enced by the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio. The paintings of La Tour’s maturity are marked by a star¬ tling geometric simplification of the human form and by the depiction of interior scenes lit only by the glare of candles or torches. His religious paintings done in this manner have a monumental simplicity and a still¬ ness that expresses both contempla¬ tive quiet and wonder. Little is known of his life, and only four or five of his paintings are dated. The chronology and authenticity of some works attributed to him are still debated.
La Verendrye Ma-.ver-sn-'dreV Pierre Gaultier de Varennes
et de (b. Nov. 17, 1685, Trois- Rivieres, New France—d. Dec. 5,
1749, Montreal) French-Canadian explorer. He served in the French army before becoming a fur trader in the region north of Lake Superior (1726). From the Indians he learned of a river that might lead to the Pacific Ocean, and with his sons he built a string of fur-trading posts from Ontario to Manitoba (1731-38). Two sons sent farther west became the first Europeans to explore areas of present- day Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming, and they claimed South Dakota for France. The 30,000 beaver pelts La Verendrye annually sent to Que¬ bec broke the monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Co. Little appreciated in his lifetime, he was later considered one of the greatest explorers of the Canadian West.
Laayoune \la-'yun\ or El Aaiun \,el-I-'un\ City (pop., 1998 est.: 164,000), North Africa. The capital (1940-76) of the overseas Spanish province of Western Sahara and since 1976 of the Laayoune province of Morocco (though Morocco’s claim is not internationally recognized), Laayoune lies in the northern part of Western Sahara, 8 mi (13 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It was developed by Spain in 1938 as the admin¬ istrative and military centre of the Europeans living in the former prov¬ ince. It is Western Sahara’s only major populated place. Nearby oases supply water.
Laban Vla-ban\, Rudolf (von) (b. Dec. 15, 1879, Bratislava, Austria- Hungary—d. July 1, 1958, Weybridge, Surrey, Eng.) Hungarian modern- dance teacher, inventor of the Labanotation system of dance notation. After studying dance in Paris, he opened his Choreographic Institute in Zurich, Switz., in 1915 and later founded branches in Italy, France, and central Europe. From 1919 to 1937 he worked in Germany, where in 1930-34 he was ballet director of the Berlin State Opera. In 1928 he pub¬ lished his method for recording all forms of human motion, which enabled choreographers to record the dancer’s steps and other body movements, including their rhythm. In 1938 he joined his former pupil Kurt Jooss and taught dance in England, where he later formed the Art of Movement Stu¬ dio. His system was further developed and maintained at centres in Essen, Ger., and New York.
Labdah See Leptis Magna
Labor, Knights of See Knights of Labor
Labor Day Annual holiday devoted to the recognition of working peo¬ ple’s contribution to society. It is observed on the first Monday in Sep¬ tember in the U.S. and Canada. It was first celebrated in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, under the sponsorship of the Knights of Labor. Various U.S. states observed the holiday before 1894, when Congress passed a bill making Labor Day a national holiday. It is often celebrated with parades and speeches, as well as political rallies, and the day is some¬ times the official kickoff date for national political campaigns in the U.S. In most other countries, workers are honoured on May Day.
Labor Relations Act, National See Wagner Act
laboratory Place where scientific research and development is conducted and analyses performed, in contrast with the field or factory. Most labo¬ ratories are characterized by controlled uniformity of conditions (constant temperature, humidity, cleanliness). Modern laboratories use a vast num-
Gold disk found at Auvers, La Tene culture, 5th century bc.
COURTESY OF THE BIBUOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS
"St. Joseph the Carpenter," oil on can¬ vas by Georges de La Tour, c. 1645; in the Louvre, Paris
GIRAUDON-ART RESOURCE/EB INC.
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1064 I labour ► labyrinth
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ber of instruments and procedures to study, systematize, or quantify the objects of their attention. Procedures often include sampling, pretreatment and treatment, measurement, calculation, and presentation of results; each may be carried out by techniques ranging from having an unaided person use crude tools to running an automated analysis system with computer controls, data storage, and elaborate readouts.
labour In economics, the general body of wage earners. In classical eco¬ nomics, labour is one of the three factors of production, along with capital and land. Labour can also be used to describe work performed, including any valuable service rendered by a human agent in the production of wealth, other than accumulating and providing capital. Labour is per¬ formed for the sake of its product or, in modern economic life, for the sake of a share of the aggregate product of the community’s industry. The price per unit of time, or wage rate, commanded by a particular kind of labour in the market depends on a number of variables, such as the tech¬ nical efficiency of the worker, the demand for that person’s particular skills, and the supply of similarly skilled workers. Other variables include training, experience, intelligence, social status, prospects for advance¬ ment, and relative difficulty of the work. All these factors make it impos¬ sible for economists to assign a standard value to labour. Instead, economists often quantify labour hours according to the quantity and value of the goods or services produced.
labour See parturition
labour economics Study of how workers are allocated among jobs, how their rates of pay are determined, and how their efficiency is affected by various factors. The labour force of a country includes all those who work for gain in any capacity as well as those who are unemployed but seeking work. Many factors influence how workers are utilized and how much they are paid, including qualities of the labour force itself (such as health, level of education, distribution of special training and skills, and degree of mobility), structural characteristics of the economy (e.g., pro¬ portions of heavy manufacturing, technology, and service industries), and institutional factors (including the extent and power of labour unions and employers’ associations and the presence of minimum-wage laws). Mis¬ cellaneous factors such as custom and variations in the business cycle are also considered. Certain general trends are widely accepted by labour economists; for instance, wage levels tend to be higher in jobs that involve high risk, in industries that require higher levels of education or training, in economies that have high proportions of such industries, and in indus¬ tries that are heavily unionized.
labour law Body of law that applies to matters such as employment, wages, conditions of work, labour unions, and labour-management rela¬ tions. Laws intended to protect workers, including children, from abusive employment practices were not enacted in significant numbers until the late 19th century in Europe and slightly later in the U.S. In Asia and Africa, labour legislation did not emerge until the 1940s and ’50s. Employment laws cover matters such as hiring, training, advancement, and unemployment compensation. Wage laws cover the forms and methods of payment, pay rates, social security, pensions, and other matters. Legis¬ lation on working conditions regulates hours, rest periods, vacations, child labour, equality in the workplace, and health and safety. Laws on trade unions and labour-management relations address the status of unions, the rights and obligations of workers’ and employers’ organizations, collec¬ tive bargaining agreements, and rules for settling strikes and other disputes. See also arbitration; mediation.