of literary civilization in the various European nations, without the support of ancient classical civilization (see Berrington's Literary History of the Middle Ages); and the last begins about 1450, when the study of the classics was renewed, and knowledge revived in Europe.

LITERARY PROPERTY. In the whole compass and variety of the products of human labor, no one thing is more exclusively such than intellectual works. In the fabrication and production of almost all other subjects of value and property, the materials are supplied, directly or indirectly, by the earth or the water; and man only cooperates with nature in furnishing the article. But a piece of music, a painting, a poem, an oration, a history, or a treatise of any description, is the offspring of the unaided labor of the mind. It is supplied from abroad, only with the canvass, paper, parchment, or whatever other substance is used for recording the work, and affording the evidence of its accomplishment, but which is no more a part of the thing produced, than a deed, conveying an estate, is a part of the thing conveyed. But, though the right to the products of intellectual labor is thus peculiarly positive and absolute, it is among the latest rights of property recognised in a community, since the subject of it, the product itself, is only the result of an advanced state of civilization. Another reason of its not attracting a more early attention, is its abstract, incorporeal nature, and also, in some cases, the difficulty of defining and identifying it, and deciding what is an infringement of this right of property; and again, in some countries, speaking the same language as those bordering upon them, the great difficulty of protecting this kind of property from infringement, though no doubt arises as to the identification of the thing claimed, or in determining what shall be considered to be an infringement. The question whether an author has, of common right, und independently of any special statute in his favor, a property in the products of the labor of his mind, as unquestionable and absolute as any other producer has in those of the labor of the hands, was very elaborately discussed in the court of king's bench, and in the house of lords, in England, in the time of lord Mansfield, in the celebrated cases of Millar against Taylor, reported in the 4th volume of Burrow's Reports, in relation to the copyright of Thomson's Seasons; and Donaldson against Becket, reported in the same volume. The first of these cases came be

fore the court in 1769. In 1709, the statute of 8 Anne, chapter 19, had been passed, giving to authors an exclusive copyright " for the term of 14 years, and no longer." Notwithstanding the limitation of the right to that term, by the stat ute, it had been held, in divers cases, subsequently decided, that the exclusive property of the author, or his representatives or assigns, continued after the expiration of the 14 years; and, accordingly, in 1739, lord chancellor Hardwicke granted an injunction against a person, other than the proprietors, printing Milton's Paradise Lost, the title to the copyright of which was derived to the proprietor, under an assignment by Milton, 72 years before. In the case relating to the copyright of Thomson's Seasons, three of the judges, namely, lord Mansfield and justices Aston and Willes, were of opinion, that the exclusive right of property continued after the expiration of 14 years from the first publication, as limited by the statute of Anne, and such was the decision of the court. Mr. Justice Yates dissented from that opinion. Five years afterwards, ir 1774, the other case came before the house of lords, and, as is usual with that tribunal, the opinion of the judges of the king's bench, common pleas and exchequer, was taken. Lord Mansfield, being a member of the house of lords, did not give an opinion in answer to the questions propounded by the house, with the other judges, but acted and voted as a member of the body. Of the 11 judges who gave opinions, eight were of opinion that an author had of common right-that is, as by the common law, or without any statute to this effect-the exclusive privilege of publishing his own works; and three were of a contrary opinion. Seven, against four to the contrary, were of opinion, that, by publishing his work and vending copies, he did not abandon his exclusive property to the public, or, in other words, that, by making and selling one copy, he did not authorize all other persons to make, and use or sell as many copies as they might choose. This seems to be so plain a point, that, if four respectable judges had not been of a contrary opinion, one would be ready to say it admitted of no doubt. A case very analogous, but much stronger in favor of the author's right of property, is stated in the public journals (1831), as having recently been decided in France. An artist had sold a statue or picture, the production of his own chisel or pencil, and the question was made whether the purchaser had a right to

vublish engravings of this original. It was decided, that the artist alone, and not the purchaser, had, in such case, the exlusive right to make and publish engraved copies. But, on the other question, proposed by the house of lords, viz. whether the statute of Anne took away the author's exclusive right to his own property, after the expiration of 14 years, six of the judges were of opinion in the affirmative, so that the whole 12 judges were equally divided upon this question, lord Mansfield being, upon this and the two other questions, in favor of the author's right. But the house of lords decided that the author had no exclusive right after the expiration of the period limited in the statute, though the reasons given on that side, by the judges who supported it, are very unsatisfactory; and it is not easy to divine the grounds of the decision. But it has been acquiesced in as law from that time, both in England and the U. States. Thus, while the poverty of authors and scholars-the great leaders and champions of civilization and intellectual advancement-has been proverbial all the world over, the government has interposed, or is construed to have interposed, with its mighty arm, not for their protection and reward, but to despoil them of their property, the fruits of their own labor, and sequestrate it for the public use. If a man cultivates the ground, or fabricates goods, the fruits of his labor go to him and his heirs or assigns, absolutely, forever; but if he spends his life upon a poem or musical composition, he only has a lease of it for 14 years, according to the statute of Anne, when it is to be forfeited to the public. This doctrine displays, in striking contrast, the rewards bestowed, and the forfeitures enacted, in reference to different species of glory and public service. While a military hero is rewarded with a grant of lands and a title of honor, to himself and his heirs ad infinitum, a man of equal genius, who, by his labors, instructs and delights mankind, and sheds a lasting glory upon the country of which he is a citizen, is despoiled of the fruits of his own labors. The injustice of such a doctrine is so obvious, that its legality, though sanctioned by an acquiescence of half a century, may well be questioned. However this may be, legislatures have begun to mitigate the forfeitures heretofore inflicted upon literary eminence, by extending the time for which an author may enjoy the fruits of his own talents and industry. By a law passed in the 54th year of George the

15

Third, chapter 156, an author is entitled to an exclusive copyright in his work for 28 years, and, if he is living at the end of that period, it is continued during his life. This act is entitled to the commendation of being less unjust than that of Anne. On the continent of Europe, the laws are much more favorable, or, rather,__mucn less unfavorable, to authors. In France, they are entitled to an exclusive copyright during their lives, and their heirs or assigns for 20 years afterwards. In many of the German states, the right is perpetual, but it is subject to this disadvantage, that it extends only to the state in which it is granted, and the work may be pirated in the others with impunity. This can be avoided only by procuring a copyright in the different German states, which is attended with much difficulty and expense. The defect of the laws of these German states on this subject, therefore, is not in confiscating the author's property, or refusing to recognise his right to it, but in burthening him with heavy expenses in securing its protection. In Russia, the period of the copyright is the same as in France, and it is not liable to be scized and sold for the payment of the author's debts. In the U. States, the constitution provides, that congress may secure, "for limited times, to authors, &c., the exclusive right to their respective writings," &c. Under this provision, a law was passed, in 1790, giving to authors, being citizens of the U. States, or being resident therein, the sole right of printing and vending their works for the term of 14 years from the time of recording the title in the clerk's office; and, if living at the expiration of that period, and then citizens or resident as above, they could have a renewal of the exclusive right for 14 years longer, on filing a copy of the title again in the clerk's office. This law also required. that, at the commencement of each term, the author should publish the clerk's cer tificate in some newspaper for four weeks. It also required that a copy should be deposited in the office of the secretary of state. A more liberal, or, rather, less illiberal, law was passed on this subject in 1831. By this act, the exclusive right is extended to 28 years, with a right of renewal for his life, if the author is living at the expiration of the first copyright. It dispenses with the publication of the clerk's certificate in a newspaper-a very useless provision; for, if the work itself gives notice that the copyright is secured, a person who pirates it can have no pretence for alleging ignorance of the fact

16

The act, also, though it requires that the author shall supply a copy for the office of the secretary of state, excuses him from the trouble of depositing it there, requiring him only to leave it in the office of the clerk of the district court. (See Copyright.) LITERATURE, according to the English dictionaries, means learning. In general use, however, this word, in English, commonly signifies what in other countries would be called elegant literature, excluding works of abstract science and mere erudition. The meaning of the word, in English, however, is vague. In German and French, the word means, distinctly, the whole which has been written. Hence the phrase "literature of the middle age," or "medical literature," means the aggregate of works written during the middle ages, or on medicine, &c. Literary is applied to all those branches of reading which come within the scope of a general reader; the phrase "literary gendleman" corresponds pretty nearly to the French homme de lettres. Literary gazette is a journal which treats of works interesting to a general reader. In literary history, the word has a more extensive meaning. (See Literary History.)

LITHIA; the name applied by Arfwedson to an alkali discovered by him in analyzing the petalite. The name was derived from the Greek Aielos (stony), in allusion to the existence of the earth in a stony mineral. Lithia has since been detected in spodumene, and several kinds of mica. The best process for procuring it is the following: One part of petalite or spodumene, in fine powder, is mixed intimately with two parts of fluor-spar, and the mixture is heated with three or four times its weight of sulphuric acid, as long as any acid vapors are disengaged. The silica of the mineral is attacked by hydrofluoric acid, and dissipated in the form of fluosilicic acid gas, while the alumina and lithia unite with sulphuric acid. After dissolving these salts in water, the solution is boiled with pure ammonia to precipitate the alumina; is filtered, evaporated to dryness, and then heated to redness to expel the sulphate of ammonia: The resiue is pure sulphate of lithia, which is issolved in water and decomposed by cetate of barytes; and the acetate of thia, being heated to redness, is convertd into the carbonate of lithia, and, finally, is is decomposed by lime or barytes, hich affords pure lithia. Its color is hite; it is not deliquescent, but absorbs rbonic acid from the air; very soluble water; acrid, caustic, and acts on colors

like the other alkalies: heated with platina, it acts on the metal. It combines with the different acids, and forms salts with then, like potash and soda, though pos sessed of a higher neutralizing power than these alkalies. Its phosphate and carbonate are sparingly soluble; its chloride is deliquescent and soluble in alcohol, and this solution burns with a red flame. All its salts give a red color, when heated on a platinum wire before the blow-pipe. The muriate and nitrate are deliquescent. The metallic base of lithia was evolved by sir H. Davy, by galvanism; but it was too rapidly oxidized to be collected: the metal was, however, seen to be white like sodium, and burned with bright scintillations.

LITHIC ACID, in combination with pot ash, is obtained from human urinary calculi, by digesting them in caustic lixivium: the lithate of potash gives up the lithic acid, on being mingled with acetic acid. It has the form of white shining plates, which are denser than water; is without taste or smell, and dissolves in 1400 parts of boiling water. It reddens the infusion of litmus. The lithates are all tasteless, and very sparingly soluble in water. Lithic acid, by repeated distillations, is resolved into ammonia, nitrogen and prussic acid.

LITHOCHROMICS; the art of painting in oil upon stone, and of taking impressions on canvass. This process, which is designed to multiply the master-pieces of painting, was invented some years ago by Malapeau, in Paris, who received a patent for his invention, and has an establishment for lithochromic productions, which have been popular in Paris since 1823. This process is a substitute for the copying of portraits; it also serves as a cheap means of ornamenting walls. This art, however, is still in its infancy. The lithochromic paintings yet produced are less valuable than the poorest copies. A similar but much superior invention has been made by Sennefelder, which he calls mosaic impression.

LITHOGRAPHY (from 100s, stone, and ypapav, to write); the art invented by Aloys Sennefelder (q. v.), of taking impressions from drawings or writings on stone, without engraving. As the history of the invention of this art, and the principles on which it depends, are contained in the article Sennefelder, we shall confine ourselves, in this place, to an account of the process of lithographic printing, and of the materials used in it. Two substances are used for drawing upon stone-lithographic

chalk and lithographic ink. The former is made of 13 ounce of soap, 2 ounces of tallow, 1 ounce of pure white wax, 1 ⚫ounce shell-lac, ounce lamp-black. Another receipt gives 2 ounces soap, 5 ounces wax, ounce tallow, and 1 ounce lamp-black. The soap, after it has been scraped fine, is put in an iron or earthen vessel, over the fire, and, when it is melted, little pieces of wax and tallow are added; it must be stirred the whole time, and, when the heat is extreme, the contents of the vessel are to be lighted by a burning taper, the stirring being continued. After a short time, the flame is to be extinguish ed; and, while the mixture is boiling, the lamp-black is to be gradually added. When this is done, the mixture is taken from the fire, and poured out on an iron or stone plate, and may be made into any form desired. For lithographic ink, a great many different receipts have been given; one of the most approved of which is a composition made of equal parts of tallow, wax, shell-lac and common soap, with about one twentieth part of the whole of lamp-black. These materials are mixed in an iron vessel; the wax and tallow are first put in, and heated till they take fire, after which the other ingredients are successively added; the burning is allowed to continue until the composition is reduced about one third. All calcareous stones, being susceptible of taking in a greasy substance, and of imbibing water with facility, are suitable for lithographic printing, provided they are compact, capable of receiving a fine polish, and of a clear and uniform color; the more compact and uniform in color, the better. Those commonly used are a nearly pure carbonate of lime. Suitable stones are by no means scarce. The quarry from which the first litho graphic stones were extracted, is still that which furnishes them in the greatest abundance, and of the largest dimensions. It is situated at Solenhofen, near Pappenheim, in Bavaria. No quarries hitherto known in France, afford stones equal to the German. Those found near Chateauroux are of a similar color to those of Solenhofen, and even harder, and of a finer grain; but they are full of spots of a softer nature, so that it is difficult to procure pieces of the necessary size. In England, a stone has been used which is found at Corston, near Bath. It is one of the white lias beds, but is inferior to the German in fineness of grain and closeness of texture. When proper stones cannot be obtained without difficulty or great ex

17

pense, it is more advantageous to fabricate artificial slabs, to which a proper density and hardness may be given. An intelligent potter can easily imitate the density of natural stones. Slabs, used for this purpose, have been made of stucco, composed of lime and sand, and fastened with the caseous part of milk. Artificial slabe, however, have not been made so as to equal the real ones; and the royal insti tute of France have thought the subject of sufficient importance to offer a large prize for the best. The stones are polished by putting fine sand between two of them, and thus rubbing them against each other till the surface is smooth; then each separate stone is rubbed with water and pumice-stone. After the stone is thus prepared, it may be used for all kinds of writing and drawing, with the brush or pen, &c. But if it is to be prepared for chalk, it must have a rougher surface, and, after the application of the pumice-stone, it is to be covered with very fine sand, of a uniform size, and rubbed with another polished stone without water. This is turned round and round, till the necessary roughness is produced. Both kinds of plates must be carefully preserved against greasiness, such as they would receive from the touch of the hand, since all the greasy spots appear in the impression, the greasy printing ink remaining on them. If the drawing is to be prepared with ink, the stone is first covered with oil of turpentine or soap-water, to prevent the lines from spreading. Then the drawing may be made on the stone with a black lead pencil or with a red crayon; but the latter is preferable, because, when the ink comes to be applied, it is easier to discover how far the lines of the drawing are really covered with ink. After having dissolved the ink in rain or river water (the former ought to have stood some time), these pencil outlines are covered with ink. If the stroke is black, or, at least, dark brown, it may be inferred that the impression will succeed. But if light brown, and transparent, it will not give the impression. The ink may be laid on with the pen or brush. Goose quills, however, are not well suited for this purpose, particularly if the strokes are to be very fine; the pens are too quickly blunted; but steel pens are used to great advantage: these are made of watch springs. After the drawing, the plate is left several hours, and then put under the press. For drawing with chalk, it is necessary to apply the finest and softest tints first, and the strongest afterwards. If the proper effect cannot be

18

given to the foreground by chalk only, a little ink is added with the brush or pen. If the drawing has very fine tints, it is necessary that the impression from the plate should be taken immediately, other wise the oil will dry or evaporate, and the ink will not take effect on these parts. The oil varnish used must be of the best kind. Before the stone is covered with ink, it must first be dipped in nitric or sulphuric acid, diluted with water to such a degree, that only a slight effervescence is produced; the proportion of acid should be but little more than one per cent.; this will make the stone in the parts not covered by the drawing more readily imbibe the water. This process is called etching the drawing. After this, it is merely dipped in common water. Great care must be taken that the acid is not too strong, as it will then injure the fine strokes and tints. When the stone has imbibed sufficient water, a liquid mixture must be poured over it, consisting of one sixth linseed oil, two sixths oil of turpentine, and three sixthis of pure water: this again must be wiped off clean, and the stone must be then covered with a solution of gumarabic in water; this prevents the lines from spreading. Immediately after this process, it is inked. The printing-ink is applied by means of leather printers' balls, stuffed with hair, or by cylinders, which must be of various sizes. The first impressions are seldom perfect. After each impression, the stone is washed with water, and, from time to time, is sponged over with gum-water, which is prepared from one oance of finely pounded gum-arabic, and half a pound of water. The ink which has settled on a spot that should be light, is either removed with a clean sponge, or by diluted acid, applied with a sponge, and the place is afterwards washed with pure water. The printing-ink is composed, like other printing-inks, of oil-varnish and fine lamp-black. To prepare the varnish, a vessel is about half filled with pure linseed oil, and heated till it takes fire from the flame of a piece of burning paper. It is allowed to burn till reduced to the proper density. To describe the press, a drawing would be necessary. Besides the mode of preparing the drawings above described, drawings ure also cut into the stone, and from these impressions are taken. Engravings may also be multiplied by putting them wet on u stone, when they come from the copperplate press, and subjecting them to pressure, by which the ink is made to leave She paper and adhere to the stone. Al

though lithography is of great use, and excellent impressions are produced, particularly at Munich, it is yet very imperfect. In landscapes, the soft tints and the perspective cannot be properly given; the lines are not sufficiently delicate. The number of impressions which can be taken from a lithographic chalk drawing, will vary according to the fineness of the tints. A fine drawing will give 400 or 500; a strong one, 1000 or 1500. Ink drawings and writings give considerably more than copper-plates. The finest will yield 6000 or 8000, and strong lines and writings many more. Upwards of 80,000 impressions have been taken, at Munich, from one writing of a form for regimental returns. But it is probably susceptible of farther improvements. Stone paper, a substitute for stone plates, was invented by Sennefelder, in 1817. (See Sennefelder's Vollstän diges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerey, Munich, 1818). Lithography is now very widely spread. In all parts of Germany, also in France, Russia, England and the U. States, there are lithographic printing establishments. The lithographic process is generally employed for printing music, and has given rise to lithochromics. (q. v.) The best lithographic establishments, at present, are at Munich (Bavaria) and Paris. The French are the most expert in the process of printing. Some beautiful lithographic prints have also been executed at Berlin.

LITHOTOMY is the name given to the operation for extracting the stone from the bladder. (See Stone.)

LITHOTRITY; a surgical operation, by which the stone in the bladder is crushed by an instrument invented and first applied by doctor Civiale, of Paris, in 1826. He has written on the subject.

LITHUANIA (in the language of the country, Litwa; in German, Lithauen); an extensive country, formerly an independent grand-duchy, containing 60,000 square miles, but in 1569 united to Poland. Since the dismemberment of that kingdom in 1773, 1793, and 1795, the greater portion of it has been united to Russia, and forms the governments of Mohilew, Witepsk, Minsk, Wilna and Grodno. The climate is temperate and healthy, and the face of the country nearly a level, interrupted only by a few insignificant hills. The soil is in some parts sandy; in others marshy, or covered with woods; but, wherever it is cultivated, very productive. The principal rivers are the Duna, or Dwina, the Dnieper, the Niemen, the Przypiec and Bug. There are also many