ALB 



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A L K 



ALBU'GINEOUS. (albuoineus, Lat.) 



1. The aqueous humour of the eye. 



2. Resembling the white of an egg. 

 A'LBUM GR.E'CUM. The excrement of 



dogs, wolves, hyenas, &c., feeding or liv- 

 ing on bones. It principally consists of 

 the earth of bones or lime, in combina- 

 tion with phosphoric acid. 



ALBU'RNUM. (alburnum, Lat.) Called 

 also sap-wood ; the interior white bark of 

 trees ; it is this which yearly becomes 

 new wood ; the last formed wood of the 

 trunk of trees and woody plants. It 

 appears probable, that the new layers of 

 alburnum and liber, which are produced 

 each year, on the outside of all that pre- 

 ceded, are formed by the descending 

 fibres, or roots, of the leaf-buds. 



A'LCALI. See Alkali, the more usual way 

 of writing the word. 



ALCYO'NIA. The plural of alcyonium. 



ALCYO'NIUM. A genus of zoophytes, the 

 characters of which are, that the animal 

 grows in the form of a plant ; the stem, 

 or root, is fixed, fleshy, gelatinous, spongy, 

 or coriaceous, with a cellular epidermis, 

 penetrated with stellated pores, and shoot- 

 ing out tentaculated oviparous hydrse. 

 Encyclop. 



From the experiments of Hatchett, it 

 appears that these animals are composed 

 principally of carbonate of lime and a 

 little gelatinous matter. The alcyonium 

 belongs to the class Vermes, order 

 Zoophyta. Cuvier places the alcyonium 

 in the order Coralliferi, class Polypi. 



ALCY'ONITE. Alcyonites are fossil alcyonia, 

 or zoophytes nearly allied to sponges, the 

 production or habitation of polypi. 

 Bakewett. 



ALE'MBIC. (alambic, Fr. lambicco, It. 

 alemlicum, Lat.) A vessel used in the 

 process of distillation, usually made of 

 glass or copper. Of alembics there are 

 two different forms, the beaked and the 

 blind, the former having communication 

 with a receiving vessel, the latter being 

 without such. The use of the alembic 

 has yielded to that of the retort. 



ALE'PIDOTE. (from a, priv. and \ITTIQ, 

 squama, a scale.) Any fish destitute of 

 scales, as the eel, cod-fish, &c. 



A'LGA. (Lat.) Sea-weed. 



A'LG^E. An order, or division, of the 

 Cryptogamia class of plants. It is one of 

 the seven families, or natural tribes, into 

 which Linnaeus distributed the vegetable 

 kingdom. The whole of the sea- weeds 

 are comprehended under this division. 

 The plants belonging to this order are 

 described as having their leaf, stem, and 

 root all one. The depths at which, ac- 

 cording to Lyell, some of the algse live, is 

 extremely great, being no less than one 

 thousand feet, " and although in such 



situations there must reign darkness 

 more profound than night, at least to 

 our organs, many of these vegetables are 

 highly coloured." Principles of Geology . 



ALGALMA'TOJLITE. Figure-stone. A mi- 

 neral, the finest varieties of which we 

 receive from China. A sub-species of 

 talc-mica. See Ayalmatolite. 



A'LGID. (algidus, Lat.) Cold. 



ALGI'FICK. That which causes cold. 

 A'LGOR. (Lat.) Extreme cold. 

 A'LOUS. (algosus, Lat.) Having the na- 



ture, or characters, of sea-weed. 

 ALI'FEROUS. (from ala and fero, Lat.) 



Having wings ; winged. 

 ALI'GEROUS. (aliger, Lat.) The same as 



alifei-ous. 

 A'LIMENT. (alimentum, Lat.) Nourish- 



ment ; food ; nutriment. 

 ALIME'NTAL. That has the quality of ali- 



ment ; that nourishes. 

 ALIME'NTALLY. So as to serve for nou- 



rishment. 

 ALIME'NTARINESS. The quality of afford- 



ing nourishment. 

 ALIME'NTARY. 



1. That has the property of supplying 

 nourishment. 



2. That relates to nourishment. 

 ALIMENTA'TION. 



1 . The power of affording nutriment. 

 2. The state of being nourished by assi- 

 milation of matter received. Johnson. 



A'LITURE. (alitura, Lat.) Nutriment ; 

 nourishment ; food ; aliment. 



ALKALE'SCENCY. A tendency to become 

 alkaline. 



ALK ALE 'SCENT. That has a tendency to 

 the properties of an alkali. 



A'LKALI. (from the Arabic word kali, with 

 the usual prefix al ; the name given by 

 the Egyptians to the plant called by us 

 glasswort.) Any substance which by 

 uniting with an acid neutralizes, or im- 

 pairs, its activity, and forms a salt. Al- 

 kalies possess the property of converting 

 vegetable blues to green, and yellows to 

 red. There are three kinds of alkalies : 

 1. The vegetable alkali, or potash ; 2. The 

 mineral alkali, or soda ; 3. The animal, 

 or volatile alkali. 



A'LKALINE. Possessing the properties of 

 alkali ; as baryta, lime, magnesia, stron- 

 tia, &c. 



ALKALI'NITY. The property of changing 

 vegetable blues into green. 



ALKALI'METER. An instrument for ascer- 

 taining the proportion of alkali contained 

 in any substance. 



A'LKALOID. (from alkali, and eZtfoc, Gr. 

 likeness.) Bodies possessing some of the 

 properties of alkalies. 



A'LKANET. The name of a plant, the root of 



