LACEDAEMON

lacedaemon, in historical times an alternative name of laconia (q.v.). homer uses only the former, and in some passages seems to denote by it the achaean citadel, the therapnae of later times, in contrast to the lower town sparta (g. gilbert, _studien zur altspartanischen geschichte_, gottingen, 1872, p. 34 foll.). it is described by the epithets [greek: koile] (hollow) and [greek: ketoessa] (spacious or hollow), and is probably connected etymologically with [greek: lakkos], _lacus_, any hollow place. lacedaemon is now the name of a separate department, which had in 1907 a population of 87,106. lacepede, bernard germain etienne de la ville, comte de (1756-1825), french naturalist, was born at agen in guienne on the 26th of december 1756. his education was carefully conducted by his father, and the early perusal of buffon's _natural history_ awakened his interest in that branch of study, which absorbed his chief attention. his leisure he devoted to music, in which, besides becoming a good performer on the piano and organ, he acquired considerable mastery of composition, two of his operas (which were never published) meeting with the high approval of gluck; in 1781-1785 he also brought out in two volumes his _poetique de la musique_. meantime he wrote two treaties, _essai sur l'electricite_ (1781) and _physique generale et particuliere_ (1782-1784), which gained him the friendship of buffon, who in 1785 appointed him subdemonstrator in the jardin du roi, and proposed to him to become the continuator of his _histoire naturelle_. this continuation was published under the titles _histoire des quadrupedes ovipares et des serpents_ (2 vols., 1788-1789) and _histoire naturelle des reptiles_ (1789). after the revolution lacepede became a member of the legislative assembly, but during the reign of terror he left paris, his life having become endangered by his disapproval of the massacres. when the jardin du roi was reorganized as the jardin des plantes, lacepede was appointed to the chair allocated to the study of reptiles and fishes. in 1798 he published the first volume of _histoire naturelle des poissons_, the fifth volume appearing in 1803; and in 1804 appeared his _histoire des cetaces_. from this period till his death the part he took in politics prevented him making any further contribution of importance to science. in 1799 he became a senator, in 1801 president of the senate, in 1803 grand chancellor of the legion of honour, in 1804 minister of state, and at the restoration in 1819 he was created a peer of france. he died at epinay on the 6th of october 1825. during the latter part of his life he wrote _histoire generale physique et civile de l'europe_, published posthumously in 18 vols., 1826. a collected edition of his works on natural history was published in 1826.