The German regulations are apparently based on a keen appreciation of the fact that while one particular denaturizing agent may have little or no effect on one industry, yet it would be quite fatal to the success of another; there is consequently a great choice of denaturizing agents, and in certain cases it is sufficient to mix the alcohol with a reagent necessary for the purpose in hand, or even with a certain amount of the final product, it being only necessary to satisfy the state that the spirit is not available as a beverage.
In France, the general denaturizing agent is wood-spirit of at least 58 over-proof, and containing 25% of acetone and 2.5% of ``impurites pyrogenees''; 10 litres of this spirit denaturizes 100 litres of alcohol. This mixture is supplied to manufacturers and corresponds to the British unmineralized methylated spirit; but the regulations are more stringent. When sold for lighting and heating purposes, it is further admixed with 0.5% of heavy benzene boiling at 150 deg. -200 deg. C. Provisions are also made for special denaturizing processes as in Germany.
In America the internal revenue tax on denaturized alcohol (formerly duty-free only to scientific institutions) was removed by Congress in 1906 (act of June 7th).
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics of Alcohol.— Alcohol is of great medicinal value as a solvent, being used to form solutions of alkaloids, resins, volatile oils, iodoform, &c. In strength of about 10% and upwards it is an antiseptic. If applied to the skin it rapidly evaporates, thereby cooling the skin and diminishing the amount of sweat excreted. This refrigerant and anhidrotic action is employed to soothe many forms of headache by bathing the forehead with eau de Cologne. If, on the other hand, the alcohol be rubbed into the skin, or if its evaporation be prevented—as by a watch-glass—it absorbs water from the tissues and thus hardens them.
Thoroughly rubbed into the skin alcohol dilates the blood- vessels and produces a mild counter-irritant effect. Many alcoholic liniments are therefore employed for the relief of pain, especially muscular pains, as in lumbago and other forms of so-called ``muscular rheumatism.'' Given internally in small quantities and in sufficient dilution, alcohol causes dilatation of the gastric blood-vessels, increased secretion of gastric juice, and greater activity in the movements of the muscular layers in the wall of the stomach. It also tends to lessen the sensibility of the stomach and so may relieve gastric pain. In a 50% solution or stronger—as when neat whisky is taken—alcohol precipitates the pepsin which is an essential of gastric digestion, and thereby arrests this process. The desirable effects produced by alcohol on the stomach are worth obtaining only in cases of acute diseases. In chronic disease and in health the use of alcohol as an aid to digestion is without the support of clinical or laboratory experience, the beneficial action being at least neutralized by undesirable effects produced elsewhere. The continued use of large doses of alcohol produces chronic gastritis, in which the continued irritation has led to overgrowth of connective tissue, atrophy of the gastric glands and permanent cessation of the gastric functions.
A single dose of concentrated alcohol (e.g. brandy) produces very valuable reflex effects, the heart beating more rapidly and forcibly, and the blood-pressure rising. Hence the immediately beneficial effect produced in the cases of ``fainting'' or syncope. After absorption, which is very rapid, alcohol exerts a marked action upon the blood. The oxygen contained in that fluid, and destined for consumption by the tissues, is retained by the influence of alcohol in its combination with the haemoglobin or colouring matter of the red blood corpuscles. Hence the diminished oxidation of the tissues, which leads to the accumulation of unused fat and so to the obesity which is so often seen in those who habitually take much alcohol. The drug exerts a noteworthy action upon the body-temperature. As it dilates the blood-vessels of the skin it increases the subjective sensation of warmth. The actual consequence, however, is that more heat than before is necessarily lost from the surface of the body. Alcohol also diminishes the oxidation which is the main source of the body-heat. It follows that the drug is an antipyretic, and it is hence largely used in fevers as a means of reducing the temperature. This reduction of the temperature, carried to an undesirable extreme, is the reason why the man who has copiously consumed spirits ``to keep out the cold'' is often visited with pneumonia. The largest amount of alcohol that can be burnt up within the healthy body in twenty-four hours is 1 1/2 oz., but it must be consumed in great dilution and divided into small doses taken every four hours. Otherwise the alcohol will for the most part leave the body unused in the urine and the expired air. In fever the case is different. The raised temperature appears to facilitate the oxidation of the substance, so that quantiries may be taken and completely utilized which would completely intoxicate the individual had his temperature been normal. It follows that alcohol is a food in fever, and its value in this regard is greatly increased by the fact that it requires no primary digestion, but passes without changes, and without needing change, to the tissues which are to use it. According to Sir Thomas Fraser nothing else can compete with alcohol as a food in desperate febrile cases, and to this use must be added its antipyretic power already explained and its action as a soporific. During its administration in febrile cases the drug must be most carefully watched, as its action may prove deleterious to the nervous system and the circulation in certain classes of patient. The state of the pulse is the best criterion of the action of alcohol in any given case of fever. The toxicology of alcohol is treated in other articles. It includes acute alcoholism (i.e. intoxication), chronic alcoholism, delirium tremens, and all the countless pathological changes—extending to every tissue but the bones, and especially marked in the nervous system— which alcohol produces. (See DRUNKENNESS: DELIRIUM.)
After death the presence of alcohol can be detected in all the body fluids. Its especial affinity for the nervous system is indicated by the fact that, when all traces of it have disappeared elsewhere, it can still be detected with ease in the cerebro-spinal fluid.
ALCOHOLS, in organic chemistry, a class of compounds which may be considered as derived from hydrocarbons by the replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms by hydroxyl groups. It is convenient to restrict the term to compounds in which the hydroxyl group is attached to an aliphatic residue; this excludes such compounds as the hydroxy-benzenes, naphthalenes, &c., which exhibit many differences from the compounds derived from the aliphatic alkyls.
Alcohols are classified on two distinct principles, one depending upon the number of hydroxyl groups present, the other on the nature of the remaining groups attached to the carbon atom which carries the hydroxyl group. Monatomic or monohydric alcohols contain only one hydroxyl group; diatomic, two, known as glycols (q.v.); triatomic, three, known as glycerols (q.v.); and so on.
The second principle leads to alcohols of three distinct types, known as primary, secondary and tertiary. The genesis and formulation of these types may be readily understood by considering the relation which exists between the alcohols and the parent hydrocarbon. In methane, CH4, the hydrogen atoms are of equal value, and hence only one alcohol, viz. CH3OH, can be derived from it. This compound, methyl alcohol, is the simplest primary alcohol, and it is characterized by the grouping .CH2OH. Ethane, C2H6, in a similar manner, can only give rise to one alcohol, namely ethyl alcohol, CH3CH2OH, which is also primary. Propane, CH3CH2CH3, can give rise to two alcohols —a primary alcohol, CH3CH2CH2OH (normal propyl alcohol), formed by replacing a hydrogen atom attached to a terminal carbon atom, and a secondary alcohol, CH3.CH(OH).CH3 (isopropyl alcohol), when the substitution is effected on the middle carbon atom. The grouping CH.OH characterizes the secondary alcohols; isopropyl alcohol is the simplest member of this class. Butane, C4H10, exists in the two isomeric forms—normal butane, CH3.CH2.CH2.CH3, and iso-butane, CH(CH3)3. Each of these hydro-carbons gives rise to two alcohols: n-butane gives a primary and a secondary; and iso-butane a primary, when the substitution takes place in one of the methyl groups, and a tertiary, when the hydrogen atom of the :CH group is substituted. Tertiary alcohols are thus seen to be characterized by the group :C.OH, in which the residual valencies of the carbon atom are attached to alkyl groups.
In 1860 Hermann Kolbe predicted the existence of secondary and tertiary alcohols from theoretical considerations. Regarding methyl alcohol, for which he proposed the name carbinol, as the simplest alcohol, he showed that by replacing one hydrogen atom of the methyl group by an alkyl residue, compounds of the general formula R.CH2.OH would result. These are the primary alcohols. By replacing two of the hydrogen atoms, either by the same or different alkyls, compounds of the formula (R.R1)CH.OH (i.e. secondary alcohols) would result; while the replacement of the three hydrogen atoms would generate alcohols of the general formula (R.R1.R2)C.OH, i.e. tertiary alcohols. Furthermore, he exhibited a comparison between these three types of alcohols and the amines. Thus:—
R.NH2 (R1R2)NH (R1R2R3)N R.CH2OH (R1R2)CH.OH (R1R2R3)C.OH Primary. Secondary. Tertiary. To distinguish Priinary, Secondary and Tertiary Alcohols.— Many reactions serve to distinguish these three types of alcohols. Of chief importance is their behaviour on oxidation. The primary alcohols are first oxidized to aldehydes (q.v.), which, on further oxidation, yield acids containing the same number of carbon atoms as in the original alcohol. Secondary alcohols yield ketones q.v.), which are subsequently oxidized to a mixture of two acids, Tertiary alcohols yield neither aldehydes nor ketones, but a mixture of two or more acids. Another method is based upon the different behaviour of the corresponding nitro-alkyl with nitrous acid. The alcohol is first acted upon with phosphorus and iodine, and the resulting alkyl iodide is treated with silver nitrite, which gives the corresponding nitro-alkyl. The nitro-alkyl is then treated with potassium nitrite dissolved in concentrated potash, and sulphuric acid is added. By this treatment a primary nitro-alkyl yields a nitrolic acid, the potassium salt of which forms an intense red solution; a secondary nitro-alkyl forms a pseudo nitrol, which gives an intense blue solution, while the tertiary compound does not act with nitrous acid. The reactions outlined above may be thus represented:—
//NOHR.CH2OH —> R.CH2I —> R.CH2.NO2 —> R.C R\ R\ R\ /NO2>CH.OH —> >CH.I —> >CH.NO2 —> >C (R1R2R3)C.OH —> (R1R2R3)C.I —> (R1R2R3)C.NO2Tertiary alcohol. By heating to the boiling point of naphthalene (218 deg. ) tertiary
alcohols are decomposed, while heating to the boiling point of
anthracene (360 deg. ) suffices to decompose secondary alcohols, the
primary remaining unaffected. These changes can be followed out by
determinations of the vapour density, and so provide a method for
characterizing alcohols (see Compt. Rend. 1904, 138, p. 984). Preparation. Alcohols may be readily prepared from the corresponding alkyl
haloid by the action of moist silver oxide (which behaves as
silver hydroxide): by the saponification of their esters; or
by the reduction of polyhydric alcohols with hydriodic acid,
and the subsequent conversion of the resulting alkyl iodide
into the alcohol by moist silver oxide. Primary alcohols
are obtained by decomposing their sulphuric acid esters (from
sulphuric acid and the olefines) with boiling water; by the
action of nitrous acid on primary amines; or by the reduction
of aldehydes, acid chlorides or acid anhydrides. Secondary
alcohols result from the reduction of ketones; and from the
reaction of zinc alkyls on aldehydes or formic acid esters. /C2H5 /C2H5CH3CHO —> CH3.CH< —> CH3.CH<\OZnC2H5 \OHAcetaldehyde. Methyl ethyl carbinol. //O /OZnCH3 /CH3 /CH3HC HC<-CH3 —> R.C<-OZnCH3 —> R.C<-OH\OC2H5 \Cl \CH3 \CH3Formic ester. Isopropyl alcohol. Tertiary alcohols may be synthesized by a method devised
by A. Butlerow in 1864, who thus discovered the tertiary
alcohols. By reacting with a zinc alkyl (methyl or ethyl) on
an acid chloride, an addition compound is first formed, which
decomposes with water to give a ketone. If, however, a second
molecule of a zinc alkyl be allowed to react, a compound is
formed which gives a tertiary alcohol when decomposed with water. //O /CH3 /CH3 /CH3R.C R.C<-OZnCH3 —> R.C<-OZnCH3 —> R.C<-OH\Cl \Cl \CH3 \CH3Acid chloride. Tertiary alcohol. It is interesting to note that, whereas zinc methyl and ethyl
give tertiary alcohols, zinc propyl only gives secondary
alcohols. During recent years (1900 onwards) many brilliant
syntheses have been effected by the aid of magnesium-alkyl-haloids. Properties. The alcohols are neutral in reaction, and the lower members
possess the property of entering into combination with salts, in
which the alcohol plays the role of water of crystallization.
Sodium or potassium dissolves in them with the formation of
alcoholates, the hydrogen of the hydroxyl group being replaced by
the metal. With strong acids water is split off and esters are
formed. The haloid esters of the paraffin alcohols formed by
heating the alcohols with the halogen acids are the monohaloid
derivatives of the paraffins, and are more conveniently
prepared by the action of the phosphorous haloid on the
alcohol. Energetic dehydration gives the olefine hydrocarbons,
but under certain conditions ethers (see ETHER) are obtained. The physical properties of the alcohols exhibit a gradation
with the increase of molecular weight. The lower members
are colourless mobile liquids, readily soluble in water and
exhibiting a characteristic odour and taste. The solubility
decreases as the carbon content rises. The normal alcohols
containing 1 to 16 carbon atoms are liquids at the ordinary
temperatures; the higher members are crystalline, odourless
and tasteless solids, closely resembling the fats in
appearance. The boiling points of the normal alcohols
increase regularly about 10 deg. for each CH2 increment;
this is characteristic of all homologous series of organic
compounds. Of the primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols
having the same empirical formula, the primary have the
highest, and the tertiary the lowest boiling point; this
is in accordance with the fairly general rule that a gain
in symmetry is attended by a fall in the boiling point. The following monatomic alcohols receive special treatmentunder their own headings:—ALCOHOL (ETHYL), ALLYLALCOHOL, AMYL, ALCOHOLS, BEN zsqrt. L ALCOHOL, BUTYLALcohols, METHY L ALcohol, and PROPYL ALCOHOLS. ALCOTT, AMOS BRONSON (1799-1888), American educationalist
and writer, born on Spindle Hill, in the town of Wolcott,
New Haven county, Connecticut, on the 29th of November
1799. His father, Joseph Chatfield Alcox, was a farmer
and mechanic whose ancestors, then bearing the name of
Alcocke, had setlled in eastern Massachusetts in colonial
days. The son adopted the spelling ``Alcott'' in his early
youth. Self-educated and early thrown upon his own resources,
he began in 1814 to earn his living by working in a clock
factory in Plymouth, Conn., and for many years after 1815
he peddled books and merchardise, chiefly in the southern
states. He began teaching in Bristol, Conn., in 1823, and
subsequently conducted schools in Cheshire, Conn., in 1825-1827,
again in Bristol in 1827-1828, in Boston in 1828-1830, in
Germantown, now part of Philadelphia, in 1831-1833, and
in Philadelphia in 1833. In 1830 he had mariied Abby May,
the sister of Samuel J. May (1797-1871), the reformer and
abolitionist. In 1834 he opened in Boston a school which
became famous because of his original methods; his plan being
to develop self-instruction on the basis of self-analysis, with
an ever-present desire on his own part to stimulate the child's
personality. The feature of his school which attracted most
attention, perhaps, was his scheme for the teacher's receiving
punishment, in certain circumstances, at the hands of an offending
pupil, whereby the sense of shame might be quickened in the
mind of the errant child. The school was denounced in the
press, was not pecuniarily successful, and in 1839 was given
up, although Alcott had won the affection of his pupils, and
his educational experiments had challenged the attention of
students of pedagogy. The school is perhaps best described
in Miss E. P. Peabody's A Record of Mr Alcott's School
(1835). In 1840 Alcott removed to Concord, Massachusetts.
After a visit to England, in 1842, he started with two English
associates, Charles Lane and Henry C. Wright, at ``Fruitlands,''
in the town of Harvard, Massachusetts, a communistic experiment
at farm-living and nature-meditation as tending to develop the
best powers of body and soul. This speedily came to naught,
and Alcott returned (1844) to his home near that of Emerson in
Concord, removing to Boston four years later, and again living
in Concord after 1857. He spoke, as opportunity offered,
before the ``lyceums'' then common in various parts of the
United States, or addressed groups of hearers as they invited
him. These ``conversations,'' as he called them, were more
or less informal talks on a great range of topics, spiritual,
aesthetic and practical, in which he emphasized the ideas of
the school of American Transcendentalists led by Emerson, who
was always his supporter and discreet admirer. He dwelt upon
the illumination of the mind and soul by direct communion with
the Creative Spirit; upon the spiritual and poetic monitions
of external nature; and upon the benefit to man of a serene
mood and a simple way of life. As regards the trend and
results of Alcott's philosophic teaching, it must be said
that, like Emerson, he was sometimes inconsistent, hazy or
abrupt. But though he formulated no system of philosophy, and
seemed to show the influence now of Plato, now of Kant, or of
German thought as filtered through the brain of Coleridge, he
was, like his American master, associate and friend, steadily
optimistic, idealistic, individualistic. The teachings of
William Ellery Channing a little before, as to the sacred
inviolability of the human conscience—anticipating the later
conclusions of Martineau—really lay at the basis of the work
of most of the Concord transcendentalists and contributors
to The Dial, of whom Alcott was one. In his last years,
living in a serene and beautiful old age in his Concord
home, the Orchard House,where every comfort was provided by
his daughter Louisa (q.v.), Alcott was gratified at being
able to become the nominal, and at times the actual, head
of a Concord ``Summer School of Philosophy and Literature,''
which had its first session in 1879, and in which —in
a rudely fashioned building next his house—thoughtful
listeners were addressed during a part of several successive
summer seasons on many themes in philosophy, religion and
letters. Of Alcott's published works the most important is
Tablets (1868); next in order of merit is Concord Days
(1872). His Sonnets and Canzonets (1882) are chiefly
interesting as an old man's experiments in verse. He left
a large collection of personal jottings and memorabilia,
most of which remain unpublished. He died in Boston on the
4th of March 1888. Alcott was a Garrisonian abolitionist. See A. Bronson Alcott, His Life and Philosophy (2 vols., Boston,
1893), by F. B. Sanborn and William T. Harris; New Connecticut:
an Autobiographical Poem (Boston, 1887), edited by F. B. Sanborn;
and Lowell's criticism in his Fable for Critics. (C. F. R.) ALCOTT, LOUISA MAY (1832-1888), American author, was the
daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott, and though of New England
parentage and residence, was born in Germantown, now part of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of November 1832.
She began work at an early age as an occasional teacher and
as a writer—her first book was Flower Fables (1854), tales
originally written for Ellen, daughter of R. W. Emerson. In
1860 she began writing for the Atlantic Monthly, and she was
nurse in the Union Hospital at Georgetown, D.C., for six weeks in
1862-1863. Her home letters, revised and published in the
Commonwealth and collected as Hospital Sketches (1863,
republished with additions in 1869), displayed some power of
observation and record; and Moods, a novel (1864), despite
its uncertainty of method and of touch, gave considerable
promise. She soon turned, however, to the rapid production
of stories for girls, and, with the exception of the cheery
tale entitled Work (1873), and the anonymous novelette
A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), which attracted little
notice, she did not return to the more ambitious fields of the
novelist. Her success dated from the appearance of the first
series of Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868),
in which, with unfailing humour, freshness and lifelikeness,
she put into story form many of the sayings and doings of
herself and sisters. Little Men (1871) similarly treated
the character and ways of her nephews in the Orchard House in
Concord, Massachusetts, in which Miss Alcott's industry had
now established her parents and other members of the Alcott
family; but most of her later volumes, An Old-Fashioned
Girl (1870), Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag (6 vols., 1871-1879),
Rose in Bloom (1876), &c., followed in the line of Little
Women, of which the author's large and loyal public never
wearied. Her natural love of labour, her wide-reaching
generosity, her quick perception and her fondness for sharing
with her many readers that cheery humour which radiated from
her personality and her books, led her to produce stories of
a diminishing value, and at last she succumbed to overwork,
dying in Boston on the 6th of March 1888, two days after
the death of her father in the same city. Miss Alcott's
early education had partly been given by the naturalist
Thoreau, but had chiefly been in the hands of her father;
and in her girlhood and early womanhood she had fully shared
the trials and poverty incident to the life of a peripatetic
idealist. In a newspaper sketch entitled ``Transcendental
Wild Oats,'' afterwards reprinted in the volume Silver
Pitchers (1876), she narrated, with a delicate humour, which
showed what her literary powers might have been if freed from
drudgery, the experiences of her family during an experiment
towards communistic ``plain living and high thinking'' at
``Fruitlands,'' in the town of Harvard, Massachusetts, in 1843. The story of her career has been fully and frankly
told in Mrs Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her
Life, Letters and Journals (Boston, 1889). (C. F. R.) ALCOVE (through the Span. alcova, from the Arab. al-, the,
and quobbah, a vault), an architectural term for a recess in
a room usually screened off by pillars, balustrade or drapery. ALCOY, a town of south-eastern Spain, in the province of
Alicante, on the small river Serpis, and at the terminus of a
branch railway connected with the Barcelona-Valencia-Alicante
line. Pop. (1900) 32,053. Alcoy is built on high ground
at the entrance to a gorge in the Moncabrer range (4547
ft.). It is a thriving industrial town, devoid of any great
antiquarian or architectural interest, though founded by the
Moors. It owes its prosperity to its manufacture of linen,
woolen goods and paper, especially cigarette paper. Many of
the factories derive their motive power from the falls of a
mountain torrent, known as the Salto de las Aguas. Labour
disturbances are frequent, for, like Barcelona, Alcoy has
become one of the centres of socialistic and revolutionary
agitation, while preserving many old-fashioned customs and
traditions, such as the curious festival held annually in
April in honour of St George, the patron saint of the town. COCENTAINA (pop. 1900, 7093) is a picturesque and ancient
town, 4 m. N.E. by rail. It is surrounded by Roman walls,
which were partly rebuilt by the Moors, and it contains an
interesting fortified palace, owned by the dukes of Medinaceli. For an account of the festival of St George of Alcoy,
see Apuntes historicos acerca de las fiestas que
celebra cada ano la ciudad de Alcoy a su patron San
Jorge, by J. A. Llobet y Vallosera (Alcoy, 1853). ALCUIN (ALCHUINE), a celebrated ecclesiastic and man of
learning in the 8th century, who liked to be called by the
Latin name of ALBINUS, and at the Academy of the palace
took the surname of FLACCUS, was born at Eboracum (York)
in 735. He was related to Willibrord, the first bishop of
Utrecht, whose biography he afterwards wrote. He was
educated at the cathedral school of York, under the celebrated
master AElbert, with whom he also went to Rome in search of
manuscripts. When AElbert was appointed archbishop of York in
766, Alcuin succeeded him in the headship of the episcopal
school. He again went to Rome in 780, to fetch the pallium
for Archbishop Eanbald, and at Parma met Charlemagne, who
persuaded him to come to his court, and gave him the possession
of the great abbeys of Ferrieres and of Saint-Loup at
Troyes. The king counted on him to accomplish the great
work which was his dream, namely, to make the Franks familiar
with the rules of the Latin language, to create schools
and to revive learning. From 781 to 790 Alcuin was his
sovereign's principal helper in this enterprise. He had
as pupils the king of the Franks, the members of his family
and the young clerics attached to the palace chapel; he was
the life and soul of the Academy of the palace, and we have
still, in the Dialogue of Pepin (son of Charlemagne) and
Alcuin, a sample of the intellectual exercises in which they
indulged. It was under his inspiration that Charles wrote his
famous letter de litteris colendis (Boretius, Capitularia,
i. p. 78), and it was he who founded a fine library in the
palace. In 790 Alcuin returned to his own country, to which he
had always been greatly attached, and stayed there some time;
but Charlemagne needed him to combat the Adoptianist heresy,
which was at that time making great progress in the marches of
Spain. At the council of Frankfort in 794 Alcuin upheld the
orthodox doctrine, and obtained the condemnation of the heresiarch
Felix of Urgel. After this victory he again returned to his
own land, but on account of the disturbances which broke out
there, and which led to the death of King AEthelred (796),
he bade farewell to it for ever. Charlemagne had just given
him the great abbey of St Martin at Tours, and there, far
from the disturbed life of the court, he passed his last
years. He made the abbey school into a model of excellence,
and many students flocked to it; he had numerous manuscripts
copied, the calligraphy of which is of extraordinary beauty
(v. Leopold Delisle in the Memoires de l'Academie des
Inscriptions, vol. xxxii., 1st part, 1885) . He wrote
numerous letters to his friends in England, to Arno, bishop
of Salzburg, and above all to Charlemagne. These letters,
of which 311 are extant, are filled chiefly with pious
meditations, but they further form a mine of information as
to the literary and social conditions of the time, and are
the most reliable authority for the history of humanism in
the Carolingian age. He also trained the numerous monks of
the abbey in piety, and it was in the midst of these pursuits
that he was struck down by death on the 19th of May 804. Alcuin is the most prominent figure of the Carolingian Renaissance,
in which have been distinguished three main periods: in the
first of these, up to the arrival of Alcuin at the court, the
Italians occupy the chief place; in the second, Alcuin and
the Anglo-Saxons are dominant; in the third, which begins in
804, the influence of the Goth Theodulf is preponderant.
Alcuin transmitted to the ignorant Franks the knowledge of
Latin culture which had existed in England since the time of
Bede. We still have a number of his works. His letters have
already been mentioned; his poetry is equally interesting.
Besides some graceful epistles in the style of Fortunatus, he
wrote some long poems, and notably a whole history in verse
of the church at York: Versus de patribus, regibus et sanctis
Eboracensis ecclesiae. We owe to him, too, some manuals used
in his educational work; a grammar and works on rhetoric and
dialectics. They are written in the form of dialogues,
and in the two last the interlocutors are King Charles and
Alcuin. He wrote, finally, several theological treatises:
a treatise de Fide Trinitatis, commentaries on the Bible,
&c. The complete works of Alcuin have been edited by Froben:
Alcuini opera, 1 vol. in 4 parts (Regensburg, 1777); this
edition is reproduced in Migne's Patrolog. lat. vols. c. and
ci. The letters have been published by Jaffe and Dummler in
Jaffe's Bibliotheca rerum germonicarum, vol. vi. pp. 132-897
(1873). E. Dummler has also published an authoritative
edition, Epistolae aevi Carolini, vol. ii. pp. 1-481, in the
Monumenta Germaniae, and has edited the poems in the same
collection: Poetae latini aevi Carolini, vol. i. pp. 169-341. AUTHORITIES.—Monnier, Alcuin et Charlemagne (Paris,
1863); K. Werner, Alkuin und sein Jahrhundert (Paderborn,
1876); J. Bass Mullinger, The Schools of Charles the Great
and the Restoration of Education in the 9th Century
(London, 1877); Aug. Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de
France, vol. i. p. 191; G, Monod, Etudes critiques sur les
sources de l'histoire carolingienne, part i. (Paris, (1898);
C. J. B. Gaskoin, Alcuin: His Life and his Work (London,
1903). See further U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources,
&c., biobibliographie, s.v. Alcuin; Wattenbach, Deutschlands
Geschichtsquellen (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1904), i, p. 186. (C. PF.) ALCYONE, or HALCYONE, in Greek mythology, daughter of
Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. For their presumption in calling
themselves Zeus and Hera they were changed into birds—Alcyone
into a diver, Ceyx into a kingfisher. According to another
story, Ceyx was drowned and his body cast on the shore.
His wife found the body, and the gods, out of compassion,
changed both her and her husband into kingfishers. By command
of Zeus (or Aeolus) the winds ceased to blow during their
brooding-time, for seven days before and after the shortest
day, that their eggs might not be carried away by the
sea. Hence the expression ``halcyon days,'' used in ancient
and modern times to denote a period of calm and tranquillity. Apollonius Rhodius i. 1087; Ovid, Metam.
xi. 410 et seq.; Hyginus, Fabulae, 65. ALDABRA, the collective name of a group of islands in
the Indian Ocean, forming part of the British colony of
Seychelles. They lie in 9 deg. 30' S., 46 deg. E., are 265 m.
N.W. of the northern point of Madagascar and 690 m. S.W. of
Mahe, the principal island of the Seychelles archipelago. The
Comoro Islands lie 220 m. S. by W. of Aldabra. The Aldabra
Islands constitute an atoll consisting of an oval ring of
land, some 40 m. in circumference and about 1 1/2 m. broad,
enclosing a shallow lagoon. Channels divide the ring into four
islands. Grande Terre or South Island forms three-fifths of the
circumference. The other islands are West Island or Ile
Picard, Polymnie and Middle Island. There are in addition
several islets in the lagoon, the most important being Ile
Michel. The total land area is estimated at about 60 sq. m., the
lagoon, 16 m. long and 4 m. wide, covering a somewhat larger
area. Pop. (1906) 127. The islands rise from 20 to 80 ft.
above the sea, and consist of rugged coral rock and limestone,
there being very little soil. The sea-face is generally
overhanging cliff, but in a few places are sandy beaches
and low sandhills. Dense scrub covers most of the land, but
the inner (lagoon) shore is everywhere bounded by mangrove
swamps. The flora and fauna of the islands present features
of unusual interest. They are chiefly noted as the habitat
of the gigantic land tortoise (Testudo elephantina), now
carefully preserved, and of several rare and peculiar birds,
including a rail (Dryolimnas aldabranus), an ibis (Ibis
abbottii) and a dove (Alectroenas sganzini.) Crustacea are
abundant. They include oysters, crabs of great size, and a
small mussel, found in enormous numbers. The flora includes
mangroves, Rubiaceae, Sapotaceae and other forms requiring
more than pure coralline material for their growth. Writing
of the fauna and flora generally, Mr R. Dupont, curator of the
Botanic station at Mahe, who visited Aldabra in 1906. says:
``The specimens represented, besides being partly peculiar,
mostly belong to the Mascarenes, Madagascar and Comoros
species. Many species are also common to East Africa and to
India. . . . The predominant species are Madagascar plants and
birds, which are carried by the currents and the winds. . . .
There are comparatively few (10) species of plants which are
endemic as far as the flora has been investigated, and it is
probable that most of them are also existing in the Comoros,
where the flora is not well known. . . . Endemic inferior
animals and mammals are practically non-existent, except two
bats and one scorpion, which are allied to Madagascar species
or introduced. The reptiles (tortoises) are also nearly
allied to the Mascarenes and Madagascar species which once
existed. With regard to birds and land shells the relation is
much closer to the Comoros species, and the latter, of which
I have collected seven species besides Rachis aldabrae, may
serve to point out more than the birds the land connexion of
Aldabra with the neighbouring countries.'' Aldabra, however,
although situated in that region of the Indian Ocean which
forms part of the site of the Indo-Madagascar continent
of the Secondary period, is not a peak of the submerged
land. It has been built up from the sunken remains of the
old continent by a deposit, in the opinion of Professor A.
Voeltzkow, of foraminiferal remains (mostly coccoliths and
rhabdoliths). In any case, however Aldabra was formed,
there can be no suggestion of its ever having been joined
to any other land (Stanley Gardiner). Dupont states that
at Aldabra the coral foundation is totally above water.
The coral limestone of the atoll has a peculiar vitrified
appearance and gives out a ringing sound when struck or
simply walked on. The coral is generally reddish, but
the colouring ranges from light yellow to chocolate-brown. Aldabra was visited by Portuguese navigators in 1511. The
islands were already known to the Arabs, from whom they get
their name. They became in the middle of the 18th century
dependencies of the French establishments at Bourbon (Reunion),
whence expeditions were made for the capture of the giant
tortoises. In 1810 with Mauritius, Bourbon, the Seychelles
and other islands, Aldabra passed into the possession of
Great Britain. The inhabitants are emigrants from the
Seychelles. Goats are bred and coco-nuts cultivated,
but fishing is the chief industry. With other outlying
islands Aldabra is held under lease from the Seychelles
government, the lessees having exclusive trading privileges. See R. Dupont, Report on a Visit of Investigation to . . .
the Aldabra Group of the Seychelles Islands (Seychelles,
1907); Dr Abbott in Proceedings, United States National Museum
(Washington, 1894); A. Voeltzkow in Abh. der Senckenbergischen
Naturferschenden Ges. vol. xxvi. part iv. (1901); J. S.
Gardiner, ``The Indian Ocean,'' Geo. Journ. Oct. 1906. ALDBOROUGH, a village in the Ripon parliamentary division
of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 16 m. W.N.W. of
York, and 1 m. E. of the market town of Boroughbridge, which
has a station on a branch of the North-Eastern railway.
Aldborough formerly returned two members to parliament, but
was disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832. The place is
remarkable from its numerous ancient remains. It was the
Isurium Brigantum of the Romans, originally perhaps a capital
of the Brigantes tribe, and afterwards a Romano-British town
of considerable size. Inscriptions, beautiful mosaics and
other traces of comfortable houses have been found, with
many potsherds, coins and bronze, iron and other objects;
and a large part of the town walls, several mosaics and
parts of buildings, can be seen. A fine collection is kept
in the Museum Isurianum in the grounds of the manor-house. ALDEBURGH [ALDBOROUGH], a market town and municipal
borough in the Eye parliamentary division of Suffolk, England,
the terminus of a branch of the Great Eastern railway, 99 1/2
m. N.E. by E. from London. Area, 1629 acres. Pop. (1901)
2405. The surrounding district is open and somewhat bleak,
but a fine stretch of sand fringes the shallow inlet of
the North Sea known as Aldeburgh Bay. To the W. the river
Alde broadens as if into an estuary, but its outflow is
here prevented by the sand, and it runs south for nearly
10 m. parallel with the shore. The sandbanks have arrested
the encroachments of the sea, which submerged a former
site of Aldeburgh. The church of St Peter and St Paul is
Perpendicular, largely restored, and contains a monument to
the poet George Crabbe, born here on the 24th of December
1754. A small picturesque Moot Hall of the 16th century is
used for corporation meetings. Slaughden Quay on the Alde
admits small vessels, and fishing is carried on. Aldeburgh
is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Aldeburgh (Aldburc) takes its name from the river Alde
on which it stands. It is not mentioned in pre-Conquest
records, but at the Domesday survey most of the land was held
by Robert Malet, a Norman. In 1155 the manor was granted
to the abbey of St John of Colchester, later to Cardinal
Wolsey, and on his disgrace, to Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk,
to whom Elizabeth in 1567 granted a market on Saturday.
In the 16th century Aldeburgh was a place of considerable
commercial importance, due, no doubt, to its position on the
sea-coast. Aldeburgh claims to be a borough by prescription:
the earliest charter is that granted by Henry VIII. in
1529. Edward VI. in 1548 raised it to the rank of a free
borough, granting a charter of incorporation and a market on
Wednesday. Later charters were granted by Philip and Mary in
1553, by Elizabeth in 1558 and 1567, by James I. (who granted
two annual fairs) in 1606, and by Charles I. in 1631 and
1637. The corporation included 2 bailiffs, 10 capital and
24 inferior burgesses, until the Municipal Corporations Act
1883. The fairs and markets became so unimportant that
they were discontinued about the middle of the 19th
century. The town returned two members to Elizabeth's
parliament of 1572, and continued to be so represented
till the Reform Bill of 1832 disfranchised it. Frequent
disastrous incursions of the sea in the 18th century reduced
Aldeburgh to a mere fishing village. In recent years it
has grown as a seaside resort, with excellent golf-links. See John Kirby, The Suffolk Traveller (2nd ed., 1764); N. F. Hele,Notes about Aldeburgh (1870); Victoria County History—Suffolk. ALDEGREVER, or ALDEGRAF, HEINRICH (1502-1558), German
painter and engraver, was born at Paderborn, from which he
removed in early life to Soest, where he died. From the close
resemblance of his style to that of Albrecht Durer he has
sometimes been called the Albert of Westphalia. His numerous
engravings, chiefly from his own designs, are delicate and
minute, though somewhat hard in style, and entitle him to a
place in the front rank of the so-called ``Little Masters.''
There is a good collection in the British Museum. Specimens
of his painting are exceedingly rare. Five pictures are
in continental galleries, but the genuineness of the works
in the Vienna and Munich collections attributed to him is
at least doubtful, the only unchallenged example being a
portrait of Engelbert Therlaen (1551) in the Berlin Museum. ALDEHYDES, a class of chemical compounds of the general
formula R.CHO (R = an alkyl or an aryl group). The name is
derived from alcohol dehydrogenatum in allusion to the fact
that they may be prepared by the oxidation of alcohols. The
lower members of the series are neutral liquids possessing
a characteristic smell; they are soluble in water and are
readily volatile (formaldehyde, however, is a gas at ordinary
temperatures). As the carbon content of the molecule
increases, they become less soluble in water, and their smell
becomes less marked with the increase in boiling point, the
highest members of the series being odourless solids, which
can only be distilled without decomposition in vacuo. The aldehydes may be prepared by the careful oxidation of
primary alcohols with a mixture of potassium dichromate and
sulphuric acid,—3R.CH2OH + K2 Cr2O7 + 4H2SO4 = K2SO4
+ Cr2(SO4)3 + 7H2O + 3R.CHO; by distilling the calcium
salts of the fatty acids with calcium formate; and by hydrolysis
of the acetals. L. Bouveault (Bull. soc. chim., 1904 [3],
31, p. 1306) prepares aldehydes by the gradual addition of
disubstituted formamides (dissolved in anhydrous ether) to
magnesium alkyl haloids, the best yields being obtained by
the use of diethyl formamide. Secondary reactions take place
at the same time, yielding more particularly hydrocarbons
of the paraffin series. G. Darzens (Comptes Rendus, 1904,
139, p. 1214) prepares esters of disubstituted glycidic acids,
by condensing the corresponding ketone with monochloracetic
ester, in the presence of sodium ethylate. These esters on
hydrolysis yield the free acids, which readily decompose,
with loss of carbon dioxide and formation of an aldehyde, /R /CRR1 /CRR1OC< + Cl.CH2.COOC2H5 —> O< | —> O< |\R1 \CH.COOC2H5 \CH.COOH —> CO2 + CHRR1.CHO. In the German Patent 157573 (1904) it is shown that by
the action of at least two molecular proportions of an alkyl
formate on two molecular proportions of a magnesium alkyl
or aryl haloid, a complex addition compound is formed, which
readily decomposes into a basic magnesium salt and an aldehyde, C6H5MgBr + HCOOR —> RO.CH.C6H5.OMgBr —> MgBr.OR + C6H5CHO. The aldehydes are characterized by their great chemical
reactivity. They act as reducing agents, silver nitrate
in the presence of ammonia being rapidly reduced to the
condition of metallic silver. They are easily oxidized to the
corresponding fatty acid, in many cases simply by exposure to
air. Nascent hydrogen reduces them to primary alcohols,
and phosphorus pentachloride replaces the carbonyl oxygen by
chlorine. They form many addition compounds, combining with
ammonia to form aldehyde ammonias of the type R.CH(OH).NH2.
These are colourless crystalline compounds, which are most readily
prepared by passing ammonia gas into an ethereal solution of the
aldehyde. With sodium bisulphite they form the so-called
bisulphite compounds R.CH(OH).SO3Na, which are readily resolved
into their components by distillation with dilute acids, and
are frequently used for the preparation of the pure aldehyde. With hydrocyanic acid aldehydes form the cyanhydrins R.CH(OH).CN.
They react with hydroxylamine and phenylhydrazine, with the
formation of aldoximes and hydrazones. (For the isomerism of
the aldoximes see OXIMES.) The hydrazones are crystalline
substances which are of value in the characterization of the
aldehydes. Both oximes and hydrazones, on boiling with dilute
acid, regenerate the parent aldehyde. The hydrazones are
best prepared by mixing the aldehyde with phenylhydrazine
in dilute acetic acid solution, in the absence of any free
mineral acid. Semioxamazid, NH2.CO.CO.NH.NH2, has
also been employed for the identification of aldehydes
(W. Kerp and K. Unger, Berichte, 1897, 30. p. 585).
Aldehydes are converted into resins by the action of caustic
alkalies. On heating with alcohols to 100 deg. C. they form
acetals, and they also form condensation products with
para-amido-di-methyl-aniline (A. Calm, Berichte, 1884, 17, p.
2939). They react with the zinc alkyls to form addition products,
which are decomposed by water with formation of secondary
alcohols (K. Thurnlach, Annalen, 1882, 213, p. 369) thus:—
Zn(C2H5)2 H2O
/C2H5 /C2H5
CH3.CHO —> CH3.CH< —> CH3.CH< + ZnO + C2H6.
\OZnC2H5 \OH
The reaction is a general one for all aldehydes with zinc methyl
and zinc ethyl, but not with the higher zinc alkyls. V. Grignard
(Comptes Rendus, 1900 et seq.) showed that aldehydes combine
with magnesium alkyl iodides (in absolute ether solution) to
form addition products, which are decomposed by water with
the formation of secondary alcohols, thus from acetaldehyde
and magnesium methyl iodide, isopropyl alcohol is obtained. H2O
/CH3
CH3.CHO + CH3MgI —> CH3.CH< —> (CH3)2CH.OH + MgI.OH.
\OMgI
The lower members of the aliphatic series are characterized
by their power of polymerization (see FORMALIN, and the
account of Acetaldehyde below), and also by the so-called
``aldol'' condensation, acetaldehyde in this way forming
aldol, CH3.CHOH.CH2.CHO. These aldols generally lose
the elements of water readily and pass into unsaturated
compounds; aldol itself on distillation at ordinary
atmospheric pressure gives crotonaldehyde, CH3.CH:CH.CHO. Aldehydes are characterized by the reddish-violet colour which
they give with a solution of fuchsine that has been decolorized
by sulphurous acid (H. Schiff, Ann., 1866, 140, p. 131).
With diazobenzene sulphonic acid in the presence of alkali
and a trace of sodium amalgam, a reddish-violet coloration
is formed on standing (E. Fischer, Ber., 1883, 16, p.
657). A. Angeli (Gazz. chim. Ital., 1896, 22, ii. 17) has
shown that aldehydes in the presence of nitrohydroxylaminic
acid form hydroxamic acid. The aldehydes condense readily
with acetoacetic ester in the presence of ammonia, to pyridines
(see PYRIDINE), whilst O. Doebner and W. v. Miller (Ber.,
1892, 25, p. 2864; 1896, 29, p. 59) have shown that in the
presence of aniline and sulphuric acid they give substituted
quinolines. (See also C. Beyer, Ber., 1887, 20, p. 1908).
The chief aldehydes are shown in the following table:— _____________________________________________________________________________
| Name. | Formula | Boiling | Melting|
| | | Point. | Point.|
|——————————|—————————————————-|————-|————|
| Formaldehyde | H.CHO |-21 deg. | |
| Acetaldehyde | CH3.CHO | 20.8 deg. | |
| Propyl aldehyde | CH3.CH2.CHO | 49 deg. | |
| n-Butyl '' | CH3.(CH2)2.CHO | 75 deg. | |
| iso- '' '' | (CH3)2.CH.CHO | 61 deg. | |
| n-Valeryl '' | CH3.(CH2)3.CHO |103 deg. | |
| iso- '' '' | (C4H9.CHO | 92 deg. | |
| Oenanthyl '' | CH3.(CH2)5.CHO |155 deg. | |
| Capric '' | CH3.(CH2)8.CHO |121 deg. | |
| Lauric '' | CH3.(CH2)10.CHO | |44.5 deg. |
| Myristic '' | CH3.(CH2)12.CHO | |52.5 deg. |
| Palmitic '' | CH3.(CH2)14.CHO | |58.5 deg. |
| Stearic '' | CH3.(CH2)16.CHO | |63.5 deg. |
|——————————|—————————————————-|————-|————|
| Acrolein | | | |
| ally aldehyde | CH2 : CH.CHO | 52 deg. | |
| Crotonic '' | CH3.CH : CH.CHO |104 deg. | |
| Tiglic '' | | | |
| (guaiacol) | CH3.CH : C.CH3.CHO |116 deg. | |
|——————————|—————————————————-|————-|————|
| Proargylic A. | CH : C.CHO | 59 deg. | |
|——————————|—————————————————-|————-|————|
| Benzaldehyde | C6H5.CHO |179 deg. | |
| {o | |200 deg. | |
| Toluicaldehyde{m | C6H4.CH3.CHO |199 deg. | |
| {p | |204 deg. | |
| Cumic '' | C6H4.C3H7.CHO |235 deg. | |
| Cinnamic '' | C6H5.CH : CH.CHO |247 deg. | |
|____________________|___________________________________|_________|________| For formaldehyde see FORMALIN. Acetaldehyde, CH3.CHO,
was first noticed by C. Scheele in 1774 and isolated and
investigated by J. v. Liebig (Annalen, 1835, 14, p.
133). It is prepared by oxidizing ethyl alcohol with dilute
sulphuric acid and potassium bichromate, and is a colourless
liquid of boiling point 20.8 deg. C., possessing a peculiar
characteristic smell. Its specific gravity is 0.8009 (0 deg.
C.). It is miscible in all proportions with alcohol, ether and
water. It is readily polymerized, small quantities of
hydrochloric acid, zinc chloride, carbonyl chloride, &c.
converting it, at ordinary temperatures, into paraldehyde,
(C2H4O)3, a liquid boiling at 124 deg. C. and of specific
gravity 0.998 (15 deg. C.). Paraldehyde is moderately soluble in
water, and when distilled with sulphuric acid is reconverted
into the ordinary form. Metaldehyde, (C2H4O)3, is produced
in a similar way to paraldehyde, but at lower temperatures
(e.g. in presence of a freezing mixture). It is a crystalline
solid, which sublimes at 112 deg. -115 deg. C. It is insoluble
in water, and is only slightly soluble in alcohol and
ether. When heated in a sealed tube at 120 deg. C. it is
completely converted into the ordinary form. Paraldehyde
is oxidized by dilute nitric acid, with formation of much
glyoxal, (CHO)2. (For trichloracetaldehyde see CHLORAL.) By the action of acetaldehyde on alcohol at 100 deg. C.,
acetal, CH3.CH(OC2H5)2, is produced. It may also be
prepared by oxidizing ethyl alcohol with manganese dioxide
and sulphuric acid (A. Wurtz). It is a colourless liquid
of specific gravity 0.8314 (20 deg. /4 deg. ) (J. W. Bruhl) and
boiling point 104 deg. C. Dilute acids readily transform it
into alcohol and aldehyde, and chromic acid oxidizes it to
acetic acid. Chlor- and brom-acetals have been described. Thioaldehydes are also known, and are obtained by leading
sulphuretted hydrogen into an aqueous solution of acetaldehyde.
By this means a mixture is obtained which by distillation
or the action of hydrochloric acid yields trithioaldehyde,
(C2H4S)3. For the constitution of these substances
see E. Baumann and E. Fromm (Berichte, 1891, 24, p.
1426). Aldehyde ammonia, CH3.CH(OH).NH2, is formed
when dry ammonia gas is passed into an ethereal solution of
acetaldehyde. It crystallizes in glistening rhombohedra,
melting at 70 deg. -80 deg. C., and boiling at 100 deg. C. It is completely
resolved into its components when warmed with dilute acids. The higher aldehydes of the series resemble acetaldehyde
in their general behaviour. Unsaturated aldehydes are also
known, corresponding to the olefine alcohols; they show the
characteristic properties of the saturated aldehydes and
can form additive compounds in virtue of their unsaturated
nature. The simplest member of the series is acrolein, C3H4O
or CH2 : CH.CHO, which can be prepared by the oxidation
of allyl alcohol, or by the abstraction of the elements of
water from glycerin by heating it with anhydrous potassium
bisulphate. It is also produced by the action of sodium on
a mixture of epichlorhydrin and methyl iodide, C3H5OCl +
CH3I + 2Na = C3H4O + NaI + NaCl + CH4. It is a colourless
liquid, with a very pungent smell, and attacks the mucous
membrane very rapidly. It boils at 52.4 deg. C. and is soluble in
water. It oxidizes readily: exposure to air giving acrylic
acid, nitric acid giving oxalic acid, bichromate of potash
and sulphuric acid giving carbon dioxide and formic acid.
It combines with bromine to form a dibromide, from which E.
Fischer, by the action of baryta water, obtained the synthetic
sugars a- and b-acrose (Berichte, 1889, 22, p. 360).
Metacrolein, (C3H4O)3, is a polymer of acrolein. By passing
acrolein vapour into ammonia, acrolein ammonia, C6H9NO, is
obtained. It is a reddish amorphous mass, insoluble in
alcohol, and when distilled yields picoline (methyl pyridine)
(A. Baeyer, Ann., 1870, 155, p. 283). Citronellal, rhodinal
and geranial are also unsaturated aldehydes (see TERPENES.) The aromatic aldehydes resemble the aliphatic aldehydes in most
respects, but in certain reactions they exhibit an entirely
different behaviour. They do not polymerize, and in the
presence of caustic alkalies do not resinify, but oxidize
to alcohols and acids (see BENZALDEHYDE for Cannizzaro's
reaction). When heated with alcoholic potassium cyanide
they are converted into benzoins (q.v..) Vanillin does
not give the Cannizzaro reaction, but with alcoholic potash
forms vanillic acid, HOOC(1).C6H3.OCH3 (3).OH(4), and
vanilloin. With ammonia, benzaldehyde does not form an aldehyde
ammonia, but condenses to hydrobenzamide, ( C6H5CH)3N2,
with elimination of water. Cumic aldehyde (cuminol),
(CH3)2CH(1)C6H4.CHO(4), is found in Roman caraway oil and
in oil of the water hemlock. It is a liquid, boiling at 235 deg.
C., and has a specific gravity of 0.973. On distillation with
zinc dust it forms cymene (1.4 methyl isopropyl benzene). Salicylic aldehyde (ortho-hydroxybenzaldehyde), HO(1).
C6H4.CHO(2), an aromatic oxyaldehyde, is a colourless liquid
of boiling point 196 deg. C. and specific gravity 1.172 (15 deg. ).
It is found in the volatile oils of Spiraea, and can be obtained
by the oxidation of the glucoside salicin, (C13H18O7),
which is found in willow bark. It is usually prepared by the
so-called ``Reimer'' reaction (Ber., 1876, 9, p. 1268), in which
chloroform acts on phenol in the presence of a caustic alkali, C5H5OH + CHCl3 + 4KHO = 3KCl + 3H2O + KO.C6H4.CHO,
some para-oxybenaldehyde being formed at the same time. It
is volatile (para-oxybenzaldehyde is not) and gives a violet
coloration with ferric chloride. For dioxybenzaldehydes
and their derivatives see PIPERONAL and VANILLIN. Cinnamic aldehyde (b-phenyl acrolein), C6H5.CH : CH.CHO,
an unsaturated aromatic aldehyde, is the chief constituent of
cinnamon oil. It is prepared by oxidizing cinnamyl alcohol, or
by the action of sodium ethylate on a mixture of benzaldehyde and
acetaldehyde. It is a colourless aromatic-smelling oily liquid,
which boils at 247 deg. C. and readily oxidizes on exposure. By condensation of aldehydes with pyruvic acid and
naphthylamines, the a-alkyl-naphthoquinoline-g-carboxylic
acids are produced; the same reaction takes place with the
aromatic amines generally (O. Doebner, Ann. 1804, 281, p. 1), COOH|/ \ COOH / \ / \| | + | + R.CHO = | | | + 2H2O + 2H.\ / \NH2 CO.CH3 \ / \N/ \R ALDEN, JOHN (1599?-1687), one of the ``Pilgrims'' who in
1620 emigrated to America on the ``Mayflower'' and founded
the Plymouth Colony. According to William Bradford's
History of the Plimoth Plantation, he was hired as a
cooper at Southampton, ``where the ship victuled,'' just
before the voyage, ``and being a hopfull yong man, was much
desired.'' He was one of the first settlers of Duxbury,
Massachusetts, where he lived during the greater part of his
life, and from 1633 until 1675 he was an ``Assistant'' to
the governor of the colony, frequently serving as acting
governor. At the time of his death, at Duxbury, on the
12th of September 1687, he was the last male survivor of
the signers of the ``Mayflower Compact'' of 1620, and with
the exception of Mary Allerton was the last survivor of the
``Mayflower'' company. He is remembered chiefly because of
a popular legend, put into verse as The Courtship of Miles
Standish by Henry W. Longfellow, concerning his courtship
of Priscilla Mullins, whom he married in 1623, after having
wooed her first on behalf of his friend, Miles Standish. ALDER, a genus of plants (Alnus) belonging to the order
Betulaceae, the best-known of which is the common alder (A.
glutinosa.) The genus comprises a few species of shrubs or
trees, seldom reaching a large size, distributed through
the North Temperate zone, and in the New World passing
along the Andes southwards to Chile. The British species
A. glutinosa is confined to the Old World. This tree
thrives best in moist soils, has a shrubby appearance, and
grows under favourable circumstances to a height of 40 or 50
ft. It is characterized by its short-stalked roundish leaves,
becoming wedge-shaped at the base and with a slightly toothed
margin. When young they are somewhat glutinous, whence the
specific name, becoming later a dark olive green. As with
other plants growing near water it keeps its leaves longer
than do trees in drier situations, and the glossy green foliage
lasting after other trees have put on the red or brown of
autumn renders it valuable for landscape effect. The stout
cylindrical male catkins are pendulous, reddish in colour
and 2 to 4 in. long; the female are smaller, less than an
inch in length and reddish-brown in colour, suggesting young
fir-cones. When the small winged fruits have been scattered the
ripe, woody, blackish cones remain, often lasting through the
winter. The alder is readily propagated by seeds, but throws
up root-suckers abundantly. It is important as coppice-wood
on marshy ground. The wood is soft, white when first cut and
turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under
water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for
piles. The supports of the Rialto at Venice, and many buildings
at Amsterdam, are of alder-wood. Furniture is sometimes made
from the wood, and it supplies excellent charcoal for gunpowder.
The bark is astringent; it is used for tanning and dyeing. ALDER-FLY, the name given to neuropterous insects of the family
Sialidae, related to the ant-lions, with long filamentous
antennae and four large wings, of which the anterior pair is
rather longer than the posterior. The females lay a vast number
of eggs upon grass stems near water. The larvae are aquatic,
active, armed with strong sharp mandibles, and breathe by
means of seven pairs of abdominal branchial filaments. When
full sized they leave the water and spend a quiescent pupal
stage on the land before metamorphosis into the sexually mature
insect. Sialis lutaria is a well-known British example. In
America there are two genera, Corydalis and Chauliodes,
which are remarkable for their relatively gigantic size and
for the immense length and sabre-like shape of the mandibles. ALDERMAN (from A.-S. ealdorman, compounded of the
comparative degree of the adjective eald, old, and man),
a term implying the possession of an office of rank or
dignity, and, in modern times, applied to an office-bearer
in the municipal corporations and county councils of England
and Wales,and in the municipal corporations of Ireland and
the United States. Among the Anglo-Saxons, earls, governors
of provinces and other persons of distinction received this
title. Thus we read of the aldermannus totius Angliae, who
seems to have corresponded to the officer afterwards styled
capitalis justiciarius Angliae, or chief-justice of England;
the aldermannus regis, probably an occasional magistrate,
answering to the modern justice of assize, or perhaps an officer
whose duty it was to prosecute for the crown; and aldermannus
comitatus, a magistrate with a middle rank between what was
afterwards called the earl and the sheriff, who sat at
the trial of causes with the bishop and declared the common
law, while the bishop proceeded according to ecclesiastical
law. Besides these, we meet with the titles of aldermannus
civitatis, burgi, castelli, hundredi sive wapentachii, &c.
In England, before the passing of the Municipal Corporations
Act, their functions varied according to the charters of the
different boroughs. By the Municipal Corporations Act 1835,
and other acts, consolidated by the Municipal Corporations Act
1882, the aldermen are elected by the councillors for six
years, one-half going out every three years. The number
of councillors in each borough varies according to its
magnitude. One-fourth of the municipal council consists of
aldermen and three-fourths of councillors. In the counties,
too, the number of aldermen is one-third of the number of
councillors, except in London, where it is one-sixth. In the
municipal corporations of Scotland there is no such title as
alderman, the office-bearers of corresponding rank there being
termed bailies. The corporation of the city of London was
not included in the Borough Reform Act, and the antiquated
system remains there in full force. The court of aldermen
consists of twenty-six, twenty-five of whom are elected for
life by the freemen of the respective wards, who return two
persons, one of whom the court of aldermen elect to supply the
vacancy. The city is divided into twenty-six wards; twenty-four
of these send up one alderman each, the other two combine
to choose a twenty-fifth. The twenty-sixth alderman serves
for the independent borough of Southwark (q.v.) and is
appointed by the other aldermen, who generally select the
senior from among themselves when a vacancy occurs. The lord
mayor is elected from such of the aldermen as have served the
office of sheriff; of these the Common Hall, which consists
of the freemen of the different wards, select two, and the
aldermen elect one of these to the mayoralty. The court of
aldermen has the power of appointment to certain offices,
exercises judicial functions in regard to licensing and in
disputes connected with the ward election, has some power of
disposal over the city cash and possesses magisterial control
over the city, each alderman being a judge and magistrate
for the whole city, and by virtue of his office exercising
the functions of a justice of the peace. The aldermen are
members of the court of common council, the legislative body
of the corporation, which consists in all of 232 members,
the remainder being elected annually by the freemen. In the
United States aldermen form as a rule a legislative rather
than a judicial body, although in some cities they hold
courts and possess very considerable magisterial powers. ALDERNEY (Fr. Aurigny), one of the Channel Islands, the
northernmost of the principal members of the group, belonging to
England. It lies in 49 deg. 43' N. and 2 deg. 12' W., 9 m. W.
of Cape La Hague on the coast of Normandy. The harbour, on
the north coast in the bay of Braye, is 25 m. from St Peter
Port, Guernsey, by way of which outer communications are
principally carried on, and 55 m. S. by E. of Portland
Bill, the nearest point of England. The length of the
island from N. E. to S. W. is 3 1/2 m., its average breadth 1
m., its area 1962 acres, and its population (1901) 2062. The strait between the island and Cape La Hague, called
the Race of Alderney (French Raz Blanchard), confined by
numerous rocks and reefs off either coast, is rendered very
dangerous in stormy weather by conflicting currents. Through
this difficult channel the scattered remnant of the French
fleet under Tourville escaped after the defeat of La Hogue in
1692. To the west is the narrower and also dangerous channel
of the Swinge (Sinige), between Alderney and the uninhabited
islets of Burhou, Ortach and others. West of these again are the
Casquets, a group of rocks to which attaches a long record of
shipwreck. Rocks and reefs fringe all the coasts of Alderney. The
island itself is a level open tableland, which on the south-west
and south falls abruptly to the sea in a majestic series of
cliffs. The greatest elevation of the land is about 300
ft. Towards the north-west, north and east the less rocky
coast is indented by several bays, with open sandy shores, of
which those of Crabby, Brave, Corblets and Longy are the most
noteworthy. South-west of Longy Bay, where the coast rises
boldly, there is a remarkable projecting block of sandstone,
called La Roche Pendante (Hanging Rock) overhanging the
cliff. Sandstone (mainly along the north-east coast),
granite and porphyry are the chief geological formations.
There are a few streams, but water is obtained mainly from
wells. Trees are scarce. The town of St Anne stands almost in
the centre of the island overlooking and extending towards the
harbour. Here are the courthouse, a gateway commemorating
Albert, prince-consort, the clock tower, which belonged to
the ancient parish church, and the modern church (1850),
in Early English style, an excellent example of the work of
Sir Gilbert Scott. The church is a memorial to the family
of Le Mesurier, in which the hereditary governorship of
the island was vested until the abolition of the office in
1825. There is a chain of forts round the north coast from
Clanque Fort on the west to Fort Essex on the east; the largest
is Fort Albert, above Brave Bay. In 1847 work was begun on
a great breakwater west of the harbour, the intention being
to provide a harbour of refuge, but although a sum exceeding
one and a half million sterling was spent the scheme was
unsuccessful. The soil of Alderney is light, fertile and
well cultivated; grain and vegetables are grown and early
potatoes are exported. A large part of the island is under
grass, affording pasture for cattle. The well-known term
``Alderney cattle,'' however, has lost in great measure
its former signification of a distinctive breed. Alderney
is included in the bailiwick of Guernsey. It has a court
consisting of a judge and six jurats, attorney-general,
prevot, greffiero and sergent; but as a judicial court
it is subordinate to that of Guernsey, and its administrative
powers are limited to such matters as the upkeep of roads. For its relations to the constitution of the bailiwick,
and for the history of the island, see CHANNEL ISLANDS. ALDERSHOT, an urban district in the Basingstoke parliamentary
division of Hampshire, England, 34 m. S.W. by W. of London,
on the London & South-Western and the South- Eastern & Chatham
railways. It was a mere village till 1855, when Aldershot
camp was established. Pop. (1891) 25,595; (1901) 30,974. Its
germ is to be found in the temporary camp on Chobham Ridges,
formed in 1853 by Lord Hardinge, the commander-in-chief, the
success of which convinced him of the necessity of giving
troops practical instruction in the field and affording the
generals opportunities of manoeuvring large bodies of the three
arms. He therefore advised the purchase of a tract of waste
land whereon a permanent camp might be established. His
choice fell on Aldershot, a spot also recommended by strategic
reasons, being situated on the flank of any army advancing upon
London from the south. Nothing came of Lord Hardinge's proposal
till the experience of the Crimean campaign fully endorsed his
opinion. The lands at Aldershot, an extensive open heath
country, sparsely dotted by fir-woods and intersected by the
Basingstoke canal, were then acquired by the crown. Wooden
huts were erected in 1855, and permanent buildings to replace
them were begun in 1881. Under the Barracks Act 1890, and the
Military Works Act of 1897 and 1899, large sums were provided
for completing the work. The former division of North and
South camps and permanent barracks no longer obtains. North
camp is now named Marlborough Lines, with a field artillery
barrack and five infantry barracks called after Marlborough's
victories. South camp is now named Stanhope Lines, after Mr
Stanhope, who was secretary of state for war when the Barracks
Act 1890 was passed and the reconstruction commenced in
earnest. They contain barracks for the Royal Engineers and
Army Service Corps, the general parade, which stretches east
and west, and five infantry barracks called after battles
(other than those of Wellington), of the wars with France,
1793-1815. There are also barracks for the Royal Army Medical
Corps. The old permanent barracks (which were built for the
most part about 1857) have been renamed Wellington Lines, with
cavalry and artillery barracks; and three infantry barracks
called after Wellington's victories in the Peninsula. For
the sick there are the Connaught Hospital in the Marlborough
Lines, the Cambridge Hospital in Stanhope Lines, and the Union
Hospital in Wellington Lines, besides the Louise Margaret Hospital
for women and children and the isolated infection hospital. The drainage of the station is all modern, and the sewage is
disposed of on a sewage farm under the direction of the war
department. The water supply is partly from the Aldershot Water
Company, and partly from springs and reservoirs collecting
water from a reserved area of war department property. Most of the barracks can accommodate not only the units they are
constructed for, but also detachments going through courses of
instruction. The total of men, women and children for
whom quarters are provided is at times as high as 24,000. Besides the regimental buildings there are a large number of
buildings for garrison purposes, such as quarters and offices
for general, staff and departmental officers, with the warrant
and non-commissioned officers employed under them; the supply
depot with abattoir and bakery; the ordnance stores; barrack
stores for furniture and bedding, shops and stores for R. E.
services; the balloon establishment; the detention barracks;
fire brigade stations; five churches; recreation grounds
for officers and men; schools; and especially the military
technical schools of army cooking, gymnastics, signalling,
ballooning and of mounted infantry, Army Service Corps,
Royal Army Medical Corps and veterinary duties. The work of
these schools is, however, only a small part of the military
training afforded at Aldershot; of greater importance is the
field and musketry training, for the carrying out of which a
considerable extent of land is essential. The land required
for these purposes extends at present over an area about 9 1/4
m. in extreme length by 7 3/4 m. in extreme width. In addition
to this there is the land at Sandhurst and the Staff College
(Camberley) about 6 1/2 m. distant, and at Woolmer Forest, 12 m.
distant. The musketry practice of the troops at Aldershot
is carried out at the Ash ranges, 2 m. east of the barracks,
while the Pirbright ranges, alongside those of the National
Rifle Association at Bisley, are utilized by the Household
Cavalry and Guards, who are encamped there in succession.
Suitable grounds in the vicinity of the barracks, of which
Caesar's Camp, the Long Valley and Laffan's Plain are best
known, are utilized for company, battalion and brigade training
of infantry, while the mounted branches work over a wider
area, and the engineers carry out their practices where most
convenient. For the field-days of the combined arms, the
whole of the war department property is available. Aldershot
is the headquarters of the ``Aldershot Army Corps,'' which is
the largest organized force maintained in the United Kingdom. Besides the troops in barracks, during the drill season there
is often a considerable force in camp, both regular troops from
other stations and militia and volunteer units, so that, including
the regular garrison, sometimes as many as 40,000 troops have
been concentrated at the station for training and manoeuvres. ALDHELM (c. 640-709), bishop of Sherborne, English
scholar, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He
is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal
house of Wessex, but who was certainly not, as Aldhelm's
early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine.
He received his first education in the school of an Irish
scholar and monk, Maildulf, Maeldubh or Meldun (d. c. 675),
who had settled in the British stronghold of Bladon or Bladow
on the site of the town called Mailduberi, Maldubesburg,
Meldunesburg, &c., and finally Malmesbury,1 after him. In
668 Pope Vitalian sent Theodore of Tarsus to be archbishop of
Canterbury, and about the same time came the African scholar
Hadrian, who became abbot of St Augustine's at Canterbury.
Aldhelm was one of his disciples, for he addresses him as
the ``venerable preceptor of my rude childhood.'' He must,
nevertheless, have been thirty years of age when he began
to study with Hadrian. His studies included Roman law,
astronomy, astrology, the art of reckoning and the difficulties
of the calendar. He learned, according to the doubtful
statements of the early lives, both Greek and Hebrew. He
certainly introduces many Latinized Greek words into his
works. Ill-health compelled him to leave Canterbury, and he
returned to Malmesbury, where he was a monk under Maildulf
for fourteen years, dating probably from 661, and including
the period of his studies with Hadrian. When Maildulf
died, Aldhelm was appointed in 675, according to a charter
of doubtful authenticity cited by William of Malmesbury, by
Leutherius, bishop of Dorchester from 671 to 676, to succeed
to the direction of the monastery, of which he became the first
abbot. He introduced the Benedictine rule, and secured the
right of the election of the abbot to the monks themselves.
The community at Malmesbury increased, and Aldhelm was able to
found two other monasteries to be centres of learning at Frome
and at Bradford on Avon. The little church of St Lawrence at
Bradford dates back to his time and may safely be regarded as
his. At Malmesbury he built a new church to replace Maildulf's
modest building, and obtained considerable grants of land for the
monastery. His fame as a scholar rapidly spread into other
countries. Artwil, the son of an Irish king, submitted his
writings for Aldhelm's approval, and Cellanus, an Irish monk
from Peronne, was one of his correspondents. Aldhelm was the
first Englishman, so far as we know, to write in Latin verse,
and his letter to Acircius (Aldfrith or Eadfrith, king of
Northumbria) is a treatise on Latin prosody for the use of his
countrymen. In this work he included his most famous productions,
101 riddles in Latin hexameters. Each of them is a complete
picture, and one of them runs to 83 lines. That his merits
as a scholar were early recognized in his own country is shown
by the encomium of Bede (Eccl. Hist. v. 18), who speaks of
him as a wonder of erudition. His fame reached Italy, and at
the request of Pope Sergius I. (687-701) he paid a visit to
Rome, of which, however, there is no notice in his extant
writings. On his return, bringing with him privileges for
his monastery and a magnificent altar, he received a popular
ovation. He was deputed by a synod of the church in Wessex
to remonstrate with the Britons of Domnonia (Devon and
Cornwall) on their differences from the Roman practice in
the shape of the tonsure and the date of Easter. This he
did in a long and rather acrimonious letter to their king
Geraint (Geruntius), and their ultimate agreement with Rome
is referred by William of Malmesbury to his efforts. In
705, or perhaps earlier, Haeddi, bishop of Winchester, died,
and the diocese was divided into two parts. Sherborne was
the new see, of which Aldhelm reluctantly became the first
bishop. He wished to resign the abbey of Malmesbury which he
had governed for thirty years, but yielding to the remonstrances
of the monks he continued to direct it until his death. He
was now an old man, but he showed great activity in his new
functions. The cathedral church which he built at Sherborne,
though replaced later by a Norman church, is described by
William of Malmesbury. He was on his rounds in his diocese
when he died in the church of Doulting on the 25th of May
709. The body was taken to Malmesbury, and crosses were
set up by the pious care of his friend, Bishop Ecgwine of
Worcester, at the various halting- places. He was buried in
the church of St Michael. His biographers relate miracles due
to his sanctity worked during his lifetime and at his shrine.
Back to IndexNext