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wliite or volk of an egg, and a mixture of fynip, with a fmall 

 tjuaiititv of volatile Ipirit, will render the oil in ioine degree 

 toluble in water. Several lubllances, not mifeible of them- 

 felves witli water, may, by trituration with almonds in the pro- 

 portion of about fix times their quantity, be mixed with it, 

 and thus fitted for medicinal ufe, as camphor, and various 

 refms, and unduous fubftances. Some reckon two knuls oJ 

 fweet almonds. I. Jordan, which are the larger, longer, 

 and dearer kind, chiefly fold to be eat with raifins. 2. Va- 

 lencian and Barbaiy almonds, or thofe from which the oil is 

 produced. Houghtcm Collect. N"^ 474. toni. ii. 



Bhier almouJi yield a large quantity of oil iimilar to that of 

 fweet almonds, and they are ahke mifeible with water into an 

 tmulfion. The oil has no bitternefs, and that of either fort 

 IB ufed indifferently for medicinal purpofes; but the matter 

 remaining, after the exprelTiou of the oil, is more powerfully 

 bitter than the almond itfelf. Great part of this bitter mat- 

 ter diifolves by the affillance of heat, both in water and in 

 reftified fpirit, and a part alio arifes with both menilrua in 

 diilillation. Thefe almoads, and emuliions of them, have 

 been recommended as aperients, refolvents, diuretics, and an- 

 thelmintics ; but though they may in thefe refpedts be of 

 feme ufe, they are remedies of too dangerous a kind for com- 

 mon practice. When taken freely in fubllance, they occa- 

 fion ficknefs and vomiting ; and they have been long known 

 to be poiionous to various brute animals, as wolves, foxes, 

 dogs, cats, and fcvtral forts of birds ; and from the fudden 

 cft'ec\s whioh this poifon produces, and the convulfions and 

 fpalms that follow the exhibition of it, there can be no doubt 

 of its acfing directly on the nervous energy. Some authors 

 have alledged, that they are alfo deleterious to the human 

 fpecies. However this be, as their noxious quahty feems to 

 rcuJe in that matter from which they derive their bitternefs 

 and flavour, it is probable that when this is feparatcd from 

 the farinaceous iubilaiice by diilillation, and taken in a fuffi- 

 ciently concentrated Hate, it may prove a poifon to man, as 

 is the cafe with the common laurel, to which it appears very 

 analogous. One fmall diog of this effential oil convulfed, 

 and in two minutes killed a fparrow. Thefe almonds were 

 formerly eaten to prevent the intoxicating efltfts of wine ; 

 and Plutarch (Sympof. lib. i. apud op. torn. ii. p. 624.) re- 

 lates, that the phyfician ox Drufus, the fon of Tiberius, took 

 five or fix hitter almonds for this purpofe. John Bauhin, 

 from experiments made on purpofe, denies their having this 

 power; and from twelve of them, w« are told, that Lony 

 (De Venenis, p. 17.) experienced the fenfe of inebriation. 

 They are highly commended bv Tliebefius (Nov. Act. Nat. 

 Cur. tom.i. p. 181.) for the cure of hydrophobia from the 

 bite of a mad animal, who found them effectual in 12 cafes, 

 in which fome were eaten every morning lor one or two 

 ■weeks. Bergius fays, (Mat. Med. p. 433.) that bitter almonds, 

 in the form of em.ulfion, cured obftiuate intermittents, after 

 the bark had failed. Having diffufed two drams of loluble 

 tartar, and an ounce and a half of honey in a pound of wa- 

 ter, he made an emuliion with this water, and one ounce of 

 bitter almoDds. Of this emulfion he gave, during the iater- 

 mifTion, a pound or two every day, ar.d fays, tiiat by this 

 remedy, the recurrence of the fits was prevented. In cafes 

 where this failed, and in which he had recourfe to the bark, 

 hi mixed with the decoclion of the bark the bitter emuliicn ; 

 and he adds, that he had feen intermittent fevers frequently 

 recurring, and which had entirely refilled the bark, at length 

 totally cured by the bitter eraulllou alone. This is a remedy, 

 l^owever, which Ihould be ufed with great caution. JLewis, 

 CuUen, Murray, and Woodville. 



The kernels of bitter almonds give much the fame relifh in 



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diflillation as the kernel of the cherry ; on which account • 

 fome have ufed them in making a counterfeit cherry brandy. 

 They arc alfo frequently ufed inflead of apricot i.ernels in 

 ratafia. 



Almonds give the denomination to a great number of pre- 

 parations in confectionary, cookery, &.c. of which they are 

 the bafls ; as almond-cakes, almond-cream, crifped-almonds, 

 almond-milk, almond-pafle and powder, almond-fnow, &c. 

 Almond-milk is an emulfion or mixture made of one and a 

 lialf ounce of fweet almonds, half an ounce of double refined 

 fugar, and two pints of diftilled water. The almonds are 

 beaten with the fugar, then rubbing them well together, add 

 the water by degrees, and flrain the liquor. There is a 

 preparation alfo called almond-butter, made of cream and 

 whites of eggs boiled, to which are afterwards added blanched 

 almonds, and the whole is fet over a flow fire till it becomes 

 thick. 



Almond, in Geography, a river of Scotland which rui.s 

 into the Frith of Forth, five miles weft from Leith. 



Almoxd, in Commerce, a meafure by which oil is foldJn 

 Portugal, 26 almonds making a butt or pipe. 



Almond is alfo a fruit which fcrves inftead of fmall 

 monev, in feveral parts of the Eafl Indies ; partienlarlv 

 wlicre the co-wries, thofe fmall Ihells which coir.e from the 

 Maldives, are not current. 



Almonds, amygilaU, in AnatODiy, denote two mucous 

 glands, in fize, fliape, and inequality of furface, not unhke 

 a fmall almond. They ve fituated in the pollerior aperture 

 of the fauces, or the opening by which the cavity of the 

 mouth communicates with the bag of the phaiynx. They are 

 more commonly called toniih, to which title we refer for 

 further information. 



Almond, or r^i.'^Kti-furnnL-e, fuurneau d'Jlllrmagne, the 

 common melting furnace of the German refiners. See Fur- 

 nace. 



Almonds, amandes. Thus the French lapidaries and 

 looking-glafs makers call thofe pieces of rock cryflal, or 

 cull cryflal, which they cut with a wheel, giving them a 

 figure fomething like that fruit. They are ufed to adorn 

 brancli-candlefticks, and other furniture made of glafs or 

 cryftal. 



ALMONDBURY, in Geogrnphy, a village of the Weft 

 Riding of Yorkfliire, to miles from Halifax, and 185 from 

 London. 



ALMONDSBURY, a village in GloucefterfluVe, where 

 Alemond, father of Egbert, the firll fole monarcli of Eng- 

 land, is faid to have b«;n buried. It has a Saxon fortifica- 

 tion, with a double ditch, which commands an cxtenfive view 

 of the Severn. It is eight miles from BriftoU 



ALMONER, anciently alfo written Amner, an officer 

 in a king's, prince's, or prelate's houfliold, whofe bufinefs 

 is to diftribute alms to the poor. 



Thz lord almoner, or lord high almoner, of England, is an 

 ecclefiaftical officer, ufualiy a bifhop ; who is to vifit and re- 

 lieve the fick, poorw-idows, prifoners, and others in neceffily, 

 for which purpofe he has the forfeiture of all deodands, 

 and the goods d feloj de Ji, which he is to difpofe of to the 

 poor. 



He has likewife, by an ancient cuftom, a privilege to give 

 the firft dilh, froBi the royal table, to whatfoever poor per- 

 fon he pleafes ;. or, infttid thereof, an alms i.i money. 



He alfo dillributes to twenty-four poor men, nominated 

 by the parifhioners of the parifh adjacent to the king's palace 

 of refidence, to each four pence a day in money, and an 

 alms of bread and fmall beer ; each perfon firft lepeathig 

 the Creedj and the Lord's prayer, in prefeiice of one of the 



king's 



