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flow-pr.ccd p!anet receives another lighter one within its oib, 

 fo as to come in conjunftion therewith. 



Alcohol Mart'u, tlhngs of llctl nduciti to an impal- 

 pnble powder, hy turning it into nift with urine, then levi- 

 gating it, and mixing it with a large quantity of water ; 

 that is, about a gallon to two pounds and a half of filings. 

 After it has Hood a quarter of an hovu-, the upper part of 

 the water is to be poured off, and evaporated to a drynefs. 

 The powdt-r at the bottom is to be put into a paper, in the 

 form of a fucar-loaf, and wallted, by gradually pouring in 

 l.ot-watcr, till it is freed from the urinous faltf. With 

 regard to the remaining grofs powder, the fame procefs is 

 to be repeated. 



Mufgrave has a great opinion of this preparation, as a 

 remedy to bring back the gout from the nobler parts to the 

 joints. He prefcribes it thus : take of alcohol mnrtis from 

 five to ten grains, iheiiaci yimlromachi from half a fcrnple 

 to one dram, mix tliefe with as much fyrup of clove-july- 

 flowers, as is futRcicnt to make a bolus. 



ALCOHOLIZATION, in Chctnl/lrj, the reftification 

 of a vinous fpirit* 



This is othervife called a/coHza/son, 



Alcolization, accordinjTto Starkey, denotes the circu- 

 tion of a volatile fpirit on a fixed alkali, till fuch time as out 

 of the two arifes one neutral body different from both the 

 former, yllcohsli'zation is one way of volatilizing alkalis. 



Alcoholization is alfo ufed for pulverization-. 



ALGOL, or Ancol, in Geo^^raphy, lies on the coaft of 

 Barbary, on the call fide of the Cape de Tenes, under 

 which there is a fmall bay and good road, but open to the 

 north and north-eaft ; fo that when a Levant gale is ex- 

 pefted, fhips ftiould move round the cape to the well-fide. 



ALCOLA is ufed by akhemijls, for the tartar of urine. 



Alco}a\% found in three different forms, ^';z. I. Refolved, 

 or reduced into an impalpable fubftaiice. 2. Sandy, or 

 voided under the appearance of fmall grains of whitilh or 

 reddilh fand. 3. Mucilaginous, or vifcous. 



ALCOLEA, in Geography, a fmall town of Spain, in 

 New Caftile, fituated in a fine countiy, a few leagues north 

 of Madrid. N. lat. 40° 40'. W. long. 3° 6'. 



Alcolea is alfo a town of Spain, in Andalufia, on the 

 banks of the Guadalquivir, fix miles north of Carmona. 



Alcolea is alfo another town of Spain, in Aragon, on 

 the confines of Caftile, fouth of Balbaftro, and north-eaft 

 of the river Yzuela. N. lat. 41° 30'. E. long. 2° 14'. 



ALCOMEN^, in Ancient Geography, a town of lUyri?. 

 Steph. Byz. 



Alcomen.e was alfo a town of the ifland of Ithaca, 

 whence Ulyffes was called Alcomeneus. 



ALCON, in Biography, a furgeon of great eminence in 

 the firft centur)' of the Chriftian a?ra, acquired confiderable 

 wealth in his profeffion, under the Emperor Claudius. He 

 is faid to have been expert in the art of reducing fraftured, 

 or luxated bones, and in curing hernias by incifion. He is 

 probably the perfon mentioned by Martial, ii> the following 

 epigram, lib. xi. ep. 85. 



Mitior implicitas Alcon fecat enterocelas, 

 Fraftaque fabrih dedolat ofla manu. 



See more of him in Le Clerc'sHift.dela Medicine, p. 581. 



Alcon, in Entomology, a fpecies of Papilio Plebejus, 

 with entire casrulean wings, brown margin, below cinereous 

 brown, and numerous ocellary points ; found in Auftria. 



ALCOR, in AJlronomy, a fmall ftar adjoining to the large 

 bright one in the middle of the tail of Ursa major. 



The word is Arabic.— It is a proverb among the Ara- 



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bians, applied to one who pretends to fee fmall things, but 

 overlooks D-.uch greater, " Thou canft fee Alcor, and yet 

 not fi.e the full moon." 



ALCORAN, or Al Koran, the Mahometan Scripture 

 or Bible, containing the revelations, doftrines, and pro- 

 phecies, of the pretended prophet Mahomet. 



It is vulgarly called Alcoran ; but the firft fyllable of the 

 word is nothing more than an article figiiifying the ; and 

 therefore the true orthography of the word is Al Coran, or 

 Al Koran, that is, the Koran. It is derived from the Arabic 

 word laraa, to nail, and fignifies the reading; or what ought 

 to be read. Thus Mahomet gave it this title by way of 

 eminence, in imitation of the Jews and Chriftians, who call, 

 the Old and New Teftament, Scripture ; and the Bible, i. e. 

 the Book ; and al Dhllr, the admonition. 



Befides this peculiar name, the Koran is alfo honoured 

 with feveral appellations common to other books of Scrip- 

 ture ; as Al Forhan from the vtvh faraka, to divide or dif- 

 tinguifh, denoting a feftion or portion of fcripture. It is 

 alfo called Al Mo/Im/, the volume, and Al Kitab, the book, 

 by way of eminence. 



It is the commoii opinion among us, that Mahomet, af- 

 fifted bv one Scrgius, a monk, compofed this book ; but 

 the Muffulmen believe it as an article of their faith, that 

 the prophet, who, they fay, was an ilhteratc man, had no 

 concern in inditing it ; but that it was given him by God, 

 who, to that end, made ufe of the miuiftry of the angel 

 Gabriel ; that, however, it was communicated to him by 

 little and little, a vcrfe at a time, and in different places, 

 during the courfe of twenty -three years; — ' And hence,' fay 

 they, ' proceed the diforder and confufion vifible in the 

 work;' which, in truth, arc fo great, that all their doftors 

 had never been able to adjuft them. For Mahomet, or rather 

 his copyift, having put all thefc loofe verfes promiicuoully 

 in a book together, it was impofiible ever to retrieve tlie 

 order wherein they were delivered. 



Thofe twenty-three years which the angel employed in 

 conveying the Koran to Mahomet are of wonderful fervice 

 to his followers : inafmuch as they furnifh them with an 

 anfwer to fuch as tax them with the glaring contradiftions 

 of which the book is full : thofe contradiftions they pioufiy 

 father upon God himfelf ; alledging, that in the courfe of 

 fo long a time, he repealed and altered feveral doftrines and 

 precepts which the prophet had before received of him. 



The Mahometan doctors obviate any objeftion deduced 

 from thefe contradiftory paffages by the doArine of abro- 

 gation ; and they diftinguifh the abrogated paffages into three 

 kinds ; the Jirjl, where the letter and fenfe are both abro- 

 gated ; the fecond, where the letter only is abrogated, but 

 the fenfe remains ; and the third, where the fenfe is abro- 

 gated, though the letter remains. Of the firil kind v/ere 

 feveral verfes, which by the tradition of Ans Ebn Malec, 

 were in the prophet's life-time read in the chapter of repen- 

 tance, but are not now extant. Another inftanee of this 

 kind we trace from the tradition of Abdallah Ebn Mafiid, 

 who reported that the prophet gave him a verfe to read 

 which he wrote down, but the next morning looking in his 

 book,^he found it was vanifhed, and the leaf blank ; upon 

 acquainting Mahom.et with this circumftancc, he was affured 

 by the prophet that the verfe was revoked the fame night. 

 Of the fecond kind is the verfe called the verfe oi Jlonlng, 

 which, according to the tradition of Omar, afterwards K[ 

 Khalif, was extant, while Mahomet was living, though it ' ■ 

 be not now to be found. Of the laft kind are obferved fe- 

 veral verfes, in 63 different chapters, to the number of 225 ; 

 fuch as the precepts of turning in prayer to Jenifalem, 



falling 



