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ALSTADT, in Geography, a town of Pruffia, in the 

 Oberl:ind, near Pi-curclimarck. 



ALSTEDIUS, John Henry, in Biograpf>y,a German 

 protertant divine, and one of the moll voluminous writers 

 of the 1 7th centui7. He was born about the year 1 58S, and 

 was for iom-i time profelTor of theology and philofophy at 

 HerboiTi, in the county of NalTau, and afterwards at Alba 

 'ulia, in Tranfylvania, where he died in 1638. He was 

 one of the divines that attended at the fynod of Dort. 

 Hi was an induftrious compiler of fyftems of fciences. His 

 principal work is his " Encyclopxdia," printed at Lyons 

 in two volumes, folio, in 1649. Vofiius fpeaks with com- 

 mendation of that pait which comprehends arithmetic. 

 His " Thefaurus Chronologicus," has pafled through feve- 

 ral editions. His " Triumphus Biblicus," was written 

 with a view of (hewing, that all arts and fciences may be 

 deduced from the Bible. His " Theologia Polemica," was 

 anfwered by Himmelius, divinity profeffor at lena. His 

 other works are " Philofophia reftituta," " Elementa Ma- 

 thematica ;" " Methodus formandorum Studiorum," 

 printed at Strafburg in 4to. in 1610; " Templum Muficum, 

 or Mulical Synopfis," which is fo formal as to refeinble a 

 logical rather than a mufical treatife ; and a treatife, " De 

 Mille Annis," publilhed in 1627, in which he maintains 

 the Millenarian doctrine, or that of Chrift's reign on earth 

 for 1000 years, and fixes the commencement of this reign 

 in 1694. ' The charafter of this writer has been well com- 

 prized in a fingle anagrammatic word, " Sedulitas." Gen. 



Dift. 



ALSTER, in Geography, a river of Germany, which 

 runs into the Elbe near Hamburg. It paffes through the 

 city, and forms a lake neariy half an Englifh mile in circum- 

 ference, which in fummer evenings is covered with all forts of 

 pleafure-boats, affording to the fpeftators a very amuling 

 I'peftack. 



ALSTON, Charles, (M. D.) in Biography, a bota- 

 nical and medical writer, was born in the wellern parts of 

 Scotland in the year 168 j. He early applied himfelf to the 

 ftudy of botany, and oppofed, with confiderable ingenuity, 

 the fexual fyftem of Linuipus. When 33 years of age, he 

 ■went to Levden, and iludied three years under Botrhaave. 

 Returning thence with his friend Alexander Monro, he was 

 materiallv inllrumental in eftahUlhing a fchoolof medicine in 

 the College at Edinburgh, of which he was appointed pro- 

 Jelfor of botany and the materia niedica. In this poll he 

 continued to the time of his death, Nov. 1760. 



la the fifth volume of the Edinb. Med. Effays, we have 

 a Siort paper by Alilon on the efficacy of the powder of tin 

 in deilroyjng or expelling worms from the bowels. He ob- 

 tained the prefcription, he fays, of an empyric, who was 

 famed for his (Icill in curing perlons afflidted with thofe 

 noxious infefts. One ounce of tin, reduced to powder, and 

 mixed with treacle, was given the firil morning, and half an 

 ounce each of the two following mornings ; the patients were 

 then purged with the infuficn of fena and maana. He fpeaks 

 hifi'.'.v of the efhcacy of this medicine, which has certainlv 

 confiderable powers in thcfe cales, and may be given to the 

 moft delicate fubje-?ks with perfeft fafety. His dilfertatlon 

 cu the fexes of plants, in which he combats the doftrine of 

 Linnaeus, was publifhed in the year 1753, '" ^^^ ^""^ volume 

 of the Edinburgh Piiyfical and Literary Effays. But the 

 work principally calculated to fecure his fame with poiterity, 

 is his Leftures on the Materia Mcdica, which was pubhfhed 

 in the year 1770, in two vols. 41,0. by his friend and fuc- 

 cefibr in the profeffor's chair, Dr. John Hope. Although 

 confiderable additions and improvements have been fince 

 made in this branch of fcience, yet this work will be always 



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luld in elleem for the number of curious and ufeful fads it 

 contains. Haller Bibliotheca Botan. 



Alston-Moor, or Aldstone, in Geography, a town 

 of Cumberland, fituate on a hill near the river Tyne, on the 

 borders of Northumberland. The parilh is fmall ; but oa 

 account of the lead-mines in its neighbourhood very popu* 

 lous. The lands are part of the forfeited eftates of the earl 

 of Derwentwater, and are held on leafe, granted for a thou- 

 fand years, under the governors of Greenwich hofpital. The 

 market is plentiful, and held on Saturday. The diftar.ce from 

 London by Bernard caille is 271, ana by Penrith 302 miles. 

 N. lat. 54° 45'. W. long. 2° 4*. 



ALSTONIA, lo named from Dr. Alfton, in Botany, a 

 genus of the polyanjr'ia monogynla clafs and order : its cha- 

 racters are, that the calyx is an inferior, imbricate perian- 

 thlum, fcalcs ovate, very obtufe and concave, the inner ones 

 gradually larger, forming, as it were, a quadripartite or 

 quinque-partite calyx ; the corolla is one-petalled, fliorter 

 than the calyx, tube (hort, border fpreading, divided into 

 eight or ten parts, divifions equal, in a double row, alter- 

 nately interior and exterior, obovate, olrtufe, quite entire ; 

 ihe Jliimiiia have very many filaments, inferted into the tube, 

 very iliort, imbricate, very fmooth, the outer ones longer, 

 hnear, attenuated at the tip, anthers orbiculate and fur- 

 rowed ; the pi/lillum has a fuperior germ, ovate and fmall, 

 ftyle fimple, of the length of the corolla, filiform and erect, 

 the ifigma capitate-obovate. The fruit is unknown, and 

 the genus is imperfeftly determined ; it is nearly allied to 

 Symplocos, and perhaps only a fpecies of it. Swartz. There 

 is one fpecies, w's. A. theiformls, joined by M. I'Heritier 

 with Hopea and Ciponima, under the fame genus Symplocos. 

 This (hrub was found by Mutis in South America. It is 

 very fmooth, and refembles the bohea tea in the leaves, the 

 imbricate calyces, the fituation of the flowers, &c. The 

 dried leaves chewed give a green colour to the fahva, and 

 have the tafte of Chinefe tea. The leaves are alternate on 

 fhort petioles, elliptical in their form, and from the middle 

 to the tip obtufely ferrate, iliff and veined. The flowers are 

 axillaiy, three or four together, and feffile ; the calyx is very 

 fmooth, the fcales rounded and green, with a membranaceous 

 edge ; the corollas are white and fpreading. Martyn's Mil- 

 ler. Tranf. Linn. Soc. vol. i. p. 170. 



ALSTROEMERIA, fo named from Baron Alftroemer, 

 of Sweden, who, in his travels through Europe, fcnt many 

 plants to Linnaeus, in Botany, a genus of the htsandiui mono- 

 gyn'ui clafs and order, of the natural order oi Lllia or lAUacen., 

 Sannentaceii of Linn, and Narcijft of JuflT.; its characters are, 

 that it has no calyx ; the corolla is fix-petalled and fub-bila- 

 biate, the three outer petals wedge-(haped, retufc, mucrc- 

 nate, the inner, which are alternate with the others, lanceo- 

 late, the two lower ones tubulous at the bafe ; the Jlam'ma 

 have awl-fhaped fdaments, bending down and unequal, an- 

 thers oblong ; the p'ljl'iHum has a germ inferior, hexano-ular, 

 truncate, ftyle bending down, filiform, of the length cf the 

 ftamen, ftigmas three, oblong and bifid ; i\\q pericarp] urn is a 

 roundilh, fix-ribbed, mucronate capfule, three-celltd, and 

 three-valved, valves concave, and contrary to the diflcpi- 

 ment ; the feeds very many, globofe, covered with railed 

 points, fubumbilicate at the tip. Gmelin enumerates five ; 

 Martyn and ^^"illdenow fix fpecies. i. A. pelegrina, called 

 pelegrina by the Spaniards in Peru, to exprefs a fuperb 

 flower, fpotted-flowered A, has an erett item, corollas bel!- 

 fliaped, ilraight, leaves hnear-lanceolate, feffile ; or, accord- 

 ing to Willdenow, has an ereft ftem, patent corollas, the 

 three exterior petals wedge-fhaped, three-toothed, the reft 

 mucronate, the leaves linear-lanceolate and feffile. This 

 fpecies is found in Peru and Lima ; the flowers are whitifti, 

 I beautifully 



