'Albumazar

hospice at the summit. A railway tunnel was pierced beneath it in 1898-1902, at an alt. of 5,981 ft.; it is 3 m. 1,150 yds. in length.

Albumazar (805-85), celebrated Arabian astronomer, born at Balkh. His works were published in Latin at Augsburg (1489) and at Venice (1506-15).

Albumin is one of the simpler proteids present in animal protoplasm. Like all proteids, it contains the elements carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulphur. The form in which it is most widely known and easily experimented with which, together with globulin, is egg-albumin, forms the white of egg. Other known forms are serum-albumin, found in animal serum, and lactalbumin, found in milk. Albumins are soluble in distilled water. Their solutions are coagulable by a heat of from 70°-73° c. They are also soluble in saturated solutions of sodium chloride and magnesium sulphate, and in dilute saline solutions, but are precipitated by saturating their solutions with ammonium sulphate. Their action on polarized light is lævorotatory, like that of all proteids; but it differs in degree from the lævorotatory action of other proteids. Also, like all other proteids save peptones, albumin is colloid-i.e. it will not through an animal membrane. It is coagulated by strong acids, such as nitric acid, by tannin, picric and acetic acids, and by salts of the heavy metals, such as nitrate of silver and sulphate of copper (hence used as of lead (whence the astringent caustics), by acetate qualities of that salt), and by other metallic salts. Alcohol precipitates it, but the fresh precipitate will readily redissolve in If albumin, however, be left long in alcohol, it will be not merely precipitated, but coagulated. In digestion, egg-albumin, lact-albumin, and serum-albumin, all of which are present in an ordinary diet, same stages. go through the In the stomach

water.

pass

139

albumose by being readily diffusible through an animal membrane (and therefore prepared for assimilation); they are not precipitated by cold nitric acid, nor by ammonium sulphate, which precipitates all other proteids. Most of the albumin which enters the stomach passes into the small intestine in the form of the readily diffusible peptones, and is so absorbed. Whatever part may pass from the stomach as such, or in the intermediate condition of albumose, is acted on by the trypsin of the pancreatic juice, and then forms alkali-albumin and peptones. If the action of trypsin upon peptones be prolonged, it splits them up into simpler bodies, of which the chief are leucin and tyrosin; and these are absorbed without further change. Peptones introduced directly into the blood, without undergoing the changes induced by the absorbing cells, produce toxic symptoms. Some small proportion passes from the small intestine into the lymphatics, but the greater part goes directly to the blood-stream. Peptones, however, do not reach the blood as such, but as albumin, being reconverted in their passage through the gastric and intestinal walls. Albumin is used as a mordant in dyeing, as a vehicle for the sensitive salts in photography, and in sugar refining. See Foster's Text-book of Physiol.; also PROTEIDS, DIGESTION.

they first change to acid-albumin and to albumoses, through the action of pepsin, with the help of hydrochloric acid. Albumoses are differentiated from albumins by the following qualities: they are not coagulated by heat or alcohol; they are precipitated by nitric acid, but the precipitate disappears with the application of heat, and reappears on cooling; they only slightly, diffusible through an are slightly, though animal membrane; and some albumose is absorbed in digestion as such. From acid-albumin and albumoses albumins change to peptones, under the prolonged action of pepsin, before they leave the stomach. guished from the earlier stage of Peptones are distin

Albuminoids, compound organic nitrogenous substances chemically allid to proteids, but differing from them and from one another in various ways. The chief recognized albuminoids are collagen, gelatin, keratin, elastin, ossein, and chitin. Collagen forms the white fibres of connective tissue; elastin (a particularly insoluble albuminoid) forms the yellow fibres. Ossein is the chief organic constituent of bone, and in chemical composition is similar to collagen. Keratin occurs in nails, hair, horns, and hoofs, all of which are histologically related to the epidermis. Keratin is remarkable for its insolubility, and for its large percentage of sulphur. Chitin is peculiar to the exo-skeleton of many invertebrate animals. Gelatin is the most important of the albuminoids, and is much used as an article of diet. It is obtained by boiling collagen in water, the result being a solution of gelatin, which solidifies or gelatinizes on cooling. Gelatin answers to the color tests for proteids, but the fact that it does not coagulate in hot solution separates it from many of the proteid group. It is readily digestible, and is converted in the stomach into a form not to be distinguished from peptones; but whereas the peptones formed from albumins

Albuquerque

and other proteids are highly nutritious, the product of the digestion of gelatin cannot take the place of proteids. Though gelatin alone will not support life, it is a useful supplement to other nitrogenous food. It is therefore valuable when the alimentary tract needs comparative rest and the body can bear a modified fast. Elastin and keratin are particularly indigestible forms of albuminoids. Elastin is apparently digested more by the pancreatic juice than by the gastric, while keratin is excreted practically undigested. The vegetable substance gluten, prepared from wheat flour, and as a by-product in the manufacture of starch, is of a similar character to the animal albuminoids.

Albuminuria. The presence of albumin in the urine, in some instances a sign of Bright's disease, is known to occur also under many circumstances not indicating serious change in the kidneys. Albumin may appear in the urine as a result of modification of the mechanical condition of the renal circulation-as, for example, ligature of the renal vein; în preg nancy, when pressure is exerted on that vein; in the later stages of certain diseases of the heart; in ague; and in cholera. It may appear as the result of changes in the blood consequent on pyæmia, septicæmia, and purpura, and associated with scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles, enteric and other fevers; it is also a result of such diseases of the kidney as interstitial nephritis, waxy kidney, and fatty degeneration of the kidney. Certain dietaries containing albumin in excess may produce it temporarily. Renal casts, consisting of detached epithelial cells and of epithelial cylinders showing various degrees of degeneration, are often associated in the urine with the albuminuria of kidney disease. A simple test for the presence of albumin in the urine is to boil the urine: if turbidity appears which is not dissolved by nitric acid, albumin is most likely present. If the urine be alkaline, it must be acidified by acetic acid before boiling. Long-continued albuminuria leads to great anæmia and exhaustion. The treatment varies with the several causes.

Albuñol, tn., prov. Granada, Spain, 43 m. S.E. of Granada, and near Mediterranean. Produces and exports wine and almonds. Some lead mines in district. Pop. (1900) 8,646.

Albuquerque. (1.) Town, prov. Badajoz, Spain, 27 m. by road from Badajoz. Ancient castle and walls (13th century). Great cattle fairs, May and September. Pop. (1900) 9,030. (2.) City, New Mexico, co. seat of Bernalillo

Albuquerque

co., on the Rio Grande R. and on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé and the Santa Fé Pacific Rys., 56 m. s.w. of Santa Fé. It has a busy trade in wool, hides, grain, etc., and in the neighborhood are found gold, silver, iron and copper. Here are the University of New Mexico, and a school for Indians. Pop. (1910) 11.020.

Albuquerque, AFFONSO D' (1453-1515), surnamed the 'Great,' also "The Portuguese Mars,' was born at Alhandra, near Lisbon. He was a man of extraordinary ability and force of character, who upheld and extended the power of Portugal in India and the East from 1503-15. He captured Goa, making it his capital (1510), the island of Ormuz (1507 and 1515), and Malacca (1511); and gradually subdued Malabar, Ceylon, and other parts of the East. His Commentaries, issued by his natural son Braz, were translated by Birch, and published by the Hakluyt Soc. (4 vols. 1875-84). See Stephen's Albuquerque and the Early Portuguese Settlements in India (1892).

Albury, or 'THE FEDERAL CITY,' tn., Goulborn co., New South Wales, connected by a bridge with the colony of Victoria; terminus of N.S.W. part of Southern Rv.; is at the head of river navigation, in vicinity of gold-mining district. Pop. (1901) 5,820.

Alcæus (c. 600 B.C.) of Lesbos, one of the greatest of Greek lyric poets, who gave his name to, if he did not invent, the metre called Alcaic. He was an aristocrat, and after a civil war was exiled from Lesbcs. Only fragments of his poems survive, but they reveal the spirit and vigor with which he sings of war, love, and wine. The greater Alcaic consists of a four-footed line, of which the first foot is generally spondaic, sometimes iambic, the second foot iambic hypermetrical, and the last two feet dactylic. The distinguishing characteristic of the line is the cæsura, which ought to occur after the catalectic syllable at the end of the second foot. This catalectic syllable must, either naturally or in virtue of its position, be a long syllable, and it is considered best for it to end a word; but it may be a separate monosyllabic word, or even the first syllable of a compound word. The lesser Alcaic consists of a four-footed line, the first two feet of which are dactylic, and the last two iambic. Horace employs Alcaics in his favorite form known as 'Horatian verse.' In it the first two lines are greater Alcaics, the third line Archilochian iambic dimeter hypercatalectic, and the fourth line a lesser Alcaic. Tennyson imitates the stanza in his Ode to Milton.

140

Alcalá de Guadaira, tn., prov. Seville, Spain, 7 m. s.E. of Seville; olive cultivation. It has a beautiful Moorish castle. Pop. (1900) 8,198.

Alcalá de Henares, tn., prov. Madrid, Spain, 21 m. from Madrid, on riv. Henares; birthplace of Cervantes; seat of university founded by Cardinal Ximenes in 1508, transferred to Madrid in 1836. Pop. (1900) 11,206.

Alcalá la Real, tn., prov. Jaen, Spain, 31 m. by coach from Granada. Alfonso XI. took the fortress from the Moors (1340), hence the name ('the royal castle'). Milling and olive-oil pressing. Pop. (1900)

15,973.

Alcalde. See AYUNTAMIENTO.

Alcamo, tn., prov. Trapani, Sicily, built on the N. slope (837 ft.) of Mt. Bonifato, 24 m. s.w. of Palermo. It was founded by Saracens, and still preserves remains of medieval buildings. Pop. (1901) 51,798.

Alcantara. (1.) Town, prov. Caceres, Spain; takes its name from a Roman six-arched bridge over river Tagus, built by Trajan 105 A.D. Pop. 4,100. (2.) Port, Maranhão, Brazil, on São Marcos Bay, 16 m. from São Luiz. Vessels anchor 1 m. S.E. of town, in a shallow harbor, and there is a trade in cotton, rice and salt. Pop. (1900) 3,248. (3.) A former town adjoining Lisbon, Portugal, but since 1885 a western part of the city. A magnificent aqueduct, resting 127 arches, crosses the Alcantara valley here and, together with another aqueduct, gives Lisbon an abundance of pure water.

on

Alcantara, ORDER OF, one of the old Spanish religious and military orders created during the wars against the Moors. Founded in 1156, it was recognized as a religious order by Pope Alexander III. in 1177. In 1221 it took the name of the Order of Alcantara, from the town of that name. Alcaraz, range of mts., prov. Albacete, Spain; the prolongation to the N. of the E. end of Sierra Morena. The copper mines of San Juan de Alcaraz are near the town of same name, which stands N. of the range, and has a ruined castle and a Roman aqueduct. Pop. of tn. (1900) 4,503.

Alcatraz, is. in San Francisco Bay, 4 m. N. of San Francisco. There is a fort here, which defends the Golden Gate, and a military prison. The lighthouse is the loftiest on the Pacific coast.

Alcazar, name given to several palaces built by the Moors in Spain. The Alcazar of Segovia formerly contained many objects of historic value remaining from the Moorish period; these were destroyed in 1862 by a fire which left the mere shell of the building. The Alcazar of Seville ranks second

Alchemy

only to the Alhambra in architectural beauty, although since its construction by the Moors in the 12th century it has been enlarged by several Spanish kings, who united the Gothic with the original style of architecture. It contains many ancient treasures.

Alcázar de San Juan, tn., prov. Ciudad Real, Spain, 41 m. from Ciudad Real; important ry. junction. Pop. (1900) 11,499.

Alcedo y Herrera, ANTONIO (1735-?), Spanish-American soldier and writer, born in Quito. He held the rank of brigadiergeneral in the Spanish army, served in Peru and elsewhere, and is remembered as the author of a Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales 6 América (5 vols., 1786-9) a valuable work, an English translation of which appeared in London in 1812-5. He also compiled a Biblioteca Americana.

Alcester, FREDERICK BEAUCHAMP PAGET SEYMOUR, BARON (1821-95), English naval officer, was born in London, commanded the naval brigade during the Maori war (1860-1); was commander in chief of Mediterranean fleet (1880-3); and for the bombardment of Alexandria (1882) be received a parliamentary grant of £25,000, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Alcester of Alcester.

Alcestis, wife of Admetus; the heroine of Euripides's drama, in which her self-sacrifice is contrasted with the selfishness of Admetus's aged parents, who refuse to give up their few remaining years to deliver him from death. While Admetus is mourning her death, he receives a visit from Heracles, who rewards him for his hospitality, and rescues Alcestis from the lower world. Browning's Balaustion is a free translation of the play. For other editions, see EURIPIDES.

Alchemilla, a genus of the order Rosacea; flowers greenish, small; leaves rounded in outline. A. arvensis and A. vulgaris are naturalized in the United States, near the coast. The name 'lady's mantle' is applied to the various species.

Alchemy, the early form of chemistry, was occupied chiefly with the supposed art of making gold and silver from the baser metals. The dominant theory of the alchemists was that any of the baser metals-e.g. lead-contains the same constituents as gold, mixed with impurities; and that when the latter are removed by using the philosopher's stone,' the transmutation is effected. The great quest of the early alchemists was, therefore, to discover the philosopher's stone. At a later date was added the search for the alkahest, or uni

Alciati

versal solvent, and (when the adepts had gained some knowledge of physiology and drugs) the magisterium, a substance which could not only convert all metals into gold, but could also heal all diseases, and the elixir vite, a universal medicine by which human life might be prolonged indefinitely. It was believed that metals were compounds of mercury, sulphur, and salt, and that by altering the proportions of the ingredients a new metal could be formed.

The chief alchemists were:HERMES, surnamed Trismegistus, from whom the term 'hermetic' is derived; GEBER, an Arabian, the author of the first authentic work on alchemy; ALBERTUS Dominican MAGNUS, German friar of the 13th century, said to have invented the word 'amalthough other authorities gam, attribute this to Thomas Aquinas, who also wrote on alchemy; RAYMOND LULLY, born at Majorca in 1235, who was the first to apply nitric acid to dissolve gold; ROGER BACON, a monk of Somerset, the contemporary of Magnus and Lully, and, although a keen alchemist, an opponent of necromancy and magic. During the century after Bacon the practice of alchemy increased greatly, but not without opposition, for in England an Act of Henry IV. declared the attempted transmutation of metals to be a felony. With every generation, however, alchemy was becoming the serious pioneer of chemistry, and PARACELSUS (a Swiss of the name of Von Hohenheim), although described as an alchemist, was a qualified lecturer in medicine at the University of Basel in the first half of the 16th century. The many treatises on alchemy ascribed to a 'Basil Valentine' of the 15th century are now known to have been written in the 17th century by Johann Thölde. The last professional British alchemist appears to have been DR. PRYCE of Guildford (d. 1782), who pretended to transmute mercury. It is said, however, that at the present day there are at least three secri societies whose avowed object is to continue the work of the alchemists on a quasi-religious basis. Pope John XXII. and King Charles VII. of France, the Emperor Rudolph II. and the Elector Augustus of Saxony, were all great patrons of the alchemists. See Thomson's Hist. of Alchemy, and also Bergman's; Kopp's Die Alchemie in älterer und neuerer Zeit (1886); G. Rodwell's Birth of Chemistry (1874).

Alciati, ANDREA (1492-1550), Italian lawyer, was successively professor of civil law at Avignon,

Bourges, Bologna, Pavia, and Ferrara. He wrote commentaries

141

on the Pandects, and on the code of Justinian; a history of the Roman magistrature, and a history of Milan (1625); but his best-known work is Emblematum Libellus (Eng. trans. by Green, 1872).

Alcibiades (c. 450-404 B.C.), the Athenian, son of Clinias, was brought up after the death of

Alchemilla alpina.

Alchemilla vulgaris.

his father (447) by his kinsman Pericles, the great statesman. Born of a noble and wealthy family, and distinguished by great personal beauty and transcendent ability, he soon became one of the leading men in Athens, but by reason of the extravagance and irregularity of his private life, and the masterfulness of his character, was always regarded with suspicion by the democracy. The Athenians feared that he might attempt to overthrow their constitution and make himself despot of the city, and their distrust prevented them from making full use of his genius, and so, according to Thucydides, led to their own ruin. He was a favorite pupil of Socrates, who saved his life in battle near Potidæa (431 B.C.), and whose life he saved at Delium (424). About 422 he became head

Alciphron

of the war party in opposition to Nicias. He induced Athens to fight with Argos against Sparta at Mantinea (418), and to undertake the great expedition to Sicily (415), of which he and Nicias and Lamachus were commanders. Implicated in the religious scandal caused by the mutilation of the busts of the Hermæ, he was summoned to trial, but escaped, and took refuge in Sparta. Haying been condemned to death in absence, he assisted the Spartans against Athens. But he deserted again in 411, owing to the hostility of the Spartan king, Agis II., and secured the favor of the Athenians by detaching the Persian satrap Tissaphernes from the During the next Spartan side.

four years he gained the victories of Abydos (411) and Cyzicus (410), captured Chalcedon and Byzantium, and in 407 returned to Athens, where he was appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces. But next year, in his absence, his lieutenant Antiochus lost the battle of Notium, and the Athenians superseded him. He went into voluntary exile in Bithynia, and after three years of inactivity, was assassinated in Phrygia. Alcibiades was equally brilliant as statesman and soldier, and showed great versatility in other directions; but his passion for personal aggrandizement and his want of principle did much to mar his career. See Life by Plutarch, and Plato's Symposium.

Alcides, a patronymic by which Hercules is often called, as his supposed father, Amphitryon, was the son of Alcæus.

Alcinous, son of Nausithous, and grandson of Poseidon; mentioned in the Odyssey as king of the Phæacians, in the isle of Scheria, which later writers have identified with Corcyra (Corfu). He entertained Odysseus hospitably, and sent him home after ten years' wanderings. He also comes into the story of the Argonauts. His garden, as described by Homer, was famous, and the phase apples to Alcinous' became proverbial in the same sense as our 'coals to Newcastle.' See Homer's Odyssey, and Apollonius Rhodius's Argonautica.

Alciphron, Greek rhetorician (end of 2nd century), and one of the most eminent of Greek epistolographers. The 116 letters (character studies) attributed to him have been edited by Hercher (in Epistolographi Græci, 1873), Schepers (1902), and others.

Alciphron, a poem of Thomas Moore's, also the name of the hero in his novel, The Epicurean (London, 1827-39 and '57); also, the chief character in a dialogue in Bishop Berkeley's Alciphron, the Minute Philosopher, written

Alcira

when that prelate was a resident of Newport, R. I. The work is apologetical, being a defence of religion against the atheist and fatalist. It was first published in London in 1732.

Alcira, tn., prov. Valencia, Spain, 17 m. from Valencia, on an island formed by two branches of the river Jucar; depot for timber brought down by this river from the Cuenca Mts. Oranges and rice are cultivated in the surrounding plain, the 'Garden of Valencia, which is very fertile, but marshy and malarial. Alcira was a Carthaginian colony, and flourished under both the Roman and the Moorish occupation. Pop. (1900) 19,906.

Alclyde, an ancient Celtic kingdom of Britain, stretched south from the lower Clyde to the Solway Firth; was merged in the kingdom of Alban in 945. Its capital was Alclyth or Alclyde, now Dumbarton.

Alemæon, son of Amphiaraüs and a member of the second expedition of the Seven against Thebes. On his return he slew his mother Eriphyle at his father's command. Pursued by the Furies, he was purified by Phegeus, whose daughter he married. But as the land became barren from his presence, he fled to the islands at the mouth of the Achelous. There he married Callirrhoë, daughter of the river-god; and having dishonestly obtained for her a necklace which he had given to his former wife, he was murdered by the brothers of the latter.

a

Alemæon, physician and philosopher (6th century B.C.), was a native of Crotona, in S. Italy. He is said to have been a disciple of Pythagoras, and is chiefly distinguished for his experimental researches in anatomy and physiology, as discoverer of the optic nerve and the Eustachian tube, of the connections between the brain and the organs of sense, and of the spinal cord, etc. He was the first to practise dissection, and to distinguish between veins and arteries. He wrote also on physics and metaphysics. Alemæonidæ, celebrated family at Athens, from which Cleisthenes, Pericles, Alcibiades, and other great Athenians, were descended. A member of the family, Megacles, was one of the archons who treacherously killed the adherents of Cylon after their surrender, and about 594 B.C. the whole family was banished as blood-guilty. Having bribed the Delphic oracle to influence the Spartans to restore them, they returned in 509 B.C. But at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war (432 B.C.) the Spartans struck at Pericles by demanding that Athens should expel this family,

'the accursed.'

142.

Alcman, one of the earliest lyric poets; a Lydian by birth but lived at Sparta, probably about 670-630 B.C. Few fragments of his works survived. They comprised love poems, hymns to the gods, and especially lyrics to be sung by choruses at public festivals. The fragments are collected in Bergk's Lyrici Græci. Alcmanian verse, the metre of Alcman, consists of a line composed of three dactyls or three spondees, followed by a spondee or a trochee.

Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon and mother, by Zeus, of Hercules.

Alcobaça, tn., prov. Estremadura, Portugal, 60 m. N. of Lisbon. Before its partial destruction by the French in 1811, it possessed the most splendid monastery (Cistercian) in Portugal. In the monastery church lie buried Kings Alfonso I. and II., Sancho I., Pedro I., and his ill-fated mistress Ines de Castro. Pop. (1900) 2,306.

Alcock, SIR RUTHERFORD (1809-97), diplomatist, born in London, joined the medical staff of the British auxiliary forces in the Peninsula (1832-6). He was British consul in China (1844), and in 1858 he became consulgeneral in Japan. Seven years later he was appointed ministerplenipotentiary at Pekin, from which post he retired in 1871, and returned to England, where he interested himself in hospital nursing establishments. Among other work he wrote Elements of Japanese Grammar (1861), The Capital of the Tycoon (1863), and Art and Art Industries in Japan (1878). See Michie's The Englishman in China during the Victorian Era (1900), with two portraits.

Alcoforado, MARIANNA (1640– 1723), a nun of the Portuguese town of Beja, and author of the passionate love-letters Lettres Portugaiscs (1669), which she addressed to the Count of St. Léger, afterwards marshal of France, and which were translated into almost every language of Europe (Eng. trans. by Edgar Prestage, 1893). They may be compared with Heloise's letters to Abélard.

Alcofribas Nasier, the nom de plume under which François Rabelais published Pantagruel; an anagram formed from his own

name.

Alcohol (Ar.), a generic term in chemistry for a number of compounds which are the hydroxides of hydrocarbon radicals, but usually applied to one member of the series-viz, ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH, the active principle of intoxicating liquors. Alcohol may be formed synthetically from its elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, but in practice it is always produced by the fermentation of a saccharine liquid. Originally

Alcoholism

the juice of the grape was used, as it still is, in the preparation of wine and brandy; but the alcohol of commerce is now made from malt and one or other of the following raw materials-wheat, maize, rice, millet, potatoes, molasses, glucose, cane or beet sugar, honey, milk, apples, peaches, blackberries, and cherries. The manufacturing operations, the details of which vary in different countries, are divided into three distinct stages: (1) the preparation of the saccharine liquid or wort; (2) the fermentation of the wort, producing what is technically known as mash; and (3) the distillation of the mash. Fusel oil and furfurol are most important by-products of distillation. They are difficult to remove entirely, and are responsible for many of the objectionable qualities of alcoholic drinks. Small quantities of other alcohols, of greater toxicity in proportion to their greater atomic weight, are also often found mixed with ethyl alcohol.

Alcohol is a colorless liquid of sp. gr. .79, and a boiling-point of 78° C.; is the characteristic component of brandy, whiskey, gin, and other beverages; is used in the manufacture of many pharmaceutical products-chloroform, chloral, ether, essences, tinctures, alkaloids, liniments, and lotions; as a solvent for oils, fats, resins, and gums; in making transparent soap; and for burning in spirit lamps. No simple chemical test has been devised by means of which alcohol can be readily detectcd. When in quantity, it may be obtained, mixed only with water, by distillation, and is then recognized by its odor and taste. When in small proportions, the best test is to add à solution of potassium iodide saturated with iodine, till the liquid is a permancnt brown color; then add dilute caustic potash solution, drop by drop, till the brown color is removed. A yellow crystalline deposit of iodoform is produced. As several alcohol derivatives produce iodoform under similar conditions, the test should be confirmed by the oxidation of a portion of the suspected liquid: if alcohol is present, acetic acid would be produced. Alcohol is rarely adulterated for the purposes of fraud, unless by water, and the presence of traces of impurities produced during manufacture are unavoidable. See DENATURED ALCOHOL. See Thorpe's Outlines of Industrial Chemistry (1905); Sadtler's Industrial Organic Chemistry (1891); Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis, vol. i.; Thorpe's Dict. of Applied Chem.; Duplais's Industrial Organic Chem., Wagner's Chemical Technology (1872).

Alcoholism. A nerve disorder

Alcoholism

caused by excessive drinking of alcohol. Acute alcoholism is caused by the rapid absorption of alcoholic beverages, and is characterized by unusually sharpened sense perception, animation and exaltation, impairment of judgment, and increase or perversion of emotion. Later, locomotion and all the muscular movements become disordered and difficult, and speech becomes thick. In other cases anger, fierce excitement and violence result from alcoholic indulgence, to be followed by great depression, generally. In both classes of cases stupor and sleep follow, or the individual may sink into coma and die. Chronic alcoholism follows several experiences of acute alcoholism, or may be caused by continuous tippling, improperly called moderate drinking,' in those who have never appeared to be intoxicated. In chronic alcoholism the digestive tract, lives kidneys, and the circulatory and nervous systems show the principal changes that result from the poisoning of alcohol. Dyspepsia, morning vomiting, liver torpor, Bright's disease of the kidneys, palpitation of the heart, shortness of breath on trifling exertion, bronchial catarrh and muscular relaxation are common complaints of the tippler. The individual may experience a loss of the power to resist the ravages of alcohol, so that a single potation may cause a decided mental change, while there is always present a craving for stimulant to combat nervousness, depression, and unrest. The hereditary effect of alcoholism has been much exaggerated, though people who suffer from it are likely to beget epileptic, imbecile, or insane children. In most cases alcoholism is the result of insidious habit rather than of a constitutional craving. Economically considered, alcoholism is the cause of an enormous proportion of want and pauperism, as well as of vice and crime. common incident of alcoholism is delirium tremens. If this condition supervenes, a physician must be summoned at once. Until his arrival milk and vichy should be given to the patient. Alcoholic neuritis, a multiple neuritis, is a common result of frequent alcoholism, occurring oftener in the female, as a disease of early adult life. There are various types of the disease, but the most common is characterized numbness and slight pains in the legs, fever for 3 or 4 days, tenderness in muscles and nerves of feet and legs, rarely of hands and arms, weakness, with loss of power of the muscles of the legs, wasting, and, later, very severe pain. There may be par

A

by

143

tial paralysis with wrist drop and foot drop. Alcoholic epilepsy may occur, and the patient may have convulsions. Alcoholic insanity may necessitate asylum care. Alcoholism is believed to be the cause of one-third of the cases of insanity. The treatment of alcoholism in every case consists in the rapid withdrawal of alcohol. See Norman Kerr's Inebriety.

Alcoholometry, the determination of the percentage of alcohol in a liquid. When the alcohol is mixed with water only, the proportion is estimated from the specific gravity, which is found by means of the specific gravity bottle or by a hydrometer. Tables are published showing the percentage of alcohol (by volume and weight) and of proof spirit, corresponding to the specific gravity. The hydrometer used by the U. S. Internal Revenue officers is of glass graduated to read the volume of proof spirit, which is equivalent to the volume of the given liquor at 60° F. In liquors containing substances other than alcohol, such as beer, the strength can be determined only after the alcohol and water have been separated by distillation. See Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis, vol. i.; Thorpe's Dict. of Chem.

Alcorn, JAMES LUSK (1816-94), U.S. legislator, was born at Golconda, Ill., and educated in Kentucky, where he served for a term in the Legislature. He then removed to Mississippi, where he practised law for many years, and in 186971 was governor of the state. In 1871-77 he was U. S. senator. While in Mississippi he took a practical interest in the levee system of the Mississippi, and also interested himself in the State Agricultural and Mechanical College for Colored Youth.

Alcott, AMOS BRONSON (17991888), American philosophical writer, was born at Wolcott, Conn. In 1834 he opened the seminary in Boston of which Miss Peabody has given an account in her A Record of Mr. Alcott's School (1834, 1874). Opposition to his methods caused his withdrawal to Concord, where he became the friend of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Channing, and was made dean of the Concord School of Philosophy. In 1842 he visited England, where he met Carlyle, who described him as 'the good Alcott, with his long lean face and figure, with his gray, worn temples and mild, radiant eyes; all bent on saving the world by a return to acorns and the golden age. Upon his return he attempted to establish a community, Fruitlands,' near Harvard, Mass., but the project failed. Thereafter he gave a

Alcuin

series of lectures, or conversations,' as he called them, visiting the principal cities of the country for this purpose. Alcott was a Neoplatonist, his central doctrine being the lapse of the soul from holiness. His chief works are, Orphic Sayings (1840); Tablets (1868); Concord Days (1872); Table Talk (1877); New Connecticut (1881 and 1887); and Ralph W. Emerson (1882). See Life by Sanborn and Harris (1893).

Alcott, LOUISA MAY (1832-88), American writer for the young; born at Germantown, Pa., daughter of the above. She was at first a school teacher. Her earliest book, Flower Fables (1855) had little merit; her Hospital Sketches (1863) dealing with her experiences as a nurse during the Civil War, became more favorably known, and Little Women (1868, 1869) established her reputation as a writer of readable and wholesome stories for young people. Her other works include Moods (1864, 1881); Old-Fashioned Girl (1869); Little Men (1871)— scarcely less popular than Little Women; Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag (1871-82); Work (1873); Eight Cousins (1874); Rose in Bloom (1876); Under the Lilacs (1878); Jack and Jill (1880).

Alcoy, tn., prov. Alicante, Spain, 24 m. N. of Alicante; one of the most prosperous towns in Spain; the Molinar and Barchel rivers supply power for paper, cloth, and match factories. Pop. (1900) 32,053.

Alcuin, or ALBINUS (735-804), surnamed FLACCUS, whose name in English was EALHWINE, was born at York. Educated there under Archbishop Egbert and the teacher Ethelbert, he succeeded the latter on his promotion to the archbishopric in 767, and, with Ethelbert's resignation in 778, became head of both school and library. In 781, on his return from Rome with the pallium for Eanbald, Ethelbert's successor in the archbishopric of York, he met Charlemagne at Parma, and the emperor urged him to settle in France. Alcuin acceded to the emperor's wish (782), and received the abbeys of Ferrières in Gâtinais, St. Loup at Troyes, and St. Martin at Tours. Intelligence was awakening and Alcuin's service to his time was to foster this revival. In the court at Aachen he had among his pupils the emperor, his sons Charles, Pepin, and Louis, imperial counsellors such as Adalbard, the archbishops of Mayence and Trèves, Charlemagne's sister and daughter. the nuns of the dioceses, and Adalhard's sister Gundrade, to which lady Alcuin dedicates his philosophical essay, De Ratione Anima. The instruction embraced the stages of the trivium and quadrivium,