ALMANDINE 



209 



ALMOND 



fifteenth centuries. Formerly their immense 

 popularity was due to the mass of astrological 

 prediction with which they were filled, and the 

 effect of these guesses at the future was often 

 so bad that it was frequently necessary to pro- 

 hibit the publication of prophetic almanacs. 

 In 1828 the Society for the Diffusion of Useful 

 Knowledge, by publishing the British Almanac, 

 took the lead in the production of an almanac 

 containing genuine information, and by con- 

 trast showed the fraudulent nature of the infor- 

 mation which had been furnished in the earlier 

 almanacs. Even to the present day there are 

 published almanacs containing astrological pre- 

 dictions, but they are not taken seriously. 

 There are also many almanacs the sole purpose 

 of which is to advertise patent medicines. 



The most famous of the popular almanacs 

 which have been published in the United States 

 was Poor Richard's Almanac, begun by Frank- 

 lin in 1732 and continued for twenty-five years 

 (see POOB RICHARD'S ALMANAC). The publica- 

 tion of good almanacs in America is now gen- 

 erally the work of religious denominations, 

 newspapers, trades, and professions. The 

 Xautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris, 

 published annually by the United States Navy 

 Department, contains the information neces- 

 sary for determining at any time the absolute 

 and relative places of the sun, moon and 

 planets and of many of the fixed stars, also sev- 

 eral different series of phenomena for the deter- 

 mination of longitudes and latitudes, the dis- 

 tances of the moon from fixed stars and from 

 planets and the time for the occurrence of 

 eclipses. To this are added rules and tables 

 for practical use in nautical astronomy, land 

 observations and tables of tides. It is a text- 

 book for the navigator, and no sailor leaves 

 the American shore without it. The computa- 

 tions are made three years in advance and 

 could be made still farther if necessary, but no 

 cruise is made which lasts longer than that 

 time. Similar publications are issued by tin 

 governments of Great Britain, France, Ger- 

 many and other countries. WJTJK. 



ALMANDINE, al' mondin, or ALMAN- 



DITE, names given to two kinds of compara- 



ly inexpensive precious stones of great 



beauty, one a variety of garnet, red in color 



and transparent, the other belonging to the 



ruby species, and having a rich violet color. 



: variety is found chiefly in Alabanda, 



Asia Minor, hence its name. It is highly valued 



as a setting for gems, and when cut with a 



convex face is known as a carbuncle. The 



14 



violet almandine is found in Ceylon, Australia, 

 Alaska, New York and less plentifully in other 

 parts of the United States. 



ALMA-TADEMA, ahl' ma tad' e ma, LAW- 

 RENCE (1836-1912), a Dutch painter whose pic- 

 tures of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman 

 life are remarkable for the correctness with 

 which they record the costumes and the spirit 

 of the past. No other artist has so wonderfully 

 reconstructed on canvas the life of ancient 

 nations, and refurnished the homes of 2000 

 years ago and peopled them with figures that 

 live. He was born in Friesland, but lived 

 after 1870 in England, where in 1879 he became 

 a member of the Royal Academy. Some of 

 his best-known pictures are A Reading from 

 Homer, a pen-drawing of which will be found 

 with the article Homer in these volumes; The 

 Four Seasons, Antony and Cleopatra and At 

 the Shrine of Venus, the last-named of which 

 was exhibited at the exposition in Saint Louis 

 in 1904. 



ALMERIA, al may re' ah, capital of the 

 province of the same name, a seaport of South- 

 ern Spain, sixty miles southeast of Granada. 

 It is chiefly noted for its excellent harbor and 

 for the export of vast quantities of fine- < 

 flavored white grapes. The most important 

 building is the Gothic cathedral, dating from ' 

 1524, built to resemble a fortress with battle- 

 ments. The city's commerce is very extensive, 

 the principal exports, next to grapes, being < 

 wine, almonds, pomegranates, and other fruits, 

 sugar, macaroni and iron ore. Almeria was the 

 foremost seaport of Granada during its occupa- 

 tion by the Moors and was not captured by 

 the Spaniards until 1489. Population in 1914, 

 45,198. 



ALMOND, ah' 

 mund, the fruit 

 of the almond 

 tree, is a plant 

 belonging to the 

 rose family, and 

 related to the 

 peach and nec- 

 tarine. The al- 

 mond tree is a 

 native of Asia 

 and Africa, and 

 was a common 

 fruit in Bible 

 lands, but is now 

 also grown abun- 

 dantly in Southern Europe along the Medi- 

 terranean Sea, and is cultivated in England for 



Ill-Mil, ll. 



fruit 



ALMOND 



with flower*. 



>f fruit. 



(a) 



