ALI 



ALK 



-atis, of tlie art of numbering truly and 

 readily, 



M IKN, in law, a person born in a 

 strung- country, not within the king's al- 

 tegimnce, in c mtradistinction from a deni- 

 zen or natural subject. 



An alien is incapable of inheriting 

 i England, till naturalized by an 

 act of parliament. No alien is entitled to 

 vote in the choice of members of parlia- 

 ment, has a right to enjoy offices, or can 

 be returned on any jury, unless where an 

 alien is party in a cause ; and then the in- 

 quest of jurors shall be one half denizens 

 and the other aliens. 



alien neglecting the king's pro- 

 clamation, directing him to depart from 

 the realm within a limited time, shall, on 

 conviction, for the first offence, be impri- 

 soned for any time not exceeding one 

 month, and not exceeding twelve months 

 for the second ; at the expiration of which, 

 he shall depart within a time to he limit- 

 ed : and it' such alien be found therein 

 limited, he or she shall 

 he transported tor life. 



\UMKNTAi;\ duct, a name which 

 Minn- call the intestines, on account of the 

 food's passing through them. Se 



TI'MV. 



ALIMONY, alimiiniti, in law, denotes 

 the maintenance sued for by a wife, in 

 rase of a separation from her husband, 

 wherein she is neither chargeable with 

 elopement nor adultery. 



ALIQUANT part*, in arithmetic, those 

 which will not divide or measure the 

 whole number exactly. Thus, 7 is an 

 aliquant part of 16, for twice 7 wants 2 

 of l(i, and three times 7 exceeds 16 by 5. 



ALIQUOT part, is such part of a num- 

 ber as will divide and measure it exactly, 

 without any remainder. For instance, 2 

 is an aliquot part of 4, 3 of 9, and 4 of 16. 



To find all the aliquot parts of a num- 

 ber, divide it by its least divisor, and the 

 quotient by its least divisor, until \ou pel 

 a quotient not farther divisible, a: 

 will have all the prime divisors or "ali- 

 quot parts of that number. Thus, 60, 

 divided by 2, gives the quotient 30, which 

 divided by J gives 15, and l.i divided by 

 .1 gives the indivisible quotient 5. Hence, 

 the prime aliquot parts are 1, 2, 2, 3, 5 ; 

 and by multiplying any two or three of 

 these together, you will find the com- 

 pound aliquot parts, viz. 4, 6, 10, 

 20, 30. 



Aliquot parts must not be confounded 

 with commensurable ones; for though 

 the former be all commensurable, \et 

 these are not always aliquot parts : thus 



4 is commensurable with 6, but is not an 

 aliquot part of it. 



A I .ISMA, srrent teate r plantain, in bota- 

 ny, a jfenus of the Hexandria Polyginia 

 plants, the calyx of \\ hich is a 

 perianthmm composed of three oval, 

 hollow, permanent leaves ; the corolla 

 consists of three large, roundish, plane, 

 and very patent petals; the fruit i 

 of capsules, arranged together in a round- 

 ish or trigonal fo'rm : the seeds are single 

 and small. There are nine species. 



ALKAHEST, or ALCAHKST, among 

 chemists, denotes a universal menstruum, 

 capable of resolving all bodies into their 

 ens primim, or first matter ; and that 

 without suffering any change, or diminu- 

 tion of force, by so doing. See Ai.cn KM Y. 



ALKALI, in chemistry, a word applied 

 to all bodies that possess the following 

 properties: they change vegetable blue 

 colours, as that of an infusion of violets, 

 to green : they have an acrid and peculiar 

 taste : they serve as intermedia between 

 oils and water-: they are capable of com- 

 bining with acids, and of destroying their 

 acidity : they corrode woollen cloth, and, 

 if the solution be sufficiently strong, re- 

 duce it to jelly; and they are soluble in 

 water. The alkalies at present known 

 are three ; \nz. ammonia, potash, and so- 

 da : the two last are called fixed alkalies, 

 because they require a red heat to vola- 

 tilize them ; the other is denominated 

 volatile alkali, because it readily assumes 

 a gaseous form, and is dissipated by a 

 very moderate degree of heat. Barytes, 

 strontian, lime, and magnesia, have been 

 denominated alkalies by Fourcroy ; but 

 as they possess the striking character of 

 earths in their fixity, this innovation does 

 not seem entitled to general adoption. 



Since writing the above, some discove- 

 ries of great importance, on the subject 

 oi alkalies, have been made known to the 

 philosophical world by Mr. Davy, Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry at the Royal institu- 

 tion. We shall in this place give a sketch 

 of the two papers which he has just laid 

 before the Koyal Society, referring to 

 some subsequent articles for further par- 

 ticulars. In a former discourse, read be- 

 fore this learned body, Mr. Davy, in 

 speaking of the agencies of electricity, 

 suggested the probability, that other bo- 

 dies not then enumerated might be de- 

 composed by the electric fluid. In the 

 course ofthe last summer, this celebra- 

 ted philosopher was employed in making 

 a number of experiments with this par- 

 ticular view, and by means of very pow- 

 erful galvanic troughs, consisting of a 



