Solano, president of Para- guay, son of the preceding, born near Asun- cion, July 24, 1827, killed in battle, March 1, 1870. From an early period of his father's administration Francisco was intended as his successor, and he was appointed to the posts of greatest honor. In 1845 he was named commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan army, and spent some time on the frontier of Cor- rientes, nominally but not actually engaged in warfare with the dictator Rosas of Buenos Ayres. In 1854 he was sent with a numerous corps of attaches to exchange treaty ratifica- tions with several European powers, and passed 18 months in Europe. While there he met an Irish lady who called herself Mrs. Lynch, and who lived apart from her husband, a French officer. She followed Lopez to Paraguay, and became his mistress, a position not deemed