225 



ALME. 



ALOES. 



220 



to St. Helena, required new tables, which should give the distances of 

 the moon from the sun and principal fixed stars, for intervals of a few 

 hours at most. By the zeal of Dr. Maskelyiie, aided by the govern- 

 ment, the project was carried into effect, and it continued under his 

 superintendence for forty-eight years. During this time it received 

 the highest encomiums from all foreign authorities, for which see the 

 French ' Encyclopedic," art. ' Almanach,' and the Histories of Montucla 

 and Delambre. From 1774 to 1789 the French ' Connaissance des 

 Terns' borrowed its lunar distances from the English almanac. On 

 the death of Maskelyne it did not continue to improve, and, without 

 absolutely falling off, was inadequate to the wants either of seamen or 

 astronomers. In consequence of complaints of this work, which were 

 almost universally allowed by astronomers to contain a great deal of 

 truth, the government, in 1830, requested the opinion of the Astrono- 

 mical Society upon the subject, and the Report of the Committee 

 appointed by that body, which may be fovmd in the fourth volume of 

 their ' Transactions,' is a sufficient proof of the opinion of practical 

 astronomers on the previous state of the work. The alterations pro- 

 posed by the Society were entirely adopted by the government, and 

 the first almanac containing them was that for 1834. It is now con- 

 ducted under the superintendence of J. R. Hind, F.R.A.S. 



The ' Supplements ' which it had been customary to publish liave 

 been discontinued. The 'Nautical Almanac' is brought out two or 

 three years in advance. 



This country was forestalled in most of the important changes just 

 mentioned by the Berlin ' Ephemeris,' published under the superin- 

 tendence of Professor Encke. Its predecessor, the ' Astronomisches 

 Jahrbuch,' was conducted for fifty years by the celebrated Bode ; and 

 was entirely remodelled by Encke in 1830. Of other works of the 

 game kind, published on the Continent, those of Coimbra and Milan 

 are among the most valuable ; the latter was commenced in 1755, by 

 M. de Cteearis. 



The oldest national astronomical almanac is the French 'Connasisance 

 des Terns,' published under the superintendence of the Bureau des 

 Longitudes at Paris. It was commenced in 1679 by Picard, and con- 

 tinued by him till 1684. It then passed through the hands of various 

 astronomers till 1760, when the conduct of it was given to Lalande, 

 who, besides other alterations, first introduced the lunar distances, 

 which have been already alluded to. At present the plan is very 

 similar to that of the new ' Nautical Almanac,' with the addition of 

 very valuable original memoirs which appear yearly. In fact, we may 

 say generally, that the original contributions to the various Continental 

 almanacs are among their most valuable parts ; and, as Professor Airy 

 remarks (' Reports of the British Association,' &c., p. 128), " In fact 

 nearly all the astronomy of the present century is to be found in these 

 works," that is, in certain periodicals which are mentioned, " or in the 

 ' Ephemerides ' of Berlin, Paris, or Milan." The ' British Almanac,' 

 fi-om its commencement, endeavoured to attain somewhat of a similar 

 character, by the issue of a ' Companion to the Almanac,' not confining 

 the subjects to astronomy only, but embracing a variety of scientific 

 and statistical information. ' The Book of Almanacs,' by A. de Morgan, 

 published in 1851, is furnished "with an Index of Reference by which 

 the almanac may be found for every year up to A.D. 2000, with the 

 means of finding the day of any new or full moon from B.C. 2000 to 

 A.D. 2000 ; " a useful and valuable work for reference. 



Next to the ' Nautical Almanac,' ranks, as an astronomical almanac, 

 White's ' Ephemeris,' a work nearly as old as the monopoly previously 

 described. For many years past this publication has given astronomical 

 data sufficient to enable the seaman to find his latitude and time. The 

 ' Gentleman's Diary,' commenced in 1741, and the ' Ladies' Diary,' 

 in 1705, powerfully aided in keeping up a mathematical taste, to a 

 certain extent, throughout the country, by annually proposing problems 

 for competition. Several persons who afterwards became celebrated 

 in mathematics, have commenced their career by the solution of these 

 problems. 



The stamp duty on Almanacs, which, at fifteen-pence per copy, pro- 

 duced on an average about 31,000/. a-year, was repealed by the 3 & 4 

 Will. IV. c. 57, August 13th, 1834. Since that period many important 

 inijiruvemente have been effected in almanacs of older standing, and 

 numerous excellent new publications of this class have appeared, many 

 of them at a very low price, which have commanded an extensive sale ; 

 but many others of a low and worthless character are also continually 

 springing into existence. A great number of local almanacs, were also 

 called into existence, which in many cases are excellent supplements to 

 the general almanacs of London. 



ALME, or AL-MAI, that is, ' the learned,' the name given by the 

 modern Egyptians and Arabs to the singing girls of Egypt. The word 

 almn seems to be corrupted from the Arabic dtiinefh, the feminine form 

 of the active participle dlim, scicns, sapiens. The professional male 

 singers, who are also frequently dancers, are called Alewayeeh. These 

 Alrria^ live together in Ixmds, which are distributed in the various 

 towns, or travel about the country in quest of employment. They are 

 present at festivals and marriages, and other ceremonies. Those who 

 are admitted into the society have generally a fine voice ; they learn by 

 heart the best songs on romance and love ; and some are able to sing 

 extempore verses, after the manner of the Italian improvisator!. They 

 are admitted into the harems of the great, where they instruct the 

 women in dancing and singing, or amuse them by reciting poems. 



ARTS AND SCI DIV. VOL. I. 



They excel in singing pathetic ballads : dwelling upon plaintive tones, 

 they inspire a feeling of melancholy, which, insensibly increasing, draws 

 tears from the eyes. The Turks, enemies as they are to the arts, pass 

 whole nights in listening to them. 



The Almai aho accompany funerals, at which they sing dirges, and 

 utter groans and lamentations, like the Prafica: of Sardinia, Corsica, 

 and other European countries. The higher and more accomplished 

 class of the Almai attend none but wealthy people, and their price is 

 high. The common people however have also their Almai, who try to 

 imitate the superior class, but have neither their elegance, grace, nor 

 knowledge. They are seen everywhere; the public squares and the 

 walks round Cairo abound with them. Their morals are as licentious 

 as their songs. Although there are Almai in Syria and other parts of 

 the Ottoman empire, yet Egypt seems to have been at all times their 

 favourite and, as it were, their native country. 



The Almai have been not unfrequently confounded with the Ghawazee, 

 or dancing girls of Egypt ; but though some of the lower class of Almai 

 may sometimes dance, the professions are distinct. The Ghawazee are 

 accustomed to perform in the public streets ; they are never admitted 

 into a respectable harem, but are not unfrequently hired to entertain 

 parties of dissolute men. They dance unveiled, with little grace ; 

 but the suppleness of their bodies is very great, as well as the flexi- 

 bility and expression of their features, and the indecency of their 

 attitudes is excessive. They, as a class, are among the most abandoned 

 of the courtesans of Egypt ; but in 1834 the government interfered, 

 and public female dancing was prohibited ; the punishment for 

 infringing the regulation was, for the first offence, fifty stripes, and 

 for subsequent offences, imprisonment with hard labour. Men com- 

 mitting a similar offence were to be punished by the bastinado. It is 

 feared however, that this law, though well intended, may be, and is, too 

 frequently and too easily evaded. The Bayaderes of India combine, to 

 some extent, the characteristics of the Almai and Ghawazee. 



(Savary, Lettei'8 on Eyypt ; Lane's Modern Egyptians ; Mrs. Poole's 

 Eii'ili^ttromftn in Eyypt.) 



ALMONER, anciently written Amuer, was an officer in a king's, 

 prince's, prelate's, or other great man's household, whose business it 

 was to distribute alms to the poor. Previous to the Dissolution, 

 every great monastery in England had its almoner. The almoner of 

 the king of France was styled his Grand Aumonier, and there was a 

 similar office at a very early period attached to the household of the 

 popes. 



' Fleta,' a juridical treatise of the time of Edward I., describes the 

 duties of the high almoner as they then stood in England. He was 

 to collect the fragments of the royal table, and distribute them daily 

 to the poor ; to visit the sick, poor widows, prisoners, and other per- 

 sons in distress ; he reminded the king about the bestowal of his alms, 

 especially on saints'-days ; and was careful that the cast-off robes, which 

 were often of high price, should not be bestowed on players, minstrels, 

 or flatterers, but their value given to increase the king's charity. 



In modern times, the office of lord high almoner has been long held 

 by the archbishops of York. There is also a sxib-almoner. The 

 hereditary grand-almoner is the Marquis of Exeter. An account of the 

 lord almoner's annual distribution in the sovereign's name, on the 

 Thursday before Easter, will be found under MAUNDY THURSDAY. 

 There is an office at Westminster appropriated to the business of the 

 almonry. 



Ducange in his ' Glossary,' gives other meanings of the word almoner. 

 It was sometimes used for those who distributed the legacies of others, 

 and who have been since called executors ; sometimes for a person who 

 had left alms to the poor ; and sometimes for the poor upon whom 

 the alms were bestowed. The ' eleemosynarii regis,' or persons who 

 were supported by the king's bounty, occasionally noticed in the 

 Domesday Survey, were of this last description. Almoner is a name 

 also given in ecclesiastical writers to the deacons of churches. 



ALMS-HOUSE, an edifice, or collection of tenements, endowed, gene- 

 rally, by private benevolence, with a revenue for the maintenance of 

 a certain number of poor, aged, or disabled people. England is the 

 only country which possesses alms-houses in abundance, though many 

 such exist in Italy. In England they appear to have succeeded the 

 incorporated hospitals for the relief of poor and impotent people, which 

 were dissolved by King Henry VIII. 



ALOES. Medical Properties of. Though known to the ancients and 

 largely used in modern times, the sources of this drug are not accu- 

 rately determined. It seems better to follow the plan of the ' Edin- 

 burgh Pharmacopoeia,' and assign it to an -undetermined species of the 

 genus Aloe. Barbadoes aloes would appear to be procured from the 

 A.vttlyaris, a plant native of Greece, and which furnished the aloes of 

 the ancients, and which is now cultivated in the West Indies, as well 

 as Spain, Italy, and Sicily, from which latter countries France and 

 other Continental nations, but not Britain, are often supplied. This 

 plan seems the more judicious, as the commercial varieties, however 

 designated, or whencesoever derived, are to be found of nearly every 

 degree of excellence or worthlessness, if care be not taken in the mode 

 of obtaining the article. Sir W. O'Shaughnessy, whose position in the 

 East gives him good opportunities of observing, states, in his ' Bengal 

 Dispensatory," that " the quality of the product is apparently more de- 

 pendent on soil, climate, and preparation, than on specific differences 

 in the plant." Not only has Barbadoes aloes become less valuable from 



Q. 



