LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

at Wash: ington, D.C., established by Act oi Congre . It was destroyed by fire in 1814 and rehabilitated in the following year with the addition of ex-President Jefferson's library. In 1851 it was partly burned and Congre appropriated $75,000 for its reconstruction. In 1866 an agreement was made with the Smithsonian Institution (q.v.) to deposit its library there, and all future acce ions, The Library of Congre is now the third greatest in the world being only surpa ed by the National Library in Paris and the British Museum in London. fi was originally planned as a library fo: legislators but has become a national institution for the whole people. In 1923 it contained over 3,000,000 printec books and pamphlets including the law library which is a division of the Library of Congre but remains at the Capitol. It contains an invaluable collection of manuscripts dealing with early Americar history, besides maps, charts, and works on genealogy, political science, law and legislation. The public have free use 0! the reference department, but only representatives and senators and some government Officials may borrow books The present Library of Congre , the largest building for its purpose in the world was erected in 1897 at a cost ot $7,000,000. The Librarian of Congres: and the Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds are appointed by the President with the a ent of the Senate. The Copyright Office is separate, though un.- der the direction of the Librarian o: ‘Congre and is in charge of the Register of Copyrights. b; i LIBRATION. This term is applied small irregularity, com BO 2 gularity, compounded of the moon’s rotation round her axis and her orbital motion, by means of which her visible hemisphere is not always quite _ the same. The mean revolution of the moon round her axis is the same period of time as her mean revolution in her orbit. If both motions were equable, the moon would always present the _ same face to a spectator placed at the - center of the earth, on condition that the plane of her equator pa ed through _ the center of the earth. None of these 8 conditions being exactly fulfilled, and the variations being small and periodic, the consequence is that a small portion _ of the moon’s surface in the eastern and _ western edges, and also in the northern and southern, is alternately visible i} tudinally is as much as 7° 53’. 1 j LIBRETTO (diminutive of It. libro, a or _ a book), in music, in the book of words | of an opera. Many cases, particui larly in operas ras of the Italian talc school, _where vocalization was carried to the| highest sain pitch of perfection, the L. iY entirely subordinated to and moulded by the exigencies: of operatic art, and is ee Bee vile more fee Pe th _ production of dignified libretti, such as|, those of Lully’s, Rameau’s, and Gluck’s | operas. The L. has various character-: istics which distinguish it from the ordinary drama, such as the use of the | aria and the duet in place of dialogue. H rica.