Chapter C: D E F G a B C' D' E' F' G' (8)

ALEXANDRET'TA, or ISKANDEROON (ancient ALEXANDRIA AD ISSUM), a small seaport in Asia Minor, on the Gulf of Iskanderoon, the port of Aleppo and Northern Syria. Named after Alexander the Great, and founded in memory of the battle of Issus. In 1832 Mehemet Ali won a victory over the Turks near Alexandretta. There is a large export and import trade. It was occupied by British and French troops in Nov., 1918. Pop. 10,000.

ALEXAN'DRIA, an ancient city and seaport in Egypt, at the north-west angle of the Nile delta, on a ridge of land between the sea and Lake Mareotis. Ancient Alexandria was founded by, and named in honour of, Alexander the Great, in 332 B.C., and was long a great and splendid city, the centre of commerce between the east and west, as well as of Greek learning and civilization, with a population at one time of perhaps 1,000,000. It was especially celebrated for its great library, and also for its famous lighthouse, one of the wonders of the world, standing upon the little island of Pharos, which was connected with the city by a mole. Under Roman rule it was the second city of the empire, and when Constantinople became the capital of the East it still remained the chief centre of trade; but it received a blow from which it never recovered when captured by Amru, general of Caliph Omar, in 641, after a siege of fourteen months. Its ruin was finally completed by the building of Cairo (969) and the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope (1498) which opened up a new route for the Asiatic trade. See _Alexandrian Library_, _Alexandrian School_.--Modern Alexandria stands partly on what was formerly the island of Pharos, partly on the peninsula which now connects it with the mainland and which was formed by the accumulation of soil, and partly on the mainland. The streets in the Turkish quarter are narrow, dirty, and irregular; in the foreign quarter they are regular and wide, and it is here that the finest houses are situated. Here also are the principal shops and hotels, banks, offices of companies, &c.; this part of the city being supplied with gas, and with water brought by the Mahmudieh Canal from the western branch of the Nile. Alexandria is connected by railway with Cairo, Rosetta, and Suez. A little to the south of the city are the catacombs, which now serve as a quarry. Another relic of antiquity is Pompey's Pillar, 98 feet 9 inches high. Alexandria has two ports, on the east and west respectively of the isthmus of the Pharos peninsula, the latter having a breakwater over 3000 yards in length, with fine quays and suitable railway and other accommodation. The trade of Alexandria is large and varied, the exports being cotton, beans, pease, rice, wheat, &c.; the imports chiefly manufactured goods, machinery, timber, and coal. The origin of its more recent career of prosperity it owes to Mohammed Ali. In 1882 the insurrection of Arabi Pasha and the massacre of Europeans led to the intervention of the British, and the bombardment of the forts by the British fleet in July. The administrative district has an area of 19 sq. miles; pop. 444,617 (or 23,401 per square mile).

ALEXANDRIA, a town and port of the United States, in Virginia, on the right bank of the Potomac (which is of sufficient depth for large vessels), 7 miles south of Washington, carries on a considerable trade, chiefly in flour. Pop. (1920), 18,060.

ALEXANDRIA, a town of Scotland, in Dumbartonshire, on the Leven, 4 miles north of Dumbarton, with extensive cotton-printing and bleaching works. Pop. 9850.

ALEXANDRIA, a town of the Ukraine, in the former Russian government of Kherson, on a tributary of the Dnieper. Pop. 10,521.

ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY, the largest and most famous of all the ancient collections of books, founded by Ptolemy Soter (died 283 B.C.), King of Egypt, and greatly enlarged by succeeding Ptolemies. The first librarian was Zenodotus (234 B.C.). At its most flourishing period it is said to have numbered 700,000 volumes, accommodated in two different buildings, one of them being the Serapeion, or temple of Jupiter Serapis. The other collection was burned during Julius Caesar's siege of the city, but the Serapeion library existed to the time of the Emperor Theodosius the Great, when, at the general destruction of the heathen temples, the splendid temple of Jupiter Serapis was gutted (A.D. 391) by a fanatical crowd of Christians, and its literary treasures destroyed or scattered. A library was again accumulated, but was burned by the Arabs when they captured the city under the caliph Omar in 641. Amru, the captain of the caliph's army, would have been willing to spare the library, but Omar is said to have disposed of the matter in the famous words: "If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they disagree they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed". This story, however, which rests solely on the authority of Abulfaragius, a writer who lived six centuries later, is now generally discredited.

ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL or AGE, the school or period of Greek literature and learning that existed at Alexandria in Egypt during the three hundred years that the rule of the Ptolemies lasted (323-30 B.C.), and continued under the Roman supremacy. Ptolemy Soter founded the famous library of Alexandria (see above) and his son, Philadelphus, established a kind of academy of sciences and arts. Many scholars and men of genius were thus attracted to Alexandria, and a period of literary activity set in, which made Alexandria for long the focus and centre of Greek culture and intellectual effort. It must be admitted, however, that originality was not a characteristic of the Alexandrian age, which was stronger in criticism, grammar, and science than in pure literature. Among the grammarians and critics were Zenodotus, Eratosthenes, Aristophanes, Aristarchus, and Zoilus, proverbial as a captious critic. Their merit is to have collected, edited, and preserved the existing monuments of Greek literature. To the poets belong Apollonius, Lycophron, Aratus, Nicander, Euphorion, Callimachus, Theocritus, Philetas, &c. Among those who pursued mathematics, physics, and astronomy was Euclid, the father of scientific geometry; Archimedes, great in physics and mechanics; Apollonius of Perga, whose work on conic sections still exists; Nicomachus, the first scientific arithmetician; and (under the Romans) the astronomer and geographer Ptolemy. Alexandria also was distinguished in philosophical speculation, and it was here that the New Platonic school was established by Ammonius of Alexandria (about A.D. 193), whose disciples were Plotinus and Origen. Being for the most part Orientals, formed by the study of Greek learning, the writings of the New Platonists are strikingly characterized--for example, those of Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, Iamblicus, Porphyrius--by a mixture of Asiatic and European elements. The connection of Neo-Platonism with Alexandria is, however, less than is commonly supposed.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mahaffy, _Greek Life and Thought from the Age of Alexander to the Roman Empire_; Kingsley, _Alexandria and her Schools_; Vacherot, _Histoire critique de l'ecole d'Alexandrie_ (3 vols.).

ALEXANDRIAN VERSION. See _Codex Alexandrinus_.

ALEXANDRINE, in prosody, the name given, from an old French poem on Alexander the Great, to a species of verse, which consists of six iambic feet, or twelve syllables, the pause being, in correct Alexandrines, always on the sixth syllable; for example, the second of the following verses:--

A needless Alexandrine ends the song,
That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

In English Drayton's _Polyolbion_ is written in this measure, and the concluding line of the Spenserian stanza is an Alexandrine. In France the verse fell into disuse during the early part of the sixteenth century, but was again revived by Jean Antoine de Baif, one of the poets of the Pleiade. Jodelle introduced the verse into the drama, and Ronsard made it very popular. French epics and dramas being confined to this verse, it is therefore called the _heroic_.

ALEXANDRO'POL, formerly a Russian town and fortress in the Transcaucasian government of Erivan, near the highway from Erivan to Kars; now belonging to Armenia; it has silk manufactories. Pop. 48,938.

ALEXAN'DROV, a town of Russia, government of Vladimir, with a famous convent, in the church of which are interred two sisters of Peter the Great; manufactures of steel and cotton goods. Pop. 7179.

ALEX'ISBAD, a bathing-place of Germany, Anhalt, in the Harz Mountains, with two mineral springs strongly impregnated with iron.

ALEX'IS MIKHAI'LOVITSH (son of Michael), second Russian Tsar of the line of Romanov, born in 1629, succeeded his father Mikhail Feodorovitsh in 1645, and died in 1676. He did much for the internal administration and for the enlargement of the empire; reconquered Little Russia from Poland, and carried his authority to the extreme east of Siberia. He was father of sixteen children, the most famous of them being Peter the Great and his sister Sophia.

ALEXIS PETRO'VITSH, eldest son of Peter the Great and Eudoxia Lopukhina, repudiated in 1698, was born in Moscow, 1690, and died in 1718. He opposed the innovations introduced by his father, who on this account disinherited him by a ukase in 1718, and when he discovered that Alexis was paving the way to succeed to the crown he had his son tried and condemned to death. A few days afterwards Alexis died, after having received twenty-five strokes with the knout, leaving a son, afterwards the Emperor Peter II.

ALEX'IUS COMNE'NUS, Byzantine Emperor, was born in 1048, and died in 1118. He was a nephew of Isaac the first emperor of the Comneni, and attained the throne in 1081, at a time when the Empire was menaced from various sides, especially by the Turks and the Normans. From these dangers he managed to extricate himself by policy or warlike measures, and maintained his position till the age of seventy, during a reign of thirty-seven years. His daughter Anna wrote a life of him (_The Alexiad_), which is one continuous eulogy, but all the Latin historians are very severe on him.

AL'FA. See _Esparto_.

ALFAL'FA, generally known in Britain as lucerne, a prolific forage plant largely grown in California, &c.

ALFARA'BI, an eminent Arabian scholar of the tenth century; died at Damascus in 950; wrote on Aristotelian philosophy, and compiled a kind of encyclopedia.

AL'FENID, an alloy of nickel plated with silver, used for spoons, forks, candlesticks, tea services, &c.

ALFIERI ([.a]l-f[=e]-[=a]'r[=e]), Vittorio, Count, Italian poet, was born at Asti in 1749, and died in 1803. After extensive European travels he began to write, and his first play, _Cleopatra_ (1775), being received with general applause he determined to devote all his efforts to attaining a position among writers of dramatic poetry. At Florence he became intimate with the Countess of Albany, wife of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and on the death of the prince she lived with him as his mistress. This connection he believed to have served to stimulate and elevate his poetic powers. He died at Florence and was buried in the church of Santa Croce, between Macchiavelli and Michael Angelo, where a beautiful monument by Canova covers his remains. He wrote twenty-one tragedies and six comedies. His theatrical work has been rightly styled a creation of his pride as much as of his genius; he endeavoured to turn the theatre into a platform and was constantly preaching from the stage. Anxious to use his characters as exponents of his theories, and to make them _talk_, he often forgot to make them _act_. Alfieri himself admitted that he was writing with a view to "teaching men how to become free, strong, generous, and passionate for real virtue", but such an attitude is opposed to true art. His tragedies are full of lofty and patriotic sentiments, but the language is stiff and without poetic grace, and the plots poor. Nevertheless he is considered the first tragic writer of Italy, and has served as a model for his successors. Alfieri composed also an epic, lyrics, satires, and poetical translations from the ancient classics. He left an interesting autobiography. The best edition of his works is that published at Pisa (1805-13) in 22 vols.

ALFON'SO. See _Alphonso_.

AL'FORD, Henry, D.D., Dean of Canterbury, an English poet, scholar, and miscellaneous writer, was born in London in 1810. After attending various schools he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827, graduated B.A. in 1832, was elected fellow in 1834, and next year became vicar of Wymeswold, Leicestershire. In 1842 he was appointed examiner in logic and moral philosophy to the University of London, and held the appointment till 1857. He early began the great work of his life, his edition of the Greek Testament with commentary, which occupied him for twenty years, the first volumes being published in 1849, the fourth and last in 1861. In 1853 he was transferred to Quebec Chapel, London, and in 1857 was appointed Dean of Canterbury. He was the first editor of the _Contemporary Review_ (1866-70). He died in 1871. Among other works he wrote _Chapters on the Poets of Ancient Greece_, _Sermons_, _Psalms and Hymns_, _Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles_, _Letters from Abroad_, _Poetical Works_, _Plea for the Queen's English_.

AL'FRED (or AEL'FRED) THE GREAT, King of England, was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, A.D. 849, his father being Ethelwulf, son of Egbert, King of the West Saxons. He succeeded his brother Ethelred in 872, at a time when the Danes, or Northmen, had extended their conquests widely over the country, and they had completely overrun the kingdom of the West Saxons by 878. Alfred was obliged to flee in disguise. At length he gathered a small force, and having fortified himself on the Isle of Athelney, formed by the confluence of the Rivers Parret and Tone, amid the marshes of Somerset, he was able to make frequent sallies against the enemy. It was during his abode here that he went, according to legend, disguised as a harper into the camp of King Guthrum (or Guthorm), and, having ascertained that the Danes felt themselves secure, hastened back to his troops, led them against the enemy, and gained such a decided victory that fourteen days afterwards the Danes begged for peace. This battle took place in May, 878, near Edington, in Wiltshire. Alfred allowed the Danes who were already in the country to remain, on condition that they gave hostages, took a solemn oath to quit Wessex, and embraced Christianity. Their king, Guthrum, was baptized, with thirty of his followers, and ever afterward remained faithful to Alfred. They received that portion of the east of England now occupied by the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge, as a place of residence. The few years of tranquillity (886-93) which followed were employed by Alfred in rebuilding the towns that had suffered most during the war, particularly London; in training his people in arms and no less in agriculture; in improving the navy; in systematizing the laws and internal administration; and in literary labours and the advancement of learning. He caused many manuscripts to be translated from Latin, and himself translated several works into Anglo-Saxon, such as the _Psalms_, _Aesop's Fables_, _Boethius on the Consolation of Philosophy_, the _History of Orosius_, _Bede's Ecclesiastical History_, &c. He also drew up several original works in Anglo-Saxon. These peaceful labours were interrupted, about 894, by an invasion of the Northmen, who, after a struggle of three years, were finally driven out. Alfred died in 901. He had married, in 868, Alswith or Ealhswith, the daughter of a Mercian nobleman, and left two sons: Edward, who succeeded him, and Ethelwerd, who died in 922.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Plummer, _Life and Times of Alfred the Great_; A. Bowker, _Alfred the Great, Chapters on his Life and Times_; B. A. Lees, _Alfred the Great_.

ALGAE (al'j[=e]), a nat. ord. of cryptogamic or thallogenous plants, found for the most part in the sea and fresh water, or on the surface of damp walls, rocks, the bark of trees, and in similar moist situations. They are either some shade of bluish-green, green, brown, or red colour. The higher forms have stems bearing leaf-like expansions, and they are often attached to the rocks by roots, which, however, do not derive nutriment from the rocks. A stem, however, is most frequently absent. The plants are nourished through their whole surface by the medium in which they live. They vary in size from the microscopic diatoms to forms whose stems resemble those of forest trees, and whose fronds rival the leaves of the palm. They are entirely composed of cellular tissue, and many are edible and nutritious, as carrageen or Irish-moss, dulse, &c. Kelp, iodine, and bromine are products of various species. The Algae are also valuable as manure. They are often divided into five orders: Diatomaceae, Confervaceae, Fucaceae, Ceramiaceae, and Characeae.

ALGAR'DI, Alessandro, one of the chief Italian sculptors of the seventeenth century; born 1602, died 1654. He lived and worked chiefly at Rome; executed the tomb of Leo XI in St. Peter's, a bronze statue of Innocent X, and a marble relief with life-size figures over the altar of St. Leo there.

ALGARO'BA-BEAN. See _Carob Tree_.

AL'GAROT, a violently purgative and emetic white powder, precipitated from chloride of antimony in water; it was used in medicine by the physician Victor Algarotus in the sixteenth century.

ALGAROT'TI, Francesco, Count, born in 1712, died in 1764, an Italian writer on science, the fine arts, &c. He lived for some years in France and for a long time in Germany, Frederick the Great of Prussia having made him chamberlain and count. He wrote _Neutonianismo per le donne_; _Saggi sopra le belle arti_, his principal work on art; poems, letters, &c. Algarotti's works published at Venice in 17 vols. (1791-4) and illustrated by Tesi and Novelli are a _chef-d'oeuvre_ of typography. Frederick the Great erected at Pisa a monument to his memory.

ALGARVE (al-g[.a]r'v[=a], meaning the land situated in the west), a maritime province of Portugal occupying the southern portion of the country, mountainous but with some fertile tracts. The title King of Algarve was held by the Kings of Portugal. Area, 1937 sq. miles; pop. 274,122.

ALGAU ([.a]l'gou), a name for the south-western portion of Bavaria and the adjacent parts of Wuertemberg and Tyrol, intersected by the Algau Alps. The Algau breed of cattle is one of the best in Germany.

ALGAZZALI ([.a]l-g[.a]z-[:a]'l[=e]), Abu Hamed Mohammed, an Arabian philosopher, Persian by birth; born 1058, died 1111. He was a most prolific author; an opponent of the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy of the day, and wrote against it the _Destruction of the Philosophers_, answered by Averroes in his _Destruction of the Destruction_.

AL'GEBRA (from the Arabic _al_, definite article, and _jabbara_, to make equal), a kind of generalized arithmetic, in which numbers or quantities and operations, often also the results of operations, are represented by symbols. Thus the expression xy + cz + dy^2 denotes that a number represented by x is to be multiplied by a number represented by y, a number c multiplied by a number z, a number d by a number y multiplied by itself (or squared), and the sum taken of these three products. So the _equation_ (as it is called) x^2 - 7x + 12 = 0 expresses the fact that if a certain number x is multiplied by itself, and this result made less by seven times the number and greater by twelve, the result is 0. In this case x must either be 3 or 4 to produce the given result; but such an equation (or formula) as (a + b)(a - b) = a^2 - b^2 is always true whatever values may be assigned to a and b. Algebra is an invaluable instrument in intricate calculations of all kinds, and enables operations to be performed and results obtained that by arithmetic would be impossible, and its scope is still being extended.

The beginnings of algebraic method are to be found in Diophantus, a Greek of the fourth century of our era, but it was the Arabians that introduced algebra to Europe, and from them it received its name. The first Arabian treatise on algebra was published in the reign of the great Caliph Al Mamun (813-33) by Mohammed Ben Musa. Italian merchants were the first algebraists in Europe, and in 1202 Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa, who had travelled and studied in the East, published a work treating of algebra as then understood in the Arabian school. From this time to the discovery of printing considerable attention was given to algebra, and the work of Ben Musa and another Arabian treatise, called the _Rule of Algebra_, were translated into Italian. The first printed work treating on algebra (also on arithmetic, &c.) appeared at Venice in 1494, the author being a monk called Luca Pacioli da Bergo, a Minorite friar. Rapid progress now began to be made, and among the names of those to whom advances are to be attributed are Tartaglia and Geronimo Cardano. About the middle of the sixteenth century the German Stifel introduced the signs +, -, [sqrt], and Robert Recorde the sign =. The last-named wrote the first English work on algebra in 1557. Francois Vieta, a French mathematician (1540-1603), first adopted the method which has led to so great an extension of modern algebra, by being the first who used general symbols for known quantities as well as for unknown. It was he also who first made the application of algebra to geometry. Albert Girard, a Flemish mathematician in the seventeenth century, extended the theory of equations by the introduction of imaginary quantities. The Englishman Harriot, early in the seventeenth century, discovered negative roots, and established the equality between the number of roots and the units in the degree of the equation. He also invented the signs < >, and Oughtred that of x. Descartes, though not the first to apply algebra to geometry, has, by the extent and importance of his applications, commonly acquired the credit of being so. The same discoveries have also been attributed to him as to Harriot, and their respective claims have caused much controversy. He obtained by means of algebra the definition and description of curves. Since his time algebra has been applied so widely in geometry and higher mathematics that we need only mention the names of Fermat, Wallis, Newton, Leibnitz, De Moivre, MacLaurin, Taylor, Euler, D'Alembert, Lagrange, Laplace, Fourier, Poisson, Gauss, Horner, De Morgan, Sylvester, Cayley. Boole, Jevons, and others have applied the algebraic method not only to formal logic but to political economy.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Chrystal, _Algebra_ (2 vols.); Hobson, _Trigonometry_; Hardy, _Pure Mathematics_; Whittaker and Watson, _Modern Analysis_.

ALGECIRAS ([.a]l-_h_e-th[=e]'r[.a]s) (perhaps Portus Albus of the Romans), a seaport of Spain, on the west side of the Bay of Gibraltar, a well-built town carrying on a brisk coasting trade. It was the first conquest of the Arabs in Spain (711), and was held by them till 1344, when it was taken by Alphonso XI of Castile after a long siege. Near it, in 1801, Admiral Sir James Saumarez defeated a Franco-Spanish fleet. Differences between France and Germany regarding Morocco led to a conference of European Powers here from 16th Jan.-7th April, 1906. Pop. 15,800.

ALGE'RIA, a French dependency in N. Africa, having on the north the Mediterranean, on the east Tunis, on the west Morocco, and on the south the Desert of Sahara; area, 122,878 sq. miles, or including the Algerian Sahara 343,500. The country is divided into three departments--Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. The coastline is about 550 miles in length, steep and rocky, and though the indentations are numerous, the harbours are much exposed to the north wind. The country is traversed by the Atlas Mountains, two chains of which--the Great Atlas, bordering on the Sahara, and the Little, or Maritime Atlas, between it and the sea--run parallel to the coast, the former attaining a height of 7000 feet. The intervals are filled with lower ranges, and numerous transverse ranges connect the principal ones and run from them to the coast, forming elevated tablelands and enclosed valleys. The rivers are numerous, but many of them are mere torrents rising in the mountains near the coast. The Shelif is much the largest. Some of the rivers are largely used for irrigation, and artesian wells have been sunk in some places for the same purpose. There are, both on the coast and in the interior, extensive salt lakes or marshes (_Shotts_), which dry up to a great extent in summer. The country bordering on the coast, called the _Tell_, is generally hilly, with fertile valleys; in some places a flat and fertile plain extends between the hills and the sea. In the east there are _Shotts_ that sink below the sea-level, and into these it has been proposed to introduce the waters of the Mediterranean. The climate varies considerably according to elevation and local peculiarities. There are three seasons: winter from November to February, spring from March to June, and summer from July to October. The summer is very hot and dry. In many parts of the coast the temperature is moderate and the climate so healthy that Algeria is now a winter resort for invalids.

The chief products of cultivation are wheat, barley, and oats, tobacco, cotton, wine, silk, and dates. Early vegetables, especially potatoes and pease, are exported to France and England. A fibre called _alfa_, a variety of esparto, which grows wild on the high plateaux, is exported in large quantities. Cork is also exported. There are valuable forests, in which grow various sorts of pines and oaks, ash, cedar, myrtle, pistachio-nut, mastic, carob, &c. The Australian _Eucalyptus glob[)u]lus_ (a gum tree) has been successfully introduced. Agriculture often suffers much from the ravages of locusts. Among wild animals are the lion, panther, hyena, and jackal; the domestic quadrupeds include the horse, the mule, cattle, sheep, and pigs (introduced by the French). Algeria possesses valuable minerals, including iron, copper, lead, sulphur, zinc, antimony, marble (white and red), phosphate, and lithographic stone.

The trade of Algeria has greatly increased under French rule, France, Spain, and England being the countries with which it is principally carried on, and three-fourths of the whole being with France. The exports (besides those mentioned above) are olive-oil, raw hides, wood, wool, tobacco, oranges, &c.; the imports, manufactured goods, wines, spirits, coffee, &c. The manufacturing industries are unimportant, and include morocco leather, carpets, muslins, and silks. French money, weights, and measures are generally used. The chief towns are Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Bona, and Tlemsen. There are about 2800 miles of railways opened; there is also a considerable network of telegraph lines.

The two principal native races inhabiting Algeria are Arabs and Berbers. The former are mostly nomads, dwelling in tents and wandering from place to place, though a large number of them are settled in the Tell, where they carry on agriculture and have formed numerous villages. The Berbers, here called Kabyles, are the original inhabitants of the territory and still form a considerable part of the population. They speak the Berber language, but use Arabic characters in writing. The Jews form a small but influential part of the population. Various other races also exist. Except the Jews, all the native races are Mahommedans. There are now a considerable number of French and other colonists, provision being made for granting them concessions of land on certain conditions. There are over 260,000 colonists of French origin in Algeria, and over 200,000 colonists natives of other European countries (chiefly Spaniards and Italians). Algeria is governed by a governor-general, who is assisted by a council appointed by the French Government. The settled portion of the country, in the three departments of Algiers, Constantine, and Oran, is treated much as if it were a part of France, and each department sends two deputies and one senator to the French chambers. The rest of the territory is under military rule. The colony costs France a considerable sum every year. Pop. of Algeria proper in 1911, 5,523,449; of the Algerian Sahara, 40,379.

The country now called Algeria was known to the Romans as Numidia. It flourished greatly under their rule, and early received the Christian religion. It was conquered by the Vandals in A.D. 430-1, and recovered by Belisarius for the Byzantine Empire in 533-4. About the middle of the seventh century it was overrun by the Saracens. The town of Algiers was founded about 935 by Yussef Ibn Zeiri, and the country was subsequently ruled by his successors and the dynasties of the Almoravides and Almohades. After the overthrow of the latter, about 1269, it broke up into a number of small independent territories. The Moors and Jews, who were driven out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella at the end of the fifteenth century, settled in large numbers in Algeria, and revenged themselves on their persecutors by the practice of piracy. On this account various expeditions were made by Spain against Algeria, and by 1510 the greater part of the country was made tributary. A few years later the Algerians invited to their assistance the Turkish pirate Horush (or Haruj) Barbarossa, who made himself Sultan of Algiers in 1516, but was not long in being taken by the Spaniards and beheaded. His brother and successor put Algiers under the protection of Turkey (about 1520), and organized the system of piracy which was long the terror of European commerce, and was never wholly suppressed till the French occupation. Henceforth the country belonged to the Turkish Empire, though from 1710 the connection was little more than nominal. The depredations of the Algerian pirates were a continual source of irritation to the Christian Powers, who sent a long series of expeditions against them. For instance, in 1815 a United States fleet defeated an Algerian one and forced the Dey to agree to a peace in which he recognized the American flag as inviolable. In 1816 Lord Exmouth with an English fleet bombarded Algiers, and exacted a treaty by which all the Christian slaves were at once released, and the Dey undertook for the future to treat all his prisoners of war as the European law of nations demanded. But the piratical practices of the Algerians were soon renewed.

At last the French determined on more vigorous measures, and in 1830 sent a force of over 40,000 men against the country. Algiers was speedily occupied, the Dey retired, and the country was without a government, but resistance was organized by Abd-el-Kader, an Arab chief whom the emergency had raised up. He began his warlike career of fifteen years by an attack on Oran in 1832, and after an obstinate struggle the French, in Feb., 1834, consented to a peace, acknowledging him as ruling over all the Arab tribes west of the Shelif by the title of Emir of Maskara. War was soon again renewed with varying fortune, and in 1837, in order to have their hands free in attacking Constantine, the French made peace with Abd-el-Kader, leaving to him the whole of Western Algeria except some coast towns. Constantine was now taken, and the subjugation of the province of Constantine followed. Meanwhile Abd-el-Kader was preparing for another conflict, and in Nov., 1838, he suddenly broke into French territory with a strong force, and for a time the supremacy of the French was endangered. Matters took a more favourable turn for them when General Bugeaud was appointed governor-general in Feb., 1841. In the autumn of 1841 Saida, the last fortress of Abd-el-Kader, fell into his hands, after which the only region that held out against the French was that bordering on Morocco. Early in the following year this also was conquered, and Abd-el-Kader found himself compelled to seek refuge in the adjoining empire. From Morocco Abd-el-Kader twice made a descent upon Algeria, on the second occasion defeating the French in two battles; and in 1844 he even succeeded in raising an army in Morocco to withstand the French. Bugeaud, however, crossed the frontier, and inflicted a severe defeat on this army, while a French fleet bombarded the towns on the coast. The Emperor of Morocco was at length compelled to agree to a treaty, in which he not only promised to refuse Abd-el-Kader his assistance, but even engaged to lend his assistance against him. Reduced to extremities Abd-el-Kader surrendered on 27th Dec., 1847, and was at first taken to France a prisoner, but was afterwards released on his promise not to return to Algeria. The country was yet far from subdued. The Kabyles, and the Arabs in the south, made protracted resistance, and rose again and again against the yoke which it was attempted to impose upon them. The numerous risings that successively took place thus rendered Algeria a school for French generals, such as Pelissier, Canrobert, St. Arnaud, and MacMahon. In 1864 MacMahon succeeded Pelissier as governor-general, and had as his first work to put down an insurrection. About this time the Emperor Napoleon III, who had visited the colony, introduced considerable modifications into the government, recognizing that the native races had grievances to complain of, and that the French rulers were in various ways astray in the methods of government adopted. Fresh disturbances broke out in the south nearly every year till 1871, when, owing to the Franco-Prussian war, a great effort was made to throw off the French yoke, the colony being nearly denuded of French soldiers. It was, however, completely suppressed, and in order to remove what was believed to be one principal cause of the frequent insurrections, a civil government was established instead of the military government in the northern parts of the colony. The southern parts, inhabited by nomadic tribes, are still subject to military rule. When the French took in hand the occupation of Tunis, a rising took place (in 1881) in the west of Algeria, under a chieftain who was able to inflict some loss and damage on the French forces and colonists, but with no permanent result. Since then quietness has generally prevailed in the colony, where the French, however, continue to maintain a considerable military force. Owing to this and other expenditure Algeria has always formed a burden on the resources of France. The great aid rendered by Algeria to France during the European War led the French Government to introduce new laws. The law of 4th Feb., 1919, gives French citizenship to all Algerian natives under certain conditions.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. D. Stott, _The Real Algeria_; Sir R. Lambert Playfair, _Handbook for Travellers in Algeria_ (Murray's Handbooks).

ALGESI'RAS. See _Algeciras_.

ALGHERO, or ALGHERI ([.a]l-g[=a]'r[=o], [.a]l-g[=a]'r[=e]), a fortified town and seaport on the north-west coast of the island of Sardinia, 15 miles south-west of Sassari; the seat of a bishop, with a handsome cathedral. One of the remarkable edifices of Alghero is the Casa Arbia, where Charles V was lodged. The necropolis of Anghelu Ruju, situated in the vicinity, was excavated in 1904.

ALGIERS (al'j[=e]rz; Fr., _Alger_), a city and seaport on the Mediterranean, capital of the French colony of Algeria, is situated on the west side of the Bay of Algiers, partly on the slope of a hill facing the sea. The old town, which is the higher, is oriental in appearance, with narrow, crooked streets, and houses that are strong, prison-like edifices. Its crowning point is the Kasbah, or ancient fortress of the Deys, about 500 feet above the sea, now serving as barracks. The modern French town, which occupies the lower slope and spreads along the shore, is handsomely built, with broad streets and elegant squares. It contains the Government buildings, the central military and civil establishments, the residence of the governor-general and the officials of the general and provincial Government, the superior courts of justice, the archbishop's palace and the cathedral, various other churches, including an English church and library, the great commercial establishments, &c. A fine boulevard built on a series of arches, and bordered on one side by handsome buildings, runs along the sea-front of the town overlooking the bay, harbour, and shipping. Forty feet below are the quay and railway-station, reached by inclined roads leading from the centre of the boulevard. The harbour is good and capacious, enclosed by piers or jetties, and otherwise improved at great expense, and it and the city are defended by a strong series of fortifications. Algiers is well provided with educational institutions, including high schools or colleges for law, medicine, literature, mathematics, and natural science; besides normal schools, an observatory, public library, &c. Algiers is in every way far the most important place in Algeria. There is a large shipping trade carried on, especially with Marseilles, Cette, and some of the Spanish ports. Trade routes from the interior and also railways centre in Algiers, and the exports include grain, wine, cattle, wool, ore, tobacco, fruit, olive-oil, &c. Algiers is now an important coaling station The city possesses widely-extended suburbs. The climate, though variable, makes it a very desirable winter residence for invalids and others from colder regions. Though warm, it is bracing. There is a considerable rainfall (average 29 inches), but the dry air and absorbent soil prevent it from being disagreeable. The winter months resemble a bright, sunny English autumn, while the heat of summer is not so intense as that of Egypt. The sirocco or desert wind is troublesome, however, during summer, but in the winter it is merely a pleasant, warm, dry breeze. Hailstorms are not infrequent, but frost and snow in Algiers are so rare as to be almost unknown. Pop. 172,397.

ALGIN, a viscous, gummy substance obtained from certain seaweeds, more especially those of the genus Laminaria. It can be utilized for all purposes where starch or gum is now required; may be used in cookery for soups and jellies; and in an insoluble form it can be cut, turned, and polished, like horn or vulcanite.

ALGO'A BAY, a bay on the south coast of the Cape Province, 425 miles east of the Cape of Good Hope, the only place of shelter on this coast for vessels during the prevailing north-west gales. It was the first landing-place of British immigrants in 1820. The usual anchorage is off Port Elizabeth, on its west coast, a place of large and increasing trade, but open on the east and south-east.

ALGOL', Arabic name of a star in the constellation Perseus (head of Medusa), remarkable as a variable star, changing in brightness from the second to the fifth magnitude.

ALGO'MA, a district of Canada, on the north of Lake Superior, forming part of the north-west portion of Ontario, rich in silver, copper, iron, &c.

ALGON'KINS, or ALGONQUINS, a family of North American Indians, formerly spread over a great extent of territory, and still forming a large proportion of the Indians of Canada. They consisted of four groups, namely--(1) the eastern group, comprising the Massachusetts, Narragansets, Mohicans, Delawares, and other tribes; (2) the north-eastern group, consisting of the Abenakis, &c.; (3) the western group, made up of the Shawnees, Miamis, Illinois, &c.; and (4) the north-western group, including the Chippewas or Ojibbewas, the largest of all the tribes.

ALGORISM, or ALGORITHMUS, in arithmetic, a word derived from the name of Algoritmi or Al-Khowarizmi, from whose works European scholars received much of their early information concerning Hindu numerals. The word is now used to designate any particular arrangement of numerical work.

ALGRAPHY. See _Lithography_.

ALGUACIL, or ALGUAZIL ([.a]l-gw[.a]-th[=e]l'), in Spain, an officer whose business it is to execute the decrees of a judge; a sort of constable. In ancient times the Alguacil was the great provost of the palace.

ALGUM. See _Almug_.

ALHA'GI. See _Camel's-thorn_.

ALHAMA ([.a]-l[:a]'m[.a]; that is, 'the bath'), a town of Southern Spain, province of Granada, on the Marchan, 25 miles south-west of Granada, celebrated for its warm medicinal (sulphur) baths and drinking waters. It formed a Moorish fortress, the recovery of which in 1482 by the Spaniards led to the entire conquest of Granada. It was occupied by the French from Feb., 1810-Aug., 1812, and thrown into ruins by an earthquake in Dec., 1884. Pop. 8000.--There is also an _Alhama_ in the province of Murcia, with a warm mineral spring. Pop. 6000.

ALHAM'BRA (Ar. _al_ and _hamrah_, 'the' and 'red'), a famous group of buildings in Spain, forming the citadel of Granada when that city was one of the principal seats of the empire of the Moors in Spain, situated on a height, surrounded by a wall flanked by many towers, and having a circuit of 2-1/4 miles. Within the circuit of the walls are two churches, a number of mean houses, and some straggling gardens, besides the palace of Charles V and the celebrated Moorish palace which is often distinctively spoken of as the Alhambra. This building, to which the celebrity of the site is entirely due, was the royal palace of the Kings of Granada. The greater part of the present building belongs to the first half of the fourteenth century. In the course of centuries, both through neglect and acts of vandalism, the beauty of the Alhambra has suffered considerably. The work of restoration was, however, undertaken in 1824 by the architect Jose Contreras, and continued by his son Rafael from 1847-90. It consists mainly of buildings surrounding two oblong courts, the one, called the Court of the Fishpond (or of the Myrtles), 138 by 74 feet, lying north and south; the other, called the Court of the Lions, from a fountain ornamented with twelve lions in marble, 115 by 66 feet, lying east and west, described as being, with the apartments that surround it, "the gem of Arabian art in Spain, its most beautiful and most perfect example". Its design is elaborate, exhibiting a profusion of exquisite detail gorgeous in colouring, but the smallness of its size deprives it of the element of majesty. The peristyle or portico on each side is supported by 128 pillars of white marble, 11 feet high, sometimes placed singly and sometimes in groups. Two pavilions project into the court at each end, the domed roof of one having been restored. Some of the finest chambers of the Alhambra open into this court, and near the entrance a museum of Moorish remains has been formed. On the opposite side of the Court of the Lions is the Hall of the Abencerrages. The prevalence of stucco or plaster ornamentation is one of the features of the Alhambra, which becomes especially remarkable in the beautiful honeycomb 'stalactite vaulting'. Arabesques and geometrical designs with interwoven inscriptions are present in the richest profusion. Cf. Owen Jones's work, _The Alhambra_ (2 vols., London, 1842-5.

ALHAURIN ([.a]l-ou-r[=e]n'), a town of Southern Spain, province of Malaga, with sulphureous baths. Pop. 7000.

ALI ([.a]'l[=e]), cousin and son-in-law of Mahomet, the first of his converts, and the bravest and most faithful of his adherents, born A.D. 602. He married Fatima, the daughter of the prophet, but after the death of Mahomet (632) his claims to the caliphate were set aside in favour successively of Abu-Bekr, Omar, and Othman. On the assassination of Othman, in A.D. 656, he became caliph, and after a series of struggles with his opponents, including Ayesha, widow of Mahomet, finally lost his life by assassination at Kufa in 661. A Mahommedan schism arose after his death, and has produced two sects. One sect, called the Shiites, put Ali on a level with Mahomet, and do not acknowledge the three caliphs who preceded Ali. They are regarded as heretics by the other sect, called Sunnites. The Turks hold his memory in abhorrence, whilst the Persians call him the Lion of God, and venerate him as second only to the prophet. The _Maxims_ and _Hymns_ of Ali are yet extant. See _Caliph_.

ALI, Pasha of Yan[)i]na, generally called _Ali Pasha_, a bold and able, but ferocious and unscrupulous Albanian, born in 1741, son of an Albanian chief, who was deprived of his territories by rapacious neighbours. Ali by his enterprise and success, and by his entire want of scruple, got possession of more than his father had lost, and made himself master of a large part of Albania, including Yan[)i]na, which the Porte sanctioned his holding, with the title of pasha. Among the travellers who visited his Court at Yan[)i]na was Byron, who has left a record of his impressions in _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_. Ali Pasha was an apostle of European culture in the East, and the first to feel the necessity for energetic reforms in the old Moslem institutions. He displayed excellent qualities, putting an end to brigandage and anarchy, making roads, and encouraging commerce. He still farther extended his sway by subduing the brave Suliotes of Epirus, whom he conquered in 1803, after a three years' war. Aiming at independent sovereignty, he intrigued alternately with England, France, and Russia, and became almost independent of the Porte, which at length determined, in 1820, to pronounce his deposition. Ali resisted several pashas who were sent to carry out this decision, only surrendering at last in 1822, on receiving assurances that his life and property would be granted him. Faith was not kept with him, however; he was killed, and his head was cut off and conveyed to Constantinople, while his treasures were seized by the Porte.

AL'IAS (Lat., 'at another time'), a word often used in judicial proceedings in connection with the different names that persons have assumed, most likely for prudential reasons, at different times, and in order to conceal identity, as Joseph Smith _alias_ Thomas Jones.

ALIBERT ([.a]-l[=e]-b[=a]r), Jean Louis, Baron, a distinguished French physician, born 1766, died 1837. He was a professor in Paris, and chief physician at the Hospital St. Louis. He wrote many valuable works on medical subjects, such as _Description des maladies de la peau_.

ALI BEY, a ruler of Egypt, born in the Caucasus in 1728, was taken to Cairo and sold as a slave, but having entered the force of the Mamelukes, and attained the first dignity among them, he succeeded in making himself virtual governor of Egypt. He then refused the customary tribute to the Porte, and coined money in his own name. In 1769 he took advantage of a war, in which the Porte was then engaged with Russia, to endeavour to add Syria and Palestine to his Egyptian dominion, and in this he had almost succeeded, when the defection of his own adopted son Mohammed Bey drove him from Egypt. Joining his ally Sheikh Daher in Syria, he still pursued his plans of conquest with remarkable success, till in 1773 he was induced to make the attempt to recover Egypt with insufficient means. In a battle near Cairo his army was completely defeated and he himself taken prisoner, dying a few days afterwards either of his wounds or by poison.

AL'IBI (Lat., 'elsewhere'), a defence in criminal procedure, by which the accused endeavours to prove that when the alleged crime was committed he was present in a different place.

ALICANTE ([.a]-l[=e]-k[.a]n't[=a]), a fortified town and Mediterranean seaport in Spain, capital of the province of the same name, picturesquely situated partly on the slope of a hill, partly on the plain at the foot, about 80 miles south by west of Valencia. The lower town has wide and well-built streets; the upper town is old and irregularly built. The principal manufactures are cotton, linen, and cigars; the chief export is wine, which largely goes to England. Alicante is an ancient town. In 718 it was taken by the Moors, from whom it was wrested about 1240. In modern times it has been several times besieged and bombarded, as by the French in 1709, and in 1812, and by the federalists of Cartagena in 1873. Pop. 58,088.--The province is very fruitful and well cultivated, producing wine, silk, fruits, &c. The wine is of a dark colour (hence called _vino tinto_, deep-coloured wine), and is heavy and sweet. Area, 2185 sq. miles. Pop. 502,607.

ALICATA, or LICATA ([.a]-l[=e]-k[:a]'t[.a], l[=e]-k[:a]'t[.a]), the most important commercial town on the S. coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso, 24 miles E.S.E. of Girgenti, with a considerable trade in sulphur, grain, wine, oil, nuts, almonds, and soda. It occupies the site of the town which the Tyrant Phintias of Acragas erected and named after himself, when Gela was destroyed in 280. Pop. 22,931.

ALICE MAUD MARY, Princess, second daughter of Queen Victoria, Duchess of Saxony, and Grand-duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt, born 1843, died 1878. In 1862 she married Frederick William Louis of Hesse, nephew of the grand-duke, whom he succeeded in 1877. She showed exemplary devotion to her father Prince Albert during his fatal illness and to the Prince of Wales during his attack of fever in 1871. During the Franco-Prussian war she organized hospitals for the relief of the sick and wounded. She died from diphtheria caught while nursing her husband and children. A selection of her letters to her mother was published in 1883 by Dr. Carl Sell.

A'LIEN, in relation to any country, a person born out of the jurisdiction of the country, and not having acquired the full rights of a citizen of it. The position of aliens depends upon the laws of the respective countries, but generally speaking aliens owe a local allegiance, and are bound equally with natives to obey all general rules for the preservation of order which do not relate specially to citizens. Aliens have been often treated with great harshness by the laws of some States. Thus in France there long existed what was known as the _droit d'aubaine_, a law which claimed for the benefit of the State the effects of deceased foreigners leaving no heirs who were natives. Aliens have been repeatedly the objects of legislation in Britain, and the tendency at the present day is to communicate some of the rights of citizenship to aliens, and to widen the definition of subjects. According to the Act of 1870 that now regulates the matter, real and personal property of every description may be acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien, in the same manner in all respects as by a natural-born British subject. No other right or privilege (such as the right to hold any office or any municipal, parliamentary, or other franchise) is by this Act conferred on an alien except such as are expressly given in respect of property. Previously aliens could hold only personal property; they were incompetent to hold landed property, except under certain conditions of residence or business occupancy for a term of years not exceeding twenty-one. The children of aliens born in Britain are natural-born subjects. Formerly the only mode of naturalization was by Act of Parliament; but now an alien who has resided in the United Kingdom for not less than one year immediately preceding his application, and has previously resided in any part of His Majesty's dominions for four years during the last eight years before the application, or who has been in the service of the Crown for not less than five years, and intends to reside in the kingdom, or to serve the British Crown, may apply to the Secretary of State for a certificate of naturalization, and on giving evidence of particulars may obtain it, being thereby entitled to almost all the political and other rights of a natural-born British subject. At present the law is laid down in the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914 and 1918. It used to be a principle in English law, that a natural-born subject could not divest himself of his allegiance by becoming naturalized in a foreign State (_nemo potest exuere patriam_); but it is now laid down that a British subject who has voluntarily become naturalized in a foreign State thereby ceases to be a British subject. Any British subject who has become an alien may apply for a certificate of readmission to British nationality on the same terms as those provided for aliens in general. In the United States the position of aliens as regards acquisition and holding of real property differs somewhat in the different States, though in recent times the disabilities of aliens have been removed in most of them. Personal property they can take, hold, and dispose of like native citizens. Individual States have no jurisdiction on the subject of naturalization, though they may pass laws admitting aliens to any privilege short of citizenship. A naturalized citizen is not eligible for election as president or vice-president of the United States, and cannot serve as senator until after nine years' citizenship, nor as a member of the House of Representatives until after seven years' citizenship. Five years' residence in the United States and one year's permanent residence in the particular State are necessary for the attainment of citizenship.