Harun-al-Rashid, born 786, died 833. Under him Bagdad became a great centre
of art and science.
AL'MANAC, a calendar, in which are set down the rising and setting of the
sun, the phases of the moon, the most remarkable positions and phenomena of
the heavenly bodies, for every month and day of the year; also the several
fasts and feasts to be observed in the Church and State, &c., and often
much miscellaneous information likely to be useful to the public. The term
is of Arabic origin, but the Arabs were not the first to use almanacs,
which indeed existed from remote ages. In England they are known from the
fourteenth century, there being several English almanacs of this century
existing in MS. They became generally used in Europe within a short time
after the invention of printing; and they were very early remarkable, as
some are still, for the mixture of truth and falsehood which they
contained. Their effects in France were found so mischievous, from the
pretended prophecies which they published, that an edict was promulgated by
Henry III in 1579 forbidding any predictions to be inserted in them
relating to civil affairs, whether those of the State or of private
persons. In the reign of James I of England letters-patent were granted to
the two universities and the Stationers' Company for an exclusive right of
printing almanacs, but in 1775 this monopoly was abolished. During the
civil war of Charles I, and thence onward, English almanacs were
conspicuous for the unblushing boldness of their astrological predictions,
and their determined perpetuation of popular errors. The most famous
English almanac was _Poor Robin's Almanack_, which was published from 1663
to 1775. Gradually, however, a better taste began to prevail, and in 1828
the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by publishing the
_British Almanac_, had the merit of taking the lead in the production of an
unexceptionable almanac in Great Britain. The example thus set has been
almost universally adopted. The circulation of almanacs continued to be
much cramped by the very heavy duty of one shilling and threepence per copy
till 1834, when this duty was abolished. About 200 new almanacs were
started immediately on the repeal. Almanacs, from their periodical
character, and the frequency with which they are referred to, are now more
and more used as vehicles for conveying statistical and other useful
information, some being intended for the inhabitants of a particular
country or district, others for a particular class or party. Some of the
almanacs that are regularly published every year are extremely useful, and
are indeed almost indispensable to men engaged in official, mercantile,
literary, or professional business. Such in Great Britain are _Thom's
Official Directory of the United Kingdom_, _The British Almanac_, _Oliver
and Boyd's New Edinburgh Almanac_, and _Whitaker's Almanac_, started in
1868. In the United States is published _The American Almanac_, a useful
compilation. The _Almanach de Gotha_, which has appeared at Gotha since
1764, contains in small bulk a wonderful quantity of information regarding
the reigning families and Governments, the finances, commerce, population,
&c., of the different States throughout the world. Since 1871 it is
published both in a French and in a German edition. Among French almanacs
the most famous was the _Almanach Liegeois_, whilst the _Almanach
National_, first published in 1679 as _Almanach Royal_, is the most
important of modern almanacs in France. Almanacs that pretend to foretell
the weather and occurrences of various kinds are still popular in Britain,
France, and elsewhere.--_The Nautical Almanac_ is an important work
published annually by the British Government, two or three years in
advance, in which is contained much useful astronomical matter, more
especially the distances of the moon from the sun, and from certain fixed
stars, for every three hours of apparent time, adapted to the meridian of
the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. By comparing these with the distances
carefully observed at sea the mariner may, with comparative ease, infer his
longitude to a degree of accuracy unattainable in any other way, and
sufficient for most nautical purposes. This almanac was commenced in 1767
by Dr. Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal. The French _Connaissance des Temps_ is
published for the same purpose as the English _Nautical Almanac_, and
nearly on the same plan. It commenced in 1679. Of a similar character is
the _Astronomisches Jahrbuch_ published at Berlin.
ALMAN'DINE, a mineral of a reddish or violet colour, a variety of precious
or noble garnet.
ALMAN'SA, a town of south-eastern Spain (Murcia), near which was fought
(25th April, 1707) a decisive battle in the War of the Spanish Succession,
when the French, under the Duke of Berwick, defeated the Anglo-Spanish army
under the Earl of Galway. Pop. 11,887.
ALMAN'ZUR, or ALMANSUR, a caliph of the Abasside dynasty, reigned 754-75.
He was cruel and treacherous and a persecutor of the Christians, but a
patron of learning.
ALMA-TAD'EMA, Sir Lawrence, Dutch painter, born in 1836, resided since 1870
in England, where he became a naturalized subject. He was made A.R.A. in
1876, R.A. in 1879, knighted in 1899, and awarded the Order of Merit in
1905. He died at Wiesbaden, 25th June, 1912. He is especially celebrated
for his pictures of ancient Roman, Greek, and Egyptian life, which are
painted with great realism and archaeological correctness.
AL'MEH, the name given in Egypt to a class of girls whose profession is to
sing for the amusement of the upper classes, as distinguished from the
_gawasi_, who perform before the lower classes. They perform at feasts and
other entertainments (including funerals), and many of them are skilful
improvisatrici. One of their most famous dances is called 'The Bee'.
ALMEIDA ([.a]l-m[=a]'i-d[.a]), one of the strongest fortresses in Portugal,
in the province of Beira, near the Spanish border, on the Coa. Pop. 2350.
Taken by Massena from the English in 1810, retaken by Wellington in 1811.
ALMEIDA (d[.a]l-m[=a]'i-d[.a]), Francisco d', first Portuguese viceroy of
India, son of the Conde de Abrantes, born about the middle of the fifteenth
century. He fought with renown against the Moors, and being appointed
governor of the new Portuguese settlements on the African and Indian
coasts, he sailed for India in 1505, accompanied by his son Lorenzo and
other eminent men. In Africa he took possession of Quiloa and Mombas, and
in the East he conquered Cananor, Cochin, Calicut, &c., and established
forts and factories. His son Lorenzo discovered the Maldives and
Madagascar, but perished in an attack made on him by a fleet sent by the
Sultan of Egypt, with the aid of the Porte and the Republic of Venice.
Having signally defeated the Mussulmans (1508), and avenged his son, and
being superseded by Albuquerque, he sailed for Portugal, but was killed in
a skirmish on the African coast in 1510.
ALMELO', a town of Holland, province of Overyssel, on the Vechte; with
manufactures of linen. Pop. 7360.
ALMENDRALEJO (-[=a]'h[=o]), a town of Spain, province of Badajoz, in a
district rich in grain, wine, and fruits, with many brandy distilleries.
Pop. 12,587.
ALMERIA ([.a]l-m[=a]-r[=e]'[.a]), a fortified seaport of Southern Spain,
capital of province of Almeria, near the mouth of a river and on the gulf
of same name, with no building of consequence except a Gothic cathedral,
but with a large trade, exporting grapes, iron ore, lead, esparto, &c. The
province, which has an area of 3360 sq. miles, is generally mountainous,
and rich in minerals. Pop. of town, 48,614; of province, 393,689.
ALMODO'VAR, a town of Spain, province of Ciudad-Real (New Castile), near
the Sierra Morena. Pop. 12,640.
ALMOHADES (al'mo-h[=a]dz), a Moorish dynasty that ruled in Africa and Spain
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, founded by Mohammed Ibn Tumart, a
religious enthusiast, who assumed the title of _Mahdi_. They overthrew the
Almoravides in Spain, but themselves received a defeat in 1212 from which
they did not recover, and in 1269 were overthrown in Africa, when Idris
El-Wathik, their last emir, was murdered by a slave.
AL-MOKANNA. See _Mokanna_.
ALMOND ([.a]'mund), the fruit of the almond tree (_Amygd[)a]lus
comm[=u]nis_), a tree which grows usually to the height of 20 feet, and is
akin to the peach, nectarine, &c. (ord. Rosaceae). It has beautiful pinkish
flowers that appear before the leaves, which are oval, pointed, and
delicately serrated. It is a native of Africa and Asia, naturalized in
Southern Europe, and cultivated in England for its beauty, as it seldom
produces edible fruit even in the warmer portions of Southern England. The
fruit is a drupe, ovoid, and with downy outer surface; the fleshy covering
is tough and fibrous; it covers the compressed wrinkled stone enclosing the
seed or almond within it. There are two varieties, one sweet and the other
bitter; both are produced from _A. communis_, though from different
varieties. Most of the sweet almonds imported into Britain come from
Southern Europe, the Levant, and California, the finest being the
Valencian, Jordan, and Malaga. They contain a bland fixed oil, consisting
chiefly of olein. Bitter almonds come from Mogador, and besides a fixed oil
they contain a substance called _emulsin_, and also a bitter crystalline
substance called _amygdalin_, which, acting on the emulsin, produces
prussic acid, whence the aroma of bitter almonds when mixed with water.
_Almond-oil_, a bland fixed oil, is expressed from the kernels of either
sweet or bitter almonds, and is used by perfumers and in medicine. A
poisonous essential oil is obtained from bitter almonds, which is used for
flavouring by cooks and confectioners, also by perfumers and in medicine.
The name _almond_, with a qualifying word prefixed, is also given to the
seeds of other species of plants; thus _Java almonds_ are the kernels of
_Canarium commune_.
ALMONDBURY ([.a]'mund-be-ri), a town of England, West Riding of Yorkshire,
S.E. of Huddersfield, in which it is now included, with manufactures of
woollens, cotton and silk goods.
AL'MONER, an officer of a religious establishment to whom belonged the
distribution of alms. The grand almoner (_grand aumonier_) of France was
the highest ecclesiastical dignitary in that kingdom before the revolution.
The lord almoner, or lord high almoner of England, is generally a bishop,
whose office is well-nigh a sinecure. He distributes the sovereign's doles
to the poor on Maundy Thursday.
ALMO'RA, a town and fortress of India, in the United Provinces, capital of
Kumaon, 170 miles E.N.E. of Delhi, a thriving little place. Pop. about
10,560.
ALMO'RAVIDES (-v[=i]dz), a Moorish dynasty which arose in North-Western
Africa in the eleventh century, and reigned from 1055-1147. The town of
Marrakesh, built in 1062, became the capital of this dynasty. Having
crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, the family gained possession of all
Arabic Spain, but was overthrown by the Almohades in the following century.
AL'MUG (or AL'GUM) TREE, names which occur in _1 Kings_, x, 11, 12, and _2
Chron_., ii, 8, and ix, 10, 11, as the names of trees of which the wood was
used for pillars in the temple and the king's house, for harps and
psalteries, &c. They are said in one passage to be hewn in Lebanon, in
another to be brought from Ophir. They have been identified by critics with
the red sandalwood of India. Some of them may possibly have been
transplanted to Lebanon by the Phoenicians.
ALMUNECAR ([.a]l-m[u:]n-ye-k[:a]r'), a seaport of Spain, Granada, on the
Mediterranean. Pop. 8000.
AL'NAGER, formerly, in England, an official whose duty it was to inspect,
measure, and stamp woollen cloth.
AL'NUS. See _Alder_.
ALNWICK (an'ik), a town of England, county town of Northumberland, 34 miles
north of Newcastle, near the Aln. It is well built, and carries on tanning,
brewing, and a general trade. The town is famous for the curious ceremonies
which take place there annually during the election of the common council
(25th March). Alnwick Castle, residence of the Dukes of Northumberland, for
many centuries a fortress of great strength, stands close to the town. Pop.
(1921), 6991.
[Illustration: Socotrine Aloe (_Aloe socotr[=i]na_)]
ALOE (al'[=o]), the name of a number of plants belonging to the genus Aloe
(ord. Liliaceae), some of which are not more than a few inches, whilst
others are 30 feet and upwards in height; natives of South Africa and
Socotra; leaves fleshy, thick, and more or less spinous at the edges or
extremity; flowers with a tubular corolla. Some of the larger kinds are of
great use, the fibrous parts of the leaves being made into cordage, fishing
nets and lines, cloth, &c. The inspissated juice of several species is used
in medicine, under the name of _aloes_, forming a bitter purgative. The
medicinal value of bitter aloes was known to the Greeks in the fourth
century B.C. According to the Arabian historian Edrisi, the occupation of
Socotra by the Macedonians was due to Aristotle's persuading Alexander the
Great to secure the monopoly of the supplies of the drug. The drug is said
to have been commended to Alfred the Great by the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
but a direct trade in it between Socotra and Britain was opened only in the
seventeenth century. The principal drug-producing species are the Socotrine
aloe (_A. Socotr[=i]na_); the Barbados aloe (_A. vulg[=a]ris_), first
imported into Britain in 1693; the Cape aloe (_A. spic[=a]ta_), 1780; and
Natal aloes, 1870; &c. A beautiful violet colour is yielded by the leaves
of the Socotrine aloe. The American aloe (see _Agave_) is a different plant
altogether; as are also the aloes or lign-aloes of Scripture, which are
supposed to be the _Aquilaria Agall[)o]chum_, or aloes-wood (q. v.). _Aloe
fibre_ is obtained from species of Aloe, Agave, Yucca, &c., and is made
into coarse fabrics, ropes, &c.
ALOES-WOOD, EAGLE-WOOD, or AGILAWOOD, the inner portion of the trunk of
_Aquil[=a]ria ov[=a]ta_ and _A. Agall[)o]chum_, forest trees belonging to
the ord. Aquilariaceae, found in tropical Asia, and yielding a fragrant
resinous substance, which, as well as the wood, is burned for its perfume.
Another tree, the _Aloex[)y]lon Agall[)o]chum_ (ord. Leguminosae), also
produces aloes-wood. This wood is supposed to be the lign-aloes (a
corruption of the Lat. _lignum aloe_) of the Bible.
ALOPE'CIA, a variety of baldness in which the hair falls off from the beard
and eyebrows, as well as the scalp.
ALOPECU'RUS, a genus of grasses. See _Foxtail-grass_.
ALO'RA, a town of Southern Spain, province of Malaga. Pop. 6200.
ALOST, or AALST ([:a]'lost, [:a]lst), a town of Belgium, 15 miles W.N.W. of
Brussels, on the Dender (here navigable), with a beautiful, though
unfinished, church, and an ancient town hall (thirteenth century);
manufactures of lace, thread, linen and cotton goods, &c., and a
considerable trade. In the market-place stands a statue of Thierry
Maartens, who introduced the art of typography into the Netherlands in
1473. The town was occupied by the Germans in 1914. Pop. 35,603.
[Illustration: Alpaca (_Auch[=e]nia Paco_)]
ALPAC'A, a ruminant mammal of the camel tribe, and genus Auch[=e]nia (_A.
Paco_), a native of the Andes, especially of the mountains of Chile and
Peru, and closely allied to the llama. Llamas and alpacas are mutually
fertile when crossed, and this explains the existence of intermediate forms
between the two breeds. It has been domesticated, and remains also in a
wild state. In form and size it approaches the sheep, but has a longer
neck. It is valued chiefly for its long, soft, and silky wool, which is
straighter than that of the sheep, and very strong, and is woven into
fabrics of great beauty, used for shawls, clothing for warm climates,
coat-linings, and umbrellas, and known by the same name. Cloth made from
imported alpaca wool is manufactured in England, principally in Yorkshire.
Attempts have been made to introduce and acclimatize the alpaca in Europe
and in Australia, but no measure of success has attended the experiments.
Its flesh is pleasant and wholesome.
ALPE'NA, a town of the United States, Michigan, at the entrance of the
Thunder into Lake Huron, with saw-mills, woollen factories, &c. Pop.
12,706.
ALPEN-HORN, or ALP-HORN (Ger.), a long, nearly-straight horn, curving
slightly, and widening towards its extremity, used in the Alps to convey
signals, or notice of something.
ALPEN-STOCK (Ger.), a strong, tall stick shod with iron, pointed at the end
so as to take hold in, and give support on, ice and other dangerous places
in climbing the Alps and other high mountains.
ALPES ([.a]lp), the name of three departments in the south-east of France,
all more or less covered by the Alps or their offshoots:--_Basses-Alpes_
(b[:a]s-[.a]lp; Lower Alps) has mountains rising to a height of 8000 to
10,000 feet, is drained by the Durance and its tributaries, and is the most
thinly-peopled department in France; area, 2697 sq. miles; capital, Digne.
Pop. (1921), 91,882.--_Hautes-Alpes_ ([=o]t-[.a]lp; Upper Alps), mostly
formed out of ancient Dauphine, traversed by the Cottian and Dauphine Alps
(highest summits 12,000 feet), drained chiefly by the Durance and its
tributaries. It is the lowest department in France in point of absolute
population; area, 2178 sq. miles; capital, Gap. Pop. (1921),
89,275.--_Alpes-Maritimes_ ([.a]lp-m[.a]-ri-t[=e]m; Maritime Alps) has the
Mediterranean on the south, and mainly consists of the territory of Nice,
ceded to France by Italy in 1860. The greater part of the surface is
covered by the Maritime Alps; the principal river is the Var. It produces
in the south, cereals, vines, olives, oranges, citrons, and other fruits;
and there are manufactories of perfumes, liqueurs, soap, &c., and valuable
fisheries. It is a favourite resort for invalids; area, 1443 sq. miles;
capital, Nice. Pop. 357,759.
AL'PHA and O'MEGA, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet,
sometimes used to signify the beginning and the end, or the first and the
last of anything; also as a symbol of the Divine Being (_Rev._ i, 8; xxi,
6; xxii, 13). They were also formerly the symbol of Christianity, and
engraved accordingly on the tombs of the ancient Christians. Some of these
engravings are to be seen in the Louvre.
AL'PHABET (from _Alpha_ and _Beta_, the two first letters of the Greek
alphabet), the series of characters used in writing a language, and
intended to represent the sounds of which it consists. The English
alphabet, like most of those of modern Europe, is derived directly from the
Latin, the Latin from the ancient Greek, and that from the Phoenician,
which again is believed to have had its origin in the Egyptian
hieroglyphics, although Egyptologists are not unanimous on this point.
There is little evidence in support of the theory that the Phoenician
alphabet had developed from the Assyrian cuneiform. Some scholars, like Sir
Arthur Evans, are of opinion that the Philistines established on the coast
of Palestine had brought the alphabet over from Crete, and that from them
it passed to the Phoenicians. The names of the letters in Phoenician and
Hebrew must have been almost the same, for the Greek names, which, with the
letters, were borrowed from the former, differ little from the Hebrew. By
means of the names we may trace the process by which the Egyptian
characters were transformed into letters by the Phoenicians. Some Egyptian
character would, by its form, recall the idea of a house, for example, in
Phoenician or Hebrew _beth_. This character would subsequently come to be
used wherever the sound b occurred. Its form might be afterwards
simplified, or even completely modified, but the name would still remain,
as _beth_ still continues the Hebrew name for b, and _beta_ the Greek. Our
letter m, which in Hebrew was called _mim_, water, has still a considerable
resemblance to the zig-zag wavy line which had been chosen to represent
water, as in the zodiacal symbol for _Aquarius_. The letter o, of which the
Hebrew name means eye, no doubt was originally intended to represent that
organ. While the ancient Greek alphabet gave rise to the ordinary Greek
alphabet and the Latin, the Greek alphabet of later times furnished
elements for the Coptic, the Gothic, and the old Slavic alphabets. The
Latin characters are now employed by a great many nations, such as the
Italian, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch,
the German, the Hungarian, the Polish, &c., each nation having introduced
such modifications or additions as are necessary to express the sound of
the language peculiar to it. The Greek alphabet originally possessed only
sixteen letters, though the Phoenician had twenty-two. The original Latin
alphabet, as it is found in the oldest inscriptions, consisted of
twenty-one letters; namely, the vowels a, e, i, o, and u (v), and the
consonants b, c, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, x, z. The Anglo-Saxon
alphabet had two characters for the digraph th, which were unfortunately
not retained in later English; it had also the character ae. It wanted j,
v, y (consonant), and z. The German alphabet consists of the same letters
as the English, but the sounds of some of them are different. Anciently
certain characters called _Runic_ were made use of by the Teutonic nations,
to which some would attribute an origin independent of the Greek and Latin
alphabets. Wimmer, the Danish scholar, is, however, of opinion that the
_runes_ were developed from the Latin alphabet. While the alphabets of the
west of Europe are derived from the Latin, the Russian, which is very
complete, is based on the Greek, with some characters borrowed from the
Armenian, &c; it is called _azbouka_, from the first two letters _az_, a,
and _bouki_, b. Among Asiatic alphabets, the Arabian (ultimately of
Phoenician origin) has played a part analogous to that of the Latin in
Europe, the conquests of Mohammedanism having imposed it on the Persian,
the Turkish, the Hindustani, &c. The Sanskrit or Devan[=a]gari alphabet is
one of the most remarkable alphabets of the world. As now used it has
fourteen characters for the vowels and diphthongs, and thirty-three for the
consonants, besides two other symbols. Our alphabet is a very imperfect
instrument for what it has to perform, being both defective and redundant.
An alphabet is not essential to the writing of a language, since ideograms
or symbols may be used instead, as in Chinese. See
_Writing_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Clodd, _The Alphabet_ (Useful Knowledge
Series, Hodder & Stoughton); Canon J. Taylor, _The Alphabet_; Philippe
Berger, _Histoire de l'Ecriture dans l'Antiquite_.
ALPH[=E]'US (now RUFIA), the largest river of Peloponnesus, flowing
westwards into the Ionian Sea. In Greek mythology Alph[=e]us is supposed to
have been the son of Oceanus and Tethys.