Chapter XCI: Act 1903: , the powers and duties of the Board of Trade under the (16)

The albumins contain in all cases the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen; their composition, however, varies within certain limits: C = 50-55%, H = 6.9-7.3%, N. = 15-19%, S = 0.3-2.4%, O = 19-24%, crystallized albumin is C = 51.48%, H = 6.76%, N = 8.14%, S = 0.96%, O = 22.66%, which points to the formula C720H1134N218S5O248, corresponding to the molecular weight 16,954. A high molecular weight characterizes these substances, but so far no definite value has been determined by either physical or chemical means; A. P. Sabanezhev obtained the value 15,000 by Raoult's method for purified egg albumin. All albumins are laevo-rotatory; and on incineration a small amount of inorganic ash is invariably left. They are usually insoluble in water, alcohol and ether; and their presence as solutes in vegetable and animal fluids is not yet perfectly understood, but it is probably to be connected with the presence of salts or other substances. A remarkable change occurs when many albumins are boiled with water, or treated with certain acids, their solubility and general characters being entirely altered, and the fluid becoming coagulated. This change is seen in the transformation of the ``white'' of an egg on boiling. Albumins are generally detected by taking advantage of this property, or of certain colour changes. The reagents in common use are: Millon's reagent, a solution of mercuric nitrate containing nitrous acid, this gives a violet-red coloration; nitric acid, which gives a yellow colour, turning to gold when treated with ammonia (xanthoproteic reaction); fuming sulphuric acid, which gives violet solutions; and caustic potash and copper sulphate, which, on warming, gives a red to violet coloration (biuret reaction).

Decomposition products.

Boiling with dilute mineral acids, or baryta water, decomposes albumins into carbon dioxide, ammonia and fatty amino- and other acids. These decomposition products include: glycocoll or aminoacetic acid, NH2CH2COOH, alanine or aminopropionic acid, CH3.CH(NH2).COOH, a-aminobutyric acid, a-aminovalerianic acid, leucin or isobutyl-a-aminoacetic acid, (CH3)2CH.CH2.CH(NH2).COOH, isoleucin, probably b-aminocaproic acid, serin or a-amino- b-hydroxypropionic acid, HO.CH2.CH(NH2).COOH, aspartic acid or aminosuccinic acid, HOOC.CH2.CH(NH2).COOH, glutaminic acid or a-amino- n-glutaric acid, HOOC.(CH2)2.CH(NH2).COOH, diaminoacetic acid, a-b-diaminopropionic acid, lysin. or a-e-diamino-n-caproic acid, NH2(CH2)4.CH(NH2).COOH, arginin or guanidine-a-amino- n-valerianic acid, (NH)(NH2)C.NH.(CH2)3.CH(NH2).COOH, ornithin or ad-diamino valerianic acid, NH2.(CH2)3.CH(NH2).COOH, histidin or a-amino- b-imidazol- _________________ | | propionic acid HOOC.CH(NH2).CH2.C:CH.N:CH.NH, proline _________________________________ | | or a-pyrrolidin carboxylic acid, HOOC.CH.NH.CH2.CH2.CH2, hydroxyproline, phenyl alanine or phenyl-a-aminopropionic acid, C6H5.CH2.CH(NH2).COOH, tyrosine or p-hydroxyphenyl- a- aminopropionic acid, phenyl ethylamine, p-hydroxyphenyl ethylamine, tryptophane or indol aminopropionic acid, A. cystin (protein-cystin) or a-amino-b-thioglyceric acid ``disulphide,'' (S.CH2.CH(NH2).COOH)2, B. cystin (stone-cystin), or a-thio-b-aminoglyceric acid ``disulphide,'' (NH2.CH2.CH:S.COOH)2. This list is not exhaustive; other products are given in Gustav Mann, Chemistry of the Proteids (1906), to which reference should be made for a complete account of this class of compounds.

Classification of albumins.

The complexity of composition militates in a great measure against a rational classification of albumins by purely chemical considerations. Such classifications have been attempted by A. Kossel and by W. Kuhne and E. P. Pick; but in the present state of our knowledge, however, the older classification of E. Dreschel and F. Hoppe- Seyler, based primarily on solubilities and distribution, may be conveniently retained. This classification is with certain modifications as follows:-

I. Albumins proper: characterized by having colloidal solutions.
(1) Albumins: serum-albumin, egg-albumin, albumin.
(2) Globulins: serum-globulin, egg-globulin, lacto-
globulin, cell-globulins.
(3) Plant-globulins and plant-vitellines.
(4) Fibrinogen.
(5) Myosin.
(6) Phosphorus containing albumins (nucleo-albumins),
caseins, vitellines, nucleo-albumins of the cell-
protoplasm, mucoid nucleo-albumins.
(7) Histones.
(8) Protamines.

II. Transformation products of the albumins proper.
(1) Acid-albumins, alkali albuminates.
(2) Albumoses, peptones and peptides.
(3) Halogen-albumins, oxyprotein, oxyprotsulphonic
acid, &c.

III. Proteids.
(1) Nucleo-proteids.
(2) Haemoglobin and allied substances.
(3) Glyco-proteids, mucins, mucoids, helico-proteid.

IV. Albuminoids.
(1) Collagen.
(2) Keratin.
(3) Elastin.
(4) Fibroin.
(5) Spongin, &c.
(6) Amyloid.
(7) Albumoid.
(8) Colouring matters derived from albumin.

Albumins proper.--Albumins (as classified above) are soluble in water, dilute acids and alkalies, and in saturated neutral salt solutions; they are coagulated by heat. ``Serum- albumin,'' or ``blood-albumin,'' possibly C450H720N116S6O140, occurs in blood-serum, lymph, chyle, milk, &c.; its coagulation temperature is about 67 deg. . It differs from egg-albumin in its specific rotation (-57 deg. to -64 deg. ), and in being slowly coagulated by alcohol and ether. Egg-albumin is the chief constituent of the white of egg; this fluid also contains a globulin and a mucoid. It coagulates at about 56 deg. , and its specific rotation is -30.70 deg. . ``Lact-albumin'' occurs in all kinds of milk. The globulins are insoluble in water and in dilute acids, but soluble in alkalies and in neutral salt solutions; these solutions are coagulated on boiling. ``Serum-globulin,'' also termed globulin or fibrino-plastic globulin, paraglobulin and paraglobin, occurs in blood serum; ``cell-globulins'' occur in many organs--liver, kidneys, pancreas and the thyroid gland, also in muscle-plasma; ``crystalline,'' a globulin occurring in two forms a and b, is found in the lens of the eye; ``egg-globulin'' and ``lacto- globulin'' occur respectively in the white of egg and in milk. Plant albumins or phyto-albumins have been chiefly investigated in the case of those occurring in seeds; most are globulins, insoluble in pure water, but soluble in salt solutions; ``edestin,'' a globulin of this class, is very widely distributed. Other varieties or classes of these compounds are: plant caseins, phyto-vitellines, legumins and conglutins. Fibrinogen occurs in the blood plasma, and is changed by a ferment into fibrin, to which the clotting of blood is due. Fibrinogen is insoluble in water, but soluble in salt solutions; it has three different coagulation temperatures, 56 deg. , 67 deg. , 75 deg. . Fibrin, produced from fibrinogen by a ferment, is a jelly-like substance, coagulable by heat, alcohol, &c. The muscle-albumins include ``myosin'' or paramyosinogen, a globulin, which by coagulation induces rigor mortis, and the closely related ``myosinogen'' or myogen; myoglobulin and myoalbumin are also found in muscles. The nucleo-albumins or phospho-globulins are insoluble in water and acids, but soluble in alkalies, and have an acid reaction. ``Caseinogen'' (after W. D. Halliburton) is the chief albumin of milk; its composition varies with the animal. It is insoluble in water, while its salts are readily soluble. ``Eucasein'' is the ammonium salt; ``nutrose'' and ``plasmon'' are sodium salts. By the rennet ferment caseinogen is converted into casein, a substance resembling caseinogen in being soluble in water, but differing in having an insoluble calcium salt. The formation of casein involves the curdling of milk. Other phosphoglobulins are vitelline, found in the yolk of hens' eggs, and ichthulin, found in the eggs of fish. Histones are a class of albumins soluble in water and acids, but essentially basic in character; hence they are precipitated by alkalies. It is remarkable that many histones are soluble in an excess of alkali. They do not exist in a free state, but in combination with a ``prosthetic group'' (after A. Kossel) they give rise to important cell constituents--haemoglobin, nucleo-proteids, &c. ``Thymus histone'' occurs in the thymus gland; globin occurs in combination as haemoglobin; other histones have been extracted from the red blood corpuscles of the goose and the testes of fishes and other animals. The protamines are a well-characterized class of albumins found in the ripe spermatozoa of fishes.

Albumoses and Peptones.--The primary products of the dissociation of albumins are the albumoses, characterized by not being coagulable by heat, more soluble than the albumins, having a far less complex composition, and capable of being ``salted out'' by certain salts, and the peptones, similar to albumoses but not capable of being ``salted out''; moreover, peptones are less complex than albumoses. By further decomposition peptones yield peptides, a certain number of which have been synthesized by Emil Fischer and his collaborators. Albumoses and peptones are white powders, readily soluble in water, with the exception of the hetero-albumoses--a subdivision of primary albumoses. They give the biuret and xanthoproteic reactions, and form salts with both acids and bases. Albumoses and peptones are obtained by peptic digestion, the latter being termed peptic- peptones; tryptic digestion also produces peptones. Acids and moist heat induce similar changes.

Proteids.--These substances are combinations of one or more albumins with a radical of an essentially different nature, termed by Kossel a ``prosthetic group.'' It is convenient to classify proteids by those groups. ``Nucleo-proteids,'' constituents of the cell-nucleus, are combinations of albumins and nucleic acid; they always contain iron. They are loose, white, non-hygroscopic powders, soluble in water and salt solutions, and have an acid reaction; they give the colour reactions of albumins. Nucleic acid is at present of unknown constitution; decomposition products are: phosphoric acid, uracil or 2.6-dioxy-pyrimidin,1 cytosin or 2-oxy-6-amino-pyrimidin, thymin (nucleosin) or 2.6-dioxy-5-methyl pyrimidin hypoxanthin1 or 6-oxypurin, xanthin or 2.6-dioxypurin, adenine or 6 amino-purin, guanine or 2-amino-6-oxypurin, pentoses (l-xylose), laevulinic acid, ammonia, etc. The nucleic acids vary with the source of the proteids, there being considerable differences in chemical composition. In general they are white, loose powders, slightly soluble in cold water, more soluble in hot water; they are precipitated by mineral acids, but dissolve in an excess. They are dextrorotatory, and the specific rotation is numerically greater than that of albumin; hence the proteids are, in general, dextrorotatory.

An important nucleo-proteid is haemoglobulin or haemoglobin, the colouring matter of the red blood corpuscles of vertebrates; a related substance, haemocyanin, in which the iron of haemoglobin is replaced by copper, occurs in the blood of cephalopods and crayfish. Haemoglobin is composed of a basic albumin and an acid substance haematin; it combines readily with oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to form loose compounds (see NUTRITION.) It coagulates at 64 deg. . By a dilute acid haemoglobin is decomposed into globin, and ``haematin,'' a ferri-pyrrol derivative of the probable formula C34H34N4FeO5; under certain conditions the iron-free ``haematoporphyrin'' is obtained. This last substance may be reduced to mesoporphyrin, C34H38O4N4, which by further reduction gives haemo-pyrrol, C8H13N, possibly methyl-propyl-pyrrol or butyl-pyrrol. Other derivatives are haemin, haemochromogen and the haematinic acids.

``Glyco-proteids'' differ from nucleo-proteids in containing a carbohydrate radical, which is liberated only by boiling with mineral acids or alkalies. The mucins and mucoids belong to this group; they are acid and contain no phosphorus; they give the albumin colour reactions but are not coagulated by heat. Mucins occur in most of the slimy fluids of the body; they vary in composition with their source. Mucoids resemble mucins in their composition and reactions, but differ, in general, in their physical properties. They occur in tendons, bones and cartilage. The ``phospho-glyco-proteids'' resemble the mucins and mucoids in containing a carbohydrate residue, but differ in containing phosphorus. Ichthulin (see above) maybe placed in this group; ``helico-proteid,'' found in the serous gland of Helix pomatia, the vineyard snail, also belongs here.

Albuminoids is the anatomical name given to albuminous substances forming the connective tissues. Chemically they resemble the albumins, being split up by acids or ferments into albumoses, peptones and amino-acids, forming salts, and giving the same colour reactions. They are quite insoluble in water and in salt solutions, and difficultly soluble in dilute acids and alkalies. Typical albuminoids are gelatin, keratin, elastin, fibroin, spongin and conchiolin.

``Collagen'' (Gr. kolla, glue, and root gen- of gennaein, to produce, gignesthai, to become), the ground-substance of bones and tissues, is decomposed by boiling water or on warming with acids into substances named gelatin, glutin or glue. Gelatin forms a white amorphous powder; the commercial product, however, generally forms glassy plates. The decomposition products are generally the same as with the general albumin; it gives the biuret reaction; forms salts with acids and alkalies, but is essentially acid in nature. Immersed in cold water gelatin does not dissolve but swells up; it dissolves readily in hot water, forming, according to the quantity present, a thick jelly which solidifies to a hard mass on cooling (the ``glue'' of the wood- worker), or a thin jelly (used in cookery). Gelatin occurs also in the cornea and the sclerotic coat of the eye; and in fish scales, the latter containing 80% of collagen, and 20% of ichthylepidin, a substance differing from gelatin in giving a well-marked Millon's reaction. Keratin (Gr. keras, a horn), the chief constituent of horny material, occurs in hair, nails, hoofs and feathers. It is quite insoluble in water, dilute acids and alkalies. Related to this substance are ``neuro-keratin,'' found in the medullary sheath of nerves, and ``gorgonin,'' the matrix of the axial skeleton of the coral Gorgonia Cavolinii. Elastin occurs either as thick strands or as membranes; it constitutes the ``elastic tissue'' of the anatomist. Its insolubility is much the same as keratin. ``Fibroin'' and silk-glue or sericin occur in natural silk fibres. Fibroin is insoluble in water, acids and alkanes; silk-glue resembles gelatin in its solubility, but it is less readily gelatinized. ``Spongin,'' the matrix of bath-sponge, is insoluble in water and dilute acids, but soluble in concentrated mineral acids. ``Conchiolin,'' the matrix of shells of the mollusca, is only slightly soluble in acids. ``Cornein'' forms the framework of corals. ``Amyloid'' occurs as a pathological product, and also in the healthy aorta and in old cartilage. It is an albumin, and not a carbohydrate as was formerly held; and gives most of the colour reactions of albumins. It forms shiny, homogeneous masses, quite insoluble in cold water and in salt solutions, but soluble in alkalies. The albumoids include, according to Cohnheim, substances which possess certain properties in common, but differ from the preceding groups. In general they resemble coagulated albumin, and also the gelatin-yielding tissues, but they themselves do not yield gelatin.

Colouring matters derived from albumins include the ``melanins'' (Gr. melas, black), substances which differ very considerably in composition, the sulphur and iron content being by no means constant; they do not give the reactions of albumins. The black colouring matter of hair, the skin of negroes, and of the ink bag of Sepia have been examined. Melanins obtained from tumours form black, shiny masses; they are insoluble in water, neutral salt solutions, dilute acids and in the common organic solvents.

1 6
/N = C\
1 The pyrimidin ring is numbered 2C C5 For the purin
ring, see PURIN. \\N - C//
3 4

ALBUMINURIA (Physiological or Functional), a term indicating the presence of albumin in the urine. This may depend on a number of morbid conditions, of which kidney troubles, acute illnesses and venous congestion are some of the commoner. But after exclusion of all known pathological causes, there still remains a large class of cases among subjects who appear to be in perfect health. This form has been called functional or physiological albuminuria, intermittent albuminuria, &c. Its recognition is of extreme importance, as it must be distinguished from the albuminuria due to Bright's disease and other troubles. The following are the main forms that have been described:--(1) Dietetic Albuminuria. This form affects some people after partaking of a meal consisting largely of albuminous foods, such as eggs. In others any extra indulgence in the pleasures of the table may give rise to it. (2) Cyclic Albuminuria. This name was first used by the physiologist Pavy, but other observers have called the same condition ``postural albuminuria.'' It occurs in people enjoying perfect health, and is characterized by the presence of albumin in the urine at certain times of the day. It has been shown to depend entirely on the assumption of the erect position, and it disappears as a result of the recumbent position at night. (3) Albuminuria from exercise. This form affects some people after any unusual muscular exertion. (4) Prolonged mental strain or worry may give rise to a transient form of albuminuria. (5) Adolescent albuminuria is met with in some subjects, especially boys. The question of the real significance of ``physiological'' albuminuria is one about which there is much difference of opinion. But its importance and recognition--especially in questions of life insurance--admits of no question.

ALBUQUERQUE, ALPHONSO D, (in Old Port. AFFONSO D'ALBOQUERQUE) (1453-1515), surnamed THE GREAT, and THE PORTUGUESE MARS, was born in 1453 at Alexandria, near Lisbon. Through his father, Gonzalvo, who held an important position at court, he was connected by illegitimate descent with the royal family of Portugal. He was educated at the court of Alphonso V., and after the death of that monarch seems to have served for some time in Africa. On his return he was appointed estribeiro-mor (chief equerry) to John II. In 1503 he set out on his first expedition to the East, which was to be the scene of his future triumphs. In company with his kinsman Francisco he sailed round the Cape of Good Hope to India, and succeeded in establishing the king of Cochin securely on his throne, obtaining in return for this service permission to build a Portuguese fort at Cochin, and thus laying the foundation of his country's empire in the East. He returned home in July 1504, and was well received by King Emmanuel, who entrusted him with the command of a squadron of five vessels in the fleet of sixteen which sailed for India in 1506 under Tristan da Cunha. After a series of successful attacks on the Arab cities on the east coast of Africa, Albuquerque separated from Da Cunha, and sailed with his squadron against the island of Ormuz, in the Persian Gulf, which was then one of the chief centres of commerce in the East. He arrived on the 25th of September 1507, and soon obtained possession of the island, though he was unable long to maintain his position. With his squadron increased by three vessels, he reached the Malabar coast at the close of the year 1508, and immediately made known the commission he had received from the king empowering him to supersede the governor Francisco de Almeida. The latter, however, refused to recognize Albuquerque's credentials and cast him into prison, from which he was only released, after three months' confinement, on the arrival of the grand-marshal of Portugal with a large fleet. Almeida having returned home, Albuquerque speedily showed the energy and determination of his character. An unsuccessful attack upon Calicut in January 1510, in which the commander- in-chief received a severe wound, was immediately followed by the investment and capture of Goa. Albuquerque, finding himself unable to hold the town on his first occupation, abandoned it in August, to return with the reinforcements in November, when he obtained undisputed possession. He next directed his forces against Malacca, which he subdued after a severe struggle. He remained in the town nearly a year in order to strengthen the position of the Portuguese power. In 1512 he sailed for the coast of Malabar. On the voyage a violent storm arose, Albuquerque's vessel, the ``Flor de la Mar,'' which carried the treasure he had amassed in his conquests, was wrecked, and he himself barely escaped with his life. In September of the same year he arrived at Goa, where he quickly suppressed a serious revolt headed by Idalcan, and took such measures for the security and peace of the town that it became the most flourishing of the Portuguese settlements in India. Albuquerque had been for some time under orders from the home government to undertake an expedition to the Red Sea, in order to secure that channel of communication exclusively to Portugal. He accordingly laid siege to Aden in 1513, but was repulsed; and a voyage into the Red Sea, the first ever made by a European fleet, led to no substantial results. In order to destroy the power of Egypt, he is said to have entertained the idea of diverting the course of the Nile and so rendering the whole country barren. His last warlike undertaking was a second attack upon Ormuz in 1515. The island yielded to him without resistance, and it remained in the possession of the Portuguese until 1622. Albuquerque's great career had a painful and ignominious close. He had several enemies at the Portuguese court who lost no opportunity of stirring up the jealousy of the king against him, and his own injudicious and arbitrary conduct on several occasions served their end only too well. On his return from Ormuz, at the entrance of the harbour of Goa, he met a vessel from Europe bearing despatches announcing that he was superseded by his personal enemy Soarez. The blow was too much for him and he died at sea on the 16th of December 1515. Before his death he wrote a letter to the king in dignified and affecting terms, vindicating his conduct and claiming for his son the honours and rewards that were justly due to himself. His body was buried at Goa in the Church of our Lady, and it is perhaps the most convincing proof possible of the justice of his administration that, many years after, Mussulmans and Hindus used to go to his tomb to invoke protection against the injustice of his successors. The king of Portugal was convinced too late of his fidelity, and endeavoured to atone for the ingratitude with which he had treated him by heaping honours upon his natural son Alfonso. The latter published a selection from his father's papers under the title Commentarios do Grande Affonso d'Alboquerque .

See the Cartas de Albuquerque, published by the Lisbon Academy (vol. i., 1884); also Morse Stephens' Life of Albuquerque; an article in the Bolitim of the Lisbon Geographical Society (January to June 1902) on ``O antigo Imperialismo portuguez, &c.,'' has especial reference to Albuquerque.

ALBUQUERQUE, a city and the county-seat of Bernalillo county, New Mexico, U.S.A., situated in the central part of the state, about 325 m. S. by W. of Denver, on the E. bank of the Rio Grande, at an altitude of 4950 ft. Pop. (1890) 3785; (1900) 6238 (956 foreign-born and 226 negroes); (1910 census) 11,020. In 1900 Albuquerque was the largest city in New Mexico. It is the connecting point of two main lines of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway system. A short distance E. of the city is the university of New Mexico, under state control, founded in 1889 and opened in 1892; in 1908 it had a college of letters and science, a school of engineering, a school of education, a preparatory school and a commercial school. Albuquerque is also the seat of the Harwood Industrial School (Methodist) for Mexican girls, of the Menaul Mission School (Presbyterian) for Mexican boys, and of a government Indian training school (1881) for boys and girls. The city has a public library. The excellent climate has given Albuquerque and the surrounding country a reputation as a health resort. The city is an important railway centre, has extensive railway repair shops and stock-yards, and exports large quantities of live-stock, hides and wool. The largest industrial establishment is the American Lumber Company's plant, including a saw-mill, a sash, door and blind factory and a box factory. The timber used, chiefly white pine, is obtained from the Zuni mountains. The city has also flour and woollen mills, breweries and ice factories. The old Spanish town of Albuquerque (pop. in 1900 about 1200) lies about 1 m. W. of the present city; it was founded in 1706, and was named in honour of the duke of Albuquerque, viceroy of New Spain from 1702 to 1710. During the Civil War it was occupied, late in February 1862, by Confederate troops under General Henry Hopkins Sibley (1816-1886), who soon afterwards advanced with his main body into northern New Mexico. In his retreat back into Texas he made a stand on the 8th of April 1862 at Albuquerque, where during the whole day there was a fight at long range and with few casualties against a detachment of Union soldiers commanded by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby (1819-1873). The modern city dates its origin from the completion of the first railway to Albuquerque in 1880.

ALBURNUM (sapwood), the outermost and youngest part of the wood of a tree, through which the sap rises. It is distinguished from the harder inner and older wood, the duramen or heart-wood.

ALBURY, a town in Goulburn county, New South Wales, Australia, 386 m. by rail W.S.W. of Sydney. Pop. (1901) 5821. It stands near the border of Victoria, on the right bank of the Murray river, here crossed by two bridges, one built of wood carrying a road, the other of iron bearing the railway. The Murray is navigable for small steamers from this town to its mouth, a distance of 1800 miles. Albury is the centre of a sheep- rearing and agricultural district; grapes, cereals and tobacco are largely grown, and the wine produced here is held in high repute throughout Australia. The tree under which the first explorers encamped here in November 1824 is still standing in an enclosed space. Albury became a municipality in 1859.

ALCAEUS (ALKAIOS), Greek lyric poet, an older contemporary of Sappho, was a native of Mytilene in Lesbos and flourished about 600 B.C. His life was greatly mixed up with the political disputes and internal feuds of his native city. He belonged to one of the noble families, and sided with his class against the ``tyrants'' who at that time set themselves up in Mytilene. He was in consequence obliged to leave his native country, and spent a considerable time in exile. He is said to have become reconciled to Pittacus, the ruler set up by the popular party, and to have returned to Lesbos. The date of his death is unknown. The subjects of his poems, which were composed in the Aeolic dialect, were of various kinds: some were hymns to the gods; others were of a martial or political character; others breathed an ardent love of liberty and hatred of tyrants; lastly, some were love-songs. Alcaeus was allotted the second place among the nine lyric poets in the Alexandrian canon. The considerable number of fragments extant, and the well-known imitations of Horace, who regarded Alcaeus as his great model, enable us to form a fair idea of the character of his poems. A new fragment has recently been discovered, together with some fragments of Sappho (Classical Review, May 1902).

See Bergk, Poetae Lyrici Graeci (1882); also The Songs of Alcaeus, by J. Easby-Smith (Washington, 1901); Plehn, Lesbiacorum Liber (1826); Flach, Geschichte der griechischen Lyrik (1883-1884); Farnell, Greek Lyric Poets (1891).

ALCAICS, in ancient poetry, a name given to several kinds of verse, from Alcaeus, their reputed inventor. The first kind consists of five feet, viz. a spondee or iambic, an iambic, a long syllable and two dactyles; the second of two dactyles and two trochees. Besides these, which are called dactylic Alcaics, there is another, simply styled Alcaic, consisting of an epitrite, two choriambi and a bacchius; thus--

Cur timet fla|vum Tiberim | tangere, cur | olivum?

The Alcaic ode is composed of several strophes, each consisting of four verses, the first two of which are always eleven-syllable alcaics of the first kind; the third verse is an iambic dimeter hypercatalectic consisting of nine syllables; and the fourth verse is a ten-syllable alcaic of the second kind. The following strophe is of this species, which Horace calls Alcaei minaces camenae--

Non possidentem multa vocaveris Recte beatum; rectius occupat Nomen beati, qui deorum Muneribus sapienter uti. There is also a decasyllabic variety of the Alcaic metre.

The Alcaic measure was one of the most splendid inventions of Greek metrical art. In its best examples it gives an impression of wonderful vigour and spontaneity. Tennyson has attempted to reproduce it in English in his

O mighty-mouthed inventor of harmonies, O skilled to sing of time or eternity, God-gifted organ-voice of England, Milton, a name to resound for ages. German is, however, the only modern literature in which alcaics have been written with much success. They were introduced by Klopstock, and used by Holderlin, by Voss in his translations of Horace, by A. Kopisch and other modern German poets.

ALCALA (Moorish al Kala, the ``Fortress'' or ``Castle''), the name of thirteen Spanish towns, all founded or named by the Moors. Alcala de Henares (pop. (1900) 11,206) is separately described on account of its historical importance. Alcala la Real (15,973), a picturesque town with a fine abbey, is situated in mountainous country in the extreme south-west of Jaen. Its distinctive name la Real, ``the Royal,'' was conferred in memory of its capture by Alphonso XI. of Leon in 1340. In 1810 the French under Count Sebastiani here defeated the Spaniards. Alcala de los Gazules (8877), on the river Barbate, in the province of Cadiz, has a thriving trade in cork and agricultural produce. Alcala de Guadaira (8198), on the river Guadaira, near Seville, is popularly called Alcala de los Panadores, or ``Alcala of the Bakers,'' because it supplies Seville with large quantities of bread. Alcala de Chisbert (6293) is situated on the coast of Castellon de la Plana; Alcala del Rio (3006), on the Guadalquivir, 6 m. N. of Seville; Alcala del Jucar (2968), on the Jucar, in Albacete; Alcala de la Selva (1490), on the southern slopes of the Sierra del Gudar, in Teruel; Alcala de la Vega (712), on the river Cabriel, in Cuenca; Alcala de Gurrea (632), on the river Seton, in Huesca; Alcala del Obispo (432), in the same province; Alcala de Ebro (388) and Alcala de Moncayo (367), both in Saragossa.

ALCALA DE HENARES, a town of Spain, in the province of Madrid, 17 m. E.N.E. of Madrid, on the river Henares, and the Madrid-Saragossa railway. Pop. (1900) 11,206. Alcala de Henares contains a military academy and various public institutions, but its commercial importance is slight and its main interest is historical. The town has been identified with the Roman Complutum, which was destroyed about the year 1000, and was rebuilt by the Moors in 1083. In later times it was renowned for its richly endowed university, founded by Cardinal Jimenes de Cisneros in 1510, which at the height of its prosperity numbered 12,000 students, and was second only to that of Salamanca. Here the famous edition of the Bible known as the Complutensian Polyglot was prepared from 1514 to 1517. The college of San Ildefonso, completed in 1583, was the chief university building. Its modernized Gothic church, the Colegiata, contains the 16th century marble monument of Jimenes (d. 1517) and a fine reredos. The greatest of Spanish writers, Cervantes, was born at Alcala de Henares, and baptized in the otherwise insignificant church of S. Maria on the 9th of October 1547. A tablet, set up in 1840, marks the house in which he is said to have been born. Other illustrious natives of the town were the emperor Ferdinand I. (1503-1564) and the Spanish dramatist and historian Antonio de Solis (1610-1686). After the removal of the university to Madrid in 1836 the town rapidly declined, and the government turned most of the principal buildings erected by Cardinal Jimenes in the 16th century into a depot for the archives of various state departments. Here are kept very complete and curious documents of the Inquisition, showing all its workings from the 15th to the 19th century. One of the principal libraries is the former palace of the archbishops of Toledo.

For a fuller description of Alcala see the Guia del viajero en Alcala de Henares, by L. A. de la Torre (Alcala, 1882). The following works are mainly of historical interest:--M. de Ayala and F. Sastre, Alcala de Henares (Madrid, 1890); J. C. Garcia, Ensayo de una Tipografia Complutense (Madrid, 1889); M. Portilla y Esquivel, Historia de la ciudad de Compluto (Alcala, 1725-1728); and the ``Annales Complutenses'' and ``Chronicon Complutense'' in Espana Sagrada, by H. Florez and others (Madrid, 1754-1879).

ALCALDE (from the Arab. al-quadi, the ``Cadi'' or ``judge,'), the title in Spanish for officials of somewhat varied functions, in which, however, there is always a judicial element. Alcalde de corte was a judge of the palace court, having jurisdiction in and about the residence of the king. But the mayor of a town or village who discharged the functions of a justice of the peace was also an alcalde. It is in this sense that the title is now exclusively used. He is subject to yearly election and the post has often been an undesirable one in Spain. The title of alcalde must be carefully distinguished from alcaide, which is derived from the Arabic al-quaid, a general, and means the governor of a fortress.

ALCAMENES, a Greek sculptor of Lemnos and Athens. He was a younger contemporary of Pheidias and noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus and an Aphrodite ``of the Gardens'' were conspicuous. Pausanias says (v. 10. 8) that he was the author of one of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia (see GREEK ART), but this seems a chronological and stylistic impossibility. At Pergamum there was discovered in 1903 a copy of the head of the Hermes ``Propylaeus'' of Alcamenes (Athenische Mittheilungen, 1904, p. 180). As, however, the deity is represented in an archaistic and conventional character, this copy cannot be relied on as giving us much information as to the usual style of Alcamenes, who was almost certainly a progressive and original artist. It is safer to judge him by the sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, in which he must almost certainly have taken a share under the direction of Pheidias.

ALCAMO, a town of Sicily, in the province of Trapani, 24 m. W.S.W. of Palermo direct (51 1/2 m. by rail). Pop. (1881) 37,497; (1901) 51,809. It was founded in A.D. 828 by the Saracenic chief Al-Kamuk, who erected the castle (which still stands, though considerably altered), but was christianized by the emperor Frederick II. in 1233, who removed the site lower down. It possesses some medieval buildings of interest. The surrounding district is very fertile and the trade in agricultural products is considerable.

ALCANTARA, a small seaport of Brazil, in the state of Maranhao, on the W. shore of the bay of Sao Marcos, 16 m. from the city of Maranhao by water. It has a fairly good harbour, and excellent cotton and rice are grown in the vicinity and shipped thence.

ALCANTARA, a town of western Spain, in the province of Caceres, situated on a rocky height on the left bank of the river Tagus, 7 m. from the Portuguese frontier. Pop. (1900) 3248. Alcantara (in Arab. ``the bridge'') owes its name to the magnificent Roman bridge which spans the Tagus on the north-west. This was originally built about A.D. 105, in honour of the Roman emperor Trajan and at the cost of eleven Lusitanian communities. It is entirely constructed of granite blocks, without cement, and consists of six arches of various sizes, with a total length of 616 feet and a height of about 190 ft. in the middle piers, which are surmounted by a fortified gateway. One of the arches was broken down in 1213 and rebuilt in 1553; another was blown up by the British troops in 1809, and, though temporarily reconstructed, was again destroyed in 1836, to prevent the passage of the Carlist forces. But in 1860 the whole was restored. A small Roman temple, dedicated to Trajan and other deified emperors, stood on the left bank, adjoining the bridge. It is doubtful, however, if Alcantara marks the site of any Roman town, though archaeologists have sometimes identified it either with Norba Caesarea or with Interamnium. It first became famous about 1215 as the stronghold of the knightly Order of Alcantara. Many of the grand masters of this order lie buried in the 13th-century Gothic church. The town possesses another interesting church built in 1506.

See Antiguedades y santos de la muy noble villa de Alcantara, by J. Arias de Quintanaduenas (Madrid, 1661); and Retrato politico de Alcantara, by L. Santibanez (Madrid, 1779).

ALCAVALA (Spanish, from Arab. al-quabalah, ``tax,'' quabula, ``to receive''; cf. Fr. gabelle), a duty formerly charged in Spain and its colonies on all transfers of property, whether public or private. Originally imposed in 1341 by Alphonso XI. to secure freedom from the Moors, it was an ad valorem tax of 10, increased afterwards to 14%, on the selling price of all commodities, whether raw or manufactured, chargeable as often as they were sold or exchanged. It subjected every farmer, manufacturer, merchant and shopkeeper to the continual visits and examination of the tax-gatherers, whose number was necessarily very great. This monstrous impost was permitted to ruin the industry and commerce of the greater part of the kingdom up to the time of the invasion of Napoleon. Catalonia and Aragon purchased from Philip V. an exemption from the alcavala, and, though still burdened with other heavy taxes, were in consequence in a comparatively flourishing state.

ALCAZAR DE SAN JUAN, or ALCAZAR, a town of Spain, in the province of Ciudad Real, in the plain of La Mancha, at the junction of the Madrid-Manzanares and Madrid-Albacete railways. Pop. (1900) 11,499. Owing to its position on two important railways, Alcazar has a flourishing transit-trade in the wines of Estremadura and Andalusia; the soda and alkali of La Mancha are used in the manufacture of soap; and gunpowder, chocolate and inlaid daggers are also made here. Alcazar is sometimes identified with the Roman Alce. captured by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 180 B.C. It derives its existing name from its medieval Moorish castle (al-kasr), which was afterwards garrisoned by the knights of St John. The townsfolk contend that the great Cervantes was a native of Alcazar; and, although this claim must be disallowed, much of the action of his masterpiece, Don Quixote, takes place in the neighbourhood. El Toboso, for instance, a village 12 m. E.N.E. [pop. ( 1900) 1895], was the home of the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso; Argamasilla de Alba (3505), 22 m. S.E., is declared by tradition to be the birthplace of Don Quixote himself. Local antiquaries even identify the knight with Don Rodrigo de Pacheco, whose portrait adorns the parish church; and the same authorities hold that part of the romance was written while Cervantes was a prisoner in their town. An edition of Don Quixote was published at Argamasilla in 1864.

ALCESTER, FREDERICK BEAUCHAMP PAGET SEYMOUR, BARON (1821-1895), British admiral, son of Colonel Sir Horace Beauchamp Seymour and cousin of Francis George Hugh Seymour, 5th marquess of Hertford, was born on the 12th of April 1821. Entering the navy in 1834, he served in the Mediterranean and the Pacific, was for three years flag-lieutenant to his uncle Sir George Seymour, and was promoted to be commander in 1847. He served in Burma as a volunteer in 1852, was made a captain in 1854, took the ``Meteor'' ironclad battery out to the Black Sea and home again in 1856, was captain of the ``Pelorus'' on the Australian station from 1857 to 1863, and commanded the naval brigade in New Zealand during the Maori War, 1860-61, for which he was made a C.B. He became a rear-admiral in 1870; in 1871-1872 he commanded the flying squadron, was a lord of the admiralty in 1872-1874, and commanded the Channel fleet, 1874-1876. On the 31st of December 1876 he was made a vice-admiral, a K.C.B. on the 2nd of June 1877. In 1880-1883 he was commander-in-chief of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and in 1880 had also the chief command of the European squadron sent to the coast of Albania as a demonstration to compel the Porte to cede Dulcigno to Montenegro. On the 24th of May 1881 he was made a G.C.B., and on the 6th of May 1882 was promoted to the rank of admiral. In July 1882 he commanded at the bombardment of Alexandria and in the subsequent operations on the coast of Egypt, for which service he was raised to the peerage as Baron Alcester of Alcester in the county of Warwick, received a parliamentary grant of L. 25,000, the freedom of the city of London and a sword of honour. On his return from the Mediterranean he was for a couple of years again at the admiralty, and in 1886 he was placed on the retired list. For the next nine years he lived chiefly in London, but latterly his health was much broken, and he died on the 30th of March 1895. He was unmarried and the peerage became extinct.

ALCESTER [pronounced Auster, a market-town in the Stratford-on-Avon parliamentary division of Warwickshire, England, 16 m. W.S.W. from Warwick by the Great Western railway, served also by the Birmingham-Evesham branch of the Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 2303. It is pleasantly situated among low wooded hills at the junction of the small stream Alne with the Arrow, a northern tributary of the Avon. The church of St Nicholas, with the exception of the Decorated tower, is a reconstruction of 1734; among several monuments is a fine example of Chantrey's work, to the 2nd marquess of Hertford (d. 1822). There are a picturesque town hall (1641), raised on stone columns, and a free grammar school. The manufacture of needles is less important than formerly, having been absorbed into the centre of the industry at Redditch in the neighbouring county of Worcestershire. There are implement works and cycle works, and brewing is prosecuted.

The name (Alnecestre, Alyncester) signifies ``the camp on the Alne.'' A small Romano-British town or village was situated here, on the road which runs from Derby and Wall, near Lichfield, to join the Fosse Way near Cirencester. Its name is not known. A relief figure in stone, some pavements, potsherds, coins and burials have been found, but nothing to indicate an important station. No written document relating to Alcester exists before the reign of Henry I. No mention occurs in Domesday, but it is given in a list of serjeanties of the reign of Henry III. as having been a royal borough in the time of Henry I., and in 1177 it rendered four marks' aid with the other boroughs of the county. However, there is no evidence of the grant of a royal charter, and the title of borough soon lapsed. In the reign of Henry III. a moiety of the manor was purchased by Sir Walter Beauchamp, who granted a charter to the inhabitants of ihe town establishing a Tuesday market for corn, cattle, and all kinds of merchandise, and also obtained grants of fairs at the feasts of St Giles (afterwards transferred to the feast of St Faith) and St Barnabas. In 1444 Sir John Beauchamp purchased the remaining moiety of the manor, and was granted an additional fair at the feast of St Dunstan. From this date the Beauchamps were lords of the whole manor until it passed by female descent to the Grevilles in the reign of Henry VIII. in 1140 a Benedictine monastery was founded here by Falph Boteler of Oversley, and received the name of the Church of Our Lady of the Isle, owing to its insulation by a moat meeting the river Arrow. The monastery was suppressed among the smaller houses in 1536. Traces of the moat and the foundations are still to be seen in Priory Close. The ancient fairs survived to the end of the 19th century. in 1830 the needle-manufacture employed nearly a thousand hands.

ALCESTIS (ALKESTIS), in Greek legend the daughter of Pelias and Anaxibia, and wife of Admetus, king of Pherae in Thessaly. She consented to die in place of her husband, and was afterwards rescued by Heracles. This beautiful story of conjugal devotion forms the subject of the Alcestis of Euripides, which furnished the basis of Robert Browning's Balaustion's Adventure. Sophocles also wrote an Alcestis, of which only fragments remain.

See Dissel, Der Mythos von Admetus und Alkestis, 1882.

ALCHEMY. In the narrow sense of the word, alchemy is the pretended art of making gold and silver, or transmuting the base metals into the noble ones. The idea of such transmutation probably arose among the Alexandrian Greeks in the early centuries of the Christian era; thence it passed to the Arabs, by whom it was transmitted to western Europe, and its realization was a leading aim of chemical workers down to the time of Paracelsus and even later. But ``alchemy'' was something more than a particularly vain and deluded manifestation of the thirst for gold, as it is sometimes represented; in its wider and truer significance it stands for the chemistry of the middle ages. The idea of transmutation, in the country of its origin, had a philosophical basis, and was linked up with the Greek theories of matter there current; thus, by supplying a central philosophical principle, it to some extent unified and focussed chemical effort, which previously, so far as it existed at all, had been expended on acquiring empirical acquaintance with a mass of disconnected technical processes. Alchemy in this sense is merely an early phase of the development of systematic chemistry; in Liebig's words, it was ``never at any time anything different from chemistry.''

Regarding the derivation of the word, there are two main views which agree in holding that it has an Arabic descent, the prefix al being the Arabic article. But according to one, the second part of the word comes from the Greek chumeia, pouring, infusion, used in connexion with the study of the juices of plants, and thence extended to chemical manipulations in general; this derivation accounts for the old-fashioned spellings ``chymist'' and ``chymistry.'' The other view traces it to khem or khame, hieroglyph khmi, which denotes black earth as opposed to barren sand, and occurs in Plutarch as chumeia; on this derivation alchemy is explained as meaning the ``Egyptian art.'' The first occurrence of the word is said to be in a treatise of Julius Firmicus, an astrological writer of the 4th century, but the prefix al there must be the addition of a later copyist. Among the Alexandrian writers alchemy was designated as e tes chrusou te kai argurou poieseos techne theia kai iera or e episteme iera. In English, Piers Plowman (1362) contains the phrase ``experimentis of alconomye,'' with variants ``alkenemye'' and ``alknamye.'' The prefix al begins to be dropped about the middle of the 16th century.

Origins of Alchemy.--Numerous legends cluster round the origin of alchemy. According to one story, it was founded by the Egyptian god Hermes (Thoth), the reputed inventor of the arts and sciences, to whom, under the appellation Hermes Trismegistus, Tertullian refers as the master of those who occupy themselves with nature; after him later alchemists called their work the ``hermetic art,'' and the seal of Hermes, which they placed upon their vessels, is the origin of the common phrase ``hermetically sealed.'' Another legend, given by Zosimus of Panopolis, an alchemistical writer said to date from the 3rd century, asserts that the fallen angels taught the arts to the women they married (cf. Genesis vi. 2), their instruction being recorded in a book called Chema. A similar story appears in the Book of Enoch, and Tertullian has much to say about the wicked angels who revealed to men the knowledge of gold and silver, of lustrous stones, and of the power of herbs, and who introduced the arts of astrology and magic upon the earth. Again, the Arabic Kitab-al-Fihrist, written by al-Nadim towards the end of the 10th century, says that the ``people who practise alchemy, that is, who fabricate gold and silver from strange metals, state that the first to speak of the science of the work was Hermes the Wise, who was originally of Babylon, but who established himself in Egypt after the dispersion of the peoples from Babel.'' Another legend, also to be found in Arabic sources, asserts that alchemy was revealed by God to Moses and Aaron. But there is some evidence that, in accordance with the strong and constant tradition among the alchemists, the idea of transmutation did originate in Egypt with the Greeks of Alexandria. In the Leiden museum there are a number of papyri which were found in a tomb at Thebes, written probably in the 3rd century A.D., though their matter is older. Some are in Greek and demotic, and one, of peculiar interest from the chemical point of view, gives a number of receipts, in Greek, for the manipulation of base metals to form alloys which simulate gold and are intended to be used in the manufacture of imitation jewellery. Possibly this is one of the books about gold and silver of which Diocletian decreed the destruction about A.D. 290--an act which Gibbon styles the first authentic event in the history of alchemy (Decline and Fall, chap. xiii.). The author of these receipts is not under any delusion that he is transmuting metals; the MS. is merely a workshop manual in which are described processes in daily use for preparing metals for false jewellery, but it argues considerable knowledge of methods of making alloys and colouring metals. It has been suggested by M. P. E. Berthelot that the workers in these processes, which were a monopoly of the priestly caste and were kept strictly secret, though fully aware that their products were not truly gold, were in time led by their success in deceiving the public to deceive themselves also, and to come to believe that they actually had the power of making gold from substances which were not gold. Philosophical sanction and explanation of this belief was then found by bringing it into relation with the theory of the prima materia, which was identical in all bodies but received its actual form by the adjunction of qualities expressed by the Aristotelian elements--earth, air, fire and water. Some support for this view is gained from study of the alchemistical writings of the period. Thus, in the treatise known as Physica et Mystica and falsely ascribed to Democritus (such false attributions are a constant feature of the literature of alchemy), various receipts are given for colouring and gilding metals, but the conception of transmutation does not occur. This treatise was probably composed at a date not very different from that of the Leiden papyrus. Later, however, as in the Commentary on this work written by Synesius to Dioscorus, priest of Serapis at Alexandria, which probably dates from the end of the 4th century, a changed attitude becomes apparent; the more practical parts of the receipts are obscured or omitted, and the processes for preparing alloys and colouring metals, described in the older treatise, are by a mystical interpretation represented as resulting in real transmutation.

But while there are thus some grounds for supposing that the idea of transmutation grew out of the practical receipts of Alexandrian Egypt, the alchemy which embraced it as a leading principle was also strongly affected by Eastern influences such as magic and astrology. The earliest Greek alchemistical writings abound with references to Oriental authorities and traditions. Thus the pseudo-Democritus, who was reputed the author of the Physica et Mystica, which itself concludes each of its receipts with a magical formula, was believed to have travelled in Chaldaea, and to have had as his master Ostanes1 the Mede, a name mentioned several times in the Leiden papyrus, and often by early Christian writers such as Tertullian, St Cyprian and St Augustine. The practices of the Persian adepts also are appealed to in the writings of the pseudo-Democritus, Zosimus and Synesius. The philosopher's egg, as a symbol of creation, is both Egyptian and Babylonian. In the Greek alchemists it appears as the symbol at once of the art and of the universe, enclosing within itself the four elements; and there is sometimes a play of words between to on and to won. The conception of man, the microcosm, containing in himself all the parts of the universe or macrocosm, is also Babylonian, as again probably is the famous identification of the metals with the planets. Even in the Leiden papyrus the astronomical symbols for the sun and moon are used to denote gold and silver, and in the Meteorologica of Olympiodorus lead is attributed to Saturn, iron to Mars, copper to Venus, tin to Hermes (Mercury) and electrum to Jupiter. Similar systems of symbols, but elaborated to include compounds, appear in Greek MSS. of the 10th century, preserved in the library of St Mark's at Venice. Subsequently electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) disappeared as a specific metal, and tin was ascribed to Jupiter instead, the sign of mercury becoming common to the metal and the planet. Thus we read in Chaucer (Chanouns Yemannes Tale):--