Volume I (part 2)

Modern African exploration may be said to begin with Mungo Park, who reached the upper course of the Niger (1795-1805). Dr. Lacerda, a Portuguese, about the same time reached the capital of the Cazembe, in the centre of South Africa, where he died. During 1802-6 two Portuguese traders crossed the continent from Angola, through the Cazembe's dominions, to the Portuguese possessions on the Zambezi. During 1822-4 extensive explorations were made in Northern and Western Africa by Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, who proceeded from Tripoli by Murzuq to Lake Tchad, and explored the adjacent regions; Laing, in 1826, crossed the desert from Tripoli to Timbuktu; Caillié, leaving Senegal, made in 1827-8 a journey to Timbuktu, and thence through the desert to Morocco. In 1830 Lander traced a large part of the course of the Niger downward to its mouth, discovering its tributary the Benue. In the south Livingstone, who was stationed as a missionary at Kolobeng, setting out from that place in 1849 discovered Lake Ngami. In 1851 he went north again, and came upon numerous rivers flowing north, affluents of the Zambezi. In 1848 and 1849 Krapf and Rebmann, missionaries in East Africa, discovered the mountains Kilimanjaro and Kenya. An expedition sent out by the British Government started from Tripoli in 1850 to visit the Sahara and the regions around Lake Tchad, the chiefs being Richardson, Overweg, and Barth. The last alone returned in 1855, having carried his explorations over 2,000,000 sq. miles of this part of Africa, hitherto almost unknown. During 1853-6 Livingstone made an important series of explorations. He first went north-westwards, tracing part of the Upper Zambezi, and reached St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast in 1854. On his return journey he followed pretty nearly the same route till he reached the Zambezi, and proceeding down the river, and visiting its falls, called by him the Victoria Falls, he arrived at Quelimane at its mouth on 20th May, 1856, thus crossing the continent from sea to sea. In 1858 he resumed his exploration of the Zambezi regions, and in various journeys visited Lakes Shirwa and Nyasa, sailed up the Shiré to the latter lake, and established the general features of the geography of this part of Africa, returning to England in 1864. By this time the great lakes of equatorial Africa were becoming known, Tanganyika and Victoria having been discovered by Burton and Speke in 1858, and the latter having been visited by Speke and Grant in 1862 and found to give rise to the Nile, while the Albert Nyanza was discovered by Baker in 1864. In 1866 Livingstone entered on his last great series of explorations, the main object of which was to settle the position of the watersheds in the interior of the continent, and which he carried on till his death in 1873. His most important explorations on this occasion were west and south-west of Tanganyika, including the discovery of Lakes Bangweulu and Moero, and part of the upper course of the River Congo (here called Lualaba). For over two years he was lost to the knowledge of Europe till met with by H. M. Stanley at Tanganyika in 1871. Gerhard Rohlfs, in a succession of journeys from 1861 to 1874, traversed the Sahara in different directions, and also crossed the continent entirely from Tripoli to Lagos by way of Murzuq, Bornu, &c. During 1873-5 Lieutenant Cameron, who had been sent in search of Livingstone, surveyed Lake Tanganyika, explored the country to the west of it, and then travelling to the south-west, finally reached Benguella on the Atlantic coast. During 1874-7 Stanley surveyed Lakes Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika and explored the intervening country; then going westward to where Livingstone had struck the Congo he followed the river down to its mouth, thus finally settling its course and completing a remarkable and valuable series of explorations. In 1879 Serpa Pinto completed a journey across the continent from Benguella to Natal, and in 1881-2 Wissman and Pogge crossed it again from St. Paul de Loanda to Zanzibar. In recent years our knowledge of all parts of Africa has been greatly increased, thanks to the efforts of travellers, missionaries, and commercial agents. Steamers now ply on the Congo, and on Lakes Tanganyika, Nyasa, and Victoria, and numerous railways ('Cape to Cairo', &c.) extend far into the continent.—Bibliography: Mungo Park, Travels; D. Livingstone, Missionary Travels; Sir H. M. Stanley, In Darkest Africa; Sir H. H. Johnston, Africa.

Afridis (a˙-frē′diz), a tribe or clan on the north-west frontier of India, about the Khyber Pass, who have at various times given trouble to the British, and are included in a new (1922) scheme of Khassadars (irregulars). In 1897-8 a campaign ('the Tirah campaign') had to be undertaken against them, costly both in men and money, before British authority was asserted. In 1905 the Afridis of the force called the Khyber Rifles formed an escort for the Prince and Princess of Wales on their visit to the famous pass, which was long in their charge.—Cf. Holdich, The Indian Borderland.

Afrikander Bund, an association dating from 1880 and founded for the purpose of consolidating Afrikander influence in South Africa. For a time it supported the policy of Cecil Rhodes, but after 1895 separated itself from him. After the war in 1902 the Bund was reorganized, and identified with the South African party whose policy is to further the federation of the South African colonies under the British crown.

A′ga, formerly title of Turkish officers of a lower military rank, now of men of great wealth and influence except learned men and ecclesiastics, to whom the corresponding title of effendi, meaning 'elder brother' and subsequently 'master', is given.

Ag′ades, a town of Africa, near the middle of the Sahara, capital of the Saharan oasis of Aïr or Asben; at one time a seat of great traffic, probably containing 60,000 inhabitants, now with a pop. of about 7000.

Agadir, a little town on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, the Santa Cruz May of the Spaniards. It was seized by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, and captured by Mulai Ahmed in 1536. It was once one of the most important seaports of Morocco, but is now closed to commerce and only used as a customs station, its place being taken by Mogador. In July, 1910, the appearance of a French cruiser in the port of Agadir gave rise to a Franco-German dispute, and in 1911 Germany sent the gunboat Panther, and a few days later the Berlin, to Agadir for the protection of German subjects. See France, Germany.

Agallochum (a-gal′o-kum), a fragrant wood obtained from Aloexўlon Agallŏchum, a leguminous tree of Cochin-China, and Aquilāria Agallŏcha, a large tree found in north-east Bengal, abounding in resin and an essential oil which yields a perfume used as incense.

Agal′matolite (Gr. agalma, image), a kind of stone, a clay-slate altered by heat and by the addition of alkalies, which is carved into images, &c., by the Chinese.

Ag′ama, a name of several lizards allied to the iguana, natives of both hemispheres.

Agamem′non, in Greek mythology, son of Atreus, King of Mycenæ and Argos, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the allied Greeks at the siege of Troy. Returning home after the fall of Troy, he was treacherously assassinated by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her paramour, Ægisthus, Agamemnon's cousin. He was the father of Orestes, Iphigenīa, and Electra.

Ag′ami. See Trumpeter.

Agamogenesis (-jen′e-sis; Gr. a, priv., gamos, marriage, genesis, reproduction), the production of young without the congress of the sexes, one of the phenomena of alternate generation. See Generation and Parthenogenesis.

Aganippe (-nip′ē), daughter of the river-god Parmessos, or Termessos, nymph of a fountain on Mount Helicon, in Greece, sacred to the Muses, which had the property of inspiring with poetic fire whoever drank of it. The name is often given to the wife of Acrisius and mother of Danae.

Agape (ag′a-pē; Gr. agapē, love), in ecclesiastical history, the love-feast or feast of charity, in use among the primitive Christians, when a liberal contribution was made by the rich to feed the poor. For a time the agape coincided with the eucharist, which, at its origin, was clearly funerary in its intention. "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." During the first three centuries love-feasts were held in the churches without scandal, but in after-times they acquired a bad reputation, not undeservedly, and they were condemned at the Council of Carthage in 397. Some modern sects, as the Wesleyans, Sandemanians, Moravians, &c., have attempted to revive this feast.

Agapemone (ag-a-pem′o-nē; lit. 'the abode of love'), the name of a singular conventual establishment which has existed at Spaxton, near Bridgewater, Somersetshire, since 1859, the originator of it being a certain Henry James Prince, at one time a clergyman of the Church of England, who called himself the Witness of the First Resurrection. The life spent by the inmates appears to be a sort of religious epicureanism. Some of the proceedings of the inmates of the 'Abode of Love' have resulted in applications to the courts of law, where parties formerly members of the society have returned to the world and sought to regain their rights from Prince and his followers, and such cases have caused some scandal. In 1902 Prince was succeeded by T. H. Smyth-Pigott.

A′gar-a′gar, a dried seaweed of the Asiatic Archipelago, the Gracilaria lichenoides, much used in the East for soups and jellies, and also by paper and silk manufacturers.

Agar′ic (Agarĭcus), a large and important genus of fungi, characterized by having a fleshy cap or pileus, and a number of radiating plates or gills on which are produced the naked spores. The majority of the species are furnished with stems, but some are attached to the objects on which they grow by their pileus. Over a thousand species are known, and are arranged in five sections according to whether the colour of their spores is white, pink, brown, purple, or black. The chief British representatives are the common wild mushroom (A. campestris, L.), the Horse mushroom (A. arvensis, Schæff.), A. elvensis, B. and Br., A. silvaticus, Schæff., &c. Many of the species are edible, like the common mushroom, and supply a delicious article of food, while others are deleterious and even poisonous.

Agaric Mineral, or Mountain-meal, one of the purest of the native carbonates of lime, found chiefly in the clefts of rocks and at the bottom of some lakes in a loose or semi-indurated form resembling a fungus. The name is also applied to a stone of loose consistence found in Tuscany, of which bricks may be made so light as to float in water, and of which the ancients are supposed to have made their floating bricks. It is a hydrated silicate of magnesium, mixed with lime, alumina, and a small quantity of iron.

Aga′sias, a Greek sculptor of Ephesus, about 400 B.C., whose celebrated statue, known as the Borghese Gladiator, representing a soldier contending with a horseman, is now in the Louvre, Paris.

Agassiz (ag′as-ē), Louis John Rudolph, an eminent naturalist, born 1807, died 1873, son of a Swiss Protestant clergyman at Motiers, near the eastern extremity of the Lake of Neufchâtel. He completed his education at Lausanne, and early developed a love of the natural sciences. He studied medicine at Zürich, Heidelberg, and Munich. His attention was first specially directed to ichthyology by being called on to describe the Brazilian fishes brought to Europe from Brazil by Martius and Spix. This work was published in 1829, and was followed in 1830 by Histoire Naturelle des Poissons d'eaux douces de l'Europe Centrale (Fresh-water Fishes of Central Europe). Directing his attention to fossil ichthyology, five volumes of his Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles appeared between 1834 and 1844. His researches led him to propose a new classification of fishes, which he divided into four classes, distinguished by the characters of the skin, as ganoids, placoids, cycloids, and ctenoids. His system has not been generally adopted, but the names of his classes have been taken as useful terms. In 1836 he began the study of glaciers, and in 1840 he published his Études sur les Glaciers, in 1847 his Système Glaciaire. From 1838 he had been professor of natural history at Neufchâtel, when in 1846 pressing solicitations and attractive offers induced him to settle in America, where he was connected as a teacher first with Harvard University, Cambridge, and afterwards with Cornell University as well as Harvard. After his arrival in America he engaged in various investigations and explorations, and published numerous works, including: Principles of Zoology, in connection with Dr. A. Gould (1848); Contributions to the Natural History of the United States (4 vols., 1857-62); Zoologie Générale (1854); Methods of Study in Natural History (1863). In 1865-6 he made zoological excursions and investigations in Brazil, which were productive of most valuable results. Agassiz held views on many important points in science different from those which prevailed among the scientific men of the day, and in particular he strongly opposed the evolution theory. Cf. Letters and Recollections, edited by G. R. Agassiz.

Agassiz (ag′a-sē), Mount, an extinct volcano in Arizona, United States, 10,000 feet in height; a place of summer resort, near the Great Cañon of the Colorado.

Ag′ate, a semi-translucent compound mineral mass formed in the cavities of rocks by the successive deposition of various types of silica, or by the staining of a siliceous mass thus deposited along concentric zones. Bands or layers of various colours blended together, the base generally being chalcedony, and this mixed with variable proportions of jasper, amethyst, quartz, opal, heliotrope, and carnelian. The varying manner in which these materials are arranged causes the agate when polished to assume some characteristic appearances, and thus certain varieties are distinguished, as the ribbon agate, the fortification agate, the zone agate, the star agate, the moss agate, the clouded agate, &c. In Scotland they are cut and polished under the name of Scottish pebbles.

Agathar′chus, a Greek painter, native of Samos, the first to paint a scene for the acting of tragedies. The view, however, that he applied the rules of perspective to theatrical scene-painting is doubtful. He flourished about 480 B.C.

Agath′ias, a Greek poet and historian, born at Myrina, Asia Minor, about A.D. 530; author of an anthology, a collection of love poems, and a history of his own times, which is our chief authority for the period 552-8, during which time the Byzantine army was struggling against the Goths, Vandals, and Franks.

Agathocles (a-gath′o-klēz), a Sicilian Greek, one of the boldest adventurers of antiquity, born 361 B.C. By his ability and energy, and being entirely unscrupulous, he raised himself from being a potter to being tyrant of Syracuse and master of Sicily. Wars with the Carthaginians were the chief events of his life. He died at the age of seventy-two.

Ag′athon, a Greek tragic poet, a friend of Euripides, and contemporary with Socrates and Alcibiades, born about 445 B.C., died about 402 B.C. The banquet which he gave to celebrate his first dramatic victory was made the groundwork of Plato's Symposium.

Agave (a-gā′vē), a genus of plants, nat. ord. Amaryllidaceæ (which includes the daffodil and narcissus), popularly known as American aloes. They are generally large, and have a massive tuft of fleshy leaves with a spiny apex. They live for many years—ten to seventy according to treatment—before flowering. When this takes place, the tall flowering stem springs from the centre of the tuft of leaves, and grows very rapidly until it reaches a height of 15, 20, or even 40 feet, bearing towards the end a large number of flowers. The best-known species is A. americāna, known as the Maguey or 'tree of wonders', introduced into Spain in 1561, and now extensively grown in the warmer parts of this continent as well as in Asia (India in particular). This and other species yield various important products, the chief being the fibre obtained by maceration from the leaves and roots, and known commercially as American aloe, pita flax, or vegetable silk. The sap when fermented yields a beverage resembling cider, the pulque beer of the Spaniards, or is distilled into an intoxicating spirit (Mezcal or Aguardiente). The leaves are used for feeding cattle; the fibres of the leaves are formed into thread, cord, and ropes, and are also good material for paper-making; an extract from the leaves is used as a substitute for soap; slices of the withered flower-stem are used as razor-strops.

Agde (a˙gd), a seaport of southern France, department of Hérault, with a cathedral, an ancient and remarkable structure. The trade, chiefly coasting, is extensive. Pop. 9265.

Age, a period of time representing the whole or a part of the duration of any individual thing or being, but used more specifically in a variety of senses. In law age is applied to the periods of life when men and women are enabled to do that which before, for want of years and consequently of judgment, they could not legally do. A male at twelve years old may take the oath of allegiance; at fourteen is at years of discretion, and therefore may choose his guardian or be an executor, although he cannot act until of age; and at twenty-one is at his own disposal, and may alienate and devise his lands, goods, and chattels. In English law a male at fourteen and a female at twelve may consent or disagree to marriage, but it cannot be celebrated without the consent of the parents or guardians until the parties are of age. A female at fourteen is at years of legal discretion, and may choose a guardian; at seventeen may be an executrix; and at twenty-one may dispose of herself and her lands. So that full age in male or female is twenty-one years, which age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a person's birth, who till that time is an infant, and so styled in law. In France majority is attained at twenty-one, whilst the marriageable age is eighteen for males and fifteen for females, subject to consent of parents or guardians. In England no one can take a seat in Parliament under twenty-one, be ordained a priest under twenty-four, nor made a bishop under thirty. In France a seat in the Chamber of Deputies may be taken only at twenty-five and in the Senate at forty. The law of Scotland divides life into three periods—pupilarity, minority, and majority. The first extends up to the time of legal puberty, that is, twelve years for a female and fourteen for a male, when they may marry; the second extends from this point up to twenty-one years, which is the time when majority is attained.

The term is also applied to designate the successive epochs or stages of civilization in history or mythology. Hesiod speaks of five distinct ages:—1. The golden or Saturnian age, a patriarchal and peaceful age. 2. The silver age, licentious and wicked. 3. The brazen age, violent, savage, and warlike. 4. The heroic age, which seemed an approximation to a better state of things. 5. The iron age, when justice and honour had left the earth. The term is also used in such expressions as the dark ages, the middle ages, the Elizabethan age, &c.

The Archæological Ages or Periods are three—the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, these names being given in accordance with the materials chiefly employed for weapons, implements, &c., during the particular period. The Stone Age of Europe has been subdivided into two—the Palæolithic or earlier, and Neolithic or later. The word age in this sense has no reference to the lapse of time—or not necessarily so—but simply refers to the stage at which a people has arrived in its progress towards civilization; thus there are races still in their stone age. The Palæolithic or earlier stone age in Europe was doubtless immensely earlier than the Neolithic, the latter being marked by implements of much greater finish than the former. See Stone Age.

Agen (a˙-zhan˙), one of the oldest towns in France, capital of department Lot-et-Garonne on the Garonne, 74 miles south-east of Bordeaux; see of a bishop; manufactures sailcloth and other articles, and has an extensive trade. The river is here crossed by a stone bridge, a suspension bridge, and a canal aqueduct. Pop. 23,294.

Agenor (a-jē′nor), a mythical Greek hero, King of Phœnicia, and father of Europa and Cadmus. Also one of the bravest among the Trojans, slain by Neoptolemus.

A′gent, a person appointed by another to act for or perform any kind of business for him, the latter being called in relation to the former the principal. Ambassadors were originally styled diplomatic agents.—In India, it is the name for an officer to whom political power is given to deal with native states.—Army Agent is a kind of military banker, authorized by the Government to manage the monetary affairs of a regiment. There are only a few of these agents, and consequently each has in charge the affairs of a number of different regiments.—Crown Agents are officials appointed by the secretary of state for the colonies to act as commercial and financial agents in this country for the different British colonies that are not self-governing; those that are self-governing appoint their own agents, who are designated agents-general.—Agent in mechanics is the general force producing a movement.

Ageratum (a-jer′a-tum), a genus of composite plants of the warmer parts of America, one species of which, A. mexicānum, is a well-known flower-border annual with dense lavender-blue heads. From it have been derived several varieties with flowers of different colours used chiefly as bedding plants.

Ager Publicus. See Agrarian Law.

Agesilaus (a-jes-i-lā′us), a king of Sparta, born in 444 B.C., and elevated to the throne after the death of his brother Agis II. He acquired renown by his exploits against the Persians, Thebans, and Athenians. Though a vigorous ruler, and almost adored by his soldiers, he was of small stature and lame from his birth. He died in Egypt in the winter of 361-360 B.C. His life has been written by Xenophon, Plutarch, and Cornelius Nepos.

Agglom′erate, in geology, a collective name for masses consisting of angular fragments ejected from volcanoes. When a rock mass consists largely of fragments worn and rounded by water it is called a conglomerate, and such masses were originally, no doubt, gravels and shingles on sea beaches and river channels.

Agglu′tinate Languages, languages in which the modifying suffixes are, as it were, glued on to the root, both it and the suffixes retaining a kind of distinctive independence and individuality, as in the Japanese, Turkish, and other Turanian languages, and the Basque language.

Agg′regate, a term applied in geology to rocks composed of several different mineral constituents capable of being separated by mechanical means, as granite, where the quartz, felspar, and mica can be separated mechanically.—In botany it is applied to flowers composed of many small florets having a common undivided receptacle, the anthers being distinct and separate, the florets commonly standing on stalks, and each having a partial calyx.

Aggry Beads, glass beads of various forms and colours, prized by the natives of West Africa as ornaments, and as having magical and medicinal virtues. Their origin and history are not well known. Such beads have been found in various parts of the world, including North and South America, and often in graves. Some authorities believe that the oldest of them are the work of the ancient Egyptians, or the Phœnicians, while the later are probably of Venetian origin.

Agha, see Aga.

Aghrim, see Aughrim.

Agincourt (a˙-zhan˙-kör), a village of Northern France, department Pas de Calais, famous for the battle of 25th Oct., 1415, between the French and English. Henry V, King of England, eager to conquer France, landed at Harfleur, took the place by storm, and wished to march through Picardy to Calais, but was met by a French army under the Constable d'Albret. The English numbered about 15,000 men, while the French numbers are variously given as from 50,000 to 150,000. The confined nature and softness of the ground were to the disadvantage of the French, who were drawn up in three columns unnecessarily deep. The English archers attacked the first division in front and in flank, and soon threw them into disorder. The second division fled on the fall of the Duc d'Alençon, who was struck down by Henry himself; and the third division fled without striking a blow. Of the French 10,000 were killed, including the Constable d'Albret, with six dukes and princes. The English lost 1600 men killed, among them the Duke of York, Henry's uncle. After the battle the English continued their march to Calais.

Agio (ā′ji-ō), the difference between the real and the nominal value of money, as between paper money and actual coin. It is used to denote both the difference between two currencies in the same country and the variations in the currencies of different countries. The term is derived from the It. aggiungere, to add, augment, hence agiotage. See Disagio and Balance of Trade.

Agira (a˙-jē′ra˙), (ancient Agyrium), a town of Sicily south-west of Etna. Pop. 22,485.

Agis (ā′jis), the name of four Spartan kings, the most important of whom was Agis IV, who succeeded to the throne in 244 B.C., and reigned four years. He attempted a reform of the abuses which had crept into the State—his plan comprehending a redistribution of the land, a division of wealth, and the cancelling of all debts. Opposed by his colleague Leonidas, advantage was taken of his absence, in an expedition against the Ætolians, to depose him. Agis at first took sanctuary in a temple, but he was treacherously seized and strangled, after going through the form of a trial.

Agistment (from the Lat. ad, to, and Fr. giste, lodging), a term designating the pasturing of horses, cattle, or sheep of another. See Bailment.

Agitators, an alternative form of Adjutators, a name given to the representatives elected in 1647 by the different regiments of the English parliamentary army.

Aglaia (a-glā′ya), wife of Hephaistos, in Greek mythology, one of the three Graces, the other two being Euphrosyne and Thalia.

Aglossa, a sub-order of anurous amphibia, the frogs, without a tongue.

Agnano (a˙-nyä′nō), until 1870 a lake of Italy, west of Naples, occupying probably the crater of an extinct volcano, but now drained.

Ag′nates, in the civil law, relations on the male side, in opposition to cognates, relations on the female side.

Agnello Pass, see European War.

Agnes, St., a virgin martyr who, according to the story, suffered martyrdom because she steadfastly refused to marry Sempronius, the prefect of Rome, and adhered to her religion in spite of repeated temptations and threats, A.D. 303. She was first led to the stake, but as the flames did not injure her she was beheaded. Her festival is celebrated on 21st Jan. For superstitions connected with St. Agnes' Eve see Keats's poem The Eve of St. Agnes. Tintoret's most remarkable picture is The Martyrdom of St. Agnes.

Agnes, St., the most southerly of the Scilly Islands. A lighthouse was erected here as early as 1680; another on the Wolf Rock near the island was completed in 1858.

Agnesi (a˙-nyā′sē), Maria Gaetana, a learned Italian lady, born at Milan in 1718. In her ninth year she was able to speak Latin, in her eleventh Greek; she then studied the oriental languages, and at the age of thirteen mastered Hebrew, besides French, Spanish, and German. She was called the 'Walking Polyglot'. She next studied geometry, philosophy, and mathematics. She was appointed, in 1750, professor of mathematics in the University of Bologna, ultimately took the veil, and died in 1799. Her sister, Maria Theresa, composed several cantatas and three operas.

Ag′ni, the Hindu god of fire, second only to Indra, and one of the eight guardians of the world, and especially the lord of the south-east quarter. He is celebrated in many of the hymns of the Rig Veda. He is often represented as of a red or flame colour, and rides on a ram or a goat. He is still worshipped as the personification of fire, and the friction of two sticks for procuring the temple fire is still regarded as the symbol of Agni's miraculous rebirth.

Agnœtæ, a monophysitic sect of the sixth century.

Agnolo, Baccio d' (ba˙ch′ō da˙n′yo-lō), a Florentine wood-carver, sculptor, and architect; designed some of the finest palaces, &c., in Florence, such as the Villa Borghese, the Palais Bartolini, &c.; born 1460, died 1543.

Agno′men (Lat.), an additional name given by the Romans to an individual in allusion to some quality, circumstance, or achievement by which he was distinguished, as Africanus added to P. Cornelius Scipio.

Agnone (a˙-nyō′nā), a town of S. Italy, province of Molise, famous for the excellence of its copper wares. Pop. 6000.

Agnostics (ag-nos′tiks; Gr. a, not, gignōskein, to know), a modern term invented by Huxley in 1869 and applied to those who disclaim any knowledge of God, the origin of the universe, immortality, &c. The agnostics, or adherents of this doctrine, hold that the mind of man is limited to a knowledge of phenomena and of what is relative, and that, therefore, the infinite, the absolute, and the unconditioned, being beyond all experience, are consequently beyond its range. Agnosticism is therefore the attitude of 'solemnly suspended judgment', and cannot be identified with atheism. The agnostics do not deny the existence of a Divine Being, but merely maintain that we have no scientific ground for either belief or denial.—Bibliography: Sir Leslie Stephen, An Agnostic's Apology; R. Flint, Agnosticism; J. Ward, Naturalism and Agnosticism.

Agnus Castus, a shrub, Vitex Agnuscastus, nat. ord. Verbenaceæ, a native of the Mediterranean countries, with white flowers and acrid, aromatic fruits. It had anciently the imagined virtue of preserving chastity—hence the term castus (Lat., chaste).

Agnus Dei (dē′ī; Lat., 'the Lamb of God'), a term applied to Christ in John, i, 29, and in the Roman Catholic liturgy a prayer beginning with the words 'Agnus Dei', generally sung before the communion. The term is also commonly given to a medal, or more frequently a disk of wax, round, oblong, or oval, consecrated by the pope, stamped with the figure of a lamb supporting the banner of the cross; supposed to possess great virtues, such as preserving those who carry it in faith from accidents, &c. Jean Châtel, the assassin of Henri IV, was found covered with such medals.

Agon′ic Line (Gr. a, not, and gōnia, an angle), in terrestrial magnetism a name applied to the line which joins all the places on the earth's surface at which the needle of the compass points due north and south, without any declination. See Magnetism.

Ag′ony Column, a column in the advertising sheet of some of the daily journals, in which disappearances, losses, mysterious appeals and correspondence, and generally any advertising eccentricity appear.

Ag′ora, the market-place of a Greek town, corresponding to the Roman forum. The Agora of Athens is situated in a valley partially enclosed by the Acropolis, Areopagus, Pnyx, and Museum.

Agos′ta. See Augusta.

Agouara (a˙-gu¨-ä′ra˙), a name given to the crab-eating racoon (Procўon cancrivŏrus) of S. America.

Agoult (a˙-gö), Marie de Flavigny, Comtesse d', a French writer of fiction, history, politics, philosophy, and art; daughter of Vicomte de Flavigny; born at Frankfort in 1805, died at Paris 1876. She contributed many articles to the Revue des Deux-Mondes, &c., under the pseudonym of Daniel Stern, and wrote Lettres Républicaines (1848); Histoire de la Révolution de 1848; Esquisses Morales et Politiques; Trois Journées de la Vie de Marie Stuart; Florence et Turin (a series of artistic and political studies); Dante et Goethe; dialogues, and numerous romances, &c.

Agouta (a-gö′ta), Solenŏdon paradoxus, an insectivorous mammal peculiar to Hayti, of the tanrec family, somewhat larger than a rat. It has its tail devoid of hair and covered with scales, its eyes small, and an elongated nose like the shrews. Another species (S. cubānus) belongs to Cuba.

Agouti (a-gö′ti), the name of several rodent mammals, forming a family by themselves, genus Dasyprocta. There are eight or nine species, all belonging to S. America and the W. Indies. The common agouti, or yellow-rumped cavy (D. agouti), is of the size of a rabbit. It burrows in the ground or in hollow trees, lives on vegetables, doing much injury to the sugar-cane, is as voracious as a pig, and makes a similar grunting noise. Its flesh is white and good to eat.

Agra (ä′gra), a city of India, in the United Provinces, on the right bank of the Jumna, 841 miles by rail from Calcutta. It is a well-built and handsome town and has various interesting structures, among which are the imperial palace, a mass of buildings erected by several emperors; the Motí Masjid or Pearl Mosque (both within the old and extensive fort); the mosque called the Jama Masjid (a cenotaph of white marble); and, above all, the Taj Mahal, 'a dream in marble', a mausoleum of the seventeenth century, built by the Emperor Shah Jehan (1628-58) for his favourite queen, Mumtaz Mahal. It is made of white marble, and is adorned throughout with exquisite mosaics. Its cost is estimated at £800,000, and 20,000 workmen, under the direction of Austin of Bordeaux, were engaged on it for twenty-two years. There are several Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, a government college, and three other colleges or high schools, besides a medical college. Agra has a trade in grain, sugar, &c., and some manufactures, including beautiful inlaid mosaics. It was founded in 1566 by the Emperor Akbar, and was a residence of the emperors for over a century. Pop. 185,449. The Agra division has an area of 10,078 sq. miles, and a pop. of 5,007,900.

Agraffe′, a sort of ornamental buckle, clasp, or similar fastening for holding together articles of dress, &c., often adorned with precious stones.

Agram, or Zagreb, a city in Yugo-Slavia, capital of the former Hungarian province of Croatia and Slavonia, near the River Save; contains the residence of the ban or governor of Croatia and Slavonia, Government buildings, cathedral (being the see of a Roman Catholic archbishop), university, theatre, &c.; carries on an active trade, and manufactures tobacco, leather, and linens. Pop. 79,038.

Agra′phia. See Aphasia.

Agrarian Laws, laws enacted in ancient Rome for the division of the public lands, that is, the lands belonging to the State (ager publicus). As the territory of Rome increased, the public land increased, the land of conquered peoples being always regarded as the property of the conqueror. The right to the use of this public land belonged originally only to the patricians or ruling class, but afterwards the claims of the plebeians on it were also admitted, though they were often unfairly treated in the sharing of it. Hence arose much discontent among the plebeians, and various remedial laws were passed with more or less success. Indeed an equitable adjustment of the land question between the aristocracy and the common people was never attained.

Agravaine, Sir, one of the knights of the Round Table.

Agreement of the People. See Levellers.

Agric′ola, Gnæus Julius, lived from A.D. 37 to 93, a Roman consul under the Emperor Vespasian, and governor in Britain, the greater part of which he reduced to the dominion of Rome; distinguished as a statesman and general. His life, written by his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, gives the best extant account of Britain in the early part of the period of the Roman rule. He was the twelfth Roman general who had been in Britain, but was the only one who effectually subdued the southern portion of it and reconciled the Britons to the Roman yoke. This he did by teaching them the arts of civilization and to settle in towns. He constructed the chain of forts between the Forth and the Clyde, defeated Galgacus at the battle of Mons Graupius, and sailed round the island, discovering the Orkneys.

Agric′ola, Georg (originally Bauer, that is, peasant = Lat. agricola), born in Saxony 1490, died at Chemnitz 1555, German physician and mineralogist. Though tinged with the superstitions of his age, he made the first successful attempt to reduce mineralogy to a science, and introduced many improvements in the art of mining. A complete edition of his works was published at Basel in 1550 and 1558.

Agricola, Johann, the son of a tailor at Eisleben, was born in 1492, and called, from his native city, master of Eisleben (magister Islebius); one of the most active among the theologians who propagated the doctrines of Luther. In 1537, when professor in Wittenberg, he stirred up the Antinomian controversy with Luther and Melanchthon. He afterwards lived at Berlin, where he died in 1566, after a life of controversy. Besides his theological works he composed a work explaining the common German proverbs.

Agricola, Johann Friedrich, German musician and composer, born near Altenburg 1720, died at Berlin 1774; pupil of Sebastian Bach; wrote several operas, including Iphigenia in Tauris. He wrote under the pseudonym of 'Olibrio'.

Agricola, Rodolphus, German scholar, born at Groningen 1443, died at Heidelberg 1485. After travelling in France and Italy he was appointed professor of philosophy at Heidelberg, and did good service in transplanting the revived classical learning into Germany.

Ag′riculture is the art of cultivating the ground, more especially with the plough and in large areas or fields, in order to raise grain and other crops for man and beast; including the art of preparing the soil, sowing and planting seeds, removing the crops, and also the raising and feeding of cattle or other live stock. This art is the basis of all other arts, and in all countries coeval with the first dawn of civilization. At how remote a period it must have been successfully practised in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China we have no means of knowing, but there is sufficient evidence of agriculture having attained considerable development many centuries before the Christian era. Egypt was renowned as a corn country in the time of the Jewish patriarchs, and had probably been so for centuries before. The hieroglyphics on ancient monuments furnish records of the early development of agriculture in Egypt and of the use of the plough and other agricultural implements. The advanced methods of the Egyptians and Syrians were introduced into Europe by the Saracens. Land culture also attained a more or less considerable development in ancient China and Hindustan. Among the ancient Greeks the implements of agriculture were very few and simple. Hesiod, who wrote a poem on agriculture as early as the eighth century B.C., mentions a plough consisting of three parts, the share-beam, the draught-pole, and the plough-tail, but antiquarians are not agreed as to its exact form. The ground received three ploughings, one in autumn, another in spring, and a third immediately before sowing the seed. Manures were applied, and the advantage of mixing soils, as sand with clay or clay with sand, was understood. Seed was sown by hand, and covered with a rake. Grain was reaped with a sickle, bound in sheaves, thrashed, then winnowed by wind, laid in chests, bins, or granaries, and taken out as wanted by the family, to be ground. Agriculture was highly esteemed among the ancient Romans, and very full accounts are contained in the works of Pliny, Virgil, Cato, Varro, and Palladius. The Romans used a great many different implements of agriculture. The plough is represented by Cato as of two kinds, one for strong, the other for light soils. Varro mentions one with two mould-boards, with which, he says, "when they plough, after sowing the seed, they are said to ridge". Pliny mentions a plough with one mould-board, and others with a coulter, of which he says there were many kinds. Fallowing was a practice rarely deviated from by the Romans. In most cases a fallow and a year's crop succeeded each other. Manure was collected from various sources, and irrigation was practised on a large scale.

The Romans introduced their agricultural knowledge among the Britons, and during the most flourishing period of the Roman occupation large quantities of corn were exported from Britain to the Continent. During the time that the Angles and Saxons were extending their conquests over the country agriculture must have been greatly neglected; but afterwards it was practised with some success among the Anglo-Saxon population, especially, as was generally the case during the Middle Ages, on lands belonging to the Church. Swine formed at this time a most important portion of the live stock, finding plenty of oak and beech mast to eat. The feudal system introduced by the Normans, though beneficial in some respects as tending to ensure the personal security of individuals, operated powerfully against progress in agricultural improvements. War and the chase, the two ancient and deadliest foes of husbandry, formed the most prominent occupations of the Norman princes and nobles. Thriving villages and smiling fields were converted into deer forests, vexatious imposts were laid on the farmers, and the serfs had no interest in the cultivation of the soil. But the monks of every monastery retained such of their lands as they could most conveniently take charge of, and these they cultivated with great care, under their own inspection, and frequently with their own hands. The various operations of husbandry, such as manuring, ploughing, sowing, harrowing;, reaping, thrashing, winnowing, &c., are incidentally mentioned by the writers of those days; but it is impossible to collect from them a definite account of the manner in which those operations were performed.

While there is much in the writings of the old English chroniclers concerning the tenure of land, upon which subject the Domesday Book gives much enlightenment, there is a great lack of information as to the manner in which the land was cultivated. Information began to be recorded in the middle of the thirteenth century, but only one treatise is known to have been written, namely, La Dite de Husbanderye, an essay in Norman French by Walter de Henley. This work was superseded by another treatise, the best of the early works on the subject, and published in the reign of Henry VIII (in 1523) by Sir A. Fitzherbert, judge of the Common Pleas. It is entitled the Book of Husbandry, and contains directions for draining, clearing, and enclosing a farm, for enriching the soil, and rendering it fit for tillage. Lime, marl, and fallowing are strongly recommended. The subject of agriculture attained some prominence during the reign of Elizabeth. The principal writers of that period were Tusser, Googe, and Sir Hugh Platt. Tusser's Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandry (first complete edition published in 1580) conveys much useful instruction in metre, but few works of this time contain much that is original or valuable. The first half of the seventeenth century produced no systematic work on agriculture, though several on different branches of the subject. About 1645 the field cultivation of red clover was introduced into England, the merit of this improvement being due to Sir Richard Weston, author of a Discourse on the Husbandry of Brabant and Flanders, to whom also belongs the credit of first growing turnips in England. The Dutch had devoted much attention to the improvement of winter roots, and also to the cultivation of clover and other artificial grasses, and the farmers and proprietors of England soon saw the advantages to be derived from their introduction. Potatoes had been introduced during the latter part of the sixteenth century, but were not for long in general cultivation. A number of writers on agriculture appeared in England during the Commonwealth, the most important works on the subject being Blythe's Improver Improved and Hartlib's Legacy. The former writer speaks of a rotation, or rather alternation of crops, and well knew the use of lime, as also of other manures. In the eighteenth century the first name of importance in British agriculture is that of Jethro Tull, a gentleman of Berkshire, who began to drill wheat and other crops about the year 1701, and whose Horse-hoeing Husbandry was published in 1731. Tull was a great advocate of the system of sowing crops in rows or drills with an interval between every two or three rows wide enough to allow of ploughing or hoeing to be carried on. This enabled the ground to be cleared with crops still growing, thus obviating the necessity for 'bare fallow' and leading to the four-course or Norfolk Rotation of Charles, second Viscount Townshend, the first agriculturist to cultivate turnips on a large scale. After the time of Tull and Townshend no great alteration in British agriculture took place till Robert Bakewell and others effected some important improvements in the breeds of cattle, sheep, and swine in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The raising and maintenance of live stock, especially of sheep, was a characteristic of English farming from a very early time, and for several centuries the country had almost a monopoly in the supply of wool. To Bakewell we owe the well-known breed of Leicester sheep. By the end of the century it was a common practice to alternate green crops with grain crops, instead of exhausting the land with a number of successive crops of corn. A well-known writer on agriculture at this period, and one who did a great deal of good in diffusing a knowledge of the subject, was Arthur Young. Scotland was for a long time behind England in agricultural progress. Great progress was made during the eighteenth century, however, especially in the latter half of it, turnips being introduced as a field-crop, and new implements such as the swing-plough and the thrashing-machine coming into general use. The construction of good roads through the country also gave agriculture a great impulse. During the wars caused by the French revolution (1795-1815) the high price of agricultural produce led to an extraordinary improvement in agriculture all over Britain. The establishment of the institution called the National Board of Agriculture was also of very great service to British husbandry at this period. Though a private association, it was assisted by an annual parliamentary grant, and prizes were given by it for the encouragement of experiments and improvements in agriculture. It existed from 1793 to 1816.

Among other societies which have greatly furthered the progress of agriculture in Britain, the chief in existence at the present day are the Smithfield Club, inaugurated in 1798; the Royal Agricultural Society of England, established in 1838; the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, founded in 1783; and the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland, instituted in 1841. The objects of these and similar societies are such as the following: To encourage the introduction of improvements in agriculture; to encourage the improvement of agricultural implements and farm buildings; the application of chemistry to agriculture; the destruction of insects injurious to vegetation; to promote the discovery and adoption of new varieties of grain, or other useful vegetables; to collect information regarding the management of woods, plantations, and fences; to improve the education of those supported by the cultivation of the soil; to improve the veterinary art; to improve the breeds of live stock, &c. Shows are held, at which prizes are distributed for live stock, implements, and farm produce.

Through the efforts of the above-mentioned and other societies, the investigations of scientific men, the general diffusion of knowledge among all classes, and the necessity of competing with producers in foreign countries, agriculture made vast strides in Britain during the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Among the chief improvements we may mention deep ploughing and thorough draining. By the introduction of new or improved implements the labour necessary to the carrying out of agricultural operations has been greatly diminished, and advancement in this direction has been promoted by the necessities of the Great War. Labour-saving machinery is likely to be used in future on an increasingly large scale. Science, too, has been called in to act as the handmaid of art, and in its application we owe very much to the researches conducted at the Rothamsted Experimental Station, founded in 1834 by Lawes, who endowed the Lawes Trust in 1889. Gilbert and he worked together from 1843 to the end of last century. It is primarily by the investigations of the chemist and physicist that agriculture has been put on a really scientific basis. The physiology of plants and animals, and the complex properties of soils, have all been investigated, and most important results obtained. Artificial manures, in great variety to supply the elements wanted for plant growth, have come into common use, and the free nitrogen of the air is now worked up into various substances by which the nitrate of soda imported from South America can be replaced. An improvement in all kinds of stock is becoming more and more general, feeding is conducted on more scientific principles, and improved varieties of crop-plants are created by applying the principles of Mendel and other scientists. Much attention is also devoted to seed-testing, and the applications of electricity to agriculture are being developed.

As a result of the new conditions, to be a thoroughly-trained and competent agriculturist requires a special education, partly theoretical, partly practical. In many countries there are now agricultural schools or colleges supported by the State, and many such institutions exist in Britain. In Scotland, the Edinburgh chair of Rural Economy was founded in 1790; in Ireland, the Glasnevin Institution was inaugurated in 1838; and the establishment of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, dates from 1845. In the United States nearly all the States have now colleges, or departments of colleges, devoted to the teaching of agriculture, and large allotments of public land have been made for their support. There are also numerous experimental stations. In Britain there has been a Board of Agriculture since 1889, under a cabinet minister, which was constituted a ministry in 1919; previously there was only a department under a committee of the Privy Council.

It is probable that on the whole the agriculture of Britain is farther advanced than that of any other region of similar size. Wheat, barley, and oats are the chief cereals in Britain; the chief roots are turnips and potatoes; other crops (besides grass and clover) are beans, peas, mangold, hops, and flax. In Europe at large the principal cereals are wheat, oats, barley, and rye, wheat being mostly grown in the middle and southern regions, such as France, Spain, part of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and southern Russia, the others in the more northern portion, while maize is grown in the warmest parts. Turnips are comparatively little grown out of Britain, beet-root in some sense taking their place; potatoes, however, are largely cultivated, except in the south. In the United States maize is the chief corn crop, next to which comes wheat, then oats; potatoes are an important crop, but turnips are only grown to a very small extent. In Canada large quantities of wheat are grown (more especially in Manitoba and the North-West), much is also now produced in the Australian colonies, in India, Argentina, &c.—Bibliography: W. Fream, Elements of Agriculture; C. W. Burkett, Agriculture for Beginners; Encyclopædia of Agriculture (Gresham Publishing Company).

Agrigentum (-jen′tum) (modern Girgenti), an ancient Greek city of Sicily, founded about 580 B.C., and long one of the most important places on the island. The town is also famous as the birthplace of the philosopher Empedocles. Extensive ruins of splendid temples and public buildings yet attest its ancient magnificence. See Girgenti.

Ag′rimony (Agrimonia), a genus of plants, nat. ord. Rosaceæ, consisting of slender perennial herbs found in temperate regions. A. Eupatoria, or common agrimony, was formerly of much repute as a medicine in England. Its leaves and rootstock are astringent, and the latter yields a yellow dye. The plant is a common weed on the borders of cornfields and on roadsides.

Agrippa, Herod. See Herod Agrippa.

Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius, a Roman statesman and general, the son-in-law of Augustus; born 63 B.C., died 12 B.C. He was prætor in 41 B.C.; consul in 37, 28, and 27; ædile in 33; and tribune from 18 till his death. He commanded the fleet of Augustus in the battle of Actium. To him Rome is indebted for three of her principal aqueducts, the Pantheon, and several other works of public use and ornament.

Agrip′pa, von Nettesheim, Cornelius Henry, born in 1486 at Cologne, soldier, doctor, and, by common reputation, a magician. In his youth he was secretary to the Emperor Maximilian I; he subsequently served seven years in Italy, and was knighted. On quitting the army he devoted himself to science, became famous as a magician and alchemist, and was involved in disputes with the churchmen. After an active, varied, and eventful life he died at Grenoble in 1534 or 1535. His works were published at Lyons in 1550.

Agrippi′na, the name of several Roman women, among whom we may mention: 1. The youngest daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and wife of C. Germanicus; a heroic woman, adorned with great virtues. Tiberius, who hated her for her virtues and popularity, banished her to the Island of Pandataria, where she starved herself to death in A.D. 33. 2. A daughter of the last mentioned, and the mother of Nero, by Domitius Ahenobarbus. Her third husband was her uncle, the Emperor Claudius, whom she subsequently poisoned to secure the government of the Empire through her son Nero. After ruling a few years in her son's name he became tired of her ascendency, and caused her to be assassinated (A.D. 60).

Agropyron, a genus of grasses most of which are perennials. The root-stalks of Agropyron repens (Radix Graminis) have aperient and diuretic properties.

Agrostem′ma. See Corncockle.

Agros′tis, a genus of grasses, consisting of many species, and valuable as pasture-grasses. The bent-grasses belong to the genus.

Ag′telek, a village in Hungary, near the road from Pesth to Kassa, with about 600 inhabitants, celebrated for one of the largest and most remarkable stalactitic caverns in Europe.

Agua (a˙g′wa˙), an active volcano of Central America, in Guatemala, rising to the height of 15,000 feet. It has twice destroyed the old city of Guatemala, in its immediate vicinity.

Aguara (a˙-gwä′ra˙). See Agouara.

Aguardiente (a˙-gwär-dē-en′te), a popular spirituous beverage of Spain and Portugal, a kind of coarse brandy, made from red wine, from the refuse of the grapes left in the wine-press, &c., generally flavoured with anise; also a Mexican alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented juice of the agave.

Aguas Calientes (a˙g′wa˙s ka˙-lē-en′tās; lit. 'warm waters'), a town 270 miles N.W. of Mexico, capital of the State of its own name, named from the thermal springs near it; has manufactures of cottons and a considerable trade. Pop. 45,198.—Aguas Calientes State has an area of 2,968 sq. miles, and a pop. of 124,500.

Ague (ā′gū), a kind of fever, which may be followed by serious consequences, but generally is more troublesome than dangerous. According to the length of the interval between one febrile paroxysm and another, agues are denominated quotidian when they occur once in twenty-four hours, tertian when they come on every forty-eight hours, quartan when they visit the patient once in seventy-two hours. Ague arises from marsh miasmata, a temperature above 60° being, however, apparently required to produce it. To cure the disease and prevent the recurrence, quinine and various other bitter and astringent drugs are given with complete success in the majority of cases.

Ague-cake, a tumour caused by enlargement and hardening of the spleen, often the consequence of ague or intermittent fever.

Aguesseau (a˙-ges-ō), Henri François d', a distinguished French jurist and statesman, born at Limoges in 1668; was in 1690 advocate-general at Paris, and at the age of thirty-two procureur-général of the Parliament. He risked disgrace with Louis XIV by successfully opposing the famous papal bull Unigenitus. He was made chancellor in 1717, was deprived of his office in 1718 on account of his opposition to Law's system of finance, but had to be recalled in 1720. In 1722 he had to retire a second time; but was recalled in 1727 by Cardinal Fleury, and in 1737 again got the chancellorship, which he held till 1750. He died in 1751.

Aguilar (a˙-gē-lär′), a town of Spain, province of Cordova, in Andalusia, in a good wine-producing district, and with a trade in corn and wine. Pop. 12,635.

Aguilar (a-gi-lär′), Grace, an English writer, born at Hackney 1816, died at Frankfort 1847. Of Jewish parentage, she at first devoted herself to Jewish subjects, such as The Women of Israel, The Jewish Faith, &c.; but her fame rests on her novels, Home Influence, A Mother's Recompense, Home Scenes and Heart Studies, &c., most of which were published posthumously by her mother.

Aguilas (a˙-gē′la˙s), a flourishing seaport of Southern Spain, province of Murcia, with copper and lead smelting works. Pop. 15,967.

Agulhas (a˙-gu¨l′ya˙s), Cape, a promontory, forming the most southern extremity of Africa, about 90 miles south-east of the Cape of Good Hope, rising to 455 feet above the sea, with a lighthouse.

Agu′ti. See Agouti.

A′hab, the seventh King of Israel, succeeded his father Omri, 918-897 or 875-853 B.C. At the instigation of his wife Jezebel he erected a temple to Baal, and became a cruel persecutor of the true prophets. He was killed by an arrow at the siege of Ramoth-Gilead. He was succeeded by his son Ahaziah.

Ahag′gar, a mountainous region of the Sahara, south of Algeria, with some fertile valleys, inhabited by the Tuaregs.

Ahanta. See Gold Coast, West Africa.

Ahasue′rus, in Scripture history, a king of Persia, probably the same as Xerxes, the husband of Esther, to whom the Scriptures ascribe a singular deliverance of the Jews from extirpation.—Ahasuerus is also a Scripture name for Cambyses, the son of Cyrus (Ezra, iv, 6), and for Astyages, King of the Medes (Dan. ix, 1). Ahasuerus is also the traditional name of the wandering Jew.

A′haz, the twelfth King of Judah, succeeded his father Jotham, 742-727 or 734-715 B.C. Forsaking the true religion, he gave himself up completely to idolatry, and plundered the temple to obtain presents for Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria.

Ahazi′ah.—1. Son of Ahab and Jezebel, and eighth King of Israel, died from a fall through a lattice in his palace at Samaria after reigning two years (896, 895 B.C.).—2. Fifth or sixth King of Judah, and nephew of the above. He reigned but one year, and was slain (884 B.C.) by Jehu.

Ahith′ophel, privy-councillor to David, and confederate and adviser of Absalom in his rebellion against his father. When Hushai's advice prevailed, Ahithophel, despairing of success, hanged himself.

Ahmedabad, or Ahmadabad (ä-mad-ä-bäd), a town of India, presidency of Bombay, in district of its own name, on the left bank of the Sábarmatí, 310 miles north of Bombay. It was founded in 1412 by Ahmed Shah, and was converted by him into a great capital, adorned with splendid edifices. It came finally into the hands of the British in 1818. It is still a handsome and populous place, enclosed by a wall, with many noteworthy buildings; manufactures of fine silk and cotton fabrics, cloths of gold and silver, pottery, paper, enamel, mother-of-pearl, &c. There were disturbances here in 1919. (See Rowlatt Act.) Pop. 216,777.—Area of district, 3949 sq. miles; pop. 795,094.

Ahmed Mirza, Shah of Persia, born in 1898. He succeeded his father, Mohammed Ali, when the latter was deposed on 16th July, 1909.

Ahmednag′ar, a town of India, presidency of Bombay, in district of its own name, surrounded by an earthen wall; with manufactures of cotton and silk cloths. Near the city is the fort, built of stone and 1½ miles round. Pop. (including military) 42,032.—Area of district, 6645 sq. miles; pop. 945,305.

Ahmed Shah, born 1724, died 1773, founder of the Durâni dynasty in Afghanistan. On the assassination of Nadir he proclaimed himself shah, and set about subduing the provinces surrounding his realm. Among his first acts was the securing of the famed Koh-i-noor diamond, which had fallen into the hands of his predecessor. He crossed the Indus in 1748, and his conquests in Northern India culminated in the defeat of the Mahrattas at Panipat (6th Jan., 1761). Affairs in his own country necessitated his withdrawal from India, but he extended his empire vastly in other directions far beyond the limits of modern Afghanistan. He was succeeded by his son Timur.

Ahriman (ä′ri-man; in the Zend Angromainyus, 'spirit of evil or annihilation'), according to the dualistic doctrine of Zoroaster, the origin or the personification of evil, sovereign of the Devas or evil spirits, lord of darkness and of death, being thus opposed to Ormuzd (Ahuramazda), the spirit of good and of light.

Ah′waz, a small Persian town on the River Karun, province of Khuzistan, at the head of river navigation, a place of some commercial note. In the neighbourhood are the vast ruins of a city supposed to date from the time of the Parthian Empire.

Ai (ä′ē). See Sloth.

Aid, a subsidy paid in ancient feudal times by vassals to their lords on certain occasions, the chief of which were: when their lord was taken prisoner and required to be ransomed, when his eldest son was to be made a knight, and when his eldest daughter was to be married and required a dowry. From the Norman Conquest to the fourteenth century the collecting of aids by the Crown was one of the forms of taxation, being afterwards regulated by Parliament.

Ai′dan, Saint, Bishop of Lindisfarne, was originally a monk of Iona, in which monastery Oswald I, who became king of Northumberland in 635, had been educated. At the request of Oswald, Aidan was sent to preach Christianity to his subjects, and established himself in Lindisfarne as the first Bishop of Durham. He died in 651.

Aide-de-camp (ād-dė-ka˙n˙), a military officer who conveys the orders of a general to the various divisions of the army on the field of battle, and at other times acts as his secretary and general confidential agent.

Aidin (a˙-i-dēn′), or Guzel Hissar, a town in Asia Minor, about 60 miles south-east of Smyrna, with which it is connected by rail; has fine mosques and bazaars, is the residence of a pasha, and has an extensive trade in cotton, leather, figs, grapes, &c. Pop. 35,000.

Aigrette′ (French), a term used to denote the feathery crown attached to the seeds of various plants, such as the thistle, dandelion, &c. (called in botany pappus).—It is also applied to any head-dress in the form of a plume, whether composed of feathers, flowers, or precious stones.

Aigues Mortes (āg mort; Lat. Aquæ Mortuæ, 'dead waters'), a small town of Southern France, near the mouths of the Rhone, department of Gard; with ancient walls and castle; near it are lagoons, from which great quantities of salt are extracted. Pop. 4000.

Aiguille (ā′gwil; Fr., lit. a needle), a name given in the Alps to the needle-like points or tops of granite, gneiss, quartz, and other crystalline rocks and mountain masses; also applied to sharp-pointed masses of ice on glaciers and elsewhere.—It is also the name given to a peculiarly-shaped French mountain in Isère, 6500 feet high.

Aigun (ī-gu¨n′), a town of China, in Manchuria, on the Amur, with a good trade. Pop. 15,000.

Ai′kin, John, M.D., an English miscellaneous writer, born 1747, died 1822. He practised as physician at Chester, Warrington (where he taught physiology and chemistry at the Dissenters' Academy), and London; turned his attention to literature and published various works of a miscellaneous description, some in conjunction with his sister Mrs. Barbauld, including the popular Evenings at Home (1792-5), written with the view of popularizing scientific subjects. His General Biographical Dictionary (in 10 vols.) was begun in 1799 and finished in 1815. He was editor of the Monthly Magazine from 1796 till 1807.

Ai′kin, Lucy, daughter of the preceding, was born in 1781, and died 1864. In 1810 she published Poetical Epistles on Women, which was followed by a number of books for the young and a novel Lorimer (1814). In 1818 appeared her Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth, a very popular work. She afterwards produced similar works on the reigns of James I (1822) and Charles I (1833), and a Life of Addison (1843). In 1824 she had published the literary remains and biography of her father. She carried on an interesting correspondence with Dr. Channing from 1826-42, which was published in 1874.

Aikman, William, an eminent Scottish portrait-painter, born in Forfarshire in 1682, died in 1731. He studied at Edinburgh and in Italy, visited Turkey, and spent the later portion of his life in London, where he enjoyed the friendship of most of the distinguished men of Queen Anne's time. The portrait of President Duncan Forbes (1685-1747) in the National Gallery is attributed to him.

Ailan′to, or Ailanthus (meaning tree of the gods), a tree, genus Ailantus, nat. ord. Simarubaceæ. The A. glandulōsa, a large and handsome tree, with pinnate leaves 1 or 2 feet long, is a native of China, but has been introduced into Europe and North America. A species of silk-worm, the ailanthus silk-worm (Saturnia cynthia), feeds on its leaves, and the material produced, though wanting the fineness and gloss of mulberry silk, is produced at less cost, and is more durable. The wood is hard, heavy, yellowish-white, and will take a fine polish. The tree has been in cultivation in England since 1751.

Aileron. See Aeronautics, Aeroplane.

Ail′red (contracted form of Ethelred), a religious and historical writer, supposed to have been born in 1097, but whether in Scotland or in England is not known, died 1166; abbot of Rievaulx, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Wrote lives of Edward the Confessor and St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, Genealogy of the Kings of England, The Battle of the Standard, &c.

Ailsa Craig, a rocky islet in the Firth of Clyde, 10 miles from the coast of Ayr, of a conical form, 1097 feet high, and about 2 miles in circumference, precipitous on all sides except the north-east, where alone it is accessible, frequented by innumerable sea-fowl, including solan-geese, and covered with grass. On it is a lighthouse.

Ailu′rus. See Panda.

Aimard (ā-mär), Gustave, French novelist, born 1818, died 1883. He lived for ten years among the Indians of North America, and wrote a number of stories dealing with Indian life, such as Les Trappeurs de l'Arkansas (1858), La Loi de Lynch (1859), Les Nuits Mexicaines (1863), Les Bohèmes de la Mer (1865), which have been popular in English translations. His work is not unlike that of Fenimore Cooper.

Ain (an˙), a south-eastern frontier department of France, mountainous in the east (ridges of the Jura), flat or undulating in the west, divided into two nearly equal parts by the River Ain, a tributary of the Rhône; area, 2248 sq. miles; pop. (1921), 315,757. Capital, Bourg.

Ainger (ān′jėr), Rev. Alfred, born in 1837, died in 1904, was educated at King's College, London, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, took orders after gaining his degree, and in 1866 was appointed reader of the Temple Church, London. He was made Master of the Temple in 1893, while holding also a canonry in Bristol Cathedral, to which he had been appointed in 1887. He was highly successful as a preacher, but is chiefly known by his literary labours, especially those connected with Lamb and Hood, whose works he edited. The volumes on Lamb and on Crabbe in the 'English Men of Letters' series are by him, and he wrote a memoir of Hood for his edition of the works. A volume of his sermons under the title of The Gospel of Human Life was published after his death in 1904. Cf. Edith Sichel, Life and Letters of Canon Ainger.

Ainmiller (īn′mil-er), Max Emanuel, a German artist who may be regarded as the restorer of the art of glass-painting, born 1807, died 1870. As inspector of the State institute of glass-painting at Munich he raised this art to a high degree of perfection by the new or improved processes introduced by him. Under his supervision this establishment (which afterwards became his own) produced a vast number of painted windows for ecclesiastical and other buildings, among the principal being a series of forty windows, containing a hundred historical and scriptural pictures, in Glasgow Cathedral. Some of his work is in St. Paul's Cathedral, and his finest productions are the windows in the Cathedrals of Cologne and Regensburg.

Ainos (ī′nōz; that is, men), the native name of an uncivilized race of people inhabiting the Japanese island of Yesso, as also Sakhalien, and the Kurile Islands, and believed to be the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan. They do not average over 5 feet in height, but are strong and active. They are very hairy, wear matted beards, and have black hair which they allow to grow till it falls over their shoulders. Their complexion is dark brown, approaching to black. They support themselves by hunting and fishing. There are numerous legends relating to the Ainos. According to one of these, of Japanese origin, they descended from the constellation of the Bear, whilst another mentions as their ancestor a certain Okikurumi who came down from heaven. The Ainos call themselves Ainu Utara, and the Chinese refer to them as the Tungi (barbarians of the East). They are very superstitious, and worship a number of gods, such as the universal god (Opitta-Kamui), the sun (Tsup-Kamui), the bear (Isho-Kamui), &c. Cf. J. Batchelor, The Ainu and their Folklore.

Ainsworth, Henry, a Puritan divine and scholar, born 1571, died 1622. He passed great part of his life in Amsterdam, being from 1610 pastor of a 'Brownist' church there (the Brownists being forerunners of the Independents). He was a voluminous writer, a controversialist and commentator, and a thorough Hebrew scholar.

Ainsworth, Robert, born in Lancashire, 1660, earned his living by keeping a private school in or near London, and died there in 1743. Among other learned works he compiled the well-known Latin and English Dictionary, first published in 1736, which passed through many editions, but is now entirely superseded.

Ainsworth, William Francis, an English physician, geologist, and traveller, born 1807. He was surgeon and geologist to the Euphrates expedition under Colonel Chesney, and published Researches in Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldæa (1838); Travels in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Armenia (1842); Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand Greeks (1844), &c. Died 1896.

Ainsworth, William Harrison, an English novelist, born 1805, died 1882. He was the son of a Manchester solicitor and intended for the profession of law, but devoted himself to literature. He wrote Rookwood (1834), Jack Sheppard, illustrated by Cruickshank (1839), and about forty other novels, including Guy Fawkes, Tower of London, Windsor Castle, Lancashire Witches, Flitch of Bacon, &c. His literary models were at first Sir Walter Scott and afterwards Victor Hugo's Nôtre Dame de Paris.

Ain-Tab (a˙-in-täb′), a town of Northern Syria, 60 miles north of Aleppo; with manufactures of cottons, woollens, leather, &c., and an extensive trade. There is here an American Protestant mission. Pop. 45,000.

Ainu. See Ainos.

Air, the gaseous substance of which our atmosphere consists, being a mixture mainly of about 78 per cent by volume of nitrogen and 21 per cent of oxygen. The latter is absolutely essential to animal life, while the purpose chiefly served by the nitrogen appears to be to dilute the oxygen. Oxygen is more soluble in water than nitrogen, and hence the air dissolved in water contains about 10 per cent more oxygen than atmospheric air. The oxygen therefore available for those animals which breathe by gills is somewhat less diluted with nitrogen, but it is very much diluted with water. For the various properties and phenomena connected with air see such articles as Atmosphere, Aeronautics, Air-pump, Barometer, Combustion, Respiration, &c.

Air, in music (in It. aria), a continuous melody, in which some lyric subject or passion is expressed. The lyric melody of a single voice, accompanied by instruments, is its proper form of composition. Thus we find it in the higher order of musical works; as in cantatas, oratorios, operas, and also independently in concertos.—Air is also the name often given to the upper or most prominent part in a concerted piece, and is thus equivalent to treble, soprano, &c.

Aïr, or Asben. See Asben.

Aira. See Hair-grass.

Air Beds and Cushions, often used by the sick and invalids, are composed of india-rubber or of cloth made air-tight by a solution of india-rubber, and when required for use filled with air, which thus supplies the place of the usual stuffing materials. They tend to prevent bed-sores from continuous lying in one position. They are also cheap and easily transported, as the bed or cushion, when not in use, can be packed in small compass, to be again inflated with air when wanted.

Air-bladder. See Swimming-bladder.

Air-brake, a brake operated by air pressure, usually applied to brake, simultaneously, all the wheels of a moving train. In the Westinghouse type, by means of an ingenious 'triple valve' carried one on each carriage, the train pipe is made to serve the dual purpose of supply and control. An air-pump on the engine compresses air into the main receiver, from which it flows through a reducing valve into the train pipe. The pressure, acting on the under side of the triple valve, moves the valve to its extreme position, thereby opening a passage to an auxiliary receiver on the carriage and also putting the brake cylinder into communication with the atmosphere. A spring in the brake cylinder keeps the brakes in the 'off' position.

To apply the brakes, the pressure is lowered in the train pipe. The air pressure in the auxiliary receiver reverses the triple valve, thus admitting air to the brake cylinder and closing the outlet to atmosphere.

To remove the brakes, air from the main receiver is passed into the train pipe, and the triple valve is restored to the 'off' position. See Traction.—Bibliography: W. W. Wood, Westinghouse Air-brake; R. H. Blackhall, Air-brake Catechism.

Air-cells, cavities in the cellular tissue of the stems and leaves of plants which contain air only, the juices of the plants being contained in separate vessels. They are largest and most numerous in aquatic plants, as in the Vallisneria spirālis and the Victoria regia, the gigantic leaves of which latter are buoyed up on the surface of the water by their means.—The minute cells in the lungs of animals are also called air-cells. There are also air-cells in the bodies of birds. They are connected with the respiratory system, and are situated in the cavity of the thorax and abdomen, and sometimes extend into the bones. They are most fully developed in birds of powerful and rapid flight, such as the albatross.

Aird, Thomas, a Scottish poet and miscellaneous writer, friend of Professor Wilson, De Quincey, and Carlyle, long editor of a newspaper in Dumfries; born 1802, died 1876. He wrote The Devil's Dream on Mount Aksbeck; The Old Bachelor, &c.

Airdrie, a municipal and parliamentary burgh of Scotland, in Lanarkshire, near the Monkland Canal, 11 miles east of Glasgow, in the centre of a rich mining district, with a large cotton-mill, foundries and machine shops, breweries, &c., and collieries and ironworks in its vicinity. Pop. 24,160.

Air-engine, an engine in which air heated, and so expanded, or compressed air is used as the motive power. A great many engines of the former kind have been invented, some of which have been found to work pretty well where no great power is required. They may be said to be essentially similar in construction to the steam-engine, though of course the expansibility of air by heat is small compared with the expansion that takes place when water is converted into steam. Engines working by compressed air have been found very useful in mining, tunnelling, &c., and the compressed air may be conveyed to its destination by means of pipes. In such cases the waste air serves for ventilation and for reducing the oppressive heat.

Aire (ār), a river of England, W. Riding of Yorkshire, rising to the south-east of Penyghent and flowing in a south-easterly direction to join the Ouse above Goole, having passed through Leeds on its way; length, 70 miles. It is navigable up to Leeds, and forms an important portion of the Aire and Calder Navigation system, which connects Goole, Hull, &c., with Liverpool. The Calder enters the Aire at Castleford. The district specially known as Airedale is the valley of the Aire above Leeds.—A large breed of terrier, of which there are several varieties, is known as the Airedale terrier, a strongly-built animal, rather long in the legs, with a hard, close coat.

Aire, a river of France, in the Argonne region, a tributary of the Aisne.

Aire-sur-l'Adour (ār-su˙r-la˙-dör), a small but ancient town of France, department of Landes, the see of a bishop. Pop. 3000.

Aire-sur-la-Lys (ār-su˙r-la˙-lē), an old fortified town of France, department of Pas de Calais, 10 miles south-east of St. Omer. Pop. 5000.

Air-gun, a gun from which the bullet is propelled by means of compressed air. Until about the middle of the nineteenth century air-guns were made with a metal reservoir in the butt; this reservoir was charged with air by means of a pump, and although one pumping put in enough air for six or seven shots, the process of loading was awkward and laborious. The well-known 'Gem' air-gun was worked by means of a spring, which compressed the air; the great defect of this gun was that the barrel was used as a cocking-lever, and so was apt to become bent and inaccurate. The 'Gem' was a smooth-bore gun, and early attempts at rifled air-guns failed, as the pellet was apt to stick in the barrel, owing to the low velocity not allowing it to take the grooves. The 'Quackenbush' air-gun made an attempt to get over this difficulty; its slugs were felted, and the felt took the rifling and greatly increased the accuracy of the weapon, but, of course, the ammunition was much more expensive than ordinary air-gun pellets. The B.S.A. air-rifle is an excellent weapon which has overcome all the early difficulties of construction. It has a fixed barrel, a separate cocking-lever, and a rotating breech-plug, and the muzzle velocity of its 16-grain pellet is 600 feet per second, which compares not unfavourably with the 1000 feet per second of the 40-grain bullet of a .22 long-rifle cartridge. An air-gun is a splendid weapon for practising markmanship, as it is almost noiseless, and as its ammunition costs little. It does not need to be elaborately cleaned, as a miniature rifle does; an occasional oiling is all that it requires to keep it in order, and with care it should fire an indefinite number of shots without losing its accuracy.

Airolo (a˙-i-rō′lō), a small town of Switzerland, canton Ticino, at the southern end of the St. Gothard Tunnel, and the first place on this route at which Italian is spoken. Pop. 2000.

Air-plants, or Epiphytes, are plants that grow upon other plants or trees, apparently without receiving any nutriment otherwise than from the air. The name is restricted to flowering plants (mosses or lichens being excluded) and is suitably applied to many species of orchids. The conditions necessary to the growth of such plants are excessive heat and moisture, and hence their chief localities are the damp and shady tropical forests of Africa, Asia, and America. They are particularly abundant in Java and tropical America.

Air-pump, an apparatus by means of which air or other gas may be removed from or compressed into an enclosed space. It was invented by Otto von Guericke of Magdeburg about the year 1654, and described in 1657 by Gaspar Schott. An ordinary suction-pump for water is on the same principle as the air-pump; indeed, before water reaches the top of the pipe the air has been pumped out by the same machinery which pumps the water. An ordinary air-pump (see fig. 1) consists essentially of a cylinder or barrel with a piston and valves. The barrel is connected to the vessel from which the air is to be pumped. A is the vessel to be exhausted, C the air-pump cylinder, P the piston, VV valves in the piston, and O the connection to the vessel A. When the piston moves downwards from the position shown, it cuts off the connection with A by passing over O. The length L is made long enough so that O is kept covered up during the downstroke. The air filling the space D is compressed, and so lifts the valves VV and passes out through them. This goes on till the end of the downward stroke, when the volume is very small indeed. When the upward motion begins, the valves VV close, and the piston rises and creates a vacuum in D. When the piston rises sufficiently to uncover O (as in figure), air rushes from A into the highly-exhausted space D and fills it. The process is repeated indefinitely, and A is gradually exhausted.

Air-pumps for compressing air are constructed on the same principle, but the valves act the reverse way. The bicycle pump is a well-known example of this form of pump. In the Fleuss or Geryk pump greater efficiency is attained by having layers of oil in the barrel and above the piston. In nearly all pumps for producing the high vacua necessary, e.g. for the electric glow-lamp and the X-ray tube, mercury is employed. In one form, the Toepler pump, a reservoir containing mercury is connected by a flexible tube to the receiver. (See fig 2. T tube connecting pump to vessel to be exhausted; R, reservoir, raised above A to drive air in B and C through D and out into open air; R is then lowered, and B and C fill with air from receiver. Process then repeated.) By alternately lowering and raising the reservoir, gas is first withdrawn from the receiver and then expelled through D, which also acts as a barometer. The process is repeated until the desired degree of exhaustion is reached. In a second type, the Sprengel pump, a stream of mercury from a reservoir situated above the vessel to be exhausted falls in drops through a narrow vertical tube which communicates with the vessel. (See fig. 3. A, reservoir; B, tube leading to vessel to be exhausted; C, bubbles of air carried down by mercury.) The air is entrapped between the falling drops of mercury, and is carried down and expelled with it. In the filter-pump, water is used instead of mercury, the pump being connected to an ordinary water-tap.

A more recent form, the Gaede pump, is of the rotary type. (See fig. 4. C, iron case; G, glass front; P two-chamber porcelain drum rotated counter-clockwise about axle A. As mercury leaves chamber R, air enters from receiver by tube T and opening B. When B is immersed, mercury enters and air is driven into case C and removed through tube S.) A porcelain drum, divided into two cells, rotates within an air-tight case more than half filled with mercury. Each cell has an opening which, when above the mercury surface, places the cell in communication with the receiver. When the opening is immersed, the entrapped air passes by another channel into the outer case, from which it is removed by another less efficient pump. The pump will reduce the pressure within a 6-litre bulb from 10 millimetres to .00001 millimetre of mercury in fifteen minutes. Langmuir's pump employs the principle of the aspirator. A current of mercury vapour passes from a mercury boiler past a tube communicating with the apparatus to be exhausted, and sucks the air from it; the mercury is condensed in the upper part of the pump, returns by side tubes to the boiler and leaves the extracted air in this condenser. A less efficient pump is employed to remove the air from the mercury condenser as it accumulates. This pump is said to be simple and rapid in action, and capable of exhausting an 11-litre bulb from atmospheric pressure to .00001 millimetre in eighty seconds.

Air-pumps are largely used in steam engineering, both on land and at sea, to extract the air which enters the condenser with the steam (see Condenser). Several varieties of air-pumps are in use. 1. The ordinary piston-pump (fig. 1) in which the piston extracts air by first sucking it into the cylinder and then expelling it to the atmosphere. The opening leading to the condenser is closed during the stroke in which the air is expelled. Two or three cylinders are usually provided on each air-pump set, the former type being known as a 2-throw pump and the latter a 3-throw pump. One of the best-known makes is the Edwards air-pump. Piston air-pumps are driven either by the main engine through a suitable mechanism, or by a separate electric motor. The amount of power required to drive them varies with the size of the set, and with large engines of over 10,000 h.p. it is about ½ per cent or less. Vacua as high as 29 inches (Bar. 30 inches) can be readily maintained on large plants by this type of pump, provided the condenser is suitably designed. In well-maintained plants bad vacua are commonly due to deficient air extraction, which may arise from the low-pressure air-piping not being air-tight, or from the air-pump being too small. 2. The water-ejector type uses the momentum of a jet of water to extract the air entrained with it. Well-known types of this plant are the ordinary barometric jet-condenser and the Leblanc air-pump. In the latter type, a rotating wheel, which carries vanes, forcibly throws sheets of water into a pipe communicating with the condenser. The sheets of water lie across the pipe, and the space between them is filled up with air sucked from the condenser. This water, with the entrained air, is thrown out, against the atmospheric pressure, by the momentum imparted to the water sheets by the rotating wheel. Very high vacua can be obtained with the Leblanc pump, but the power required to drive it is more than is required with a 3-throw piston-pump. (Cp. Sprengel pump above). 3. A steam-ejector is also used, a jet of steam taking the place of the sheets of water in the Leblanc type. Parsons' augmentor condenser works on this principle. A small jet of steam sucks the air from the main condenser and compresses it into a small so-called augmentor condenser. The pressure in this condenser is a little higher than the pressure in the main condenser, but it is sufficient to enable an ordinary 3-throw pump to be used efficiently. The steam used to extract the air is condensed in the augmentor condenser by cold water, and the interior of the augmentor condenser is connected to the inlet of an ordinary 3-throw pump. The 3-throw pump is called upon to deal with the air at a slightly higher pressure than the condenser pressure, and the vacuum in the main condenser is improved by the drop of pressure which exists between the augmentor condenser and the main condenser. In a well-designed plant, for instance, a 3-throw pump might be used to maintain a vacuum of 29 inches in the augmentor condenser, while the steam jet would provide another ½ inch of vacuum, giving 29½ inches vacuum in the main condenser. The pressure in the main condenser is thereby reduced from 1 inch Hg. to ½ inch Hg.; a reduction of one-half. (Cp. Langmuir's pump above—using a mercury-vapour jet instead of a steam jet.)—Bibliography: S. P. Thompson, The Development of the Mercurial Air-Pump; E. Hausbrand, Evaporating, Condensing, and Cooling Apparatus.

Air-raids. Apart from various sporadic bomb-dropping attacks by the Italians in Tripoli in 1913, the first air-raid proper was made by a Zeppelin on Antwerp during the investiture of that city by the Germans in 1914. Later on this new method of warfare was developed to a considerable extent by both sides during the Great European War, both air-ships and aeroplanes being used. Air-craft for this purpose have been likened to long-range guns, with the advantage of greater precision, because the target is in view, and very much longer effective range—the Germans, for example, used to raid London, and on one occasion Edinburgh, from bases situated in North Germany and on the Schleswig coast. Air-raids are of great value in affecting the moral of the enemy country by bringing home the effects of war in its most terrifying aspect to the civilian population at home, and thus causing the dislocation of traffic and diminishing the output of munitions. Their practical value is in attacking and destroying munition-factories, army head-quarters, naval bases, &c., in addition to such important work as the demolition of ammunition-dumps, and cutting lines of communication behind the front.

Various protective devices against raiding aircraft have been invented. Among these are high-angle guns, capable of throwing shells to a height of some 30,000 feet, though possibly the most effective defence is small high-speed aeroplanes armed with machine-guns and capable of reaching great heights in a short space of time. For use at night, kite-balloons (see Balloons) are sent up in clumps connected together by cables. From the cables is suspended a network of steel wires, which is invisible to the hostile air-craft, and in which they may become entangled and so brought down. These have been raised to a height of as much as 12,000 feet. For raiding purposes two types of aeroplane—in addition to air-ships—have been developed. 'Day bombers' carry out raids in daylight at heights of 12,000 to 20,000 feet on points from 50 to 100 miles behind the lines. 'Night-bombers' are slower machines which raid well into the enemy's territory—up to 200 or more miles—at heights varying from 8000 to 12,000 feet. It is usual for night-raids to be carried out by squadrons of machines flying in formation, each machine carrying about a ton of bombs (in 1918). Air-ships can carry 5-10 tons of bombs to places up to 1000 miles distant from their bases.

During the last months of the war, our Independent Air Force dropped 500 tons of bombs on German objectives, and this raiding over a wide area of industrial Germany played no small part in causing that loss of spirit among the enemy which led eventually to their request for an armistice, and their virtual capitulation.

AIR-SHIPS

Air-ships, lighter-than-air craft provided with means of propulsion and steering. The air-ship, unlike the aeroplane, is not dependent upon its engines for its power to remain in flight, but derives its sustentation from the hydrogen gas with which it is filled. Hydrogen, first weighed by Henry Cavendish in 1766, is the lightest gas known, being 14.47 times lighter than air. In the pure state it has a lifting force of 71.155 lb. per 1000 cu. feet, but for calculation purposes is usually assumed to contain 5 per cent of impurities, giving a 'lift' of approximately 68 lb. per 1000 cu. feet. Hydrogen is, when mixed with air, highly inflammable, and helium has therefore been suggested as a substitute. This has a lift, when pure, of about 65 lb. per 1000 cu. feet, but is only found in a few places in America and is therefore at present too expensive to be used in quantities. The lift of any given quantity of hydrogen depends upon the difference between its weight and that of an equal volume of air. As the amount, and therefore weight, of air contained in a given space varies with the barometric pressure and temperature, the lift of hydrogen given above varies also. These figures are based upon a temperature of 60° F. and a barometric pressure of 30 inches. As an air-ship rises from the ground, the density, and therefore pressure, of the air decreases, which causes the hydrogen in the envelope to expand proportionately. Rise in temperature has the same effect. When an air-ship ascends, the gas therefore expands, and at a certain point would burst the envelope were valves not provided to allow some of the gas to escape. It is important to realize that as the expansion occurs at a rate corresponding to the decrease in density no alteration in lift occurs so long as gas is not lost through the valves. This would continue indefinitely if the gas-chamber were capable of stretching indefinitely, but with the cotton-fabric used in practice a height is reached when gas commences to escape from the automatic valves. From this moment the lift of the air-ship begins to decrease. At a certain point this decrease will have reached such a point that the air-ship is 'in equilibrium', i.e. she weighs precisely the same as the volume of air she displaces. This is known as the 'maximum height'. Up to 10,000 feet it is roughly true that /30 of the lift is lost per 1000 foot rise.

The simplest form of air-ship is the non-rigid, which consists of a rubberized cotton-fabric gas-container (the 'envelope'), from which the 'car', containing engines, crew, &c., is hung by flexible steel-wire ropes. To resist the bending moment introduced by the weight of the car, the envelope is inflated with hydrogen under pressure—usually about 25 mm. of water. So long as this pressure is greater than any local compression due to bending or loading in the fabric, the envelope will retain its shape. On coming down from a height, owing to the loss of gas, as already explained, the pressure will be reduced, and something must be done to restore it or the envelope will buckle. Fabric bags, known as 'ballonets', are therefore fitted inside the envelope, and as the air-ship descends air is forced into these bags, which supplies the lost pressure and maintains the shape of the envelope. The height to which a non-rigid air-ship can go, on returning from which the ballonets will be just full of air and the pressure the same as at starting, is known as the 'maximum ballonet height'. Ballonets are usually equivalent in volume to rather less than a quarter of the total volume of the air-ship—giving a maximum ballonet height of 6000 to 7000 feet. Usually from two to three ballonets are provided, according to the size of the air-ship. During the Great European War British non-rigid air-ships were constructed varying in size from a capacity of 70,000 cu. feet to 360,000 cu. feet. The former had one 75-h.p. engine, and the latter two of 375 h.p. each. Owing to difficulties in maintaining the shape and distributing the weight of the car over a long envelope, it is generally considered that 500,000 cu. feet probably represents the maximum size in which the non-rigid form of construction can be used. Above this size the semi-rigid type is used. In this case the envelope remains as in the non-rigid, but a girder or 'keel' is introduced between the envelope and the car, the weight of which is therefore taken by the keel and thence distributed to the envelope instead of being taken direct from the envelope as in non-rigids. There has been little development of non-rigids in Great Britain. The most prominent types are the Italian 'Forlanini', 'Verduzzio', and military air-ships. The keel, in all these examples, is not a rigid girder in the vertical sense, as it consists of a number of sections connected together by links. It is designed to resist compression only so long as it is held straight by the pressure of the envelope, and is not capable of taking a bending moment. When a size of about 1,000,000-cu.-foot-hydrogen capacity is reached it becomes economical to use the rigid method of construction. This is totally distinct from the other two types, as the non-rigid envelope is replaced by a rigid hull of sufficient strength to retain its shape without the assistance of any internal gas-pressure. The hull consists of a number of longitudinal members—usually built-up girders of 'duralumin', an aluminium alloy—connected together at distances of 25-30 feet by a number of 'transverse frames', or rings, forming bulkheads. The transverse frames are also of duralumin girders, and are braced by 'radical wires' running from the joints of these girders to a ring in the centre. Between each pair of these transverse frames is a gas-bag containing hydrogen. The gas-bags are made of rubberized cotton on to which is stuck 'gold-beater's skin', made from the lining of the intestines of an ox. This is done to prevent hydrogen leakage. This is necessary, as the fabric of the gas-bags of a rigid air-ship is lighter and contains less rubber than the envelope of a non-rigid.

A 'Δ'-shaped keel runs along the interior of the ship, its weight being taken on the two bottom longitudinal girders. The chief function of the keel is to distribute the load of the various weights to the transverse frames of the air-ship. In it are slung the petrol-tanks, water-ballast tanks, bombs, &c., and living accommodation for the crew is also provided there. Along the bottom runs a walking-way from which access is gained to the cars and various parts of the air-ship. The cars containing the engines, wireless-cabin, and pilot's cabin are suspended from the transverse frames. Some of the cars, instead of being slung below the centre-line, are slung in pairs some little way up the side of the air-ship.

All air-ships are steered by means of rudders and, in the vertical sense, elevators, in precisely the same way as aeroplanes. Up to the end of 1919 speeds of 84 miles per hour had been reached and air-ships had climbed to 24,000 feet. The greatest distance covered in one flight was 4500 miles, while the longest time in the air was effected by R34 on her voyage to America, which occupied 108 hours—4 days 8 hours. Rigid air-ships of 2,750,000-cu.-foot capacity had been built with a length of nearly 300 feet and a gross lift of 60 tons. See also Aeronautics, Balloons.—Bibliography: L. Sazerac de Forges, La Conquête de l'Air; Santos Dumont, My Airships; Hildebrandt, Airships: Past and Present; Major G. Whale, British Airships: Past, Present, and Future.

Airy, Sir George Biddell, a distinguished English astronomer, was born at Alnwick, 27th July, 1801, and educated at Hereford, Colchester, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was senior wrangler in 1823. At Cambridge he was Lucasian professor of mathematics, and subsequently Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy, in the latter capacity having charge of the observatory. In 1835 he was appointed Astronomer Royal, and as such his superintendence of the observatory at Greenwich was able and successful. He resigned this post with a pension in 1881. His important achievement is the discovery of a new inequality in the motions of Venus and the earth. He wrote much and made numerous valuable investigations on subjects connected with astronomy, physics, and mathematics. Among separate works published by him may be mentioned Popular Astronomy, On Sound and Atmospheric Vibrations, A Treatise on Magnetism, On the Undulatory Theory of Optics, On Gravitation. He died 2nd Jan., 1892. He left an autobiography, published in 1896.

Aisle (īl; from Lat. ala, a wing), in architecture, one of the lateral divisions of a church in the direction of its length, separated from the central portion or nave by piers or pillars. There may be one aisle or more on each side of the nave. The cathedrals at Chichester, Milan, and Amiens have five aisles, Antwerp and Paris seven, and that of Cordova nineteen aisles in all. The nave is sometimes called the central aisle. See Cathedral.

Aisne (ān), a north-eastern frontier department of France; area, 2838 sq. miles. It is an undulating, well-cultivated, and well-wooded region, chiefly watered by the Oise in the north, its tributary the Aisne in the centre, and the Marne in the south. It contains the important towns of St. Quentin, Laon (the capital), Soissons, and Château Thierry. In the European War (1914-18) severe fighting took place on the Aisne, and a great battle was fought on 12th Sep., 1914. General Nivelle's offensive on the Aisne began in April, 1917. Pop. (1921), 421,575.

Aïva′lik, or Kidonia, a seaport of Asia Minor, on the Gulf of Adramyti, 66 miles north by west of Smyrna, carrying on an extensive commerce in olive-oil, soap, cotton, &c. Pop. 21,000.

Aix (āks), a town of Southern France, department Bouches-du-Rhône, on the River Arc, the seat of an archbishop. It is well built, has an old cathedral and other interesting buildings, including a university, a library (over 100,000 vols.), museum, &c.; manufactures cotton and woollen goods, oil, soap, hats, flour, &c.; warm springs, now less visited than formerly. Aix was founded in 123 B.C. by the Roman consul Gaius Sextius Calvinus, and from its mineral springs was called Aquæ Sextiæ (Sextian Waters). Between this town and Arles, Marius gained his great victory over the Teutons, 102 B.C. In the Middle Ages the counts of Provence held their court here, to which the troubadours used to resort. Pop. 29,836.

Aix, or Aix-les-Bains (āks-lā-ban˙), a finely-situated village of France, department of Savoie, 8 miles north of Chambéry, on the side of a fertile valley, with much-frequented hot springs known to the Romans by the name of Aquæ Gratianæ, and with ruins of a Roman triumphal arch, and of a temple of Diana. Pop. 8900.

Aix-la-Chapelle (āks-la˙-sha˙-pel; Ger. Aachen), a city of Rhenish Prussia, 38 miles west by south of Cologne, pleasantly situated in a fine vale watered by the Wurm, formerly surrounded by ramparts, now converted into pleasant promenades. It is well built, and though an ancient town has now quite a modern appearance. The most important building is the cathedral, the oldest portion of which, often called the nave, was erected in the time of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) as the palace chapel about 796. It is in the Byzantine style, and consists of an octagon, surrounded by a sixteen-sided gallery and surmounted by a cupola, in the middle being the tomb of Charlemagne. The adjoining Gothic choir, begun in 1353 and finished in 1413, forms the other chief division of the cathedral; it is lofty and of great elegance, and has fine painted windows. Another noteworthy building is the Rathaus (town hall), erected in the fourteenth century. Aix-la-Chapelle, with the adjoining Burtscheid, which may be considered a suburb, is a place of great commerce and manufacturing industry, the chief productions being woollen yarns and cloths, needles, machinery, cards (for the woollen manufacture), railway and other carriages, cigars, chemicals, silk goods, hosiery, glass, soap, &c. A considerable portion of its importance and prosperity arises from the influx of visitors to its sulphur and chalybeate springs and baths.—Aix-la-Chapelle was known to the Romans as Aquisgranum. It was the favourite residence of Charles the Great, who made it the capital of all his dominions north of the Alps, and who died here in 814. During the Middle Ages it was a free imperial city and very flourishing. Thirty-seven German emperors and eleven empresses have been crowned in it, and the imperial insignia were preserved here till 1795, when they were carried to Vienna. The town was in possession of France from 1794 to 1814. Pop. 156,143.—Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, a congress held in 1818, by which the army of the allies in France was withdrawn after France had paid the contribution imposed at the peace of 1815, and by which independence was restored to France.—A treaty of peace concluded at this city, 2nd May, 1668, as a result of the Triple Alliance, put an end to the war carried on against Spain by Louis XIV in 1667, after the death of his father-in-law, Philip IV, in support of his claims to a great part of the Spanish Netherlands, which he urged in the name of his queen, the infanta Maria Theresa. By this France obtained Lille, Charleroi, Douai, Tournai, Oudenarde, &c. The second peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 18th Oct., 1748, terminated the Austrian war of succession.

Ajaccio (a˙-ya˙ch′ō), the capital of Corsica, on the south-west coast of the island, on a tongue of land projecting into the Gulf of Ajaccio, the birthplace of Napoleon and the seat of a bishop, with coral and sardine fisheries, and a considerable trade. There are here a cathedral, a college with library and museum, marble statue of Napoleon, monument of the Bonaparte family, &c. Ajaccio is connected by railway with Bastia and other places, and is becoming a winter resort for people with weak lungs. Pop. 20,946.

Ajan′ta, a village and ravine of India, in the north-west of the Nizam's dominions, about 50 miles north-north-east of Aurangabad. The ravine, 4 miles N.W. of the village, is celebrated for its cave temples and monasteries, twenty-nine in number, excavated out of a wall of almost perpendicular rock about 250 feet high. They are all richly ornamented with sculpture, and covered with highly-finished paintings, representing subjects of almost all kinds. The oldest are assigned to about 200 B.C., the most modern to about A.D. 600, and they may be said to furnish a continuous record of Buddhist art during 800 years, the faith at the latter date being practically expelled from India.

A′jax (Gr. Aias), the name of two Grecian chiefs who fought against Troy, the one being son of Oĭleus, King of Locris, surnamed the Little, the other son of Telamon, the Great or Telamonian Ajax. The latter was from Salamis, and sailed with twelve ships to Troy, where he is represented by Homer as the boldest and handsomest of the Greeks, after Achilles. He had more than one combat with Hector, against whom he was well matched. On the death of Achilles, when his arms, which Ajax claimed, were awarded to Ulysses, he became insane and killed himself. This is the subject of Sophocles' tragedy Ajax. The other Ajax was hardly of less importance as a champion on the Greek side in the Trojan war. At the fall of Troy he entered the temple of Pallas Athena and seized Cassandra. He lost his life during his homeward voyage, either by shipwreck or by a flash of lightning sent by Athena, who was offended at the violation of her temple.

Ajmere, Ajmir, or Ajmer, a British commissionership or province in India, Rajputána, divided into the two districts of Ajmere and Mairwara (or Merwara); area, 2711 sq. miles. The surface of the province, which is entirely surrounded by native States, is hilly in the north and west, where there is a branch of the Aravali range, but level in the south and east. The soil is partly fertile, but there are large barren sandy plains, and there are no rivers of any importance. There are a large number of tanks which collect the water of small streams, and are useful for irrigation. The province suffered severely from famine in 1899-1900, the population being reduced by 12 or 13 per cent. Pop. 501,395.—Ajmere, the capital, an ancient city, a favourite residence of the Mogul emperors, is 279 miles S.W. of Delhi, at the foot of Taragarh Hill (2853 feet), on which is a fort. It is surrounded by a wall, has well-built streets, and possesses a Government college, as also Mayo College for Rajput nobles, a Scottish mission, a mosque that forms one of the finest specimens of early Mahommedan architecture extant, and an old palace of Akbar, now the treasury. There is a trade in cotton, sugar, salt, &c., and the town is an important station on the Rajputána railway. Pop. 86,200.

Ajowan′ (Ptychōtis Ajowan), an umbelliferous plant cultivated in India, Persia, and Egypt, the seeds of which are used in cookery and in medicine, having carminative properties. The seeds much resemble caraway seeds, have a strong smell of thyme, and are exported in some quantity to Europe as a source of thymol, now so well known.

Aju′ga, a genus of plants belonging to the labiate family. See Bugle.

Aj′utage, a short tube of a tapering shape fitting into the side of a reservoir or vessel to regulate the discharge of water from it. Also, the nozzle of a tube for regulating the discharge of water to form a jet d'eau.

Akabah′, Gulf of, an arm of the Red Sea, on the east side of the Peninsula of Sinai, which separates it from the Gulf of Suez; nearly 100 miles long. The village of Akabah, at the northern extremity of the gulf, is supposed to be near the site of the Ezion-geber of the Old Testament; and here also was Elath, long a place of note. Akabah still carries on a small trade. It was captured by the Arabs in 1917.

Akagamaseki. Same as Simonoseki.

Akaroid Resin, a resin obtained from some of the grass-trees of Australia, used in varnishes.

Akassa, a seaport of Southern Nigeria, on a small island nearly opposite the chief mouth of the Niger. There are here engineering and other works, at which ships may be repaired, belonging to the Government.

Ak′bar (that is 'very great'), a Mogul emperor, the greatest Asiatic prince of modern times. He was born at Amerkote, in Sind, in 1542, succeeded his father, Humayun, a grandson of Sultan Baber, at the age of thirteen, and governed first under the guardianship of his minister, Beyram, but took the chief power into his own hands in 1560. He fought with distinguished valour against his foreign foes and rebellious subjects, conquering all his enemies, and extending the limits of the empire farther than they had ever been before, although on his accession they embraced only a small part of the former Mogul Empire. Although a Mohammedan by birth, he abandoned Islam and founded a new religion which he called 'Divine Faith' (Diu-i-Olahi). His contemporaries bestowed upon him the title of 'Guardian of Mankind'. He was also a generous patron of literature, and commissioned the Jesuit missionary, Jerome Xavier, to translate the four gospels into Persian. His government was remarkable for its mildness and tolerance towards all sects; he was indefatigable in his attention to the internal administration of his empire, and instituted inquiries into the population, character, and productions of each province. The result of his statistical labours, as well as a history of his reign, were collected by his minister, Abul Fazl, in a work called Akbar-Nameh (Book of Akbar), the third part of which, entitled Ayini-Akbari (Institutes of Akbar), was published in an English translation at Calcutta (1783-6, 3 vols.), and reprinted in London. He died in 1605. His mausoleum at Secundra, near Agra, is a fine example of Mohammedan architecture. Cf. V. A. Smith, Akbar, The Great Mogul.

Akee′ (Blighia sapĭda), a tree of the nat. ord. Sapindaceæ, much esteemed for its fruit. The leaves are somewhat similar to those of the ash; the flowers are small and white, and produced in branched spikes. The fruit is lobed and ribbed, of a dull orange colour, and contains several large black seeds, embedded in a succulent and slightly bitter arillus of a pale straw colour, which is eaten when cooked. The akee is a native of Guinea, from whence it was carried to the West Indies by Captain Bligh in 1793.

À Kempis, Thomas. See Thomas à Kempis.

Aken (ä′ken), a Prussian town, province of Saxony, on the left bank of the Elbe, with manufactures of tobacco, cloth, beetroot sugar, leather, &c. Pop. 7358.

A′kenside, Mark, a poet and physician, born in 1721, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, died in London in 1770. He was the son of a butcher, and was sent to the University of Edinburgh to qualify for the ministry, but chose the study of medicine instead. After three years' residence at Edinburgh he went to Leyden, and in 1744 became Doctor of Physic. In the same year he published the Pleasures of Imagination, which he is said to have written in Edinburgh, and which was translated into French by Baron d'Holbach (1769). In 1746 he wrote his much-praised Hymn to the Naiads. Having settled in London, he became a fellow of the Royal Society, and was admitted into the College of Physicians. In 1759 he was appointed first assistant and afterwards head physician to St. Thomas's Hospital. In his later days he wrote little poetry, but published several medical essays and observations. The place of Akenside as a poet is not very high, though Dr. Johnson praised the blank verse of his poems, and his somewhat cumbrous Pleasures of Imagination was once considered one of the most pleasing didactic poems in our language.

Akermann′, a fortified town and seaport in Bessarabia, near the mouth of the Dniester, with a good port. The vicinity produces quantities of salt, and also fine grapes from which excellent wine is made. A treaty was signed here, 6th Oct., 1826, between Russia and the Porte, by which Moldavia, Walachia, and Serbia were released from all but nominal dependence on Turkey. Pop. 40,000.

Akhalzik, or Achalzik (a˙-ha˙l′tsik), a town of Russia in Asia, in the Trans-Caucasian government of Tiflis, 97 miles west of Tiflis, with a citadel. It was taken by the Russians in 1828. Pop. 15,977.

Ak-Hissar ('white castle'), a town in Asia Minor, 46 miles N.E. of Smyrna, occupying the site of the ancient Thyatira, relics of which city are here abundant. Here the Emperor Valens defeated the usurper Procopius in 366, and Murad defeated the Prince of Aïdin in 1425. Pop. 20,000.

Akhtyrka (a˙h-tir′ka˙), a cathedral town of the Ukraine, government of Kharkov, with a good trade and some manufactures. Pop. 31,918.

Akjermann (a˙k-yer-ma˙n′). Same as Akermann.

Akkad, the northern portion of ancient Babylonia occupied by the earliest Semitic invaders when the southern portion was Sumer (or Sumeria) and occupied by non-Semites. There was also a city of the same name, the Biblical Accad (Gen. x), which was prominent before 2000 B.C. Its ruins were unearthed between 1917 and 1919. See Babylonia.

Akkas, a dwarfish race of Central Africa, dwelling in scattered settlements to the north-west of Lake Albert Nyanza, about lat. 3° N., lon. 29° E. Their height averages about 4½ feet; they are of a brownish or coffee colour; head large, jaws projecting (or prognathous), ears large, hands small. They are timid and suspicious, and live almost entirely by the chase, being exceedingly skilful with the bow and arrow. They were first seen by the traveller G. A. Schweinfurth in 1870.

Akmolinsk′, a Russian province in Central Asia, largely consisting of steppes and wastes; the chief rivers are the Ishim and Sari-Su; and it contains the larger part of Lake Balkash. Capital, Omsk. Area, about 225,070 sq. miles. Pop. 1,523,700.—Akmolinsk is a place of some importance for its caravan trade. Pop. 11,000.

Ako′la, a town of India, in Berar, the residence of the commissioner of Berar, on the River Morna, 150 miles W. by S. of Nagpur; with walls and a fort, and some trade in cotton. Pop. 29,289.

Ak′ron, a town of the United States, in Ohio, 100 miles N.E. of Columbus, on an elevated site. Being furnished with ample water-power by the Little Cuyahoga, it possesses large flour-mills, woollen factories, manufactures of iron goods, &c. In the vicinity extensive beds of mineral paint are worked. Pop. (1920), 208,435.

Aksu′ ('white water'), a town of Eastern or Chinese Turkestan, 300 miles from Kashgar, in the valley of the Aksu. It is an important centre of trade between Russia, China, and Tartary, and has manufactures of cotton cloth, leather, and metal goods. Formerly the residence of the kings of Kashgar and Yarkand. Pop. 30,000.

Akyab′, a seaport of Lower Burmah, capital of the province of Arracan, at the mouth of the River Kuladan or Akyab, of recent upgrowth, well built, possessing a good harbour, and carrying on an important trade, its chief exports being rice and petroleum. Pop. 35,680.

Al, the article in the Arabic language. It appears in English words derived from the Arabic, such as Algebra, Alchemy, Alcove.

Alabama (al-a-ba˙′ma), one of the United States, bounded by Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi; area, 51,998 sq. miles. The southern part, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and Florida, is low and level, and wooded largely with pine, hence known as the 'pine-woods region'; the middle is hilly, with some tracts of level sand or prairies; the north is broken and mountainous. The State is intersected by the Rivers Alabama, Tombigbee, Mobile, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Tennessee, &c., some of them navigable for several hundred miles. The soil is various, being in some places, particularly in the south, sandy and barren, but in most parts is fertile, especially in the river valleys and in the centre, where there is a very fertile tract known as the 'cotton belt'. The climate in general is warm, and in the lowlying lands skirting the rivers is rather unhealthy. In the more elevated parts it is healthy and agreeable, the winters being mild and the summers tempered by breezes from the Gulf of Mexico. The staple production is cotton, especially in the middle and south, where rice and sugar are also grown; in the north the cereals (above all maize) are the principal crops. Alabama possesses extensive beds of iron ore and coal, with marble, granite, and other minerals; and coal and iron mining, and the smelting and working of iron, are now important industries. The manufacture of cotton goods is extensively carried on. The foreign trade is concentrated in Mobile, whence cotton is the principal export. The State sends eight representatives to Congress. Its principal towns are Montgomery, the seat of government, and Mobile, the chief port. There is a State university at Tuscaloosa, a university connected with the Methodist Episcopal body, several State normal colleges, besides professional schools, &c., in the principal towns. Alabama became a State in 1819. It was one of the slave States. Pop. (1920), 2,348,174.

Alabama, a river of the United States, in the State of Alabama, formed by the junction of the Coosa and the Tallapoosa. After a course of 300 miles it joins the Tombigbee and assumes the name of the Mobile.

Alabama, The, a ship built at Birkenhead to act as a privateer in the service of the Confederate States of North America during the civil war begun in 1861. She was a wooden screw steamer with two engines of 350 h.p. each, 1040 tons burden, and carried eight 32-pounders. Before she was launched her destination was made known to the British Government, but owing to some legal formalities the orders given for her detention did not reach Liverpool till the day after she had left that port (29th July, 1862). She received her armament and stores at the Azores, and entered on her destructive career, capturing and burning merchant vessels, till she was sunk in a fight with the Federal war steamer Kearsarge, off Cherbourg, 19th June, 1864. As early as the winter of 1862 the United States Government declared that they held themselves entitled at a suitable period to demand full compensation from Britain for the damages inflicted on American property by the Alabama and several other cruisers that had been built, supplied, or recruited in British ports or waters. After a long series of negotiations it was agreed to submit the final settlement of the question to a court of arbitration, consisting of representatives of Britain and the United States, and of three other members, appointed by the King of Italy, the President of Switzerland, and the Emperor of Brazil. This court met at Geneva, 17th Dec., 1871, and a claim for indirect damages to American commerce having been abandoned by the United States Government, the decree was given in Sept., 1872, that Britain was liable to the United States in damages to the amount of 15,500,000 dollars (about £3,229,200). After all awards were made to private claimants about 8,000,000 dollars still remain unclaimed.

Alabandite, or Manganblende, a black submetallic mineral.

Alabas′ter, a name applied to a granular variety of gypsum or hydrated sulphate of lime. It was much used by the ancients for the manufacture of ointment and perfume boxes, vases, and the like. It has a fine granular texture, is usually of a pure white colour, and is so soft that it can be scratched with the nail. It is found in many parts of Europe; in great abundance and of peculiarly excellent quality in Tuscany. From the finer and more compact kinds, vases, clock-stands, statuettes, and other ornamental articles are made, and from inferior kinds the cement known as plaster of Paris. A variety of carbonate of lime, closely resembling alabaster in appearance, is used for similar purposes under the name of Oriental alabaster. It is usually stalagmitic or stalactitic in origin and is often of a yellowish colour. It may be distinguished from true alabaster by being too hard to be scratched with the nail.

Alac′taga (Alactăga jacŭlus), a rodent mammal, closely allied to the jerboa, but somewhat larger in size, with a still longer tail. Its range extends from the Crimea and the steppes of the Don across Central Asia to the Chinese frontier.

Aladdin, son of Mustafa, a poor tailor of China. A magician, who pretended to be his uncle, gave him a magic ring and sent him to fetch 'the wonderful lamp' from a cave. Aladdin secured the lamp, but refused to give it to the magician, who shut him in the cave. Aladdin was rescued by the Genie of the Ring, and by means of the Genie of the Lamp acquired great wealth, built a magnificent palace, and married the Sultan's daughter. Afterwards the magician got possession of the lamp, and caused the palace to be transported into Africa. Aladdin was arrested, but was again saved by the Genie of the Ring. He poisoned the magician, recovered the lamp, and by its means restored his palace to its original site.

Alago′as, a maritime State of Brazil; area, 22,577 sq. miles; pop. 946,617.—Alagoas, the former capital of the province, is situated on the south side of an arm of the sea, about 20 miles distant from Maceio, to which the seat of government was transferred in 1839. Pop. about 4000.

Alais (a˙-lā), a town of Southern France, department of Gard, 87 miles N.W. of Marseilles, with coal, iron, and lead mines, which are actively worked, and chalybeate springs, which have many visitors during the autumn months. The treaty of Alais, signed on 28th June, 1629, ended the Huguenot wars in France. Pop. 29,800.

Alajuela (a˙-la˙-hu-ā′la˙), a town of Central America, in the State of Costa Rica. Pop. 12,000.

Ala-Kul, a lake in Russian Central Asia, near the borders of Mongolia, in lat. 46° N. lon. 81° 40′ E.; area, 660 sq. miles.

Alamanni. See Alemanni.

Alaman′ni, Luigi, an Italian poet, of noble family, born at Florence in 1495. Suspected of conspiring against the life of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, who then governed Florence in the name of Pope Leo X, he fled to Venice, and when the cardinal ascended the papal chair under the name of Clement VII he took refuge in France, where he henceforth lived, being employed by Francis I and Henry II in several important negotiations. He died in 1556. His principal works are a didactic poem, La Coltivazione, a splendid imitation of Virgil's Georgics (1546); a comedy entitled Flora; two epics, Girone il Cortese (1548) and L'Avarchide, an imitation of the Iliad (1570); and a collection of eclogues, satires, psalms, &c., partly in blank verse, the invention of which is contested with him by Trissino, a contemporary.

Al′amo, a fort in Bexar county, Texas, United States, celebrated for the resistance its occupants (140 Texans) made to a Mexican force of 4000 from 23rd Feb. to 6th March, 1836. At the latter date only six Texans remained alive, and on their surrendering they were slaughtered by the Mexicans.

Al′amos, a town of Mexico, State of Sonora, the capital of a mining district. Pop. 12,000.

Åland (o′land) Islands, a numerous group of islands and islets, about eighty of which are inhabited, formerly in Russia, situated in the Baltic Sea, near the mouth of the Gulf of Finland; area, 468 sq. miles. The principal island, Åland, distant about 30 miles from the Swedish coast, is 18 miles long and about 14 broad. The fortress of Bomarsund, here situated, was destroyed by an Anglo-French force in Aug., 1854. The inhabitants, who are of Swedish extraction, employ themselves mostly in fishing. The islands were ceded by Sweden to Russia in 1809, and proclaimed a province of Finland in 1918. A referendum of the inhabitants, taken in Dec., 1918, decided in favour of union with Sweden, but on 22nd Oct., 1921, an agreement for the neutralization of the islands was signed at Genoa. Pop. 18,000.

Ala′ni, or Alans, one of the warlike tribes which migrated from Asia westward at the time of the decline of the Roman Empire. They are first met with in the region of the Caucasus, where Pompey fought with them. From this centre they spread over the south of modern Russia to the confines of the Roman Empire. About the middle of the fifth century they joined the Vandals, among whom they became lost to history.

Alarcon′ Y Mendo′za, Don Juan Ruiz de, one of the most distinguished dramatic poets of Spain, born in Mexico about the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century. He came to Europe about 1622, and in 1628 he published a volume containing eight comedies, and in 1634 another containing twelve. One of them, called La Verdad Sospechosa (The Truth Suspected), published in 1630 in a collection bearing the name of Lope de Vega, furnished Corneille with the groundwork and greater part of the substance of his Menteur. Hence Corneille's declaration in the preface to that play that he had borrowed the subject from Lope de Vega. His Tejedor de Segovia (Weaver of Segovia) and Las Paredes Oyen (Walls have Ears) are still performed on the Spanish stage. He died in 1639.

Al′aric I, King of the Visigoths, was born about the middle of the fourth century, probably in 370, and is first mentioned in history in A.D. 394, when Theodosius the Great gave him the command of his Gothic auxiliaries. The dissensions between Arcadius and Honorius, the sons of Theodosius, inspired Alaric with the intention of attacking the Roman Empire. In 396 he ravaged Greece, from which he was driven by the Roman general Stilicho, but made a masterly retreat to Illyria, of which Arcadius, frightened at his successes, appointed him governor. In 400 he invaded Italy, but was defeated by Stilicho at Pollentia (403), and induced to transfer his services from Arcadius to Honorius on condition of receiving 4000 lb. of gold. Honorius having failed to fulfil this condition, Alaric made a second invasion of Italy, during which he besieged Rome three times. The first time (408) the city was saved by paying a heavy ransom; the second (409) it capitulated, and Honorius was deposed, but shortly afterwards restored. His sanction of a treacherous attack on the forces of Alaric brought about the third siege, and the city was taken 24th Aug., 410, and sacked for six days, Alaric, however, doing everything in his power to restrain the violence of his followers. He quitted Rome with the intention of reducing Sicily and Africa, but died at Cosenza in 410. Legend has it that he was buried beneath the river-bed of the Busenzo, the course of which was temporarily turned aside for the purpose.

Al′aric II, King of the Visigoths from A.D. 484 to 507. At the beginning of his reign the dominions of the Visigoths were at their greatest extent, embracing three-fourths of the modern Spain and all Western Gaul to the south of the Loire. His unwarlike character induced Clovis, King of the Franks, to invade the kingdom of the Visigoths. In a battle near Poitiers (507) Alaric was slain and his army completely defeated. The Breviarium Alaricianum, a code of laws derived exclusively from Roman sources, was compiled by a body of Roman jurists at the command of this King Alaric.

Alarm, in military language, a signal, given by beat of drum, bugle-call, or firing of a gun, to warn a camp or garrison of a surprise intended or actually made by the enemy. A place, called the alarm-post, is generally appointed at which the troops are to assemble when an alarm is given.—Alarm is also the name given to several contrivances in which electricity is made use of, as a fire-alarm, by which intelligence is at once conveyed to the proper quarter when a fire breaks out; a burglar-alarm, an arrangement of wires and a battery in a house intended to set a bell or bells ringing should a burglar attempt to gain entrance.

Alarm-clock, one which can be set so as to ring loudly at a certain hour to wake from sleep or excite attention.

Ala-Shehr (a˙-la˙-shār′) (ancient Philadelphia), a town in Asia Minor, 100 miles east of Smyrna, famous as the seat of one of the first Christian churches, and still having a vast number of interesting remains of antiquity, consisting of fragments of beautiful columns, sarcophagi, fountains, &c. It is a place of some importance, carrying on a thriving trade, chiefly with Smyrna, to which runs a railway. Pop. 15,000.

Alas′ka, a territory belonging to the United States, comprising all that portion of the north-west of North America which lies west of the 141st meridian of west longitude, together with an irregular strip of coast-land (and the adjacent islands), extending south to lat. 54° 40′ N., and lying between Canada and the Pacific (the boundary being adjusted in 1903); total area, about 590,884 sq. miles. The chief river is the Yukon, a great stream, now navigated in summer for most of its course. The principal mountains (among which are several volcanoes) are Mounts M‘Kinley (20,470 feet) and Wrangell (17,400 feet). The climate of the interior is very severe in winter, but in summer the heat is intense; on the Pacific coast it is mild but moist. Alaska produces excellent timber. Numbers of fur-bearing animals abound, such as the fur-seal, sea-otter, beaver, fox, mink, marten, &c.; and the fur trade has long been valuable. The coasts and rivers swarm with fish, and salmon and cod are caught and exported. Gold is now mined in several localities, especially Cape Nome, where a town has sprung up. The aboriginal inhabitants consist of Esquimaux and Indians. Alaska, called Russian America until 1867, was sold to the United States for 7,200,000 dollars, the acquisition being ratified by Congress on 20th June, 1867. It has a legislative assembly consisting of eight senators and sixteen representatives, and the legislature meets biennially since 1913. The capital was formerly Sitka, on Baranoff Island, but is now Juneau, on Gastineau Channel. Pop. 64,356, latest estimate being 75,000.—Bibliography: A. W. Greely, Handbook of Alaska; J. Muir, Travels in Alaska.

Alaskite, an igneous rock consisting of quartz and felspar. See Granite.

Alas′sio, a seaport of North Italy, on the Gulf of Genoa, a winter resort of people from England. Pop. 5000.

Alastor, in Greek mythology, is a surname of Zeus (cf. Lat. Jupiter Vindex) describing him as the avenger of evil deeds. The name or epithet is also used to designate any deity or demon who avenges wrongs committed by men. Alastor is the title of a poem by Shelley.

Alatau (a˙-la˙-tou′), the name of three considerable mountain ranges of Central Asia, on the Russian and Chinese frontiers.

Alatyr (a˙-la˙-tir′), a town in Russia, government Simbirsk, at the confluence of the Alatyr with the Sura, with a considerable trade. Pop. 11,000.

Alau′da, a genus of insessorial birds, which includes the larks. See Lark.

A′lava, a hilly province in the north of Spain, one of the three Basque provinces; area, 1175 sq. miles; covered by branches of the Pyrenees, the mountains being clothed with oak, chestnut, and other timber, and the valleys yielding grain, vegetables, and abundance of fruits. There are iron and copper mines, and inexhaustible salt springs. Capital, Vittoria. Pop. 97,692.

Alb (from Lat. albus, white), a clerical vestment of the Catholic Church worn by priests while officiating in the more solemn functions of divine service. It is a long robe of white linen reaching to the feet, bound round the waist by a cincture, and fitting more closely to the body than the surplice. It is now little used except during Mass. After the Reformation the alb was not used in the Church of England, but since the ritualistic revival in the nineteenth century it has again been introduced into a number of churches.

Alba, the name of several towns in ancient Italy, the most celebrated of which was Alba Longa, a city of Latium, according to tradition built by Ascanius, the son of Æneas, 300 years before the foundation of Rome, at one time the most powerful city of Latium. It ultimately fell under the dominion of Rome, when the town was destroyed, it is said. In later times its site became covered with villas of wealthy Romans.

Alba (anciently Alba Pompeia), a town of Northern Italy, about 30 miles S.E. of Turin, is the see of a bishop, has a cathedral, bishop's palace, church with fresco paintings by Perugino, &c. Pop. 6872.

Alba, Duke of. See Alva.

Albacete (a˙l-ba˙-thā′tā), a town in Southern Spain, capital of the province of the same name, 106 miles N.N.W. of Cartagena, with a considerable trade, both direct and transit, and manufactures of knives, daggers, &c. Pop. 24,805.—The province has an area of 5737 sq. miles, and a pop. of 273,380.

Alba Longa. See Alba.

Alban, St., the earliest British martyr, flourished in the third century, and was, it is said, converted from Paganism by a confessor whom he had saved from his persecutors. He refused to sacrifice to the gods, and was executed outside the city of Verulamium (St. Albans) in 285 or 305.

Albani (a˙l-bä′nē), Francesco, a famous Italian painter, born at Bologna in 1578, died in 1660. He studied with Guido Reni under the Flemish painter Calvaert and the Caracci. It is said that his second wife, Doralice Fioraventi, bore him twelve children of such beauty that they served him as models for his paintings. Among the best known of his compositions are The Sleeping Venus, Diana in the Bath, Danaë Reclining, Galatea on the Sea, Europa on the Bull.

Alba′ni, Madame, maiden name Marie Louise Emma Cecile Lajeunesse, famous singer, was born near Montreal in 1852, was trained at home by her father, and studied also in Paris and Milan. She made her first public appearance in Europe at Messina, in Bellini's La Sonnambula, and in 1872 sang in the Royal Italian Opera in London. Since then she has attained the position of one of the world's foremost singers, both in opera and oratorio. In 1878 she was married to Mr. Ernest Gye, the operatic manager. She adopted the professional name of Albani from Albany, in the United States, where as a girl she sang in the Roman Catholic cathedral. In 1911 she published her memoirs under the title of Forty Years of Song.

Alba′nia, an extensive region stretching along the coast of the Adriatic for about 290 miles, and having a breadth varying from about 90 to about 50 miles. The boundary on the east is formed by a range of mountains, and the country is composed of at least nine ridges of hills, of which six are in Lower or Southern Albania (ancient Epirus) and the remainder in Central and Upper or Northern Albania. There are no large rivers, and in summer many of the streams are completely dry. The Drin or Drino is the largest. The most beautiful lake is that of Ochrida, 20 miles long, 8 broad at the widest part. The Lake of Scutari, in Upper Albania, is the largest. Among trees Albania has many species of oak, the poplar, hazel, plane, chestnut, cypress, and laurel. The vine flourishes, together with the orange, almond, fig, mulberry, and citron; maize, wheat, and barley are cultivated. Its fauna comprises bears, wolves, and chamois; sheep, goats, horses, asses, and mules are plentiful. The chief exports are live stock, wool, hides, timber, oil, salt-fish, cheese, and tobacco. The chief ports are Prevesa, Valona, and Durazzo. The population, about 850,000, consists chiefly of Albanians or Arnauts, or, as they call themselves, Skupetars, i.e. inhabitants of the mountains (by the Turks they are called Arnauts, by the Greeks Arbanites, and by the Serbs Arbanasi). They are spread along the coasts of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. History and legend afford little or no record of the arrival of the Albanian race in the Balkan Peninsula. It may, however, be safely asserted that the Albanians are the direct descendants of the earliest Aryan immigrants, who were represented in historical times by the kindred Illyrians, Macedonians, and Epirots. The majority live in Albania, the rest in Montenegro, Greece, Southern Italy, Sicily, Bessarabia, and Asia Minor. As regards religion they are either Christians or Mohammedans. They are divided into several tribes, among whom the Suliotes are partly of Greek origin. The Albanian language is a branch of the Indo-European languages, and related to the long-ago extinct language of the Messapians. The language consists of numerous dialects, which may be divided into those of the Tosks in the south and the Gheggas in the north. Though their country became a province of the Turkish dominions in 1431, they maintained for centuries a certain degree of independence, which the Porte never found it possible to overcome. On 28th Nov., 1912, the complete independence of Albania was proclaimed at Valona, a provisional government was founded under Ismail Kemal Bey, and Albanian autonomy was agreed to at the Ambassadorial Conference in London on 20th Dec. On 21st Feb., 1914, the crown was offered to Prince William of Wied, who arrived at Durazzo on 7th March. The prince was supported and advised by an International Commission of Control, but he left the country at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. Attempts made by Essad Pasha to establish a military government failed, and the country was overrun by the Austrians, who captured Durazzo on 28th Feb., 1916. On 3rd June, 1917, the general in charge of the Italian forces proclaimed Albania an independent country, and a provisional government was set up at Durazzo. Albanian independence was recognized by the Powers and Albania admitted to the League of Nations in Dec., 1920.—Bibliography: H. F. Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey; W. Peacock, Albania, The Foundling State.

Alba′no, a city and lake in Italy, the former about 15 miles south-east of Rome, and on the west border of the lake, amid beautiful scenery. An ancient tomb in the Etruscan style was for a long time looked upon as the sepulchre of the Horatii and Curiatii. Here are also the ruins of the villas of Pompey and Domitian. Pop. 8000.—The lake, situated immediately beneath the Alban Hill, is of an oval form, 6 miles in circumference, surrounded by steep banks of volcanic tufa 300 or 400 feet high, and discharges its superfluous waters by an artificial tunnel at least 2000 years old.

Albans, St. See St. Albans.

Al′bany, the original Celtic name probably at first applied to the whole of Britain, but afterwards restricted to the Highlands of Scotland. It gave the title of duke formerly to a prince of the blood-royal of Scotland. The first duke was Robert Stuart (1345-1420), son of Robert II by his mistress Elizabeth Mure, and brother of Robert III. He was virtual ruler of the kingdom during the latter years of his brother's reign, and acted as regent for his nephew James I (kept a prisoner in England) till his own death. Another nephew, David, Duke of Rothesay, is said to have been starved to death in Falkland Castle at his instigation. His son Murdoch, second duke, succeeded him as regent, and was put to death by James for maladministration. The third duke was Alexander, second son of James II and brother of James III. A large part of his life was passed in France. His son John was the fourth who bore the title. He was regent of Scotland during the minority of James V (1515-23).

Al′bany, a city of the United States, capital of the State of New York on the west bank of the Hudson, 132 miles north of New York city, from and to which steamboats run daily. The Erie Canal and the numerous railway lines centring here from all directions greatly contribute to the growth and prosperity of the city, which carries on an extensive trade. It is a great mart for timber, and has foundries, breweries, tanneries, &c. Albany was settled by the Dutch between 1610 and 1614, and the older houses are in the Dutch style, with the gable-ends to the streets. There is a university, an observatory, and a State library with 90,000 volumes. The principal public buildings are the capitol or State-house, which cost about £5,000,000, and the State-hall for the public offices, a State arsenal, and numerous churches. Pop. (1920), 113,344.

Al′bany, Louisa Maria Caroline, Countess of, a princess of the Stolberg-Gedern family, was born in 1753, and married, in 1772, the pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, after which event she bore the above title. To escape from the ill-treatment of her husband she retired, in 1780, to the house of her brother-in-law at Rome, where she met the poet Alfieri, whose mistress she became. After the death of Alfieri in 1793 she opened her famous political and literary salon frequented by the Duchess of Devonshire, the Duchess of Hamilton, Cardinal Consalvi, Samuel Rogers, Thomas Moore, Lamartine, and Chateaubriand. She died at Florence in 1824, where she was buried at the Church of Sta Croce, by the side of Alfieri, whom she is supposed to have married secretly.

Alba′ta, a name sometimes given to German silver.

Al′batross, a large marine swimming bird of several species, of which the wandering albatross (Diomedēa exŭlans) is the best known. The bill is straight and strong, the upper mandible hooked at the point and the lower one truncated; there are three webbed toes on each foot. The upper part of the body is of a greyish brown, and the belly white. It is the largest sea-bird known, some measuring 17½ feet from tip to tip of their expanded wings. They abound at the Cape of Good Hope and in other parts of the southern seas, and in Behring's Straits, and have been known to accompany ships for whole days without ever resting on the waves. From this habit the bird is regarded with feelings of attachment and superstitious awe by sailors, it being reckoned unlucky to kill one. Coleridge has availed himself of this feeling in his Ancient Mariner. The albatross is met with at great distances from the land, settling down on the waves at night to sleep. It is exceedingly voracious, whenever food is abundant, gorging to such a degree as to be unable to fly or swim. It feeds on fish, carrion, fish-spawn, oceanic mollusca, and other small marine animals. Its cry is harsh and disagreeable. Its nest is a heap of earth; its eggs are larger than those of a goose.

Albatross, a name applied to a certain type of German aeroplanes, much used for scouting purposes during the European War.

Albay (a˙l-bī′), a province, town, bay, and volcano in the south-east part of the Island of Luzon, one of the Philippines. The province is mountainous but fertile; the town regularly built, with a pop. of 34,000; the bay capacious, secure, and almost landlocked; and the volcano, which is always in activity, forms a conspicuous landmark.

Albemarle, Duke of. See Monk, George.

Al′bendorf, a village in Prussia, province of Silesia, 50 miles S.W. of Breslau, remarkable for the pilgrimages made to its church, chapels, statues, &c. Pop. 1800.

Alberoni, Cardinal Giulio (jū′li-o a˙l-bā-rō′nē), born in 1664 in North Italy, and educated for the Church. In his youth he laboured as a gardener, but thanks to the protection of the Duc de Vendôme, whose secretary he became, and afterwards of the Duc de Parma, he rose to high position. The latter sent him as his minister to Madrid, where he gained the affection of Philip V. He rose by cunning and intrigue to the position of Prime Minister, became a cardinal, was all-powerful in Spain after the year 1715, and endeavoured to restore it to its ancient splendour. In pursuance of this object he invaded Sardinia and Sicily, and indeed entertained the idea of stirring up a general war in Europe. The alliance of France and England, however, rendered his schemes abortive, and led to his dismissal and exile in 1720. He wandered about a long time under false names, but on the accession of Pope Innocent XIII he was restored to all the rights and honours of a cardinal. He died in 1752, and was buried at Piacenza.

Albert, Prince, Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Prince Consort of England, second son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, was born at the Rosenau, a castle near Coburg, on 26th Aug., 1819. In 1837 he entered the University of Bonn, where he devoted himself to the studies of political and natural science, history, philosophy, &c., as well as to those of music and painting. On leaving the university he made a tour through the chief cities of Italy with Baron Stockmar. On 10th Feb., 1840, he married his cousin, Queen Victoria of England. Leopold I, King of the Belgians and uncle of Queen Victoria, was greatly instrumental in bringing about the marriage. An allowance of £30,000 a year was settled upon the prince, who was naturalized by Act of Parliament, received the title of Royal Highness by patent, was made a field-marshal, a Knight of the Garter, of the Bath, &c. Other honours were subsequently bestowed upon him, the chief of which was the title of Prince Consort (1857). His foreign birth at first caused him to be regarded with some suspicion, but his unfailing tact and genuine ability were not long in gaining their due recognition. He always carefully abstained from party politics, but his knowledge of the politics of his adopted country, both domestic and foreign, was profound and accurate, and must often have been of service to the queen and her advisers. He always took a deep and active interest in the welfare of the people in general. His services to the cause of science and art were very important; he presided over the commission appointed in 1841 to consider the best means of rebuilding the Houses of Parliament, and the great exhibition of 1851 owed much of its success to his activity, knowledge, and judgment. The amendment of the Articles of War in 1844 which ultimately put an end to duelling was due to his suggestion. Cambridge University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D., and in 1847 he was elected Chancellor. He presided and delivered the inaugural address at the meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen in 1859. He died of typhoid fever on 14th Dec., 1861, after a short illness. A collection of his speeches and addresses was published in 1862. A biography of the prince by Sir Theodore Martin was published in 5 volumes, London, 1875-80.

Albert, first Duke of Prussia, and last grand-master of the Teutonic Order, was born in 1490; died in 1568. In 1511 he was chosen by the Teutonic knights grand-master of their order. Being nephew of Sigismund, King of Poland, the knights hoped by his means to be freed from the feudal superiority of Poland, and placed under the protection of the empire. This superiority, however, Sigismund refused to surrender, and war broke out between uncle and nephew. He subsequently became reconciled to his uncle, and obtained his investiture as hereditary Duke of Prussia under the Polish Crown, the territorial rights of the Teutonic Order being thus set aside. The latter years of his reign were spent in organizing the government and promoting the prosperity of his duchy; he founded schools and churches, established a ducal library, and opened the University of Königsberg in 1543.

Al′bert I, Duke of Austria, and afterwards Emperor of Germany, son of Rudolph of Hapsburg, was born in 1248. On the death of his father in 1292 he claimed the Empire, but his arrogant conduct drove the electors to choose Adolphus of Nassau emperor. Adolphus, after a reign of six years, having lost the regard of all the princes of the Empire, Albert was elected to succeed him. A battle ensued near Göllheim, in which Adolphus was slain by his adversary, who was elected and crowned. Pope Boniface VIII, however, refused to acknowledge him as emperor, and ordered the electoral princes to renounce their allegiance to him. On the other hand, Albert formed an alliance with Philip le Bel of France, and offered so determined and successful a resistance to the papal authority that Boniface was induced to withdraw his opposition, on condition that Albert would break with his French ally. During the subsequent years of his reign the Emperor was engaged in unsuccessful wars with Holland, Hungary, Bohemia, and other States. His measures still further to strengthen his authority over the Swiss Forest Cantons of Unterwalden, Schwyz, and Uri drove the inhabitants into open revolt in Jan. 1308. While on his way to crush the Swiss he was assassinated, at Windisch in May, 1308, by his nephew John, Duke of Suabia, called afterwards the Parricide, whose inheritance he had seized upon.

Albert I, King of the Belgians, born on 8th April, 1875, at Brussels. He is the son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders (died 17th Nov., 1905), and of Princess Marie of Hohenzollern (born 17th Nov., 1845). After the death of his cousin, the Duke of Brabant, and of his father in 1905, Prince Albert became heir apparent. In 1906 he became member of the Belgian Senate and in 1907 was appointed by his uncle, Leopold II, Lieutenant-General. On 2nd Oct., 1900, he married Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Duke Charles Theodor of Bavaria; there are three children. He ascended the Belgian throne in Nov., 1909, after the death of his uncle Leopold II.

Albert Edward, or simply Edward, one of the equatorial lakes of Africa, otherwise known as Muta Nzige (q.v.).

Albert Hall, an amphitheatre in the Italian Renaissance style in Kensington, London, built during 1867-71 for concerts and assemblies. It can seat 9000 people, and its organ, which has nearly 9000 pipes, is one of the largest in the world.

Albert Memorial, the monument erected in Kensington Gardens, London, in memory of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. It is the work of Sir Gilbert Scott, and its style is Victorian Gothic.

Albert Nyan′za, a lake of Africa, one of the headwaters of the Nile, lying (approximately) between lat. 2° 30′ and 1° 10′ N., and with its north-east extremity in about lon. 28° E.; general direction from north-east to south-west, surface about 2500 feet above sea-level. It is surrounded by precipitous cliffs, and bounded on the west and south-west by great ranges of mountains. It abounds with fish, and its shores are infested with crocodiles and hippopotami. It receives the Victoria Nile from the Victoria Nyanza, and the White Nile issues from its northern extremity.

Albert-Bapaume. Along the great trunk road from Albert to Bapaume and on either side of it, fierce fighting took place during the Somme offensive of 1916, marked by the stages La Boiselle, Pozières and Le Sars. When, in Feb., 1917, the Germans began the great retreat, the fortified village of Pys on the left of the road was seized at a rush. On the 26th the village of Warlencourt fell, and two days later Thilley village 1½ miles from Bapaume, was taken. The British troops, avoiding direct assaults, gradually encircled the town, forcing the Germans to withdraw. It was entered on 17th March.

Alberta, a province of Canada, established on 1st Sept., 1905, and comprising the former territory of Alberta and the part of the former territory of Athabasca lying west of the meridian 110°, and having the new province of Saskatchewan on the east, British Columbia on the west, the United States on the south, and Mackenzie territory on the north; area, 255,285 sq. miles. A large part of the area on the west is occupied by the Rocky Mountains, which are shared in common with Alberta and British Columbia, and consist mostly of a series of more or less parallel ridges. One or two of the loftier summits are in the province, others on the boundary. There is much valuable timber in this district. The general slope of the surface is from west to east and north-east. The province is intersected by numerous rivers and streams that have their sources in the Rockies, some of them, such as the Peace River and the Athabasca, sending their waters to the Arctic Ocean, while the others, such as the North and South Saskatchewan and their tributaries, belong to the Hudson Bay basin. In the extreme south are one or two small tributaries of the Missouri. There are a number of lakes, the largest being the Lesser Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca (partly in this province). Notwithstanding the number of the streams, there are districts, especially in the south, where agriculture cannot be successfully carried on without irrigation. Farther to the north there are areas highly suitable for agriculture, and timber is also abundant. Cattle ranching is successfully carried on in the south, but tillage, with and even without irrigation, is also carried on, fine crops of wheat being grown. The most valuable mineral is coal, which is found at various places, but is chiefly mined in the south at Lethbridge, and farther north in the Banff district. Here there are hot springs and grand scenery, and a large tract of land has been set apart as a national park. Near Edmonton, the capital, coal is found on the bank of the North Saskatchewan, and is readily worked. Iron, petroleum, and other minerals are found. The climate is very warm in summer, and in winter less severe and prolonged than might be supposed. The warm chinook winds from the Pacific often blow in winter, and speedily melt the snow. The province is crossed in the south by the Canadian Pacific Railway, running by way of Calgary and Banff, and crossing the Rockies. From Calgary one branch runs north to Edmonton, another runs south to M‘Leod, where other lines make a connection with the States railroads and British Columbia. Edmonton, being also on the Canadian Northern and the Grand Trunk Pacific, is bound to become a great centre of trade and provincial development. It and Calgary are the chief towns. The population in 1911 was returned at 374,663, the latest estimate being nearly 500,000.

Albertite, an asphaltic hydrocarbon compound, a soft black material, obtained in Canada.

Alber′tus Magnus, or Albert the Great, Count of Bollstädt, a distinguished German scholar of the thirteenth century, born in 1193, or 1205, studied at Padua, became a monk of the Dominican order, teaching in the schools of Hildesheim, Ratisbon, and Cologne, where Thomas Aquinas became his pupil. In 1245 he went to Paris and publicly expounded the doctrines of Aristotle, notwithstanding the prohibition of the Church. He is called Doctor Universalis, for he was one of the most proficient scholars of his day, second only to Roger Bacon in his knowledge of nature. He became rector of the school of Cologne in 1249; in 1254 he was made provincial of his order in Germany; and in 1260 he received from Pope Alexander IV the appointment of Bishop of Ratisbon. In 1263 he retired to his convent at Cologne, where he composed many works, especially commentaries on Aristotle. He died in 1280. Owing to his profound knowledge he did not escape the imputation of using magical arts and trafficking with the Evil One.

Al′bi. See Alby.

Albigenses (al-bi-jen′sēz), a neo-Manichæan sect which spread widely in the south of France and elsewhere about the twelfth century, and which differed in doctrine and practice from the Roman Catholic Church, by which they were subjected to severe persecution. They are said to have been so named from Albi, on the banks of the Tarn, a tributary of the Garonne, where, and about Toulouse, Narbonne, &c., they were numerous. They were also known as Catharists (q.v.) and their doctrines were similar to those of several other religious sects such as the Gnostics, Manichæans, and Bogomils. Among the principal doctrines of the Albigenses was the belief in the existence of two principles, good and evil, the creators of the spiritual and material worlds. Since all matter is under the control of the evil principle, maintained the Albigenses, all flesh is evil. The extinction of bodily life, therefore, the deliverance of the soul from the prison-house of the body, should be the aim of man. Suicide by means of starvation was consequently highly meritorious. It is admitted even by Catholic writers (see Catholic Encyclopædia, vol. i, p. 268) that the Albigenses were principally antisacerdotal and opposed to the Roman Church on account of the scandalous life led by the Catholic clergy. A crusade was begun against them, and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse for tolerating them, in 1209, the army of the cross being called together by Pope Innocent III. The war was carried on with a cruelty which reflected deep disgrace upon the Catholic Church. Béziers, the capital of Raymond's nephew Roger, was taken by storm, and 20,000 of the inhabitants, without distinction of creed, were put to the sword. Simon de Montfort, the military leader of the crusade, was equally severe towards other places in the territory of Raymond and his allies. After the death of Raymond VI, in 1222, his son, Raymond VII, was obliged, notwithstanding his readiness to do penance, to defend his inheritance against the papal legates and Louis VIII of France. When hundreds of thousands had fallen on both sides, a peace was made in 1229, by which Raymond was obliged to cede Narbonne with other territories to Louis IX, and make his son-in-law, a brother of Louis, his heir. The heretics were now delivered up to the proselytizing zeal of the Dominicans, and to the courts of the Inquisition, by which means it was brought about that the Albigenses disappeared after the middle of the thirteenth century. Cf. C. Schmidt, Histoire et doctrine de la Secte des Cathares ou Albigeois (2 vols.)

Albinos (al-bī′nōz), the name given to those persons from whose skin, hair, and eyes, in consequence of some defect in their organization, the dark colouring matter is absent. The skin of albinos, therefore, whether they belong to the white, Indian, or negro races, is of a uniform pale milky colour, their hair is white, while the iris of their eyes is pale rose colour, and the pupil intensely red, the absence of the dark pigment allowing the multitude of blood-vessels in these parts of the eye to be seen. For the same reason their eyes are not well suited to endure the bright light of day, and they see best in shade or by moonlight. The peculiarity of albinism or leucopathy is hereditary and not confined to the human race, having been observed also in horses, rabbits, rats, mice, &c., birds (white crows or blackbirds are not particularly uncommon), and fishes. Albinos are not of necessity lacking in mental vigour or capacity. Cf. Karl Pearson, A Monograph on Albinism in Man.

Al′bion (Celtic Albainn), the earliest name by which the island of Great Britain was known, employed already by writers of the sixth century B.C., who speak not of Britannia but of the land of the Albiones, and in poetry still used for Great Britain. It is connected with Lat. albus, white, on account, perhaps, of the chalk cliffs of Dover. The same word as Albany, Albyn.

Al′bite, or Soda-felspar, a mineral, a kind of felspar, usually of a white colour, to which property it owes its name (Lat. albus, white), but occasionally bluish, greyish, greenish, or reddish white.

Albizzia (al-bit′si-a), a genus of leguminous trees and shrubs, allied to the genus Acacia, with doubly-pinnate leaves and white, yellow, or red flowers often in globular heads, and broad, straight, flat pods. They number over fifty species, and inhabit tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa, and Australia. A. lophanta, a native of south-western Australia, has a bark that contains tannin. A. Lebbek, a native of Asia and Africa, yields valuable timber, and in Egypt is much cultivated as a shade tree. A. Julibrissin, a tree with rose-red flowers, is found in Asia and Africa, and has been introduced into Southern Europe.

Al′boin, King of the Lombards, succeeded his father Audoin in 561, and reigned in Noricum and Pannonia. Narses, the general of Justinian, sought his alliance, and received his aid, in the war against Totila, King of the Ostrogoths. Alboin afterwards (in 568) undertook the conquest of Italy, where Narses, who had subjected this country to Justinian, offended by an ungrateful Court, sought an avenger in Alboin, and offered him his co-operation. After a victorious career in Italy he was slain at Verona, in 573 or 574, by an assassin, instigated by his wife Rosamond, whose hatred he had incurred by sending her, in one of his fits of intoxication, a cup wrought from the skull of her father, and forcing her to drink from it.

Alborak, in Mohammedan mythology, the animal said to have been brought by the angel Gabriel to carry Mohammed to the seventh heaven. It had the face of a man, the body of a horse, the wings of an eagle, and spoke with a human voice.

Albrecht (a˙l′breht), the German form of Albert (q.v.).

Albrechtsberger (a˙l′brehts-ber-gėr), Johann Georg, a German composer and writer on music; a teacher of Beethoven, Moscheles, &c. Born 1736, died 1809.

Albret, Jeanne d' (zha˙n da˙l-brā), Queen of Navarre, wife of Antoine de Bourbon and mother of Henri IV of France, a zealous supporter of the reformed religion, which she established in her kingdom; born 1528, died (probably poisoned) 1572, shortly before the massacre of St. Bartholomew.

Albuera (a˙l-bu¨-ā′ra˙), a village of Spain, in Estremadura, 12 miles S.S.E. of Badajoz. A battle was fought here, 16th May, 1811, between the army of Marshal Beresford (30,000) and that of Marshal Soult (25,000), when the latter was obliged to retreat to Seville, leaving Badajoz to fall into the hands of the allies.

Albu′go, an affection of the eye, consisting of a white opacity in the cornea; called also leucoma.

Al′bum, in ancient Rome a board painted white, on which edicts and public notices were inscribed in black. It is now a name generally given to a blank book for the reception of pieces of poetry, autographs, engravings, photographs, &c. In law it is applied to rent paid in silver (white money).

Albu′men, or Albumin (Lat., from albus, white), a substance, or rather group of substances, so named from the Latin for the white of an egg, which is one of its most abundant known forms. It may be taken as the type of the protein compounds or the nitrogenous class of food-stuffs. One variety enters largely into the composition of the animal fluids and solids, is coagulable by heat at and above 160°, and is composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, with a little sulphur. It abounds in the serum of the blood, the vitreous and crystalline humours of the eye, the fluid of dropsy, the substance called coagulable lymph, in nutritive matters, the juice of flesh, &c. The blood contains about 7 per cent of albumen. Another variety, called vegetable albumen, exists in most vegetable juices and many seeds, and has nearly the same composition and properties as egg albumen. When albumen coagulates in any fluid it readily encloses any substances that may be suspended in the fluid. Hence it is used to clarify syrupy liquors. In cookery, white of eggs is employed for clarifying, but in large operations, like sugar-refining, the serum of blood is used. From its being coagulable by various salts, and especially by corrosive sublimate, with which it forms an insoluble compound, white of egg is a convenient antidote in cases of poisoning by that substance. With lime it forms a cement to mend broken ware.

In botany the name albumen is given to the farinaceous matter which surrounds the embryo, the term in this case having no reference to chemical composition. It constitutes the meat of the coco-nut, the flour or meal of cereals, the roasted part of coffee, &c.

Albuminu′ria, a condition in which the urine contains albumen, evidencing a diseased state of the kidneys.

Albuñol (a˙l-bu¨-nyol′), a seaport of Southern Spain, province Granada, on the Mediterranean. Pop. 7451.

Albuquerque (a˙l-bu¨-kerk′ā), Affonso de, surnamed 'the Great', an eminent Portuguese admiral, born 1453, died in 1515. Portugal having subjected to its power a large part of the western coast of Africa, and begun to extend its sway in the East Indies, Albuquerque was appointed viceroy of the Portuguese acquisitions in this quarter, and arrived in 1503 with a fleet on the coast of Malabar. His career here was extremely successful, he having extended the Portuguese power over Malabar, Ceylon, the Sunda Islands, and the Peninsula of Malacca, and made the Portuguese name respected by all the nations and princes of India. Notwithstanding his services and his virtues, he was unjustly superseded in his commands by his personal enemy Lopez Soarez, and so severely did he feel the ingratitude of his sovereign, King Emanuel, that he died a few days after receiving the intelligence. His famous letter to the king was discovered and published in 1542 by J. M. de Fonseca. The first volume of his letters was published in 1884 by the Royal Academy of Lisbon.

Albur′num, the soft white substance which, in trees, is found between the liber or inner bark and the wood, and, in progress of time acquiring solidity, becomes itself the wood. A new layer of wood, or rather of alburnum, is added annually to the tree in every part just under the bark.

Albury (al′ber-i), a rising town of New South Wales on the borders of Victoria, on the right bank of the Murray, 190 miles north-east of Melbourne, in a good agricultural and wine-producing district. Pop. 6750.

Alby, or Albi (a˙l′bē), an old town of southern France, department of Tarn, 42 miles north-east of Toulouse, on the Tarn, in an extensive plain. It has a cathedral, a Gothic structure, begun in 1282. It manufactures linens, cottons, leather, &c. Alby is said to have given the Albigenses their name. Pop. 18,262.

Alcæ′us, one of the greatest Grecian lyric poets, was born at Mitylene, in Lesbos, and flourished there at the close of the seventh and beginning of the sixth centuries B.C.; but of his life little is known. A strong manly enthusiasm for freedom and justice pervades his lyrics, of which only a few fragments are left. He wrote in the Æolic dialect, and was the inventor of a metre that bears his name (Alcaics), which Horace has employed in many of his odes.

Alcala′ de Guadaira (gwa˙-dī′ra˙; 'the castle of Guadaira'), a town of southern Spain, on the Guadaira, 7 miles east of Seville, chiefly celebrated for its manufacture of bread, with which it supplies a large part of the population of Seville. Pop. 8930.

Alcala′ de Henares (en-ä′res), a beautiful city of Spain, 16 miles E.N.E. of Madrid, 1 mile from the Henares. It has an imposing appearance when seen from some distance, but on nearer inspection is found to be in a state of decay. There was formerly a university here, at one time attended by 10,000 students; but in 1836 it was removed with its library to Madrid. Cervantes was born here. Pop. 11,728.

Alcala′ la Real (rā-a˙l′), a town of Spain, 18 miles south-east of Jaen, with a fine abbey and some trade. It was captured in 1340 by Alphonso XI of Leon, from whence it derives the epithet Real ('Royal'). Pop. 15,901.

Alcalde (Sp.; a˙l-ka˙l-dā), or Alcaide (Port.; al-kī′dā; Ar. alqadi (Cadi), the judge, not to be confused with alcaide, the governor of a fortress), the name of a magistrate in the Spanish and Portuguese towns, to whom the administration of justice and the regulation of the police is committed. His office nearly corresponds to that of justice of the peace. The name and the office are of Moorish origin.

Al′camo, a city in the west of Sicily, 2½ miles south of the Gulf of Castellamare, near the site of the ancient Segesta, the ruins of which, including a well-preserved Doric temple and a theatre, as well as the remains of Moorish occupation, are still to be found here. The district is celebrated for its wine. Pop. 32,200.

Alcañiz (a˙l-ka˙n-yēth′), a town of north-eastern Spain (Aragon). Pop. 8750.

Alcan′tara (Ar., 'the bridge'), an ancient town and frontier fortress of Spain, on the Tagus, on a rocky acclivity, and enclosed by ancient walls. Pop. 3224.—Order of Alcantara, an ancient Spanish order of knighthood instituted for defence against the Moors in 1156, and made a military religious order in 1197.

Alcarraza (a˙l-ka˙r-rä′tha˙), a vessel made of a kind of porous, unglazed pottery, used in Spain to hold drinking-water, which, oozing slightly through the vessel, is kept cool by the evaporation that takes place at the surface. Similar vessels have been long used in Egypt and elsewhere.

Alcazar de San Juan (a˙l-kä′tha˙r dā sa˙n-hwän), a town of Spain, province of Ciudad-Real (New Castile), with manufactures of soap, saltpetre, gunpowder, chocolate, &c. Pop. 13,645.

Alce′do. See Kingfisher.

Alces′tis, in Greek mythology, wife of Admetus, King of Thessaly. Her husband was ill, and, according to an oracle, would die unless someone made a vow to meet death in his stead. This was secretly done by Alcestis, and Admetus recovered. After her decease Hercules brought her back from the infernal regions.

Al′chemy, or Alchymy, the art which in former times occupied the place of and paved the way for the modern science of chemistry (as astrology did for astronomy), but whose aims were not scientific, being confined solely to the discovery of the means of indefinitely prolonging human life, and of transmuting the baser metals into gold and silver. Among the alchemists it was generally thought necessary to find a substance which, containing the original principle of all matter, should possess the power of dissolving all substances into their elements. This general solvent, or menstruum universale, which at the same time was to possess the power of removing all the seeds of disease out of the human body and renewing life, was called the philosophers' stone, lapis philosophorum, and its pretended possessors were known as adepts. Alchemy flourished chiefly in the Middle Ages, though how old such notions might be as those by which the alchemists were inspired it is difficult to say. There are many stories about the mystic origin of alchemy. The art is said to have been taught by the fallen angels, by Isis, or by Miriam, sister of Moses, or by John the Baptist. According to Suidas, Egypt was the home of alchemy, and the mythical Hermes Trismegistus of pre-Christian times was said to have left behind him many books of magical and alchemical learning, and after him alchemy received the name of the hermetic art. At a later period chemistry and alchemy were cultivated among the Arabians, and by them the pursuit was introduced into Europe. Many of the monks devoted themselves to alchemy, although they were afterwards prohibited from studying it by the popes. Thus Albertus Magnus is said to have been the author of a work De Alchimia, and several treatises on the subject are attributed to Thomas Aquinas. But even Pope John XXII is said to have worked at the science at Avignon. Raymond Lully, or Lullius, a famous alchemist of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is said to have changed for King Edward I a mass of 50,000 lb. of quicksilver into gold, of which the first rose-nobles were coined. Among other alchemists may be mentioned John Cremer, Abbot of Westminster (1327-77), Nicholas Flamel (1330-80), Basilius Valentinus, Isaac of Holland, and Paracelsus (1493-1541). With the growth of chemistry, the recognition of the chemical elements as forming a large number of distinct substances, and the conception of the fixed unalterable nature of the atoms, attempts to transform the base metals into gold were largely abandoned as being unscientific. But the most modern view of matter, namely, that the atoms of all elements are composed of numerous electrons, favours the idea of the transmutability of elements, and the production of helium from radium (see these articles) by Ramsay shows the possibility of this transmutation.—Bibliography: Pattison-Muir, Alchemy, or the Beginnings of Chemistry (Hodder & Stoughton: Useful Knowledge Series); H. S. Redgrove, Alchemy, Ancient and Modern.

Alcibi′ades (-dēz), a famous Athenian statesman and general of high family and of great abilities, but of no principle, was born at Athens in the 82nd Olympiad, 450 B.C., being the son of Cleinias, and a relative of Pericles, who also was his guardian. In youth he was remarkable for the beauty of his person, no less than for the dissoluteness of his manners. He came under the influence of Socrates, but little permanent effect was produced on his character by the precepts of the sage. He acquired great popularity by his liberality in providing for the amusements of the people, and after the death of Cleon attained a political ascendancy which left him no rival but Nicias. Thus he played an important part in the long-continued Peloponnesian war. In 415 he advocated the expedition against Sicily, and was chosen one of the leaders, but before the expedition sailed he was charged with profaning and divulging the Eleusinian mysteries, and mutilating the busts of Hermes, which were set up in public all through Athens. Rather than stand his trial he went over to Sparta, divulged the plans of the Athenians, and assisted the Spartans to defeat them. Sentence of death and confiscation was pronounced against him at Athens, and he was cursed by the ministers of religion. He soon left Sparta and took refuge with the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, ingratiating himself by his affectation of Persian manners, as he had previously done at Sparta by a similar affectation of Spartan simplicity. He now began to intrigue for his return to Athens, offering to bring Tissaphernes over to the Athenian alliance, and after a while he was recalled and his banishment cancelled. He, however, remained abroad for some years in command of the Athenian forces, gained several victories, and took Chalcedon and Byzantium. In 407 B.C. he returned to Athens, but in 406, the fleet which he commanded having suffered a severe defeat, he was deprived of his command. He once more went over to the Persians, taking refuge with the satrap Pharnabazus of Phrygia, and here he was assassinated in 404 B.C. The authorities for his life are Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, and Cornelius Nepos.

Alcinous (al-sin′o-us), King of the Phæacians. See Ulysses.

Alcira (a˙l-thē′ra˙), a town of Spain, province of Valencia, on the Jucar, founded by the Carthaginians. Fruits, rice, &c., are grown. Pop. 22,050.

Alc′man, the chief lyric poet of Sparta, a Lydian by birth, flourished between 671 B.C. and 631, and wrote (in the Doric dialect) love songs, hymns, pæans, &c., of which only fragments remain.

Alcme′na. See Amphitryon.

Alco, a small variety of dog, with a small head and large pendulous ears, found wild in Mexico and Peru, and also domesticated.

Alcobaça (a˙l-kō-bä′sa˙), a small town of Portugal, 50 miles north of Lisbon, celebrated for a magnificent Cistercian monastery founded in 1148 by Don Alphonso I, and completed in 1222. It contains the tombs of Alphonso II, Alphonso III, Pedro I and his wife Ines de Castro.

Al′cohol, or Ethyl Alcohol, C2H6O, is a substance obtained by allowing the juice of the grape to undergo a change known as fermentation. It is only in modern times that alcohol has been isolated and its properties examined. Alcohol is now prepared in enormous quantities, both for industrial purposes and for the preparation of alcoholic beverages, from substances rich in sugar or in starch. Potatoes and maize form the main source of alcohol. These are treated with steam under pressure in specially-constructed tanks to extract starchy materials. The starch so liberated is then fermented by means of a substance diastase. This treatment transforms sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid gas. The solution is then filtered to remove all insoluble matter, proteids, &c., and from this solid residue, cattle-feeding cakes are made. This treatment yields a solution containing 9-10 per cent alcohol. The solution is fractionally distilled, using a special form of distilling column. The most volatile part of the distillate, first runnings, contains acetaldehyde, the second fraction contains the bulk of the alcohol and some water, and the least volatile portion, last runnings, fusel oil and higher alcohols. By this means a liquid containing 80-95 per cent alcohol, rectified spirits, is obtained. For preparation of beverages, fusel oil must be carefully separated from alcohol, as fusel oil has an injurious effect physiologically. The removal of the last traces of water from alcohol is very troublesome. It is repeatedly distilled over quicklime or freshly-ignited potassium carbonate, giving an alcohol containing 98-99 per cent alcohol. The small quantity of water still contained is removed by leaving it in contact with metallic calcium. An alcohol containing more than 96 per cent alcohol is known as absolute. Pure alcohol is a colourless poisonous liquid boiling at 78° C., possessing a strong odour and a burning taste. It is inflammable and mixes with water in all proportions and has a specific gravity 0.80625 at 0° C. Very low temperatures convert it into a glassy solid, melting at -117° C., hence it may be used in thermometers for low-temperature measurements. Alcohol burns with a non-luminous flame and gives out great heat; it is used, therefore, in various types of lamps for heating purposes. It is also used as a fuel for motors and is a very valuable solvent for many substances such as resin, oils, colouring-matter, varnishes, and ethereal essences. The so-called 'solid alcohol' can be obtained by dissolving 30 to 40 parts of collodion in 100 parts of alcohol, a solid which separates and burns like alcohol, leaving no residue. Alcohol is the important constituent of all alcoholic beverages and it is due to its presence that wine, whisky, &c., have a stimulating and intoxicating effect on the nervous system. Beverages such as beer, wine, cider, &c., are prepared by direct fermentation of sugars obtained in fruit juices in the case of wine and cider and from barley in the case of beer. These contain varying amounts of alcohol, thus wine may contain from 8 to 10 per cent of alcohol, whilst beer contains 3 to 5 per cent. Whisky, brandy, &c., contain more alcohol, 50-70 per cent, and for the preparation of these the alcohol used must be distilled and purified after fermentation. The alcohol content of an aqueous solution may be deduced from a determination of the specific gravity of the solution or directly by the Alcoholometer. This gives percentage by volume. The amount of alcohol present in any alcoholic beverage cannot be obtained directly, but if ⅓ of the liquid be distilled and the distillate made up to the original volume, then the alcohol may be determined by the Alcoholometer. The name alcohol is applied generally in chemistry to a large group of substances, containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, which have chemical properties analogous to those of ethyl alcohol.

Al′coholism, a morbid condition of the body (especially of the nervous system) brought on by the immoderate use of alcoholic liquors.

Alcoholom′eter, an instrument constructed on the principle of the hydrometer, to determine from the specific gravity of spirituous liquors the percentage of alcohol they contain, the scale marking directly the required proportion. If the liquor contain anything besides water and alcohol, previous distillation is necessary.

Alco′ran. See Koran.

Al′cott, Louisa May, a distinguished American authoress, born in 1833. She wrote a number of books chiefly intended for the young: Little Women (1867), An Old-fashioned Girl (1869), Little Men (1871), Jack and Jill (1880), &c. Died in 1888.

Al′cove, a recess in a room, usually separated from the rest of the room by columns, a balustrade, or by curtains, and often containing a bed or seats.

Alcoy′, a town of Spain, in Valencia, 24 miles north by west of Alicante, in a richly-cultivated district. There is a Roman bridge over the river, and the town has a very picturesque appearance; its chief manufactures are paper and woollen goods. On the 22nd of April an annual feast is celebrated by the inhabitants of the town commemorating a victory over the Moors in 1257. Pop. 33,896.

Alcudia, Duke of. See Godoy.

Alcuin (alk′win; in his native tongue Ealhwine), a learned Englishman, the confidant, instructor, and adviser of Charles the Great (Charlemagne). He was born at York in 735, and was educated at York School, of which he subsequently was head master. Alcuin having gone to Rome, Charlemagne became acquainted with him at Parma, invited him in 782 to his Court, and made use of his services in his endeavours to civilize his subjects. To secure the benefit of his instructions, Charlemagne established at his Court a school, called Schola Palatina, or the Palace School. In the royal academy Alcuin was called Flaccus Albinus. Most of the schools in France were either founded or improved by him; thus he founded the school in the abbey of St. Martin of Tours, in 796, after the plan of the school in York. Alcuin left the Court in 801, and retired to the abbey of St. Martin of Tours, but kept up a constant correspondence with Charles to his death in 804. He left works on theology, philosophy, rhetoric, also poems and letters, all of which have been published. His letters, 232 of which were addressed to Charlemagne, form the most important part of his work. As a philosopher, Alcuin, though lacking in originality, exercised a considerable influence over his contemporaries. The expression of 'scholasticism' is attributed to him.—Bibliography: C. J. B. Gaskoin, Alcuin, His Life and his Work, J. B. Mullinger, The Schools of Charles the Great.

Alcyona′ria, cœlenterate animals forming a great division of the class Actinozoa (see Sea-anemone). These animals are nearly all composite, and the individual polyps have mostly eight tentacles. They include the organ-pipe corals, sea-pens, fan-corals, &c., as also the red coral of commerce. The polyps resemble those of the genus Alcyonium in structure, and in the number and arrangement of the tentacles. See Alcyonium.

Alcyo′nium, a genus of cœlenterate animals, one familiar species of which, dredged around the British coasts—A. digitātum—is named 'Dead-Men's Fingers', or 'Cow's Paps', from its lobed or digitate appearance. It grows attached to stones, shells, and other objects. It consists of a mass of little polyps, each polyp possessing eight little fringed tentacles disposed around a central mouth. The Alcyonium forms the type of the Alcyonaria.

Al′dan, a river of Eastern Siberia, a tributary of the Lena, 1200 miles in length. The Aldan Mountains run along parallel to it on the left for 400 miles.

Aldeb′aran, a star of the first magnitude, forming the eye of the constellation Taurus or the Bull, the brightest of the five stars known to the Greeks as the Hyades. Spectrum analysis has shown it to contain antimony, bismuth, iron, mercury, hydrogen, sodium, calcium, &c.

Aldeburgh (a¨ld′bu-ru), a municipal borough of England, on the coast of Suffolk, more important formerly than it is now, having suffered from encroachments of the sea. The poet Crabbe was born there in 1754. Pop. 2892.

Al′dehyde, in chemistry, the generic name given to the compounds of alcohol intermediate between the alcohols and the acids. Common aldehyde (C2H4O) is derived from spirit of wine by oxidation, and is a colourless, limpid, volatile, and inflammable liquid, with a peculiar ethereal odour, which is suffocating when strong; specific gravity, 0.79. Atmospheric oxygen converts it into acetic acid. It decomposes oxide of silver, depositing a brilliant film of metallic silver; hence it is used in silvering curved glass surfaces.

Alder (a¨l′dėr; Alnus), a genus of plants of the sub-ord. Betulaceæ (Birch), (nat. ord. Amentaceæ). Fourteen species are known as small trees or shrubs indigenous to temperate and colder regions of the globe; eight of these are found in Central and Western Europe. The only species indigenous to Britain is the common alder (Alnus glutinōsa), a tree growing in wet situations in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Its wood, light and soft and of a reddish colour, is used for a variety of purposes, and is well adapted for work which is to be kept constantly in water. Alder is still largely used in gunpowder manufacture, and the roots and knots furnish a beautifully-veined wood well suited for cabinet work; it is used for cigar-boxes in East Prussia and West Russia. The bark is used in tanning and leather-dressing, and by fishermen for staining their nets. This and the young twigs are sometimes employed in dyeing, and yield different shades of yellow and red. With the addition of copperas it yields a black dye.

Alderley Edge, a town of England, Cheshire, about 8 miles south-west of Stockport. Pop. (1921), 3072.

Al′derman (a¨l′dėr-; Anglo-Saxon ealdorman, from ealdor, older, and man), among the Anglo-Saxons a person of a rank equivalent to that of an earl or count, the governor of a shire or county, and member of the witena-gemót or great council of the nation. Aldermen played an important rôle already before the Constitution of Egbert, but reached their highest power during the reign of Alfred the Great, who had married the daughter of an alderman. Aldermen, at present, are officers associated with the mayor of a city for the administration of the municipal government in England and the United States.

Al′derney (Fr. Aurigny), an island belonging to Britain, off the coast of Normandy, 10 miles due west of Cape La Hogue, and 60 from the nearest point of England, the most northerly of the Channel Islands, between 3 and 4 miles long, and about 1¼ broad. The coast is bold and rocky; the interior is fertile. About a third of the island is occupied by grass lands; and the Alderney cows, a small-sized but handsome breed, are famous for the richness of their milk. The climate is mild and healthy. A judge, with six 'jurats', chosen by the people for life, and twelve 'douzainiers', representatives of the people, form a kind of local legislature. The French language still prevails among the inhabitants, but all understand and many speak English. The Race of Alderney is the strait between the coast of France and this island. Pop. 2561.

Aldershot (äl′dėr-), a town and military station in England, the latter having given rise to the former. The 'camp' was originated in 1854 by the purchase by Government of a tract of moorland known as Aldershot Heath, on the confines of Surrey, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The object was to accustom both officers and soldiers to act more readily when drawn up in brigades and divisions, their practice having been limited for the most part, since the termination of the French war, to the movements of battalions and companies. It was also deemed advisable to accustom the army to camp life, and to exercise the men in all the evolutions and movements which they might be required to perform when brought into actual contact with the enemy. The accommodation provided for the army, officers as well as men, consisted at first of wooden huts; but these have been superseded by brick barracks, and altogether the money expended on the camp has amounted to over £3,000,000. The men are exercised in marching, skirmishing, and similar field operations, which are carried on during the summer months with great activity; they are also instructed in the camp in cooking and other duties. The troops at Aldershot in summer include a number of Territorials, Senior and Junior O.T.C., &c. The town is in the neighbourhood of the barracks, immediately beyond the Government ground, and in Hampshire. It contains several churches, and has schools, newspapers, literary institutes, music-halls &c. Aldershot gives its name to a parliamentary division of Hants. Pop. (1921), 28,756.

Ald′helm, an Anglo-Saxon scholar and prelate, Abbot of Malmesbury and Bishop of Sherborne, born 640 (?), died 709. He was a great fosterer of learning and builder of churches, and has left Latin writings on theological subjects.

Al′dine Editions, the name given to the works which proceeded from the press of Aldus Manutius and his family at Venice (1494-1592), Rome (1562-70), and Bologna. (See Manutius.) Recommended by their value, as well as by a splendid exterior, they have gained the respect of scholars and the attention of book-collectors. Many of them are the first printed editions (editiones principes) of Greek and Latin classics. Others are texts of the modern Italian authors. These editions are of importance in the history of printing. The editions printed by Aldus Manutius the Elder are, however, much more valuable than those issued by his descendants. Among the former are the first edition of the works of Aristotle in 5 vols., and the works of Virgil, Horace, and Petrarch. Aldus had nine kinds of Greek type, and no one before him printed so much and so beautifully in this language. Of the Latin character he procured fourteen kinds of type.

Aldobrandi′ni, the name of a Florentine family, subsequently of princely rank (now extinct), which produced one Pope (Clement VIII) and several cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and men of learning.—Aldobrandini Marriage, one of the most beautiful ancient fresco paintings, belonging probably to the time of Augustus, discovered in 1606 on Mount Aquilinus at the very spot where once were the gardens of Mæcenas, and acquired by Cardinal Aldobrandini, nephew of Clement VIII, now in the Vatican. It represents a marriage scene in which ten persons are portrayed. There is a beautiful copy of this fresco by Poussin in the Galleria Doria at Rome.

Al′dred, or Ealdred, Anglo-Saxon prelate, Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York, born 1000(?), died 1069. He improved the discipline of the Church and built several monastic churches. On the death of Edward the Confessor he is said to have crowned Harold. Having submitted to the Conqueror, whose esteem he enjoyed and whose power he made subservient to the views of the Church, he also crowned him as well as Matilda.

Ald′rich, Henry, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford; born in 1647, died in 1710; distinguished as a philosopher, an architect, and as a musician. His Compendium of Logic was a textbook till long past the middle of last century. He adapted many of the works of the older musicians, such as Palestrina and Carissimi, to the liturgy of the Church of England, and composed many services and anthems, some of which are still heard in English cathedrals.

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, the most conspicuous American poet of his generation. Born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 11th Nov., 1836; died at Boston in March, 1907. He edited Every Saturday in Boston from 1865 to 1874, and the Atlantic Monthly from 1881 to 1890. He was a poet of some skill, the chief characteristic of his lyrics being refinement and finish. Some of his short stories have been rarely surpassed by other American writers. Among his volumes of verse are: The Ballad of Babie Bell (1856); Cloth of Gold (1874); Lyrics and Sonnets (1880); Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book (1881); Unguarded Gates and other Poems (1895), &c. His prose works include: Story of a Bad Boy (1870); Marjorie Daw and other People (1873); The Stillwater Tragedy (1880); Two Bites of a Cherry (1893).

Aldrovan′di, Ulysses, a distinguished Italian naturalist; born 1522, died 1607. He was professor at Bologna, and established botanical gardens and a museum of natural history there; wrote a work on natural history in 14 vols. His Antidotarii Bononiensis epitome (1574) has served as a model for all Pharmacopœias published in later years.

Ale and Beer, well-known and extensively-used fermented liquors, the principle of which is extracted from several sorts of grain but most commonly from barley, after it has undergone the process termed malting. Beer is a more general term than ale, being often used for any kind of fermented malt liquor, including porter, though it is also used in a more special signification. See Brewing.

Aleardi (a˙-lā-a˙r′dē), Aleardo, a distinguished Italian lyrical and political poet and patriot, born 1812, died 1878; he was a member of the Italian board of higher education and a senator. His best work is his poem Il Monte Circello (1844).

Ale-conner, formerly an officer in England appointed to assay ale and beer, and to take care that they were good and wholesome, and sold at a proper price. The duty of the ale-conners of London was to inspect the measures used in public-houses, to prevent frauds in selling liquors. Four of these were chosen annually by the liverymen, in common hall, on Mid-summer's Day.

Ale-cost. See Costmary.

Alec′to, in Greek mythology, one of the Furies (q.v.).

Aleman (a˙-le-ma˙n′), Mateo, a Spanish novelist, born about the middle of the sixteenth century, died in 1610. His fame rests on his Life and Adventures of the Rogue Guzman de Alfarache (translated into French in 1600 and into English in 1623), one of the best of the picaresque or rogue novels, which give such a lively picture of the shady classes of society in Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The hero becomes in succession stable-boy, beggar, porter, thief, man of fashion, soldier, valet, merchant, student, robber, galley-slave, and lastly his own biographer.

Aleman′ni, or Alamanni, a confederacy of several German tribes which, at the commencement of the third century after Christ, lived near the Roman territory, and came then and subsequently into conflict with the imperial troops. Caracalla first fought with them in 213, but did not conquer them; Severus was likewise unsuccessful. About 250 they began to cross the Rhine westwards, and in 255 they overran Gaul along with the Franks. In 259 a body of them was defeated in Italy at Milan, and in the following year they were driven out of Gaul by Postumus. But the Alemanni did not desist from their incursions, notwithstanding the numerous defeats they suffered at the hands of the Roman troops. In the fourth century they crossed the Rhine and ravaged Gaul, but were severely defeated by the Emperor Julian and driven back. Subsequently they occupied a considerable territory on both sides of the Rhine; but at last Clovis broke their power in 496 and deprived them of a large portion of their possessions. Part of their territory was formed into a duchy called Alemannia or Swabia, this name being derived from Suevi or Swabians, the name which they gave themselves. It is from the Alemanni that the French have derived their names for Germans and Germany in general, namely, Allemands and Allemagne, though strictly speaking only the modern Swabians and northern Swiss are the proper descendants of that ancient race.

Alembert (a˙-la˙n˙-bār), Jean le Rond d', a French mathematician and philosopher, born in Paris, 16th Nov., 1717, and died there 29th Oct., 1783. He was the illegitimate son of Madame de Tencin and Chevalier Destouches, and was exposed at the Church of St. Jean le Rond (hence his name) soon after birth. He was brought up by the wife of a poor glazier, and with her he lived for more than forty years. His parents never publicly acknowledged him, but his father settled upon him an income of 1200 livres. He showed much quickness in learning, entered the College Mazarin at the age of twelve, and studied mathematics with enthusiasm and success, but received little encouragement from his teachers. Having left college he studied law and became an advocate, but did not practise, and long continued to occupy himself with mathematics, in which he made immense advances by his own efforts, often arriving at results that other mathematicians had previously arrived at unknown to him. A pamphlet on the motion of solid bodies in a fluid, and another on the integral calculus, which he laid before the Academy of Sciences in 1739 and 1740, showed him in so favourable a light that the Academy received him in 1741 into the number of its members. He soon after published his famous work on dynamics, Traité de Dynamique (1743) and another work dealing with fluids, Traité des Fluides. His Réflexion sur la cause générale des vents was also a work that added to D'Alembert's reputation. He also took a part in the investigations which completed the discoveries of Newton respecting the motion of the heavenly bodies, and published at intervals various important astronomical dissertations—on the perturbations of the planets, for instance, and on the precession of the equinoxes—as well as on other subjects. He also took part, with Diderot and others, in the celebrated Encyclopédie in 33 vols., for which he wrote the Discours Préliminaire, as well as many philosophical and almost all the mathematical articles. Literature, history, and philosophy also received attention from him, and his Éléments de Philosophie (1759), in which he agrees with the theories of Condillac and Locke, was a work of much value. His great philosophical aim seems to have been the idea of secularizing morality upon a rational basis. Among his miscellaneous works are Mélanges de Philosophie, d'Histoire, et de Littérature; Traduction de quelques Morceaux choisis de Tacite; Sur la Destruction des Jésuites; Histoire des Membres de l'Académie Française; Éléments de Musique théorique et pratique. He received an invitation from the Russian empress Catherine II to go to St. Petersburg (now Petrograd) as tutor to her son, a very large sum being offered; and Frederick the Great invited him to settle in Berlin, but in vain. From Frederick, however, he accepted a pension, and he also paid a visit to Berlin. There was an intimate friendship between him and Voltaire. He never married, but he was on terms of the closest friendship with Madame L'Espinasse, and they occupied the same house for a number of years. He was held in high esteem by David Hume, who left him a legacy of £200.

Alem′bic, a simple apparatus sometimes used by chemists for distillation, and consisting of three main parts, body, head, and receiver. The cucurbit, or body, contains the substance to be distilled, and is usually somewhat like a bottle, bulging below and narrowing towards the top; the head, of a globular form, with a flat under-ring, fits on to the neck of the cucurbit, condenses the vapour from the heated liquid, and receives the distilled liquid on the ring enclosing the neck of the lower vessel, and thus causes it to find egress by a discharging-pipe into the third section, called the receiver. See Distillation.

Alemtejo (a˙-lān˙-tā′zhō; 'beyond the Tagus'), the largest province of Portugal, and the most southern except Algarve; area, 9219 sq. miles; pop. 478,584. The capital is Evora. It has about 30 miles of coast, but no good harbour and no navigable river. Large areas are devoted to pasturage, and the cultivated portions are comparatively limited, though in the east there are fertile valleys where grain, fruits, &c., are cultivated. There are valuable cork forests in this portion also. Excellent horses are reared. Copper and iron mines are worked; but on the whole this province is in a backward condition, and is the most thinly inhabited in the country.

Alençon (a˙-la˙n˙-sōn˙), a town of France, capital of department Orne, and formerly of the Duchy of Alençon, on the right bank of the Sarthe, 105 miles west by south of Paris; well built; has a fine Gothic church (fifteenth century) and interesting remains of the old castle of the ducs d'Alençon. Alençon was long famed for its point-lace, called 'point d'Alençon', an industry established at the instigation of Colbert in 1673 but now much fallen off; it has cotton and flax spinning and weaving, &c. Fine rock-crystal, yielding the so-called 'diamants d'Alençon', is found in the neighbouring granite quarries. Alençon is mentioned as a city for the first time in 717. Pop. 16,590.—Alençon, originally a county, later a dukedom, became united with the crown in 1221, and was given by Louis XI as an appanage to his fifth son, with whom the branch of the Alençon-Valois commenced. The first duke of the name lost his life at the battle of Agincourt in 1415; another, called Charles IV, married the celebrated Margaret of Valois, sister of Francis I. He commanded the left wing of the French army at the battle of Pavia, where, instead of supporting the king at a critical moment, he fled at the head of his troops, the consequence of which was the loss of the battle and the capture of the king.

Alep′po, a city in North Syria, on the River Koik, in a fine plain 60 miles south-east of Alexandretta, which is its port, and 129 miles N.N.E. of Damascus. It has a circumference of about 7 miles, and consists of the old town and numerous suburbs. Its appearance at a distance is striking, and the houses are well built of stone. On a hill stands the citadel, and at its foot the governor's palace. Previous to 1822 Aleppo contained about 100 mosques, but in that year an earthquake laid the greater part of them in ruins, and destroyed nearly the whole city. The aqueduct built by the Romans is the oldest monument of the town. Among the chief attractions of Aleppo are its gardens, in which the pistachio-nut is extensively cultivated. The branch railway to Hamah from the Beyrout-Damascus line has been continued to Aleppo. Formerly the city was a great centre of trade and manufactures, but the earthquake and other causes have combined greatly to lessen its prosperity. It has still a trade, however, in the products of the country, such as wool, cotton, silk, wax, skins, soap, tobacco, &c., and imports a certain quantity of European manufactures.—Aleppo was a place of considerable importance in very remote times. By the Greeks and Romans it was called Berœa. It was conquered by the Arabs in 638, and its original name Chalybon was then turned into Haleb, whence the Italian form Aleppo. The town was occupied by British troops on 27th Oct., 1918. Its population, 200,000 at the beginning of last century, is now estimated at over 250,000. The language generally spoken is Arabic. The vilayet of Aleppo has a pop. of 1,500,000.

Alesh′ki, a town of Southern Russia, government Taurida. Pop. 8915.

Ale′sia, a town and fortress of ancient Gaul, at which in 52 B.C. Julius Cæsar inflicted a crushing defeat on the Gauls under Vercingetorix. It is now represented by the village of Alise, department Côte d'Or, near which Napoleon III erected a colossal statue of Vercingetorix in 1865.

Alessan′dria, a town and fortress in North Italy, capital of the province of the same name, in a marshy country, near the junction of the Bormida and the Tanaro. It was built in 1168 by the Cremonese and Milanese, and was named in honour of Pope Alexander III, who made it a bishop's see. It has a cathedral, important manufactures of linen, woollen, and silk goods, and an active trade. It ranks as one of the first fortresses of Europe, the fortifications including a surrounding wall and bastions, and a strong citadel on the opposite side of the Tanaro, connected by a bridge with the town. Pop. (with suburbs) 78,159.

Ales′si, Galeazzo, a distinguished Italian architect, born at Perugia, 1512, died there in 1572. Many palaces, villas, and churches were erected after his designs, and at the request of Philip II of Spain he drew a plan for the Escurial.

Aletsch′-glacier, the greatest glacier in Switzerland, canton Valais, a prolongation of the immense mass of glaciers connected with the Jungfrau, the Aletschhorn (14,000 feet), and other peaks; about 15 miles long.

Aleurites, a tree belonging to the nat. ord. Euphorbiaceæ, is found in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Aleurites triloba, the 'candleberry tree', is cultivated in the Moluccan Islands for its fruit. The oil extracted from its seeds is valuable both for food and light.

Aleurom′eter, an instrument for indicating the bread-making qualities of wheaten flour. The indications depend upon the expansion of the gluten contained in a given quantity of flour when freed of its starch by pulverization and repeated washings with water.

Aleu′tian Islands, a chain of about eighty small islands belonging to the United States, separating the Sea of Kamchatka from the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, and extending nearly 1000 miles from east to west between lon. 172° E. and 163° W.; total area, 6391 sq. miles; pop. 1220. They are of volcanic formation, and in a number of them there are volcanoes still in activity. Their general appearance is dismal and barren, yet grassy valleys capable of supporting cattle throughout the year are met with, and potatoes, turnips, and other vegetables are successfully cultivated. They afford also an abundance of valuable fur and of fish. The natives belong to the same stock with those of Kamchatka.

Ale′wife (corruption of the Indian name), the Alōsa tyrannus, a fish of the same genus as the shad, growing to the length of 12 inches, and caught in great quantities in the mouths of the rivers of New England, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, being salted and exported.

Alexander, surnamed the Great, was the son of Philip of Macedon and his queen Olympias, and was born at Pella, 356 B.C. In youth he had Aristotle as instructor, and he early displayed uncommon abilities. The victory of Chæronea in 338, which brought Greece entirely under Macedonia, was mainly decided by his efforts. Philip having been assassinated, 336 B.C., Alexander, not yet twenty years of age, ascended the throne. His father had been preparing an expedition against the Persians, and Alexander determined to carry it out; but before doing so he had to chastise the barbarian tribes on the frontiers of Macedon as well as quell a rising in Greece, in which he took and destroyed Thebes, put 6000 of the inhabitants to the sword, and carried 30,000 into captivity. Leaving Antipater to govern in his stead in Europe, and being confirmed as commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in the general assembly of the Greeks, he crossed over the Hellespont into Asia, in the spring of 334, with 30,000 foot and 5000 horse. His first encounter with the Persian forces (assisted by Greek mercenaries) was at the small river Granīcus, where he gained a complete victory. Most of the cities of Asia Minor now opened their gates to the victor, and Alexander restored democracy in all the Greek cities. In passing through Gordium he cut the Gordian knot, on which it was believed the fate of Asia depended, and then conquered Lycia, Ionia, Caria, Pamphylia, and Cappadocia. A sickness, caused by bathing in the Cydnus (333 B.C.), checked his progress; but scarcely was he restored to health when he continued his advance, and this same year defeated the Persian emperor Darius and his army of 500,000 or 600,000 men (including 50,000 Greek mercenaries) near Issus (inner angle of the Gulf of Alexandretta). Darius fled towards the interior of his dominions, leaving his family and treasures to fall into the hands of the conqueror. Alexander did not pursue Darius, but proceeded southwards, and secured all the towns along the Mediterranean Sea, though he only got possession of Tyre (taken 332 B.C.) after besieging it for seven months. Palestine and Egypt now fell before him, and in the latter he founded Alexandria, which became one of the first cities of ancient times. Hence he went through the desert of Libya, to consult the oracle of Zeus Ammon, and it was said that the god recognized him as his son. On his return Alexander marched against Darius, who had collected an immense army in Assyria, and rejected the proposals of his rival for peace. A battle was fought at Gaugamela, about 50 miles from Arbela, 331 B.C., and notwithstanding the immense numerical superiority of his enemy, Alexander (who had but 40,000 men and 7000 horse) gained a complete victory. Babylon and Susa opened their gates to the conqueror, who marched towards Persepolis, the capital of Persia, and entered it in triumph. He now seems for a time to have lost his self-command. He gave himself up to arrogance and dissipation, and is said in a fit of intoxication to have set fire to the palace of Persepolis, one of the wonders of the world. Rousing himself up, however, he set out in pursuit of Darius, who, having lost his throne, was kept prisoner by Bessus, satrap of Bactriana. Bessus, on seeing himself closely pursued, caused Darius to be assassinated (330 B.C.). Continuing his progress he subdued Bessus, and advanced to the Jaxartes, the extreme eastern limit of the empire, but did not fully subdue the whole of this region till 328, some fortresses holding out with great tenacity. In one of these he took prisoner the beautiful Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes, a nobleman of Sogdiana, and having fallen in love with her he married her. Meantime disaffection had once or twice manifested itself among his Macedonian followers and had been cruelly punished; and he had also, to his lasting remorse, killed his faithful friend Cleitus in a fit of drunken rage. Alexander now formed the idea of conquering India, then scarcely known even by name. He passed the Indus (326 B.C.), marched towards the Hydaspes (Jhelum), at the passage of which he conquered a king named Porus in a fierce battle, and advanced victoriously through the north-west of India, and intended to proceed as far as the Ganges, when the murmurs of his army compelled him to return. On the Hydaspes he built a fleet, in which he sent a part of his army down the river, while the rest proceeded along the banks. By the Hydaspes he reached the Acesines (Chenab), and thus the Indus, down which he sailed to the sea. Nearchus, his admiral, sailed hence to the Persian Gulf, while Alexander directed his march by land to Babylon, losing a great part of his troops in the desert through which he had to pass. In Susa he married Statira, the eldest daughter of Darius, and rewarded those of his Macedonians who had married Persian women, because it was his intention to unite the two nations as closely as possible. At Opis, on the Tigris, a mutiny arose among his Macedonians (in 324), who thought he showed too much favour to the Asiatics; by firmness and policy he succeeded in quelling this rising, and sent home 10,000 veterans with rich rewards. Soon after, his favourite, Hephæstion, died at Ecbatana, and Alexander's grief was unbounded. The favourite was royally buried at Babylon, and here Alexander was engaged in extensive plans for the future, when he became suddenly sick, after a banquet, and died in a few days (323 B.C.), in his thirty-third year, after a reign of twelve years and eight months. His body was after a time conveyed to Egypt with great splendour by his general Ptolemy. He left behind him an immense empire, which was divided among his chief generals, and became the scene of continual wars. The reign of Alexander constitutes an important period in the history of humanity. His career was not merely a series of empty conquests, but was attended with the most important results. The language, and much of the civilization of Greece, followed in his track; large additions were made to the sciences of geography, natural history, &c.; a road was opened to India; and the products of the farthest east were introduced into Europe. Greek kingdoms, under his generals and their successors, continued to exist in Asia for centuries.—Bibliography: B. I. Wheeler, Alexander the Great (Heroes of the Nations Series: Putnam); Grote, History of Greece; Holm, History of Greece; Dodge, Alexander (Great Captains Series).

Alexander, the name of eight popes, the earliest of whom, Alexander I, is said to have reigned from 108 to 119. Alexander III, elected 1159, died 1181, exercised his authority with great vigour against Henry II when the latter was accused of the assassination of Thomas Becket. The most famous (or infamous) is Alexander VI (Borgia), who was born at Valencia, in Spain, in 1431, and died in 1503. When he was only twenty-five years of age his uncle, Pope Calixtus III, made him a cardinal, and shortly afterwards appointed him to the dignified and lucrative office of vice-chancellor. By bribery he prepared his way to the papal throne, which he attained in 1492, after the death of Innocent VIII. Both the authority and revenues of the popes being at this time much impaired, he set himself to reduce the power of the Italian princes, and seize upon their possessions for the benefit of his own family. To effect this end he is said not to have scrupled to use the vilest means, including poison and assassination. His policy, foreign as well as domestic, was faithless and base, and his private life was stained by immorality. He understood how to extract immense sums of money from all Christian countries under various pretexts. He sold indulgences, and set aside, in favour of himself, the wills of several cardinals. His excesses roused against him the powerful eloquence of Savonarola, who, by pen and pulpit, urged his deposition, but had to meet his death at the stake in 1498. Not long after his election Alexander had the honour of deciding the dispute between the kings of Portugal and Castile concerning their respective claims to the foreign countries recently discovered. It must, however, be admitted that Pope Alexander, whilst striking the wealthy and powerful, interested himself in the welfare of the people, and that he was a patron of arts and letters. His son, Cesare Borgia, and his daughter, Lucrezia, are equally notorious with himself.

Alexander, the name of three Scottish kings. Alexander I, a son of Malcolm III, Canmore, and Margaret of England, succeeded his brother Edgar in 1107, and governed with great ability till his death in 1124. He was a great benefactor of the Church, and a firm vindicator of the national independence.—Alexander II was born in 1198, and succeeded his father, William the Lion, in 1214. He was a wise and energetic prince, and Scotland prospered greatly under him, though disturbed by the Norsemen, by the restlessness of some of the Celtic chiefs, and by the attempts of Henry III of England to make Alexander do homage to him. He helped Robert FitzWilliam to capture London and compel King John to sign Magna Charta. Alexander married Henry's sister, Joan, in 1221, who lived till 1238. In 1244 war with England almost broke out, but was fortunately averted. Alexander died in 1248 at Kerrera, an island opposite Oban, when on an expedition in which he hoped to wrest the Hebrides from Norway. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III, a boy of eight, who in 1251 married Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry III of England. Like his father, he was eager to bring the Hebrides under his sway, and this he was enabled to accomplish in a few years after the defeat of the Norse King Haco at Largs, in 1263. The mainland and islands of Scotland were now under one sovereign, though Orkney and Shetland still belonged to Norway. Alexander was strenuous in asserting the independence both of the Scottish kingdom and the Scottish Church against England. He died in 1285 by the falling of his horse while he was riding in the dark between Burntisland and Kinghorn. He left as his heiress Margaret, the Maid of Norway, daughter of Eric of Norway, and of Alexander's daughter, Margaret. Under him Scotland enjoyed greater prosperity than for generations afterwards.

Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, son of Paul I and Maria, daughter of Prince Eugene of Würtemberg, was born in 1777, and died in 1825. On the assassination of his father, in 1801, Alexander ascended the throne, and one of his first acts was to conclude peace with Britain, against which his predecessor had declared war. In 1803 he offered his services as mediator between England and France, and two years later a convention was entered into between Russia, England, Austria, and Sweden for the purpose of resisting the encroachments of France on the territories of independent States. He was present at the battle of Austerlitz (1805), when the combined armies of Russia and Austria were defeated by Napoleon. In the succeeding campaign the Russians were again beaten at Eylau (8th Feb., 1807) and Friedland (14th June), the result of which was an interview between Alexander and Napoleon, and the treaty at Tilsit. The Russian emperor now for a time identified himself with the Napoleonic schemes, and soon obtained possession of Finland and an extended territory on the Danube. The French alliance, however, he found to be too oppressive, and his having separated himself from Napoleon led to the disastrous French invasion of 1812. In 1813 he published a manifesto which served as the basis of the coalition of the other European powers against France, which was followed by the capture of Paris (in 1814), the abdication of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbons, and the utter overthrow of Napoleon the following year. After Waterloo, Alexander, accompanied by the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, made his second entrance into Paris, where they concluded the treaty known as the Holy Alliance. The remaining part of his reign was chiefly taken up with measures of internal reform, including the gradual abolition of serfdom, and the promotion of education, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, as well as literature and the fine arts.

Alexander II, Emperor of Russia, was born 29th April, 1818, and succeeded his father Nicholas in 1855, before the end of the Crimean war. After peace was concluded, the new emperor set about effecting reforms in the empire, the greatest of all being the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, a measure which gave freedom, on certain conditions, to 50,000,000 of human beings who were previously in a state little removed from that of slavery. Under him, too, representative assemblies in the provinces were introduced, and he also did much to improve education, and to reorganize the judicial system. During his reign the Russian dominions in Central Asia were extended, a piece of territory south of the Caucasus, formerly belonging to Turkey, was acquired, and a part of Bessarabia restored to Russia. The latter additions resulted from the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8. He was killed by an explosive missile flung at him by a Nihilist in a street in St. Petersburg (now Petrograd), 13th March, 1881. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III. His only daughter was married to the Duke of Edinburgh.

Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, son of Alexander II, born in 1845, became heir to the throne on the death of his eldest brother, Nicholas (1865). In 1863 he married Princess Dagmar of Denmark; he succeeded to the throne in 1881, on the assassination of his father, being crowned in Moscow in 1883. He gave up the reforms begun by his father, and ruled in the old autocratic fashion, restricting the liberties of Finland and the Baltic Provinces, and encouraging persecution of the Jews. He spent much time in the closely-guarded castle of Gatchina, to be safe from Nihilistic attempts, several of which he narrowly escaped. He endeavoured to put down corruption and underhand dealing among the bureaucracy, and in his own habits gave an example of simplicity and economy. While showing himself suspicious of Germany and Austria-Hungary, he entered on friendly relations with France. He began to suffer from disease of the kidneys in 1893, and died at Livadia on 1st Nov., 1894. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Nicholas II.

Alexander I, King of Serbia, born in 1876. He was the son of King Milan, and on the abdication of his father in 1889 was proclaimed king under a regency. He married Madame Draga Mashin, a widow, who was much older than himself. Both were assassinated on 11th June, 1903.

Alexander of Hales. See Hales, Alexander de.

Alexander, Boyd, British explorer and naturalist, born in 1873. He led many expeditions for research and exploration to the Cape Verde Islands, the Zambesi River, and various parts of the world. He also discovered many new birds when he ascended the Mount St. Isabel. In 1908 he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. He was murdered by natives in May, 1910, while exploring the French Congo. He wrote From the Niger to the Nile (1907), &c. Boyd Alexander's Last Journey was published in 1912.

Alexander Nevskoi, a Russian hero and saint, son of the Grand-Duke Jaroslav, born in 1219, died in 1263. He fought valiantly against assaults of the Mongols, the Danes, Swedes, and Knights of the Teutonic Order. He gained the name of Nevskoi in 1240, for a splendid victory, on the Neva, over the Swedes. The gratitude of his countrymen commemorated the hero in popular songs, and raised him to the dignity of a saint. Peter the Great built a splendid monastery at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in his honour, and in memory of him established the Order of Alexander Nevskoi.

Alexander Seve′rus, a Roman emperor, born in 208, died A.D. 235. He was raised to the imperial dignity in A.D. 222 by the prætorian guards, after they had put his cousin the Emperor Heliogabalus to death. He governed ably both in peace and war; and also occupied himself in poetry, philosophy, and literature. He was very tolerant in religious matters, and although not professing Christianity intended to erect a temple to Christ, but was prevented by the pagan priests from carrying out this plan. In 232 he defeated the Persians under Artaxerxes, who wished to drive the Romans from Asia. When on an expedition into Gaul, to repress an incursion of the Germans, he was murdered with his mother in an insurrection of his troops, headed by the brutal Maximin, who succeeded him as emperor.

Alexanders (Smyrnium Olusātrum), an umbelliferous biennial plant, a native of the Mediterranean region, but found in Great Britain and Ireland. It was formerly cultivated for its leaf-stalks, which, having a pleasant aromatic flavour, were blanched and used instead of celery—a vegetable that has taken its place.

Alexandra, the queen mother, widow of Edward VII, daughter of Christian IX, King of Denmark, was born at Copenhagen on 1st Dec., 1844, and was married on 10th March, 1863, being Princess of Wales up to the death of Queen Victoria and the accession of King Edward in Jan., 1901. She was highly popular from the first in the country of her husband, as she constantly showed an interest in all benevolent causes. She has been the mother of six children, one of whom died in infancy, while the eldest, Edward, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, died in 1892 at the age of twenty-eight. Cf. S. A. Tooley, Queen Alexandra.

Alexandret′ta, or Iskanderoon (ancient Alexandria ad Issum), a small seaport in Asia Minor, on the Gulf of Iskanderoon, the port of Aleppo and Northern Syria. Named after Alexander the Great, and founded in memory of the battle of Issus. In 1832 Mehemet Ali won a victory over the Turks near Alexandretta. There is a large export and import trade. It was occupied by British and French troops in Nov., 1918. Pop. 10,000.

Alexan′dria, an ancient city and seaport in Egypt, at the north-west angle of the Nile delta, on a ridge of land between the sea and Lake Mareotis. Ancient Alexandria was founded by, and named in honour of, Alexander the Great, in 332 B.C., and was long a great and splendid city, the centre of commerce between the east and west, as well as of Greek learning and civilization, with a population at one time of perhaps 1,000,000. It was especially celebrated for its great library, and also for its famous lighthouse, one of the wonders of the world, standing upon the little island of Pharos, which was connected with the city by a mole. Under Roman rule it was the second city of the empire, and when Constantinople became the capital of the East it still remained the chief centre of trade; but it received a blow from which it never recovered when captured by Amru, general of Caliph Omar, in 641, after a siege of fourteen months. Its ruin was finally completed by the building of Cairo (969) and the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope (1498) which opened up a new route for the Asiatic trade. See Alexandrian Library, Alexandrian School.—Modern Alexandria stands partly on what was formerly the island of Pharos, partly on the peninsula which now connects it with the mainland and which was formed by the accumulation of soil, and partly on the mainland. The streets in the Turkish quarter are narrow, dirty, and irregular; in the foreign quarter they are regular and wide, and it is here that the finest houses are situated. Here also are the principal shops and hotels, banks, offices of companies, &c.; this part of the city being supplied with gas, and with water brought by the Mahmudieh Canal from the western branch of the Nile. Alexandria is connected by railway with Cairo, Rosetta, and Suez. A little to the south of the city are the catacombs, which now serve as a quarry. Another relic of antiquity is Pompey's Pillar, 98 feet 9 inches high. Alexandria has two ports, on the east and west respectively of the isthmus of the Pharos peninsula, the latter having a breakwater over 3000 yards in length, with fine quays and suitable railway and other accommodation. The trade of Alexandria is large and varied, the exports being cotton, beans, pease, rice, wheat, &c.; the imports chiefly manufactured goods, machinery, timber, and coal. The origin of its more recent career of prosperity it owes to Mohammed Ali. In 1882 the insurrection of Arabi Pasha and the massacre of Europeans led to the intervention of the British, and the bombardment of the forts by the British fleet in July. The administrative district has an area of 19 sq. miles; pop. 444,617 (or 23,401 per square mile).

Alexandria, a town and port of the United States, in Virginia, on the right bank of the Potomac (which is of sufficient depth for large vessels), 7 miles south of Washington, carries on a considerable trade, chiefly in flour. Pop. (1920), 18,060.

Alexandria, a town of Scotland, in Dumbartonshire, on the Leven, 4 miles north of Dumbarton, with extensive cotton-printing and bleaching works. Pop. 9850.

Alexandria, a town of the Ukraine, in the former Russian government of Kherson, on a tributary of the Dnieper. Pop. 10,521.

Alexandrian Library, the largest and most famous of all the ancient collections of books, founded by Ptolemy Soter (died 283 B.C.), King of Egypt, and greatly enlarged by succeeding Ptolemies. The first librarian was Zenodotus (234 B.C.). At its most flourishing period it is said to have numbered 700,000 volumes, accommodated in two different buildings, one of them being the Serapeion, or temple of Jupiter Serapis. The other collection was burned during Julius Cæsar's siege of the city, but the Serapeion library existed to the time of the Emperor Theodosius the Great, when, at the general destruction of the heathen temples, the splendid temple of Jupiter Serapis was gutted (A.D. 391) by a fanatical crowd of Christians, and its literary treasures destroyed or scattered. A library was again accumulated, but was burned by the Arabs when they captured the city under the caliph Omar in 641. Amru, the captain of the caliph's army, would have been willing to spare the library, but Omar is said to have disposed of the matter in the famous words: "If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they disagree they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed". This story, however, which rests solely on the authority of Abulfaragius, a writer who lived six centuries later, is now generally discredited.

Alexandrian School or Age, the school or period of Greek literature and learning that existed at Alexandria in Egypt during the three hundred years that the rule of the Ptolemies lasted (323-30 B.C.), and continued under the Roman supremacy. Ptolemy Soter founded the famous library of Alexandria (see above) and his son, Philadelphus, established a kind of academy of sciences and arts. Many scholars and men of genius were thus attracted to Alexandria, and a period of literary activity set in, which made Alexandria for long the focus and centre of Greek culture and intellectual effort. It must be admitted, however, that originality was not a characteristic of the Alexandrian age, which was stronger in criticism, grammar, and science than in pure literature. Among the grammarians and critics were Zenodotus, Eratosthenes, Aristophanes, Aristarchus, and Zoilus, proverbial as a captious critic. Their merit is to have collected, edited, and preserved the existing monuments of Greek literature. To the poets belong Apollonius, Lycophron, Aratus, Nicander, Euphorion, Callimachus, Theocritus, Philetas, &c. Among those who pursued mathematics, physics, and astronomy was Euclid, the father of scientific geometry; Archimedes, great in physics and mechanics; Apollonius of Perga, whose work on conic sections still exists; Nicomachus, the first scientific arithmetician; and (under the Romans) the astronomer and geographer Ptolemy. Alexandria also was distinguished in philosophical speculation, and it was here that the New Platonic school was established by Ammonius of Alexandria (about A.D. 193), whose disciples were Plotinus and Origen. Being for the most part Orientals, formed by the study of Greek learning, the writings of the New Platonists are strikingly characterized—for example, those of Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Iamblicus, Porphyrius—by a mixture of Asiatic and European elements. The connection of Neo-Platonism with Alexandria is, however, less than is commonly supposed.—Bibliography: Mahaffy, Greek Life and Thought from the Age of Alexander to the Roman Empire; Kingsley, Alexandria and her Schools; Vacherot, Histoire critique de l'école d'Alexandrie (3 vols.).

Alexandrian Version. See Codex Alexandrinus.

Alexandrine, in prosody, the name given, from an old French poem on Alexander the Great, to a species of verse, which consists of six iambic feet, or twelve syllables, the pause being, in correct Alexandrines, always on the sixth syllable; for example, the second of the following verses:—

A needless Alexandrine ends the song,

That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

In English Drayton's Polyolbion is written in this measure, and the concluding line of the Spenserian stanza is an Alexandrine. In France the verse fell into disuse during the early part of the sixteenth century, but was again revived by Jean Antoine de Baïf, one of the poets of the Pléiade. Jodelle introduced the verse into the drama, and Ronsard made it very popular. French epics and dramas being confined to this verse, it is therefore called the heroic.

Alexandro′pol, formerly a Russian town and fortress in the Transcaucasian government of Erivan, near the highway from Erivan to Kars; now belonging to Armenia; it has silk manufactories. Pop. 48,938.

Alexan′drov, a town of Russia, government of Vladimir, with a famous convent, in the church of which are interred two sisters of Peter the Great; manufactures of steel and cotton goods. Pop. 7179.

Alex′isbad, a bathing-place of Germany, Anhalt, in the Harz Mountains, with two mineral springs strongly impregnated with iron.

Alex′is Mikhai′lovitsh (son of Michael), second Russian Tsar of the line of Romanov, born in 1629, succeeded his father Mikhail Feodorovitsh in 1645, and died in 1676. He did much for the internal administration and for the enlargement of the empire; reconquered Little Russia from Poland, and carried his authority to the extreme east of Siberia. He was father of sixteen children, the most famous of them being Peter the Great and his sister Sophia.

Alexis Petro′vitsh, eldest son of Peter the Great and Eudoxia Lopukhina, repudiated in 1698, was born in Moscow, 1690, and died in 1718. He opposed the innovations introduced by his father, who on this account disinherited him by a ukase in 1718, and when he discovered that Alexis was paving the way to succeed to the crown he had his son tried and condemned to death. A few days afterwards Alexis died, after having received twenty-five strokes with the knout, leaving a son, afterwards the Emperor Peter II.

Alex′ius Comne′nus, Byzantine Emperor, was born in 1048, and died in 1118. He was a nephew of Isaac the first emperor of the Comneni, and attained the throne in 1081, at a time when the Empire was menaced from various sides, especially by the Turks and the Normans. From these dangers he managed to extricate himself by policy or warlike measures, and maintained his position till the age of seventy, during a reign of thirty-seven years. His daughter Anna wrote a life of him (The Alexiad), which is one continuous eulogy, but all the Latin historians are very severe on him.

Al′fa. See Esparto.

Alfal′fa, generally known in Britain as lucerne, a prolific forage plant largely grown in California, &c.

Alfara′bi, an eminent Arabian scholar of the tenth century; died at Damascus in 950; wrote on Aristotelian philosophy, and compiled a kind of encyclopedia.

Al′fenid, an alloy of nickel plated with silver, used for spoons, forks, candlesticks, tea services, &c.

Alfieri (a˙l-fē-ā′rē), Vittorio, Count, Italian poet, was born at Asti in 1749, and died in 1803. After extensive European travels he began to write, and his first play, Cleopatra (1775), being received with general applause he determined to devote all his efforts to attaining a position among writers of dramatic poetry. At Florence he became intimate with the Countess of Albany, wife of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and on the death of the prince she lived with him as his mistress. This connection he believed to have served to stimulate and elevate his poetic powers. He died at Florence and was buried in the church of Santa Croce, between Macchiavelli and Michael Angelo, where a beautiful monument by Canova covers his remains. He wrote twenty-one tragedies and six comedies. His theatrical work has been rightly styled a creation of his pride as much as of his genius; he endeavoured to turn the theatre into a platform and was constantly preaching from the stage. Anxious to use his characters as exponents of his theories, and to make them talk, he often forgot to make them act. Alfieri himself admitted that he was writing with a view to "teaching men how to become free, strong, generous, and passionate for real virtue", but such an attitude is opposed to true art. His tragedies are full of lofty and patriotic sentiments, but the language is stiff and without poetic grace, and the plots poor. Nevertheless he is considered the first tragic writer of Italy, and has served as a model for his successors. Alfieri composed also an epic, lyrics, satires, and poetical translations from the ancient classics. He left an interesting autobiography. The best edition of his works is that published at Pisa (1805-13) in 22 vols.

Alfon′so. See Alphonso.

Al′ford, Henry, D.D., Dean of Canterbury, an English poet, scholar, and miscellaneous writer, was born in London in 1810. After attending various schools he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827, graduated B.A. in 1832, was elected fellow in 1834, and next year became vicar of Wymeswold, Leicestershire. In 1842 he was appointed examiner in logic and moral philosophy to the University of London, and held the appointment till 1857. He early began the great work of his life, his edition of the Greek Testament with commentary, which occupied him for twenty years, the first volumes being published in 1849, the fourth and last in 1861. In 1853 he was transferred to Quebec Chapel, London, and in 1857 was appointed Dean of Canterbury. He was the first editor of the Contemporary Review (1866-70). He died in 1871. Among other works he wrote Chapters on the Poets of Ancient Greece, Sermons, Psalms and Hymns, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, Letters from Abroad, Poetical Works, Plea for the Queen's English.

Al′fred (or Æl′fred) the Great, King of England, was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, A.D. 849, his father being Ethelwulf, son of Egbert, King of the West Saxons. He succeeded his brother Ethelred in 872, at a time when the Danes, or Northmen, had extended their conquests widely over the country, and they had completely overrun the kingdom of the West Saxons by 878. Alfred was obliged to flee in disguise. At length he gathered a small force, and having fortified himself on the Isle of Athelney, formed by the confluence of the Rivers Parret and Tone, amid the marshes of Somerset, he was able to make frequent sallies against the enemy. It was during his abode here that he went, according to legend, disguised as a harper into the camp of King Guthrum (or Guthorm), and, having ascertained that the Danes felt themselves secure, hastened back to his troops, led them against the enemy, and gained such a decided victory that fourteen days afterwards the Danes begged for peace. This battle took place in May, 878, near Edington, in Wiltshire. Alfred allowed the Danes who were already in the country to remain, on condition that they gave hostages, took a solemn oath to quit Wessex, and embraced Christianity. Their king, Guthrum, was baptized, with thirty of his followers, and ever afterward remained faithful to Alfred. They received that portion of the east of England now occupied by the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge, as a place of residence. The few years of tranquillity (886-93) which followed were employed by Alfred in rebuilding the towns that had suffered most during the war, particularly London; in training his people in arms and no less in agriculture; in improving the navy; in systematizing the laws and internal administration; and in literary labours and the advancement of learning. He caused many manuscripts to be translated from Latin, and himself translated several works into Anglo-Saxon, such as the Psalms, Æsop's Fables, Boethius on the Consolation of Philosophy, the History of Orosius, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, &c. He also drew up several original works in Anglo-Saxon. These peaceful labours were interrupted, about 894, by an invasion of the Northmen, who, after a struggle of three years, were finally driven out. Alfred died in 901. He had married, in 868, Alswith or Ealhswith, the daughter of a Mercian nobleman, and left two sons: Edward, who succeeded him, and Ethelwerd, who died in 922.—Bibliography: Plummer, Life and Times of Alfred the Great; A. Bowker, Alfred the Great, Chapters on his Life and Times; B. A. Lees, Alfred the Great.

Algæ (al′jē), a nat. ord. of cryptogamic or thallogenous plants, found for the most part in the sea and fresh water, or on the surface of damp walls, rocks, the bark of trees, and in similar moist situations. They are either some shade of bluish-green, green, brown, or red colour. The higher forms have stems bearing leaf-like expansions, and they are often attached to the rocks by roots, which, however, do not derive nutriment from the rocks. A stem, however, is most frequently absent. The plants are nourished through their whole surface by the medium in which they live. They vary in size from the microscopic diatoms to forms whose stems resemble those of forest trees, and whose fronds rival the leaves of the palm. They are entirely composed of cellular tissue, and many are edible and nutritious, as carrageen or Irish-moss, dulse, &c. Kelp, iodine, and bromine are products of various species. The Algæ are also valuable as manure. They are often divided into five orders: Diatomaceæ, Confervaceæ, Fucaceæ, Ceramiaceæ, and Characeæ.

Algar′di, Alessandro, one of the chief Italian sculptors of the seventeenth century; born 1602, died 1654. He lived and worked chiefly at Rome; executed the tomb of Leo XI in St. Peter's, a bronze statue of Innocent X, and a marble relief with life-size figures over the altar of St. Leo there.

Algaro′ba-bean. See Carob Tree.

Al′garot, a violently purgative and emetic white powder, precipitated from chloride of antimony in water; it was used in medicine by the physician Victor Algarotus in the sixteenth century.

Algarot′ti, Francesco, Count, born in 1712, died in 1764, an Italian writer on science, the fine arts, &c. He lived for some years in France and for a long time in Germany, Frederick the Great of Prussia having made him chamberlain and count. He wrote Neutonianismo per le donne; Saggi sopra le belle arti, his principal work on art; poems, letters, &c. Algarotti's works published at Venice in 17 vols. (1791-4) and illustrated by Tesi and Novelli are a chef-d'œuvre of typography. Frederick the Great erected at Pisa a monument to his memory.

Algarve (al-ga˙r′vā, meaning the land situated in the west), a maritime province of Portugal occupying the southern portion of the country, mountainous but with some fertile tracts. The title King of Algarve was held by the Kings of Portugal. Area, 1937 sq. miles; pop. 274,122.

Algau (a˙l′gou), a name for the south-western portion of Bavaria and the adjacent parts of Würtemberg and Tyrol, intersected by the Algau Alps. The Algau breed of cattle is one of the best in Germany.

Algazzali (a˙l-ga˙z-ä′lē), Abu Hamed Mohammed, an Arabian philosopher, Persian by birth; born 1058, died 1111. He was a most prolific author; an opponent of the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy of the day, and wrote against it the Destruction of the Philosophers, answered by Averroes in his Destruction of the Destruction.

Al′gebra (from the Arabic al, definite article, and jabbara, to make equal), a kind of generalized arithmetic, in which numbers or quantities and operations, often also the results of operations, are represented by symbols. Thus the expression xy + cz + dy denotes that a number represented by x is to be multiplied by a number represented by y, a number c multiplied by a number z, a number d by a number y multiplied by itself (or squared), and the sum taken of these three products. So the equation (as it is called) x - 7x + 12 = 0 expresses the fact that if a certain number x is multiplied by itself, and this result made less by seven times the number and greater by twelve, the result is 0. In this case x must either be 3 or 4 to produce the given result; but such an equation (or formula) as (a + b)(a - b) = a - b is always true whatever values may be assigned to a and b. Algebra is an invaluable instrument in intricate calculations of all kinds, and enables operations to be performed and results obtained that by arithmetic would be impossible, and its scope is still being extended.

The beginnings of algebraic method are to be found in Diophantus, a Greek of the fourth century of our era, but it was the Arabians that introduced algebra to Europe, and from them it received its name. The first Arabian treatise on algebra was published in the reign of the great Caliph Al Mamun (813-33) by Mohammed Ben Musa. Italian merchants were the first algebraists in Europe, and in 1202 Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa, who had travelled and studied in the East, published a work treating of algebra as then understood in the Arabian school. From this time to the discovery of printing considerable attention was given to algebra, and the work of Ben Musa and another Arabian treatise, called the Rule of Algebra, were translated into Italian. The first printed work treating on algebra (also on arithmetic, &c.) appeared at Venice in 1494, the author being a monk called Luca Pacioli da Bergo, a Minorite friar. Rapid progress now began to be made, and among the names of those to whom advances are to be attributed are Tartaglia and Geronimo Cardano. About the middle of the sixteenth century the German Stifel introduced the signs +, -, √, and Robert Recorde the sign =. The last-named wrote the first English work on algebra in 1557. François Vieta, a French mathematician (1540-1603), first adopted the method which has led to so great an extension of modern algebra, by being the first who used general symbols for known quantities as well as for unknown. It was he also who first made the application of algebra to geometry. Albert Girard, a Flemish mathematician in the seventeenth century, extended the theory of equations by the introduction of imaginary quantities. The Englishman Harriot, early in the seventeenth century, discovered negative roots, and established the equality between the number of roots and the units in the degree of the equation. He also invented the signs < >, and Oughtred that of ×. Descartes, though not the first to apply algebra to geometry, has, by the extent and importance of his applications, commonly acquired the credit of being so. The same discoveries have also been attributed to him as to Harriot, and their respective claims have caused much controversy. He obtained by means of algebra the definition and description of curves. Since his time algebra has been applied so widely in geometry and higher mathematics that we need only mention the names of Fermat, Wallis, Newton, Leibnitz, De Moivre, MacLaurin, Taylor, Euler, D'Alembert, Lagrange, Laplace, Fourier, Poisson, Gauss, Horner, De Morgan, Sylvester, Cayley. Boole, Jevons, and others have applied the algebraic method not only to formal logic but to political economy.—Bibliography: Chrystal, Algebra (2 vols.); Hobson, Trigonometry; Hardy, Pure Mathematics; Whittaker and Watson, Modern Analysis.

Algeciras (a˙l-he-thē′ra˙s) (perhaps Portus Albus of the Romans), a seaport of Spain, on the west side of the Bay of Gibraltar, a well-built town carrying on a brisk coasting trade. It was the first conquest of the Arabs in Spain (711), and was held by them till 1344, when it was taken by Alphonso XI of Castile after a long siege. Near it, in 1801, Admiral Sir James Saumarez defeated a Franco-Spanish fleet. Differences between France and Germany regarding Morocco led to a conference of European Powers here from 16th Jan.-7th April, 1906. Pop. 15,800.

Alge′ria, a French dependency in N. Africa, having on the north the Mediterranean, on the east Tunis, on the west Morocco, and on the south the Desert of Sahara; area, 122,878 sq. miles, or including the Algerian Sahara 343,500. The country is divided into three departments—Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. The coastline is about 550 miles in length, steep and rocky, and though the indentations are numerous, the harbours are much exposed to the north wind. The country is traversed by the Atlas Mountains, two chains of which—the Great Atlas, bordering on the Sahara, and the Little, or Maritime Atlas, between it and the sea—run parallel to the coast, the former attaining a height of 7000 feet. The intervals are filled with lower ranges, and numerous transverse ranges connect the principal ones and run from them to the coast, forming elevated tablelands and enclosed valleys. The rivers are numerous, but many of them are mere torrents rising in the mountains near the coast. The Shelif is much the largest. Some of the rivers are largely used for irrigation, and artesian wells have been sunk in some places for the same purpose. There are, both on the coast and in the interior, extensive salt lakes or marshes (Shotts), which dry up to a great extent in summer. The country bordering on the coast, called the Tell, is generally hilly, with fertile valleys; in some places a flat and fertile plain extends between the hills and the sea. In the east there are Shotts that sink below the sea-level, and into these it has been proposed to introduce the waters of the Mediterranean. The climate varies considerably according to elevation and local peculiarities. There are three seasons: winter from November to February, spring from March to June, and summer from July to October. The summer is very hot and dry. In many parts of the coast the temperature is moderate and the climate so healthy that Algeria is now a winter resort for invalids.

The chief products of cultivation are wheat, barley, and oats, tobacco, cotton, wine, silk, and dates. Early vegetables, especially potatoes and pease, are exported to France and England. A fibre called alfa, a variety of esparto, which grows wild on the high plateaux, is exported in large quantities. Cork is also exported. There are valuable forests, in which grow various sorts of pines and oaks, ash, cedar, myrtle, pistachio-nut, mastic, carob, &c. The Australian Eucalyptus globŭlus (a gum tree) has been successfully introduced. Agriculture often suffers much from the ravages of locusts. Among wild animals are the lion, panther, hyena, and jackal; the domestic quadrupeds include the horse, the mule, cattle, sheep, and pigs (introduced by the French). Algeria possesses valuable minerals, including iron, copper, lead, sulphur, zinc, antimony, marble (white and red), phosphate, and lithographic stone.

The trade of Algeria has greatly increased under French rule, France, Spain, and England being the countries with which it is principally carried on, and three-fourths of the whole being with France. The exports (besides those mentioned above) are olive-oil, raw hides, wood, wool, tobacco, oranges, &c.; the imports, manufactured goods, wines, spirits, coffee, &c. The manufacturing industries are unimportant, and include morocco leather, carpets, muslins, and silks. French money, weights, and measures are generally used. The chief towns are Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Bona, and Tlemsen. There are about 2800 miles of railways opened; there is also a considerable network of telegraph lines.

The two principal native races inhabiting Algeria are Arabs and Berbers. The former are mostly nomads, dwelling in tents and wandering from place to place, though a large number of them are settled in the Tell, where they carry on agriculture and have formed numerous villages. The Berbers, here called Kabyles, are the original inhabitants of the territory and still form a considerable part of the population. They speak the Berber language, but use Arabic characters in writing. The Jews form a small but influential part of the population. Various other races also exist. Except the Jews, all the native races are Mahommedans. There are now a considerable number of French and other colonists, provision being made for granting them concessions of land on certain conditions. There are over 260,000 colonists of French origin in Algeria, and over 200,000 colonists natives of other European countries (chiefly Spaniards and Italians). Algeria is governed by a governor-general, who is assisted by a council appointed by the French Government. The settled portion of the country, in the three departments of Algiers, Constantine, and Oran, is treated much as if it were a part of France, and each department sends two deputies and one senator to the French chambers. The rest of the territory is under military rule. The colony costs France a considerable sum every year. Pop. of Algeria proper in 1911, 5,523,449; of the Algerian Sahara, 40,379.

The country now called Algeria was known to the Romans as Numidia. It flourished greatly under their rule, and early received the Christian religion. It was conquered by the Vandals in A.D. 430-1, and recovered by Belisarius for the Byzantine Empire in 533-4. About the middle of the seventh century it was overrun by the Saracens. The town of Algiers was founded about 935 by Yussef Ibn Zeiri, and the country was subsequently ruled by his successors and the dynasties of the Almoravides and Almohades. After the overthrow of the latter, about 1269, it broke up into a number of small independent territories. The Moors and Jews, who were driven out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella at the end of the fifteenth century, settled in large numbers in Algeria, and revenged themselves on their persecutors by the practice of piracy. On this account various expeditions were made by Spain against Algeria, and by 1510 the greater part of the country was made tributary. A few years later the Algerians invited to their assistance the Turkish pirate Horush (or Haruj) Barbarossa, who made himself Sultan of Algiers in 1516, but was not long in being taken by the Spaniards and beheaded. His brother and successor put Algiers under the protection of Turkey (about 1520), and organized the system of piracy which was long the terror of European commerce, and was never wholly suppressed till the French occupation. Henceforth the country belonged to the Turkish Empire, though from 1710 the connection was little more than nominal. The depredations of the Algerian pirates were a continual source of irritation to the Christian Powers, who sent a long series of expeditions against them. For instance, in 1815 a United States fleet defeated an Algerian one and forced the Dey to agree to a peace in which he recognized the American flag as inviolable. In 1816 Lord Exmouth with an English fleet bombarded Algiers, and exacted a treaty by which all the Christian slaves were at once released, and the Dey undertook for the future to treat all his prisoners of war as the European law of nations demanded. But the piratical practices of the Algerians were soon renewed.

At last the French determined on more vigorous measures, and in 1830 sent a force of over 40,000 men against the country. Algiers was speedily occupied, the Dey retired, and the country was without a government, but resistance was organized by Abd-el-Kader, an Arab chief whom the emergency had raised up. He began his warlike career of fifteen years by an attack on Oran in 1832, and after an obstinate struggle the French, in Feb., 1834, consented to a peace, acknowledging him as ruling over all the Arab tribes west of the Shelif by the title of Emir of Maskara. War was soon again renewed with varying fortune, and in 1837, in order to have their hands free in attacking Constantine, the French made peace with Abd-el-Kader, leaving to him the whole of Western Algeria except some coast towns. Constantine was now taken, and the subjugation of the province of Constantine followed. Meanwhile Abd-el-Kader was preparing for another conflict, and in Nov., 1838, he suddenly broke into French territory with a strong force, and for a time the supremacy of the French was endangered. Matters took a more favourable turn for them when General Bugeaud was appointed governor-general in Feb., 1841. In the autumn of 1841 Saida, the last fortress of Abd-el-Kader, fell into his hands, after which the only region that held out against the French was that bordering on Morocco. Early in the following year this also was conquered, and Abd-el-Kader found himself compelled to seek refuge in the adjoining empire. From Morocco Abd-el-Kader twice made a descent upon Algeria, on the second occasion defeating the French in two battles; and in 1844 he even succeeded in raising an army in Morocco to withstand the French. Bugeaud, however, crossed the frontier, and inflicted a severe defeat on this army, while a French fleet bombarded the towns on the coast. The Emperor of Morocco was at length compelled to agree to a treaty, in which he not only promised to refuse Abd-el-Kader his assistance, but even engaged to lend his assistance against him. Reduced to extremities Abd-el-Kader surrendered on 27th Dec., 1847, and was at first taken to France a prisoner, but was afterwards released on his promise not to return to Algeria. The country was yet far from subdued. The Kabyles, and the Arabs in the south, made protracted resistance, and rose again and again against the yoke which it was attempted to impose upon them. The numerous risings that successively took place thus rendered Algeria a school for French generals, such as Pélissier, Canrobert, St. Arnaud, and MacMahon. In 1864 MacMahon succeeded Pélissier as governor-general, and had as his first work to put down an insurrection. About this time the Emperor Napoleon III, who had visited the colony, introduced considerable modifications into the government, recognizing that the native races had grievances to complain of, and that the French rulers were in various ways astray in the methods of government adopted. Fresh disturbances broke out in the south nearly every year till 1871, when, owing to the Franco-Prussian war, a great effort was made to throw off the French yoke, the colony being nearly denuded of French soldiers. It was, however, completely suppressed, and in order to remove what was believed to be one principal cause of the frequent insurrections, a civil government was established instead of the military government in the northern parts of the colony. The southern parts, inhabited by nomadic tribes, are still subject to military rule. When the French took in hand the occupation of Tunis, a rising took place (in 1881) in the west of Algeria, under a chieftain who was able to inflict some loss and damage on the French forces and colonists, but with no permanent result. Since then quietness has generally prevailed in the colony, where the French, however, continue to maintain a considerable military force. Owing to this and other expenditure Algeria has always formed a burden on the resources of France. The great aid rendered by Algeria to France during the European War led the French Government to introduce new laws. The law of 4th Feb., 1919, gives French citizenship to all Algerian natives under certain conditions.—Bibliography: M. D. Stott, The Real Algeria; Sir R. Lambert Playfair, Handbook for Travellers in Algeria (Murray's Handbooks).

Algesi′ras. See Algeciras.

Alghero, or Algheri (a˙l-gā′rō, a˙l-gā′rē), a fortified town and seaport on the north-west coast of the island of Sardinia, 15 miles south-west of Sassari; the seat of a bishop, with a handsome cathedral. One of the remarkable edifices of Alghero is the Casa Arbia, where Charles V was lodged. The necropolis of Anghelu Ruju, situated in the vicinity, was excavated in 1904.

Algiers (al′jērz; Fr., Alger), a city and seaport on the Mediterranean, capital of the French colony of Algeria, is situated on the west side of the Bay of Algiers, partly on the slope of a hill facing the sea. The old town, which is the higher, is oriental in appearance, with narrow, crooked streets, and houses that are strong, prison-like edifices. Its crowning point is the Kasbah, or ancient fortress of the Deys, about 500 feet above the sea, now serving as barracks. The modern French town, which occupies the lower slope and spreads along the shore, is handsomely built, with broad streets and elegant squares. It contains the Government buildings, the central military and civil establishments, the residence of the governor-general and the officials of the general and provincial Government, the superior courts of justice, the archbishop's palace and the cathedral, various other churches, including an English church and library, the great commercial establishments, &c. A fine boulevard built on a series of arches, and bordered on one side by handsome buildings, runs along the sea-front of the town overlooking the bay, harbour, and shipping. Forty feet below are the quay and railway-station, reached by inclined roads leading from the centre of the boulevard. The harbour is good and capacious, enclosed by piers or jetties, and otherwise improved at great expense, and it and the city are defended by a strong series of fortifications. Algiers is well provided with educational institutions, including high schools or colleges for law, medicine, literature, mathematics, and natural science; besides normal schools, an observatory, public library, &c. Algiers is in every way far the most important place in Algeria. There is a large shipping trade carried on, especially with Marseilles, Cette, and some of the Spanish ports. Trade routes from the interior and also railways centre in Algiers, and the exports include grain, wine, cattle, wool, ore, tobacco, fruit, olive-oil, &c. Algiers is now an important coaling station The city possesses widely-extended suburbs. The climate, though variable, makes it a very desirable winter residence for invalids and others from colder regions. Though warm, it is bracing. There is a considerable rainfall (average 29 inches), but the dry air and absorbent soil prevent it from being disagreeable. The winter months resemble a bright, sunny English autumn, while the heat of summer is not so intense as that of Egypt. The sirocco or desert wind is troublesome, however, during summer, but in the winter it is merely a pleasant, warm, dry breeze. Hailstorms are not infrequent, but frost and snow in Algiers are so rare as to be almost unknown. Pop. 172,397.

Algin, a viscous, gummy substance obtained from certain seaweeds, more especially those of the genus Laminaria. It can be utilized for all purposes where starch or gum is now required; may be used in cookery for soups and jellies; and in an insoluble form it can be cut, turned, and polished, like horn or vulcanite.

Algo′a Bay, a bay on the south coast of the Cape Province, 425 miles east of the Cape of Good Hope, the only place of shelter on this coast for vessels during the prevailing north-west gales. It was the first landing-place of British immigrants in 1820. The usual anchorage is off Port Elizabeth, on its west coast, a place of large and increasing trade, but open on the east and south-east.

Algol′, Arabic name of a star in the constellation Perseus (head of Medusa), remarkable as a variable star, changing in brightness from the second to the fifth magnitude.

Algo′ma, a district of Canada, on the north of Lake Superior, forming part of the north-west portion of Ontario, rich in silver, copper, iron, &c.

Algon′kins, or Algonquins, a family of North American Indians, formerly spread over a great extent of territory, and still forming a large proportion of the Indians of Canada. They consisted of four groups, namely—(1) the eastern group, comprising the Massachusetts, Narragansets, Mohicans, Delawares, and other tribes; (2) the north-eastern group, consisting of the Abenakis, &c.; (3) the western group, made up of the Shawnees, Miamis, Illinois, &c.; and (4) the north-western group, including the Chippewas or Ojibbewas, the largest of all the tribes.

Algorism, or Algorithmus, in arithmetic, a word derived from the name of Algoritmi or Al-Khowarizmi, from whose works European scholars received much of their early information concerning Hindu numerals. The word is now used to designate any particular arrangement of numerical work.

Algraphy. See Lithography.

Alguacil, or Alguazil (a˙l-gwa˙-thēl′), in Spain, an officer whose business it is to execute the decrees of a judge; a sort of constable. In ancient times the Alguacil was the great provost of the palace.

Algum. See Almug.

Alha′gi. See Camel's-thorn.

Alhama (a˙-lä′ma˙; that is, 'the bath'), a town of Southern Spain, province of Granada, on the Marchan, 25 miles south-west of Granada, celebrated for its warm medicinal (sulphur) baths and drinking waters. It formed a Moorish fortress, the recovery of which in 1482 by the Spaniards led to the entire conquest of Granada. It was occupied by the French from Feb., 1810-Aug., 1812, and thrown into ruins by an earthquake in Dec., 1884. Pop. 8000.—There is also an Alhama in the province of Murcia, with a warm mineral spring. Pop. 6000.

Alham′bra (Ar. al and hamrah, 'the' and 'red'), a famous group of buildings in Spain, forming the citadel of Granada when that city was one of the principal seats of the empire of the Moors in Spain, situated on a height, surrounded by a wall flanked by many towers, and having a circuit of 2¼ miles. Within the circuit of the walls are two churches, a number of mean houses, and some straggling gardens, besides the palace of Charles V and the celebrated Moorish palace which is often distinctively spoken of as the Alhambra. This building, to which the celebrity of the site is entirely due, was the royal palace of the Kings of Granada. The greater part of the present building belongs to the first half of the fourteenth century. In the course of centuries, both through neglect and acts of vandalism, the beauty of the Alhambra has suffered considerably. The work of restoration was, however, undertaken in 1824 by the architect José Contreras, and continued by his son Rafael from 1847-90. It consists mainly of buildings surrounding two oblong courts, the one, called the Court of the Fishpond (or of the Myrtles), 138 by 74 feet, lying north and south; the other, called the Court of the Lions, from a fountain ornamented with twelve lions in marble, 115 by 66 feet, lying east and west, described as being, with the apartments that surround it, "the gem of Arabian art in Spain, its most beautiful and most perfect example". Its design is elaborate, exhibiting a profusion of exquisite detail gorgeous in colouring, but the smallness of its size deprives it of the element of majesty. The peristyle or portico on each side is supported by 128 pillars of white marble, 11 feet high, sometimes placed singly and sometimes in groups. Two pavilions project into the court at each end, the domed roof of one having been restored. Some of the finest chambers of the Alhambra open into this court, and near the entrance a museum of Moorish remains has been formed. On the opposite side of the Court of the Lions is the Hall of the Abencerrages. The prevalence of stucco or plaster ornamentation is one of the features of the Alhambra, which becomes especially remarkable in the beautiful honeycomb 'stalactite vaulting'. Arabesques and geometrical designs with interwoven inscriptions are present in the richest profusion. Cf. Owen Jones's work, The Alhambra (2 vols., London, 1842-5.

Alhaurin (a˙l-ou-rēn′), a town of Southern Spain, province of Malaga, with sulphureous baths. Pop. 7000.

Ali (a˙′lē), cousin and son-in-law of Mahomet, the first of his converts, and the bravest and most faithful of his adherents, born A.D. 602. He married Fatima, the daughter of the prophet, but after the death of Mahomet (632) his claims to the caliphate were set aside in favour successively of Abu-Bekr, Omar, and Othman. On the assassination of Othman, in A.D. 656, he became caliph, and after a series of struggles with his opponents, including Ayesha, widow of Mahomet, finally lost his life by assassination at Kufa in 661. A Mahommedan schism arose after his death, and has produced two sects. One sect, called the Shiites, put Ali on a level with Mahomet, and do not acknowledge the three caliphs who preceded Ali. They are regarded as heretics by the other sect, called Sunnites. The Turks hold his memory in abhorrence, whilst the Persians call him the Lion of God, and venerate him as second only to the prophet. The Maxims and Hymns of Ali are yet extant. See Caliph.

Ali, Pasha of Yanĭna, generally called Ali Pasha, a bold and able, but ferocious and unscrupulous Albanian, born in 1741, son of an Albanian chief, who was deprived of his territories by rapacious neighbours. Ali by his enterprise and success, and by his entire want of scruple, got possession of more than his father had lost, and made himself master of a large part of Albania, including Yanĭna, which the Porte sanctioned his holding, with the title of pasha. Among the travellers who visited his Court at Yanĭna was Byron, who has left a record of his impressions in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Ali Pasha was an apostle of European culture in the East, and the first to feel the necessity for energetic reforms in the old Moslem institutions. He displayed excellent qualities, putting an end to brigandage and anarchy, making roads, and encouraging commerce. He still farther extended his sway by subduing the brave Suliotes of Epirus, whom he conquered in 1803, after a three years' war. Aiming at independent sovereignty, he intrigued alternately with England, France, and Russia, and became almost independent of the Porte, which at length determined, in 1820, to pronounce his deposition. Ali resisted several pashas who were sent to carry out this decision, only surrendering at last in 1822, on receiving assurances that his life and property would be granted him. Faith was not kept with him, however; he was killed, and his head was cut off and conveyed to Constantinople, while his treasures were seized by the Porte.

Al′ias (Lat., 'at another time'), a word often used in judicial proceedings in connection with the different names that persons have assumed, most likely for prudential reasons, at different times, and in order to conceal identity, as Joseph Smith alias Thomas Jones.

Alibert (a˙-lē-bār), Jean Louis, Baron, a distinguished French physician, born 1766, died 1837. He was a professor in Paris, and chief physician at the Hospital St. Louis. He wrote many valuable works on medical subjects, such as Description des maladies de la peau.

Ali Bey, a ruler of Egypt, born in the Caucasus in 1728, was taken to Cairo and sold as a slave, but having entered the force of the Mamelukes, and attained the first dignity among them, he succeeded in making himself virtual governor of Egypt. He then refused the customary tribute to the Porte, and coined money in his own name. In 1769 he took advantage of a war, in which the Porte was then engaged with Russia, to endeavour to add Syria and Palestine to his Egyptian dominion, and in this he had almost succeeded, when the defection of his own adopted son Mohammed Bey drove him from Egypt. Joining his ally Sheikh Daher in Syria, he still pursued his plans of conquest with remarkable success, till in 1773 he was induced to make the attempt to recover Egypt with insufficient means. In a battle near Cairo his army was completely defeated and he himself taken prisoner, dying a few days afterwards either of his wounds or by poison.

Al′ibi (Lat., 'elsewhere'), a defence in criminal procedure, by which the accused endeavours to prove that when the alleged crime was committed he was present in a different place.

Alicante (a˙-lē-ka˙n′tā), a fortified town and Mediterranean seaport in Spain, capital of the province of the same name, picturesquely situated partly on the slope of a hill, partly on the plain at the foot, about 80 miles south by west of Valencia. The lower town has wide and well-built streets; the upper town is old and irregularly built. The principal manufactures are cotton, linen, and cigars; the chief export is wine, which largely goes to England. Alicante is an ancient town. In 718 it was taken by the Moors, from whom it was wrested about 1240. In modern times it has been several times besieged and bombarded, as by the French in 1709, and in 1812, and by the federalists of Cartagena in 1873. Pop. 58,088.—The province is very fruitful and well cultivated, producing wine, silk, fruits, &c. The wine is of a dark colour (hence called vino tinto, deep-coloured wine), and is heavy and sweet. Area, 2185 sq. miles. Pop. 502,607.

Alicata, or Licata (a˙-lē-kä′ta˙, lē-kä′ta˙), the most important commercial town on the S. coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso, 24 miles E.S.E. of Girgenti, with a considerable trade in sulphur, grain, wine, oil, nuts, almonds, and soda. It occupies the site of the town which the Tyrant Phintias of Acragas erected and named after himself, when Gela was destroyed in 280. Pop. 22,931.

Alice Maud Mary, Princess, second daughter of Queen Victoria, Duchess of Saxony, and Grand-duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt, born 1843, died 1878. In 1862 she married Frederick William Louis of Hesse, nephew of the grand-duke, whom he succeeded in 1877. She showed exemplary devotion to her father Prince Albert during his fatal illness and to the Prince of Wales during his attack of fever in 1871. During the Franco-Prussian war she organized hospitals for the relief of the sick and wounded. She died from diphtheria caught while nursing her husband and children. A selection of her letters to her mother was published in 1883 by Dr. Carl Sell.

A′lien, in relation to any country, a person born out of the jurisdiction of the country, and not having acquired the full rights of a citizen of it. The position of aliens depends upon the laws of the respective countries, but generally speaking aliens owe a local allegiance, and are bound equally with natives to obey all general rules for the preservation of order which do not relate specially to citizens. Aliens have been often treated with great harshness by the laws of some States. Thus in France there long existed what was known as the droit d'aubaine, a law which claimed for the benefit of the State the effects of deceased foreigners leaving no heirs who were natives. Aliens have been repeatedly the objects of legislation in Britain, and the tendency at the present day is to communicate some of the rights of citizenship to aliens, and to widen the definition of subjects. According to the Act of 1870 that now regulates the matter, real and personal property of every description may be acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien, in the same manner in all respects as by a natural-born British subject. No other right or privilege (such as the right to hold any office or any municipal, parliamentary, or other franchise) is by this Act conferred on an alien except such as are expressly given in respect of property. Previously aliens could hold only personal property; they were incompetent to hold landed property, except under certain conditions of residence or business occupancy for a term of years not exceeding twenty-one. The children of aliens born in Britain are natural-born subjects. Formerly the only mode of naturalization was by Act of Parliament; but now an alien who has resided in the United Kingdom for not less than one year immediately preceding his application, and has previously resided in any part of His Majesty's dominions for four years during the last eight years before the application, or who has been in the service of the Crown for not less than five years, and intends to reside in the kingdom, or to serve the British Crown, may apply to the Secretary of State for a certificate of naturalization, and on giving evidence of particulars may obtain it, being thereby entitled to almost all the political and other rights of a natural-born British subject. At present the law is laid down in the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914 and 1918. It used to be a principle in English law, that a natural-born subject could not divest himself of his allegiance by becoming naturalized in a foreign State (nemo potest exuere patriam); but it is now laid down that a British subject who has voluntarily become naturalized in a foreign State thereby ceases to be a British subject. Any British subject who has become an alien may apply for a certificate of readmission to British nationality on the same terms as those provided for aliens in general. In the United States the position of aliens as regards acquisition and holding of real property differs somewhat in the different States, though in recent times the disabilities of aliens have been removed in most of them. Personal property they can take, hold, and dispose of like native citizens. Individual States have no jurisdiction on the subject of naturalization, though they may pass laws admitting aliens to any privilege short of citizenship. A naturalized citizen is not eligible for election as president or vice-president of the United States, and cannot serve as senator until after nine years' citizenship, nor as a member of the House of Representatives until after seven years' citizenship. Five years' residence in the United States and one year's permanent residence in the particular State are necessary for the attainment of citizenship.

Alien Immigration. In various countries certain classes of aliens have long been prohibited from gaining admission. In the United States, for instance, admission is refused to such persons as idiots, epileptics, persons suffering from loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases, paupers, criminals (except political criminals), illiterate persons, &c. Chinese labourers as a whole are excluded, and even any persons coming to America under a definite agreement to engage in any kind of labour or service. Similar laws are in force in Australia, where there is a test that a person proposing to settle in the country must be able to write fifty words of a European language. Towards the end of last century the great influx of foreigners into Britain, and into London in particular, drew public attention to the matter. A select committee appointed in 1888 reported in favour of the exclusion of destitute aliens, in 1894 a bill was introduced into the House of Lords, while in 1898 a bill to regulate the immigration of aliens was passed in the Lords, but made no further progress. In 1902 a royal commission was appointed, and drew up a report, published in 1903, containing valuable information and various recommendations. Among these were the establishment of an immigration department, and the granting of powers to deport criminals, prostitutes, and other undesirable aliens, and to prevent the landing of persons mentally unfit or suffering from infectious or loathsome diseases. In 1904 an Aliens Immigration Bill was introduced and read a second time in the House of Commons. It was based on the recommendations of the commission, and in its favour it was argued that a large amount of British labour had been displaced by aliens, in London especially, that the prevalence of crime among aliens was out of proportion to their numbers, that many of them were paupers, criminals convicted in their own country, or other undesirables. In 1905 another bill on the subject was introduced by the Government, which succeeded in passing it, so that the matter can now be dealt with, and undesirable aliens kept out. Since the European War (1914-8) and the new passport regulations it is easy to ascertain the number of aliens that enter the country and settle. At the census of 1901 the whole alien population was set down at 286,925, as against 219,523 in 1891, but there has been a very large influx from 1901 to 1914, by far the largest number consisting of Russian and Polish Jews. The restrictions imposed upon aliens during the European War are still in force, so far as they prohibit landing by any alien, except at specified ports by leave of an immigration officer, and, in case of former enemy aliens, by special permission of the Home Secretary. Cf. J. M. Landa, The Alien Problem.

Aliganj (a-lē-ganj'), a town of Bengal, 54 miles from Dinapur, noted for its pottery. It has a trade in grain, indigo-seed, and cotton, and contains two mosques, and a large mud fort. Pop. 7436.

Aligarh (a-lē-gar'), a fort and town in India, in the United Provinces, on the East Indian railway, 84 miles south-east of Delhi. The town, properly called Koel or Coel, is distant about 2 miles from the fort, and is connected with it by a beautiful avenue. It is handsome and well situated, and has a trade in cotton, &c. The fort, which had been skilfully strengthened by French engineers in the service of the Mahrattas, was taken by storm after a desperate resistance in 1803 by the British forces under Lord Lake, when the whole district was added to the British possessions. Pop. 64,825. The district has an area of 1946 sq. miles. Pop. 1,165,680.

Align′ment (a-līn′ment), a military term, signifying the act of adjusting to a straight line or in regular straight lines, or the state of being so adjusted.