Lima.

Lime.

It

LIMA WOOD, a name of the dye-wood also called Pernambuco wood, Nicaragua wood, and peach wood, the heart-wood of Casalpinia echinata. See BRAZIL WOOD. is extensively used for dyeing red and peach-color.

LIMAX and LIMACIDAE. See SLUG.

LIMB, the border or edge of the disk of a heavenly body, particularly the sun and moon. The name is applied to the graduated circle of an instrument for measuring angles. A concentric arc used for subdividing the spaces or degrees on the limb, is called a vernier. There are two limbs on a theodolite, one for measuring horizontal and another for measuring vertical angles, called respectively the horizontal and the vertical limb. The graduated staff of a leveling rod is often called a limb, the graduated line on the vane being called the vernier.

The one half consists of the carriage itself, with the gun; while the limber, a two-wheeled carriage, fitted with boxes for the field-ammunition of the piece, and having shafts to which the horses are At the back-part, the limber has a strong hook, to haruessed, forms the remainder. which, on the march, is attached the foot of the gun-carriage by a ring. This constitutes In at once a four-wheeled frame, which, while easier for transport than a gun on two wheels only, has the advantage of keeping together the gun and its ammunition. It is then unlimmarching, the gun points to the rear; but in coming to action, the artillerymen, by a rapid evolution, wheel round, so that the gun points to the front. bered, or unhooked, and the limber conveyed far enough to the rear to be out of the way of the men working the piece. To limber up again and retreat or pursue is the work but of a few moments.

LIMBER is half the field-equipage of a cannon or howitzer.

LIMBO. See LIMBUS, ante.

LIM BORCH, PHILIPPUS VAN, 1633-1712; b. Amsterdam; was educated in theology, and in 1657 made minister at Gonda, and ten years later professor of theology at the Remonstrant college of Amsterdam. He was a careful student of the doctrines of Arminius, and wrote Theologia Christiana, an elaborate and profound analysis of them, published 1686 and highly praised by Hallam. He was in frequent correspondence with John Locke.

LIM BURG, an old province of Belgium, which, after having formed part of Belgium, France, Holland, and Austria, was, in 1839, divided between Belgium and Holland.— BELGIAN LIMBURG, or LIMBOURG, in the n.e. of the kingdom, is separated from Holland by the Meuse up to lat. 51° 9′ n., and thence by a line running e.n.e. to the northern There boundary of the kingdom. The surface of the province is flat, and a large portion of it is occupied by barren heath; but in the s. and center there is good arable land. is excellent pasturage along the banks of the Meuse, and large herds of cattle and swine are here reared. The manufactures include soap, salt, pottery, paper, tobacco, strawThe area of the province is 928 English sq.m., and the pop. '76, hats, beet-sugar, etc. 206,187. The capital of the province is Hasselt (q.v.).

LIMBURG, a province of Holland, which was once also a duchy in the Germanic confederation, forms the s.e. corner of the kingdom, being contiguous to the Belgian Its surface is generally level, and the soil is poor, a great province of the same name. part of it consisting of moors and marshes. However, in the valleys of the Meuse and its chief tributaries, excellent crops of grain, hemp, flax, oil-seeds, etc., are raised, and cattle and sheep reared. There are many manufactories of gin, tobacco, soap, leather, paper, and glass. The capital is Maestricht (q.v.). Area, 848 English sq.m.; pop. '75, 232,562.

LIMBURG-ON-THE-LAHN. A t. in the duchy of Nassau annexed to Prussia in 1866; seat of the Catholic bishopric of Fribourg; pop. about 5,000. It is one of the most ancient cities of Germany. The "Chronicles of Limbourg," in one of its libraries, is one of the oldest and most important historical manuscripts of Europe. The cathedral of St. George, built in the 13th c. on a crag overlooking the valley of the river, is remarkable for its picturesqueness. Near this town the French gen. Jourdan was defeated by the Austrians in 1796.

LIM'BUS (Lat. limbus, a border), the name assigned in Roman Catholic theology to that place or condition of departed souls in which those are detained who have not offended by any personal act of their own, but, nevertheless, are not admitted to the divine vision. They distinguish it into the limbus patrum and the limbus infantium. By the former name they understand the place of those just who died before the coming of the Redeemer, and of whom it is said (1 Peter iii. 19) that he preached to those spirits that were in prison. By the latter is meant the place or state of the souls of infants who die without baptism. See HELL. Regarding the nature of both these places of deten tion, great variety of opinion prevails in Roman Catholic schools. See Wetser's KirchenHöllenfahrt Christi.' Lexicon, art."

LIME is the oxide of the metal calcium (q.v.), and is known in chemistry as one of the alkaline earths. Its symbol is CaO, its equivalent is 28, and its specific gravity is 3.18. In a state of purity it is a white caustic powder, with an alkaline reaction, and so infusible as to resist even the heat of the oxhydrogen jet. See DRUMMOND LIGHT. It

is obtained by heating pure carbonate of lime (as, for instance, Carrara marble or Iceland spir) to full redness, when the carbonic acid is expelled and lime is left. Commercial lime, which is obtained by burning common limestone in a kiln, is usually very far from pure. This compound (CaO) is known as quicklime, or, from the ordinary method of obtaining it, as burned lime, to distinguish it from the hydrate of lime or slaked lime, which is represented by the formula CaO, HO. On pouring water on quicklime, there is an augmentation of bulk, and the two enter into combination; and if the proportion of water be not too great, a light, white, dry powder is formed, and a great heat is evolved. On exposing the hydrate to a red heat, the water is expelled, and quicklime

is left.

If quicklime, instead of being treated with water, is simply exposed to the air, it slowly attracts both aqueous vapor and carbonic acid, and becomes what is termed airslaked, the resulting compound in this case being a powder which is a mixture (or possibly a combination) of carbonate and hydrate of lime.

Lime is about twice as soluble in cold as in boiling water, but even cold water only takes up about of its weight of lime. This solution is known as lime-water, and is much employed both as a medicine and as a test for carbonic acid, which instantly renders it turbid, in consequence of the carbonate of lime that is formed being more insoluble even than lime itself. It must, of course, be kept carefully guarded from the atmosphere, the carbonic acid of which would rapidly affect it. If, in the preparation of slaked lime, considerably more water is used than is necessary to form the hydrate, a white semi-fluid matter is produced, which is termed milk of lime. On allowing it to stand, there is a deposition of hydrate of lime, above which is lime-water.

The use of lime in the preparation of mortars and cements is described in the articles on these subjects. Lime is also largely employed as a manure (see below), and in the purification of coal gas, in the preparation of hides for tanning, for various laboratory processes (from its power of attracting water), etc. Its medicinal uses are noticed below.

The following are the most important of the salts of lime. Sulphate of lime (CaO, SO3) occurs free from water in the mineral anhydrite, but is much more abundant in combination with two equivalents of water in selenite, and in the different varieties of gypsum and alabaster. See GYPSUM.

Carbonate of lime (CaO,CO2) is abundantly present in both the inorganic and organic kingdoms. In the inorganic kingdom it occurs in a crystalline form in Iceland spar, Aragonite, and marble-in which it is found in minute granular crystals-while in the amorphous condition it forms the different varieties of limestone, chalk, etc. It is always present in the ashes of plants, but here it is, at all events, in part the result of the combustion of citrates, acetates, malates, etc., of lime. It is the main constituent of the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, and occurs in considerable quantity in the bones of man and other vertebrates. Carbonate of lime, held in solution by free carbonic acid, is also present in most spring and river waters, and in sea-water. Stalactites, stalagmites, tufa, and travertin are all composed of this salt, deposited from calcareous waters. Certain forms of carbonate of lime-the Portland and other oolites, some of the magnesian limestones, etc.-are of extreme value for building purposes, and the various uses of the finer marbles (q.v.) are too well known to require comment.

There is a combination of lime with an organic acid, viz., oxalate of lime, which is of great importance in pathology as a frequent constituent of urinary calculi and sediments; for a description of it see OXALIC ACID.

The soluble salts of lime (or, more accurately speaking, of calcium) give no precipitate with ammonia, but yield a white precipitate (of carbonate of lime) with carbonate of potash or of soda. These reactions are, however, common to the salts of barium, strontium, and calcium. Solution of sulphate of lime produces no marked effect when added to a salt of calcium, but throws down a white sulphate with the other salts. The most delicate test for lime is oxalate of ammonia, which, even in very dilute neutral or alkaline solutions, throws down a white precipitate of oxalate of lime.

There are several compounds of phosphoric acid and lime, of which the most important is the basic phosphate of lime, sometimes termed bone phosphate, from its being the chief ingredient of bones. The basic phosphate is represented by the formula 3CaO, POs, and not only occurs in bones, but also in the minerals apatite and phosphorite, and in the rounded nodules termed coprolites, which are found in the Norfolk crag. It forms four-fifths of the ash of well-burned bone, the remaining one-fifth being carbonate of lime. This ash is known as bone-earth, and is employed as a manure and in the preparation of phosphorus, etc.

The substance commonly designated as chloride of lime has been already described in the article BLEACHING POWDER.

Lime as Manure.—This mineral substance has been used for many centuries as a means of increasing the fertility of land. All crops require a certain amount, as is found by analyzing the ash which remains after combustion. It is sometimes supplied, without previous preparation, in the form of marl and chalk, but in most cases is first calcined and reduced to a fine powder by slaking with water. The quantity of calcined lime applied varies from three to eight tons to the acre. The smaller quantity may be sufficient for light land containing little vegetable matter, while the larger may be

Lime.
Limerick.

Lime required for strong land, or for land holding much organic matter in an inert state. The large quantity of lime applied shows that its manurial effect is due more to its producing a certain chemical effect on the land than to its affording nutriment to the crops. promotes the decomposition of all kinds of vegetable matter in the soil, and, further, it corrects any acidity in the organic matter, and thus destroys those weeds which are favored by such a condition of the soil. It assists in the decomposition of certain salts whose bases form the food of plants, and in this way it may be said to digest or prepare their food. On certain kinds of land, the finer grasses do not thrive until the land has been limed, and in these cases its use becomes all-important. Lime is the only cure, too, that can be relied on for "finger-and-toe" in turnips, and its use is, from this cause, becoming more general.

Lime-water, Lime-Compounds in Materia Medica.-Quicklime, in association with potash, either as the potassa cum calce, or as Vienna paste, is occasionally used as a caustic. From half an ounce to two or three mixed with an equal quantity or an excess of milk, is one of our best remedies for the vomiting dependent on irritability of the stomach. ounces may be thus taken three or four times a day. Its use as a constituent of carron Chalk, or carbonate of lime, when freed oil in burns is noticed in the article LINIMENTS. from the impurities with which it is often associated, is used as a dusting-powder in moist excoriations, ulcers, etc.; and in the form of chalk mixture and compound powder of chalk, is a popular remedy in various forms of diarrhea. A mixture of an ounce of precipitated carbonate of lime and a quarter of an ounce of finely powdered camphor, is sold as camphorated cretaceous tooth-powder.

LIME, Citrus acida, a fruit similar to the lemon (q.v.), but much smaller, being only about 1 inches in diameter, and almost globular, with a thin rind, and an extremely acid It is a juice. It is regarded by many botanists as a variety of the same species with the citron and lemon. The plant does not attain the magnitude of a tree, but is a shrub of about 8 ft. in height, with a crooked trunk, and many spreading prickly branches. native of India and China, but has long been cultivated in the West Indies, the s. of Europe, etc. In the West Indies, it is planted both for the sake of its fruit and for hedges. The fruit is used for the same purposes as the lemon; but its acid is by many reckoned more agreeable. Lime-juice is imported into Britain like lemon juice for the manufacture of citric acid, and it is itself used as a beverage.-The sweet lime (C. limetta of Risso), cultivated in the s. of Europe, appears to be a mere variety, probably the result of cultivation, with a sub-acid pulp.

LIME, or LINDEN, Tilia, a genus of trees of the natural order tiliacea, natives of Europe, the n. of Asia, and North America. The species are very similar; graceful, umbrageous trees; with deciduous, heart-shaped, serrated leaves, and cymes or panicles of rather small yellowish flowers; each cyme or panicle accompanied with a large, oblong, yellowish, membranous bractea, with netted veins, the lower part of which adheres to the flower-stalk. The wood is light and soft, but tough, durable, and particularly suitable for carved work. It is much used by turners, and for making pill-boxes. The charcoal made of it is often used for tooth-powder, for medicinal purposes, for crayons, and for the manufacture of gunpowder. The use of the fibrous inner bark for making ropes, mats, and other plaited work, is noticed in the article BAST. It is also used as a healing application to wounds and sores, being very mucilaginous, and abounding in a bland sap. The leaves are in some countries used as food for cattle, but cows fed on them produce bad butter. The flowers have an agreeable odor, and abound in honey, much sought after by bees. The celebrated Kowno honey, much valued for medicinal use and for making liqueurs, is the produce of great lime forests near Kowno, in Lithuania. The infusion and distilled water of the dried flowers are gently sudorific and antispasmodic. The former is in France a popular remedy for catarrhis. The seeds abound in a fixed sweet oil.-The EUROPEAN LIME, or LINDEN (T. Europaa), often attains a large size, particularly in rich alluvial soils. Some botanists distinguish a small-leaved kind (T. parvifolia or microphylla) and a large-leaved (T. grandifolia) as different species; others regard them as mere varieties. The HOODED or CAPUCHIN LIME is an interesting monstrous variety. The lime tree is often planted for shade in towns; and the principal street of Berlin is called Unter den Linden, from the rows of lime trees which line it. The lime is a very doubtful native of Britain, although indigenous on the continent from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. In Britain, the lime tree is generally propagated by layers.-The AMERICAN LIME (T. Americana, or T. glabra), commonly called BASSWOOD in America, has larger leaves than the European species. It Other species take its place in more abounds on the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario. western and more southern regions.

LIM ERICK, an inland co. of the province of Munster. in Ireland, separated by the Shannon on the n. from Clare, and bounded on the e. by Tipperary, on the s. by Cork, and on the w. by Kerry. Its extreme length is 35 m., its breadth 54 m.; area, 1064 sq.m, or 680,842 acres. Pop. '71. inclusive of the city of Limerick, 191,936; of whom 147.39 were Roman Catholics. The county returns two members to parliament. The surface of Limerick is an undulating plain, which forms part of the central carboniferous limestone plain of Ireland. A mountainous district on the w. belongs to the great coal-tract of Munster, but the coal is of an inferior quality, and is chiefly used for the

Limerick.

burning of lime. Within a short distance of the city of Limerick is a quarry which produces a reddish-brown marble of fine quality, as well as a black marble of inferior value. More than one of the districts contains iron, copper, and lead ores; but at present no mining operations are carried on. The soil in general is very fertile, especially the district called the Golden Vale, which comprises upwards of 150.000 acies; as also a portion of the left bank of the Shannon below Limerick. Of the entire acreage of the County, 526.876 acres are arable, and 121,101 unsuited to cultivation. In general the soil is equally fitted for tillage and for pasture. In 1876 172,941 acres were under crops of various kinds, only 858 being reported fallow. In the same year the number of cattle was 200,308; of sheep, 70.000: and of pigs, 66,180. The national schools in 1875 were attended by 37,444 pupils, of whom 36,682 were Roman Catholics.

The principal towns of Limerick are the city of that name, Newcastle, and Rathkeale. Of the secondary rivers, the Deel and the Maigue are the most in portant. The great highway of water communication, however, is the Shaur on itself, the navigation of which has been much improved, and in which the harbor of Foynes promises to form the nucleus of an extended foreign trade. Limerick communicates by railway with Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Ennis. The population is chiefly occupied in agriculture, hardly any manufactures existing outside the city. Limerick anciently formed part of the territory of Thomond, the principality of the O'Briens. After the English invasion, it fell, through many vicissitudes, in great part to the Desmond Fitzgeraldsthe confiscated estates of the last carl in Limerick contained no fewer than 96,165 acres. On the forfeitures after 1641 and 1690, it was parceled out to new proprietors. Limerick is more than usually rich in antiquities, both ecclesiastical and civil, of the Celtic as well as of the Anglo-Norman period. There were at one time nearly 40 religious foundations of the O'Briens alone, and the ruins of about 100 castles are still in existence. The ecclesiastical remains of Adare are exceedingly interesting, two of the ancient churches having been restored, one as the Protestant, the other as the Catholic parish church. Two other monastic ruins, in very good preservation, form a group of ecclesiastical remains hardly surpassed, in number and picturesqueness, even in the most favored districts of England.

LIMERICK, city, capital of the county just described, is situated on the river Shannon, 120 m. w.s. w. from Dublin, with which it is connected by the great Southern and Western railway. Pop. in '51, 53.448; in '61, 44,626; in '71, 39,353, of whom 18.022 were males, and 21.331 females. More than 90 per cent were Roman Catholics. Limerick is a parliamentary and municipal borough, and returns two members to parliament. It occupies both sides of the Shannon, together with a tract called King's island, which lies on a bifurcation of the river; and is divided into the English town, the oldest part of the city (and connected with the extensive suburb called Thomond Gate, on the Clare side of the Shannon), and the Irish town, which, within the present century, has extended on the s. bank of the river into what is now the best part of Limerick, called the new town, or Newtown Pery, one of the handsomest towns in Ireland. Limerick is a place of great antiquity. From its position on the Shannon, it was long an object of desire to the Danes, who occupied it in the middle of the 9th c., and held possession till reduced to a tributary condition by Brian Boroimhe, in the end of the 10th century. It was early occupied by the English, and in 1210 king John visited and fortified it. It was afterwards assaulted and partially burned in 1314 by Edward Bruce. Its later history is still more interesting. It was occupied by the Catholic party in 1641, but surrendered to Ireton in 1651. At the revolution, it was the last stronghold of king James. Having been unsuccessfully besieged by William after the victory of the Boyne, it was regularly invested in *^1 by gen. Ginkel, and after a vigorous and brilliant defense of several weeks, an armistice was proposed, which led to the well-known “treaty of Limerick," the alleged violation of which has been the subject of frequent and acrimonious controversy between political parties in Ireland. The so called "treaty stone" still marks the spot, near Thomond bridge, at the entrance of the suburb of Thomond Gate, where this treaty was signed. The modern city of Limerick is more tasteful in its general character, and possesses more of the appliances of commercial enterprise and social culture than most towns of Ireland. Its public buildings, especially the new Roman Catholic cathedral and church of the Redemptorist order, are imposing, and in excellent taste. Its charitable and religious establishments are truly munificent for a provincial town. It possesses several national schools, as well as many other educational institutions. The Shannon at Limerick is still a noble river, navigable for ships of large burden. The docks and quays are on a very extensive and commodious scale; and the export trade is conducted with considerable enterprise. The Wellesley bridge, over the harbor, cost £85,000. The inland navigation is by means of a canal to Killaloe, where it enters lough Derg, and thence by the upper Shannon to Athlone, and by the Grand canal, which issues from the Shannon at Shannon harbor, to Dublin. The manufactures of Limerick are not very extensive, but some of them enjoy rot merely an Irish, but an imperial reputation-such are the manufactures of lace, of gloves, and of fish-hooks. There are several iron-foundries, flour mills, breweries, distiller'es, and tanneries, and of late years the ship building trade has been extended. In 1875 576 vessels, of 138,456 tons, entered, and 354, of 88,811 tons cleared the port.

Limits.

LIMESTONE, the popular as well as technica. name for all rocks which are composed in whole, or to a large extent, of carbonate of lime. Few minerals are so extensively distributed in nature as this, and in some form or other, limestone rocks occur in every geological epoch. Carbonate of lime is nearly insoluble in pure water, but it is rendered easily soluble by the presence of carbonic acid gas, which occurs in a variable quantity in all natural waters, for it is absorbed by water in its passage through the air as well as through the earth. Carbonate of lime in solution is consequently found in all rivers, lakes, and seas. In evaporation, water and carbonic acid gas are given off, but the carbonate of lime remains uninfluenced, becoming gradually concentrated, until it has supersaturated the water, when a precipitation takes place. In this way are formed the stalactites which hang icicle-like from the roofs of limestone caverns, and the stalagmites which rise as columns from their floors. Travertine (Tiber-stone), or calcareous tufa, is similarly formed in running streams, lakes, and springs, by the deposition of the carbonate of lime on the beds or sides, where it incrusts and binds together shells, fragments of wood, leaves, stones, etc. So also birds' nests, wigs, and other objects become coated with lime in the so-called petrifying wells, as that at Knaresborough. From the same cause, pipes conveying water from boilers and mines often become choked up, and the tea-kettle gets lined with "fur."

While water is thus the great store-house of carbonate of lime, very little of it, however, is fixed by precipitation, for in the ocean evaporation does not take place to such an extent as to permit it to deposit, besides there is five times the quantity of free carbonic acid gas in the water of the sea that is required to keep the carbonate of lime in it in solution. Immense quantities of lime are nevertheless being abstracted from the sea to form the hard portions of the numerous animals which inhabit it. Crustacea. mollusca, zoophytes, and foraminifera are ever busy separating the little particles of carbonate of lime from the water, and solidifying them, and so supplying the materials for forming solid rock. It has been found that a large portion of the bed of the Atlantic between Europe and North America is covered with a light-colored ooze, composed chiefly of the perfect or broken skeletons of foraminifera, forming a substance, when dried, which, in appearance and structure, closely resembles chalk. In tropical regions, corals are building reefs of enormous magnitude, corresponding in structure to many rocks in the carboniferous and other formations. The rocks thus organically formed do not always occur as they were originally deposited; denudation has sometimes broken them up to redeposit them as a calcareous sediment. Great changes, too, may have taken place through metamorphic action in the texture of the rock, some limestones being hard, others soft, some compact, concretionary, or crystalline.

The chief varieties of limestone are: chalk (q.v.); oolite (q.v.); compact limestone, a hard, smooth, fine-grained rock, generally of a bluish-gray color; crystalline limestone, a rock which, from metamorphic action, has become granular; fine-grained white varieties, resembling loaf-sugar in texture, are called saccharine or statuary marble. Magne sian limestone or dolomite (q.v.) is a rock in which carbonate of magnesia is mixed with carbonate of lime. Particular names are given to some limestones from the kind of fossils that abound in them, as nummulite, hippurite, indusial, and crinoidal limestones; and to others from the formation to which they belong, as Devonian, carbonif erous, and mountain limestones.

LIMESTONE, a co. in n. Alabama, having the state line of Tennessee for its n. boundary, the Tennessee river for its s., and for its s. w. the Elk river, flowing across the n. w. portion to enter the Tennessee; is drained by various other affluents; 650 sq.m.; pop. '80, 21,600-21,522 of American birth, 9,962 colored. It is intersected centrally from n. to s. by the Nashville and Decatur railroad, and crossed in the s.e. section by the Memphis and Charleston railroad, joining at the Tennessee river. It contains vast quantities of limestone rock, from which the county is named. Its surface is hilly, particularly in the n., and equally divided into prairie and woodland. Cash value of farms in '70, $1,816,510, numbering 1362. Its products are live stock, every variety of grain, tobacco, cotton, wool, sweet potatoes, honey, sorghum, and the products of the dairy. Seat of justice, Athens.

LIMESTONE, a co. in e. Texas, intersected from n. to s. by the Houston and Texas Central railroad; 950 sq.m.; pop. '80, 16,246-15,959 of American birth, 3,171 colored. It is drained by the head waters of the Navasoto river. Its surface is undulating, spreading in sections into broad prairies, with little timber. It has immense quantities of limestone rock, hence its name. Its soil is strong and fertile, producing oats, corn, cotton, wheat, sugar cane, wool, sweet potatoes, and live stock. Cash value of farms in '70. $1,121,390, numbering 483. Seat of justice, Groesbeck.

LIMITATION, in English law, is the limited time allowed to parties to commence their suits or actions, or other proceedings, so as to shorten litigation. In all civilized countries, some period is prescribed by statute (called statutes of limitations, or prescription) with this view, though few countries adopt the same limit, and Scotland differs much from England and Ireland in this point. In England, suits to recover land must generally be brought within 20 years, and to recover debts (including bills of