m 



ALCAIDE. 



ALCHI-MY 



in water, and combined with a small quantity of saline matter. It in, 



thoreXorv, nearly pure albumen. In thia state it is a thick glairy fluid. 



deo*er than water, insipid. itli..ut odour, mixing readily with cold 



water, in a large quantity of which it u completely dissolved. Exposed 



in thia fluid form to atmospheric air, it rapidly putrefies ; tint il a thin 



i it be expoaed to a current of air, it dries and U converted into 



. hard, and transparent substance resembling horn, and in this 



condition it may be preaerved for any length of time without cluuige. 



The most remarkable character of albumen IB the property it pos- 

 uemct of changing from a fluid to a nolid state on the application of 

 heat. This process is termed coagulation. If the white of an egg be 

 expoaed to a heat of about 134 of Fahrenheit, white fibres begin to 

 appear in it ; if the heat be raised to 160, the fluid substance U con- 

 verted into a solid mass ; if the heat be still further increased t 

 it dries, shrinks, and assumes the appearance of horn. In pro|>ortiou 

 as albumen is diluted with water, it requires a higher temperature to 

 coagulate it ; but if water hold in solution only the one-thousandth 

 part of its weight of albumen, the water is rendered opaque by boiling. 

 Before coagulation albumen is abundantly soluble in cold water, after 

 coagulation it is no longer soluble in water. 



But heat is by no means the only agent capable of coagulating 

 albumen. Fluid nil >umen is changed into a solid by alcohol, and one 

 of the readiest modes of obtaining solid albumen is to agitate white of 

 egg with ten or twelre times its weight of alcohol. The alcohol unites 

 with the water which held the albumen in solution, and tin- albumen 

 ia precipitated under the form of white filaments. 



Albumen ia also coagulated by all the stronger acids, the sulphuric, the 

 hydrochloric, the metaphosphoric, and the nitric, but not by the acetic. 

 It is also coagulated by the metallic Halts, such as chloride of tin, sub- 

 acetate of lead, chloride of gold, &c. ; and so delicate a test of the 

 presence of this substance is the chloride of mercury, or, as it i 

 inonry called, corrosive sublimate, that if a single drop of a saturated 

 Dilution of corrosive sublimate be K-t fall into water containing only 

 the two-thousandth part of albumen, it will occasion a milkiness in 

 the water, and produce a curtly precipitate. If a slight excess of the 

 mercurial solution be added to the albuminous liquid and heat applied, 

 the precipitate which falls on being dried is found to contain in 

 every seven parts, five of albumen. But the most delicate test for 

 albumen and other protein compounds is the acid liquor obtained by 

 dissolving mercury in its own weight of nitric acid. It gi 

 intense red with aqueous solution of albumen, and can detect B 

 this substance. Soluble albumen rotates a ray of polarized light to the 

 Vt'hen pure it has a slightly acid reaction. Alkalies prevent it - 

 coagulation, anil when coagulated dissolve it. It forms definit 

 pounds with the alkalies albiuniuates. The albuminate of potash 

 .<n tains according to Lieberkuhn 51 per cent of potash. 



White of eggs and serum of blood always contain a small quantity of 

 coda, and Qerhardt considers both substances to contain a definite 

 quantity of bi-albutninate of soda, thus accounting for its soluble 

 form. 



That albumen contains a perceptible quantity of sulphur may be 

 observed from the tarnishing of silver spoons that have been uMa for 

 rating eggs ; this being due to a small quantity of sulphide of ,-ih cr 

 formed on them. 



Albumen, from its property of coagulating by heat, is of great use 

 in the clarification of liquids. The albumen, as it is rendered solid by the 

 application of heat, entangles all the substances not held in solution by 

 the fluid, and carries them with it to the surface in the t..im of 

 MBL 



But the most interesting application of albumen U it employment 

 as an antidote against one of the most deadly of the miueraj i 

 Corrosive sublimate, or chloride of mercury, is scarcely second in the 

 virulence and certainty of its jmisonoiis pro|>ertie8 to arseiiiotts acid 

 itself. For this poison, albumen (white of egg) is an effectual antidote. 

 if administered before the poison is absorbed.' 



ALCAIDK, or ALC,AYI>K, a Swinish word derived from the Arabic 

 from the verb tdda, which means to head. The n/.-./,V. w:n 

 formerly the governor of a fortress or a castle, and also the keeper of a 

 jail. Thia name ia frequently mistaken by foreigners for that of 

 alcalde. The office* of these two functionaries however dit! 

 widely, as the one iaa military officer, and the other a civil magistrate. 

 (Covarrubias, Dieeitmario de la Arademia.) 



ALCALUK, in S|iin, is a judge appointed by the government M 

 elected by the towns to administer justice within the district under hi.- 

 jurisdiction. The word is a corruption of the Arabic l-(\idi, which 

 means judge or governor, or, according to AlcaW. from Cnhiil, which 

 comes from the root ra//r, to preside. There are several deiiomin.it ions 

 of alrnliln. Tlie A Ifaldt de A Itadai ia a judge ap|Miinted by the govern- 

 ment, or the lord of the district, to whom the parties may appeal from 

 the decision of the Mrnliln Pnlanent, or justices of the peace. The 

 Atcnldr* dr COM y Carte is a bench of judges, who singly or jointly try 

 all criminal- within the court and twenty miles from it, or sixty in 

 cami of robbery. From the decision* of one of these alcaldes an appeal 

 may be made to their tribunal. When the king travelled, one of these 

 alcalde* wan formerly obliged to awiat the mayordomo in fixing the 

 price of provisions on the rood. In the chancillerias of Yalladolid and 

 (Jranada the criminal judge* are called Alralda de Crime*, to distin- 

 guish them from the civil one* called Oidvrtt. The limit of their 



respective jurisdiction ia the Tagua, that is, those of the Yal. 

 take cognisance of all criminal cases on their aide of the Tagua, and 

 those of Granada on the other. 



The Alcalde Mayor is a judge appointed by the king > by the lord 

 of the town to act a* an aaseaBor to the Aim I- 



are not men of the law. The AlcalJrt Pcdaneoi are elected by the 

 people yearly ; they preside at the common council, or Ayuntaii 

 and act as magistrates. The parish officers are also called A I 

 and are distinguished by apjiellations expressing their oil 



ilt /litrriu, or |>arih, </ Cull-, of the street, tlr .Yur/ir, of the 

 night, because they )tn>l and watch during the night. A 

 jury in Spain, all the judges Ixith give the verdict and pioiioin 

 sentence. It is however worthy of obsci \ation, that in the/ 

 Toledo, granted in 1083, it was ordered tliat all the cages should be 

 tried by the l>ok of tin- judges, in the presence of ten individx 

 the most worthy and most wise of the .it \ 1 1, .ted annually. wh.. wric 

 always to sit at court with the judge. A sort of jury c\i,-t<il f. 

 in the Balearic Islands, but so beneficent on institution n>< 

 remains in any part of the peninsula. 



(l>in-iuiiurio ae la Acail. ; Garibav ; Covamil 



ALCA'NTARA, THE KNIGHTS OK </ </,//,,, ,/, .!/,,; 

 a military and religious order of Spain, ho ealled fioin the town u|n 

 the Tagus. About the year 1150, Feidinand II. n MI hi- 



father the kingdom of Leon, with Galicia and A.-turia-. of tin 

 these, a large portion was in possession of the Moors, espe- -Lilly the 

 valley of the Coa, a river which, passing near Almeida, run.- northwaid 

 into the Douro. In thia state of things, two brothers, with a body : 

 knights from Salamanca, seized a hermitage in this valley call' 

 Julian del Pereyro, which they converted into a fortress. Disting 

 by their courage and success against the Moors, they 

 by the Bishop of Salamanca a half religious, half military order ,.| 

 knights, under the rule of Saint Benedict; and the institution was con- 

 firmed by Pope Alexander III. in 1177. When Alcantara was rei 

 from the Moors in 1213 by Alon/o IX. of Leon, the defence of it wa- 

 ultimately assigned to the knight- of San Julian del I'erevm. Thi- 

 title was soon absorUil in that of Alcantara. Thirty-seven ma.-' 

 succession commanded the noble order of Alcantara ; and, like t! 

 Calatrava and Santiago, they were at times almost too ]>wcrlul for the 

 monarch* of S].ain. In 1494 or 1495, Ferdinand, the husband of 

 Isabella, who had already assumed the command of the other two 

 orders, prevailed upon .luan de Zuniga, son of the Duke of AreValo, to 

 resign the grand-mastership of Alcantara. From that time tin dignity 

 has remained in the crown of Sjiaiii. (A full account oftheord 

 been given by Radez de Andrada in i aid by 



Zapater in his I 'istcr Mililuntt.) 



AI.CAKIilX ) , 



ALCARIN. [CAOODTL.] 



ALCARUAZAS. This name is given to vessels ma<l> 

 porous pottery, used in Sfiain for the pur|H..se of cooling water. The 

 cooling result* from the copious evaporation of the small ].] > 

 water which soaks through the vessels to the outside : the heat neces- 

 .-ai-y for bringing about tliis evaporation biding drawn from the remain- 

 ing watei- in the vessel. 



A convenient substitute for the alcarrazas may be made in tin- 

 foil. .wing way: Mix thoroughly, ill the dry state, equal p.. 

 siliceous sand and good clay ; then bring it to a proper con-i.-tenc , v, in, 

 brine, adding afterwards a considerable quantity of common -ill. 

 which must be well incorporated with the clay by beating. Another 

 in. th.nl is to mix u]> the clay with twice its weight of chair, ,;d in 

 |K>wder, and bake it until the charcoal in i>erfectly burnt out. The 

 vessels to be used as coolers must not be fully baked. 



For the modes of cooling tin- wort in making lieer and wine, see 

 BHKWIN. : I ii-i ii i ix... See also, FHI:F/IM; ; I. 



A I. I'll KM Y, the pretended art of making gold and silver. The 

 name appears to be derived from the Oreek xiM"'. chemistry, but the 

 at prefixed to it denotes the probability of i! ; -;n ,.i ;!,. 



imposture. Another and subsequent object of alehemy was the ]-n- 

 lunation of a universal medicine. Those alchemi.-t.- who w> 

 to be skilled in the art, were termed m/i/il.i, or tin ././.,,/.-. 



In the ..pinion of the alchemists, all them.: ..pound.-, the 



baser of them containing the some constituents as gold, but n.i\< -.1 

 with various impurities, which being removed, the common 

 . i. made to assume the properties of gold. The change was >'. 

 by what wns tenucd //,('. /./. or the philotophan 1 



which is eominoiih mentioneil as a red powder ]Kissessing a p< 

 smell. 



It i not ipiite eertain either at what i^ri.nl or in what countiy 

 alehemy arose; and dilt'erent opinions on the subject are cxpre- 



Hr. Thomson r Hi.-t. i \ of Cli. n.i-i i \ .' vol. i. p. in supposes 

 that it originated among the Arabians when they UVMII t turn their 

 attention t.. medicine, after the establishment of the Caliph- ; or that. 

 if it had been previously cultivated by the Greeks, as there is some 

 reason to suppose, it was taken up by the Arabians and r.iliie.d by 

 them into regular form and oi.Ur. Tlii- conclusion is rendered ex- 

 ly probable, on account of the prefix of the Arabic article al. 



Hi in.. ! Tri-niegintu* is generally mentioned as one of the . 

 ali -hemist.< ; but the writings Ijearing his name are undoubtedly spurious. 

 In 1692, Dr. Salmon, in hit ' Clavis Alchymioc,' |,ublishe.l a tranalation 



