Chapter CXIX: Act 1895: , may be given to a married woman on applying to (8)

Oleum Amygdalae, the fixed oil, is prepared from either variety of almond. If intended for internal use, it must, however, be prepared only from sweet almonds. It is a glyceryl oleate, with slight odour and a nutty taste. It is almost insoluble in alcohol but readily soluble in chloroform or ether. It may be used as a pleasant substitute for olive oil. The pharmacopoeial preparations of the sweet almond are used only as vehicles for other drugs. The sweet almond itself, however, has a special dietetic value. It contains practically no starch and may therefore be made into flour for cakes and biscuits for patients suffering from diabetes mellitus or any other form of glycosuria. It is a nutritious and very pleasant food.

There are numerous commercial varieties of sweet almond, of which the most esteemed is the Jordan almond, imported from Malaga. Valentia almonds are also valued. Fresh sweet almonds are nutritive and demulcent, but as the outer brown skin sometimes causes irritation of the alimentary canal, they are blanched by removal of this skin when used at dessert.

ALMONER (from Lat. eleemosynarius, through med. Lat. almosynarius, alnionarius, and Fr. almosnisr, almosnier, &c., mod. Fr. aumonier), in the primitive sense, an officer in religious houses to whom belonged the management and distribution of the alms of the house. By the ancient canons all monasteries were to spend at least a tenth part of their income in alms to the poor, and all bishops were required to keep almoners. Almoners, as distinct from chaplains, appear early as attached to the court of the kings of France; but the title of grand almoner of France first appears in the reign of Charles VIII. He was an important court official whose duties comprised the superintendence of the Chapel Royal and all the religious ceremonies of the court. He was a director of the great hospital for the blind (Quinize-Vingts), and nominated the regius professors and readers in the College de France. The office was revived by Napoleon I., was abolished in 1830, and again created by Napoleon III.; it existed till 1870. In England, the royal almonry still forms a part of the sovereign's household, the officers being the hereditary grand almoner (the marquess of Exeter), the lord high almoner, the sub-almoner, and the secretary to the lord high almoner. The office of hereditary grand almoner is now merely titular. The lord high almoner is an ecclesiastical officer, usually a bishop, who had the rights to the forfeiture of all deodands (q.v.) and the goods of a felo de se, for distribution among the poor. He had also, by virtue of an ancient custom, the power of giving the first dish from the king's table to whatever poor person he pleased, or, instead of it, alms in money, which custom is kept up by the lord high almoner distributing as many silver pennies as the sovereign has years of age to poor men and women on Maundy Thursday (q.v..)

ALMONRY (Lat. eleemosynarium, Fr. aumonorie, Ger. Almosenhaus), the name for the place or chamber where alms were distributed to the poor in churches or other ecclesiastical buildings. At Bishopstone church, Wiltshire, it is a sort of covered porch attached to the south transept, but not communicating with the interior of the church. At Worcester Cathedral the alms are said to have been distributed on stone tables, on each side, within the great porch. In large monastic establishments, as at Westminster, it seems to have been a separate building of some importance, either joining the gatehouse or near it, that the establishment might be disturbed as little as possible.

ALMORA, a town and district of British India, the chief town and administrative headquarters of the Kumaon division of the United Provinces, situated on a mountain-ridge of the Himalayas 5494 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1901) 8506. The town has a college called after Sir Henry Ramsay; a government high school; a Christian girls' school; and a large cantonment. The town was captured by the Gurkhas in 1790, who constructed a fort on the eastern extremity of the ridge. Another citadel, Fort Moira, is situated on the other extremity of the ridge. Almora is also celebrated as the scene of the British victory which terminated the war with Nepal in April 1815, and which resulted in the evacuation of Kumaon by the Gurkhas and the annexation of the province by the British.

The DISTRICT OF ALMORA was constituted in 1891, together with Naini Tal, by a redistribution of the two former districts of Kumaon and the Tarai. It lies among the mountains of Kumaon, between the upper waters of the Ganges and the Gogra, here called the Rali. Area, 5419 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 465,893, showing an increase of 13% during the decade. Tea is grown in the district, which includes the military sanatorium of Ranikliet. The nearest railway via Naini Tal is the extension of the Oudh and Rohilkhand line from near Bareilly to Kathgodam.

ALMORAVIDES (properly Murabtis, the name being corrupted through the Spanish), a Berber horde from the Sahara which, in the 11th century, founded the fourth dynasty in Morocco. By this dynasty the Moorish empire was extended over Tlemcen and a great part of Soam and Portugal. The name is derived from the Arab. Murabit, a religious ascetic (see MARABOUT.) The most powerful of the invading tribes was the Lamtuna (``veiled men'') from the upper Niger, whose best-known representatives now are the Tuareg. They had been converted to Mahommedanism in the early times of the Arab conquest, but their knowledge of Islam did not go much beyond the formula of the creed---``there is no god but God, and Mahomet is the apostle of God,''--and they were ignorant of the law. About the year 1040 or a little earlier, one of their chiefs, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, made the pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way home he attended the teachers of the mosque at Kairawan, in Tunisia, who soon learnt from him that his people knew little of the religion they were supposed to profess, and that though his will was good, his own ignorance was great. By the good offices of the theologians of Kairawan, one of whom was from Fez, Yahya was provided with a missionary,'Abd-Allah ibn Yazin, a zealous partisan of the Malokis, one of the four orthodox sects of Islam. His preaching was for long rejected by the Lamtunas, so on the advice of his patron Yahya, who accompanied him, he retired to an island in the Niger, where he founded a ribat or Moslem monastery, from which as a centre his influence spread. There was no element of heresy in his creed, which was mainly distinguished by a rigid formalism and strict obedience to the letter of the Koran and the orthodox tradition or Sunna. `Abd-Allah imposed a penitential scourging on all converts as a purification, and enforced a regular system of discipline for every breach of the law, even on the chiefs. Under such directions the Murabtis were brought to excellent order. Their first military leader, Yahya ibn Omar, gave them a good military organization. Their main force was infantry, armed with javelins in the front ranks and pikes behind, formed into a phalanx and supported by camelmen and horsemen on the flanks. From the year 1053 the Murabtis began to impose their orthodox and puritanical religion on the Berber tribes of the desert, and on the pagan negroes. Yahya was killed in battle in 1056, but `Abd-Allah, whose influence as a religious teacher was paramount, named his brother Abu Bakr as chief. Under him the Murabtis soon began to spread their power beyond the desert, and subjected the tribes of the Atlas. They then came in contact with the Berghwata, a Berber people of central Morocco, who followed a heresy founded by Salah ibn Tarif 300 years previously. The Berghwata made a fierce resistance, and it was in battle with them that `Abd-Allah ibn Yazin won the crown of martyrdom. They were, however, completely conquered by Abu Bakr, who espoused the defeated chief's widow, Zainab.

In 1061 Abu Bakr made a division of the power he had established, handing over the more settled parts to his cousin Yusef ibn Tashfin, as viceroy, resigning to him also his favourite wife Zainab, who had the reputation of a sorceress. For himself he reserved the task of suppressing the revolts which had broken out in the desert, but when he returned to resume control he found his cousin too powerful to be superseded, so he had to go back to the Sahara, where in 1087 he too attained martyrdom, having been wounded with a poisoned arrow in battle with the pagan negroes.

Ibn Tashfin, who was largely guided by Zainab, had in the meantime brought what is now known as Morocco to complete subjection, and in 1062 had founded the city of Marrakesh (``Morocco City''). He is distinguished as Yusef I. In 1080 he conquered the kingdom of Tlemcen and founded the present city of that name, his rule extending as far east as Oran. In 1086 he was invited by the Mahommedan princes in Spain to defend them against Alphonso VI., king of Castile and Leon. In that year Yusef passed the straits to Algeciras, and on the 23rd of October inflicted a severe defeat on the Christians at Sacrahas, or in Arabic, Zallaka, near Badajoz. He was debarred from following up his victory by trouble in Africa which he had to settle in person. When he returned to Spain in 1090 it was avowedly for the purpose of deposing the Mahommedan princes and annexing their states. He had in his favour the mass of the inhabitants, who were worn out by the oppressive taxation imposed by their spendthrift rulers. Their religious teachers detested the native Mahommedan princes for their religious indifference, and gave Yusef a fetwa---or legal opinion---to the effect that he had good moral and religious right to dethrone the heterodox rulers who did not scruple to seek help from the Christians whose bad habits they had adopted. By 1094 he had removed them all, and though he regained little from the Christians except Valencia, he reunited the Mahommedan power and gave a check to the reconquest of the country by the Christians. After friendly correspondence with the caliph at Bagdad, whom he acknowledged as Amir el Aluminin, ``Prince of the Faithful,'' Yusef in 1097 assumed the title of ``Prince of the Resigned''--- Amir el Muslimin. He died in 1106, when he was reputed to have reached the age of 100.

The Murabti power was at its height at Yusef's death, and the Moorish empire then included all North-West Africa as far as Algiers, and all Spain south of the Tagus, with the east coast as far as th mouth of the Ebro, and the Balearic Islands. Three years afterwards, under Yusef's son and successor, `Ali III. of Morocco, Madrid, Lisbon and Oporto were added, and Spain was again invaded in 1119 and 1121, but the tide had turned, the French having assisted the Aragonese to recover Saragossa. In 1138 `Ali III. was defeated by Alphonso VII. of Castile and Leon, and in 1139 by Alphonso I. of Portugal, who thereby won his crown, and Lisbon was recovered by the Portuguese in 1147. `Ali III. was a pious nonentity, who fasted and prayed while his empire fell to pieces under the combined action of his Christian foes in Spain and the agitation of the Muwahhadis or ``Almohades'' (q.v.) in Morocco. After `Ali's death in 1142, his son Tashfin lost ground rapidly before the Muwahhadis, and in 1145 he was killed by a fall from a precipice while endeavouring to escape after a defeat near Oran. His two successors Ibrahim and Ishak are mere names. The conquest of the city of Marrakesh by the Muwahhadis in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty, though fragments of the Murabtis continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in Tunisia.

The amirs of the Murabti dynasty were as follows:---Yusef I., bin Tashfin (1061); `Ali III. (1106); Tashfin I. (1143); Ibrahim II. (1145); Ishak (1146).

See Budgett Meakin, The Moorish Empire (London, 1899); the anonymous Raodel el Kartas (Fez. 1326), translated by Baymier as Roudh el-Kartas; (Paris, 1860); Ibn Khaldun, Kitab el `Aibr...fi Aiyam el Maghrib, &c. (cir. 1405), partly translated by de Slane as Histoire des Berbers, vol. ii. (Algiers, 1852-1856); Makkari, History of the Mahommedan Dynasties in Spain, translated by Gayangos (London, 1840); Histoire des Mussulmans d'Espagne, by R. Dozy, vol. iv. (Leiden, 1861). (B. M.*; D. H.)

ALMQVIST, KARL JONAS LUDWIG (1793-1866), Swedish writer, was born at Stockholm in 1793. He became a student at Upsala, where his father was professor of theology, in 1808, and took his degree in 1815. He began life under highly favourable auspices; but becoming tired of a university career, in 1823 he threw up the position he held in the capital to lead a colony of friends to the wilds of Wermland. This ideal Scandinavian life soon proved a failure; Almqvist found the pen easier to wield than the plough, and in 1828 he returned to Stockholm as a teacher in the new Elementary School there, of which he became rector in 1829. Now began his literary life; and after bringing out several educational works, he made himself suddenly famous by the publication of his great series of novels, called The Book of the Thorn-Rose (1832-1835). The career so begun developed with extraordinary rapidity; few writers have equalled Almqvist in productiveness and versatility; lyrical, epic and dramatic poems; romances; lectures; philosophical, aesthetical, moral, political and educational treatises; works of religious edification, studies in lexicography and history, in mathematics and philology, form the most prominent of his countless contributions to modern Swedish literature. So excellent was his style, that in this respect he has been considered the first of Swedish writers. His life was as varied as his work. Unsettled, unstable in all his doings, he passed from one lucrative post to another, at last subsisting entirely on the proceeds of literary and journalistic labour. More and more vehemently he espoused the cause of socialism in his brilliant novels and pamphlets; friends were beginning to leave him, foes beginning to triumph, when suddenly all minor criticism was silenced by the astounding news that Almqvist, convicted of forgery and charged with murder, had fled from Sweden. This occurred in 1851. For many years no more was heard of him; but it is now known that he went over to America and settled in St Louis. During a journey through Texas he was robbed of all his manuscripts, among which are believed to have been several unprinted novels. He is said to have appealed in person to President Lincoln, but the robbers could not be traced. The American adventures of Almquist remain exceedingly obscure, and some of the most remarkable have been proved to be fabulous. In 1865 he returned to Europe, and his strange and sinister existence came to a close at Bremen on the 26th of September 1866. It is by his romances, undoubtedly the best in Swedish, that his literary fame will mainly be supported; but his singular history will always point him out as a remarkable figure even when his works are no longer read. He was another Eugene Arara, but of greater genius, and so far more successful that he escaped the judicial penalty of his crimes. (E. G.)

ALMS, the giving of relief, and the relief given, whether in goods or money, to the poor, particularly applied to the charity bestowed under a sense of religious obligation (see CHARITY AND CHARITIES.) The word in O. Eng. was aelmysse, and is derived through the Teutonic adaptation (cf. the modern Ger. almosen ) of the Latinized form of the Gr. lleemosbne, compassion or mercy, from ileos, pity. The English word ``eleemosynary,'' that which is given in the way of alms, charitable, gratuitous, derives direct from the Greek. ``Alms'' is often, like ``riches,'' wrongly taken as a plural word.

ALMSHOUSE, a house built and endowed by private charity for the residence of poor and usually aged people. The greater portion were built after the Reformation. Two interesting examples are the Hospital of St Cross, near Winchester, founded in 1136, and Coningsby Hospital at Hereford, founded in 1614.

ALMUCE, or AMICE (O. Fr. aumuce, O. Eng. aumuce, amys, amess, &c., from late Lat. almucia, almucium, armucia. &c.), a hooded cape of fur, or fur-lined, worn as a choir vestment by certain dignitaries of the Western Church. The origin of the word almucium is a philological mystery. The al- is probably the Arabic article, since the word originated in the south (Sicilian almuziu, Prov. almussa, Span. almucio, &c.), but the derivation of the second part of the word from a supposed old Teutonic term for cap---Ger. Mutze, Dutch Mutsche, Scot. mutch (New Eng. Dict. s. ``Amice''; Diez, Worterbuch der rom. Sprachen) --is the exact reverse of the truth. The almuce was originally a head-covering only, worn by the clergy, but adopted also by the laity, and the German word Mutze, ``cap,'' is later than the introduction of the almuce in church, and is derived from it (M. H. G., 13th century, almutz; 14th century, armuz, aremuz, &c.; 15th century, mutz, mutze, &c.). The word mulzen, to dock, cut off, which first appears in the 14th century, does not help much, though the name of another vestment akin to the almuce---the mozzetta---has been by some traced to it through the Ital. mozzare and mozzo (but see below).

In numerous documents from the 12th to the 15th century the almucium is mentioned, occasionally as identical with the hood, but more often as a sort of cap distinct from it, e.g. in the decrees of the council of Sens (1485)---non caputia, sed almucia vel bireta tenentes in capito. By the 14th century two types of almucium were distinguished: (1) a cap coming down just over the ears; (2) a hood-like cap falling over the back and shoulders. This latter was reserved for the more important canons, and was worn over surplice or rochet in choir. The introduction. of the biretta (q.v.) in the 15th century tended to replace the use of the almuce as a head-covering, and the hood now became smaller, while the cape was enlarged till in some cases it fell below the elbows. Another form of almuce at this period covered the back. but was cut away at the shoulders so as to leave the arms free, while in front it was elongated into two stole-like ends. Almuces were occasionally made of silk or wool, but from the 13th century onward usually of fur, the hem being sometimes fringed with tails. Hence they were known in England as ``grey amices'' (from the ordinary colour of the fur), to distinguish them from the liturgical amice (q.v..) By the 16th century the almuce had become definitely established as the distinctive choir vestment Of canons; but it had ceased to have any practical use, and was often only carried over the left arm as a symbol of office. The almuce has now been almost entirely superseded by the mozzetta, but it is still worn at some cathedrals in France, e.g. Amiens and Chartres, at three churches in Rome, and in certain cathedrals elsewhere in Italy. The ``grey amice'' of the canons of St Paul's at London was put down in 1549, the academic hood being substituted. It was again put down in 1559, and was finally forbidden to the clergy of the English Church by the unratified canons of 1571 (Report of the sub-committee of Convocation, 1908).

See du Cauge, Glossarium, s. ``Almucia''; Joseph Braun, Die liturgische Gewandung, p. 359, &c. (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1907); also the bibliography to the article VESTMENTS.

ALNACE, or AULNAGE (from Fr. aune, ell), the official supervision of the shape and quality of manufactured woollen cloth. It was first ordered in the reign of Richard I. that ``woollen cloths, wherever they are made, shall be of the same width, to wit, of two ells within the lists, and of the same goodness in the middle and sides.'' This ordinance is usually known as the Assize of Measures or the Assize of Cloth. Article 35 of Magna Carta re-enacted the Assize of Cloth, and in the reign of Edward I. an oflicial called an ``alnager'' was appointed to enforce it. His duty was to measure each piece of cloth, and to affix a stamp to show that it was of the necessary size and quality. As, however, the diversity of the wool and the importation of cloths of various sizes from abroad made it impossible to maintain any specific standard of width, the rules as to size were repealed in 1353. The increased growth of the woollen trade, and the introduction of new and lighter drapery in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, compelled a revision of the old standards. A statute was passed in 1665 creating the office of alnager of the new drapery, and defining the sizes to which cloth should be woven. The object of the statute was to prevent people being deceived by buying spurious woollen cloth, and to provide against fraud and imposition. Owing to the introduction of the alternative standard, a distinction arose between ``broadcloth'' (cloth of two yards) and ``streit'' or ``strait'' (narrowcloth of one yard). The meaning now attached to broadcloth, however, is merely that of material of superior quality. Alnage duties and the office of alnager were abolished in 1699.

See W. J. Ashley, Economic History; and W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce.

ALNWICK, a market-town and the county-town of Northumberland, England, in the Berwick-upon-Tweed parliamentary division, 309 m. N. by W. from London, on a branch of the North Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6716. It is beautifully situated on the small river Aln, in a hilly district. Its history has left many marks. Dominating the town from an eminence above the south bank of the river stands the castle, held by the Percys since 1309, and long before this an important border stronghold. A gateway of c. 1350, a fine Norman arch of the middle of the 12th century, and the ancient well in the keep, are among noteworthy ancient portions; but the castle was extensively renovated and altered in the second half of the 18th century, while in 1854, when the lofty Prudhoe tower was built, a scheme of decoration in Italian style was adopted in the interior; so that the castle, though magnificent, has largely lost its historic character. It contains numerous fine examples of the works of Italian and other artists, and collections of British and Roman and Egyptian antiquities. In the beautiful park are a monument commemorating the capture of William the Lion of Scotland when besieging the town in 1174, two memorial towers, and a British stone chamber. Remains of the wall which formerly surrounded Alnwick are visible, and one of the four gates, the Bondgate, stands, dating from the early part of the 15th century. The church of St Michael has Norman remains, but is principally perpendicular; it contains several ancient monuments and incised slabs. The modern church of St Paul has a fine east window of German stained glass. Within the confines of the park are ruins of two abbeys. Alnwick Abbey was a Premonstratensian foundation of 1147; only a gateway tower stands, but the ground-plan was excavated in 1884 and is ourlined on the surface. At 3 m. from the town are more extensive remains of Hulne Abbey (1240), an early Carmelite monastery. The long narrow church remains unroofed; there are also a gateway tower, and portions of the chapter-house and cloisters. The Norman chapel of the hospital of St Leonard, which, as well as Alnwick Abbey, was founded by Eustace Fitz John, completes the series of antiquities in Alnwick. In this interesting locality, however, there must be mentioned the mansion of Howick, built in the 18th century, in a fine situation near the coast to the N.E. Not far from this, overlooking the sea from a rocky cliff pierced by deep gullies, are the ruins of Dunstanborough Castle; it dates from the 14th century, though the site was probably occupied as a stronghold from earlier times.

The chief industries are brewing, tobacco, snuff and fishing-tackle making, and corn milling. Alnwick is under an urban district council, but is a borough by prescription, and its freemen form a body corporate without authority over the affairs of the town. It is, however, required to pay, under an act of 1882, a sum not less than L. 500 out of the corporate property towards the upkeep of corporation schools. An ancient peculiar ceremony was attached until modern times to the making of freemen; those elected were required to ride in procession to a large pool called Freemen's Well and there rush through the water. According to tradition the observance of this custom was enjoined by King John to punish the inhabitants, the king having lost his way and fallen into a bog owing to the neglected condition of the roads in the neighbourhood.

According to the Chronicle of Alnwick Abbey, the barony of Alnwick belonged before the Conquest to Gilbert Tyson, whose son and heir William was killed at Hastings, and whose estates with his daughter were granted by the king to Ivo de Vescy, although this theory does not seem probable since Gilbert Tyson was certainly not a Saxon. In 1297 William de Vescy, a descendant of Ivo, dying without issue, left the barony to the bishop of Durham, who in 1309 sold it to Sir Henry Percy, in whose family it still continues. The town evidently grew up round the castle, which is said to have been built by Eustace Fitzjohn about 1140. Tradition states that it received its borough charter from King John. However, Alnwick is first definitely mentioned as a borough in a charter given by William de Vescy in the reign of Henry II., by which the burgesses were to have common of pasture on Haydon Moor and to hold of him ``as freely and quietly as the burgosses of Newcastle hold of the king.'' This charter was confirmed by his grandson, William de wescy, in an undated charter, and again by William, son of the latter William, in 1290. According to an inquiry of 1291 a market and fair were held in Alnwick from time immemorial. In 1297 Edward I., in addition, granted the bishop of Durham a market on Saturday, and a fair on the 17th of March and six following days. By charters of Henry VI. the burgesses received licence to enclose their town with a wall, to have a free port at Alnmouth, a market on Wednesday as well as Saturday, and two new fairs on the feasts of SS Philip and James and St Lucy, and eight days following each. Tanning and weaving were formerly the principal industries carried on in Alnwick, and in 1646 there were twenty-two tanneries there. Alnwick has never been represented in parliament.

See George Tate, The History of the Borough, Castle, and Barony of Alnwick, 2 vols. (Alnwick, 1866-1869); Victoria County History, Northumberland.

ALOE, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceae, with about 90 species growing in the dry parts of Africa, especially Cape Colony, and in the mountains of tropical Africa. Members of the closely allied genera Gasteria and Haworthia, with a similar mode of growth, are also cultivated and popularly known as aloes. The plants are apparently stemless, bearing a rosette of large, thick, fleshy leaves, or have a shorter or longer (sometimes branched) stem, along which, or towards the end of which and its branches, the generally fleshy leaves are borne. They are much cultivated as ornamental plants, especially in public buildings and gardens, for their stiff, rugged habit. The leaves are generally lance-shaped with a sharp apex and a spiny margin; but vary in colour from grey to bright green, and are sometimes striped or mottled. The rather small tubular yellow or red flowers are borne on simple or branched leafless stems and are generally densely clustered. The juice of the leaves of certain species yields aloes (see below). In some cases, as in Aloe venenosa, the juice is poisonous. The plant called American aloe, Agave americana (c.v.), belongs to a different order, viz. Amaryllidaceae.

Aloes is a medicinal substance used as a purgative and produced from various species of aloe, such as A. vera, vulgaris, socotrina, chinensis, and Perryi. Several kinds of aloes are distinguished in commerce--Barbadoes, Socotrine, hepatic, Indian, and Cape aloes. The first two are those commonly used for medicinal purposes. Aloes is the expressed juice of the leaves of the plant. When the leaves are cut the juice flows out, and is collected and evaporated. After the juice has been obtained, the leaves are sometimes boiled, so as to yield an inferior kind of aloes.

From these plants active principles termed aloins are extracted by water. According to W. A. Shenstone, two classes are to be recognized: (1) Nataloins, which yield picric and oxalic acids with nitric acid, and do not give a red coloration with nitric acid; and (2) Barbaloins, which yield aloetic acid, C7H2N3Q5, chrysammic acid, C7H2N2O6, picric and oxalic acids with nitric acid, being reddened by this reagent. This second group may be divided into a-Barbaloins, obtained from Barbadoes aloes, and reddened in the cold, and b-Barbaloins, obtained from Socotrine and Zanzibar aloes, reddened by ordinary nitric acid only when warmed, or by fuming acid in the cold. Nataloin, 2C17H13O7.H2O, forms bright yellow scales, melting at 212 deg. -222 deg. ; barbaloin, C17H18O7, forms yellow prismatic crystals. Aloes also contain a trace of volatile oil, to which its odour is due.

The dose is 2 to 5 grains, that of aloin being 1/2 to 2 grains. Aloes can be absorbed from a broken surface and will then cause purging. When given internally it increases the actual amount as well as the rate of flow of the bile. It hardly affects the small intestine, but markedly stimulates the muscular coat of the large intestine, causing purging in about fifteen hours. There is hardly any increase in the intestinal secretion, the drug being emphatically not a hydragogue cathartic. There is no doubt that its habitual use may be a factor in the formation of haemorrhoids; as in the case of all drugs that act powerfully on the lower part of the intestine, without simultaneously lowering the venous pressure by causing increase of secretion from the bowel. Aloes also tends to increase the menstrual flow and therefore belongs to the group of emmenagogues. Aloin is preferable to aloes for therapeutic purposes, as it causes less, if any, pain. It is a valuable drug in many forms of constipation, as its continual use does not, as a rule, lead to the necessity of enlarging the dose. Its combined action on the bowel and the uterus is of especial value in chlorosis, of which amenorrhoea is an almost constant symptom. The drug is obviously contraindicated in pregnancy and when haemorrhoids are already present. Many well-known patent medicines consist essentially of aloes.

The lign-aloes is quite different from the medicinal aloes. The word is used in the Bible (Numb. xxiv. 6), but as the trees usually supposed to be meant by this word are not native in Syria, it has been suggested that the LXX. reading in which the word does not occur is to be preferred. Lign-aloe is a corruption of the Lat. lignum-aloe, a wood, not a resin. Dioscorides refers to it as agallochon, a wood brought from Arabia or India, which was odoriferous but with an astringent and bitter taste. This may be Aquilaria agallochum, a native of East India and China, which supplies the so-called eagle-wood or aloes-wood, which contains much resin and oil.

ALOIDAE, or ALOADAE, i.e. Otus and Ephialtes, in ancient Greek legend, the twin-sons of Poseidon by Iphimedeia, wife of Aloeus. They were celebrated for their extraordinary stature and strength. According to Homer (Od. xi. 305). they made war upon the Olympian gods and endeavoured to pile Pelion upon Ossa in order to storm heaven itself; had they reached the age of manhood, their attempt would have been successful, but Apollo destroyed them before their beards began to grow. In the Iliad (v. 365) Ares is imprisoned by them, but delivered by Hermes. Apollodorus says that they succeeded in piling Pelion upon Ossa. Another story is that they were presumptuous enough to seek Artemis and Hera in marriage, and that Artemis caused them to slay each other unintentionally on the island of Naxos, where they were afterwards worshipped as heroes. In punishment for their offences they were bound back to back with snakes to a pillar in the lower world (Hyginus, Fab. 28). The Aloidae (here connected with aloe, threshing-floor) represent the spirits of the fertile earth and agriculture, conceived of by the Greeks as engaged in combat with the Olympian gods. In contrast to these legends, Pausanias tells us that they were regarded as the first to worship the Muses on Mt. Helicon, while Diodorus represents them as historical personages, princes of Thessaly, who defeated the Thracians in Strongyle, i.e. Naxos, where they made themselves rulers, and subsequently slew one another in a quarrel.

ALOMPRA, ALOUNG P'HOURA (1711--1760), founder of the last Burmese dynasty, was born in 1711 at Motshobo, a small village 50 m. north-west of Ava. Of humble origin, he had risen to be chief of his native village when the invasion of Burma by the king of Pegu in 1752 gave him the opportunity of attaining to the highest distinction. The whole country had tamely submitted to the invader, and the leading chiefs had taken the oaths of allegiance. Alompra, however, with a more independent spirit, not only contrived to regain possession of his village, but was able to defeat a body of Peguan troops that had been sent to punish him. Upon this the Burmese, to the number of a thousand, rallied to his standard and marched with him upon Ava, which was recovered from the invaders before the close of 1753. For several years he prosecuted the war with uniform success. In 1754 the Peguans, to avenge themselves for a severe defeat at Keoum-nuoum, slew the king of Burma, who was their prisoner. The son of the latter claimed the throne, and was supported by the tribe of Quois; but Alompra resisted, being determined to maintain his own supremacy. In 1755 Alompra founded the city of Rangoon. In 1757 he had established his position as one of the most powerful monarchs of the East by the invasion and conquest of Pegu. Before a year elapsed the Peguans revolted; but Alompra, with his usual promptitude, at once quelled the insurrection. The Europeans were suspected of having instigated the rising, and the massacre of the English at Negrais in October 1759 is supposed to have been approved by Alompra after the event, though there is no evidence that he ordered it. Against the Siamese, who were also suspected of having abetted the Peguan rebels, he proceeded more openly and severely. Entering their territory, he was just about to invest the capital when he was seized with an illness which proved fatal on the 15th of May 1760. Alompra is one of the most remarkable figures in modern Oriental history. To undoubted military genius he added considerable political sagacity, and he deserves particular credit for his efforts to improve the administration of justice. His cruelty and deceitfulness were faults common to all Eastern despots.

ALONE. This adjective or adverb requires no definition for its meaning of ``by oneself'' or ``solitary''; but its etymological history, as simply a combination of the words ``all'' and ``one'' is rather curious (compare the Ger. allein.) ``Lone'' is merely a clipped form of the word, and so ``lonely.'' The New English Dictionary traces the English word back to the year 1300.

ALORA, a town of southern Spain in the province of Malaga; 17 m. W.N.W. of Malaga, on the right bank of the river Guadalhorce, and on the Cordova-Malaga railway. Pop. (1900) 10,525. Alora, which is an ancient and picturesque town, with several Moorish ruins, occupies an outlying hill of the Sierra de Tolox, and overlooks a fertile valley where maize, sugar-cane and datepalms are cultivated. There are hot sulphurous springs in the town, which has also a fine climate; and many of the wealthy families from Malaga reside here in summer. Brandy distilling is, after agriculture, the chief local industry.

ALOST (Flem. Aalst), a town of Belgium, in the province of East Flanders, situated on the left bank of the Dender; the ancient capital of what was called Imperial Flanders. Pop. (1897) 28,771; (1904) 31,655. Flanders in the feudal period was a fief of the king of France---the count of Flanders being the first of the twelve peers of France; but there was a small strip extending from Alost to the isles of Zeeland, designated Imperial Flanders, of which the count was the vassal of the Holy Roman emperor. Attached to the hotel de ville is a fine belfry of the 15th century, but unfortunately it was seriously damaged by fire in 1879. In the church of St Martin, dating from 1498 but unfinished, is a fine Rubens. The subject is St Roch, the patron saint of lepers, and the colouring of the scaly skin of the leper in the forefront of the picture is generally regarded as one of the master's most striking effects. The work was pointed to the order of the Brewers' Gild in (it is said) eight days. It was outside Alost that William Clito, grandson of William the Conqueror, who was then endeavouring to establish his claims as count of Flanders, was mortally wounded in 1128. Of all the claims Alost possesses to fame perhaps the most remarkable is that Thierry Maartens (c. 1474) set up there one of the first printing presses in Europe. Alost is famous to-day for its hop gardens and linen-bleaching establishments. The meadows south of Alost are often covered with the linen undergoing the process of bleaching, which makes them assume the aspect of a whitish-blue carpet.

ALP. To the Swiss dwellers in the plains the term ``the Alps'' (q.v.) signifies the high snowy mountains which they see on the horizon, but to the dwellers in the valleys which nature has carved in the sides of those high mountains, the word alp means exclasively the summer pastures situated on the slopes above the valley, though below the snow-line. In fact such pastures are essential to the inhabitants of pastoral alpine districts, for the fodder to be obtained in the valley itself would not suffice to support the number of cattle which are required to afford sustenance to the inhabitants. Such mountain pastures, made use of only during the summer months, are of almost immemorial antiquity, cases occurring in 739, 868 and 999, while they are found in all parts of the Alpine chain. In France and Italy the system is badly managed, as also in Tirol (where the local name is Almen), where, too, these pastures have in the course of years been largely alienated by the valley inhabitants, and belong to large villages or small towns almost in the plains. But in Switzerland, and especially in the German-speaking mountain districts, the alps are the centre round which the entire pastoral life of the inhabitants turns. It is reckoned that in that country there are now about 4778 alps in ail, the capital value of which is put at rather over L. 3,000,000. Of these alps about 45% are owned by the communes (exclusively or jointly) and 54% by individuals, the remaining 1% being the property of the state or a few great monasteries. In the case of the alps belonging to the Swiss communes, it must be borne in mind that ``commune'' here does not signify either Einwohnergemeinden or Burgergemeinden, but a special class called Alpgemeinden (for instance in the well-known valley of Grindelwald there is one Einwohnergemeinde, but seven Alpgemeinden.) These Alpgemeinden are composed of the persons who have a right to send cattle up to any particular alp in summer, this right being attached (in different places) either to certain plots of ground in the valley or certain houses in the Village, or to certain persons. In any case the owners of an alp fix the greatest number of cows which it can support during the summer without being permanently damaged. The plot of ground which can support a single cow (or 2 heifers, 3 calves or sheep, 4 pigs or 8 goats) is called a Kuhstoss (of which there are 270,389 in Switzerland), and it is in these terms that the productiveness of the alp is reckoned. Sometimes a particular alp, or a portion of it, is reserved exclusively to heifers and calves, or to goats (in this case it is the loftier portion). On each alp there are several sets of huts wherein live the cow-herds and cheese-makers (the latter are called Sennen or Fruitiers), the cattle being generally left in the open. The cattle, with their attendants, shift from one to the other of these sets of huts, between the end of June and the end of September, making but one sojourn at the highest huts, but two at the lower. The proper name for these nuts is Sennhutten or chalets, but the latter term is incorrectly applied also to houses in the village below. The milk given each day by each cow is entered in a book, and then made into butter and cheese. the cow-herds and cheese-makers having the right to a certain proportion of milk, butter and cheese for their own sustenance, and receiving a small sum per head of cattle for looking after them. At the end of the season the net amount of cheese produced by milk from each cow is handed over to the owner of that particular cow, and is carried down by him to his home in the valley from the hut (a small building on four stone legs to secure the contents from mice) wherein the cheeses have been stored since they were made--this hut is called a Speicher. As the owners of Kuhstossen may exchange them provisionally for others on another alp, or may hire them out (they can only sell them with the plot or house to which they are attached), the persons who in any given summer actually send cows up to an alp (these form the Besetzerschaft) need not necessarily be absolutely identical with the true owners of these rights or Besitzerschaft. Hay is never mown on the true alps save in spots which are not easily accessible to cattle (in very high spots it belongs to the mower, and is then called Wildheu), but hay-crops are made on the Mayens or Voralpen, the lowest pastures, situated between the homesteads and the true alps; these Voralpen are individual (not communal) property, though probably in olden days cut out of the true Alpen. In the winter the cattle consume the hay mown on these Voralpeii (which, to a certain extent, are grazed in late spring and early autumn, that is, before and after the summer sojourn on the alps), either living in the huts on the Foralpen while they consume it, or in the stable attached to the dwelling-houses in the village; in the barn is stored the hay mown on the homestead and on the meadows near the village, which may belong to the owner of the cattle. The whole system is well organized and is well understood by the natives, though not always by strangers who visit the Alps in summer.

See John Ball, Hints and Notes for Travellers in the Alps (article x., especially pp: lvii.-lxv.); new edition, London, 1899; Felix Anderegg, Illustriertes Lehrbuch fur die gesamte schweiz. Alpwirtschaft (Bern, 1897--1898); the Schweiz-Alpstatistik (each volume devoted to the alps of a single Swiss canton); and A. v. Miaskowski's two books, Die schweiz. Allmend (Leipzig, 1879), and Die Verfassung der Land-, Alpen- und Forstwirtschaf der Schweiz (Basel, 1878). (W. A. B. C.)

ALPACA, one of two domesticated breeds of South American camel-like ungulates, derived from the wild huanaco or guanaco. Alpacas are kept in large flocks which graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru and northern Bolivia, at an elevation of from 14,000 to 16,000 ft. above the sea-level, throughout the year. They are not used as beasts of burden like llamas, but are valued only for their wool, of which the Indian blankets and ponchos are made. The colour is usually dark brown or black and the coat of great length, reaching nearly to the ground. In stature the alpaca (Lama huanacos pacos) is considerably inferior to the llama, but has the same unpleasant habit of spitting.

In the textile industries ``alpaca'' is a name given to two distinct things. It is primarily a term applied to the wool, or rather hair, obtained from the Peruvian alpaca. It is, however, more broadly applied to a style of fabric originally made from the alpaca wool but now frequently made from an allied type of wool, viz. mohair, Iceland, or even from lustrous English wool. In the trade, distinctions are made between alpacas and the several styles of mohairs and lustres, but so far as the general purchaser is concerned little or no distinction is made.

The four species of indigenous South American wool-bearing animals are the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco and the vicuna. The llama and the alpaca are domesticated; the guanaco and the vicuna run wild. Of the four the alpaca and the vicuna are the most valuable wool-bearing animals: the alpaca on account of the quality and quantity, the vicuna on account of the softness, fineness and quality of its wool. In the early days of the 19th century, the usual length of alpaca staples appears to have been about 12 in., this being a three years' growth; but to-day the length is little more than about half this, i.e. a one to two years' growth, although from time to time longer staples are to be found. The fleeces are sorted for colour and quality by skilled native women. The colour of the greater proportion of alpaca imported into the United Kingdom is black and brown, but there is also a fair proportion of white, grey and fawn. It is customary to mix these colours together, thus producing a curious ginger-coloured yarn, which upon being dyed black in the piece takes a fuller and deeper shade than can be obtained by piece-dyeing a solid-coloured wool. In physical structure alpaca is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy, but its softness and fineness enable the spinner to produce satisfactory yarns with comparative ease.

The history of the manufacture of this wool into cloth is one of the romances of commerce. Undoubtedly the Indians of Peru employed this fibre in the manufacture of many styles of fabrics for centuries before its introduction into Europe as a commercial product. The first European importations would naturally be into Spain. Spain, however, transferred the fibre to Germany and France. Apparently alpaca yarn was spun in England for the first time about the year 1808. It does not appear to have made any headway, however, and alpaca wool was condemned as an unworkable material. In 1830 Benjamin Outram, of Greetland, near Halifax, appears to have again attempted the spinning of this fibre, and for the second time alpaca was condemned. These two attempts to use alpaca were failures owing to the style of fabric into which the yarn was woven---a species of camlet. It was not until the introduction of cotton warps into the Bradford trade about 1836 that the true qualities of alpaca could be developed in the fabric. Where the cotton warp and mohair or alpaca weft plain-cloth came from is not known, but it was this simple yet ingenious structure which enabled Titus Salt (q.v.), then a young Bradford manufacturer, to utilize alpaca successfully. Bradford is still the great spinning and manufacturing centre for alpacas, large quantities of yarns and cloths being exported annually to the continent and to the United States, although the quantities naturally vary in accordance with the fashions in vogue, the typical ``alpaca-fabric'' being a very characteristic ``dress-fabric.''

The following statistics, taken from Hooper's Statistics of the Woollen and Worsted Trades of the United Kingdom, give an idea of the extent of the trade in yarns and fabrics of the alpaca type; unfortunately statistics for alpaca alone are not published.

Alpaca, Vicuna, and Llama Wool imported into the United Kingdom.

Year Peru Chile1 lb L. lb L. 1854 1,247,015 124,946 15,573 1,557 1860 2,334,048 263,635 520,402 58,443 1870 3,324,454 388,969 563,782 65,996 1880 1,412,365 98,644 890,627 64,621 1890 3,114,336 190,703 564,606 30,694 1900 4,236,566 205,839 1,148,694 51,116 1902 5,038,998 259,927 1,028,171 47,610 1905 2,301,522 119,321 2,302,650 112,367

Note.--in 1840 the imports into, exports from, and consumed in the United Kingdom of mohair, alpaca, vicuna, &c., amounted to

Exports of Mohair and Alpaca Yarns for 1905.

Russia . . . 1,288,800 lb. . . . L. 168,596 Germany. . . 9,851,200 '' . . . 1,145,795 Belgium. . . . 316,400 '' . . . 40,409 France . . . 2,006,700 '' . . . 223,605

Exports of Alpaca from the United Kingdom to the United States.

1881 . L. 1,256 1900 . .L. 30,631 1890 . . . -- 1905 . . 4,954

Owing to the success in the manufacture of the various styles of alpaca cloths attained by Sir Titus Salt and other Bradlord manufacturers, a great demand for alpaca wool arose, and this demand could not be met by the native product, for there never seems to have been any appreciable increase in the number of alpacas available. Unsuccessful attempts were made to acclimatize the alpaca goat in England, on the European continent and in Australia, and even to cross certain English breeds of sheep with the alpaca. There is, however, a cross between the alpaca and the llama--a true hybrid in every sense--producing a material placed upon the Liverpool market under the name ``Huarizo.'' Crosses between the alpaca and vicuna have not proved satisfactory.

The preparing, combing, spinning, weaving and finishing of alpacas and mohairs are dealt with under WOOL. (A. F. B.)

1 Grown in Peru but shipped from Valparaiso.