221 



ALLITURIC ACID. 



ALLOY. 



222 



Nor has the employment of this artifice of style been confined to 

 compositions in verse. In the early part of the 17th century it 

 was carried to a greater excess by some of our prose writers 

 than it ever had been by our poets ; grave discourses being elabo- 

 rated, in which nearly all the words of each separate sentence 

 commenced with the same letter. The longer this torture of the un- 

 fortunate sound could be protracted, the greater was deemed to be the 

 feat of eloquence. 



Those who recognise rhyme, or what Milton calls " the jingling 

 sound of like endings," as one of the legitimate adjuncts of poetry, can 

 hardly repudiate alliteration, which, after the same fashion, may be 

 termed " the jingle of like beginnings." There can be no doubt that 

 the latter artifice, judiciously employed, may be made to communicate 

 a portion, at least, of the same sort of gratification which is conveyed 

 by the former. The general principle upon which the pleasure we 

 experience in both cases depends, is the similarity in dissimilarity, as it 

 has been called, or variety combined with regularity, which is the 

 occasion of so many of our intellectual, and of some also of our moral 

 pleasures. Of course, the degree in which alliteration is employed, as 

 an ornament of style, ought to be regulated by its importance, as 

 compared with other rhetorical decorations, and by its appropriateness 

 to the subject and the general character of the composition. Being 

 a mere artifice of diction, it can in no case be compared with the 

 higher beauties of thought and expression, and should never be 

 obtruded so as to interfere with them. It sometimes serves, however, 

 to help in what may be called the setting of a brilliant thought ; and, 

 if it have the air of coming naturally, will frequently add to the effect 

 of an otherwise happy phrase. Its aptitude to catch the popular ear 

 is proved by its almost universal adoption in proverbs, traditional 

 rhymes, and other brief sayings of wit or wisdom, which their mere 

 natural vitality has kept alive without the aid of letters, and even in a 

 vast number of those idiomatic expressions which form the sinew and 

 chief strength of our language. Mr. Price, the learned editor of the 

 last edition of Warton, announced a volume which was to contain, 

 among other matters, an essay upon alliterative metre, together with 

 the ' Aunter of Sir Gawaine,' a romance in alliterative metre, from a 

 MS. of the 14th century ; but the work was never completed in con- 

 sequence of his premature death. 

 ALLITURIC ACID. [Unic ACID, DERIVATIVES OF.] 

 ALLODIUM, or ALO'DIUM, is property held in absolute dominion, 

 without rendering any service, fealty, or other consideration whatso- 

 ever to a superior. It is opposed to Feodum or Fief [FEUDAL SYSTEM], 

 which means property the use of which was bestowed by the proprietor 

 upon another, on condition that the person to whom the gift was made 

 should perform certain services to the giver, upon failure of which, or 

 upon the determination of the period to which the gift was confined, 

 the property reverted to the original possessor^ Hence arose the 

 mutual relation of lord and vassal. 



It is the general opinion that the lands which the Germanic tribes, 

 Franks, Burgundians, and Visigoths, seized during the decline of the 

 Roman empire, were distributed among the members of these tribes 

 in some way, and held free from all service or duty. Land so held 

 was called Allod, or Alod, and in the Latinised form, Allodium. 

 The system of fiefs, or the feudal system, as it is called, was pos- 

 terior t" that of this allodial holding of lands ; and it was not com- 

 pletely established, at least hi France, till towards the end of the 10th 

 century. 



In England there is no allodial land, for all land is held mediately 

 or immediately of the king. The name for the most absolute dominion 

 over property of this nature is a fee (feodum), or an estate in fee, a 

 word which implies a feudal relation. When a man possessed of an 

 estate in fee dies without heirs, and without having devised his pro- 

 perty, the estate escheats, or falls back to the lord of whom it was 

 holden : or, where there is no intermediate lord, to the king as lord 

 paramount. 



The Latinised forms of this word are various: alodis, alodus, 

 alodium, alaudum, and others. The French forma are aleu, aleu 

 franc, or frank aleu, franc-alond, franc-aloy, and franc-aleuf. In many 

 old charters alodum is explained by hereditas, or heritable estate. But 

 it is very difficult to collect any theory from the numerous passages in 

 which the word occurs which shall satisfactorily explain ite etymology. 

 (Du Cange, ' Gloss.' Alodis ; Spelman, ' Glossarium.') 



There is a very elaborate article on allodial land in the 'Stoats- 

 Lexicon ' of Rotteck and Welcker, under the head ' Alodium ; ' and 

 there are gome remarks by Guizot, ' Histoire de la Civilization 1-11 

 France,' vol. iii. 



ALLOPHANIC ACID (HO, C 4 N.H 3 O 5 ). This acid is unknown in 

 the hydrated or separate state. It forms crystallisable salts with 

 baryta, potash, and soda. It is produced by the action of hydrated 

 cyanic acid on alcohol. The water of the alcohol unites with the 

 cyanip acid and forms the new compound which combines with the oxide 

 of ethyl and form* an allophanate of the oxide of ethyl. 



J(HO, CjJJOJ + C.H.O, =0.^0, C,W,H 3 5 . 

 Cyanic Acid. Alcohol. Allophanic Ether. 

 By the action of solutions of caustic, baryta, potash, or soda upon 



allophanic acid, the allophanates of these bases are produced. Thus, 

 with baryta water, the re-action is 



Allophanic Ether. 



Allophanate of Alcohol. 

 Baryta. 



The re-action must be effected without heat, otherwise the allophanate 

 of baryta is decomposed, with the production of carbonate of baryta, 

 carbonic acid, and urea : 



(BaO, C 1 N 2 H 3 O 5 )+HO=CO.,-fBaOCOj+C.,N, 1 H 4 O. 1 . 



Allophanate of 

 Baryta. 



Urea. 



ALLOTROPY. Several elementary substances are known to undergo 

 remarkable changes in their appearance, and in their physical and 

 chemical properties, without entering into combination with any other 

 body, or in any way losing their elementary character. Such elements 

 are said to be allotropic, and then- different forms are termed allotropic 

 modifications. Thus the element sulphur is generally met with as a 

 bright yellow brittle solid, and if it be fused by a heat of about 240, 

 and then allowed to cool, it assumes agaiu ita original appearance, but 

 if whilst fused it be heated more strongly, to 500 for instance, and be 

 then suddenly cooled by pouring it into cold water, it forms a soft 

 amber-brown coloured tenaceous mass, which may be drawn out into 

 threads that are elastic like caoutchouc. At ordinary temperatures this 

 elastic sulphur very slowly returns to its ordinary state, but if it be 

 heated to 212 the transformation is instantaneous, and accompanied 

 with the evolution of heat. There are also other allotropic forms of 

 sulphur all exhibiting marked differences in their properties, but all 

 consisting of the same material elementary sulphur. Phosphorus 

 and many other elements also exhibit the same phenomenon. The 

 cause of these allotropic modifications is at present enveloped in great 

 obscurity, but it is generally supposed that such modifications are due 

 to a difference in the grouping of the ultimate molecules of the allotropic 

 elements. 



ALLOWANCE, in commerce, a deduction from the gross weight of 

 goods, agreed on between merchants, according to the customs of par- 

 ticular countries and ports, the chief of which is known by the name 

 of TARE. 



ALLOXAN. [URIC ACID, DERIVATIVES OF.] 

 ALLOXANIC ACID. [URIC ACID, DERIVATIVES OF.] 

 ALLOXANTIN. [URIC ACID, DERIVATIVES OF.] 

 ALLOY. This word is employed to designate either a natural or 

 artificial compound of two or more metals, except when mercury is one 

 of them, and then the mixture is termed an amalgam. The natural 

 alloys are far less important substances than those which are artificially 

 procured : thus, arsenic occurs combined with the following metals, 

 namely, antimony, bismuth, cobalt, iron, nickel, and silver ; there is 

 also found a native alloy of antimony and nickel, and of antimony, 

 cobalt, and nickel ; some others might also be mentioned. But^there is 

 no instance of a native alloy, strictly speaking, being applied to any useful 

 purpose, whereas the artificial alloys are of the highest importance both 

 for the uses of common life and for manufacturing purposes ; since by 

 uniting different metals, compounds are formed which possess a combi- 

 nation of qualities not occurring in any one metal. Platina is always 

 employed in a pure state, and copper, iron, lead, and zinc, are also veiy 

 commonly so used ; but gold, silver, tin, antimony, and bismuth are 

 generally alloyed ; the first three, on account of their softness, and the 

 two latter because they are extremely brittle. Gold and silver are 

 hardened by alloying with copper ; copper is hardened by zinc, Ac. 



The formation of alloys appears to depend upon the chemical affinity 

 of the metals for each other ; and in some instances this affinity seems 

 to be wanting, for no combination occurs : thus, according to Gellert, 

 bismuth and zinc do not combine. Various facts may be assigned 

 for supposing the combination to be the result of chemical union. 

 M. Boussingault (' An. de Ch. et de Ph.,' t. 34, p. 408) has described 

 and analysed six different native alloys of gold and silver, and he found 

 in all cases that the metals were combined in definite proportions. The 

 change of properties which metals undergo by combining, furnishes 

 strong evidence of the intervention of chemical affinity and action : 

 thus, with respect to colour, copper, a reddish metal, by union with 

 zinc, a white one, gives the well-known yellow alloy, brass : the fusing 

 point of a mixed metal is never the mean of the temperature at which 

 its constituents melt ; and it is generally lower than that of the most 

 fusible metal of the alloy ; whilst the power of the latter to conduct 

 heat and electricity, also indicates that chemical combination has 

 occurred. 



All alloys formed of brittle metals are brittle; those made with 

 ductile metals are in some cases ductile, in others brittle ; when the 

 proportions are nearly equal, there are as many alloys which are brittle 

 as ductile ; but when one of the metals is in excess, they are most 

 commonly ductile. In combining ductile and brittle metals, the com- 

 pounds are brittle, if the brittle metal exceed, or nearly equal the 

 proportion of the ductile one; but when the ductile metal greatly 

 exceeds the brittle one, the alloys are usually ductile. The density of 

 alloys sometimes exceeds, and in other cases is less than, that which 



