ALT 



Romana ;" another " De Civili Converfatione ;" and oilier 

 traas. Gep. Dia. 



ALTICA, m Eutomulj^y, a fpecii's of the Cantharis, 

 with a red tliorax, and violet unfpottcd elytr.e, found at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



ALTICjE, a elafs of the pjenus Chrysomela, diftiii- 

 guifacd as faltatoiy, a:id having their poftcrior thii;Iis i:i- 

 craffatcd. 



ALTIDIUM, in y1n:'ifut Gtography, a place of Italy, 

 in Uir.bria, north-call of Noceria. 



AI^TTKEN, in Ci-ograpliy, a prefiamate of Zurich, in 

 SwlfTerland, in whi.li is a parochial village of the fame name, 

 not far from the Thur. 



ALTILIA, a town of the kingdom of Naples, 

 and province of Calabria Citra ; 1 1 miles fouth of Co- 

 fen za. 



ALTILIO, Gabriel, in Bingi-aphy, was born in the 

 kingdom of Naples, and flourifhed about the end of the 1 5th 

 century. He died about the age of 60, in 1501. He was 

 preceptor to prince Ferdinand ; and afterwards employed in 

 ilate affairs, a^ he accompanied Jovianus Pontanus to Rome, 

 in order to negociate a peace between king Ferdinand and 

 pope Innocent VIII. His reputation as a Latin poet at- 

 traaed notice, and contributed to his promotion to the bi- 

 {hopric of Policailro. The dillinguiflied excellence of his 

 Latin verfes led his contemporaries to regard him as a perfon 

 who was intimately converl'ant with polite literature, and 

 who had ftudied the ancients with great improvement. In 

 the delicacy of his elegies and the iublimity of his heroics, 

 he is faid to have fo much excelled, that in the opinion of 

 Pontanus and Aaius, he was equal to the ancient poets. 

 Moll of his poetical performances are loll ; but fonie of them 

 are preferved in the " Delieis Poetarum Ital." Gen. 



Dia. 



ALTIMETRY, Altimetria, compounded of alius, 

 high, and juETfEiu, metlor, to mtafurc, the art of taking or 

 mcafuring altitudes or heights, whether acceffible or in- 

 aeceffible. 



Altimetria makes the firft part of geometry; including 

 the doarine and praaice of meafuring both perpendicular 

 and oblique lines ; whether in refpea of height or dtpth. 



ALTIN, in Commerce, a money of account in Muicovy; 

 worth three copecs, one hundred of v/hieh make a ruble, 

 worth about four {hillings and fi>f pence llerling. 



They have had occafionally altln coins, both of copper 

 and filver. Thofe of the filver altins under Peter I. had 

 on one fide the eagle, and on the other, with the date of 

 the year, the word Altinmk. But for a long time no 

 more altins have been llruck ; and thofe of filver are now 

 feldom to be feen. 



Altin, or Altvn-koor, Lake, in Geography, a lake of 

 Siberia, in the government of Kclhyvan, is fituated on a 

 very confiderable elevation of the Altaian mountains, by 

 which it is alfo entirely fuirounded. N. lat. 49°. E. long. 

 105°. It is alfo called by the Ruffians Telctzkoe-ozeroand 

 Altain-kvd. Its length is computed at 126, and its greateft 

 breadth at *^4 verfts. From it proceeds the river By, which 

 at its confluence with the Katunia afiumes the name of 

 Oby. The bottom of this lake is rocky, and the northern 

 part of it is fometimes frozen fo hard as to be ijaffable on 

 foot ; but it is faid, that the fouthern part is never covered 

 with ice. The water on this lake and the adjacent rivers 

 rifes only in the middle cf Summer, when the fnovv on the 

 mountains is diffolved by the heat of the fun. 



A-LTiN, a town of Naples, in the province of Abruzzo 

 Citra ; nine miles fouth cf Langiano. 



ALT 



ALTINC.AR, among Minrnili/h, a Ipcries of fac. 

 titiou'i lalt ufcd in the fufioii ami punfication of metals. 

 The altiiicar is a fort of flux powder. Diverj ways of 



prcnaring it are gfyen by Libavius. 



ALTING, Henkv, in /f/'<;|iv7/77, wasboni at F.mbJen, 

 in 15^3. and, havinjr devoted himftlf to the proftdion of a 

 divine, he was fent 111 1602 to the miifcrfity of Herboni, 

 where he became a profeflor. In 1608 he was appointed 

 preceptor to the eUaoral prince palatine, and in i('il2 ac- 

 companied him to England, where he was introduced to the 

 acquaintance, among others, of arclihifliop Abbot. In 161 ^ 

 he returned to Heidelberg, where he took liin degree of 

 doaorof divinity, and was appointed dirtttor of the college 

 of Wiiilom. At the fynod of Doit, to which lie was de- 

 puted in 1618, he didinguifhed himfelf by his jirudenceand 

 eloquence. After his return to Heidelberg, he very nar- 

 rowly efcaped falling a facrifice, when the city was taken in 

 1622^ by count Tilly ; for, as he was entering the houfe of 

 the chancellor, one of the guards met him, and ignorant of 

 his perfon, threatened his hfe ; " with this battle-axe I have 

 this day killed 10 men ; Ahing, if I knew where to find 

 him, (hould be the I Ith." Alting replied, with a refolution 

 and conllancy of mind, and at the fame time with an allow- 

 able tvafion, which faved his life : " 1 am a teacher in the 

 college of Wifdom." When the Jefuits took poflVflfion of 

 the houfe, he concealed himfelf in a garret, and was fecrctly 

 fupplied with food, till he had an o])portunity of making his 

 efcape, and of following his family to He'ilbron. After 

 the defolation of the palatinate by count Tilly's forces, he 

 retired to Schorndorf; but here, although fituated among 

 Proteflants, he encountered new trials. The Lutheran 

 mmifters of Schorndorff, who were at variance with the 

 profelTors of Heidelberg, were diflatisfied with the per- 

 miffion which the duke of Wirtemberg had given to one of 

 thefe profeffors to refide among them ; and by r. afon of 

 their jcaloufy and intolerance, Ahing was obliged to re- 

 move to Embdcn in 1623, from whence he followed his late 

 pupil, who was king of Bohemia, to the H.igue. Under 

 the patronage of this prince, and in the office o"f tutor Vi his 

 eldelt fon, he remained till the year 1627, when he obtained 

 his pcrmiffion to remove to Groningcii, where he was ap- 

 pointed to the profeffijrihip of divinity, which he retained 

 till his death. Such were his talents and charaaer and 

 l)'.i!)lic fervices, that he was held in very general etiimation ; 

 but the confufion and troubk-s of that period prevented hi") 

 taking poffiffion of the office of divinity-pr(>.'"eflbrat Heidel- 

 berg, to which he was appointed by pi inct- Lewis Philip, ad- 

 miniilrator of the palatinate. DoineiHc affliaion, occafioncd 

 by the lots of his elded daughter and his wife, brought upon 

 him a fetllcd melancholy, whirh, after a few months, p;it 

 a period to his life, in the year 1644. Alting, though he 

 was no friend to the innovations introduced at this ncriodby 

 the Socinians, was of a moderate and peaceable termer, and 

 indilpofed to difpute and quarrel about trifles. "Adhering," 

 as he judged, " to the plain doarine of feripturc, he was 

 equally defirous to avoid fophiilical fubtleiy ar.d fanr.tical 

 ferupulollty." His works wue, " NotiE in Dcridem Pro- 

 blcmatum; Johannis Behm ;" Heidelb. 1618 ; "Loci 

 Communes ;" " Problemata ;" " Explicatio Catachcfcoa 

 Palatime," Amdelod. 1646; " Exegefis Augulhn:e Con- 

 feffionis," &c. Amft. 1647 ; " Methodus Theologi.T Di- 

 daaica: ct Catachetica: ;" " Medulla Hiilorix Profana:," 

 publifhcd under the name of Para-us. Gen. Dia. 



Altiso, James, fon of Henry Alting, was born at 

 Heidelberg, in 161S, and after finifhing his lludies at Gro- 

 ningen, became profefFor in that univerfity. Attached to 



the 



