Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/655

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LOTUS LOUDOtf 649 to fruits and plants ; and as these are all differ- ent from those included in the botanical genus so named, great confusion has resulted. Homer (Od. ix. 84 et seq.) describes the Lotophagi or lo- tus-eaters as a people on the N. coast of Africa, who were visited by Ulysses in his wanderings, and who endeavored to detain his companions by giving them the lotus to eat. Whoever ate of this fruit wished never again to depart nor to see his native country. This poetical idea is known also to the Arabs, who call it the " fruit of destiny," which is to be eaten in paradise, and has been exquisitely wrought out by Tennyson in his poem "The Lotos-Eaters." What fruit was referred to by the ancients is not known, but numerous conjectures have been made by authors and travellers, and sev- eral widely different plants have been suggest- ed as being the true lotus; no fewer than 11 to which the word is applied are enumerated by F6e (Flore de Virgile, Paris, 1822). Some consider that the weight of testimony rests upon the zizyphus lotus of Linnaeus, which is found indigenous in Tunis and in other parts of Africa. This seems to agree best with the account of Polybius, who describes it as a thorny shrub, which grew in that region of Africa known as Syrtica, with berries of the size of an olive, which were first white and afterward tinged with red, and which had a taste like dates. According to Thomas Shaw ("Travels in Barbary and the Levant," Lon- don, 1738), the lotus arbor of the ancients ap- pears to be the same plant with the onndb or jujube of the Arabs, a shrub very common in various parts of Barbary. It has the leaves, prickles, flowers, and fruit of the zizyphus or jujube, only with this difference, that the fruit here is round, smaller, and more luscious, and the branches are neither so jointed nor crooked. The fruit is still in much repute, tastes something like gingerbread, and is" sold in the markets all over the southern districts of that region. Olaf Celsius had so high an opinion of it, that he described it as the dudaim (mandrake) of the Scriptures. A species of zizyphus, which grows into a large tree, with yellow, farinaceous berries of a delicious taste, was met with by Mungo Park in the interior of Africa ; the berries being exposed to the sun and then pounded, the meal was made into cakes for food. (See JUJUBE.) Munby (Flore de VAlgerie, &c., Paris, 1847) and others con- sider nitraria tridentata as the true lotus tree of the ancients, a shrub found in the deserts near Tunis, producing a succulent fruit of stimulating qualities. The sacred lotus is the nelumbium speciosum, a fine aquatic plant, sa- cred to Osiris and Isis, and regarded in Egyp- tian delineations as signifying the creation of the world. The Egpytian lotus is nymphcea lotus, and the blue lotus of the Nile is N. ccerulea, which occurs also in the decorations upon the ancient Egyptian remains ; and both these beautiful flowers appear also to be favor- ite subjects for Chinese art. LOTZE, Rudolf Hermann, a German philoso- pher, born in Bautzen, Saxony, May 21, 1817. He studied at the gymnasium of Zittau and the university of Leipsic, where he graduated in medicine and philosophy in 1838, and became in 1839 an adjunct professor of philosophy. In 1842 he became extraordinary professor at Leipsic, and in 1844 ordinary professor at Got- tingen, which chair he continued to hold in 1874. In his metaphysical speculations he follows Leibnitz and Herbart, though with characteristic modifications of doctrine. His principal works are : Metaphysilc (Leipsic, 1841); Allgemeine PatJiologie und Therapie als mechanische NaturwissenscJiaften (1842); Logik (1843); Ueber den Begriff der ScJidn- Jieit (Gottingen, 1845) ; Ueber Bedingungen der Kunstsclionheit (1847) ; Allgemeine PJiysi- ologie des Icdrperlichen Lebens (1851) ; Medi- cinische Psychologie (1852); Streitschriften (Leipsic, 1857) ; Milcrolcosmus (3 vols., 1856- '64) ; and GescUcJite der Aesihetik in Deutsch- land (Munich, 1868 et *eq.). LOUDOff. I. A N". E. county of Virginia, separated from Maryland by the Potomac; area, 460 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 20,929, of whom 5,691 were colored. The surface is hilly, having the Blue Ridge on the N. W. border. The Kittoctan mountain is in the middle. The soil varies, but a large portion is fertile. It is traversed by the Washington and Ohio railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 537,026 bushels of wheat, 842,128 of In- dian corn, 120,811 of oats, 32,759 of potatoes, 34,519 Ibs. of wool, 467,363 of butter, and 8,544 tons of hay. There were 5,572 horses, 5,749 milch cows, 11,475 other cattle, 8,934 sheep, and 14,594 swine; 6 manufactories of carriages, 2 of woollen goods, 17 flour mills, 7 tanneries, and 7 currying establishments. Capi- tal, Leesburg. II. An E. county of Tennessee, intersected by the Tennessee river ; area, about 300 sq. m. It has been formed since the cen- sus of 1870. Portions of it are elevated. The soil is generally fertile, and iron and other minerals are found. The East Tennessee, Vir- ginia, and Georgia railroad traverses it. The assessed value of property in 1871 was $1,876,- 541. Capital, Loudon. LOUDOJY, Gideon Ernst. See LAUDON. LOUDON. I. John Claudius, a Scottish horti- culturist, born at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, April 8, 1783, died in London, Dec. 14, 1843. He was educated at Edinburgh, and in 1803 went to London, where he engaged in land- scape gardening, and published several essays on that and kindred subjects. In 1806, with his father, he rented a farm in Middlesex, and subsequently a still larger one in Oxfordshire, where he gave instruction to agricultural pu- pils. In 1812 he retired with a competency, and made a journey of professional observation in Germany and Russia. In 1814, finding that the greater portion of his property had been lost through injudicious investments, he once more applied himself to landscape gardening,