LOZENGE (from the Fr. losenge, or losange; the word also appears in Span. losanje, and Ital. losanga; perhaps derived from a word meaning a

See also:

• STONE
• STONE (0. Eng. shin; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Stein, Du. steen, Dan. and Swed. sten; the root is also seen in Gr. aria, pebble)
• STONE, CHARLES POMEROY (1824-1887)
• STONE, EDWARD JAMES (1831-1897)
• STONE, FRANK (1800-1859)
• STONE, GEORGE (1708—1764)
• STONE, LUCY [BLACKWELL] (1818-1893)
• STONE, MARCUS (184o— )
• STONE, NICHOLAS (1586-1647)

stone slab laid on a

See also:

• GRAVE

grave, which appears in forms such as Provencal lousa, Span. losa, the ultimate origin of whic  h is unknown, the Lat. lapis, stone, or laws, praise, in the sense of epitaph, have been suggested), properly a four equal-sided figure, having two acute and two obtuse angles, a rhomb or " diamond." The figure is frequently used as a bearing in heraldry and especially as a shield so shaped on which the arms of a widow or spinster are emblazoned . It is used also to denote the diamond-shaped facets of a precious stone when cut, also the diamond panes of a casement window . In the 14th century the " lozenge pattern " was a favourite design for decoration . The word is also applied to a small tablet of sugar, originally diamond shaped, containing either medical drugs or some simple flavouring, or to a tablet of any concentrated substance, such as a meat-lozenge . In the reign of James I. of Scotland (1406-1437) a Scotch gold coin having a lozenge-shaped shield with the arms of Scotland on the obverse side was called athe highest point is 4826 ft . The causses of Lozere, having an area of about 564 sq. m., are calcareous, fissured and arid, but separated from each other by deep and well-watered gorges, contrasting with the desolate aspect of the plateaus . The causse of Sauveterre, between the Lot and the Tarn, ranges from 3000 to 3300 ft. in height; that of Mejan has nearly the same average altitude, but has peaks some r000 ft. higher . Between these two causses the Tarn valley is among the most picturesque in France . Lozere is watered entirely by rivers rising within its own boundaries, being in this respect unique . The climate of Lozere varies greatly with the locality . The mean temperature of Mende (50° F.) is below that of Paris; that of the mountains is always low, but on the causses the summer is scorching and the winter severe; in the Cevennes the climate becomes mild enough at their base (656 ft.) to permit the growth of the olive . Rain falls in violent storms, causing disastrous floods .

On the Mediterranean versant there are 76 in., in the

Garonne basin 46 and in that of the Loire only 28 . Sheep and cattle-rearing and cheese-making are the chief occupations . Bees are kept, and, among the Cevennes, silkworms . Large quantities of chestnuts are exported from the Cevennes, where they form an important article of diet . In the valley of the Lot wheat and fruit are the chief products; elsewhere rye is the chief cereal, and oats, barley, meslin and potatoes are also grown . Fruit trees and leguminous plants are irrigated by small canals (beals) on terraces made and maintained with much labour . Lead, zinc and antimony are found . Saw-milling, the manufacture of wooden shoes and wool-spinning are carried on; otherwise industries are few and unimportant . Of mineral springs, those of Bagnols-les-Bains are most frequented . The line of the Paris-Lyon company from Paris to Nimes traverses the eastern border of the department, which is also served by the Midi railway with the line from Neussargues to Beziers via Marvejols . The arrondissements are Mende, Florac and Marvejols; the cantons number 24, the communes 198 . Lozere forms the diocese of Mende and part of the ecclesiastical province of Albi .

It falls within the region of the XVI.

army corps, the circumscriptions of the academie (educational division) of Montpellier and the appeal court of Nimes . Mende (q.v.) is its most important town . LUANG-PRABANG, a town of French Indo-China, capital of the Lao state of that name, on the left bank of the Me Kong river . It lies at the foot of the pagoda hill which rises about 200 ft. above the plain on the promontory of land round which the Nam Kan winds to the main river . It has a population of about 9000 and contains the " palace " of the king of the state and several pagodas . In 1887 it was taken and sacked by the Haw or Black Flags, robber bands of Chinese soldiery, many of them survivors of the Taiping rebellion . In 1893 Siam was compelled to renounce her claims to the left bank of the Me Kong, including Luang-Prabang and the magnificent highlands of Chieng Kwang . That portion of the state which was on the right bank of the Me Kong was not affected by the treaty, except in so far as a portion of it fell within the sixteen miles' zone within which Siam agreed not to keep troops . Trade is in the hands of Chinese or Shan traders; hill rice and other jungle products are imported from the surrounding districts by the Kha or hill people . The exports, which include rubber, gum benjamin, silk, wax, sticklac, cutch, cardamon, a little ebony, cinnamon, indigo, rhinoceros and deer horns, ivory and fish roe, formerly all passed by way of Paklai to the Me Nam, and so to Bangkok, but have now almost entirely ceased to follow that route, the object of the French government being to deflect the trade through French territory . Luang-Prabang is the terminus of navigation on the upper Me Kong and the centre of trade thereon .