Part 29

ALTER'NATE, in botany, placed on opposite sides of an axis at a different level, as leaves.--_Alternate generation_, the reproduction of young not resembling their parents, but their grandparents, continuously, as in the jelly-fishes, &c. See _Generations, Alternation of_.

ALTERNATOR. See _Electricity_.

ALTHAE'A, a genus of plants. See _Hollyhock_ and _Marsh-mallow_.

ALTHORN, one of the instruments of the sax-horn family, the tenor sax-horn. See _Sax-horn_.

AL'TISCOPE, an instrument consisting of an arrangement of mirrors in a vertical framework, by means of which a person is enabled to overlook an object (a parapet, for instance) intervening between himself and any view that he desires to see, the picture of the latter being reflected from a higher to a lower mirror, where it is seen by the observer.

AL'TITUDE, in mathematics, the perpendicular height of the vertex or apex of a plane figure or solid above the base. In astronomy it is the vertical height of any point or body above the horizon. It is measured or estimated by the angle subtended between the object and the plane of the horizon, and may be either _true_ or _apparent_. The _apparent_ altitude is that which is obtained immediately from observation; the _true_ altitude, that which results from correcting the apparent altitude, by making allowance for parallax, refraction, &c. Altitude is one of the main determining influences of local climate. Its increase has the same effect on temperature as an increase of distance north or south of the equator.

ALTITUDE-AND-AZIMUTH INSTRUMENT. See _Altazimuth_.

ALTO, in music, the highest singing voice of a male adult, the lowest of a boy or a woman, being in the latter the same as _contralto_. The alto, or _counter-tenor_, is not a natural voice, but a development of the _falsetto_. It is almost entirely confined to English singers, and the only music written for it is by English composers. It is especially used in cathedral compositions and glees.

ALTOFTS, a town of England, West Riding of Yorkshire, on the south of the Calder, 3 miles north-east of Wakefield, with a fourteenth-century Gothic church, and extensive collieries adjoining. Pop. (1921), 5050 (urban district).

AL'TON, a town of England, in Hampshire, 16 miles north-east of Winchester, famous for its ale. Pop. (1921), 5580.

AL'TON, a town of the United States, in Illinois, on the Mississippi near the mouth of the Missouri, with a state penitentiary, several mills and manufactories, and in the neighbourhood limestone and coal. Pop. 23,783.

AL'TONA, an important commercial city of Schleswig-Holstein, on the right bank of the Elbe, adjoining Hamburg, with which it virtually forms one city. It is a free port, and its commerce, both inland and foreign, is large, being quite identified with that of Hamburg. Pop. (1919), 168,729.

ALTOO'NA, a town of the United States, in Pennsylvania, at the eastern base of the Alleghanies, 244 miles west of Philadelphia, with large machine-shops and locomotive factories. Pop. (1920), 60,331.

AL'TORF, a small town of Switzerland, capital of the canton of Uri beautifully situated, near the Lake of Lucerne, amid gardens and orchards, and memorable as the place where, according to legend, Tell shot the apple from his son's head. A colossal statue of Tell now stands here. The town possesses a beautiful church containing a remarkable organ and a picture by Van Dyck. Pop. 3837.

[Illustration: Alto-rilievo.--Soldiers of the Praetorian Guard, the personal body-guard of the Emperor Augustus (in the Louvre, Paris).]

ALTO-RILIEVO ([.a]l't[=o]-r[=e]-l[=e]-[=a]"vo), high relief, a term applied in regard to sculptured figures to express that they stand out boldly from the background, projecting more than half their thickness, without being entirely detached. In mezzo-rilievo, or middle relief, the projection is one-half, and in basso-rilievo, or bas-relief, less than one-half. Alto-rilievo is further distinguished from mezzo-rilievo by some portion of the figures standing usually quite free from the surface on which they are carved, while in the latter the figures, though rounded, are not detached in any part.

ALTOETTING ([.a]lt-eut'ing), a famous place of pilgrimage, in Bavaria, 52 miles E.N.E. of Munich, near the Inn, with an ancient image of the Madonna (the Black Virgin) in a chapel dating from 696, and containing a rich treasure in gold and precious stones; and another chapel in which Tilly was buried. Pop. 5408.

ALTRANST[:A]DT ([.a]lt'-r[.a]n-stet), a village of Saxony, where a treaty was concluded between Charles XII, King of Sweden, and Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, 24th Sept., 1706, by which the latter resigned the crown of Poland.

ALT'RINGHAM, or ALTRINCHAM, a town of England, in Cheshire, 8 miles south-west of Manchester, resorted to by invalids; large quantities of fruit and vegetables are raised; and there are several industrial works. Pop. 20,461. Also a parliamentary division of the county.

AL'TRUISM, a term first employed by the French philosopher Comte, to signify devotion to others or to humanity: the opposite of _selfishness_ or _egoism_. It was adopted by the English positivists and applied to sociological problems of the physical theory of organic evolution. Herbert Spencer gives considerable space to the discussion of altruism and egoism in his _Data of Ethics_.

ALTST[:A]TTEN ([.a]lt'stet-n), a town of Switzerland, canton St. Gall, in the valley of the Rhine, 10 miles south of the Lake of Constance, with manufactures of cotton and woollen goods. Pop. 8743.

ALTWASSER ([.a]lt'v[.a]s-[.e]r), a town of Prussia, in Silesia, 35 miles south-west of Breslau; here are made porcelain, machinery, iron, yarn, mirrors, &c. Pop. 17,321.

AL'UM, a well-known crystalline, astringent substance with a sweetish taste, a double sulphate of potassium and aluminium with water of crystallization; formula, K_2SO_4.Al_2(SO_4)_3.24 H_2O. It crystallizes in colourless regular octahedra. Its solution reddens vegetable blues. When heated, its water of crystallization is driven off, and it becomes light and spongy with slightly corrosive properties, and is used as a caustic under the name of _burnt alum_. Alum is prepared in Great Britain at Whitby from alum-slate--where it forms the cliffs for miles--and was once manufactured near Glasgow from bituminous alum-shale and slate-clay, obtained from old coal-pits. It is also prepared near Rome from alum-stone. Common alum is strictly _potash_ alum; other two varieties are _soda_ alum and _ammonia_ alum, both similar in properties. _Iron alum_ (pale mauve) and _chrome alum_ (deep purple) are compounds containing iron and chromium in place of aluminium. Alum is employed to harden tallow, to remove grease from printers' cushions and blocks in calico manufactories, and in dyeing as a mordant. It is also largely used in the composition of crayons, in tannery, and in medicine (as an astringent and styptic). Wood and paper are dipped in a solution of alum to render them less combustible.

ALUMBAGH (_a_-l_a_m-b[:a]g'), a palace and connected buildings in Hindustan, about 4 miles south of Lucknow. On the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny it was occupied by the revolted sepoys, and converted into a fort. On the 23rd Sept., 1857, it was captured by the British, and during the following winter a British garrison, under Sir James Outram, held out there, though repeatedly attacked by overwhelming numbers of the rebels, till in March, 1858, it was finally relieved. Sir Henry Havelock was buried within the grounds.

ALU'MINA (Al_2O_3), the single oxide of the metal aluminium. As found native it is called corundum, when crystallized ruby or sapphire, when amorphous emery. It is next to the diamond in hardness. In combination with silica it is one of the most widely distributed of substances, as it enters in large quantity into the composition of granite, traps, slates, schists, clays, loams, and other rocks. The porcelain clays and kaolins contain about half their weight of this earth, to which they owe their most valuable properties. It forms compounds with certain colouring matters, which causes it to be employed in the preparation of the colours called _lakes_ in dyeing and calico-printing. It combines with the acids and forms numerous salts, the most important of which are the sulphate (see _Alum_) and acetate, the latter of extensive use as a mordant.

ALUMIN'IUM (symbol Al, atomic weight 27.1), a metal discovered in 1827, but nowhere found native, although its oxide, alumina (which see), is abundantly distributed. The minerals _bauxite_ and _cryolite_ are sources of aluminium, but the chief source is the pure oxide, from which the metal is obtained by means of a strong electric current. It is a shining white metal, of a colour between that of silver and platinum, very light (specific gravity, 2.56 cast, 2.67 hammered), not liable to tarnish nor undergo oxidation in the air, very ductile and malleable, and remarkably sonorous. It forms several useful alloys with iron and copper; one of the latter (_aluminium gold_) much resembles gold, and is made into cheap trinkets. Another, known as _aluminium bronze_, possesses great hardness and tenacity. Spoons, tea and coffee pots, dish-covers, musical and mathematical instruments, trinkets, &c., are made of aluminium.

ALUM-ROOT, the name given in America to two plants from the remarkable astringency of their roots, which are used for medical purposes: _Ger[=a]nium macul[=a]tum_ and _Heuch[)e]ra americ[=a]na_ (nat. ord. Saxifragaceae).

ALUM-SLATE, or ALUM-SCHIST, a slaty rock from which much alum is prepared; colour greyish, bluish, or iron-black; often possessed of a glossy or shining lustre; chiefly composed of clay (silicate of alumina), with variable proportions of sulphide of iron (iron-pyrites), lime, bitumen, and magnesia.

ALUM-STONE. See _Alunite_.

ALUNITE, a mineral sulphate of aluminium and potassium, greyish or yellowish white, from which alum is prepared in Sicily by roasting and lixiviation. It is regarded as a possible source of potassium for agriculture and also of aluminium. A considerable vein occurs in Utah.

ALUN'NO, Niccolo (real name NICCOLO DE LIBERATORE), an Italian painter of the fifteenth century, the founder of the Umbrian School, born in Foligno about 1430, died 1502. Vasari, interpreting wrongly the passage "Nicholaus alumnus Fulginiae", gave him the name of Alunno.

AL'VA, a town of Scotland, in Clackmannanshire, 2-1/2 miles north of Alloa, near the River Devon, at the foot of the Ochils. It manufactures woollen shawls, tweeds, yarn, &c. Pop. (1921), 4107.

AL'VA, or AL'BA, Ferdinand Alvarez, Duke of, Spanish statesman and general under Charles V and Philip II, was born in 1508; early embraced a military career, and fought in the wars of Charles V in France, Italy, Africa, Hungary, and Germany. He is more especially remembered for his bloody and tyrannical government of the Netherlands (1567-73), which had revolted, and which he was commissioned by Philip II to reduce to entire subjection to Spain. Among his first proceedings was to establish the 'Council of Blood', a tribunal which condemned, without discrimination, all whose opinions were suspected, and whose riches were coveted. The present and absent, the living and the dead, were subjected to trial and their property confiscated. Many merchants and mechanics emigrated to England; people by hundreds of thousands abandoned their country. The Counts of Egmont and Horn, and other men of rank, were executed, and William and Louis of Orange had to save themselves in Germany. The most oppressive taxes were imposed, and trade was brought completely to a standstill. As a reward for his services to the faith the Pope presented him with a consecrated hat and sword, a distinction previously conferred only on princes. Resistance was only quelled for a time, and soon the provinces of Holland and Zealand revolted against his tyranny. A fleet which was fitted out at his command was annihilated, and he was everywhere met with insuperable courage. Hopeless of finally subduing the country he asked to be recalled, and accordingly, in Dec., 1573, Alva left the country, in which, as he himself boasted, he had executed 18,000 men. He was received with distinction in Madrid, but did not long enjoy his former credit. He had the honour, however, before his death (which took place in 1582) of reducing all Portugal to subjection to his sovereign. It is said of him that during sixty years of warfare he never lost a battle and was never taken by surprise.

ALVARADO ([.a]l-v[.a]-r[:a]'d[=o]), Pedro de, one of the Spanish 'conquistadores', was born towards the end of the fifteenth century, and died in 1541. Having crossed the Atlantic, he was associated (1519) with Cortez in his expedition to conquer Mexico; and was entrusted with important operations. In July, 1520, during the disastrous retreat from the capital after the death of Montezuma, the perilous command of the rear-guard was assigned to Alvarado. On his return to Spain he was received with honour by Charles V, who made him governor of Guatemala, which he had himself conquered. To this was subsequently added Honduras. He continued to add to the Spanish dominions in America till his death.

ALVAREZ ([.a]l-v[.a]-reth'), Don Jose, a Spanish sculptor, born 1768, died 1827. His works are characterized by truth to nature, dignity, and feeling, one of the chief representing a scene in the defence of Saragossa. The Museo del Prado, in Madrid, contains some of his finest work.

ALVE'OLUS, one of the sockets in which the teeth of mammals are fixed. Hence _alveolar arches_, the parts of the jaws containing these sockets.

ALVERSTOKE. See _Gosport_.

ALVERSTONE, Richard Everard Webster, first Viscount, eminent English lawyer, born in 1842, died in 1915. Educated at King's College School, the Charterhouse, and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was called to the bar in 1868, and made Q.C. in 1878. He was Member of Parliament for Launceston for a short time in 1885, and from that year to 1900 represented the Isle of Wight. He was Attorney-General from 1885-6, 1886-92, and 1895-1900, being then made Lord Chief Justice and elevated to the peerage: he had been created a baronet in 1899. He represented Britain in the arbitration with the United States regarding the Behring Sea (1893), in the affair of the Venezuelan and Guiana boundary (1898-9), and was one of three British commissioners who, with three from the United States, settled the Canada and Alaska boundary in 1903. Upon retiring in 1913 he was created viscount. His book _Recollections of Bar and Bench_ was published in 1914.

ALWAR (_a_l-w_a_r'), a State of north-western Hindustan, in Rajputana; area, 3141 sq. miles; surface generally elevated and rugged, and much of it of an arid description, though water is generally found on the plains by digging a little beneath the surface, and the means of irrigation being thus provided, the soil, though sandy, is highly productive. This semi-independent State has as its ruler a rajah with a revenue of L232,000; military force, about 5000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. Pop. 791,688.--_Alwar_, the capital, is situated at the base of a rocky hill crowned by a fort, 80 miles S.S.W. of Delhi. It is surrounded by a moat and rampart, and is poorly built, but has fine surroundings; it contains the rajah's palace and a few other good buildings. Pop. 41,305.

ALYS'SUM (_A. saxatile_, L.), a native of Crete, a genus of cruciferous plants, several species of which are cultivated on account of their white or yellow coloured flowers; madwort.

ALYTH ([=a]'lith), a town of Scotland, Perthshire, near the eastern boundary, with linen and jute manufactures. Pop. (1921), 1710.

AMAD'AVAT (_Estrilda amand[=a]va_), a small Indian singing bird allied to the finches and buntings; the female is olive-brown, and the male, in summer, largely crimson.

AMADE'US, the name of several counts of Savoy. The first was the son of Humbert I, and succeeded him in 1048, dying about 1078; others who have occupied an important place in history are the following:--AMADEUS V, 'the Great', succeeded in 1285; gained great honour in defending Rhodes against the Turks; increased his possessions by marriage and war; was made a prince of the empire; died in 1323.--AMADEUS VIII succeeded his father, Amadeus VII, in 1391, and had his title raised to that of duke by the Emperor Sigismund. He was chosen regent of Piedmont; but after this elevation retired from his throne and family into a religious house. He now aspired to the papacy, and was chosen by the Council of Basel (1439), becoming Pope, or rather anti-Pope, under the name of Felix V, though he had never taken holy orders. He was recognized as Pope by only a few princes, and resigned in 1449, being the last of the anti-Popes. He died in 1451.

AMADE'US, Duke of Aosta, for a short time King of Spain, second son of Victor Emanuel of Italy, and brother of Humbert I, King of Italy. He was born in 1845, and, thanks to the influence of Marshals Prim and Serrano, was chosen by the Cortes King of Spain in 1870, Queen Isabella having had to leave the country in 1868. He made his entrance into Madrid as king on 2nd Jan., 1871, and took the oath to the constitution. His position was far from comfortable, however, and, having little hope of becoming acceptable to all parties, he abdicated in 1873 (11th Feb.). He died in 1890.

AMADE'US, Lake, a large salt lake or salt swamp in South Australia, and nearly in the centre of Australia. It was discovered by Giles in 1872, and is seldom visited, being in a dreary, arid region.

AM'ADIS, a name belonging to a number of heroes in the romances of chivalry, Amadis de Gaul being the greatest among them, and represented as the progenitor of the whole. The Spanish series of Amadis romances is the oldest. It is comprised in fourteen books, of which the first four narrate the adventures of Amadis de Gaul, this portion of the series having originated about the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, and the subsequent books being added by various hands. An abridged English translation of _Amadis of Gaul_ was published by Southey in 1803.

AMADOU (am'a-d[:o]), a name of several fungi, genus Polyp[)o]rus, of a leathery appearance, growing on trees. See _German Tinder_.

AMAGER ([.a]m'a-ger), a small Danish island in the Sound, opposite Copenhagen, part of which is situated on it. Rural pop. 25,000.

AMAKO'SA, one of the Kaffir tribes of S. Africa.

AMALASUN'THA, daughter of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, and after his death regent of Italy for her son Athalarich. Athalarich died in 534, after which Amalasuntha married her cousin Theodahad, but retained the power in her own hands. Mainly on this account she was imprisoned and strangled in her bath by order of her second husband, A.D. 535.

AMAL'EKITES, an ancient tribe occupying the peninsula between Egypt and Palestine, named after a grandson of Esau. They were denounced by Moses for their hostility to the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness, and they seem to have been all but exterminated by Saul and David. The Kenites seem to have been a branch of the Amalekites.

AMAL'FI, a seaport in Southern Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno, 23 miles from Naples, the seat of an archbishop. In the early part of the Middle Ages it was a place of great commercial importance, and it long enjoyed a republican constitution of its own. Quarrels with its neighbours, encroachments of the sea, and other causes led to its downfall, but it is still much visited by tourists. The road from Salerno to Amalfi is a magnificent carriage-way, partly hewn in the cliffs, and affords charming views. Amalfi is surrounded by rocky heights, and its harbour was choked up by a landslip in 1900. Here arose the _Amalfian Code_ of maritime law, composed in 1010 and containing 66 articles, which once had great influence in the maritime affairs of the Mediterranean trading peoples. The MS. was discovered by the Prince of Andorra, in 1844, in the imperial library at Vienna. Pop. 7472.

AMAL'GAM, a name applied to the alloys of mercury with the other metals. One of them is the amalgam of mercury with tin, which is used to silver looking-glasses. Mercury unites very readily with gold and silver at ordinary temperatures, and advantage is taken of this to separate them from their ores, the process being called _amalgamation_. The mercury dissolves and combines with the precious metal and separates it from the waste matters, and is itself easily driven off by heat. An amalgam made of cadmium and copper is frequently used in dentistry, and an amalgam of zinc and tin is used for the rubbers of frictional electric machines.

[Illustration: Amanita.--Two forms of fly-agaric]

AMANI'TA, a genus of fungi, one species of which, _A. musc[=a]ria_, or fly-agaric, is extremely poisonous.

AMA'NUS, a branch of the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor.

AMAPALA ([.a]-m[.a]-p[:a]'l[.a]), a seaport of Central America, State of Honduras, on a small island.

AMARANTHA'CEAE, the amaranths, a nat. ord. of apetalous plants, chiefly found in tropical countries, where they are often troublesome weeds. They are remarkable for the white or sometimes reddish scales of which their flowers are composed. Amaranthus, the typical genus, comprises _A. caud[=a]tus_, or love-lies-bleeding, a common plant in gardens, with pendulous racemes of crimson flowers; and _A. hypochondri[)a]cus_, or prince's feather. The blossoms keep their bloom after being plucked and dried (hence the name: Gr. _a_, not, and _marain[=o]_, to wither).

AMARAPURA (_a_-m_a_-r_a_-p[:o]'r_a_), a deserted city, once the capital of the Burmese Empire, on the left bank of the Irawadi, quite close to Mandalay. In 1810, when the city had about 175,000 inhabitants, it was completely destroyed by fire; in 1839 it was visited by a destructive earthquake. In 1857 the seat of government was removed to Mandalay. Pop. 6500.

AMARYLLIDA'CEAE, an order of monocotyledonous plants, generally bulbous, occasionally with a tall, cylindrical, woody stem (as in Agave); with a highly-coloured flower, six stamens, and an inferior three-celled ovary; natives of Europe and most of the warmer parts of the world. The order includes the snowdrop, the snow-flake, the daffodil, the belladonna-lily (belonging to the typical genus Amaryllis), the so-called Guernsey-lily (probably a native of Japan), the Brunsvigias, the blood-flowers (Haemanthus) of the Cape of Good Hope, different species of Narcissus, Agave (American aloe), &c. Many are highly prized in gardens and hot-houses; the bulbs of some are extremely poisonous.

AMASIA ([.a]-m[.a]-s[=e]'[.a]), a town in the north of Asia Minor, on the Irmak, 60 miles from the Black Sea, surmounted by a rocky height in which is a ruined fortress; has numerous mosques, richly-endowed Mahommedan schools, and a trade in wine, silk, &c. Amasia was a residence of the ancient kings of Pontus. A few miles from Amasia, on the road leading to Zilleh, is the famous battle-field where Caesar defeated Pharnaces, King of Pontus, and whence he sent his famous message to Rome: _Veni, vidi, vici_. Pop. 30,000.

AMA'SIS, King of Egypt from 569 to 526 B.C., obtained the throne by rebelling against his predecessor and benefactor Apries, and is chiefly known from his friendship for the Greeks, and his wise government of the kingdom, which, under him, was in the most prosperous condition. He was succeeded by his son Psammetik.

AMATI ([.a]-m[:a]'t[=e]), a family, almost a dynasty, of Cremona who manufactured violins in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Andrea (about 1540-1600) was the founder of the business, which was carried on by his sons Geronimo and Antonio, and by Niccolo the son of Geronimo. The first instrument signed Amati bears the date 1546. Most of the violins made by them are of comparatively small size and flat model, and the tone produced by the fourth or G string is somewhat thin and sharp. Many of Niccolo Amati's violins are, however, of a larger size and have all the fulness and intensity of tone characteristic of those manufactured by Stradivario and Guarnerio.

AMATIT'LAN, a town in Central America, State of Guatemala, about 15 miles south of the city of Guatemala, a busy modern town, the inhabitants of which are actively engaged in the cochineal trade. There is a small lake of the same name close to the town. Pop. 12,000.