Part 260

LITTLE fortification. The first division of the first system of M. de Vauban, and is so called when the exterior side of a fortification does not exceed 175 toises, or 350 yards. It is used in the construction of citadels, small forts, horn and crown-works.

LIVRE. An old French money of account, consisting of 20 sols, about 18d. English: each sol containing 12 deniers. The livre is of two kinds, Tournois and Parisis.

LIVRE Tournois contains 20 sols Tournois, and each sol 12 deniers Tournois.

LIVRE Parisis, is 12 sols Parisis, being worth 12 deniers Parisis, or 15 deniers Tournois; so that a livre Parisis is worth 25 sols Tournois. The word Parisis is used in opposition to Tournois, because of the rate of money, which was one-fourth higher at Paris than at Tours.

LIVRER bataille, Fr. To deliver, give or join battle.

LIVRER assaut, Fr. To storm.

LIVRER, une ville au pillage, Fr. to give a town up to plunder.

LOAD, a word of command given, when men are to charge their guns or musquets.

LOAD. Artillery carriages, or waggons, are frequently loaded with 14 cwt. for 3 horses, and 20 cwt. for 4 horses. This, however it may answer on an English road, is a great deal too much for general service. No doubt a carriage of one construction will travel easier than of another, with the same weight; and where the mechanical advantage thus gained is greatest, the heaviest weight may be put, with the same number of horses; but in the carriages usually made for the service of artillery, 4 cwt. per horse, beside the weight of the carriage, is the utmost they ought to be allowed to draw.

The French ammunition waggons, which are drawn by 4 horses, are always charged with 1200 pounds only.

The regulations for British home service in 1798 state the load for a bread waggon at 2400 lbs. and for a cart of entrenching tools at 400 lbs. Men used to bear loads, such as porters, will carry from 150 to 250 pounds.

A horse will carry about 300 lbs. and a mule about 250 lbs. See also the word HORSES.

LOCHABER-AXE, a tremendous Scotch weapon, now used by none but the town guard of Edinburgh; one of which is to be seen among the small armory in the tower of London.

LOCKS, in gunnery, are of various sorts; common for lockers in travelling carriages, or for boxes containing shot, powder, or cartridges. Also locks for fire arms, being that part of the musquet, by which fire is struck and the powder inflamed.

LOCK-STEP. This step was first introduced into the British service by the Elliot Lord Heathfield, when he commanded the garrison at Gibraltar; and is the same that general Saldern (from whose works all the British regulations have been almost literally selected) calls the deploy step. This step consists in the heel of one man being brought nearly in contact with the joint of the great toe of another, so that when men step off together they constantly preserve the same distance. The lock or deploy step was always practised when a battalion marched in file or close column; and the great advantage to be derived from it was, that the last file gained ground at the same time that the front advanced. It is now exploded, and very properly, as an excessive absurdity.

To LOCK, is to fasten one or more of the wheels of a carriage from going round, in going down a hill, &c.

To LOCK up, to take the closest possible order inline or in file. The expression is derived from the lock-step.

LOCK up! a word of command which is frequently used in the British service, to direct soldiers to take or preserve the closest possible order, especially in file-marching.

LOCKER hinges, serve to fasten the cover of the lockers in travelling carriages.

LOCKING plates, in artillery, are thin flat pieces of iron nailed on the sides of a held carriage, where the wheels touch it in turning, to prevent the wearing the wood in those places. See CARRIAGE.

LOCKSPIT, in field fortification, a small cut or trench made with a spade, about a foot wide, to mark out the first lines of a work.

To LODGE ARMS. A word of command which is used on guards and pickets. When a guard has closed its ranks, and the men are to place their arms in front of the guard-house or quarter-guard, according to circumstances, the commanding officer gives the words port arms, to the right or right about, (as the case may be) face. Lodge Arms.

LODGMENT, in military business, is a work made by the besiegers in some part of a fortification, after the besieged have been driven out, for the purpose of maintaining it, and to be covered from the enemy’s fire. It also means possession of an enemy’s works.

When a lodgment is to be made on the glacis, covert way, or in a breach, there must be a great provision made of fascines, sand bags, gabions, wool packs, &c. in the trenches; and during the action, the pioneers (under the direction of an engineer) with fascines, sand bags, &c. should be making the lodgment, in order to form a covering, while the grenadiers are storming the covert way, &c.

LOGARITHMS, the indexes of the ratios of numbers, one to another; of which the following is a concise account.

Of arithmetical progression.--By arithmetical progression is meant a series of terms, each of which exceeds, or is exceeded by, that which precedes it by the same given number.

For instance, the series 1 . 3 . 5 . 7 . 9 . 11 is in arithmetical progression, since each of the terms exceeds that which precedes it by the same number, which is 2. The series 11 . 9 . 7 . 5 . 3 . 1 is also in arithmetical progression, since each of the terms is exceeded by that which precedes it, and by the same number.

Of geometrical progression.--Geometrical progression is that in which each term of a series contains the preceding term, or is itself contained in it, the same number of times throughout.