the Northern states as a local organization, but it was finally absorbed by the Republican party in 1856. See POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

LI'BRA, a Latin word meaning the balance, is in astronomy the seventh sign of the zodiac, represented by the symbol, resembling a pair of scales. The symbol probably alludes

to the fact that when the sun enters that par of the ecliptic at the autumnal equinox (abou September 23) the days and the nights ar equal. The term also refers to a constellation included by Ptolemy in his forty-eight group of stars, which is situated south of the celestia equator and east of the sign Virgo. See ZODIAC ASTRONOMY; ECLIPTIC.

E

IBRARY. The term is derived from the Latin liber, meaning book. The Latin word libraria, however, signified a place where books or written documents were kept for sale, and in this sense it has been transferred to the modern languages of Latin origin. In English the primary meaning is a building or room in which books are kept, in some sort of order or classification, for reading or study; secondarily, it means the books. Most commonly the word connotes both together. All other modern languages have followed the usage of the ancients in applying the Greek word bibliotheke to this conception.

Libraries may be either private or public. The former are the property of individuals who collect and maintain them for their private use or gratification. Public libraries, with which this article is mainly concerned, are those to which the public is admitted. They may be wholly free, in which case they are often called free libraries, or free public libraries, to distinguish them from subscription libraries maintained by fees or subscriptions of members. The latter are still properly classed as public libraries if their privileges are offered upon equal terms to all. Examples of such are the Mercantile and Mechanics' Institute libraries which flourished in great numbers in the United States and England before the introduction of municipally-supported public libraries fifty years ago. Somewhat analagous are the modern commercial concerns which rent or lend books, generally new novels, for a small fee per day or week or for an annual subscription. The name book exchange is commonly applied to them.

College and society libraries are also classed with public libraries, as distinguished from private libraries, especially when, as is generally the case, they extend their privileges to educated and properly authenticated members of the community. Public libraries, both free and subscription, may be either circulating libraries, permitting the withdrawal of books for home use, or reference libraries, restricting readers to the use of books on the library premises. In the United States most free public libraries are both circulating and reference libraries. There are, however, some notable exceptions, as the library of Peabody Institute, Baltimore; the Boston Athenaeum; Pratt Institute Free Library, Brooklyn, and the Newberry Library and John Crerar Library, both in Chicago, all free reference libraries, and all founded and maintained from bequests or endowments. They are uniformly of a scholarly character, and tend toward specialization in some one or more department of knowledge.

American Libraries. The first library to be established on American soil was that of Harvard University, founded in 1638, six years after the college, and followed in 1700 by Yale. These two are still among the greatest college libraries in America and, in common with most of their type, admit the educated public more or less freely to their shelves. In 1696 the Rev. Thomas Bray was sent from England to Maryland as superintendent of religious affairs, and introduced a number of small parochial or church libraries into the American colonies as an aid to his work. These were open to the public. The Philadelphia Library was founded as a joint-stock company in 1731 by Benjamin

LIBRARY Franklin, who tells the story of its inception in his famous autobiography, and who is called the "Father of the Circulating Library." This was a subscription library and circulated books to its members only, but it extended reference privileges to the general public.

The idea of providing books for free use at the expense of the community by means of taxation originated in America. A town library was conducted on this plan in Salisbury, Conn., as early as 1803, and in 1833 the town of Peterborough, N. H., founded a free circulating library, supported by public taxation, which is still in existence. But the history of the modern American public library properly begins with the adoption of laws by the various states authorizing cities, towns and villages to organize public libraries and to levy taxes for their support. Such a law was first adopted by Massachusetts, in 1848.

In the United States the spread of the public library idea has been rapid and extensive. In 1876 an organization of librarians called the American Library Association was formed in Philadelphia which now has over 6,000 members and holds annual conventions. In most of the states, also, and even in some of the larger cities, there are clubs and associations which meet for consideration of professional problems. These associations have been largely instrumental in promoting professional consciousness and coöperation in the creation of a body of doctrine and practical technique which has been crystallized into a uniform and authoritative system called Library Science. Underlying this is the conviction that the public library is an integral part of public education to which every member of the community, young or old, great or humble, lettered or unlettered is equally entitled. Among the most striking departures from former practice is the growing tendency to allow free access to the book shelves. This is called "open access" and has been widely adopted in the administration of American public libraries.

The modern public library, moreover, has ceased to wait for its patrons to seek it out, but employs means and methods for attracting the public which are both enterprising and effective. Branch libraries are installed in residence districts, often in buildings specially designed for this purpose. The New York Public Library, the greatest free circulating library in the world, maintains, besides a magnificent central building, a chain of forty-two branches in separate buildings erected from a gift of

LIBRARY

$5,200,000 from Andrew Carnegie. Similar branch systems, though not in every case so handsomely housed, form an important part of nearly every large American public library. Brooklyn has twenty-nine branches; Boston, twenty-eight; Philadelphia, twenty-six; Cleveland, forty; Cincinnati, twenty; Pittsburgh, eight; Chicago, thirty-five; Detroit, eleven; Los Angeles, twenty. Branch buildings are arranged upon a generally accepted plan comprising separate reading rooms for adults and for children, with books on open shelves along the walls or in book stacks easily accessible. Frequently they include halls for meetings of neighborhood societies.

In Canada. The province of Ontario has about 400 public libraries, and this number exceeds the total in all the remainder of the Dominion. The largest is the public library of Toronto, but in 1917 Montreal was organizing a library which was expected to equal in size and equipment the one in Toronto. The Montreal institution is the first one of a truly public nature in the province of Quebec. The War of the Nations, which began in 1914, put at an end for several years ambitious projects to organize libraries in many other Canadian cities.

Carnegie Libraries. The name of Andrew Carnegie is inseparably linked with the growth of public libraries in the English-speaking world during the past twenty-five years. Attributing much of his own success to the influence of the books loaned to him by a citizen of Allegheny, Pa., where he lived as a youth, he began his donations by the erection of a public library in that place, following it shortly by the gift of a splendid museum and library building to the city of Pittsburgh. Many other large cities, among them New York, Philadelphia and Saint Louis, have accepted his benefactions, while thousands of smaller places in America and in Great Britain and her colonies bear testimony to his generosity in the public libraries made possible through his aid and, in many cases, bearing his name. Up to the end of 1915 the total amount of his grants to public libraries was nearly $65,000,000. See CARNEGIE, ANDREW.

Librarianship as a Profession. The administration of a modern public library is now recognized as a specialized occupation or profession requiring training, experience and a high degree of executive ability, while the several branches of the work call for special skill, learning and scientific accuracy. One of the

most intricate of these specialties is that of the classification of books, that is, their grouping by subjects, and the application of some plan of numbering or notation indicating the proper location of each book with reference to all others in the same class.

Several highly ingenious and practical systems of classification have been devised, two of which are in general use in American libraries. The decimal classification, compiled by Melvil Dewey, and first published in 1876, is the most widely used. The ninth edition is now extant, and constant revision and addition keeps it abreast of scientific progress. It is based on an arbitrary division of the field of knowledge into ten main classes, capable of indefinite subdivision by means of figures and the decimal point. It possesses elasticity, adaptability and mnemonic qualities rendering it applicable to the largest as well as the smallest collection of books. The expansive classification, devised by Charles A. Cutter, is more complex and fuller in its schedules, and is, perhaps, better adapted to the needs of large scholarly collections such as university and reference libraries. Cataloguing is another branch of librarianship which demands a large measure of scholarship, expertness and accuracy. A number of manuals cataloguing rules have been issued, the first American compilation being the Rules for a Dictionary Catalog, by Charles A. Cutter, mentioned above, published by the United States Bureau of Education in 1877. Known as "Cutter's Rules," this is still the leading authority and forms the basis for all subsequent American codes.

Librarianship as a profession, in its functions, duties and emoluments, closely parallels that of the teacher, and is enlisting in its ranks a steadily growing number of men and women of high character, ability and education. For women, especially, the opportunities for useful and congenial employment are very promising. In the thousands of small and medium-sized public libraries of America most of the positions, including that of chief librarian, are filled by women. In the largest institutions, and those of special grade, the chief administrative offices are usually occupied by men. There are now ten professional schools for training librarians, the pioneer and still the leading institution being the New York State Library School at Albany. Other schools, usually affiliated with a university or a large library, are the New York Public Library School; Pratt Institute, Brooklyn; Simmons

College, Boston; Syracuse (N. Y.) University; Western Reserve Library School, Cleveland; Southern Training School, Atlanta, Ga.; University of Illinois Library School, Urbana, Ill., and Wisconsin State Library School, Madison.

In a number of these schools the completion of a general college course or its equivalent is necessary for admission, while most of the others require at least two years of college work or equivalent educational credits before entrance. Personal qualifications, temperament, disposition and general adaptability of applicants are also taken into account. The course extends over two years, combining theoretical instruction with much practical work in libraries of various kinds. Several of these institutions confer the degree of Bachelor of Library Science. The Carnegie School for Children's Librarians, with a two-year course wholly devoted to that specialty, is conducted as an adjunct to the Carnegie Free Library of Pittsburgh. Entrance requirements are similar to those indicated above.

Library Commissions. Thirty-seven states of the Union now have, as a part of the state government, boards or commissions for the advancement of library interests. These commissions are composed of three or five members serving without pay, and a staff of salaried executives who devote their energies to promoting the establishment of new public libraries, the improvement of conditions in existing libraries, the circulation of traveling libraries in rural communities, maintenance of summer schools (in Wisconsin and Indiana of a fully organized library school) and other measures for the extension and development of library facilities throughout the commonwealth.

National Libraries. The great national libraries of the United States, France and Great Britain are described in the articles LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE and BRITISH MUSEUM. Other notable national libraries are the Imperial Public Library at Petrograd, the Imperial-Royal Library at Vienna, the royal libraries of Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale at Florence. Record must be made here of the magnificent Library of the Vatican, first in the importance of its contents and sheer wealth of its possessions. Founded in 1447 by Pope Nicholas V, and housed in the most sumptuous library quarters in the world, it contains, besides the secret Papal archives, a staggering profusion of ancient Biblical and classical manuscripts and other book rarities

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

such as have not been brought together elsewhere. Its printed books number 250,000 volumes and its manuscripts over 40,000. C.B.R.

See the articles READING and LITERATURE for lists of books suitable for reading by boys and girls and their fathers and mothers and by teachers. For books relating to the subject Library, consult Special-Report on Public Libraries, issued by the United States Bureau of Education; Adams' Public Libraries and Popular Education; Dewey's Decimal Classification and Relative Index.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, now the third in size among the world's libraries, was established in 1800 in Washington, D. C., and designed for the use of members of the United States Congress. While it is maintained to. serve its original purpose, the present use of the building and contents is largely by others than Senators and Representatives. The library was at first housed in a room of the Capitol, but so rapid was the accumulation of material that several times it outgrew enlarged quarters that were there provided; in 1897 it was removed from the Capitol to a special building which was begun in 1889 and completed in eight years at a cost of $6,500,000. The location of the Congressional Library is east of the Capitol; it covers a ground area of nearly four acres, and has more than eight acres of floor space. For the convenience of members of Congress a subway connects the library and the Capitol, and an endless chain system conveys books to and from the halls of legislation.

In 1814, when the Capitol was burned, the library was destroyed. Congress established it anew by the purchase of the library of Thomas Jefferson, comprising 6,760 volumes, for which it paid $23,950. In 1851 fire again destroyed nearly the entire collection, 35,000 volumes being lost. Since then Congress has made regular appropriations for its development. Under the copyright laws since about 1860 the library has received two copies of every publication in the world for which copyright protection in the United States has been requested. It has also received gifts of rare and beautiful books. In 1916 the library comprised over 2,390,000 books and pamphlets, about 30,000 manuscripts, 60,000 charts and maps, almost 400,000 musical compositions and about 100,000 engravings and lithographs.

The library is in charge of the Librarian of Congress, who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate; he receives a salary of $6,500 per year. Under him is a staff

LICENSE

of trained officials such as one of the world's greatest libraries requires. The service to the public is in the highest degree efficient, and the routine is much like that employed in any great city library, except it is on a larger scale and that no books or documents may be taken from reference and reading rooms except by members of Congress and government officials. Access by the public to any book published is made easy through intelligent attendants.

The building is the most magnificent structure of the kind in the world, and is unequalled in the United States in beauty of interior decoration.

E.D.F.

For details of the world's largest libraries, see BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE: BRITISH MUSEUM. See, also, the article LIBRARY.

LICENSE, li'sens, a formal permission given a person by the proper authority to engage in a business or to do certain things which, without that authority, would be unlawful. In most cases the privilege is granted on the payment of a fee. Licenses are issued principally for the safeguarding of the public rights, for the purpose of obtaining revenue, or for both reasons, and they may be revoked by the proper officials if the terms on which they are granted are not observed. There are many callings which directly affect the health, morals or general welfare of the community, and it is therefore necessary that the state or municipality should regulate the number and qualifications of persons engaged in such callings. For this reason, dentists, physicians, pharmacists, undertakers, school teachers, lawyers, etc., are required to hold licenses in order to carry on their chosen vocations.

Owners of theaters and other places of public amusement, street peddlers and owners of automobiles are also required to procure licenses. Automobiles are a direct source of expense to the community in that they increase materially the wear on public highways, and a license fee upon such vehicles is considered justifiable; such licensing also assists in identification in case of reckless driving which may result in accidents. The granting of saloon licenses has become a matter of widespread public interest. A considerable number of people favor the regulation of this business by means of a high license, which tends to restrict the number of saloons. The advocates of low license favor a small fee, to be levied for revenue only. Another group, the prohibitionists, do not believe it necessary for the government to derive a revenue by licensing saloons, and

favor the abolition of the liquor traffic. See LOCAL OPTION; PROHIBITION.

LICHENS, li' kenz, strange and beautiful flowerless plant formations which, needing no soil, grow on and adorn bare rocks, tree stumps

REINDEER LICHENS

and waste places. They are usually dry, and most of them crumble easily when touched. Ruskin describes them as

Meek creatures; the first mercy of the earth, veiling with hushed softness its dustless rocks; creatures full of pity, covering with strange and tender honour the scarred disgrace of time.

Lichens of gray, yellow, brown, greenish, blue or black color are found the world over, from the frozen north to the tropical south, from the beaches to loftiest mountain peaks. Probably 4,000 species have already been described.

Lichens are combinations of algae and fungi (see ALGAE; FUNGI). In this unique plant-partnership the alga furnishes the food and the fungus protects the alga from the sun's rays and absorbs water for its companion. Lichens have neither roots, stems nor leaves, but have layers of variously-shaped expansions called thalli. According to structure they are classed as foliose, or leaflike, the kind which creeps over fence-rails; crustaceous, or shell-like, the form which paints big rocks with delicate patterns in grays and greens; and fruticose, or shrublike, that class which, mosslike, beards trees, or clusters on barren ground.

According to one accepted theory of lichen growth, a fungus spore is carried on the winds and finally lodges on a group of alga cells with which it can live. Both spore and cells continue to grow, thrive and reproduce. Being so constructed that all they need for survival is the moisture they can gather from the air, lichens can thrive where every other form of vegetation must perish.

Uses. Lichens not only make their chosen places of abode more beautiful, but they help pave the way for other forms of life. Growing as they do upon exposed rocks and in barren soil, they secrete an acid which dissolves the rock and softens the soil, and in time when they decay and mix with the soil, they enrich it so that more highly-developed plants can grow there.

Some lichens containing quantities of starch are valuable articles of food for man and beast. Iceland moss and reindeer lichen, which grow abundantly in Northern regions, not only form the principal food for reindeer, but both have been used as food for man. The manna of Scripture is supposed to have been a species of lichen. Some species furnish dyes, one of the best-known of these being the litmus of commerce, so extensively used in chemistry (see LITMUS). Years ago lichens were used as drugs.

E.D.F.

of San José and was completed in 1888. It was named for James Lick, a California millionaire, who left the sum of $700,000 for its erection and equipment (see below). The telescope is the second largest one in the world, with a refracting lens of thirty-six inches and a focal length of over fifty-six feet. It is only surpassed by the forty-inch telescope of the Yerkes Observatory at Lake Geneva, near Chicago. The dome and observation platform are moved by water power, and the telescope tube has a point of suspension thirty-six feet from the floor. Among its modern appliances