ALB 



A L15 



Hence we meet viilh album pitloiis, album dectinontim, 

 allium juJitum, &c. 



Album Dicunomim was tlie regiftcr of tlic Decuriones, 

 called alio tnalncuhil'io Dccm'tonum. 



Album Iiuinum, coniitinid the names of lliofc perfons of 

 the dccuiia: who at certain times perfurmtd the olTice of 

 judges. 



Album Pi-^:orh, was a rcfjiller of the formula of all ac- 

 ' lions, and the names of fuch judges as were appointed by 

 the proetor for certain canfes. 



Album Senalorum contained a lift of the name-; of fonators, 

 firll intruduced by Augndus, and renewed yearly. 



The high-priell entered the chief tranladions of each 

 year into an album, or table, which was hung up in his 

 houfe for the public ufe. 



Aliium, among Chau'ijls, is ufed fur white lead, popu- 

 larly called ccrufs. 



Album is alio ufed, among Akhem'tjis, for a tinifture pre- 

 tended to tranfmute metals. 



Album, in Ancient Geography, a promontory' of Palef- 

 tine, to the north-well of Upper Galilee, fouth of Tyre, 

 and near Alexandria. 



Album was alio the epithet of a promontoiy of Africa, 

 fituate in the ilraits of Hercules or Gibraltar, eaft of Am- 

 pelufia, well of mount Abyla, and oppolite to Mellaria, on 

 the coad of Spain. 



Album, in Literary H'iftori, is ufed to denote a kind of 

 table, or pocket-book, wherein the men of letters with 

 whom a perfon has converfed, infcribe their names, with 

 fome fenteiice or motto. 



This is called by divers names and titles, as album amlco- 

 Tum, repvfitorwm amiccrum., S:c. 



The famous Algernon Sydney, being in Denmark, was by 

 the univerilty of Copenhagen prefeuted with their album, 

 whereupon he wrote thefe words; 



Manus hsec inimica tyrannis 



Enfe petit placidam fub libertate quietem." 



Album is alfo applied, in Pharmacy, as a title, or epi- 

 thet, of divers compound medicines. Thus we meet with 

 ungucntum album cum camphara, &c. 



Album Gmcum, dogs white dung, a medicinal drug, 

 formerly ufed with honey, to cleanfe and deterge, chiefly in 

 inflammations of the throat ; and for the moll part out- 

 wardly, as a plaller ; but, as Dr. Qiiincy obferves, feldom 

 to any great purpofe. See Neumann's Works, p. 5H5. 



Some fpcak of its ufe Internally, in the angina, and other 

 jnfiaramations ; as alio in the dyfentery, cohc, &c. and to 

 prevent burns from rifmg into blillers. 



Medicines of this kind have long fmce funk into difufe. 



Album gripcum is in much requeil among the leather- 

 drelTers, for loftening down the leather after the apphcation 

 «f lime. 



Album nigrum is ufed, among Medical Writers, for mice- 

 «lung, by fome alfo called mufctrJa. 



Album ocul'i, among Anatom'ijls, denotes the tunica adnata ; 

 foraetimes alfo called albugo; popularly the white of the 



luYF. 



ALBUMAZAR, or Albuassar, A1 Abu Mafhar, 

 the father of Maalhar, in Biography, a celebrated Arabian 

 philofopher and ailrologer, who lived, according to fome 

 writers, in the 9th or loth century ; but, according to 

 others, at a much earlier period. The time of his death 

 is not mentioned in the Efcurial catalogue, but he is faid 

 to have lived to the age of 100 years; and if he died, as 

 it is fuppofed, in the year 8S5, his birth mutl have been 

 1 5; years prior to the date afligned by Herbelot. Some have 

 rtprefented him as one of the mofl learned allronOmers of 



his age. He wrote an ailrological work, intitled, " De 

 niagnis conjnndlionibus annoruiii revolutionibus, ac eorum 

 pcrfectionibus," printed at Venice in 1515 ; and " Intro- 

 dutlio in Ailronomiani," printed in 1489. It is faid, that 

 he obferved a comet above the orb of Venus. Hutton's 

 Math. Dift. RulTell's AUppo, vol. ii. p. loo. 



ALBUMEN, in the l^mna-an fyftcm of Zoology, a fpc 

 cics of Nf.kita, with a convex Ihell, fubcordated \mibi- 

 ticus, and a dilliniJl lobe. It is found veiy rarely at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and on the fliores of the illands of 

 Nicobar and the Moluccas. 



Ax.tiVVtv.H, Albuminous maltrr. Albumlne. Fr. — This word, 

 which ill the Latin language whence it is borrowed, ligiiifiei 

 the white of an egg, is at prefent introduced into the mo- 

 dern chemical nomenclature, as the name of a peculiar fub- 

 ilaiicc, which, though exifling in the grcatcil purity and 

 abundance in the white of eggs, is to be found in various 

 natural compounds, both of animal and vegetable origin. 



Pure albumen is a fluid of a fomewhat vifcous confidence, 

 perfectly foluble in pure water at the common temperature ; 

 but when expofe-d to a heat above 134'^ Fahr. it coagulates, 

 and is then no longer lolublc in water. 



iVnimal albumen, in its pureil natural Hate, conflitiites the 

 white of all birds' eggs, and the ferum of blood : the vi- 

 treous and ciydallinc humours of the eye, the liquor that 

 fills the abdominal cavity in cafes of dropfy, and the fluid 

 contents of the lymphatic veflels alfo contain a confulerablc 

 portion of tliis fubdance. In the vegetable kingdom, it is 

 found principally in the tetradynamious or cruciform plants, 

 in the farinaceous feeds, and in the young fucculent (hoots 

 of trees and llirubs. 



Albumen, animal, has a flight fubfaline tafte, and 

 never fails to turn the blue colour of Ivrup of violets green, 

 tiius indicating the preience of difengaged or carbonated 

 alkali. When heated to about 133'' Fahr. a number of 

 V liite fibres begin to make their appearance, and thefe ra- 

 pidly iucreafing, the whole mafs is in a fliort time converted 

 into a white opaque concrete folid, confidtrably elaflic, and 

 of a fmooth compaft frafture. By expofure to a dry heat, 

 not exceeding that of boiling water, the coagulated albu- 

 men lolcs the grcated p^irt of its moillure, flirinks in confe- 

 quence in its volume, becomes hard, tianfparent, and very 

 fimilar to horn ; and when broken, exhibits a bright poliflicd 

 furiace, and vitreous fraihire. The application of a itrongcr 

 heat dcftroys the equilibrium of its elementary parts, and 

 produces tlie difeiigagement of ammoniacal gas, of carbon- 

 ated ammonia, of a fetid empyreumatic oil, and fulphurated 

 hydrogen ; there remains behind in the retort a fpungy 

 coal, from which may be obtained by lixiviation, muriat, 

 phofphat, and carbonat of foda. 



Liquid albumen is compleatly foluble in frefli didilled 

 water, but if this lad is charged with atniofpheric air, the 

 itiais upon mixture becomes in fome meafure turbid, and a 

 flocculcnt precipitate is by degrees dcpolited. Tlic aftion 

 of acids, more efpecially of the three mineral «nes, caufcs an 

 ininudiate coagulation, and the fame cfl'ecl is produced by 

 all the metallic falls. Caudic alkalies, on the contrary, 

 hold albumen, whether liquid or coagulated, in permanent 

 folution. The addition of lime water occadons a precipita- 

 tion, but the fubdance thus depodted, being phofphat of 

 lime, flievvs that this is not fo much a chemical adliou on the 

 albumen ilfelf, as a decompolition of the phofphatcd foda 

 which it contains. 



There has been a confiderable divcrdty of opinion among 

 chemifts reipe£ling the caufe of the coagulation which is 

 obferved to take place in liquid albumen. Schcele, in his 

 admirable effay on milk, attributes it to a combination with 

 caloric ; this is etlcClcd in the (implell way by the diiv.'l 

 3 Z z additi#a 



