ALT 



Icsvcs r.ltein.ite on long petioles ; ftipiiles lanceolate and 

 acuminate ; outer calyx deeply eight-cleft, inner fomewhat 

 tiibulolc, with live notches ; corolla yellow, double the 

 Icngtii of the calyx ; the petals oblong, almoil entire, 

 marked with deeper-coloured ftrtaks ; the fruit compofed 

 of five bivalve capfnles ; a native of Jamaica. Inilead of 

 this fpceies Gmclin inferts A. giwnd'ifiora, with cordated, 

 angulalcd, tomcntofe, patulous leaves, and fuLf.iflorous 

 peduncles. Martyn. Withering. Smith. Gmelin's Linn. 



Cullur.: Tiie Virft fpecies may be propagated either by 

 feeds, fown in the Spring, or by parting the roots in Au- 

 tumn, whlcli is the belt I'eafon for the purpofe. It will 

 thrive in any foil or litnation, but grows larger in moilt 

 places than on dry land ; the plants, whofe roots fpread 

 wide, fhould not be nearer than two feet. The fecond 

 I'pecies is propagated by feeds fown in the Spring, in a dry 

 foil and fhcltcred fitnation ; this fort feldom continues longer 

 than two years in England, but as the feeds ripen here, the 

 plants may be had in plenty. If the feeds of the third 

 fpecies be fown in April, the plants will flower in July, and 

 feeds ripen in September ; and they fliould be fown where 

 they are to remain. 



Althjea, \n i\\e Materia Mi'dica. The Althasa offici- 

 nalis feenis to have been known to the ancients, called by 

 Diofcorides A^vala or I/9»o-xo?, by Galen E/Sio-jto;, and by 

 Pliny Hibifcum. It is probably the Hibifcus of Virgil, 

 Eel. x.-.v. 30, and v. 71. 



" Hcedorumque gregem viridi compellere hibifco." 



It has been much ufed by medical pra£Utioners in every 

 country where medicine has been regularly cultivated. All 

 its parts abound v.ith a glutinous juice, with fcarcely any 

 fmell or peculiar tafte. The dry roots, boiled in water, give 

 out half their weight of gummy matter, which is thought 

 to be nearly allied to gum arabic, tragacanth, ftarcli, &c. 

 and diflblves myrrh, and fome other refinous fubftances more 

 readily than gum ; and on evaporating the aqueous fluid, forms 

 a fiavourlefs, yellowifh mucilage. The leaves afford Icarcely 

 one-fourth of their weight, and the flowers and feeds ilill 

 lefs. The mucilaginous matter is the medicinal part of the 

 plant, and it is commonly employed for its emollient and de- 

 mulcent qualities. It is recommended for obtunding and 

 incraffatiiig acrimonious thin fluids, in tickling coughs from 

 defluxions on the fauces and lungs, in hoarfenefs, erofions of 

 the ftomach and inteilines, difficulty and heat of urine, the 

 dvfentery, co!livenefs, and gonorrhcca ; and for lubricating 

 and relaxing the pafliiges in nephritic and calculous com- 

 plaints. It has been given in powder, from a fcruple to a 

 dram, or two, either by itfelf, or in conjunction with other 

 fubftances of a fimilar nature ; it is feldom adminillered 

 in this form: but it is taken to better advantage in that of an 

 infufion or decoftion. Dr. Cullen obiervcs, (Mat. Mtd. 

 vol. ii. p. 411.) that demulcents of this kind can have no 

 effeft as fuch in the mafs of blood, or in pafling by various 

 excretions. The Altlisa has been often applied in various 

 external affe£lions. The root boiled in honey and chewed 

 by infants has mitigated difiicult dentition ; and milk, in 

 which this root, figs and a fmall quantity of faff'ron have 

 been boiled, has relieved the gums. The decoftion is faid 

 to be ufeful in ophthalmix ; and a gargarifm made of the 

 decoftion of this root and figs has been ferviceable in fore 

 throats. The root, cut and boiled in water or milk, has 

 formed a convenient and ufeful cataplafm for foftening and 

 •ipening tumors ; and it has been often added to glyfters. 

 The root was formerly ufed as an ingredient in feveral com- 

 pounds of the pharmacopoeias ; but it is now dire£ted only 



ALT 



in the form of a fyrup. This is prepared by boiling a pound 

 of the fie.1i roots bruifed in a gallon of diililled water to 

 one half, and preffiag out tlie liquor when cold ; unc." when 

 it has fettled for 24 hours, fo that the feculeicies may fnb- 

 lide, the liquor is poured off, and four pounds of double- 

 refined fugar being added to it, the liquor is boiled down to 

 fix pounds weight. This lyrup is employed occafionally in 

 fome diforders of the breall, and for Uveetening -molli'.nt 

 decoctions in nephritic cafes. Lewis. Murray. Woodville. 



AltH;i;a. See Hermannia, Hibiscus, Lavatera, 

 Malva, Melochia, Nap-t-a, Sioa, and Waltheria. 



Ai.TH-«A Frulex. See Hibiscus. 



Alth^a, j-llthita Ohaditm, Orgaz, in AiicLnt Gcogrnphy, 

 a town of Spain, belonging to the Olcades ; mentioned by 

 Polybius under this name, but called Cartheia by Livy, in 

 fpeaking of the exploits of Hannibal. 



ALTHAMERUS, Andrew, in Biography, a Lutheran 

 miniller at Nuremburg, lived in the i6th centuiy, and 

 attended the conferences at Berne, in 1528, which pre- 

 pared the way for the reformation in that canton. He 

 was fo zealous an advocate for j unification by grace, in op- 

 pofition to the merit of good works, that he inveighed in a 

 very indecent and outrageous manner againil the apoftle 

 James, and gave him, almoft, the lie diretl. Grotius cites 

 a paffage from his " Annotations on James," printed at 

 Strafburg, in 1527, in which he charges the apollle with 

 running counter to Scripture, and oppofing his fingle au- 

 thority againft that of the Holy Ghoft, the law, the pro- 

 phets, Chrifl:, and his apoftles. Befides fome works in 

 divinity, he compiled a ditlionary of the proper names in 

 the Bible, " Sylva Biblicorum nominum, &c." printed at 

 Bafil in 1535 ; " Concihationes locorum Scripturje," pub- 

 liflied at Nuremburg in 1535, and at Wittemburg in 1582 ; 

 and notes upoa Tacitus, " De Situ, moribus et populis 

 GermaniES," printed at Nuremburg in 1529 and 1536, and 

 at Amberg in 1609, Svo. Gen. Did;. 



ALTHiENUS, in Ancient Geography, a fl;ream of Dau- 

 nia, in Italy, the waters of which were faid to cure all 

 forts of wounds. 



ALTHE'E, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of ilie Mayenne, and chief place ot a canton, in 

 the diilricl of Craon, four leagues fouth-fouth-well of 

 Laval. 



ALTHEA, in Entomo^y, a fpecies of Papilio, in 

 the clafs of Nyuipkales, with dentated brown wings, and 

 alfo a fafcia and Itriga angular-dentatcd and white, found in 

 Guinea. 



ALTHEIM, in Geography, a market town of L^pper Ba- 

 varia, in the dittricl of Maurkirchen, eight miles eail of 

 Braunau. 



ALTHEPIA, in ylncient Geography, a fmall coinitiy, 

 placed by Paufanias, in the Argolide, near Trezena, which 

 had borne the appellation of Orvea. 



ALTHUSIUS, John, m Biography, a German civilian, 

 towards the latter end of tlie 1 6th century, advanced free 

 principles on political fubjefts, which gave great offence to 

 fome of his contemporaries- He was a Proteftant ; and 

 from being a profcflor of law, at Herborn, he was raifed to 

 the dignity of fyndic, at Bremen. The fnnd:imeiital prin- 

 ciples of liis " Politics methodically digeiled," printed at 

 Herborn, in 1603, are thefe ; " that kings are mere magif- 

 trates ; that the chief power of every commonwealth is in 

 the people only ; that it is lawfidto depofe a tyrant, to turn 

 him out of the adminiltration, and even to put him to death, 

 if no other remedy can be found, and to chuie another in 

 his room. He alio compofed a treatife " De jurifprudcntia 



Romana ;" 



I 



