A L S 



A L S 



ALRUM, in tlie Botanical IFrUin^t of the /tnc'icnts, a 

 ii.ime given to tlic tree wliich prodiici-s the hiiMum. This 

 ;'iim was originally knowi. to be the cxfudatioii of a tree 

 irrowing in Arabia and the Eail Indies, and well known to 

 Avicemia, and others, and by all of tlieui called by rliat 



empire of the Franks wliich fell to him, and whieh wa» 



c-illed the kmgdoni of Lotliarinfjia or Lorraine. Lotha- 



rms I r., his yoiin};dl fon, inherited it ; and after him in 869, 



It became a provniee of Gcnnany, and w.n governed by 



dukes. About a c.-ntury before the extinction of dukci, 



Al TJITVrc: • u 1 • ^ "'« P™^'"C'al counts, who governed under them in Alface. 



r, 'iV ;•' T'\ ff'y^'^yt'^'^ =■;"-■><■•••'. Gei".ans to alfumed the title of Landgrave,, and the countriw o"; 



f,.all figures ot wood, of which they made their i.ares. which they prefided were called Landgravate,. one f^p^or 



.nndthe other interior. In 1357 the bell part of the in- 

 terior Landgravate was conveyed to the bill,.,p of Stralbunj^ 

 who filled himfelf Landgrave of Alface. The govenimcnt 

 ot Allace was afterwards coiifcried by the en.pirors on f<. 

 veral houles, till Feidinand L Rave it to the G.rman line 

 ot his own houfe ( and accordingly it continued in ihf 

 houfc of Aullria. At the peace of Munlter, in 164S, the 

 emperor ceded for e\er to the crown of France all right 

 r 1 . T , • r • • „ , . '" ^'"■" '"^^■" "'^ 13ril'a'-. landpravate of I'pper and Lower 



,. feparated by the chain of mountains called W afgau or Allace, Sundgau, and the d.ilricl of the ten united imperial 

 Lcs\oiges, and on the north by the Palatinate ot the cities in Allace, with the wliole lovereiguty belonging t(» 



them. By the peace of Ryfwick, in 16^7, the emperor and 

 the empire ceded to France the perpetual fovcreignt) of the 

 cuyof Stralburg, and of all its dependencies, on the left fide 

 ot the Rhine. 



ALSADAF, in the Mutrr-a Mcdica, a name given by 

 Avicenna and Scrapie, to the ungu'ts oJoratus, and alto la 

 the >«»r<-.v, or purple liih, of the (hell of wliich it was fup- 

 pofed to be a part. 



ALSAHARATiCA, a name ufed in B-Jany, by fome, 

 to iignify X.\\e parthnuum, or FFVERrEW._ 



ALSCHARCUR, in the M.itfria Medici, a name given 

 by Rhafes, and tome others of the old writers, to the .s k 1 s k, 

 a Imall animal vi the lizard kind, formerly ufed in medicine 

 as a cordial, and as a provocative to vcnery. 



ALSCHAUSEN, or Alshausi-.n, in Cco^mphy, a 

 free imperial village of Germany in the circle of Swabia, 

 in a commandeiy of the fame name belongintr to the Teu- 

 tonic order, within the bailiwick of Alf°ce and Bur- 

 gundy. It has a caftle which ia the lefiJence of the coun. 

 try commandery of this bailiwick, and it lies betwixt the 

 dillria of Altorf and the countries of Konigfeck, and 

 Scheer. The title of this place to jurifdidion in eeclefi- 

 aftical and civil matters has been frequently coutefted by 

 the Teutonic order. 



ALSCHWANGEN, a town with a caftle of Poland, 

 in the duchy of Courland, and paridi of Alfchwang. 



ALSCNLFU, in Botany, a name ufed by fome authors, 

 for WORMWOOD. 



AL «EGN(), in Mufic. Thefe Italian words arc ufed 

 wlien a return is made to a former part of a movement, 

 where this mark or cliarailer appears : -c;. as who llioulj 

 fay, return to this fign -9. . This is an 'expedient to fave 

 the trouble of writing, or expcnee of printing ceitain por- 

 tions of a movement that are to be repeated. 'i'iius (i<i 

 capo, implies that a whole drain is to be repeated from tl.o 

 beginning. 



ALSEN, in Geography, an illnnd of Donmaik, fituatt. 

 in the lellcr Belt, or entrance into the Baltic Sea, near the 

 eoait of Slefwick, to which it belongs ; and feparated lioin 

 the main land by a narrow channel called Alien-fund, hi 

 extent is about lix leagues in length, and two in breadth ; 

 the foil is fertile, and produces plenty of fruit, and, wheat 

 excepted, all kinds of gi-ain, together widi large c.-ops of 

 anifceds, ufed by the Danes as a carmiiative lor feafoning 

 iheir food, and mixing with their bread. The ifland is 

 flickered by fine woods, which abound with game ; and 

 fevcral of its hikes aie well llockcd with iifii. ft is divided 

 3 m!o 



licy __. 



ALSA, now Ansa, in yhineitl Groxraphy, a fmall river 

 of Italy, which paffing by Aquileia difcharged itfelf into 

 the Adriatic. Near this river Conllantine, the fon of 

 Coniluntine the Great, fighting againll his brother Conllans, 

 loil his hfe. 



ALSACE, was before the revolution a. province of 

 France ; bounded on the call by the Rhine which feparated 

 ;l from Swabia, on the foutli by SwilTerland, and part of 

 Fi-anehe Comtc, on the welt by Lorraine, from which it 



lunt; 



Khine; and comprehended between .(.7° 32', and 49° 8' 

 N. lat. and 6'' 44' and 7° 24' E. long. This has been 

 rtckoiied one of the moll fertile and plentiful provinces in 

 Europe, abounding in corn, wine, oil, flax, tobacco, fruits, 

 and pulfe, of various forts, wood and excellent pafture. The 

 part of this province that lies betwixt the rivers 111, Haardt 

 and the Rhine, is of narrow extent, and lefs fertile than the 

 other parts ; but the dillriift that borders upon SwifFcrland 

 :iiid Mount Saverne, and the levels about Stralburg to the 

 Ivliine, are ver)- fruitful and agreeable, and produce abiin- 

 d.tnce of grain, tobacco, culinary vegetables, faffron and 

 hemp. The mountains towards Lorraine are high and co- 

 vered with fir, beech, oak, and horn-beam. 1'hc forells of 

 this province are numerous, and furnilh great quantities of 

 wood both for fuel and building ; as well as plenty of deer 

 and g'lme of all kinds, and it is in general divtrlilied with 

 hills £ud vales, which render it fertile and produclive. Al- 

 fp.ce has mines of filver, copper, iron, and leatl ; and it has 

 alfo \'Brious mineral waters and baths. Its rivers are nu- 

 merous, of which the principal is the Rhine, and it has alfo 

 feveral lakes. The number of inhabitants, who are motlly 

 Lutherans and Roman Catholics, was formerly computed at 

 about half a million; their common language is the German, 

 though the French is generally underllood and principally 

 fpoken by people of fuperior rank, and in the towns. This 

 province was divided into Upper and Lower Allace ; the 

 former contained 32 large and fmall towns, and the latter 

 39 ; and in both there are upwards of Tooo market towns 

 and villages. By the late divifion of France, this province 

 forms two departments, w's. thofe of the Upper and Lower 

 Rhine, the capital of the former being Colmar, and that of 

 the latter Strafburg. 



Tl'.is province was anciently inhabited by the Rauraci, 

 Sequani and Mediomatrici. Its name firll occurs in the 

 Liliory of France under the Merovingian kings ; and it is 

 moll probably derived from the river Eli or 111, the inhabit- 

 ants on the borders of whieh were called ElfafTen, from 

 whom the country itfelf was afterwards denominated Elfas, 

 in Latin Elifatia, Alliatla, and Alfatia. From the CeltiE 

 it fell under the dominion of the Romans ; from them it 

 paffed to the Germans, and after the battle of Tolbiac, or 

 Zulpich, gained by Clovis in 496, it was pofTefTed by the 

 Franks. It was afterwards incorporated with the king- 

 dom of Auftrafia, and in 752 it was fubjcft, like the reil 

 of the monarchy, to the laws of Pepin and his fucceffbrs. 

 At the deeeafe of Lewis Debonnaire in 840, his eldefl fon 

 Lotharius obtained it, and he joined it to that part of tlie 



