LODZ (L6dz; more correctly Lodzia)  , a town of Russian Poland, in the government of Piotrk6w, 82 m. by rail S.W. of Warsaw . It is situated on the Lodz plateau, which at the beginning of the 19th century was covered with impenetrable forests . Now it is the centre of a group of industrial towns—Zgert, Leczyca, Pabianice, Konstantinov and Aleksandrov . Chiefly owing to a considerable immigration of German capitalists and workers, Lodz has grown with American-like rapidity . It consists principally of one main street, 7 M. long, and is a sort of Polish Manchester, manufacturing cottons, woollens and mixed stuffs, with chemicals, beer, machinery and silk, One of the very few educational institutions is a professional industrial school . The population, which was only 5o,000 in 1872, reached 351.570 in 1900; the Poles numbering about 37%, Germans 4o% and Jews 221% .