ALK { 



merous other substances, and these are 

 become the representatives of three 

 Classes of alkalies, the vegetable, mineral, 

 and. animal. The first two are called fixed 

 alkalies, and the third is called volatile 

 alkrtli. They have these properties in 

 common: they change the vegetable 

 purples and blues to green, the reds to 

 purple, and the yellows to brown, both 

 before and after being saturated with car- 

 bonic acid ; they are powerful solvents of 

 animal matter, with which, as with fat of 

 oil, they combine, and form soap. 



AL'KALIMETER, an instrument for ascer- 

 taining the amount of absolute alkali in 

 commercial potash and soda by the quan- 

 tity of acid of a known strength which 

 a given weight of it will neutralise. 



AI/KALOID, from alkali, and (Jj , like. 

 A substance possessing some of the 

 properties of an alkali. The name is 

 applied to a large class of vegetable sub 

 stances possessed of alkaline properties, 

 and which are more commonly designated 

 vegetable alkalies. These generally consist 

 of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitro- 

 gen, and possess great medicinal activity. 



AL'KANET, the plant bugloss (Anchusa 

 tinctoria), the root of which yields a fine 

 red colour to alcohol, oil, wax, and all 

 unctuous substances. The colouring 

 matter is confined to the bark : it is 

 named by chemists alcannine or anchusic 

 acid. The name is altered from alkcnna 

 (q-T.). 



ALKEKEN'GI, the Arabic name of the 

 winter cherry (Physalis alkekenyi}. The 

 berry is medicinal. 



ALKEN'NA, the Egyptian privet, (a species 

 of Lawsonia), the pulverised leaves of 

 which are much used in eastern countries 

 for staining the nails of the fingers yellow. 

 The powder being wetted forms a paste 

 which, bound on the nails for a night, 

 gives colour enough to last for several 

 weeks. The name is Arabic, al, the, and 

 kfnny, a dye. 



ALKER'MES, an Arabic name of a cele- 

 brated remedy in the form of a confection, 

 of which kennes (q. v.) forms the basis. 



ALKOO'HL, ALKOO'L. a preparation of 

 antimony (black Iphuret), used by 

 oriental ladies to tinge their eyelids, eye- 

 lashes, and eyebrows of a black colour. 



AL'KORAN, (from Ar. al, the, and koran, 

 book , that is , the book , by way of eminence , 

 as we say the bible. The book which con- 

 tains the Mohammedan doctrines of faith 

 and practice. It was written by Moham- 

 med in the dialect of the Koreish, which 

 is the purest Arabic ; but the languages 

 of Arabia have suffered such changes 

 since it was written, that the book is no 

 longer intelligible to the Arabiars them- 

 selves, without being studied i.ke any 

 other book written in a dead .anguage. 



) ALL 



The great doctrine of the koran is the 

 unity of God ; that there never was, and 

 never can be more than one orthodox 

 religion ; that the ceremonies of worship 

 are only temporary, and may be altered 

 by divine direction, yet the substance 

 being eternal truth continues immutable ; 

 and that whenever religion became cor- 

 rupted in essentials God in his goodness 

 re-informed mankind by his severa . pro- 

 phets, of whom Moses and Jesus Christ 

 were the most distinguished, till Moham- 

 med, who is their seal, and no other is to 

 be expected after him. 



ALKOR'ANIST, one who adheres strictly 

 to the letter of the koran, rejecting all 

 comments. The Persians are alkoranists. 

 The Arabs, Turks, and Tartars admit many 

 traditions. 



ALL, the whole. All in the wind is a 

 phrase which expresses the state of a 

 ship's sails when they are parallel to the 



direction of the wind. All hands ahoay ! 



the phrase by which a ship's company 

 are summoned on deck. 



ALLAOITE, a mineral of a brown or 

 green colour ; massive, semi-opaque, frac- 

 ture conchoidal ; it is a carbo-silicate ot 

 manganese. 



ALLAH, the Arabic name of God, com- 

 pounded of the particle al and elah, ador- 

 able, i. e. the Adorable. 



ALLA BREVE, Italian, according to the 

 breve. In music, the name of a movement 

 whose bars consist of the note called a 

 breve. It is denoted at the beginning of a 

 staff by a C with a vertical line through it. 



ALLAMAN'DA, the generic name of a 

 shrub of Guiana, the leaves of which are 

 used at Surinam as a specific for colic. 

 Pentandria Monogynia. 



ALLA CAPELLA, Italian, literally, accord- 

 ing to the chapel. In music, the same as 

 Alia breve (q. v.), this time being princi- 

 pally employed in movements used in the 

 church or chapel. 



AL'LANITE, a mineral named in honour 

 of Mr. Thomas Allan of Edinburgh. It is 

 a siliceous oxide of cerium, and is found 

 in Greenland. 



ALLANTO'IC, pertaining to the t*nani*is. 

 The allantoic acid is obtained from the 

 fluid of the allentois. The same acid was 

 formerly called the amntotic acid, being 

 supposed to exist in the liquor amnii of 

 the cow. 



ALLANTO'ID. The allantois is also called 

 the allantoid membrane. 



ALLANTO'IS, from XA, a sausage, and 

 t'Sos , likeness. A thin membrane which 

 exists in most of the mammalia, situated 

 between the chorion and amnion , and com- 

 municating with the bladder of the canal 

 called the wracAus : it contains the urine 

 of the foetus. 



from AAf . a sausage, 



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