42 
ALB 
ALB 
A L B 
whitish line on the wings. The German epi- 
thet piep, and the English pin pit funned from 
the Latin pipio, which signifies to utter a fee- 
ble cry like chickens, alludes to the sibilous 
notes of this bird. Its cry, especially in win- 
ter, is like that of the grasshopper, but stronger 
and shriller, and it utters this, both when 
perched on the tallest branches among the 
bushes, and when it is on the wing. Its tones 
are soft, harmonious, and clear. This little 
bird builds its nest in solitary spots, concealed 
under a turf, and its yoking are frequently a 
prey to the adders. It lays live eggs, of a 
light grass-green colour, thinly sprinkled with 
deeper coloured specks. The grasshopper 
larks appear in England about- the middle of 
September, and great numbers of them are 
caught in the environs of London. 
6. A. cristata, is distinguished by black tail- 
quills, the two outermost white at their exterior 
edge, its head crested, and its feet black. Its 
length is about six inches and three quarters. 
It lives in the meadows and fields, on the sides 
of ditches and the backs of furrows : it is often 
seen at the margin of water, and on the high 
roads, rarely in the skirts of woods, perched 
on a tree, and sometimes ou the topsot houses, 
and of abbeys, &c. This lark, though not so 
common as the sky-lark, is found in most parts 
of Europe, in Italy, France, Germany, Po- 
land, Denmark, Russia, Scotland, and does 
not change its abode in winter. The song of 
the males is loud, and yet mellow and pleasant ; 
and their warbling is usually accompanied with 
a quivering of the wings. 
The crested lark is the only one that may 
be instructed ; in a month it learns many airs 
perfectly, which it repeats without confusion, 
and retains nothing of its native warble ; and 
in these particulars it is superior to the canary. 
The other species are, the alauda ruta, 
capensis, calandra, alpestris, magna, minor, 
italica, ludoviciana, rubra, mosellana, malabari- 
ca, gingica, tartarica, mutabilis, nemorosa, 
undata, senegalensis, testacea, lusitana, africa- 
na, cinerea, Novae Zeelandiae, mongolica, si- 
birica, Hava, obscura, most of them foreign 
birds. In all 33 species. 
. ALBARIUM opus, in the ancient build- 
ing, the incrustation or covering of the roofs 
of houses with white plaster, made of mere 
lime. This. is otherwise called opus album. 
It differs from tcctorium, which is a common 
name given to all roofing or ceiling, including 
even that formed of lime and sand, or lime 
and marble ; whereas albarium was restrained 
to that made of lime alone. 
ALBATItOSSE. See Diomedea. 
ALBE, a small piece of money, current in 
G ermany, worth only a French sol and seven 
deniers. 
ALBERNUO, a kind of camblet, brought 
from the Levant by the way of Marseilles. 
ALBERTUS, a gold coin, worth about 14 
French livres : it was coined during the ad- 
ministration of Albertus archduke of Austria. 
ALBIGENSES, in church history, a party 
of reformers about 'Lou louse and the Albi- 
geois in Languedoc, who sprung up in the 
twelfth centifrv, and distinguished themselves 
by their opposition to the discipline and cere- 
monies of the church of Rome. Tins sect 
had their name, it is supposed, either because 
there were great numbers of them in the dio- 
cese of/Albi, or because they were con- 
demned by a council held in that city. In 
frvet it does not appear that they were known 
by this name before the holding of that coun- 
cil. The albigenseswere also called albiani, 
albigesei, albii, and albanenses, though some 
distinguish these last from them. '1 he albi- 
genses, by the truth of their doctrines, and 
their vigour and energy in propagating them, 
became so formidable, that the papists 
agreed upon a holy league or croisade against 
them. They were at first supported by 
Raimond, count of Toulouse. Pope Inno- 
cent III., desirous to put a stop to their pro- 
gress, sent a leghte into their country, which 
failing, he stirred up Philip Augustus, king of 
France, and the other princes and great men 
of the kingdom, to make war upon them. 
Upon this, the count of Toulouse, who had 
supported them, made his submission to the 
pope, and went over to the catholics; but 
soon after, finding himself plundered by the 
croisaders, he declared war against them, and 
was joined by the king of Arragon. Ilis army 
was defeated at the siege of Muret, where 
lie himself was killed, and the defeat followed 
by the surrender of the city of Toulouse, and 
the conquest of the greatest part of Languedoc 
and Provence. His son Raimond succeeded 
him ; who agreed with the king and the pope 
to establish the inquisition in his estates, and 
to extirpate the Albigenses. In an assembly 
held at Milan, the archbishop of Toulouse 
drew up articles ; agreeable to which the 
count made a most ample declaration against 
them, which he published at Toulouse in 1253. 
From this time the Albigenses dwindled by 
little and little, till the times of the reforma- 
tion ; when such of them as were left fell in 
with the Vaudois, and became conformable 
to the doctrine of Zuinglius and the discipline 
of Geneva. 
Albigenses is also a name sometimes 
given to the followers of Peter Valid, or Wal- 
do ; and hence synonymous with Waldenses, 
or poor men of Lyons. In this sense the 
word is applied by Camerarius, Thuanus, and 
several other writers. The reason seems to 
be, that the two parties agreed in their oppo- 
sition to the papal innovations and encroach- 
ments, though in many other respects diffe- 
rent. The bishop of Meaux labours hard to 
support a distinction between the two sects, 
alleging, that the Albigenses were heretics 
and Manichees ; whereas the Waldenses were 
only schismatics, not heretics, being sound 
as to articles of faith, and only separat- 
ing from the church of Rome on account of 
forms and discipline. Dr. Allix endeavours 
to set aside the distinction; and shows, that 
both of them held the same opinions, and were 
equally condemned and held for heretics ; and 
this not for points of faith, but for declaiming 
against the papal tyranny and idolatry, and 
holding the pope to be the antichrist ; which 
last, according to the bishop of Meaux, con- 
stitutes little less than Manicheism. In this 
sense the Lollards and Wicklifiites in England 
were not only Albigenses but Manichees. 
ALBINOS, the name by which the Portu- 
guese call the white Moors, who are looked 
upon by the neg oes as monsters. They at 
a distance might be taken for Europeans ; but, 
upon a near inspection, their white colour ap- 
pears like that of persons affected with a le- 
prosy. In Saussure’s Voyages dans les Alpes, 
is the following account of two boys, at Cha- 
mouni, who have been called Albinos : “ The 
elder, who w r as at the end of the year 1785 
about twenty or one-and-twenty years of age. 
had a dull look, with lips somewhat thick, but 
nothing else in his features to distinguish him 
from other people. r I he other, who is two 
years younger, is rather a more agreeable 
figure The is gay and sprightly, and seems 
not to want wit. But their eyes are not blue ; 
the iris is of a very distinct rose-colour: the 
pupil too, when viewed in the light, seems 
decidedly red ; which seems to demonstrate, 
that the interior membranes are deprived of 
the uvea, and of that black mucous matter 
that should line them. Their hair, their 
eye-brows, and eye-lashes, the down upon 
their skin, were all, in their infancy, of the 
most perfect milk-white colour, and very 
fine; but their hair is now of a reddish cast, 
and has grown pretty' strong. I am therefore 
of opinion that we may consider these two 
lads as true albinos: lor if they have not 
the thick lips and fiat noses of the white 
negroes, it is because they are albinos of 
Europe not of Africa. This infirmity af- 
fects the eyes, the complexion, and the co- 
lour of the hair; it even diminishes the 
strength, but does not alter the conformation 
of the features. Besides, there are certainly 
in this malady various degrees: some may 
have less strength, and be less able to endure 
the light: but these circumstances in those of 
Chamouni are marked with characters suffi- 
ciently strong to entitle them to the unhappy 
advantage of being classed with that variety of 
the human species denominated albinos.” 
ALBORAK, amongst the Mahometan wri- 
ters, the beast on which Mahomet rode in his 
journeys to heaven. The Arab commenta- 
tors give many fables concerning this extra- 
ordinary vehicle. It is represented as of an 
intermediate shape and size between an ass 
and a mule. A place, it seems, was secured 
for it in paradise at the intercession of Maho- 
met ; which, however, was in some measure 
extorted from the prophet by Alborak’s re- 
fusing to let him mount him when the angel 
Gabriel was come to conduct him to heaven. 
ALBUCA, a genus of the hexandria-mo- 
nogynia class and order. The essential cha- 
racter is, corolla six petalled, inner ones dif- 
form, stamina three of the six castrated stigma, 
surrounded by six carps. There are eight 
species, rather tender, but may be kept in 
winter in a garden frame. 
ALBUGINEA, in anatomy, the outer- 
most coat or tegument of the eye, otherwise 
called adnata and conjunctiva. 
ALBUGO, or Leucoma, is defined by 
physicians to be a distemper occasioned by a 
white opaque spot growing on the corner of 
the eye, and obstructing vision. See Me- 
dicine. 
ALBULA, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes 
of the truttaceous kind, having no teeth. The 
principal species are, 
1. Albula indica, a small fish resembling a 
herring, caught about the shores of the East. 
Indies, and called by the Dutch the wit-fish. 
2. Albula nobilis, a truttaceous fisli caught 
in great plenty in the lakes of Germany and 
other places. 
Albula, in natural history, mineral waters 
of an aluminous kind; hence endowed with an 
astringent quality, and of use iu wounds. 
ALBUMEN. The eggs of fowls contain 
two very different substances : a yellow oily- 
like matter, called the yolk, and a colourless, 
glossy viscid liquid, distinguished by the name 
of white. This last is the substance which 
