LYNN

lynn, a city and seaport of essex county, massachusetts, 9 m. n.e. of boston, on the n. shore of massachusetts bay. pop. (1900) 68,513, of whom 17,742 were foreign-born (6609 being english canadians, 5306 irish, 1527 english and 1280 french canadians), and 784 were negroes; (1910 census) 89,336. it is served by the boston & maine and the boston, revere beach & lynn railways, and by an interurban electric railway, and has an area of 10.85 sq. m. the business part is built near the shore on low, level ground, and the residential sections are on the higher levels. lynn woods, a beautiful park, covers more than 2000 acres. on the shore, which has a fine boulevard, is a state bath house. the city has a handsome city hall, a free public library, founded in 1862, a soldiers' monument and two hospitals. lynn is primarily a manufacturing city. the first smelting works in new england were established here in 1643. more important and earlier was the manufacture of boots and shoes, an industry introduced in 1636 by philip kertland, a buckingham man; a corporation of shoemakers existed here in 1651, whose papers were lost in 1765. there were many court orders in the seventeenth century to butchers, tanners, bootmakers and cordwainers; and the business was made more important by john adam dagyr (d. 1808), a welshman who came here in 1750 and whose work was equal to the best in england. in 1767 the output was 80,000 pairs; in 1795 about 300,000 pairs of women's shoes were made by 600 journeymen and 200 master workmen. the product of women's shoes had become famous in 1764, and about 1783 the use of morocco had been introduced by ebenezer breed. in 1900 and 1905 lynn was second only to brockton among the cities of the united states in the value of boots and shoes manufactured, and outranked brockton in the three allied industries, the manufacture of boots and shoes, of cut stock and of findings. in the value of its total manufactured product lynn ranked second to boston in the state in 1905, having been fifth in 1900; the total number of factories in 1905 was 431; their capital was $23,139,185; their employees numbered 21,540; and their product was valued at $55,003,023 (as compared with $39,347,493 in 1900). patent medicines and compounds and the manufacture of electrical machinery are prominent industries. the lynn factories of the general electric company had in 1906 an annual product worth between $15,000,000 and $20,000,000. the foreign export of manufactured products is estimated at $5,000,000 a year. lynn was founded in 1629 and was called saugus until 1637, when the present name was adopted, from lynn regis, norfolk, the home of the rev. samuel whiting (1597-1679), pastor at lynn from 1636 until his death. from lynn reading was separated in 1644, lynnfield in 1782, saugus in 1815, and, after the incorporation of the city of lynn in 1850, swampscott in 1852, and in 1853 nahant, s. of lynn, on a picturesque peninsula and now a fashionable summer resort. see james r, newhall, _history of lynn_ (lynn, 1883), and h. k. sanderson, _lynn in the revolution_ (1910). lynton and lynmouth, two seaside villages in the barnstaple parliamentary division of devonshire, england, on the bristol channel; 17 m. e. of ilfracombe, served by the lynton light railway, which joins the south western and great western lines at barnstaple. both are favoured as summer resorts. lynmouth stands where two small streams, the east lyn and west lyn, flow down deep and well-wooded valleys to the sea. lynton is on the cliff-edge, 430 ft. above. a lift connects the villages. the industries are fishing and a small coasting trade. not far off are the doone valley, part of the vale of the east lyn, here called badgeworthy water, once the stronghold of a notorious band of robbers and famous through r. d. blackmore's novel _lorna doone_; watersmeet, where two streams, the tavy and walkham, join amid wild and beautiful scenery; and the valley of rocks, a narrow glen strewn with immense boulders. lynton is an urban district, with a population (1901) of 1641. lynx (lat. _lynx_, gr. [greek: lynx], probably connected with [greek: leuosein], to see), a genus of mammals of the family _felidae_, by some naturalists regarded only as a subgenus or section of the typical genus _felis_ (see carnivora). as an english word (lynx) the name is used of any animal of this group. it is not certain to which of these, if to any of them, the greek name [greek: lynx] was especially applied, though it was more probably the caracal (q.v.) than any of the northern species. the so-called lynxes of bacchus were generally represented as resembling leopards rather than any of the species now known by the name. various fabulous properties were attributed to the animal, whatever it was, by the ancients, that of extraordinary powers of vision, including ability to see through opaque substances, being one; whence the epithet "lynx-eyed," which has survived to the present day. lynxes are found in the northern and temperate regions of both the old and new world; they are smaller than leopards, and larger than true wild cats, with long limbs, short stumpy tail, ears tufted at the tip, and pupil of the eye linear when contracted. their fur is generally long and soft, and always longish upon the cheeks. their colour is light brown or grey, and generally spotted with a darker shade. the naked pads of the feet are more or less covered by the hair that grows between them. the skull and skeleton do not differ markedly from those of the other cats. their habits are exactly those of the other wild cats. their food consists of any mammals or birds which they can overpower. they commit extensive ravages upon sheep and poultry. they generally frequent rocky places and forests, being active climbers, and passing much of their time among the branches of the trees. their skins are of considerable value in the fur trade. the northern lynx (_l. lynx_ or _l. borealis_) of scandinavia, russia, northern asia, and till lately the forest regions of central europe, has not inhabited britain during the historic period, but its remains have been found in cave deposits of pleistocene age. dr w. t. blanford says that the characters on which e. blyth relied in separating the tibetan lynx (_l. isabellinus_) from the european species are probably due to the nature of its habitat among rocks, and that he himself could find no constant character justifying separation. the pardine lynx (_l. pardinus_) from southern europe is a very handsome species; its fur is rufous above and white beneath. [illustration: from a drawing by wolf in elliot's _monograph of the felidae_. european lynx.] several lynxes are found in north america; the most northerly has been described as the canadian lynx (_l. canadensis_); the bay lynx (_l. rufus_), with a rufous coat in summer, ranges south to mexico, with spotted and streaked varieties--_l. maculatus_ in texas and southern california, and _l. fasciatus_ in washington and oregon. the first three were regarded by st george mivart as local races of the northern lynx. a fifth form, the plateau lynx (_l. baileyi_), was described by dr c. h. merriam in 1890, but the differences between it and the bay lynx are slight and unimportant.