ALLYGURH-ALMANSA. the Pleistocene formation. The name is now given to those deposits of mud, soil, sand, gravel, etc., which are brought down by streams and rivers and spread over lower lands. Allygurh', a fort in the district of the same name in India. It lies on the route between Agra and Delhi. It was stormed by the British in 1803, being then the principal depot of the French party in the Doab. In 1857 A. became the arena of a still more desperate struggle. Ten days after the outbreak at Meerut the native troops in garrison mutinied. Fortunately the Europeans escaped with comparatively little sacrifice of life, but the temporary loss of the place almost cut off the communications between the S.-E. and the N.-W. The district of A., in the North-west Provinces, has an area of 1,955 sq. m.; pop. 1,073,106. Allyl, (Lat. allium, "garlic,") is an organic radical existing in the oils of mustard and garlic. Allyn, (RoberT, D.D.,) of the M. E. Church, professor in and president of several academies or colls.; last Pres. of Southern Ill. Normal Univ.; b. 1817, d. 1894. Al'ma, a river in the Crimea, flowing W. into the Bay of Kalamaita, about half-way between Eupatoria and Sebastopol. On the steep banks of this stream, through the channel of which the British troops waded amid a shower of bullets, a victory was won on Sept. 20, 1854, by the allied armies of Britain and France, under Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud, over the Russian army commanded by Prince Menschikoff. Al'mack's, a suite of assembly rooms in King Street, London. They were built in 1765 by Almack, a tavernkeeper, and were hence called Almack's Rooms; they are now generally called Willis's Rooms, from the name of the present proprietor. The name of A. is chiefly associated with the balls that were held there under the management of a committee of ladies of high rank, and thus became synonymous with aristocratic exclusiveness. Alma'da, a town of Portugal, in the prov. of Estremadura. Near it is the gold mine of Adissa; pop. 5,500. Almaden', a place famous for its quicksilver mines, 65 m. from San Francisco, Calif.; first opened in 1846, since when immense quantities have been extracted and largely ased in mining operations. Pop. 1,932. Almaden', or Almaden' del Azogue', (Arab. "the Mine of Quicksilver,") a town in Spain, 50 m. S.-W. of Ciudad Real, is the Ciapona Cetobrix of the Romans; pop. 8,645. It is famous for its exceedingly rich quicksilver mines, producing annually about 2,500,000 lbs. These mines were worked by the ancient Iberians; afterward by the Romans. They were taken under the care of the Spanish government in 1645. Some yrs. since the firm of Rothschilds undertook the working of these mines. There is a school of mines in the place. 81 most influential persons in the new colony of Darien, when he was persuaded to join Pizarro in his attack on Peru. The undertaking was crowned with astonishing success. He was appointed, in the absence of Pizarro, governor of the conquered country, and received permission from the Spanish court to conquer for himself a special province S. of the territory subdued by Pizarro. In 1534, therefore, he marched on Chili, penetrated deep into the land, and returned in 1536, just when the Peruvians had flown to arins under their young inca, Manco Capac, and shut up the Spaniards in Cuzco and Lima. He dispersed the Peruvian army before Cuzco and advanced with his forces against Lima, hoping to make himself sole master of the country. But Pizarro contrived, by means of a truce, to gain time for collecting his forces. On the 6th of April, 1538, a desperate engagement took place near Cuzco, in which A. was defeated and taken prisoner. He was condemned to death, and was strangled in prison. His son Diego, gathering together his father's followers, stormed the palace of Pizarro, whom he assassinated, (1541;) he then proclaimed himself Capt.-Gen. of Peru. Baca de Castro was sent out from Spain as supreme arbitrator. Diego was requested to submit, and on his refusing was attacked by the troops of Baca, when the bloodiest battle took place that had ever been known in Am., (1542.) Diego was defeated, taken prisoner, and executed, with forty of his companions. Almalee', or Almali', a large town of Asiatic Turkey, situated on the river Myra. A. has numerous mills propelled by water, tan-yards, dye-works, and factories; pop. said to be 12,000. Al'ma Ma'ter, (Lat. "nourishing mother,") is a name given to a university by those who have studied at it, to denote its relation to them and to distinguish it from inferior schools of learning. Al'manac, from the Arab. article al, and manah, "to count," a word denoting a book or table containing a calendar of the civil divisions of the yr., the times of the various astronomical phenomena, and other information. The earliest European A. worthy of notice was compiled by the celebrated astronomer Purbach, between the yrs. 1450 and 1461; but the first printed A. was that composed by his pupil, Regiomontanus, for the 30 yrs. from 1475 to 1506, for which he received a munificent donation from Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary. Bernard de Granolachs, of Barcelona, commenced the publication of an A. in 1487; Engel of Vienna, in 1491; and Stöffler of Tübingen, in 1524 In 1533 Rabelais published at Lyons his A. for that year, and renewed the publication in 1535, 1548, and 1550. In the reign of Charles IX. a royal ordonnance required every A. to be stamped with the approval of the diocesan bishop. The early As. were crammed with ridiculous predictions and sug. gestions. It was not until the publication, in 1828, of the British A. by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge that the English public discovered the irrational and deleterious nature of the commodity they had hitherto maintained in existence. In Scotland the earliest As. seem to have been produced about the beginning of the 16th c., but the Edinburgh A. seems to have been among the first to respond to the requirements of advancing civilization. What Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh A. is to Scotland is Thom's Irish A. to Ireland—a work not less excellent, and even more extensive. The most important astronomical A. published in Britain is the Nautical A., projected by the astronomerroyal, Dr. Maskelyne, and first published in 1767. The first William Bradford published in 1687 the first ordinary Amer. A. Poor Richard's A. was published by Franklin from 1732-57. Most of the great religious denominations in the U. S. issue valuable As.; each of the leading newspapers, also, has its A., of which The Tribune A., The Brooklyn Eagle A., and the one published by The Albany Argus, are among the most excellent.-The term A. is also applied by antiquaries to calendars found carved, usually on staves, but also on tablets of wood, scabbards of swords, handles of hatchets, etc. The inscribed characters are sometimes the Runic-hence the name of runestaffs-and sometimes the Gothic. The four principal national Ephemerides to-day are the British Nautical A., the German Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch, the Amer. Ephemeris and Nautical A., and the French Connaissance des Temps, to which may perhaps be added the French Annuaire of the Bureau des Longitudes, which contains ephemerides of the principal variable stars and other valua ble astronomical information. Alma'gest, (Arab. al, "the," and Gr. megistos, "greatest,") the name given by the Arabs to their translation of the Megale Suntaxis, the great work of Ptolemy on astronomy, and the name by which it is commonly known to-day by all nations. This work of Ptolemy's contained a catalogue of 1,028 stars, derived probably from the previous observations of Hipparchus, and divided into 48 constellations, (q. v.,) which have come down to the present time. It also contained a large collection of astronomical and geometrical problems, and included an epitome of all the existing astronomical knowledge of the time, and although it was founded on a wrong system which made the earth the center of the universe and which has received the name of the Ptolemaic System, yet, on account of the lapse in astronom-volume of the American Nautical A. was issued in the yr. 1853. ical investigation, which followed his time, it remained the standard and authority on all astronomical questions for 14 c., till it was finally overthrown by Copernicus and those who came after him. For a very complete statement of the history of this work, together with a description of the various MS. and printed translations of it which are to-day available, as well as an account of the difficulties in the way of reconciling the discrepancies in the different readings of the same, the reader is referred to Baily's Preface to Ptolemy's Catalogue in the 13th vol. of the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society. Alma'gro, a city of Spain, in the prov. of Ciudad Real. Large quantities of lace are made there, also brandy, pottery, and soap; pop. 14,000. Alma'gro, d', (DIEGO,) a Span. adventurer in the conquest of S. Am., b. in 1475. He was a foundling, and derived his name from the town in the vicinity of which he was found. He went to seek his fortune in the New World which Columbus had opened up. There he became one of the Alman'sa, a town of Murcia, Spain, in the prov. of 82 ALMANSUR-ALMORAVIDES. Albacete; pop. 7,960. Near A. the French, under the Duke conduplicate, or having their sides folded together. Accord of Berwick, gained a victory, on 25th April, 1707, over an ing to the greater number of botanists it includes the peach, army of Spanish and English troops commanded by Henry constituted by some into a distinct genus, Persica, in which de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway. the drupe has a fleshy covering, (sarcocarp,) whereas in the Almansur', or Abu-Jafer-Abdallah-ben-Moham-species to which the name A. is commonly given this part is med-al-Mansur, ("Helped by God,") the second caliph a dry fibrous husk, which shrivels as the fruit ripens, and of the House of the Abbasides, reigned 754-775. His whole finally opens of its own accord. The A. tree is about 20 to 30 rule was cruel. He especially persecuted the Christians in ft. h., a native of the East and of Africa, but has now beSyria and Egypt. He removed the seat of the caliphate come completely wild in the whole S. of Europe. It is menfrom Kufa to Bagdad. The best feature of his reign was tioned in the O. T., and appears to have been cultivated his patronage of learning. He caused the Elements of from a very early period. It was introduced into Britain as Euclid to be translated from the Syriac, and the famous a fruit-tree before the middle of the 16th c.; but it is only fables of Bidpai from the Persian. A. died during a in the most favored situations in the S. of England that it pilgrimage to Mecca in the 63d yr. of his age. ever produces good fruit. The wood of the A. tree is hard, and of a reddish color, and is used by cabinet-makers, etc., but it is chiefly valued on account of the kernel of its fruit. A. are either sweet or bitter. The bitter appear to be the original kind, and the sweet an accidental variety, perpetuated and improved by cultivation. Large quantities of A. are annually imported into Britain and Am. from France, Spain, Italy, and the Levant. Al'mas, a town of the Austrian Empire; pop. 8,193. A. is the name of many small towns and villages in Hungary. Almazoʻra, a town of Valencia, Spain, in the prov. of Castellon, on the Mijares River; pop. 5,150. Almei'da, Brazilian sea-port town, founded in 1580 by Jesuit missionaries; pop. 4,000. Almei'da, one of the strongest fortified places in Portugal, on the river Coa, in the prov. of Beira; pop. 10,125. Almei'da, d', (DON FRANCISCO,) a famous Port. warrior, who flourished in the latter part of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th c. He distinguished himself in the wars with the Moors, but especially at the conquest of Granada, in 1492. Emanuel I., in consideration of his great abilities, appointed him viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in the East Indies. He reached Quiloa, on the Mozambique coast, where he was soon involved in a quarrel with the king of that city, the result of which was that A. deprived him of his crown, built a fortress to overawe the inhabitants, and, proceeding to Zanzibar, destroyed the town of Mom baza. He then sailed for the Indies, asserting every-where the superiority of the Portuguese flag. The chief design of A. was to make the Portuguese sole masters of the Indian seas, and to exclude the Egyptians and Venetians from commerce with the East. Alfonso d'Albuquerque appeared on the scene, 1507, having been sent out by the Portuguese government to supersede A., whom it had begun to distrust on account of his brilliant success. The latter refused to recognize Albuquerque as viceroy, and for some months kept him prisoner at Cochin. He now sailed along the coasts, burning and plundering various sea-ports, and at length utterly destroyed the Egyptain fleet at Diu. But he was slain (1508) in an affray with the savages at Cape Saldanha, in the S. of Africa, where his men had landed. Almeri'a, ("The Conspicuous," the anc. Murgis, or Portus Magnus,) the chief town in the Span. prov. of the same name, at the mouth of the river A. It has a harbor, well defended, a cathedral, besides 26 churches and monasteries, and a grammar-school. In the time of the Moors it was, next to Granada, the richest and most important town in the kingdom, and flourished alike in arts, industry, and commerce, being the "great port" of traffic with Italy and the East; pop. 36,200. Almodo'var del Cam'po, a town of New Castile, Spain. There are here ruins of an ancient castle; pop. 10,362. ures Almondbury, village, twp., and parish in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Eng.; pop. about 16,000. Almon'de, Van, (PHILIPPUS,) celebrated admiral of the Dutch fleet which defeated the French at La Hogue 1692; b. 1646, d. 1711. Almonds, Fixed Oil of. When A. are subjected to pressure a fixed greasy oil exudes. Either bitter or sweet A. may be employed; but the former are generally used, as they are cheaper than the sweet almond, and the expressed cake is valuable in the preparation of the essential oil; one cwt. of the almond generally yields 48 to 52 lbs. of the fixed oil. It has the specific gravity of 918, and solidifies when reduced to -13° Fahr. It has no odor. The F. O. of A. is used in medicine, and possesses a mild laxative property when administered in large doses. Almonds, Volatile Oil or Essential Oil of. The cake which is left after the expression of the fixed oil from bitter A. contains, among other matters, a portion of two substances called, respectively, amygdaline and emulsine, or synaptase. When the cake is bruised and made into a paste with water, the synaptase acts as a ferment upon the amygdaline. The volatile oil is not originally present in the bitter A.; in fact, the latter do not contain a trace of the oil ready formed, so that the oil is purely the product of the fermentation of amygdaline, 100 parts of which yield 47 of crude oil. Commercial oil of bitter A. has a golden yellow color, but may be purified so as to be almost colorless. The crude oil is very poisonous, owing to the prussic acid dissolved therein. Al'moner is the name given originally to that member of a religious order who had the distribution of the money and other things set apart for alms, which, by canonical law, was to amount to at least a tenth of the revenues of the establishment. Afterward those ecclesiastics also received this name who were appointed by princes to the same office in their households. The Grand A. of France was one of the principal officers of the court and of the kingdom, usually a cardinal, and, in right of his office, commander of all the orders, and also chief director of the great hospital for the blind. Queens, princes, and princesses had also their As., and bishops were usually appointed to this office. Almo'ra, the principal town of the British district of Kumaon, India; pop. 8,000. Al'mohades, the name of a dynasty that ruled in Africa and Spain during the 12th and 13th c. The word is Arabic, and signifies Unitarians. It was taken as a term of distinction, for the A. considered themselves the only Mohammedans who worshiped God properly. The founder of Almon'te, (DON JUAN N.,) statesman and general of this sect was Mohammed-Ibn-Toumert, a man of a bold and Mexico; noted for exploits in the war with the U. S. Held subtle intellect, and extremely ambitious. His first meas-high offices and finally that of president, which he could not were exceedingly prudent. He commenced preach- retain; b. 1804, d. in Paris 1869. ing with great zeal the reformation of all abuses, affecting himself an austere and unselfish life. At length his partisans because so numerous that Ali, King of Morocco, was compelled to take measures against him. It was, however, too late. The Arabs and Berbers flocked to his standard; and at the end of a few yrs. he was master of the provs. of Fez, Morocco, Tlemzen, Oran, and Tunis. The A. extended their conquest into Spain, subjugating Andalusia, Granada, Valencia, and a part of Aragon and Portugal as far as the Ebro and Tagus. The power of the A. was destroyed in Spain in 1257, and in Africa in 1269. Al'moravides, or Morab'ethun, the name of an Arab dynasty that ruled in Africa and Spain in the 11th and 12th c. of the Christian era, is a corruption of the Arabic word Al-morabeth, (“ The Champion of Religion.") This sect took its rise about 1050 among the Arab and Berber tribes, and was founded by a Moslem teacher called Abdal-la-benYasim, who undertook to rescue these tribes from the gross ignorance in which they were plunged, and instructed them in the doctrines of the Mohammedan faith. The new proselytes soon exhibited the fruits of this teaching by descending from their hills under the leadership of a chief named Abu-bekr, and conquering the kingdom of Fez. The adjoining kingdom of Morocco shared the same fate, and the victorious enthusiAlmond, a genus of the order Rosacea, sub-order Amug-asts, under the famous Yussuf-ben-Taxfin, the cousin of Abudale, or Drupace, consisting of trees, distinguished by the bekr, next crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and subdued Spain, wrinkled shell of the drupe and by the young leaves being to the Tagus on one side and to the Ebro on the other. During Almoji'a, town of Spain, in the prov. of Malaga, 10 m. N.-W. of Malaga, and famed for its baths; pop. 7,041. Almonacid', Span. town, in the prov. of Toledo, the place where King Joseph defeated the Spaniards 1809. ALMQVIST-ALPES. the reign of Ali, the son of Yussuf, arose the sect of the Almohades, which after a time expelled the A. from Africa, and in 1144 subdued their power in Spain. Alm'qvist, (KARL J. L.,) Swedish author and poet; b. 1793, d. 1866. Alms houses, called "work-houses" in England, and "poor-houses" in Scotland, are institutions for the maintenance of the sick and poor. They were established in London in the reign of William and Mary, and a similar system was introduced into Ireland in 1838. Compulsory labor for all paupers able to work was introduced in 1601. In the U. S. A. are maintained by municipal or county authorities. Town farms are attached in several of the States. Tewkesbury and Deer Island in Mass., Blackwell's Island, N. Y., and the Philadelphia County Almshouse, Pa., are among the celebrated institutions of this character. Al'mug Tree, or Al'gum Tree. This name, occurring in the O. T., was formerly supposed to denote a species of acacia, or a coniferous tree like the cypress; but it is now thought more probable that it was one of the kinds of sandalwood, the santalum album, a native of India. Almuncan'tar, a word of Arabic origin, used in Astron. to denote a small circle of the celestial sphere parallel to the horizon, or a circle or parallel of altitude. Recently Mr. S. C. Chandler, of Cambridge, Mass., has invented an instrument to which he has given the above name, which is designed to observe the times when different stars reach the same altitude in their diurnal paths from E. to W. It consists of a telescope supported upon a frame floating on mercury, the telescope pointing constantly, either directly or by a mirror in front of it, to the same altitude, and the observations consist in timing on the chronograph the instants of the oblique transits of the star over the horizontal wires in the field of view, the instrument being moved in azimuth by turning the trough in which it floats, and being otherwise left untouched during the course of the series of observations. It is capable of great precision, and possesses the two important features of no movable parts and a constant position with reference to the direction of the force of gravity while in use. Almunecar', a sea-port town of Andalusia, Spain; pop. 8,794. Al'my, (JOHN J.,) Rear Admiral U.S.N.; served in Mexican and civil wars; b. in R. I. 1814; was retired in 1877; d. 1895. Alnwick, a town upon the Alne, the county town of Northumberland, Eng., distant about 34 m. from Newcastle; pop. 8,000. A. was at an early period a fortified town, and some fragments of the ancient walls even yet remain. An ancient gate, built by Hotspur, still forms one of the entrances to the city. A. Castle, the residence of the Dukes of Northumberland, stands at the N. entrance of the town. It was repaired some years ago, and is considered one of the most magnificent baronial structures in England. During the Middle Ages it was a bulwark against the Scots, who thrice besieged it. Al'oe, (Aloë,) a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceae, sub-order Aloinea, distinguished by a regular cylindrical perianth in six pieces, expanded at the mouth, and nectariferous at the base, the stamens hypogynous, or springing from beneath the germen, the ovules indefinite in number, the fruit a membraneous three-celled capsule. The species are numerous, natives of warm countries. The species all have stems, but vary in h. from a few in. to 30 ft. The Negroes of the W. coast of Africa make cords and nets of the fibers of their leaves, and stockings are woven from the fibers of a species found in Jamaica. But As. are chiefly valuable for their medicinal properties. Al'oes, the inspissated juice of various species of Aloe, is a drug of great antiquity, for we find Dioscorides (50 A.D.) making mention of aloe as a substance obtained from a plant and possessing cathartic properties. 83 Alo'gi, a sect who rejected the writings in which the Logos is found, formed 160 A.D. Aloi'dæ, in myth., Otus and Ephialtes, the gigantic sons of Neptune, by the wife of Aloëus. In their childhood they made war on the gods; attempted to pile Ossa upon Olympus and Pelion upon Ossa. They put Mars in chains, but were destroyed by Apollo. Alom'pra, a general who by his victories over the King of Pegu became master of Burmah, and founded Rangoon 1753; b. about 1700, d. 1760. Along-shore, a phrase applied to a voyage near the shore. "A.-men," or ""longshore-men," is a designation given to laborers employed about docks and shipping. Alopecia. See BALDNESS. Alo'ra, a town of Andalusia, Spain. Here are ruins of an ancient Gothic castle; pop. 10,014. A lost, or Aalst, a town in Belgium, the old cap. of the prov. of East Flanders. The finest building in A. is the church of St. Martin, one of the grandest in Belgium, containing a painting by Rubens, and also the mausoleum of Thierry Martens, who introduced printing into Belgium 1475 A.D. A. has a town-hall, a college, a hospital, chamber of commerce, academy of design, etc.; pop. 26,070. Aloy'sia, a genus of plants of the natural order Verbenaceae, to which belongs a shrub A. citriodora, much cultivated for the grateful fragrance which its leaves emit when slightly bruised. The leaves are in whorls of three. It is a native of Chili. In the Channel Islands and the S. of Ireland it becomes a luxuriant shrub in the open air, reaching a height of 10-25 ft., with osier-like shoots. Alp, The, or Swabian Alp, is a chain of mountains, above 60 m. in l., and from 12 to 15 m. in w., situated between the Neckar and the Danube, almost entirely within the kingdom of Würtemberg. It is in the vicinity of the Black Forest, but presents a totally different appearance on account of its being clothed with forests of hard wood instead of pine. Alpa'ca, or Pa'co, (Auchenia Paco,) a S. Am. animal of the same genus with the lama, and so closely allied to it that many naturalists regard it as a variety rather than a distinct species. It is remarkable for the length and fineness of the wool, which is of a silken texture, and of an uncommonly lustrous, almost metallic, appearance. The A. is smaller than the lama, the legs and breast are destitute of callosities. In form it somewhat resembles the sheep, but with a longer neck and more elegant head. It carries its long neck erect; its motions are free and active, its ordinary pace a rapid, bounding canter. The eyes are very large and beautiful. The wool, if regularly shorn, is supposed to grow about 6 or 8 in. in a yr.; but if allowed to remain upon the animal for several yrs. it attains a much greater 1., sometimes even 30 in. It is only about 50 yrs. since this wool became an article of commerce, but its use has gradually increased. Attempts have been made to introduce the A. into Europe; but not with any very satisfactory results. A similar attempt was made in 1821 to introduce the A. into the U. S.; but the result showed that it could not be acclimatized. Alpaca. Alp-Arslan', a Persian sultan, the second of the Seljukide dynasty, b. in Turkestan 1028 or 1030. In 1053 he ascended the throne of Khorassan, after the death of his father Daoud, and in 1063 he also succeeded his uncle. His first act was to unite the whole of his dominions in one vast monarchy. He next embraced Islamism, and it was on this occasion that he took the surname of A.-A., (the Lion-heart.) The Caliph of Bagdad gave him the title of Adhad-eddin, (Defender of the Faith,) with this extreme honor, namely, that prayer should be made in his name. His vizier, Nisam-al-Mulk, was the founder of all the colleges and academies in the kingdom. A. perished at Berzem, in Turkestan, by the poniard of Yussuf Cothuol, whom he had insulted, in 1072. Alpe'na, the cap. of A. Co., Mich., at the mouth of Thunder Bay River; the chief industry is the manufacture and shipment of lumber, and there are foundries and numerous saw-mills; pop. 11,283. Al'oes-Wood, Agi'la-Wood, Ea'gle-Wood, or Agallochum, is the inner part of the trunk of Aquilaria ovato and A. Agallochum, trees of the natural order Aquilariaceae, natives of the tropical parts of Asia, and supposed to be the aloes or lignaloes of the Bible. They are large spreading trees with simple alternate leaves. Aloes-wood contains a dark-colored, fragrant, resinous substance, and is much prized in the East as a medicine and for the pleasant odor which it diffuses in burning. It has been prescribed in Europe in cases of gout and rheumatism. The resinous substance is Alpes is the name of two depts. in France, the Bassesfound only in the inner part of the trunk and branches; the A. and the Hautes-A. The Dept. of the Basses-A. ocyounger wood is white, and almost scentless. A similar sub-cupies the N.-E. part of Provence, and includes an area of stance, still more esteemed, is obtained in the S.-E. parts of Asia and the adjacent islands from the center of the trunk of Aloexlyon Agallochum. 2,685 sq. m.; pop. 124,285. It is for the most part mountainous, consisting of spurs or offshoots from the Maritime Alps, which run toward the Rhone. The Hautes-A., lying to 84 ALPES-MARITIMES-ALPHABET. the N. of the Basses-A., is traversed by the chief range of the Cottian Alps; area 2,158 sq. m., pop. 115,522. Alpes-Maritimes, a dept. of France, in the extreme S.-E., on the shores of the Mediterranean and confines of Italy, formed in 1860 of the ancient county of Nice, (then ceded to France and formerly belonging to Sardinia,) and of the arrondissement of Grasse. The chain of the A.-M. forms the N. boundary of the department, and from it numerous spurs run seaward, among which are lovely and fertile valleys. The chief rivers of the department are the Loup, the Var, and the parts of the dept. there are noble forests. In the more elevated parts much land is used for the pasture of sheep, and also of goats, of which these regions possess a highly esteemed breed. The silk-worm is reared to a considerable extent, and the keeping of bees is a source of no little wealth, honey being largely produced and exported. The mineral riches are not great. There are some quarries of white marble, and some mineral springs. Among the chief branches of industry, besides those which are strictly rural, are brassfounding and the making of bijouterie. The tunny, anchovy, COMPARATIVE TABLE OF HIEROGLYPHIC AND ANCIENT ALPHABETICAL CHARACTERS. Paillon, Nice being situated at the mouth of the latter. The climate is mild and pleasant in the vicinity of the sea and in the lower valleys, although the higher mountains reach to altitudes where winter always reigns. The vine and olive are much cultivated in the more favored localities; oranges, lemons, and figs are produced in abundance and of excellent quality; a considerable extent of the land is devoted to tobacco, and not a little to the cultivation of herbs and flowers for the preparation of essences and perfumes. Grasse is particularly famous for the manufacture of perfumery. In many and sardine fisheries give employment to many people on the shores of the Mediterranean; pop. 258,571. Al'pha and O'mega, the names of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet: A, . These words occur in the Book of Revelation as a title of the Saviour. The two letters were used by the early Christians as symbols of faith, and were occasionally marked on tombs, ornaments, coins, etc. Al'phabet. The A. of any language is the series of letters, arranged in a fixed order, with which that language is written. Picture-writing was doubtless the earliest method invented of conveying thought through the eye. In process of time some sound of th in thin, and one (or rather two) for that of th in of those pictures came to be used phonetically-i. e., to repre- thine. These were derived, in all probability, from the Mœso sent not ideas, but sounds. But the sounds so represented were Gothic A., which (as well as the Russian and other Slavonic at first whole words, or, at all events, syllables; and the im- As.) was founded on the Greek rather than the Latin. portant step was yet to be taken of analyzing syllables into The loss of these letters is owing to the influence of the Northeir elementary sounds, and of agreeing upon some one un- man-French, the A. of which is exclusively Latin. The word varying picture or sign (a letter) to represent each. This con- "A." is formed from the Greek words alpha and beta-the first stituted the invention of the A. The Phenician A. is the two letters of the Greek A. The As. of most European nations oldest of which we have any account; and from it have origi- are derived from that of the ancient Romans, who seldom used nated, directly or indirectly, all the modes of writing now ink and y, and to whom we was unknown. When this letter was use in the world. It is the foundation of the Greek, the first introduced it was written vv, double u,) u and v being equiv. Latin, and the Arabic As.; and the great influence of the na- | alent. The letters i and j were also equivalent to each other tions speaking these tongues accounts for the wide-spread formerly. It may, however, be observed here that the vowels similarity. Taking both ancient and modern times into account, as many as 400 As. have been enumerated. The nucleus of the original A. would seem to have consisted of 16 letters, grouped in four tetrads or quaternions, on an organic principle of arrangement. This principle is obscured in English and other modern As. by some of the letters having gradually come to represent quite other sounds than their originals. The Anglo-Saxon A. had two useful letters which have disappeared from modern English; namely, one for the in ancient languages were sometimes written indiscriminately; that is, a for o, e for i, etc. Symbolic writing superseded picture writing, as illustrated by the ancient Egyptians, who rep resented eternity by a circle, a siege by a scaling-ladder, and a battle by two hands holding a bow and shield. But as such a system was cumbersome it in turn gave way to simple characters, or letters, representing the sounds of the human voice. The peculiar shape of the letters now composing the A. is said to have been suggested by some animal or object ער r + ΟΠΩΠ |