GLOSSAEy.

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Lead. ^Sax. Lscb.) The hcivirst mctil noxt to golJ, platiua, and mercury, being elevoi
times lieavier than its own bulk of water.
Leaf. One side of a door, upright shib of stone, &c.
Leanto.
a building whose rafters pitch against or lean on to another building or wall.
Lrae Board. The plank fastened on the feet of the rafters to carry the side piece of tin
lead of a gutter under the bottom rows of the slating or tiling.
Lkayes. (Sax. Lseaf-.) Ornaments imitated from natural leaves, whereof the ancient;
used two sorts, natural and imaginary. The former were those of the laurel, palm
acanthus, and olive ; but they took great liberties in the representations of all of them
Lkctern. The reading desk placed in the choir of mediteval churches. It was made ii
the shape of a pillar, with a slab for the book, and wms usually of brass, sometime:
elaborately carved. It was superseded by the reading desk after the Reformation.
Lectorium. The ancient name for the place where the epistle was read in a church
hence lectern and letterii for the desk itself. The lectorium in the German churches i:
now of rare occurrence, but one is to be seen in Meissen Cathedral.
Lecture Hall. A building erected for the special purpose of affording good accommoda
tion for a lecturer and his audience. It is sometimes a large room ci mbined witi
others; thus, in a village orsma'l town, a building containing a lecture hall about fi.tj
feet by thirty feet, might have a reading room about twenty feet by eighteen feet, t
class-room, with a vestibule and the usual necessarit s.
L::dge. A surface serving to support a body either in motion or at rest. Ledges of doori

are the narrow surfices wrought upon the jambs and sofites parallel to the wall to stoj
the door, so that when it is shut the ledges coincide with the surface of the door. A
ledge, therefore, is one of the sides of a rebate, each rebate being formed of two sides
In temporary work the ledges of doors are formed by fillets, likewise called a stop
Also the horizontal planks in common doors, to which the vertical planks are nailed.
Ledgement. The development of a surface, or the surface of a body stretched out on i
plane, so that the dimensions of the different sides may be easily ascertiiined.
A string course or horizontal moulding. Ledgement table is applied to any of the pro
jections of a plinth in Gothic architecture, except the lowest ov earth table.
Ledgers. In scaffolding for brick buildings are horizontal pieces of timber parallel t(
the walls. They are fastened to the standards, or upright poles, by cords, to supper
the put-logs, which lie at right angles to and on the walls as they are brought up, am
receive the boards for working on.
Legs of an Hyperbola. The two parts on each side the vertex.
Legs of a Triangle. The sides which inclose the base.
Lkngtii. (Sax. Lens.) The greatest extension of a body. In a right prism the lengtl
is the distance between the ends ; in a right pyramid or cone, the length is the ditUme
between the vertex and the base.
Lesche. (Gr.) A public building among the Greeks, consisting of open courts with por
ticoes, the walls covered with paintings. It was used principally as a lounging place
The nearest modern approach to it appears to be the Ruhmeshalle, or mercantil
exchange, at Munich. Ancient writers state that these public meeting-places were
si
much in request that there were no less than 360 in Athens alone.
Lettern, or Lectern. A desk in a church from which the lessons are read. See Amh
in the ancient church. An eagle with wings displayed, that bird being symbolical o
S. John the Evangelist and his Gospel, was often used as a book board in the Middl
Ages ; and is also seen in the cathedrals and in some large churches in England.
Letjcomb. See Lookum.
Level. (Sax. Loerel-) A line or surface which inclines to neither side. The terni i
used
substantively to denote an instrument which shows the direction of a straight liii
parallel to the plane of the horizon. The plane of the sensible horizon is indicated ii
two ways : by the
direction of the plummet, or plumb line, to which it is perpen
dicular ;
and by the surface of a fluid at rest. Accordingly, levels are formed eithe
by
means of the plumb line, or by the agency of a fluid applied in some particula
manner.
They all depend, however, upon the same principle, namely, the action o
terrestrial
gravity.
,
, ^ ^
The
carpenter s level consists of a long rule, straight on its lower edge, about ten o
twelve feet in length, with an upright fixed to its upper edge, perpendicular to and i
the middle of the length, having its sides in the same plane with those of the ruli
and a straight
line drawn on one of its sides perpendicular to the straiglit edge of th
rule.
The mason's level is formed of three pieces of wood, joined in the form of a
isosceles
triangle, having a plummet
suspended from the vertex over a mark in th
centre of the base.
, ,
. .
Levelling.
The art or act of finding a linn parallel to the horizon, at one or more st;
tions, in order to
determine the height of one place with respect to another, for layiii