LITTER (lectica), a kind of vehicle borne upon
shafts; anciently esteemed the most easy and gentlest
way of carriage. Du Cange derives the word from the
barbarous Latin letera, "straw or bedding for beasts."
Others will rather have it come from lelus, "bed;"
their being ordinarily a quilt and a pillow to a litter in
the same manner as to a bed.
Pliny calls the litter the traveller's chamber; it was
much in use among the Romans, among whom it was
borne by slaves kept for that purpose; as it still con-
tinues to be in the east, where it is called a palanquin.—
The Roman lectica, made to be borne by four men,
was called tetraphorum; that borne by six, hexaphorum;
and that borne by eight, octaphorum.
The invention of litters, according to Cicero, was
owing to the kings of Bithynia: in the time of Ptolemy
they were become very frequent at Rome, as appears
from Seneca; and even slaves themselves were borne in
them, though never by more than two persons, whereas
men of quality had six or eight.
LITTER also denotes a parcel of dry old straw put on
the floor of a horse's stall for him to lie down and rest
upon. When a horse comes tired into a stable, fresh
litter
Litter has the virtue of making him stale immediately. This is known to be of very great advantage to a horie in a tired state; and when the litter is old and dirty, it never has any such effect upon him. If the owners knew how refreshing it is for a horie to discharge his urine on his return from labour, they would be more careful of giving them all means and occasions of it than they are. This staling after fatigue prevents those obstructions in the neck of the bladder or urinary passages which hories are too subject to.