ALC 



4.5 



ALC 



vw generally used to designate a book 

 originally blank, kept at places of resort, 

 wherein visitors insert their names. Also 

 % book much in fashion, especially among 

 ladies, wherein friends and visitants are 

 compelled to insert verses, mottos, &c. 

 Some illustrated annual publications, de- 

 signed for light reading, are likewise so 

 called, in reference to their similarity to 

 the albums of young ladies. 



ALBU'MEN , the white of egg, (from albus, 

 white). 1. Animal albumen. This sub- 

 stance is one of the chief constituents of 

 all animal solids. The white of egg is 

 almost pure albumen, being combined 

 only with a little water, soda, and saline 

 matter. It abounds in the serum of the 

 blood, the humours of the eye and the 

 fluid of dropsy. From its coagulability, 

 albumen is much used for clarifying 

 liquids ; and as it forms precipitates with 

 the solutions of almost all the metallic 

 salts, it is a ready antidote against some 



of the metallic poisons. 2. Vegetable al- 



bttmen. This vegetable principle bears a 

 close resemblance to animal albumen, and, 

 like it, is coagulable by heat. It is pro- 

 cured from gluten, of which it is a consti- 

 tuent. It is never deleterious, however 

 poisonous the plant may be which af- 

 fords it. 



ALBUM GRJECFM, the white excrement 

 of dogs, sometimes used to soften leather 

 in the process of dressing it, after the de- 

 pilatory action of lime. It principally 

 consists of phosphate of lime. 



ALBURN, the small fish otherwise called 

 bleak. It belongs to the order of abdo- 

 minals, and genus cyprinus : is deemed 

 delicious food, and artificial pearls are 

 sometimes made of its scales. Named 

 from albitrnus, whitish. 



ALBU'RNCM, Lat. albus, white. The soft 

 white substance which, in trees, is found 

 between the inner bark and the wood. 

 In process of time it acquires solidity, and 

 becomes itself wood. It is popularly called 

 tap-wood. 



ALC A, a genus of birds including the 

 auk and puffin. These birds inhabit the 

 northern seas : their wings are too small 

 to support them in flying, which they, 

 therefore, do not attempt; but live on 

 the ocean and breed on the rocks. They 

 belong to the brachypterous family o'f 

 palmipedes. Twelve species are enu- 

 merated. The name alca is latinised from 

 aik or auk, the name of these birds in 

 the Feroe Islands and the north of Scot- 

 land. 



ALCABA'LA, 1 a tax formerly imposed in 



AXCAVA'LA, ) Spain and her colonies, 

 consisting originally of 10, and subse- 

 quently of 14 per cent., ad valorem, on all 

 property sold as often as it changed hands. 



ALCAIC, in ancient poetry, a term applied 

 to (everal kinds of verse, from Alctnu, 



their inventor. The following are speci- 

 mens : 



1. Eheu ! | fuga | ces, | Postume, | Postume, 

 Labun | turan | ni! | nee pie | tasmoraui. 



2. Afferet | indom | taque | morti. 



3. Cur timet fla | Turn Tiberim | tan&ere, 



cur | olivum? 



ALCAIC, 1 in the polity of Spain and 



ALCALDE, /Portugal, a magistrate an- 

 swering nearly to ourjustice of the peace : 

 the Moors have an officer of the same 

 name, but he is invested with supreme 

 jurisdiction both in civil and criminal 

 cases. The title is written in Spain al- 

 cayde ; in Portugal alcaide ; the common 

 root of which is AT. kaidon, governor, 

 with the prefix al, the; hence also the 

 cadi of the Turks. 



ALCALIMETER, a graduated glass to be 

 employed in determining the quantity of 

 alkali in the potash and soda of com* 

 merce. 



ALCAMPHORA, a Brazilian herb, the 

 crolon perdicipes of botanists. The leaves 

 are used in decoction against syphilis, and 

 as a diuretic. 



ALCANNA, the Arabic name ot three 

 plants. (1.) The Lawtonia inermis. (2.) A 

 species of filaria. (3.) The anchusa tinc- 

 toria. It is also the name of a powder 

 prepared from the Egyptian privet, used 

 by the Turkish females to give a golden 

 colour to the nails and hair. Infused in 

 water it gives a yellow, in vinegar a red, 

 colour. 



ALCANTARA, the name of a town in 

 Spain, from which the military order of 

 the knights of Alcantara took its name, 

 otherwise called the knights of the pear- 

 tree. 



ALCARAZZAS. a species of porous earthen 

 ware, made in Spain, for cooling liquids 

 by promoting evaporation of the trans- 

 uded water upon the external surface. 



ALCAVALA, in Spain, a tax on the trans- 

 fer of every kind of property, real or 

 personal. To this tax, which has been aa 

 high as 14 per cent., and which is levied 

 on" the same property at every transfer, is 

 perhaps to be traced the real cause of the 

 ruin of Spanish manufacturers. 



ALCE, the elk. Name from oLXxr,, 

 strength. 



ALCEA, the hollyhock : a genus of plants. 

 Class monodelphia, order polyandria. Name 

 d>.x<a, given by Pliny to a species ot 

 mallow. 



ALCEDO, the kins-fisher: a genus of 

 tenuirostres of the order passerina. 

 There are numerous species of this gen us, 

 with one or other of which almost every 

 part of the world is furnished. They 

 frequent rivers, feed on fish, which they 

 capture by precipitating themselves into 

 the water, and nestle in holes on the 



