tectorate, "owing to the cessation of troubles in the hinterland." A railway from Abeokuta to Ibadan (66 miles) was opened on March 5, 1901; this line is an extension of the Lagos-Abeokuta railway (60 miles). On December 13, 1901, a branch line from Abeokuta to Aro was opened. Native opinion favors railway construction.

LANDS, PUBLIC. The business of the United States General Land Office during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, was unusually large. Nearly 10,000 more final homestead entries, covering 1,180,520 more acres, were registered than during any other year since the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, and about 7,400 more original homestead entries, covering over 1,000,000 more acres, were passed than during the preceding year. Of the amount of land disposed of during the year, the total was more than 2,100,000 acres greater than in the previous year, while the cash receipts from all sources, aggregating about $5,000,000, exceeded those of 1899-1900 by nearly $600,000. On June 1, 1901, the acreage of the public domain, including Alaska and excluding the new insular possessions, was 1,809,539,840 acres, of which 914,096,974 acres were undisposed of, 147,356,902 acres were reserved for various purposes, and 748,085,964 acres were appropriated, or embraced in selections, filings, and entries, and in school grants. All public lands, before being disposed of, i.e., before title passes, must be surveyed. On June 1, 1901, of the above-mentioned 914,096,974 acres undisposed of, 312,177,366 had been surveyed. During the fiscal year the area covered by accepted surveys was 8,810,837 acres, at a cost of $325,000, the largest areas surveyed being in North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, Oregon, Arizona, and Utah, and the smallest in Florida and Alaska. The total amount of land disposed of during the year was 15,562,796 acres, an increase of 2,108,908 acres. Of this land, 1,301,669 represented cash sales, 109,347 Indian lands, and 14,151,780 acres miscellaneous entries, such as original homestead entries, state, railroad, and wagon-road selections, Indian allotments, swamp-land patents, etc. Of these 14,000,000 odd acres of miscellaneous entries, 9,479,275 acres were original homestead entries, an increase over the important preceding year of 7,378 entries and 1,018,866 acres. During the year, patents of the class denominated agricultural were issued to the number of 42,237, containing approximately 6,757,920 acres, an increase of 12,689 patents and 2,030,240 acres. There were 1,388 mineral and mill-site patents issued, aggregating an area of 50,852 acres, a decrease in the number of patents, but an increase of the area of mineral land patented by 8,500 acres, falling principally in Arizona, Arkansas, and Colorado. During the fiscal year the amount of land certified or patented on account of railroad grants was 2,470,805 acres, an increase of 1,193,232 acres; 165,547 acres, an increase of 104,046, were patented under the several grants to aid in the construction of wagon-roads. In addition to various rights of way granted for railroad, irrigation, and other purposes, lists were filed for reclaimed lands, under the state desert-land segregation law, by Idaho for 248,651 acres, and Wyoming for 82,617 acres; lists of 6,528 acres by Idaho and 77,199 acres by Wyoming were approved during the year, and a patent for 7,306 acres issued to Wyoming. In southern California the report of the United States land commissioners records that the suspensions of townships alleged to contain valuable oil deposits, from disposition under the agricultural laws, and the examination of the lands by a special agent, have allayed to a certain extent the excitement heretofore existing caused by the supposed appropriation of these lands by lien selectors or "scrippers." Relating to other States, an act extending the mining laws to saline lands was approved January 31, 1901. A large and important territory was thrown open to the people in the early part of the fiscal year 1901-02, as described in the article on OKLAHOMA.

Public Domain in the Insular Possessions.-With the acquisition of islands in the Pacific and the West Indies the United States has come into possession of large tracts of public lands of great value, but involving many perplexing problems. According to the report of the Taft commission, it has been impossible to obtain accurate data or information with reference to the public domain in the Philippines, and the same is true of Porto Rico. In Hawaii the conditions are more satisfactory. So far as the former Spanish possessions are concerned, no intelligent action can be taken looking either to the surveying or disposal of the public lands until sufficient reliable data have been furnished through some competent and trustworthy source. In Porto Rico the approximate extent of public domain is believed to be about 900,000 acres. An application for a survey of a part of these lands has already been made to the Interior Department; but at the present time that department has not been given jurisdiction over Porto Rican lands by Congress, and the general land office states that it is not aware of any law under which these lands can at present be either surveyed or sold. In the Philippine Islands the public domain is very large, some estimates placing it as high as one-half the area of the archipelago (See PHILIPPINES.) These public lands are largely in the more remote and inaccessible portions of the islands. They contain immense areas of valuable forests,

and mines of coal, iron, copper, gold, and other mineral deposits. According to the best authorities the Spanish mining laws must continue in force until modified by direct act of Congress, and this body decided in an act passed March 2, 1901, that no lease, sale, or other disposal shall be made of mining and other rights in the Philippines. The Taft commission has called upon the general land office to furnish the Philippine engineer officer with information as to the system of surveys now in use in the United States; but it is not known that any definite steps toward surveying the Philippine lands have as yet been taken. In Hawaii a definite system of surveys has been carried out. The island of Maui is divided by triangulation into 13 districts, which are subdivided and resubdivided. In several of the other islands some form of the rectangular system has been adopted. As the annexation act of 1898 provided that the United States laws relative to public lands should not apply to Hawaii, in 1900 it was enacted that the existing Hawaiian land act should continue in force. During the last session of Congress a bill was introduced to extend the United States general land laws to Hawaii, with rules and regulations for homestead entries. It is the opinion of the general land office that no intelligent recommendations can be made on this subject until a special commission shall be appointed, to collect data sufficient to enable the determination of the amount of the various classes of Hawaiian public lands yet unappropriated. See FORESTRY.

LAOS, an inland district of Indo-China, lying southwest of Tonquin, formerly belonged to the kingdom of Siam, but since 1893 has been a protectorate attached to the French colony of Indo-China. Its area is estimated at about 91,000 square miles and its population at about 1,500,000. Its capital is Luang Prabang, on the Mekong River, with a population of 40,000. The government is in the hands of a French resident, and the cost of administration is borne jointly by the other French IndoChinese dependencies. The local revenue and expenditure balanced in 1900 at 739,000 piastres. The principal products are rice, tobacco, indigo, cotton, and fruits. The commerce is undeveloped because of the difficulty of access to the region. See INDOCHINA.

LATTER-DAY SAINTS. See MORMONS.

LAWN TENNIS. The disappointment of 1901 was the failure of the English team to put in an appearance for the contest for the Davis International Challenge Bowl. The year did not pass, however, without some international competition, owing to a visit to England of the American doubles-champions, Dwight Davis and Holcombe Ward, and one or two other American players. In the English championships, Ward and Davis won their way into the finals, where they fell before the Doherty brothers, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 9-7. The play of the Americans continued to interest the Englishmen, especially the twist service of Davis. Much interest was aroused by the opportunity to compare the widely contrasting styles of these American and British doubles-champion teams.

The usual American victory was scored in the annual United States-Canadian international tournament at Niagara-on-the-Lake, R. D. Little, of Princeton, again winning the singles championship, and Little and Alexander the doubles. In the twenty-first annual tournament of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association, held at Newport, during August 13-21, the championship in singles was won over fifty-seven competitors by William A. Larned, of Summit, N. J., winner of the all-comers' of 1900, three times runner-up, and for nearly a dozen years an aspirant for championship honors. Whitman, three-times champion, did not defend his title in 1901. Larned won every event in which he entered in 1901, except the New Jersey State tournament, where he defaulted to Richard Stevens. The first four rounds disposed of all the competitors but Larned and B. C. Wright. Larned won 6-2, 6-8, 6-4, 6-4, and M. D. Whitman, the champion of 1900, not appearing, Larned became the singles champion of 1901. In doubles, Ward and Davis captured the championship for the third successive year, and won the Championship Doubles Cup, which has been in competition since 1889. Their opponents were Ware and Wright, winners of eastern doubles, who had previously defeated the western doubles champions, Alexander and Little. In the woman's national tournament, held at Philadelphia in June, Miss Marion Jones, of California, won the singles, Miss Parker and Miss Champlin, of Chicago, the doubles, and Miss McAleer and Mr. Copten, of Philadelphia, the mixed event. Harvard won the intercollegiate championshipssingles and doubles. The Eastern States championship was won by W. A. Larned; the Western by R. D. Little; the Middle by W. A. Larned; the Southern by R. D. Little; the Northeastern States by E. Hobart; the Pacific Coast by G. F. Whitney; the Northwestern by D. C. Snow; the Gulf Coast by R. G. Hunt. Various State championships were also played.

LAWSON, JOHN, railway engineer, died at St. Louis, Mo., November 20, 1901. He was born at Manchester, England, August 8, 1805, and while still a boy was apprenticed to George Stephenson, under whose direction he built the first successful

locomotive. Coming to the United States he served as engineer on various railroads, but abandoned this to go into the steamboat business, in which he was successful, and settled at Paducah, Ky., in 1845, when his boats first began to engage in the Cumberland River trade.

LEAD. The production of refined lead from domestic ores in the United States in 1900 amounted to 270,824 short tons, and showed a greater increase over the preceding year than has ever been known. It is not considered likely that a similar increase will be witnessed in 1901, and the total production is estimated at 265.000 short tons. The imports in 1900 amounted to $702,213, as against $216,434 in 1899. The world's production in 1900 was 826,070 metric tons, and the United States ranked first on the list of lead-producing countries.

LEARY, Captain RICHARD PHILLIPS, died at Chelsea, Mass., December 27, 1901. He was born at Baltimore, November 3, 1842, and left the Naval Academy in 1860, before completing his course, to join the blockading squadron off Charleston. From 1865 to 1868 he was on the European station, and after serving on a number of special assignments, he was made a commander in 1882, and attained the rank of captain in 1897. During the Samoan troubles of 1888 he won the title of "Fighting Dick" Leary, when his picturesque defiance of a German warship prevented the restoration of the Tamasese government. In 1899 Captain Leary was made governor of Guam, and conducted a vigorous administration of its affairs. In 1900 he was recalled, suffering from heart trouble, and was assigned to duty at the League Island Navy Yard. On the day before his death he was retired with the rank of rearadmiral.

LECITHIN, a collection of allied bodies, called lecithines, in physiological chemistry, composed of glycerine derivatives joined to cholin, phosphoric acid, and fatty acids. Lecithin exists in the tissues of brain and nerves, the yolk of the egg, bile, amniotic fluid, and some vegetables. It is insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, chloroform, benzine, and some oils. It crystallizes from an alcoholic solution in plaque-like or acicular crystals. Lecithin has been used largely in 1901, with varying success, in tuberculosis. H. Claude and Almy, in the Comptes Soc. de Biologie, report arrest of loss of weight, and, later, actual gain in weight, in guinea pigs experimentally infected with tubercle. Huchard, in Journal des Praticiens, report increase of weight and decrease in loss of sugar in a patient suffering from diabetes and incipient tuberculosis. He administered 4-grain doses of lecithin 5 times a day for 6 weeks. In another case, that of a feeble, emaciated woman suffering with gastric ulcer of 6 months' duration, 4 grains of lecithin hypodermically every day for 15 days was followed by subsidence of vomiting, return of appetite, and a gain of 8 pounds in weight. In 27 days she was discharged from hospital. The remedy appears to modify nutrition favorably and to diminish the elimination of phosphorus. In many cases similar results are obtained from a diet of which eggs form a prominent part.

LE CONTE, JOSEPH, professor of geology and natural history in the University of California, died in Yosemite Valley, July 6, 1901. Of Huguenot ancestry, he was born in Liberty County, Ga., February 26, 1823, and was educated at the University of Georgia and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, graduating from the latter institution in 1845. Previously, however, he had taken an active interest in scientific pursuits, and in 1844 he was a member of the first prospecting and exploring party to visit the rich mineral regions of Lake Superior. On this trip he explored not only the shores of the lake but the head-waters of the Mississippi and the northern part of Minnesota. After practicing medicine in Macon, Ga., for five years, Le Conte was drawn anew to the study of science, and for several years worked under Professor Agassiz at Harvard. In 1851, after receiving the degree of B.S. from Harvard he accepted the professorship of natural science in Oglethorpe University, Georgia, and in the following year became professor of geology and natural history in the University of Georgia. This chair he resigned in 1856 to accept a similar position in the University of South Carolina at Columbia, which he held until the Civil War. During this period he rendered valuable assistance to the Confederate government, serving as chemist to the government laboratory for the manufacture of medicines, and as chemist for the Nitre and Mining Bureau at Columbia, of which his brother, John, was the director. In 1868 he was called to the new University of California. Professor Le Conte's work as a geologist covered a broad range of subjects, and many important discoveries and critical papers resulted from his excursions and explorations. Among these were the study of the Cascade Mountains, in which their age, character, and relation to the great Columbia lava flood were determined, a description of the glaciers of the Sierra Nevada, and the study and classification of ore deposits. He has also made important contributions to the philosophy of geology, particularly as regards the structure and origin of the earth. His interesting book on Sight was the result of a series of papers on binocular vision published in various scientific journals, and showed

that he was at home in other branches of science than geology. He also published a number of papers on medical, chemical, and other scientific subjects, and in addition to his monographs in scientific journals and reports was well known for his Elements of Geology, first published in 1878. A more elementary presentation of the same subject followed in 1884, under the title of Compend of Geology. Professor Le Conte was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and numerous other learned societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of America, having served as president of the last two organizations. He was also a member of the editorial boards of Science and the Journal of Geology.

LEEWARD ISLANDS, so called from their location in relation to the tradewinds, constitute one of the colonies of Great Britain in the West Indies. They have a federal organization, to some extent representative, consisting of the five presidencies of Antigua (with Barbuda and Redonda); St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis (with Anguilla); Dominica; Montserrat; and the Virgin Islands, each of which retains its own local legislature. The total area of the colony is 701 square miles, and the population (1900), 140,576. The seat of government is St. John, on the island of Antigua. The government is vested in a governor (Sir Henry Moore Jackson), to whom the administrators and commissioners of the several presidencies are subordinate, and in a federal legislative council. The revenue in 1900 was £119,450, and the expenditure £131,973. The public debt amounts to £293,321. The total imports for 1900 were valued at £346,395, the largest since 1896, and the exports £279,020, a decline from £351,429 in 1899. Of the imports 40 per cent. came from Great Britain and 40 per cent. from the United States. The very considerable decline in exports was due, according to the colonial secretary, entirely to the decreased production of sugar, which ordinarily forms two-thirds of the exports, and which showed a falling off in 1900 of £72,000.

Antigua, the most populous of the Leeward Islands, has an area of 108 square miles, and in 1901 a population of 34.953. With it for administrative purposes are joined the islands of Barbuda and Redonda, the three forming a presidency of the Leeward Islands colony. St. John, its capital as well as the seat of the federal government, has a population (1901) of 9,262. Antigua has been a crown colony since 1898. The revenue in 1900 was £42,652, and the expenditure £49,435. There is a public debt of £137,071. Imports in 1900 were valued at £116,639, and exports at £105,580, a falling off of £23,000 since 1899. The island is very fertile, and the chief products are sugar (of which the export amounted to 24,572 tons in 1898-1900), and rum, molasses, and arrowroot.

Dominica, the largest of the British Leeward Islands, of which colony it forms a presidency, has an area of 291 square miles and a population (1901) of 29,000. Twothirds of the inhabitants speak French. The chief town, Roseau, has a population of 6,000 The government has been, since 1898, that of a crown colony, being vested in an administrator and an appointive legislative council. In 1900 the revenue was £28,112, the greatest on record, and the expenditure £27,889. The imports for 1900 were £80,144, exceeding those of 1899 by £10,000. Dominica is the only one of the Leeward Islands showing an increase in exports, the figures being £65,766 for 1899 and £68,452 for 1900. The latter year was prosperous, the cultivation of sugar having been practically abandoned, and that of coffee, cacao, limes, and fruit increased. Montserrat has an area of 32 square miles and a population (1901) of 12,215. Plymouth is its chief town (population, 1,461). The presidency is administered by a commissioner assisted by executive and legislative councils. The revenue amounted in 1900 to £18,394, and the expenditure £17,266. The public debt is £11,450. The imports, which remain nearly stationary from year to year, were £20,587 in 1900, but the exports, largely sugar, fell from £15,569 in 1899, to £8,287 in 1900.

St. Christopher, popularly called St. Kitts, together with Nevis and Anguilla, forming a presidency of the Leeward Islands colony, had a total population of 46,446 in 1901. St. Christopher (area 65 square miles, and population about 30,000) contains some of the most effectively cultivated sugar plantations in the West Indies. Nevis has an area of 50 square miles and 12,774 inhabitants, and Anguilla, 35 square miles and about 3,900 inhabitants. Basseterre (population, 9.962 in 1901), on the island of St. Christopher, is the seat of government of the presidency, which had a revenue (1900) of £39,904 and an expenditure of £42,832. The total imports were £136,435, and the exports, mostly sugar, limes, cacao, and coffee, were £159,834 in 1899, and £109,783 in 1900.

Virgin Islands, the name applied to the islands belonging to Great Britain, in the group of which the Danish West Indies form the principal part, constitute the most northerly presidency of the Leeward Islands colony. The three islands, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Anegada, have a combined area of 58 square miles, and a population (1901) of 4,908. The capital, Roadtown, on Tortola, had a population of 352. There is good pasturage, and cotton and sugar-cane are cultivated. The revenue