102 ALMOND 



ALLOY, NATIVE. Osmium and Indium, in the proportions of 72*9 of the 

 former and 24-5 of the latter. See OSMIUM, IUIUIUM. 



ALLSPICE. Pimento, or Jamaica pepper, BO called because its flavour is thought 

 to comprehend the flavour of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs. The tree producing 

 this spice (Eitaenia pimento) is cultivated in Jamaica in what are called Pimento 

 walks. It is imported in bags, almost entirely from Jamaica. Mr. Montgomery 

 Martin informs us that pimento was exported in one year (1837) from the different 

 districts of Jamaica as follows. (See PEHBNTO, PEPPER.) 



Kingston and Old Harbour . . t 6,027 bags. 



Morant Bay and Port Morant ..... 141 



Port Antonio . ....... 1,259 



Port Marva and Annotto Bay . .... 3,194 



Falmouth, Bio Bueno, and St. Ann's Bay . . 28,188 

 Montego Bay and Lucca . . . . .3,106 



Sav-la-Mar and Black Eiver ..... 3,622 



(Alluo, to wash upon ; or alluvia, an inundation.) Earth, sand, 

 gravel, stones, and other transported matter which has been washed away, and 

 thrown down by rivers, floods, or other causes upon land not permanently sub- 

 merged beneath the waters of lakes or seas. Lyell. 



ALLYL. C 12 H 10 (C 8 H'). This radical exists in the oils of mustard and garlic, 

 but is usually obtained by the decomposition of the iodide of allyl, which is obtained 

 by acting on glycerine with iodine and phosphorus. 



-ft.Iil.YIi, SULPHIDE OF. This compound is contained in the essential oils 

 produced by distilling with water the leaves and seeds of various plants of the 

 liliaceous and cruciferous orders. It forms the principal constituent of the oil 

 obtained from the bulbs of garlic (Allium Cepa). It is also found with oil of mustard 

 in the leaves and seed of TMaspi arv&ise. The Alliaria officinalis distilled yields 90 

 per cent, of oil of mustard and 10 per cent, of oil of garlic; small quantities are also 

 obtained from the Shepherd's purse, Capsella Bursa pastoris, and other plants. The 

 power of the sulphide of Allyl to precipitate some of the metals appears likely to render 

 it of use in the arts. The following are some of the more important : 



Gold precipitate, a beautiful yellow, and films of gold. Platinum precipitate, a 

 yellowish-brown precipitate, which forms a Kermes brown with hydrosulphide of 

 ammonium. Silver precipitate, a dark brown, becoming eventually sulphide of 

 silver. 



ALLYLAMINE. See ACRYLAJIIXK. 



ALM.ft.GKEH.ITE. An anhydrous sulphate of zinc, described by Broithaupt. 

 It occurs in crystals belonging to the rhombic system, at the Barranca Jarosa Mine, 

 in the Sierra Almagrera, in Southern Spain. 



ALTflAIO'DIN'E, or iron-alumina-garnet, is a silicate of alumina and iron, com- 

 bined in the following proportions : silica 36'3, alumina 20*56, protoxide of iron 43'2. 



It occurs in Greenland, Ceylon, and the Brazils ; when cut and polished, it forms a 

 beautiful gem. 



The name is probably derived from the Alabandic carbuncles of Pliny, which were 

 cut and polished at Alabanda. Several localities for garnets in Devonshire and Cornwall 

 are given by Mr. Collins in his excellent ' Handbook to the Mineralogy ' of these 

 counties ; but it is doubtful if the specimens found in Cornwall are true almandino 

 therefore those localities are given under Garnet. See GARNET. 



ALMOND. (Amande, Fr. ; Mandel, Ger. ; Amygdalus communis.) De Candollo 

 admits five varieties of this species. A. amara, bitter almond; A. dulcis, sweet 

 almond ; A. fragilis, tender-shelled almond ; A. macrocqrpa, large-fruited almond ; 

 A. persicoides, peach almond. There are two kinds of almond usually employed, 

 which do not differ in chemical composition, only that the bitter, by a curious chemical 

 reaction of its constituents, generates in the act of distillation a quantity of volatile 

 oil which contains hydrocyanic acid. Vogel obtained from bitter almonds 8'5 per 

 cent, of husks. After pounding the kernels, and heating them to coagulate the albu- 

 men, he procured, by expression, 28 parts of an unctuous oil, which did not con.tuin 

 the smallest particle of hydrocyanic acid. The whole of the oil. could not be extracted 

 in this way. The expressed mass, treated with boiling water, afforded sugar and gum, 

 and, in consequence of the heat, some of that acid. The sugar constitutes 6'5 per 

 cent, and the gum 3. The vegetable albumen extracted, by means of caustic potash, 

 amounted to 30 parts : the vegetable fibre to only 5. The poisonous aromatic oil, 

 according to Robiquet and Boutron-Charlard, does not exist ready-formed in the bitter 

 almond, but seems to be produced under the influence of ebullition with water. These 

 chemists have shown 



