ALMEIDA, DOM FRANCISCO DE (c. 1450-1510), the first

viceroy of Portuguese India, was born at Lisbon about the

middle of the 15th century. He was the seventh son of the

second count of Abrantes, and thus belonged to one of the

most distinguished families in Portugal. In his youth he took

part under Ferdinand of Aragon in the wars against the Moors

(1485-1492). In March 1505, having received from Emmanuel I.

the appointment of viceroy of the newly conquered territory

in India, he set sail from Lisbon in command of a large and

powerful fleet, and arrived in July at Quiloa (Kilwa), which

yielded to him almost without a struggle. A much more vigorous

resistance was offered by the Moors of Mombasa, but the town

was taken and destroyed, and its large treasures went to

strengthen the resources of Almeida. At other places on his

way, such as the island of Angediva, near Goa, and Cannanore,

he built forts, and adopted measures to secure the Portuguese

supremacy. On his arrival in India he took up his residence

at Cochin, where a Portuguese fort had been built by Alphonso

d'Albuquerque in 1503. The most important events of Almeida's

brief but vigorous administration were the conclusion of a

commercial treaty with Malacca, and the discoveries made by

his son Lorenzo, who acted as his lieutenant. Lorenzo was

probably the first Portuguese who visited Ceylon, where he

established a settlement, and Fernando Soares, a captain

commanding a squadron of his fleet, appears to have been the

first European to sight Madagascar. In 1508 he was killed

at Dabui in a naval engagement with the Egyptians, who at

this time endeavoured to dispute Portuguese supremacy in the

Indian Ocean. His father was preparing to avenge his death

when Albuquerque (q.v.) arrived in Cochin, and presented

a commission empowering him to supersede Almeida in the

government. It was probably Almeida's unwillingness to be

thwarted in his scheme of vengeance that chiefly induced him

to refuse to recognize Albuquerque's commission, and to cast

him into prison. The punishment he inflicted on the Arabs

and their Egyptian allies was speedy and terrible. Sailing

along the coast he pillaged and burned various ports, including

Goa and Dabul, and finally, encountering the enemy's combined

fleet off Diu in February 1509, he completely destroyed

it. Returning immediately to Cochin, he held out for a few

months against the claims of Albuquerque, but in November

1509 he was compelled to yie!d. On the 1st of December he

set sail for Europe with an escort of three vessels. On the

voyage the fleet called at Table Bay, then known as Saldanha

Bay, to procure water, and here Almeida was killed (on the

1st of March 1510) in an attack upon the Hottentot natives,

during vhich he showed great personal courage. In this fight,

vhich took place on the site of Cape Town. 65 Portuguese

perished, including 12 captains. Almeida's body was recovered

on the following day and buried on the spot where he fell.

ALMEIDA, a town of north-eastern Portugal, in the district

of Guarda and formerly included in the province of Beira;

situated in hilly country between the river Coa, a tributary

of the Douro, and the river Turones, a branch of the

Agueda. Pop. (1900) 2330. Almeida was long one of the

principal frontier fortresses of Portugal. It was captured

by the Spaniards in 1762. During the Peninsular War (q.v.),

the country between the Coa and the Spanish fortress

of Ciudad Rodrigo, 25 m. E.S.E., was the scene of hard

fighting. Almeida was taken by the French in 1810 and its

recapture, by the allied British and Portuguese forces under

Lord Wellington, was only effected after a relieving force

under Marshal Massena had been defeated at Fuentes d'Onor

(or Fuentes de Onoro), 13 m. S.S.E. The battle was fought

on the 5th of May 1811 and the fortress fell five days later.

ALMELO, a town in the province of Overysel, Holland, 12 m. by

rail N.W. of Hengelo, at the junction of the Overysel and Aluielo

canals. Pop. (1900) 9957. It is a place of considerable

antiquity, having been the seat of an independent lordship

before the 14th century. But it first rose into importance in

the second half of the 19th century owing to its share in the

extraordinary industrial development of the Twente district, and

now possesses numerous cotton and damask factories. Among the

public buildings are a town hall, court house, corn exchange,

and churches of various denominations, as well as a synagogue.

The lordship of Almelo belonged to the lords of Heeckeren, who

acquired the barony of Rechteren by marriage in 1350 and the

countship of Limpourg in 1711. The elder branch of the mediatized

house of Rechteren-Limpourg is still established at Almelo;

the younger, German branch, at Markt Einersheim in Bavaria.

ALMENDRALEJO, a town of western Spain, in the province

of Badajoz; situated 27 m. E.S.E. of Badajoz, on the

Merida-Seville railway. Pop. (1900) 12,587. Almendralejo is

a thriving town, with broad streets and good modern houses;

including the palace of the marquesses of Monsalfid, which

contains a museum of Roman antiquities discovered in the

neighbourhood. Local prosperity was greatly enhanced during

the period 1875-1905 by the improvement of communications,

which enabled the grain, fruit and wine of the Guadiana

valley, on the north, and of the upland known as the Tierra

de Barros, on the south, to be readily exported by the

Merida-Seville railway. Brandy is produced in large quantities.

ALMERIA, a maritime province of southern Spain, formed in

1833, and comprehending the eastern territories of the ancient

kingdom of Granada. Pop. (1900) 359,013; area, 3360 sq.

m. Almeria is bounded on the N. by Granada and Murcia,

E. and S. by Murcia and the Mediterranean Sea, and W. by

Granada. It is traversed by mountain ridges, with peaks of 6000

to 8000 ft. in altitude; and it is seamed with valleys or great

fertility. The chief sierras, or ranges, are those of

Maria, in the north; Estancias and Oria, north of the Almanzora

river; Filabres, in the middle of the province; Cabrera and

Gata, along the south-east coast; Alhamilla, east of the city

of Almeria; Gador in the south-west; and, in the west, some

outlying ridges of the Sierra Nevada. Three small rivers, the

Adra, or Rio Grande de Adra, in the west, the Almeria in the

centre, and the Almanzora in the north and east, flow down from

the mountains to the sea. On the south coast is the Gulf of

Almeria, 25 m. wide at its entrance, and terminating, on the

cast, in the Cabo de Gata, the southernmost point of eastern

Spain. The climate is mild, except among the higher mountains.

The valleys near the sea are well adapted for agriculture;

oranges, lemons, almonds and other fruit trees thrive;

silk is produced in the west; and the vine is extensively

cultivated, less for the production of wine than to meet the

foreign demand for white Almeria grapes. Although the cost

of transport is very heavy, the exportation of grapes is a

flourishing industry, and more than 2,000,000 barrels are

annually sent abroad. The cattle of the central districts

are celebrated for size and qualityt Almeria is rich in

minerals, especially iron and lead; silver, copper, mercury,

zinc and sulphur are also obtained. At the beginning of the

20th century the mines at work numbered more than two hundred,

and proved very attractive to foreign as well as native

capitalists. Garnets are found in the Sierra de Gata and in

the Sierra Nevada fine marble is quarried. The development

of mining was facilitated by the extension of the railway system

between 1895 and 1905. The main line from Madrid toalmeria

convoys much ore from Granada and Jaen to the sea; while

the railway from Baza to Lorca skirts the Almanzora valley

and transports the mineral products of eastern Almeria by

a branch line from Huercal-Overa to the Murcian port of

Aguilas. Light railways and aerial cables among the mountains

supplement these lines. The chief imports compase coal,

timber, especially oak staves, and various manufactured

goods. The exports are minerals, esparto, oil, grain, grapes

and farm produce generally. The principal seaports are

Almeria, the capital, pop.(1900) 47,326, Adra (11,188), and

Garrucha (4661), which, with Berja (13,224), Cuevas de Vera

(20,562), Huercal-Overa (15,763) and Nijar (12,497), are

described in separate articles. Other towns, important as

mining or agricultural centres, are Albox (10,049), Dalias

(7136), Lubrin (6593), Sorbas (7306), Tabernas (7629),

Velez Blanco (6825), Velez Rubio (10,109) and Vera

(8446). Education is backward and the standard of comfort

low. A constant annual loss of 2000 or 3000 emigrants

to Algeria and elsewhere prevents any rapid increase of

population, despite the high birth-rate and low mortality.

ALMERIA, the capital of the province of Almeria, and one of

the principal seaports on the Mediterranean coast of southern

Spain; in 36 deg. 5' N. and 2 deg. 32' W., on the river Almeria, at

its outflow into the Gulf of Almeria, and at the terminus of

a railway from Madrid. Pop. (1900) 47,326. The city occupies

part of a rich alluvial valley enclosed by hills. It is an

episcopal see, and possesses a Gothic cathedral, dating from

1524, and constructed with massive embattled walls and belfry

so as to resemble a fortress. A dismantled castle, the

Castillo de San Cristobal, overlooks the city, which contains

four Moorish towers rising conspicuously above its modern

streets. Two long piers shelter the harbour, and vessels

drawing 25 ft. can lie against the quays. About 1400 ships,

of nearly 1,000,000 tons, enter the port every year, bringing

fuel and timber, and taking cargoes of iron, lead, esparto and

fruit. White grapes are exported in very large quantities.

Under its ancient name of Urci, Almeria was one of the

chief Spanish harbours after the final conquest of Spain

by the Romans in 19 B.C. It reached the summit of its

prosperity in the middle ages, as the foremost seaport of

the Moorish kingdom of Granada. At this time its population

numbered 150,000; its cruisers preyed upon the fleets of the

neighbouring Christian states; and its merchant ships traded

with countries as distant as Egypt and Syria. Almeria was

captured in 1147 by King Alphonso VII. of Castile and his

Genoese troops. but speedily retaken and held by the Moors

until 1489, when it was finally secured by the Spaniards.

See D. F. Margall, Almeria, (Barcelona, 1886).

ALMERY, AUMEBY, AUMBRIE, or AMBRY (from the medieval form

almarium, cf. Lat. armarium, a place for keeping tools;

cf. O. Fr. aumoire and mod. armoire), in architecture,

a recess in the wall of a church, sometimes square-headed,

and sometimes arched over, and closed with a door like a

cupboard--used to contain the chalices, basins, cruets,

&c., for the use of the priest; many of them have stone

shelves. They are sometimes near the piscina, but more often

on the opposite side. The word also seems in medieval times

to be used commonly for any closed cuoboard and even bookcase.

ALMODOVAR DEL CAMPO, or ALMODOVAR, a town of Spain,

in the province of Ciudad Real, 18 m. S.S.W. of Ciudad

Real, on the northern side of the Sierra de Alcudia.

Pop. (1900l 12,525. Almodovar was a Moorish fortress

in the middle ages. but contains little of antiquarian

interest. It owes its modern prosperity to the nearness of

the valuable Puertollano coal-field, 3 m. S. by a branch of

the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. Its manufactures are lace

and linen and it has a brisk trade in live-stock, oil and

wine. South of the Sierra lies the Alcudia valley, owned by

the crown, and used as pasture for immense flocks of sheep.

ALMOGAVARES (from the Arab. Al-Mugavari, a scout),

the name of a class of Spanish soldiers, well known during

the Christian reconquest of Spain, and much employed as

mercenaries in Italy and the Levant, during the 13th and 14th

centuries. The Almogavares (the plural of Almogavar)

came originally from the Pyrenees, and were in later times

recruited mainly in Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia. They were

frontiersmen and foot-soldiers who wore no armour, dressed in

skins, were shod with brogues (abarcas), and carried the same

arms as the Roman legionaries---two heavy javelins (Spanish

azagaya, the Roman pilum), a short stabbing sword and a

shield. They served the king, the nobles, the church or the

towns for pay, and were professional soldiers. When Peter

III. of Aragon made war on Charles of Anjou after the Sicilian

Vespers---30th of March 1282-for the possession of Naples and

Sicily, the Almogavares formed the most effective element

of his army. Their discipline and ferocity, the force with

which they hurled their javelins, and their activity, made

them very formidable to the heavy cavalry of the Angevin

armies. When the peace of Calatabellota in 1302 ended the

war in southern Italy, the Almogavares followed Roger di

Flor (Roger Blum) the unfrocked Templar, who entered the

service of the emperor of the East, Andronicus, as condottieri

to fight against the Turks. Their campaign in Asia Minor,

1303 and 1304, was a series of romantic victories, but their

greed and violence made them intolerable to the Christian

population. When Roger di Flor was assassinated by his Greek

employerin 1305, they turned on the emperor, held Galhpoh and

ravaged the neighbourhood of Constantinople. In 1310 they

marched against the duke of Athens, of the French house of

Brienne. Walter of Brienne was defeated and slain by them with

all his knights at the battle of Cephissus, or Orchomenus, in

Boeotia in March. They then divided the wives and possessions

of the Frenchmen by lot and summoned a prince of the house

of Aragon to rule over them. The foundation of the Aragonese

duchy of Lthens was the culmination of the achievements

of the Almogavares. In the 16th century the name died

out. It was, however, revived for a short time as a party

nickname in the civil wars of the reign of Ferdinand VII.

AUTHORITIES.---The Almogavares are admirably described by

one who fought with them, Ramon de Muntaner, whose Chronicle

has been translated into French by J. A. Buchon, Chronioues

etrangeres (Paris, 1860). The original test was reprinted and

edited by K. Lanz at Stuttgart, 1844. See also the Expedition

des ``Almugavares'' ou routiers catalans en orient, de l'an

1302 a l'an 1311 by G. Schlumberger (Paris, 1902). (D. H.)

ALMOHADES (properly Muwahhadis, i.e. ``Unitarians,''

the name being corrupted through the Spanish), a Mahommedan

religious power which founded the fifth Moorish dynasty in

the 12th century, and conquered all northern Africa as far as

Egypt, together with Moslem Spain. It originated with Mahommed

ibn Tumart, a member of the Masmuda, a Berber tribe of the

Atlas. Ibn Tumart was the son of a lamplighter in a mosque

and had been noted for his piety from his youth; he was small,

ugly, and misshapen and lived the life of a devotee-beggar.

As a youth he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, whence

he was expelled on account of his severe strictures on the

laxity of others, and thence wandered to Bagdad, where he

attached himself to the school of the orthodox doctor al

Ashari. But he made a system of his own by combining

the teaching of his master with parts of the doctrines of

others, and with mysticism imbibed from the great teacher

Ghazali. His main principle was a rigid unitarianism

which denied the independent existence of the attributes of

God, as being incompatible with his unity, and therefore a

polytheistic idea. Mahommed in fact represented a revolt

against the anthropomorphism of commonplace Mahommedan

orthodoxy, but he was a rigid predestinarian and a strict

observer of the law. After his return to Morocco at the age

of twenty-eight, he began preaching and agitating, heading

riotous attacks on wine-shops and on other manifestations of

laxity. He even went so far as to assault the sister of

the Murabti (Almoravide) amir`Ali III., in the streets

of Fez, because she was going about unveiled after the

manner of Berber women. `Ali, who was very deferential to

any exhibition of piety, allowed him to escape unpunished.

Ibn Tumart, who had been driven from several other towns for

exhibitions of reforming zeal, now took refuge among his own

people, the Masmuda, in the Atlas. It is highly probable that

his influence would not have outlived him, if he had not found

a lieutenant in 'Abd-el-Mumin el Kumi, another Berber, from

Algeria, who was undoubtedly a soldier and statesman of a high

order. When Ibn Tumart died in 1128 at the monastery or

ribat which he had founded in the Atlas at Tinmal, after

suffering a severe defeat by the Murabtis, 'Abd-el-Mumin

kept his death secret for two years, till his own influence

was established. He then came forward as the lieutenant

of the Mahdi Ibn Tumart. Between 1130 and his death in

1163, 'Abd-el-Mumin not only rooted out the Murabtis,

but extended his power over all northern Africa as far as

Egypt, becoming amir of Morocco in 1149. Mahommedan Spain

followed the fate of Africa, and in 1170 the Muwahhadis

transferred their capital to Seville, a step followed by

the founding of the great mosque, now superseded by the

cathedral, the tower of which they erected in 1184 to mark the

accession of Ya`kub el Mansur. From the time of Yusef

II., however, they governed their co-religionists in Spain

and Central North Africa through lieutenants, their dominions

outside Morocco being treated as provinces. When their

amirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jehad against

the Christians and to return fo their capital, Marrakesh.

The Muwahhadi princes had a longer and a more distinguished

career than the Murabtis or ``Almoravides'' (q.v..) Yusef

II. or ``Abu Ya`kub'' (1163-1184), and Ya`kub I. or ``El

Mansur'' (1184-1199), the successors of Abd-el-Mumin, were

both able men. They were fanatical, and their tyranny drove

numbers of their Jewish and Christian subjects to take refuge

in the growing Christian states of Portugal, Castile and

Aragon. But in the end they became less fanatical than the

Murabtis, and Ya`kub el Mansur was a highly accomplished man,

who wrote a good Arabic style and who protected the philosopher

Averroes. His title of El Mansur, ``The Victorious,'' was

earned by the defeat he inflicted on Alphonso VIII. of Castile

at Alarcos in 1195. But the Christian states in Spain were

becoming too well organized to be overrun by the Mahommedans,

and the Muwahhadis made no permanent advance against

them. In 1212 Mahommed III., ``En-Nasir'' (1199-1214), the

successor of El Mansur, was utterly defeated by the allied

five Christian princes of Spain, Navarre and Portugal, at

Las Navas de Tolosa in the Sierra Morena. All the Moorish

dominions in Spain were lost in the next few years, partly by

the Christian conquest of Andalusia, and partly by the revolt

of the Mahommedans of Granada, who put themselves under the

protection of the Christian kings and became their vassals.

The fanaticism of the Muwahhadis did not prevent them from

encouraging the establishment of Christians even in Fez, and

after the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa they occasionally

entered into alliances with the kings of Castile. In Africa

they were successful in expelling the garrisons placed in

some of the coast towns by the Norman kings of Sicily. The

history of their decline differs from that of the Murabtis,

whom they had displaced. They were not assailed by a great

religious movement, but destroyed piecemeal by the revolt of

tribes and districts. Their most effective enemies were the

Beni Marin (``Merinides'') who founded the next Moroccan

dynasty, the sixth. The last representative of the line,

Idris IV., ``El Wathik''' was reduced to the possession

of Marrakesh, where he was murdered by a slave in 1269.

The amirs of the Muwahhadi Dynasty were as follows:--

'Abd-el-Mumin (1145); Yusef II., ``Abu Ya`kub'' (1163);

Ya`kub I., ``Abu Yusef el Mansur'' (1184); Mahommed

III., ``En-Nasir'' (1190); Yusef III., ``Abu Ya'kub

el Mustansir'' (1214); `Abd-el-Wahid, ``El Makhluwi''

(1223); `Abd-Allah II., ``Abu Mahommed'' (1224); Yahya

V., ``El Mu`tasim'' (1226); Idris III., ``El Mamun''

(1229); Rashid I., ```Abd-el-Wahid II.'' (1232); `Ali IV.,

``Es-Sa`id el Mu tadid'' (1242); Omar I., ``El Mortada''

(1248); Idris IV., ``El Wathik'' (1266-1269). (B. M.*; D. H.)

ALMON, JOHN (1737-1805), English political pamphleteer and

publisher, was born at Liverpool on the 17th of December

1737. In early life he was apprenticed to a printer in his

native town, and he also spent two years at sea. He came

to London in 1758 and at once began a career which, if not

important in itself, had a very important influence on the

political history of the country. The Whig opposition,

hampered and harassed by the Government to an extent that

threatened the total suppression of independent opinion,

were in great need of a channel of communication with the

public, and they found what they wauted in Almon. He had

become personally known to the leaders through various

publications of his own which had a great though transient

popularity; the more important of these being The Conduct

of a late Noble Commander [Lord George Sackville Examined

(1759); a Review of his late Majesty's Reign (1760); a

Review of Mr Pitt's Administration (1761); and a number

of letters on political subjects. The review of Pitt's

administration passed through four editions, and secured

for its author the friendship of Earl Temple, to whom it was

dedicated. Brought thus into the counsels of the Whig party,

he was persuaded in 1763 to open a bookseller's shop in

Piccadilly, chiefly for the publication and sale of political

pamphlets. This involved considerable personal risk, and though

he generally received with every pamphlet a sum sufficient to

secure him against all contingencies, he deserves the credit

of having done much to secure the freedom of the press. The

government strengthened his influence by their repressive

measures. In 1765 the attorney-general moved to have him

tried for the publication of the pamphlet entitled Juries and

Libels, but the prosecution failed; and in 1770, for merely

selling a copy of the London Museum containing Junius's

celebrated ``Letter to the King,'' he was sentenced by Lord

Mansfield to pay a fine of ten marks and give security for

his good behaviour. It was this trial that called forth the

letter to Lord Mansfield, one of the bitterest of the Junius

series. Almon himself published an account of the trial, and

of course did not let slip the opportunity of reprinting the

matter that had been the ground of indictment; but no further

proceedings were taken against him. In 1774 Almon commenced

the publication of his Parliamentary Register, a monthly

report of the debates in parliament, and he also issued an

abstract of the debates from 1742, when Richard Chandler's

Reports ceased, to 1774. About the same time, having earned a

competency, he retired to Boxmoor in Hertfordshire, though

he still continued to write on political subjects. He

became proprietor in 1784 of the General Advertiser, in

the management of which he lost his fortune and was declared

insolvent. To these calamities was added an imprisonment for

libel. The claims of his creditors compelled him to leave the

country, but after some years in France he was enabled to

return to Boxmoor, where he continued a career of undiminished

literary activity, publishing among other works an edition of

Junius. His last work was an edition of Wilkes's correspondence,

with a memoir (1805). He died on the 12th of December

1805. Almon's works, most of which appeared anonymously, have

no great literary merit, but they are of very considerable

value to the student of the political history of the period.

ALMOND (from the O. Fr. almaiide or alemande, late Lat.

amandola, derived through a form amingdola from the Gr.

amugdale, an almond; the al- for a- is probably due

to a confusion with the Arabic article al, the word having

first dropped the a- as in the Italian form mandola; the

English pronunciation a-mond and the modern French amande

show the true form of the word). The almond is the fruit of

Amyydalus conimunis, a plant belonging to the tribe Pruneae

of the natural order Rosaceae. The genus Amygdalus is

very closely allied to Prunius (Plum, Cherry), in which it

is sometimes merged; the distinction lies in the fruit, the

soft pulp attached to the stone in the plum being replaced

by a leathery separable coat in the almond. The tree appears

to be a native of western Asia, Barbary and Morocco; but

it has been extensively distributed over the warmtemperate

region of the Old World. It ripens its fruit in the south of

England. It is a tree of moderate size; the leaves are

lanceolate, and serrated at the edges; and it flowers early in

spring. The fruit is a drupe, having a downy outer coat, called

the epicarp, which encloses the reticulated hard stony shell or

endocarp. The seed is the kernel which is contained within

these coverings. The shell-almonds of trade consist of the

endocarps enclosing the seeds. The tree grows in Syria and

Palestine; and is referred to in the Bible under the name

of Shaked, meaning ``hasten.'' The word Luz, which occurs

in Genesis xxx. 37, and which has been translated hazel, is

supposed to be another name for the almond. In Palestine

the tree flowers in January, and this hastening of the period

of flowering seems to be alluded to in Jeremiah i. 11, 12,

where the Lord asks the prophet, ``What seest thou?'' and he

replies, ``The rod of an almond-tree''; and the Lord says,

``Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform

it.'' In Ecclesiastes xii. 5 it is saib the ``almond-tree

shall flourish.'' This has often been supposed to refer to the

resemblance of the hoary locks of age to the flowers of the

almond; but this exposition is not borne out by the facts of the

case, inasmuch as the flowers of the almond are not white but

pink. The passage is more probably intended to allude to the

hastening or rapid approach of old age. The application of

Shaked or hasten to the almond is similar to the use of the

name ``May'' for the hawthorn, which usually flowers in that

month in Britain. The rod of Aaron, mentioned in Numbers

xvii., was taken from an almond-tree; and the Jews still carry

rods of almond-blossom to the synagogues on great festival

days. The fruit of the almond supplied a model for certain kinds

of ornamental carved work (Exodus xxv. 33, 34; xxxvii. 19, 20).

There are two forms of the plant, the one (with pink flowers)

producing sweet, the other (with white flowers) bitter

almonds. The kernel of the former contains a fixed oil and

emulsin. It is used internally in medicine, and must not be

adulterated with the bitter almond. The Pulvis Amygdalae

Compositus of the British Pharmacopoeia consists of sweet

almonds, sugar and gum acacia. It may be given in any

dose. The Mistura Amygdalae contains one part of

the above to eight of water; the dose is 1/2 to 1 oz.

The bitter almond is rather broader and shorter than the

sweet almond and has a bitter taste. It contains about

50%, of the fixed oil which also occurs in sweet almonds.

It also contains a ferment emulsin which, in the presence

of water, acts on a soluble glucoside, amygdalin, yielding

glucose, prussic acid and the essential oil of bitter almonds

or benzaldehyde (q.v.), which is not used in medicine.

Bitter almonds may yield from 6 to 8% of prussic acid.

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.

ALP ARSLAN, or AXAN, MAHOMMED BEN DA'UD (1029-1072),

the second sultan of the dynasty of Seljuk, in Persia, and

great-grandson of Seljuk, the founder of the dynasty, was born

in the year A.D. 1029 (421 of the Hegira). He assumed the

name of Mahommed when he embraced the Mussulman faith; and on

account of his military prowess he obtained the surname Alp

Arslan, which signifies ``a valiant lion.'' He succeeded

his father Da'ud as ruler of Khorasan in 1059, and his uncle

Togrul Bey as sultan of Oran in 1063, and thus became sole

monarch of Persia from the river Oxus to the Tigris. In

consolidating his empire and subduing contending factions he

was ably assisted by Nizam ul-Mulk, his vizier, one of the

most eminent statesmen in early Mahommedan history. Peace

and security being established in his dominions, he convoked

an assembly of the states and declared his son Malik Shah

his heir and successor. With the hope of acquiring immense

booty in the rich church of St Basil in Caesarea, the capital

of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the Turkish

cavalry, crossed the Euphrates and entered and plundered that

city. He then marched into Armenia and Georgia, which, in

1064, he finally subdued. In 1068 Alp Arslan invaded the Roman

empire. The emperor Romanus Diogenes, assuming the command in

person, met the invaders in Cihcia. In three arduous campaigns,

the two first of which were conducted by the emperor himself

while the third was directed by Manuel Comnenus, the Turks

were defeated in detail and finally (1070) driven across the

Euphrates. In 1071 Romanus again took the field and advanced

with 100,000 men, including a contingent of the Turkish tribe

of the Uzes and of the French and Normans, under Ursel of

Bahol, into Armenia. At Manzikert, on the Murad Tchai, north

of Lake Van, he was met by Alp Arslan; and the sultan having

proposed terms of peace, which were scornfully rejected by

the emperor, a battle took place in which the greeks, after

a terrible slaughter, were totally routed, a result due

mainly to the rapid tactics of the Turkish cavalry. Romanus

was taken prisoner and conducted into the presence of Alp

Arslan, who treated him with generosity, and terms of peace

having been agreed to, dismissed him, loaded with presents

and respectfully attended by a military guard. The dominion

of Alp Arslan now extended over the fairest part of Asia;

1200 princes or sons of princes surrounded his throne and

200,000 warriors were at his command. He now prepared to

march to the conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of his

ancestors. With a powerful army he advanced td the banks

of the Oxus. Before he could pass the river with safety

it was necessary to subdue certain fortresses, one of which

was for several days vigorously defended by the governor,

Yussuf Kothual, a Kharizmian. He was, however, obliged to

surrender and was carried a prisoner before the sultan, who

condemned him to a cruel death. Yussuf, in desperation,

drew his dagger and rushed upon the sultan. Alp Arslan, the

most skilful archer of his day, motioned to his guards not to

interfere and drew his bow, but his foot slipped, the arrow

glanced aside and he received the assassin's dagger in his

breast. The wound proved mortal, and Alp Arslan expired a

few hours after he received it, on the 15th of December 1072

See Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, edited by J.

B. Bury (1898), vi. pp. 235 et seq., and authoriries there cited.

ALPENA, a city and the county seat of Alpena county, Michigan,

U.S.A., on Thunder Bay, a small arm of Lake Huron, at the

mouth of Thunder Bay river, in the N.E. part of the lower

peninsula. Pop. (1890) 11,283; (1900) 11,802, of whom 4193

were foreign-born; (1910 census) 12,706. It is served.by

the Detroit & Mackinac railway and by steamboat lines to

Detroit and other ports. The city is built on sandy ground

on both sides of the river and has a good harbour, which

has been considerably improved by the Federal government;

in 1007 the maximum draft that could be carried over the

shallowest part of the channel was 14 ft. There is good

farming land in the vicinity and Alpena has lumber and

shingle mills, pulp works, Portlald cement manufactories and

tanneries; in 1905 the city's factory products were valued at

$2,905,263. In 1906 the commerce of the port, chiefly in

lumber, cement, coal, cedar posts and ties, fodder and general

merchandise, was valued at $3,018,894. Alpena occupies

the site of an Indian burying-ground. A tradingpost was

established here in 1835, but the permanent settlement

dates from 1858; in 1871 Alpena was chartered as a city.

ALPENHORN, ALPHORN, a musical instrument, consisting of

a natural wooden horn of conical bore, having a cup-shaped

mouthpiece, used by mountaineers in Switzerland and

elsewhere. The tube is made of thin strips of birchwood

soaked in water until they have become quite pliable; they

are then wound into a tube of conical form from 4 to 8 ft.

long, and neatly covered with bark. A cup-shaped mouthpiece

carved out of a block of hard wood is added and the instrument

is complete. The alpenhorn has no lateral openings and

therefore gives the pure natural harmonic series of the open

pipe. The harmonics are the more readily obtained by reason

of the small diameter of the bore in relation to the length.

An alpenhorn made at Rigi-Kulm, Schwytz, and now in the South

Kensington Museum, measures 8 ft. in length and has a straight

tube. The well-known Ranz des Paches is the traditional

melody of the alpenhorn, which has been immortalized by

Beethoven in the finale of the Pastoral Symphony, where

the music is generally rendered by a cor aniglais (q.v..)

Rossini has introduced the melody into his opera William

Tell. Wagner, in the third act of Tristan and Isolde,

was not entirely satisfied with the tone quality of the cor

anglais for representing the natural pipe of the peasant.

Having in his mind the timbre of the alpenhorn, he had a wooden

horn made for him with one valve only and a small pear-shaped

bell, which is used at Bayreuth (see HONZTROMPETE.) The

Swiss alpenhorn varies in shape according to the locality,

being curved near the bell in the Bernese Oberland. Michael

Praetorius mentions the alpenhorn under the name of holzerni

trummet in Syniagma Musicum (Wittenberg, 1615--1619). (K. S.)

ALPES MARITIMES, a department in the S.E. of France, formed

in 1860 out of the county of Nice, to which were added the

districts of Grasse (formerly in the department of the Var)

and of Mentone (purchased from the prince of Monaco). Pop.

(1906) 334,007. It is bounded N.E. and E. by Italy, S. by

the Mediterranean Sea, and W. by the departments of the Var

and the Basses Alpes, while its northern extremity forms a

sharp angle between France and Italy. Its area is 1444 sq.

m., its greatest length is 59 m. and its greatest breadth 48 1/2

m. It is composed of the valley of the Var river (which

is all but completely within this department), together

with those of its chief affluents, the Tinee and the

Vesubie. The region of Grasse is hilly, but the rest of

the department is mountainous, its loftiest point being the

Mont Tinibras (9948 ft.) at the head of the Tinee valley.

Two singular features of the frontier of the department

towards the east are only to be explained by historical

reasons. One is that the ce:itral bit of the Roja valley is

French, while the upper and lower bits of this valley are

Italian; the reason is that those bits which are now Italian

formed part of the county of Ventimiglia, and the central

bit part of the county of Nice, which alone became French in

1860. The result is that the Italians are now unable to build

a railway from Culeo by the Col de Tenda and down the Roja

valley direct to Ventimiglia. The other strange feature is

that from near Isola in the upper Tinee valley southwards

the political frontier does not coincide with the physical

frontier, or the main watershed of the Alpine chain; the reason

(it is said) is that in 1860 all the higher valleys of the

Maritime Alps (on both sides of the watershed) were expressly

excepted from the treaty of cession, in order that Victor

Emmanuel II. might retain his right of chamois hunting in these

parts. The department is divided into three arrondissements

(Nice, Grasse and Puget Thenicrs), 27 cantons and 155

communes. It forms the bishopric of Nice (the first bishop

certainly known is mentioned at the end of the 4th century),

which till 1792 was in the ecclesiastical province of Embrun,

then (1802) in that of Aix en Provence, next in that of Genoa

(1814),and lilally (1860) in that of Aix again. Its chief town is

Nice. The broad-gauge railways in the department cover 56

m., including the line along the coast, while there are also

82 m. of narrow-gauge railways. The chief industries are

distilleries for perfumes and manufacture of olive oil, of

pottery and of tiles, besides a great commerce in cut flowers.

To foreigners the department is best known for its health

resorts, Nice, Cannes, Mentone, Antibes and Beaulieu, while other

important towns are Grasse and Puget Theniers. (W. A. B. C.)

ALPHA and OMEGA (A and O), the first and last letters of

the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the Aleph and Taw of the

Hebrew. They are used as a designation of Himself by the speaker

in Rev.i.8; xxi. 6; xxii. 13. The first and last letters of

the Hebrew alphabet are used in Rabbinic writings in a similar

way. We find also ``the seal of God is Emeth,'' Emeth (truth)

being composed of the first, middle and last letters of the Hebrew

alphabet. God is thus represented as the beginning, middle

and end of all things (see the Jewish Encyclopaedia, s.v.).

ALPHABET (see also WRITING.) By the word alphabet, derived

from the Greek names for the first two letters--alpha and

beta--of the Greek alphabet, is meant a series of conventional

symbols each indicating a single sound or combination of

sounds. The ideal alphabet would indicate one sound by one

symbol, and not more than one sound by the same symbol. Symbols

for a combination of sounds are not necessary, though they

may be convenient as abbreviations. In the writing of some

languages, e.g. Sanskrit, such abbreviations are carried to

an extreme; in most Greek MSS. also they are of very frequent

occurrence. These contractions, however, may prove too great

a strain upon the eyesight or the memory, and thus become a

hindrance instead of a help. This was apparently the case in

Greek, for though the early printers cast types for all the

contractions of the Greek MSS. these have now with one consent

been given up. A consonant like x can only be regarded

as an abbreviation; it expresses nothing that cannot as well

be expressed by ks or gz, both of which combinations in

different situations it may represent (see X). No alphabet

corresponds exactly to the ideal which we have postulated,

nor if it did, would it continue long so to do, as the sounds

of most languages are continually changing. Hence in the

case of dead languages or past forms of living languages,

it is often very difficult to define with precision what the

sounds of the past epoch were. The study of the history of

English pronunciation occupied the late Dr A. J. Ellis for

a large part of his life, and the results fill five large

volumes. The sounds which are most difficult to define exactly

are the vowels; a great variety may be indicated by the same

symbol. In the New English Dictionary no fewer than thirteen

different nuances of vowel sound are distinguished under the

symbol A alone. In English, moreover, the vowel sounds tend

to become diphthongs, so that the symbol for the simple sound

tends to become the symbol for that combination which we call a

diphthong. Thus the long i in ride, wine, &c., has become

the diphthong ai, and the name of the symbol I is itself so

pronounced. In familiar, if vulgar, dialects, A tends in the

same direction. In the ``cockney'' dialect, really the dialect

of Essex but now no less familiar in Cambridge and Middlesex,

the ai sound of i is represented by oi as in toime,

``time,'' while a has become ai in Kate, pane, &c. In,

all southern English o becomes more rounded while it is being

pronounced, so that it ends with a slight u sound. In the

vulgar dialect already mentioned, the sound begins as a more

open sound than in the cultivated pronunciation, so that no

is really pronounced as naou. It is clear, therefore, that

the best alphabet would not long indicate very precisely the

sounds which it was intended to represent. See PHONETICS.

But the history of the alphabet shows that at no time has it

represented any European language with much precision, because

it was an importation adapted in a somewhat rough and ready

fashion to represent sounds different from those which it

represented outside Europe. Wherever the alphabet may have

originated, there seems no doubt that its first importation

in a form closely resembling that with which we are familiar

in modern times was from the Phoenicians to the Greeks. The

Phoenicians were certainly using it with freedom in the 9th

century B.C.; with so much freedom, indeed, that they must

have been in possession of it for a considerable time before

we can trace it. With the materials available up to August

1910 it would be idle here to attempt to trace its earlier

history. Great discoveries in Cappadocia, Assyria and

Egypt were then only at their beginning, and any statement

was liable to be quickly disproved by the appearance of new

evidence. The prevalent theory, universally accepted till

a few years ago, was that of Vicomte Emmanuel de Ronge,

first propounded to the Academie des Inscriptions in 1859,

but unnoticed by the world at large till republished, after

derouge's death, by his son in 1874. According to this

view the alphabet was borrowed by the Phoenicians from the

cursive (hieratic) form of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The

resemblances between some Egyptian symbols and some symbols

of the Phoenician alphabet are striking; in other cases the

differences are no less remarkable. As a matter of fact

the Egyptians might have passed about thirty-five centuries

B.C. from the picture writing of hieroglyphs to genuine

alphabetic signs.1 They did not, however, profit by their

discovery, because, amongst the Egyptians, writing was clearly

a mystery in both senses--only possible at that period for

masters in the craft, and also something, like the writing

of medical prescriptions at the present day in Latin, which

was not to be made too easily intelligible to the common

people. At all periods, moreover, hieroglyphic writing was a

branch of decorative art, and it may have been that the ancient

Egyptian, like the modern Turk, resented too much lucidity,

and liked his literary compositions to be veiled in a certain

obscurity. The alphabet devised by the Egyptians consisted

of twenty-four letters. Egyptologists are at variance on the

question whether this alphabet was the original, or had any

influence upon the development of the Phoenician alphabet.

``With the papyrus paper,'' says Professor Breasted,2 ``the

hand customarily written upon it in Egypt now made its way into

Phoenicia, where before the 10th century B.C. it developed

into an alphabet of consonants, which was quickly transmitted

to the Ionian Greeks and thence to Europe.'' On the other

hand, Professor Spiegelberg,3 writing soon after Professor

Breasted, says that investigation has not as yet furnished

proof that the Phoenician alphabet is of Egyptian origin, though

he admits that in some respects the development of the two

alphabets, both without vowel signs, is curiously parallel.

The most recent view is that of Dr A. J. Evans, who argues

ingeniously that the alphabet was taken over from Crete by the

``Cherethites and Pelethites'' or Philistines, who established

for themselves settlements on the coast of Palestine.4

From them it passed to the Phoenicians, who were their near

neighbours, if not their kinsfolk. Symbols like the letters

of the alphabet have been found in European soil painted

upon pebbles belonging to a stratum between the Palaeolithic

and Neolithic age.5 This was in France at Mas d'Azil on the

left bank of the Arize. Elsewhere several series of such

symbols resembling inscriptions have been found scratched on

bones of the same period.6 For the history of writing these

may be important, but for the history of the alphabet, as

we know it, they are not in question. The alphabet may have

originated as Dr Evans thinks, but at present the proof is not

conclusive. The Greek names of the letters, their forms,

and the order of the symbols show that the Greek alphabet

as we know it must have been imported by or from a Semitic

people, and there is no evidence to contradict ancient

tradition that this people was the Phoenicians. The view

propounded by Deecke7 in 1877, that the Phoenician alphabet

had developed out of the late Assyrian cuneiform, never met

with much acceptance and has really no evidence in its favour.

The earliest alphabetic document which can be dated with

comparative certainty is the famous Moabite stone, which was

discovered in 1868, and after a controversy between rival

claimants which led to its being broken in pieces by the Arabs,

ultimately reached the Louvre, where in a restored form it

remains. The long inscription upon it celebrates the achievements

of Mesha, king of Moab, who had been a tributary of Ahab, king

of Israel, and rebelled after his death (1 Kings iii. 4, 5).

Though the chronology of the period is somewhat uncertain, the

date must be in the first half of the 9th century B.C. It

is to be remembered, however, that important as this monument

is for the development of the alphabet, and because it can

be dated with tolerable accuracy, the dialect and alphabet

of Moab are not in themselves proof for the Phoenician forms

which influenced the peoples of the Aegean, and through them

Western Europe. The fragment of a bronze bowl discovered

in Cyprus in 1876, which bears round its edge an inscription

dedicating it to Baal-Lebanon as a gift from a servant of

Hiram, king of the Sidonians, is probably the oldest Phoenician

document which we possess. This bowl, though perhaps a

little earlier than the Moabite stone, in all probability

is not more than a century older, while some authorities

think it is even later. The earliest alphabet consisted

of twenty-two letters, and bears a very close resemblance

to the earliest Green alphabet from A to T. The symbols

in the Greek alphabet from Y to O, or in the numerical

alphabet to @, are not found in the Phoenician alphabet.

As already mentioned, the twenty-two symbols of the Phoenician

alphabet indicate consonantal sounds only. Greek did not possess

so many consonants. The Phoenician alphabet possessed many

more aspirates than were required in Greek, which tended more

and more to drop all its aspirates. Before history begins it

had also lost, except sporadically in out-of-the-way dialects,

the semi-vowel i (approximately English y.) It therefore

made the aspirates A, E, O and the semi-vowel into

vowels, and apparently converted the semi-vowel Y = w into

the vowel Y = u, which it placed at the end of the alphabet

and substituted for it as the sixth symbol of the alphabet

the letter F with the old value of w. The superfluous

sibilants were also adapted in various ways (see below).

Relationship of Greek to Phoenician

The discovery of a large number of very archaic inscriptions

in the island of Thera, which was made by Freiherr Hiller von

Gartringen in 1896, has shown that the earliest Greek alphabet

was even more like the Phoenician than had been heretofore

believed. The symbol for b in Thera (@) is nearer than

any previously known to the Semitic letter (@) though, as not

infrequently happens in the transference of a symbol from one

people to another, its position is inverted--a fate which in

this alphabet has befallen also l (Semitic @, Thera @), and

possibly s (Semitic @, Thera @). The era of excavation

initiated by Dr Schliemann on the grand scale has increased

our knowledge of Greek inscriptions beyond anything that was

earlier dreamt of. Besides the excavations of Athens, Delos,

Epidaurus and Delphi, the results of which are most important

for the 5th century B.C. and later. the exploration of the

sites of Olympia, of the Heraeum near Argos, of Naucratis in

Egypt, and of various Cretan towns (above all the ancient

Gortyn), has revolutionized our knowledge of the archaic

alphabets of Greece. We can now see how long and laborious

was the process by which the Greeks attained to uniformity

in writing and in numeration. In no field, perhaps, was the

centrifugal tendency of the Greeks more persistent than in such

matters. In numeration, indeed, uniformity was not attained

till at least the 2nd century of the Christian era. The

differentiation of the local alphabets is found from the very

beginning of our records: Unfortunately, as yet no record is

preserved which can with any probabilily be dated earlier than

the 7th century B.C., and the Phoenician influence had by

then nearly ceased. How long this influence lasted we cannot

tell. If in Crete a system of writing of an entirely different

nature had been developed seven or eight centuries before,

there must have been some very important reason for the

entire abandonment of the old method and the adoption of a

new. In Crete, at least, the excavations show that the

old civilization must have ended in a social and political

cataclysm. The magnificent palace of Minos--there seems no

reason to withhold from it the name of the great prince whom

Thucydides recognized as the first to hold the empire of the

sea--perished by the flames, and it evidently had been plundered

beforehand of everything that a conqueror would regard as

valuable. The only force in Greek history which we know

that could have produced this change was that of the Dorian

conquest. As everywhere in the Peloponnese, except at Argos,

there seems to have been a sudden break with the earlier

civilization, which can have been occasioned only by the

semi-barbarous Dorian tribes, so the same result seems to

have followed from the same cause in Thera. The Dorians

apparently were without an alphabet, and consequently when

Phoenician traders and pirates occupied the place left

vacant by the downfall of Minos's empire, the people of the

island, and of the sea coasts generally, adopted from them

the Phoenician alphabet.8 The Greeks who migrated to Cyprus,

possibly as the result of the Dorian invasion, adopted a

syllabary, not an alphabet (see Plate; also WRITING.)

That the alphabet was borrowed and adapted independently by

different places not widely separated, and that the earliest

Greek alphabets did not spread from one or a few centres

in Greek lands, seem clear (a) from the different Greek

sounds for which the Phoenician symbols were utilized; (b)

from the different symbols which were employed to represent

sounds which the Phoenicians did not possess, and for which,

therefore, they had no symbols. The Phoenician alphabet was

an alphabet of consonants only, but all Greek alphabets as

yet known agree in employing A, E, I, O, Y as vowels. On

the other band, a table of Greek alphabets9 will show how

widely divergent the symbols for the same sound were. Except

for a single Attic inscription (see Plate), the alphabets of

Thera and of Corinth are the oldest Greek alphabets which we

possess. Yet at Corinth alongside @), which is found for

the so-called spurious diphthong ei (i.e. the Attic ei,

which does not represent an Indo-European ei, but arises by

contraction, as in fileite, or through the lengthening of

the vowel sound as the result of the loss of a consonant, as

in eiremenos for fefremenos) the short e sound is

represented by B; i is found at Corinth in its oldest form

@, and also as S, while in Thera it is @. In Thera the w

sound of digamma (f) was entirely lost, and therefore is not

represented. Both Thera and Corinth employ in the earliest

inscriptions @ for z, not x, though in both alphabets the

ordinary use as x is adopted, no doubt through the influence

of trade with other states. On the other hand. at Cleonae.

which is distant not more than 8 or 9 m. from Corinth, an

ancient inscription written boustrofedon has recently been

discovered, which shows that. though Cleonae for B wrote

@, like the Corinthian @, and, as at Corinth, wrote @ for

a vowel sound, the vowel thus represented was not short and

long e (e and e) as at Corinth, but e only, as in

@ (chrema me.) Here @ represents e, and the spurious

diphthong is represented by ei, as in @ (eimen, Doric

infinitive = einai), a form which shows that i has at

Cleonae the more modern form as distinguished from the Corinthian

Regarding three other questions controversy still rages.

These are: (a) how Greek utilized the four sibilants (Shin,

Samech, Zain and Zade), which it rook over from the Phoenician;

(b) what was the history of development in the symbols

for f, ch, ps, o (the history of x belongs to both

heads); (c) the history of the symbol for the digamma f.

Greek use of Phoenician sibilants.

In the Phoenician alphabet Zain was the seventh letter, occupying

the same position and having the same form approximately

(@) as the early Greek Z, while in pronunciation it was

a, voiced s-sound; Samech (@) followed the symbol for n

and was the ordinary s-sound, though, as we have seen, it

is in different Greek slates at the earliest period z as

well as x; afier the symbol for p came Zade (@), which

was a strong palatal s, though in name it corresponds to

the Greek zera: while lastly Shin (@ follows rhe symbol

for r, and was an sh-sound. The Greek name for the

sibilant (sigma) may simply mean the hissing letter and be

a derivative from sizo; many authorities, however, hold that

it is a corruption of the Phoenician Samech. Unfortunately,

it is not clear how many sibilants ere distinguished in Greek

pronunciation, nor over what areas a particular pronunciation

extended. There is, however, considerable evidence of the view

that Greek ss representing the sound arising from ky, ch

y, ty, thy was pronounced as sh (s), while z

representing gy, dy was pronounced in some districts zh

(

***Possible erro

On an inscriotion of Halicarnassus, a town which stood in

ancient Carian territory, the sound of ss in 'Alikarnasseon

is represented by @, as it is also in the Carian name

Panyassis (Panna Tios, genitive), though the ordinary

@@ is also found in the same inscription. The same

variation occurs at the neighbouring Teos and at Ephesus,

while the coins of Mesembria in Thrace show regularly @ and

@, where @ represents the sound which resulted from the

fusion of thy, and which appears in Homer as ss in

messos, while in later Green it becomes mesos.12.

This symbol @ is in all probability the early form of the

letter which was known to the Greeks as San (san) and in

modern times as Sampi, and which is utilized as the numeral

for 900 in the shape @ According to Herodotus (i. 139), San

was only the Dorian name for the letter which the Ionians

called Sigma. This would bring it into connexion with the

Phoenician @ (Shin), which, turned through a right angle,

is possibly the Greek S, though some forms of Zade on

old Hebrew coins and gems (@) equally resemble the Greek

letter. From other forms of Sade, however, the other early

form of s, viz. @, is probably derived. The confusion

is thus extreme: the name Zade assimilated in Greek to the

names eta and qhra becomes zeta, though the form is

that of Zain; the name of Samech is possibly the origin of

Sigma, while the form of Samech is that of X which has

not taken over a Phoenician name. lt is probable that the

form @ is an abbreviation in writing from right to left

of the earlier @, and @ of the four stroke @. That the

confusion of the sibilants was not coufined to the Greeks

only, but that pronunciation varied within a small area even

among the Semitic stock, is shown by the difficulty which the

Ephraimites found in pronouncing ``shibboleth'' (Judges xii. 6).

History of the digamma.

For the history of the additional symbols which are not

Phoenician, we must begin with @ There is no Greek alphabet

in which the symbol is not represented. But the Phoenician

form corresponding to it is the consonant w, and occupies

the position of the Greek digamma as sixth in the series.

Whence did the Greeks obtain the digamma? The point is not

clear, but probably the Greeks acted here as they did in the

case of the vowel i and the consonant y, adopting the

consonant symbol for the vowel sound. As, however, except in

Cyprus, Pamphylia and Argos, the only y sound which survived

in Greek-- the glide between i and another vowel as in

diia=diya--is never represented, there was no occasion

to use the Phoenician Jod in a double function. With Vau

it was different; the u-sound existed in some form in all

dialects, the w-souud survived in many far into historical

times. The Phoenician symbol having been adopted for the vowel

sound, whence came the new symbol @ or @ for the digamma?

Hitherto there have been two views. Most authorities have

held that the new form was derived from E by dropping the

lowermost crossbar; some have held that it developed out of

the old Vau, a view which is not impossible in itself and

has the similar development in Aramaic (Tema) in its favour.

But as Dr Evans has found a form like the digamma among his

most recent types of symbols, and as we have no intermediate

forms which will prove the development of @ from @ ,

though the form found at Oaxos in Crete, viz. @ shows a form

sufficiently unlike @, it is necessary to suspend judgment.

Greek aspirates, &c.

The Greek aspirates were not the sounds which we represent

by ph, th, ch (Scotch), but corresponded rather to the

sound of the final consonants in such words as lip, bit,

lich, the breath being audible after the formation of the

consonant. It is not clear that Greek took over @ with this

value, for in one Theran inscription @ are found combined as

equivalent to T--H, while the regular representation of f

and ch is @ and K @, or @ (koppa) @ respectively. In

the great Gortyn inscription from Crete and occasionally in

Thera, @ (in Crete in the form C) and K are used alone

for f and ch, just as conversely even in the 5th century

the name of Themistocles has been found upon an ostrakon

spelt Themisthokles. Such confusions show that even to Greek

ears the distinction between the sounds was very small. To

have recorded it in writing at all shows considerable progress

in the observation of sounds. Such progress is more easily

indicated by changes in the symbols among a people whose

acquaintance with the art is not of long standing nor vcry

familiar. English, though possessing sounds comparable to

the Greek th, f, ch, has never made any attempt to represent

them in writing. On the other hand, no doubt Athens in 403

B.C. officially adopted the Ionic alphabet and gave up

the old Attic alphabet. The political situation in Athens,

however, at this time was as exceptional as the French

Revolurion, and offered an opportunity not likely to recur

for the adoption of a system in widely extended use which

private individuals had been employing for a long time.

The history of rhe symbols f and ch is altogether unknown.

The very numerous theories on the subject have generally been

founded on a principle which itself is in need of proof, viz.

that these symbols must have arisen by differentiation from

others already existing in the alphabet. The explanation is

possible, but it is not easy to see why, for example, the

symbol @ or @ = Koppa, the Latin Q, should have been

utilized for a sound so different as p-h; nor, again, why

the symbol for th (@) by losing its cross stroke should

become f, seeing that the sounds of th and f outside

Aeolic (a dialect which is not here in question) are never

confused. On the other hand, if we remember the large number

of symbols belonging to the prehistoric script, it will seem

at least as easy to believe that the persons who, by adding

new letters to the Phoenician alphabet, attempted to bring

the symbols more into accordance with the sounds of the Greek

language, may have borrowed from this older script. It is

now generally admitted that the improvements of the alphabet

were made by traders in the interests of commerce, and that

these improvements began from the great Greek emporia of Asia

Minor, above all from Miletus. Symbols exactly like f,

ch, and ps (@, @, @) are found in the Carian alphabet,

and transliterated by Professor Sayce 13 as v (and

u), h and kh respectively. If the Carian alphabet goes

back to the prehistoric script, why should not Miletus have

borrowed them from it? We have already seen that, in the

earliest alphabets of Thera and Corinth, the ordinary symbol

for x in the Ionic alphabet was used for z. This usage

brought in its train another--the use of @, not for ps as

in Ionic, but for x in the name @ = 'Alexagooa, and

similarly in Melos, @ = Praxikudeos.14 This experiment,

for it was no more, bclongs apparently to the latter part

of the 6th century, and was soon given up. As the Ionians

kept the form @, which the people of Thera used for z,

in the same position in their alphabet as Samech occupied

in the Phoenician alphabet, there can be no doubt as to its

origin. The symbol @ which the Chalcidian Greeks used in

the 6th century B.C. for x may be derived, according to

the most widely accepted theory, from a primitive form of

Samech @, which is recorded only in the abecedaria of the

Chalcidian colonies in Italy. In this case the borrowing of

the Greek alphabet must long precede any Phoenician record we

possess. But it is not probable that the Ionic and Phoenician

@ developed independently from the closed form. Kretschmer,

however, in several publications15 takes a different view.

He thinks that the guttural element in x was a spirant, and

therefore different from ch, which is an aspirate. He points

out that in Naxos, in a 6th-century inscription,16 x in

Naxiou, exochos and Fraxou is represented by @, the

first element in which he regards as a form of @ = h. As

ch is found in the same inscription (in the form X), the

guttural element must have been different, else x would have

been spelt @. Attica and most of the Cyclades kept X for

the guttural element in x (written @ or @) and for ch as

well. On the west of the Aegean a new symbol @ was invented

for the aspirate value, and this spread over the mainland

and was carried by emigrants to Rhodes, Sicily and Italy.

The sign ch was kept in the western group for the guttural

spirant in x, which was written @; but, as this spirant

occurred nowhere else, the combination was often abbreviated,

and X was used for @ precisely as in the Italic alphabets we

shall flnd that F = f develops out of a combination FH.

The development of symbols for the long vowels e and o

was also the work of the Ionians. The h-sound ceased at

a very early period to exist in Ionic, and by 800 B.C. was

ignored in writing. The symbol @ or H was then employed

for the long open e-sound, a use suggested by the name of

the letter, which, by the loss of the aspirate, had passed

from Heta to Eta. About the same period, and probably as a

sequel to this change, the Greeks of Miletus developed @ for

the long open o-sound, a form which in all probability

is differentiated out of O. Centuries passed, however,

before this symbol was generally adopted, Athens using

only O for o, o and ou, the spurious diphthong, until

the adoption of the whole ionic alphabet in 403 B.C.17

Latin alphabet.

The discoveries of the last quarter of the 19th century

carried back our knowledge of the Latin alphabet by

at least two centuries, although the monuments of an

early age which have been discovered are only three.

The Dvenos inscription.

(a) In 1880 was discovered between the Quirinal and Viminal

hills a little earthenware pot of a curious shape, being as it

were, three vessels radiating from a centre, each with a separate

mouth at the top.18 Round the sides of the triangle formed by

the three vessels and under the mouths runs an inscription of

considerable length. The use for which the pot was intended and

the purport of the inscription have been much disputed, there

being at least as many interpretations as there are words in the

inscription. The date is probably the early part of the

4th century B.C. Though found in Rome, the vessel is small

enough to be easily portable, and might therefore have been

brought from elsewhere in Italy. It is equally possible that

the potter who inscribed the words upon it was not a native of

Rome. One or two points in theinscription make it doubtful

whether the Latin upon it is really the Latin of Rome. It

is generally known as the Dvenos inscription, from the name

of the maker who wrote on the vessel from right to left the

inscription, part of which is DVENOS MED FECED ( = fecit).

The Praeneste fibula.

(b) The second of these early records is the inscription

on a gold fibula found at Praeneste and published in 1887.

The inscription runs from right to left, and is in letters

which show more clearly than ever that the Roman alphabet is

borrowed from the alphabets of the Chalcidian Greek colonies in

Italy. Its date cannot be later than the 5th and is possibly

as early as the 6th century B.C. The words are MANIOS MED

FHEFHAKED NVMASIOI, ``Manius made me for Numasius.'' The

symbol for M has still five strokes, s has the angular

form @, @. The inscription is earlier than the Latin change

of s between vowels into r, for Numasioi is the dative

of the older form which corresponds to the later Numerius.

The verb form is remarkable. In the Dvenos inscription the

perfect of facio is feced; here it is a reduplicated form

with the same vowel as the present. The spelling also is

interesting. The symbol K is still in ordinary use,

and not merely used for abbreviations as in the classical

age. But most remarkable is the representation of Latin F

by FH. The reason for this is clear. The value of F in

the Greek alphabet is w and not f as in Latin. Greek had

no sound corresponding to Latin F, consequently an attempt

is made by combining F and H to indicate the difference of

sound. Etruscan uses FH in in the same way. As Latin,

however, made the symbol V indicate not only the vowel sound

u, but also the consonant sound v (i.e. English w),

the sign for the digamma F was left unemployed, and as FH

was a cumbrous method of representing a sound which did not

exist in Greek, the second element came to be left out in

writing. Thus F came to be the representative of the unvoiced

labiodental spirant instead of that for the bilabial voiced

spirant. Whether the form fefaked was ever good Latin

in Rome may be doubted, for the Romans, in spite of the few

miles that separate Praeneste from Rome, were inclined to

sneer at the pronunciation and idiom of the praenestines

(cf. Plautus, Trin. 609, Truc. 691; Quintilian i. 5, 56)

Forum inscriptions.

(c) The last, and in some respects the most important, of

these records was found in 1899 under an ancient pavement in

the Comitium at the north-west corner of the Roman Forum.

It is engraved upon the four sides and one bevelled edge of a

pillar, the top of which has been broken off. As the writing is

boustrofedon, beginning at the bottom of the pillar and running

upwards and down again, no single line of the inscription is

complete. Probably more than half the pillar is lost, so that

it is not possible to make out the sense with certainty. The

inscription is probably not older than that on the fibula from

Praeneste, but has the additional interest of being undoubtedly

couched in the Latin of Rome. The surviving portion of the

inscription contains examples of all the letters of the early

alphabet, though the forms of F and B are fragmentary and

doubtful. As in the Praenestine inscription, the alphabet

is still the western (Chalcidian) alphabet. K is still in

use as an ordinary consonant, and not limited to a symbol for

abbreviations as in the classical period. The rounded form

of g is found with the value of G in RECEI, which is

probably the dative of rex. H has still the closed form

@, M has the five-stroke form, S is the three-stroke

@, tending to become rounded. R appears in the Greek form

without a tail,and V and Y are both found for the same

sound. The manner of writing up and down instead of backwards

and forwards across the stone is obviously appropriate to a

surface which is of considerable length, but comparatively

narrow, a connected sense being thus much easier to observe

than in writing across a narrow surface where, as in the

gravestones of Melos, three lines are required for a single

word. The form of the monument corresponds to that which

we are told was given to the revolving wooden pillars on

which the laws of Solon were painted. That the writing of

Solon's laws, which was boustrofedon, was also vertical

is rendered probable by the phrase o katothen nomos in

Demosthenes' speech Against Aristocrates, sec. 28, for which

Harpocration is unable to supply a satisfactory explanation.

Differentiation of Roman from Greek alphabet.

The differentiation of the Roman alphabet from the Greek is

brought about (a) by utilizing the digamma for the unvoiced

labiodental spirant F; (b) by dropping out the aspirates

th, f, ch (@ in the Chalcidian alrhabet, whence the Roman

is derived) from the alphabet proper and employing them only

as numerals, th (@) being gradually modified till it was

identified with C as though the initial of centum, 100.

Similarly @ became in time identified with M as though

the initial of mille, 1000, aud the side strokes of ch

in the above form were flattened out till it became @, and

ultimately L, 50. (c) After 350 B.C., at latest, there

was in Latin no sound corresponding to Z, which was therefore

dropped. In the Chalcidian alphabet the symbol for x was

placed after the symbols common to all Greek alphabets, a

position which X retains in the Latin (and also in the

Faliscan) alphabet. K in time passed out of use except as an

abbreviation, its place being taken by C, which, as we have

seen, is in the earliest inscrio1ion still g. Three points

here require explanation: (1) Why K fell into disuse: (2)

Why C took the place of K; (3) why the new symbol G was

put in the place of the lost Z. It is clear that C must

have become an equivalent of K before the latter fell out of

use. There is some evidence which seems to point to a

prouunciation of the voiced mutes which, like the South German

pronunciation of g, d, b, but slightly differentiated them

from the unvoiced mutes, so that confusion migh easily arise.

The Etruscans, who were separated from the Romans only by the

Tiber, gradually lost the voiced mutes. But another cause

was perhaps more potent. C and IC, as k was frequently

written, would easily be confused in writing, and Professor Hempl

(Transactions of the Chalcidian Philological Association

for 1899, pp. 24 ff.) shows that the Chalcidian form of z--

I developed into shapes which might have partaken of the

confusion. Owing to this confusion, the new symbol G,

differentiated from C, took the place of the useless I.

In abbreviations, however, C remained as before in the

value of G, as in the names Gaius and Gnaeus. Y and

Z were added in the last century of the republic for use

in transliterating Greek words containing u and z.19