vengeance, he must reside in a land which was not in existence when he was cursed by his mother. He at last found rest, for a short time, on an island in the river Achelous, where he married Callirrhoë, the daughter of the god of the river, after repudiating his former wife, Arsinoe. But he did not long enjoy peace. At the request of his wife, he attempted to recover the fatal necklace of Hermione from his former father-in-law, the priest Phlegeus, who caused him to be murdered by his sons.

ALCMAN; a Grecian poet, son of a Spartan slave, born at Sardis, in Lydia, about 670 years B. C. He seems to have lived, for the most part, in Sparta, where he obtained the rights of citizenship. He sang hymns, pæans and other lyrical poems, in the Doric dialect, and gave their polished form to these higher kinds of poetry. His remaining works were collected by F. Th. Welcker (Giessen, 1815, 4to).

ALCMENA; the daughter of Electryon, and wife of Amphitryon. Jupiter loved her, and deceived her by assuming the form of her husband. From this connexion, which continued for 3 nights, sprang Hercules.

ALCOHOL; the purely spirituous part of all liquors that have undergone the vinous fermentation, and derived from none but such as are susceptible of it. As a chemical agent, it is of the highest importance, involving in its various combinations all the grand principles of chemistry. It has been found that spirit of wine, of sp. gr. ,867, when enclosed in a bladder, and exposed for some time in the air, is converted into alcohol of sp. gr. ,817, the water only escaping through the coats of the bladder.-Alcohol, obtained by slow and careful distillation, is a limpid, colorless liquid, of an agreeable smell, and a strong, pungent flavor. Its specific gravity varies with its purity, the purest obtained by rectification over chloride of calcium being ,791; as it usually occurs, it is,820 at 60°. If rendered as pure as possible by simple distillation, it can scarcely be obtained of a lower specific gravity than ,825 at 60°.-Mr. Hutton is said to have succeeded in freezing alcohol, but the fact is regarded as doubt ful, as the means by which he effected its congelation were never disclosed. Mr. Walker exposed it to a temperature of -91°, but no congelation took place; it has, therefore, been much used in the construction of thermometers. Even when diluted with an equal weight of water, it requires a cold of 6o below 0 to congeal

it. When of a specific gravity of,825, it boils at the temperature of 176°, the barometrical pressure being 30 inches. In the vacuum of an air-pump it boils at common temperatures. The specific gravity of the vapor of alcohol, compared with atmospheric air, is 4,613.-Alcohol may be mixed in all proportions with water, and the specific gravity of the mixture is greater than the mean of the two liquids, in consequence of a diminution of bulk that occurs on mixture.-The strength of such spirituous liquors as consist of little else than water and alcohol, is of course ascertained by their specific gravity; and, for the purpose of levying duties upon them, this is ascertained by the hy drometer. But the only correct mode of ascertaining the specific gravity of liquids, is by weighing them in a delicate balance against an equal volume of pure water, of a similar temperature.-Alcohol is extremely inflammable, and burns with a pale-blue flame, scarcely visible in bright day-light. It occasions no fuliginous deposition upon substances held over it, and the products of its combustion are carbonic acid and water, the weight of the water considerably exceeding that of the alcohol consumed. According to Sausere, jun. 100 parts of alcohol afford, when burned, 136 parts of water. The steady and uniform heat, which it gives during combustion, makes it a valuable material for lamps.-The action between alcohol and some of the metals, particularly platinum, is remarkable. When a small piece of thin platinum leaf, suspended by a wire, is heated by a spirit lamp, and then quickly put into a glass, in which there is a little alcohol, so that it shall remain just over the surface, and of course in the vapor arising from the alcohol, it continues red-hot, as long as there is any fluid in the jar; which is owing to the va por undergoing a sort of combustion, and generating heat sufficient to keep the metal in that state. This action affords the means of making a lamp without flame.-There are some substances which communicate color to the flame of alcohol; from boracic acid, it acquires a greenish-yellow tint; nitre and the soluble salts of baryta cause it to burn yellow, and those of strontia give it a beautiful rose color; cupreous salts impart a fine green tinge.-Alcohol dissolves pure soda and potassa, but it does not act upon their carbonates; consequently, if the latter be mixed with alcohol containing water, the liquor separates into two portions, the upper being alcohol deprived, to a consider

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40,000 men, behind the Roer, and forded this river, March 1, in 2 columns, at Duren and Juliers. In the engagement which ensued, the French lost about 6000 men killed and wounded, and 4000 prisoners. On the following day, Aix la Chapelle and Liege were occupied, the siege of Maestricht raised, and the French actively pursued. At Neerwinden the French halted, and received a reënforcement, consisting of the corps destined to invade Holland, but were beaten here, March 18, a second time.

ALDER. The alder or owler (betula alnus) is a tree which grows in wet situations, and is distinguished by its flowerstalks being branched, its leaves being roundish, waved, serrated and downy at the branching of the veins beneath. It is common in Europe and Asia, and the United States of America. There are few means of better employing swampy and morassy grounds, than by planting them with alders; for, although the growth of these trees is not rapid, the uses to which they are applicable are such as amply to compensate for the slowness with which they come to perfection. The wood of the alder, which is in great demand for machinery, is frequently wrought into cogs for mill-wheels, as it is peculiarly adapted for all kinds of work which are to be kept constantly in water. It is consequently used for pumps, sluices, pipes, drains and conduits of different descriptions, and for the foundation of buildings situated in swamps. For these purposes, it has been much cultivated in Flanders and Holland. It is commonly used for bobbins, women's shoe-heels, ploughmen's clogs, and numerous articles of turnery ware. This wood also serves for many domestic and rural uses, for spinning-wheels, troughs, the handles of tools, ladders, cartwheels, &c. The roots and knots furnish a beautifully-veined wood, nearly of the color of mahogany, and well adapted for cabinet-work. The bark may be advantageously used in the operations of tanning and leather-dressing, and by fishermen for staining their nets. This and the young twigs are sometimes employred in dyeing, and yield different shades of yellow and red. The Laplanders chew the bark of the alder, and dye their leather garments red with the saliva thus produced. With the addition of copperas, it yields a black dye, used to a considerable extent in coloring cotton. In the Highlands of Scotland, we are informed that young branches of the alder, cut down in the summer, spread over the fields, and

left during the winter to decay, are found to answer the purpose of manure. The fresh-gathered leaves, being covered with a glutinous moisture, are said to be sometimes strewed upon floors to destroy fleas, which become entangled in it, as birds are with bird-lime.

ALDERMAN (aldor, elder, and man); among the ancient Saxons, the second order of nobility. It was synonymous with the Latin comes, the torla or jarl of the Danes (which after the Danish times superseded it), and the senior and major of the Franks. The aldermen were at first governors of counties, and were admitted into the wittenagemot, or great council of the nation; gave their consent to the public statutes; kept order among the freeholders at the county courts; in times of war, appeared at the head of the military forces of their shires, and were called dukes, or heretogen, (the Germ. herzog). They were at first appointed by the king, and were afterwards elected by the freeholders of the shire; at first the office was during good behavior, but finally became hereditary. Aldermen, at present, are officers associated with the mayor of a city, for the administration of the municipal government, both in England and the United States. In some places, they act as judges in certain civil and criminal cases. In London, there are 26 aldermen, who preside over the 26 wards of the city, and from whose num ber the mayor is elected annually.

ALDHELM. (See Adhelm.)

ALDERNEY; an island on the coast of Normandy, about 8 miles in circumference. Though within 7 miles of cape la Hogue, it is subject to the crown of Great Britain. With Guernsey, Jersey and Sark, it forms the only part of the possessions of William the Conqueror that now remain under the government of England. A. is about 30 miles from the nearest part of the English coast, and about 18 from Guernsey. The race of A. is a name given to the strait running between the coast of France and this island. The town of this name, about 2 miles from the harbor, is but poorly built, and contains about 1000 inhabitants. In stormy weather, the whole coast is dangerous, particularly from a ridge of rocks, called the Caskets, which form numerous eddies that have often proved fatal to mariners. The air is salubrious, the soil fertile and much cultivated; but the custom of gavelkind dividing the lands into small parts, keeps the people in a state of poverty. They send grain to England. În 1119,

Henry, duke of Normandy, son of king Henry I, with many nobles, was lost near this island; and in 1744, the Victory, of 116 guns, admiral sir John Balchen, with 1100 marines and sailors, was lost near the coast of A.

ALDINE EDITIONS; the name given to the works which proceeded from the press of the family of Aldus Manutius. (See Manutius.) Recommended by their intrinsic 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 editions of Greek and Roman classics, and some have not been printed again; as Rhetores Græci, Alexander Aphrodisiensis. The text of the modern classical authors printed by them, as Petrarca, Dante, Boccaccio and others, was critically revised from manuscripts. Generally speaking, their editions are distinguished for correctness, though their Greek classics are inferior, in this respect, to their Latin and Italian. These editions, especially those of Aldus Manutius, the father, are of importance in the history of printing. Aldus deserves much credit for his beautiful types. He had nine kinds of Greek types, and no one before him printed so much and so beautifully in this language. Of the Latin character he procured 14 kinds of type. Among the latter is the antiqua, with which Bembus de Etna, 1495, 4to., is printed; a very beautiful character. The Italic characters, invented and cut by Francesco of Bologna, and brought into use by Aldus, who employed them for the collection of editions of ancient and modern classics, in 8vo. (the first of which, Virgil, appeared in 1501), are less handsome; they are too stiff and angular, and faulty in a technical respect, on account of the many letters connected together. He had even three kinds of Hebrew types. He was no friend to ornaments of the capitals, roses, vignettes and the like. The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 1499, fol., is his only work furnished with ornaments of that kind and wood-cuts. His paper is invariably strong and white. He introduced the custom of striking off some copies of an edition on better, finer and whiter paper than the rest; first, in the Epistola Grace, 1499. He also first published single copies on large paper, in the edition of Philostratus, 1501. He printed also the first impressions on blue paper, beginning with some copies of the Libri de Re Rustica and Quinctilian, both in 1514. His impressions on parchment were em

inently beautiful. His ink is of excellent quality. At the same time, his prices were fair. His Aristotle, 5 vols. fol., cost only 11 ducats. The press sunk in reputation under the care of his son Paul, and his grandson Aldus. When it was broken up, in 1597, after a duration of 100 years, and after producing 908 editions, it was distinguished in nothing from other presses in the country. The Aldine editions, especially those of the father, were early sought for. The printers in Lyons, and the Giunti in Florence, in 1502, found it advantageous to publish inferior and spurious reprints. In modern times, they have been highly prized by scientific collectors. The Hora b. Mar. virg., of 1497 (lately sold for 100 ducats), the Virgil of 1501, and the Rhetores Græci, not to mention the very rare editions between 1494 and 1497, are particularly scarce and valuable. The bookseller and bibliographer Renouard, in Paris, and the grand duke of Tuscany, possess the most complete collections. Of the former's excellent work on the press of Aldus, a supplementary volume appeared in 1812. A list of all genuine Aldine editions is given in the appendix to the 1st vol. of Ebert's Bibliographical Lexicon.-See, also, Annales de l'Imprimerie des Aldes, ou Histoire des trois Manuce, et de leurs editions; par Ant. Aug. Renouard; second edit., Paris, 1825, 3 vols. 8vo.; and Repertorium Bibliographicum, in quo Libri omnes ab Arte Typographica inventa usque ad Annum MD. typis expressi, ordine Alphabetico enumerantur vel adcuratius recludentur; Opera L. Hain; Stuttgard. The second part of the first vol. of this work has been published quite recently.

ALDINI, Antony, was born in 1756, in Bologna; pursued there, and afterwards in Rome, the study of law; became professor of law in Bologna; was sent to Paris by his fellow-citizens, when his native town, in the days of the revolution, withdrew from the pope's dominion; and was afterwards a member of the council of elders who presided over the Cisalpine republic. In 1801, he became a member of the consulta of Lyons, and afterwards president of the council of state, from which he was excluded, at the instance of the vice-president, count Melzi. Napoleon appointed him, in 1805, secretary of state for the kingdom of Italy, with the title of count. He gained, in 1819, the confidence of the Austrian government, and now lives in Milan. He had built, with great expense, one of the most beautiful palaces in the park of Montmo

rency, near Paris, and adorned it with the finest productions of Italian art. It was injured so much at the second occupation of Paris, in 1815, that nothing could be done with it, except to sell it to the bande noire. (q. v.)

ALDOBRANDINI; the name of a princely family at Rome, celebrated in the history of art on account of an antique fresco, in their villa, representing a wedding, and called by the name of the Aldobrandine wedding. It was discovered in the time of Clement VIII, not far from the church Santa Maria Maggiore, in the district where, formerly, were the gardens of Maecenas, and carried thence into that villa. Winckelmann supposed it to be the wedding of Peleus and Thetis; the count Bondy, that of Manlius and Julia.Several scholars, also, of this name have distinguished themselves, especially Sylvester A., famous for his knowledge of law, and his brother Thomas, both in the 16th century.

ALDRED; abbot of Tavistock, and afterwards bishop of Worcester, 1046. He was the first English bishop who visited Jerusalem, and after his return was raised to the see of York, an elevation, which, when he appeared at Rome, the pope refused to ratify, on account of his ignorance and simony. A.'s solicitations, however, prevailed, and he received the pallium from the pontiff. On the death of Edward the Confessor, he crowned Harold, and afterwards the Conqueror, whose esteem he enjoyed, and whose power he made subservient to the views of the church. When he had received some indignities from a governor of York, he flew to London, and, with all the indignation and haughtiness of an offended prelate, demanded vengeance, and pronounced a curse on the head of William. His wrath was with difficulty pacified by the entreaties of the sovereign and his nobles, and the curse was recalled, and changed into a blessing. It is said that he died with grief, on seeing the north of England desolated by the ravages of Harold and Canute, sons of Sweyn, Sept. 11, 1068.

ALDUS. (See Manutius.)

ALE; a fermented liquor obtained from an infusion of malt; differing from beer chiefly in having a less proportion of hops. (See Brewing.) We first hear of ale in Egypt. The natives of Spain, the inhabitants of France, the aborigines of Britain and Germany, all used an infusion of barley; and it was called by the various names of calia and ceria in the first

country, cerevisia in the second, and cur mi in the two last; all literally signifying strong water. Tacitus, Diodorus Siculus and Pliny speak of this beverage as common among the nations just mentioned Henry's History of England (8vo. vol. ii. p. 364), Hume's Hist. (vol. ii. p. 224), and Pinkerton's Geography (vol. i. p. 65), give the history of this liquor in England. Dr. Stubbs (Phil. Trans. No. 27) says that ale may be preserved from turning sour on long voyages, by putting in every rundlet of five gallons, after being placed in a cask on board the ship, not to be moved again, two new-laid eggs whole. The value of this receipt, however, has been disputed. The duties on ale and beer make a considerable branch of the revenue of England. They were first imposed in 1643, and again during the reign of Charles II.

ALECTO. (See Furies.)

A-LEE; the situation of the helm when it is pushed down to the lee side of the ship, in order to put the ship about, or to lay her head to the windward.

ALEGAMBE, Philip; an author whose writings afford a great amount of information respecting the order of the Jesuits. He was a Jesuit, born at Brussels, 1592. His Bibliothèque des auteurs Jesuites was published at Antwerp, 1643; Vita P. Joannis Cardin. Lusitani ex Societ. Jesu, 12mo., Rome, 1649; Heröes et Victima Caritatis Societ. Jesu, 4to. Rome, 1658; Mortes illustres et gesta eorum de Societ Jesu, qui in Odium Fidei ab Hæreticis vel aliis occisi sunt, fol. Rome, 1657. died at Rome, 1652. He was for some time confessor of the emperor Ferdinand, and afterwards retained at Rome by the general of his order as secretary, to prepare the Latin despatches to Germany. The Bibliothèque, his chief work, was also published in Latin, Rome, 1675.

A.

ALEMANNI; that is, all men, or various sorts of men; the name of a military confederacy of several German tribes, which, at the commencement of the 3d century, approached the Roman territory. Their settlements extended, on the east side of the Rhine, from lake Constance, the Elbe and the Danube, to the Maine and the Lahn. Their neighbors on the east were the Suevi, and, farther on, the Burgundians. The principal tribes composing the Alemannic league were the Teucteri, Usipetes, Chatti and Vangiones. Caracalla first fought with them, on the southern part of the Rhine, in 211, but did not conquer them; Severus was likewise unsuccessful. Maximin was the first who