LIMBURGITE

limburgite, in petrology, a dark-coloured volcanic rock resembling basalt in appearance, but containing normally no felspar. the name is taken from limburg (germany), where they occur in the well-known rock of the kaiserstuhl. they consist essentially of olivine and augite with a brownish glassy ground mass. the augite may be green, but more commonly is brown or violet; the olivine is usually pale green or colourless, but is sometimes yellow (hyalosiderite). in the ground mass a second generation of small eumorphic augites frequently occurs; more rarely olivine is present also as an ingredient of the matrix. the principal accessory minerals are titaniferous iron oxides and apatite. felspar though sometimes present is never abundant, and nepheline also is unusual. in some limburgites large phenocysts of dark brown hornblende and biotite are found, mostly with irregular borders blackened by resorption; in others there are large crystals of soda orthoclase or anorthoclase. hauyne is an ingredient of some of the limburgites of the cape verde islands. rocks of this group occur in considerable numbers in germany (rhine district) and in bohemia, also in scotland, auvergne, spain, africa (kilimanjaro), brazil, &c. they are associated principally with basalts, nepheline and leucite basalts and monchiquites. from the last-named rocks the limburgites are not easily separated as the two classes bear a very close resemblance in structure and in mineral composition, though many authorities believe that the ground mass of the monchiquites is not a glass but crystalline analcite. limburgites may occur as flows, as sills or dykes, and are sometimes highly vesicular. closely allied to them are the _augitites_, which are distinguished only by the absence of olivine; examples are known from bohemia, auvergne, the canary islands, ireland, &c. limbus (lat. for "edge," "fringe," e.g. of a garment), a theological term denoting the border of hell, where dwell those who, while not condemned to torture, yet are deprived of the joy of heaven. the more common form in english is "limbo," which is used both in the technical theological sense and derivatively in the sense of "prison," or for the condition of being lost, deserted, obsolete. in theology there are (1) the _limbus infantum_, and (2) the _limbus patrum_. 1. the _limbus infantum_ or _puerorum_ is the abode to which human beings dying without actual sin, but with their original sin unwashed away by baptism, were held to be consigned; the category included, not unbaptized infants merely, but also idiots, cretins and the like. the word "limbus," in the theological application, occurs first in the _summa_ of thomas aquinas; for its extensive currency it is perhaps most indebted to the _commedia_ of dante (_inf._ c. 4). the question as to the destiny of infants dying unbaptized presented itself to theologians at a comparatively early period. generally speaking it may be said that the greek fathers inclined to a cheerful and the latin fathers to a gloomy view. thus gregory of nazianzus (_orat._ 40) says "that such children as die unbaptized without their own fault shall neither be glorified nor punished by the righteous judge, as having done no wickedness, though they die unbaptized, and as rather suffering loss than being the authors of it." similar opinions were expressed by gregory of nyssa, severus of antioch and others--opinions which it is almost impossible to distinguish from the pelagian view that children dying unbaptized might be admitted to eternal life, though not to the kingdom of god. in his recoil from pelagian heresy, augustine was compelled to sharpen the antithesis between the state of the saved and that of the lost, and taught that there are only two alternatives--to be with christ or with the devil, to be with him or against him. following up, as he thought, his master's teaching, fulgentius declared that it is to be believed as an indubitable truth that, "not only men who have come to the use of reason, but infants dying, whether in their mother's womb or after birth, without baptism in the name of the father, son and holy ghost, are punished with everlasting punishment in eternal fire." later theologians and schoolmen followed augustine in rejecting the notion of any final position intermediate between heaven and hell, but otherwise inclined to take the mildest possible view of the destiny of the irresponsible and unbaptized. thus the proposition of innocent iii. that "the punishment of original sin is deprivation of the vision of god" is practically repeated by aquinas, scotus, and all the other great theologians of the scholastic period, the only outstanding exception being that of gregory of rimini, who on this account was afterwards called "tortor infantum." the first authoritative declaration of the latin church upon this subject was that made by the second council of lyons (1274), and confirmed by the council of florence (1439), with the concurrence of the representatives of the greek church, to the effect that "the souls of those who die in mortal sin or in original sin only forthwith descend into hell, but to be punished with unequal punishments." perrone remarks (_prael. theol._ pt. iii. chap. 6, art. 4) that the damnation of infants and also the comparative lightness of the punishment involved in this are thus _de fide_; but nothing is determined as to the place which they occupy in hell, as to what constitutes the disparity of their punishment, or as to their condition after the day of judgment. in the council of trent there was considerable difference of opinion as to what was implied in deprivation of the vision of god, and no definition was attempted, the dominicans maintaining the severer view that the "limbus infantum" was a dark subterranean fireless chamber, while the franciscans placed it in a region of light above the earth. some theologians continue to maintain with bellarmine that the infants "in limbo" are affected with some degree of sadness on account of a felt privation; others, following the _nodus praedestinationis_ of celestine sfrondati (1649-1696), hold that they enjoy every kind of natural felicity, as regards their souls now, and as regards their bodies after the resurrection, just as if adam had not sinned. in the condemnation (1794) of the synod of pistoia (1786), the twenty-sixth article declares it to be false, rash and injurious to treat as pelagian the doctrine that those dying in original sin are not punished with fire, as if that meant that there is an intermediate place, free from fault and punishment, between the kingdom of god and everlasting damnation. 2. the _limbus patrum_, _limbus inferni_ or _sinus abrahae_ ("abraham's bosom"), is defined in roman catholic theology as the place in the underworld where the saints of the old testament were confined until liberated by christ on his "descent into hell." regarding the locality and its pleasantness or painfulness nothing has been taught as _de fide_. it is sometimes regarded as having been closed and empty since christ's descent, but other authors do not think of it as separate in place from the _limbus infantum_. the whole idea, in the latin church, has been justly described as the mere _caput mortuum_ of the old catholic doctrine of hades, which was gradually superseded in the west by that of purgatory. lime (o. eng. _lim_, lat. _limus_, mud, from _linere_, to smear), the name given to a viscous exudation of the holly-tree, used for snaring birds and known as "bird-lime." in chemistry, it is the popular name of calcium oxide, cao, a substance employed in very early times as a component of mortars and cementing materials. it is prepared by the burning of limestone (a process described by dioscorides and pliny) in kilns similar to those described under cement. the value and subsequent treatment of the product depend on the purity of the limestone; a pure stone yields a "fat" lime which readily slakes; an impure stone, especially if magnesia be present, yields an almost unslakable "poor" lime. see cement, concrete and mortar, for details. pure calcium oxide "quick-lime," obtained by heating the pure carbonate, is a white amorphous substance, which can be readily melted and boiled in the electric furnace, cubic and acicular crystals being deposited on cooling the vapour. it combines with water, evolving much heat and crumbling to pieces; this operation is termed "slaking" and the resulting product "slaked lime"; it is chemically equivalent to the conversion of the oxide into hydrate. a solution of the hydrate in water, known as lime-water, has a weakly alkaline reaction; it is employed in the detection of carbonic acid. "milk of lime" consists of a cream of the hydrate and water. dry lime has no action upon chlorine, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide, although in the presence of water combination ensues. in medicine lime-water, applied externally, is an astringent and desiccative, and it enters into the preparation of linamentum calcis and carron oil which are employed to heal burns, eczema, &c. applied internally, lime-water is an antacid; it prevents the curdling of milk in large lumps (hence its prescription for infants); it also acts as a gastric sedative. calcium phosphate is much employed in treating rickets, and calcium chloride in haemoptysis and haemophylia. it is an antidote for mineral and oxalic acid poisoning. lime,[1] or linden. the lime trees, species of _tilia_, are familiar timber trees with sweet-scented, honeyed flowers, which are borne on a common peduncle proceeding from the middle of a long bract. the genus, which gives the name to the natural order tiliaceae, contains about ten species of trees, natives of the north temperate zone. the general name _tilia europaea_, the name given by linnaeus to the european lime, includes several well-marked sub-species, often regarded as distinct species. these are: (1) the small-leaved lime, _t. parvifolia_ (or _t. cordata_), probably wild in woods in england and also wild throughout europe, except in the extreme south-east, and russian asia. (2) _t. intermedia_, the common lime, which is widely planted in britain but not wild there, has a less northerly distribution than _t. cordata_, from which it differs in its somewhat larger leaves and downy fruit. (3) the large-leaved lime, _t. platyphyllos_ (or _t. grandifolia_), occurs only as an introduction in britain, and is wild in europe south of denmark. it differs from the other two limes in its larger leaves, often 4 in. across, which are downy beneath, its downy twigs and its prominently ribbed fruit. the lime sometimes acquires a great size; one is recorded in norfolk as being 16 yds. in circumference, and ray mentions one of the same girth. the famous linden tree which gave the town of neuenstadt in wurttemberg the name of "_neuenstadt an der grossen linden_" was 9 ft. in diameter. the lime is a very favourite tree. it is an object of beauty in the spring when the delicately transparent green leaves are bursting from the protection of the pink and white stipules, which have formed the bud-scales, and retains its fresh green during early summer. later, the fragrance of its flowers, rich in honey, attracts innumerable bees; in the autumn the foliage becomes a clear yellow but soon falls. among the many famous avenues of limes may be mentioned that which gave the name to one of the best-known ways in berlin, "unter den linden," and the avenue at trinity college, cambridge. the economic value of the tree chiefly lies in the inner bark or liber (lat. for bark), called bast, and the wood. the former was used for paper and mats and for tying garlands by the ancients (_od._ i. 38; pliny xvi. 14. 25, xxiv. 8. 33). bast mats are now made chiefly in russia, the bark being cut in long strips, when the liber is easily separable from the corky superficial layer. it is then plaited into mats about 2 yds. square; 14,000,000 come to britain annually, chiefly from archangel. the wood is used by carvers, being soft and light, and by architects in framing the models of buildings. turners use it for light bowls, &c. _t. americana_ (bass-wood) is one of the most common trees in the forests of canada and extends into the eastern and southern united states. it is sawn into lumber and under the name of white-wood used in the manufacture of wooden ware, cheap furniture, &c., and also for paper pulp (c. s. sargent, _silva of north america_). it was cultivated by philip miller at chelsea in 1752. the common lime was well known to the ancients. theophrastus says the leaves are sweet and used for fodder for most kinds of cattle. pliny alludes to the use of the liber and wood, and describes the tree as growing in the mountain-valleys of italy (xvi. 30). see also virg. _geo._ i. 173, &c.; ov. _met._ viii. 621, x. 92. allusion to the lightness of the wood is made in aristoph. _birds_, 1378. for the sweet lime (_citrus limetta_ or _citrus acida_) and lime-juice, see lemon. footnote: [1] this is an altered form of o. eng. and m. eng. _lind_; cf. ger. _linde_, cognate with gr. [greek: elate], the silver fir. "linden" in english means properly "made of lime--or lind--wood," and the transference to the tree is due to the ger. _lindenbaum_.