Part 26

ALLI'ANCE, a league between two or more Powers. Alliances are divided into offensive and defensive. The former are for the purpose of attacking a common enemy, and the latter for mutual defence. An alliance often unites both of these conditions. Offensive alliances, of course, are usually directed against some particular enemy; defensive alliances against anyone from whom an attack may come. Among the more famous alliances in history are: The Triple Alliance of 1688 between Great Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands; The Grand Alliance of 1689 between the Emperor, Holland, England, Spain, and Saxony; The Quadruple Alliance of 1814 between Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia; The Triple Alliance of 1882 between Germany, Austria, and Italy; and The Dual Alliance between Russia and France.

ALLIANCE, HOLY. See _Holy Alliance_.

ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNIVERSELLE, an association founded in Paris in 1860 for the protection of the Jews all over the world, but particularly with a view to advocating by various means the emancipation of the Jews in those countries where they did not enjoy equal civil and political rights with the other inhabitants. It was established by six Jews of Paris: Aristide Astruc, Isidore Cahen, Jules Carvallo, Narcisse Leven, Eugene Manuel, and Charles Netter. Adolphe Cremieux and Salomon Munk were among the first presidents of the association. It is managed by a central committee resident in Paris, and consisting of 62 members, 23 of whom live in Paris. The Alliance has done a great deal towards raising the status of the Jews in the East by establishing educational institutions and industrial and agricultural schools, especially in Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Persia, Bulgaria, Tunis, and Abyssinia. The chief sources of its income are the subscriptions and donations of the members. Its annual income amounts to about 200,000 francs. It also manages a fund of about L400,000 founded by Baron and Baroness de Hirsch for the establishment of Jewish Schools in Turkey. The Alliance Israelite works in unison with the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Board of Deputies in London, two organizations pursuing the same aims.

ALLIA'RIA, a genus of plants, ord. Cruciferae, containing two species, one of which (_A. officin[=a]lis_), commonly called Jack-by-the-hedge, is widely spread in Europe, and often used as a pot-herb. See _Alliaceous Plants_.

AL'LIBONE, Samuel Austin, LL.D., American author, born 1816, died 1889. He compiled a most useful _Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors_ (3 vols., 1859, 1870, 1871, containing 50,000 biographies, 2 vols. of supplement by J. F. Kirk, 1891).

ALLICE, a name of the common shad.

ALLIER ([.a]l-l[=e]-[=a]), a central department of France, intersected by the River Allier, and partly bounded by the Loire; its surface is diversified by offsets of the Cevennes and other ranges, rising in the south to over 4000 feet, and in general richly wooded. It has extensive beds of coal as well as other minerals, which are actively worked, there being several flourishing centres of mining and manufacturing enterprise; mineral waters at Vichy, Bourbon, L'Archambault, &c. Large numbers of sheep and cattle are bred. Area, 2848 sq. miles. Capital, Moulins. Pop. (1921), 370,950.--The River Allier flows northward for 200 miles through Lozere, Upper Loire, Puy de Dome, and Allier, and enters the Loire, of which it is the chief tributary.

ALLIGA'TION, a rule of arithmetic, chiefly found in the older books, relating to the solution of questions concerning the compounding or mixing together of different ingredients, or ingredients of different qualities or values. Thus if a quantity of tea worth 10d. the pound and another quantity worth 18d. are mixed, the question to be solved by alligation is, what is the value of the mixture by the pound?

[Illustration: Alligators--1, Mississippi Alligator; 2, Banded Cayman; 3, Chinese Alligator]

ALLIGA'TOR (a corruption of Sp. _el lagarto_, lit. the lizard--Lat. _lacertus_), a genus of reptiles of the family Crocodilidae, differing from the true crocodiles in having a shorter and flatter head, in having cavities or pits in the upper jaw, into which the long canine teeth of the under jaw fit, and in having the feet much less webbed. Their habits are less perfectly aquatic. They are confined to the warmer parts of America, where they frequent swamps and marshes, and may be seen basking on the dry ground during the day in the heat of the sun. They are most active during the night, when they make a loud bellowing. The largest of these animals grow to the length of 18 or 20 feet. They are covered by a dense armour of horny scales, impenetrable to a bullet, and have a large mouth, armed with strong, conical teeth. They swim with wonderful celerity, impelled by their long, laterally-compressed, and powerful tails. On land their motions are proportionally slow and embarrassed because of the length and unwieldiness of their bodies and the shortness of their limbs. They live on fish, and any small animals or carrion, and sometimes catch pigs on the shore, or dogs which are swimming. They even sometimes make man their prey. In winter they burrow in the mud of swamps and marshes, lying torpid till the warm weather. The female lays a great number of eggs, which are deposited in the sand or mud, and left to be hatched by the heat of the sun, but after this has taken place the mother alligator is very attentive to her young. The most fierce and dangerous species is that found in the southern parts of the United States (_Alligator Lucius_), having the snout a little turned up, slightly resembling that of the pike. The alligators of South America are there very often called _Caymans_. _A. sclerops_ is known also as the _Spectacled Cayman_, from the prominent bony rim surrounding the orbit of each eye. The flesh of the alligator is sometimes eaten, the tail being considered a great delicacy by the negroes. Among the fossils of the south of England are remains of a true alligator (_A. Hantoniensis_) in the Eocene beds of the Hampshire basin.

ALLIGATOR-APPLE (_An[=o]na palustris_), a fruit allied to the custard-apple, growing in marshy districts in Jamaica, little eaten on account of its narcotic properties.

ALLIGATOR-PEAR (_Pers[=e]a gratissima_), an evergreen tree of the nat. ord. Lauraceae, with a fruit resembling a large pear, 1 to 2 lb. in weight, with a firm marrow-like pulp of a delicate flavour; called also avocado-pear, or subaltern's butter. It is a native of tropical America and the West Indies.

AL'LINGHAM, William, an Irish poet, born in Ireland in 1824 or 1828, died in 1889. He published his first volume (_Poems_) in 1850; _Day and Night Songs_ in 1855; _Lawrence Bloomfield in Ireland_, narrative poem, in 1864; _Songs, Poems, and Ballads_ in 1877 (including a number of new poems). He was a frequent contributor to periodicals, and for some time edited _Fraser's Magazine_.

ALLITERA'TION, the repetition of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; as "_m_any _m_en _m_any _m_inds"; "_d_eath _d_efies the _d_octor". "_A_pt _a_lliteration's _a_rtful _a_id" (_Churchill_). "_P_uffs, _p_owders, _p_atches, _b_ibles, _b_illet-doux" (_Pope_). "_W_eave the _w_arp and _w_eave the _w_oof" (_Gray_). In the ancient German and Scandinavian and in early English poetry alliteration took the place of terminal rhymes, the alliterative syllables being made to recur with a certain regularity in the same position in successive verses. In the _Vision of William Concerning Piers the Ploughman_, for instance, it is regularly employed as in the following lines:--

Hire _r_obe was ful _r_iche . of _r_ed scarlet engreyned, With _r_ibanes of _r_ed gold . and of _r_iche stones; Hire a_rr_aye me _r_avysshed . such _r_icchesse saw I nevere; I had _w_ondre _w_hat she _w_as . and _w_has _w_yf she _w_ere.

Alliteration was known to the Latin authors: "O _T_ite _t_ute, _T_ati, _t_ibi _t_anta, _t_yranne _t_ulisti" (_Ennius_). In the hands of some English poets and prose writers of later times alliteration became a mere conceit. It is still employed in Icelandic and Finnish poetry. So far has alliteration sometimes been carried that long compositions have been written every word of which commenced with the same letter. It may also be employed in the middle of words: "Un _f_rais par_f_um sortait des tou_ff_es d'as_f_odile" (_Victor Hugo_).

AL'LIUM, a genus of plants, ord. Liliaceae;, containing numerous well-known species of pot-herbs. They are umbelliferous, and mostly perennial, herbaceous plants, but a few are biennial. Among them are garlic (_A. sat[=i]vum_), onion (_A. Cepa_), leek (_A. Porrum_), chives (_A. Schoenopr[)a]sum_), shallot (_A. ascalon[)i]cum_). The peculiar alliaceous flavour that belongs to them is well known.

AL'LOA, a river port of Scotland, on the north bank of the Forth (where there is now a bridge), 7 miles from Stirling, county of Clackmannan. It carries on brewing, distilling, and shipbuilding; has manufactures of woollens, bottles, &c., and a shipping trade. Pop. (1921), 12,421.

ALLOCU'TION, an address, a term particularly applied to certain addresses on important occasions made by the Pope to the cardinals, and through them to the Church in general.

ALLO'DIUM (probably derived from _all_ and _odh_, property), land held in one's own right, without any feudal obligation to a superior or lord. In England, according to the theory of the British constitution, all land is held of the crown (by _feudal_ tenure); the word _allodial_ is, therefore, never applied to landed property there.

ALLOGAMY (from the Gr. _allos_, other, and _gamos_, wedding), meaning the transfer of the pollen of one flower to the pistil of another. The opposite of allogamy is _autogamy_, or self-pollination.

ALLOPHANE, a hydrous aluminium silicate, with the composition Al_2SiO_5 + 5H_2O, forming crusts in the cavities of various rocks and commonly of a delicate blue colour.

ALLOT'MENT SYSTEM, the system of allotting small portions of land (an acre or less) to farm-labourers or other workers, to be cultivated after their regular work by themselves and their families, a system believed by many to be calculated greatly to improve their condition. An Allotment Act for England, passed in 1887, authorizes the sanitary authorities in any locality to determine if there is a sufficient demand for allotments there, and to acquire land to be let to the labouring population resident in their district. Such land may be compulsorily acquired, due compensation being given; but land belonging to a park, pleasure-ground, &c., is not to be so acquired. No person is to hold more than 1 acre as an allotment; and the rents are to be fixed at such amount as may reasonably be deemed sufficient to guarantee the sanitary authority from loss. No building is to be erected on any allotment other than a tool-house, pig-sty, shed, or the like. In the Allotment Acts of 1887 and 1892 (Scotland) the definition is applied to a plot of land not exceeding 1 acre, but the Local Government Act of 1894 authorized the letting of an allotment up to the area of 4 acres to one person, while the Small Holdings and Allotments Act of 1907 definitely extends the limit of an allotment to 5 acres. The distinction between allotments and small holdings has therefore been obliterated, at least as far as England and Wales are concerned. County councils will let plots of 1 to 5 acres as small holdings, and parish councils as allotments. During the European War 183,000 allotments were registered under the Cultivation of Lands Order, and the number of allotments in Great Britain not exceeding 1 acre now amounts to over 1,000,000. In proportion to the total agricultural area or population it is much smaller in Scotland than in England. The rents of allotments vary greatly, and near towns, or even villages, they are very high, often from L4 to L8 per acre. A measure corresponding to the English Small Holdings and Allotments Act of 1907 was passed for Scotland in 1911, and came into operation in 1912. In recent years a large number of co-operative allotment associations have come into existence.

ALLOT'ROPY (Gr. _allos_, other, _tropos_, manner), a term used by Berzelius to express the fact that one and the same element may exist in different forms, differing widely in external physical properties. Thus carbon occurs as the diamond, and as charcoal and plumbago, and is therefore regarded as a substance subject to allotropy.

AL'LOWAY, a parish of Scotland, now included in Ayr parish. Here Burns was born in 1759, and the "auld haunted kirk", near his birthplace, was the scene of the dance of witches in _Tam o' Shanter_.

ALLOY' is the substance produced by melting together two or more metals. Sometimes a chemical compound is formed, but more generally one metal is interspersed throughout the other, much as sugar is through water in which it is dissolved. In this case the alloy is called a 'solid solution' of one metal in another. Many metals mix together in all proportions, others only in certain proportions, while some will not mix in any proportion.

Scientific research has led to great advances in the use of alloys industrially. An alloy differs from its components in most of its physical properties, such as its hardness, ductility, strength, melting-point, and colour. The minutest trace of certain metals frequently produces an extraordinary change in the property of the body with which it is mixed. For instance, if bismuth is present in copper to the extent of more than 0.5 per cent, the copper cannot be used successfully in the construction of electrical machinery. Frequently the addition of a small proportion of a metal produces highly-desirable effects in one direction, but is deleterious in other directions. For instance, the presence of a small amount of manganese in cast-iron gives clean castings, but the magnetic qualities of the material are impaired.

Alloys are classified as ferrous and non-ferrous alloys.

_Ferrous Alloys._--These alloys are of great industrial importance, as they include cast irons and steels. Pure iron is very little used in industry. Ordinary _cast iron_ contains iron and about 3 per cent of carbon. The ordinary wrought iron of the blacksmith contains less than 0.25 per cent of carbon. Cast iron is brittle, and unreliable when used to sustain tensile stresses, and it cannot be forged; but wrought iron can be safely used in tension, is not brittle, and can be forged. The raw material from which steel is made is cast iron or wrought iron. (For manufacture of steel see _Steel_.) The properties of steel can be varied within very wide limits by adding to it traces of certain metals. For instance, the addition of nickel up to 5 per cent makes the steel much stronger and tougher; the addition of tungsten up to about 19 per cent makes it hard (tool-steel, magnet steel), while molybdenum has a similar effect. Chromium and vanadium have a 'stabilizing' effect, i.e. tend to make large masses of the alloy homogeneous, and to make the alloy retain its hardness over wide ranges of temperature. Cobalt has a similar stabilizing effect. Molybdenum high-speed steel is more expensive than tungsten high-speed steel, but is said to wear better.

_Non-ferrous Alloys._--Of the non-ferrous alloys the most important have copper as the basic metal. They do not become rusty on exposure. Copper, when used for electrical purposes, must be nearly pure. It is deposited electrolytically (see _Electrolysis_) and then made into bars (electrolytic copper).

_Brass_ is an alloy of copper and zinc and varies much in composition. The best-known varieties are:--

Best brass Copper 70%, Zinc 30%. Admiralty brass Copper 70%, Zinc 29%, Tin 1%. Ordinary brass Copper 67%, Zinc 30%, Lead 3%.

Gun-metal is a mixture of copper, tin, and zinc. The standard Admiralty mixture is copper 88, tin 10, zinc 2. It possesses a tensile strength of 14 tons per sq. inch.

_Bronzes._--The bronzes are alloys of copper, with zinc or tin mainly. They can be cast easily, and when heated to a dull red the metal can be forged, stamped, rolled, pressed, or extruded. They are largely free from corrosion.

_Phosphor Bronze._--This is a specially strong bronze. A typical composition is copper 89.5, tin 10, phosphorus 0.5. The tensile strength is higher than that of pure copper or brass (about 15 tons per sq. inch), and it has about one-half the electrical conductivity of pure copper. It is used for small castings, and it can be drawn into wire, which is used in alternating-current electric-railway construction for the overhead conductor.

_Delta metals_ are bronzes of specially high tensile strength (30-50 tons per sq. inch).

_Manganese bronzes_ are bronzes of high tensile strength and ductility, and are largely used for marine propellers. Manganese bronze is not affected by sea-water. It usually contains copper, zinc, and manganese, with a little aluminium and tin.

A recently-discovered copper alloy is known as _monel metal_. It is a naturally-occurring alloy of copper, nickel, iron, and manganese (copper 27-29 per cent, nickel 68-70 per cent, iron and manganese 4-5 per cent), and possesses, roughly, the qualities of a mild steel and copper. It has a high tensile strength, which it retains over a wide range of temperature change. It is ductile, is not affected by immersion in sea-water, and can be machined. It is used for pump-valves, pump-pistons, turbine blading, &c.

In the British silver coinage silver is alloyed with 7.5 per cent copper, which renders it harder and more durable. British gold coinage contains 8.3 per cent of copper.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Law, _Alloys_; Osmond and Stead, _Microscopic Analysis of Metals_; Mellor, _Crystallization of Iron and Steel_; Desch, _Metallography_.

ALL SAINTS' DAY, a festival of the Christian Church, instituted in 835, and celebrated on 1st Nov. in honour of the saints in general.

ALL SOULS' COLLEGE, a college of Oxford University, founded in 1437 by Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury. Attached to it are the Chichele Professorship of International Law and the Chichele Professorship of Modern History.

ALL SOULS' DAY, a festival of the Roman Catholic Church, instituted in 998, and observed on 2nd Nov. for the relief of souls in purgatory.

[Illustration: Allspice (_Myrtus Pimenta_)]

ALLSPICE ([a:]l'sp[=i]s), or PIMENTA, is the dried and ground berry of a West Indian species of myrtle (_Myrtus Pimenta_), a beautiful tree with white and fragrant aromatic flowers and leaves of a deep shining green. The tree is often 30 feet high, and may yield 150 lb. of raw berries, equivalent to 100 lb. of dried spice. Pimenta is thought to resemble in flavour a mixture of cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, whence the popular name of _allspice_; it is also called Jamaica pepper, the trees being cultivated there extensively. It is employed in cookery, also in medicine as an agreeable aromatic, and forms the basis of a distilled water, a spirit, and an essential oil.

ALL'STON ([:a]l'stun), Washington, an American painter, born 1779, died 1843. He studied in London and Rome, and is most celebrated for his pictures on scriptural subjects. Among his pictures _The Angel Uriel_ is at Stafford House; _The Prophet Jeremiah_ at Yale College, Newport. A portrait of Coleridge by Allston is in the National Gallery. He also wrote poems and a tragical romance (_Monaldi_).

ALLU'VIUM (Lat. _alluvium_--_ad_, to, and _luo_, to wash), deposits of soil collected by the action of water, such as are found in valleys and plains, consisting of loam, clay, gravel, &c., washed down from the higher grounds. Great alterations are often produced by alluvium--deltas and whole islands being often formed by this cause. Much of the rich land along the banks of rivers is alluvial in its origin. There are great tracts of alluviums lying along the banks of the Derwent, the Ouse, and the Trent, and the Romney Marsh of Kent along the banks of the Thames.

ALLYGURH. See _Aligarh_.

ALMA, a small river of Russia, in the Crimea, celebrated from the victory gained by the allied British and French over the Russians, 20th Sept., 1854.

AL'MACK'S, the name formerly given to certain assembly-rooms in King Street, St. James's, London, derived from Almack, a tavern-keeper, by whom they were built, and whose real name is said to have been McCall, of which Almack is an anagram; afterwards called _Willis's Rooms_. They were first opened about 1770, and became famous for the extreme exclusiveness displayed by the lady patronesses in regard to the admission of applicants for tickets to the balls held here--only those of the most assured social standing being admitted. They were turned into a restaurant in 1890.

ALMA'DA, a town of Portugal, on the Tagus, opposite Lisbon. Pop. 7913.

AL'MADEN, a place in California, United States, about 60 miles S.E. of San Francisco, with rich quicksilver-mines, the product of which has been largely employed in gold and silver mining.

ALMADEN', a town of Spain, province of Ciudad-Real, celebrated both in ancient and modern times for its mines of quicksilver (in the form of cinnabar). Pop. 7410.

ALMADEN PROCESS. See _Mercury_.

AL'MAGEST (Ar. _al_, the, and Gr. _megist[=e]_, greatest, _sc._ 'treatise') the name of a celebrated astronomical work composed by Claudius Ptolemy.

ALMA'GRO, an old town of Spain, province of Ciudad-Real (New Castile), with important lace manufactures. Pop. 7700.

ALMA'GRO, Diego de, Spanish 'Conquistador', a foundling, born in 1475, killed 1538. He took part with Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, and after frequent disputes with Pizarro about their respective shares in their conquests led an expedition against Chile, which he failed to conquer. On his return a struggle took place between him and Pizarro, in which Almagro was finally overcome, taken prisoner, strangled, and afterwards beheaded. He was avenged by his son, born in 1520, who raised an insurrection, in which Pizarro was assassinated, in 1541. The younger Almagro was put to death at Cuzco in 1542 by De Castro, the new Viceroy of Peru.

ALMALEE', a town of Asia Minor, 50 miles from Adalia, with thriving manufactures and a considerable trade. Pop. 3500.

AL'MA MA'TER (Lat., fostering or bounteous mother), a term familiarly applied to their own university by those who have had a university education.

AL-MAMUN (m[.a]-m[:o]n'), a caliph of the Abasside dynasty, son of Harun-al-Rashid, born 786, died 833. Under him Bagdad became a great centre of art and science.