LA CRUZ

la cruz, ramon de (1731-1794), spanish dramatist, was born at madrid on the 28th of march 1731. he was a clerk in the ministry of finance, and is the author of three hundred _sainetes_, little farcical sketches of city life, written to be played between the acts of a longer play. he published a selection in ten volumes (madrid, 1786-1791), and died on the 5th of march 1794. the best of his pieces, such as _las tertulias de madrid_, are delightful specimens of satiric observation. see e. cotardo y mori, _don ramon de la cruz y sus obras_ (madrid, 1899); c. cambronero, _sainetes inedites existentes en la biblioteca municipal de madrid_ (madrid, 1900). lacrymatory (from lat. _lacrima_, a tear), a class of small vessels of terra-cotta, or, more frequently, of glass, found in roman and late greek tombs, and supposed to have been bottles into which mourners dropped their tears. they contained unguents, and to the use of unguents at funeral ceremonies the finding of so many of these vessels in tombs is due. they are shaped like a spindle, or a flask with a long small neck and a body in the form of a bulb. lactantius firmianus (c. 260-c. 340), also called lucius caelius (or caecilius) lactantius firmianus, was a christian writer who from the beauty of his style has been called the "christian cicero." his history is very obscure. he was born of heathen parents in africa about 260, and became a pupil of arnobius, whom he far excelled in style though his knowledge of the scriptures was equally slight. about 290 he went to nicomedia in bithynia while diocletian was emperor, to teach rhetoric, but found little work to do in that greek-speaking city. in middle age he became a convert to christianity, and about 306 he went to gaul (treves) on the invitation of constantine the great, and became tutor to his eldest son, crispus. he probably died about 340. lactantius' chief work, _divinarum institutionum libri septem_, is an "apology" for and an introduction to christianity, written in exquisite latin, but displaying such ignorance as to have incurred the charge of favouring the arian and manichaean heresies. it seems to have been begun in nicomedia about 304 and finished in gaul before 311. two long eulogistic addresses and most of the brief apostrophes to the emperor are from a later hand, which has added some dualistic touches. the seven books of the institutions have separate titles given to them either by the author or by a later editor. the first, _de falsa religione_, and the second, _de origine erroris_, attack the polytheism of heathendom, show the unity of the god of creation and providence, and try to explain how men have been corrupted by demons. the third book, _de falsa sapientia_, describes and criticizes the various systems of prevalent philosophy. the fourth book, _de vera sapientia et religione_, insists upon the inseparable union of true wisdom and true religion, and maintains that this union is made real in the person of christ. the fifth book, _de justitia_, maintains that true righteousness is not to be found apart from christianity, and that it springs from piety which consists in the knowledge of god. the sixth book, _de vero cultu_, describes the true worship of god, which is righteousness, and consists chiefly in the exercise of christian love towards god and man. the seventh book, _de vita beata_, discusses, among a variety of subjects, the chief good, immortality, the second advent and the resurrection. jerome states that lactantius wrote an epitome of these _institutions_, and such a work, which may well be authentic, was discovered in ms. in the royal library at turin in 1711 by c. m. pfaff. besides the _institutions_ lactantius wrote several treatises: (1) _de ira dei_, addressed to one donatus and directed against the epicurean philosophy. (2) _de opificio dei sive de formatione hominis_, his earliest work, and one which reveals very little christian influence. he exhorts a former pupil, demetrianus, not to be led astray by wealth from virtue; and he demonstrates the providence of god from the adaptability and beauty of the human body. (3) a celebrated incendiary treatise, _de mortibus persecutorum_, which describes god's judgments on the persecutors of his church from nero to diocletian, and has served as a model for numberless writings. _de mort. persecut._ is not in the earlier editions of lactantius; it was discovered and printed by baluze in 1679. many critics ascribe it to an unknown lucius caecilius; there are certainly serious differences of grammar, style and temper between it and the writings already mentioned. it was probably composed in nicomedia, c. 315. jerome speaks of lactantius as a poet, and several poems have been attributed to him:--_de ave phoenice_ (which harnack thinks makes use of 1 clement), _de passione domini_ and _de resurrectione (domini)_ or _de pascha ad felicem episcopum_. the first of these may belong to lactantius's heathen days, the second is a product of the renaissance (c. 1500), the third was written by venantius fortunatus in the 6th century. editions: o. f. fritzsche in e. g. gersdorf's _bibl. patr. eccl._ x., xi. (leipzig, 1842-1844); migne, _patr. lat._ vi., vii.; s. brandt and g. laubmann in the vienna _corpus script. eccles. lat._ xix., xxvii. 1 and 2 (1890-93-97). translation: w. fletcher in _ante-nicene fathers_, vii. literature: the german histories of early christian literature, by a. harnack, o. bardenhewer, a. ebert, a. ehrhard, g. kruger's _early chr. lit._ p. 307 and hauck-herzog's r_ealencyk._ vol. xi., give guides to the copious literature on the subject. lactic acid (hydroxypropionic acid), c3h6o3. two lactic acids are known, differing from each other in the position occupied by the hydroxyl group in the molecule; they are known respectively as [alpha]-hydroxypropionic acid (fermentation or inactive lactic acid), ch3·ch(oh)·co2h, and [beta]-hydroxypropionic acid (hydracrylic acid), (q.v.), ch2(oh)·ch2·co2h. although on structural grounds there should be only two hydroxypropionic acids, as a matter of fact four lactic acids are known. the third isomer (sarcolactic acid) is found in meat extract (j. v. liebig), and may be prepared by the action of _penicillium glaucum_ on a solution of ordinary ammonium lactate. it is identical with [alpha]-hydroxypropionic acid in almost every respect, except with regard to its physical properties. the fourth isomer, formed by the action of _bacillus laevo-lacti_ on cane-sugar, resembles sarcolactic acid in every respect, except in its action on polarized light (see stereoisomerism). _fermentation_, or _ethylidene lactic acid_, was isolated by k. w. scheele (_trans. stockholm acad._ 1780) from sour milk (lat. _lac_, _lactis_, milk, whence the name). about twenty-four years later bouillon lagrange, and independently a. f. de fourcroy and l. n. vauquelin, maintained that scheele's new acid was nothing but impure acetic acid. this notion was combated by j. berzelius, and finally refuted (in 1832) by j. v. liebig and e. mitscherlich, who, by the elementary analyses of lactates, proved the existence of this acid as a distinct compound. it may be prepared by the lactic fermentation of starches, sugars, gums, &c., the sugar being dissolved in water and acidified by a small quantity of tartaric acid and then fermented by the addition of sour milk, with a little putrid cheese. zinc carbonate is added to the mixture (to neutralize the acid formed), which is kept warm for some days and well stirred. on boiling and filtering the product, zinc lactate crystallizes out of the solution. the acid may also be synthesized by the decomposition of alanine ([alpha]-aminopropionic acid) by nitrous acid (k. strecker, _ann._, 1850, 75, p. 27); by the oxidation of propylene glycol (a. wurtz); by boiling [alpha]-chlorpropionic acid with caustic alkalis, or with silver oxide and water; by the reduction of pyruvic acid with sodium amalgam; or from acetaldehyde by the cyanhydrin reaction (j. wislicenus, _ann._, 1863, 128, p. 13) ch3·cho --> ch3·ch(oh)·cn --> ch3·ch(oh)·co2h. it forms a colourless syrup, of specific gravity 1.2485 (15°/4°), and decomposes on distillation under ordinary atmospheric pressure; but at very low pressures (about 1 mm.) it distils at about 85° c., and then sets to a crystalline solid, which melts at about 18° c. it possesses the properties both of an acid and of an alcohol. when heated with dilute sulphuric acid to 130° c., under pressure, it is resolved into formic acid and acetaldehyde. chromic acid oxidizes it to acetic acid and carbon dioxide; potassium permanganate oxidizes it to pyruvic acid; nitric acid to oxalic acid, and a mixture of manganese dioxide and sulphuric acid to acetaldehyde and carbon dioxide. hydrobromic acid converts it into [alpha]-brompropionic acid, and hydriodic acid into propionic acid. ch(ch3)·co / \ _lactide_, o o, \ / co·ch(ch3) a crystalline solid, of melting-point 124° c., is one of the products obtained by the distillation of lactic acid.