A L D 
ALE 
47 
When alcohol, containing certain saline 
bodies in solution, is set on lire, its flame is 
often tinged of different colours according to 
the body. Thus nitrat of strontian tinges it 
purple \ boracic acid and cupreous salts tinge 
it green ; muriat of lime gives it a red co- 
lour ; nitre and oxynmriat of mercury a yel- 
low colour. 
The affinities of alcohol are but imperfectly 
known. T hose stated by Bergman are water, 
jether, volatile oil, alkaline sulphurets. 
Alcohol is also used for a very line, im- 
palpable powder, which women in the east 
make use of. Dr. Shaw, in his Travels, speak- 
j ing of the women in Barbary, says, that none 
! of these ladies think themselves completely 
j dressed until they have tinged their hair and 
edges of their eye-lids with al-ka-hol, the 
' powder of lead ore. From this impalpable 
powder the name was transferred to other 
subtile powders, and afterwards to spirit of 
wine, exalted to its highest purity and perfec- 
tion. 
ALCOR, in astronomy, a small star ad- 
1 joining to the large bright one in the middle 
i of the tail of ursa major. The word is Arabic. 
It is a proverb among the Arabians, applied 
to one who pretends to see small things, but 
overlooks much greater : Thou canst see Al- 
cor, and yet not see the full moon. 
ALCYONIUM, in zoology, a genus of 
zoophytes, the characters of which are, that 
the animal grows in the form of a plant: the 
! stem or root is fixed, fleshy, gelatinous spongy, 
j or coriaceous, with a cellular epidermis, pene- 
I trated with stellated pores, and shooting out 
tentaculated oviparous hydra:. There are 28 
j species, as A. arboreiun, with woody stem, 
obtuse branches, and pores in the lorm of 
j pimples, found in Norway, in the white and 
! Indian seas, sometimes of the human height. 
A. digitutum, stemless, oblong, coriaceous, 
and rugose, called also dead man’s hand, See. 
I See. See Plate Nat. Hist. lig. 11. 
ALDEBARAN, in astronomy, a star of 
, the first magnitude, called in English the 
| Bull’s-eye, being the eye of the constellation 
j Taurus. Long. 6° 32’ 9" of Gemini. Lat. 
j £°29'40"S. 
ALDER, in botany. See Betula. 
ALDERMAN, among our Saxon ances- 
tors, was a degree of nobility answering to 
i earl or count at present. It ranked inferior 
to atlieliug, but superior to thane. Alder- 
man was also used, in the tune ot king Edgar, 
for a justice or judge. In modern British po- 
j licy, it implies a magistrate subordinate to the 
j mayor of a city or town corporate. The num- 
I ber of these magistrates is not limited, but is 
; greater or less according to the magnitude of 
I 4he place. In London they are twenty-six ; 
each having one of the wards ol the city com- 
; mitted to his care. This office is for life. W hen 
' one dies or resigns, a wardmote is called within 
i three days, who elect another, and return him 
| to the court of aldermen, who are obliged to 
admit him to supply the vacancy. All the 
aldermen are justices of the peace by a char- 
ter of 15 Geo. II. The aldermen of Lon- 
don, Sec. are exempted from serving infe- 
rior offices ; nor can they be put upon assizes, 
.or serve on juries, so long as they continue in 
office. 
ALDROVANDA, in botany, a genus of 
the pentandria class and pentagynia order of 
plants ; of which there is but one species. 
The calyx is divided into five parts ; the petals 
are five, and the capsule has five valves, with 
ten seeds, It is a native of Italy and the In- 
dies ; and has no English name. 
ALE, a fermented liquor obtained from an 
infusion of malt, differing from beer chiefly in 
having a less proportion of hops. See Brew- 
ing. 
This liquor, the natural substitute of wine 
in such countries as could not produce the 
grape, was originally made in Egypt. The 
natives of Spain also, the inhabitants of France, 
and the aborigines of Britain, all used an infu- 
sion of barley for their ordinary liquor; and 
it was called by the various names of cadi a. 
and curia in the first country, cerevisia in the 
second, and cunni in the last, all literally im- 
porting only the>strong water. 
The method in which the ancient Britons, 
and other Celtic nations, made their ale, is 
thus described by Isidores and Orosius: “ The 
grain is steeped in water and made to germi- 
nate, by which its spirits are excited and set 
at liberty ; it is then dried and ground ; after 
which it is infused in a certain quantity . of 
water, which being fermented, becomes a 
pleasant, warming, strengthening, and intoxi- 
cating liquor/’ 
'There are various sorts of ale known in Bri- 
tain, particularly pale and brown: the for- 
mer is brewed from malt slightly dried, and 
is esteemed more viscid than the latter, which 
is made from malt more highly dried or 
roasted. In Staffordshire they have a secret 
of fining ale in a very short time. 
Ale is flatulent ; and hence sometimes pro- 
duces colics, and the cholera morbus: it is 
acescent ; but it does not produce calcareous 
diseases, as has been asserted. If malt liquor, 
of any degree of strength, is become flat and 
tar i ish, as it is used, it should be drawn out of 
the cask into a jug, in which as many drams 
of powdered chalk is put as there are to be 
pints of liquor: thus a new fermentation will 
be raised, a sprightly taste will be restored to 
the liquor, and its acidity will be destroyed. 
'Tart liquors of this kind are apt to produce 
a dysury, strangury, or a gonorrhoea; in 
which cases a small quantity of brandy may 
be taken. 
The consumption of ale in these kingdoms 
is incredible. It was computed thirty years 
ago at the value of 4,000,000/. yearly, includ- 
ing Great Britain and Ireland. T he duties on 
ale and beer make a principal branch of the 
revenue in Britain. 'They were first imposed 
by the 12th of Car. II. and have been con- 
tinued by several subsequent acts of parlia- 
ment to first Geo. III. which lays an addi- 
tional duty of 3d. per barrel. In the whole, 
the brewer of ale and beer for sale shall pay 
8s. for every barrel of either, above 6s. a bar- 
rel ; and for every barrel of 6s. or under, the 
sum of Is. 4d. Additional duties were laid 
on in 1803. 
Ale Gill, is that in which the dried leaves 
of gill or ground-ivy have been infused. It 
is esteemed abstersive and vulnerary, and 
consequently good in disorders of the breast 
and obstructions of the viscera. 
ALECONNER, an officer in the city of 
London, whose business it is to inspect the 
measures of public-houses. Four of them 
are chosen or re-chosen annually by the 
common-hall ; and whatever might be their 
use former' y, their places are now regard- 
ed only as sinecures for decayed citizens. 
They are the same as ale-tasters, which see. 
ALE 
ALEHOUSES must be licensed by jus- 
tices of the peace, who take recognizances 
of the persons licensed, and of their sureties, 
viz. 10/. each that they will not suffer un- 
lawful gaming nor other disorderly practices 
in their houses. Every person, excepting 
those who sell ale in fairs, neglecting to pro- 
cure a licence, is liable to a penalty of 40s. 
for the first offence, 4/. for the second, and 
6/. for the third, with all costs. The licence 
is granted on the 1st September, or within 
twenty days after, at a general meeting ot 
the justices for the division to which he be- 
longs, upon his producing a certificate to his 
character, unless, by living in a city or town 
corporate, this last circumstance is dispensed 
with, and continues in force for one year only. 
Alehouse-keepers selling ale in short mea- 
sure, are liable to a penalty not exceeding 
40s. and not less than 10s., and likewise to a 
fine of 10s. for permitting tippling, Sec. By 
the 29th Geo. II. c. 12. persons keeping ale- 
houses in Scotland shall be licensed as in 
England, and the justices there shall meet 
annually to license alehouses ; on each of 
which licences a fee of Is. is payable to the 
clerk of the peace. 
ALE-TASTER, an officer appointed in- 
every court leet, and sworn to look to the 
assize and the goodness of bread and ale, or 
beer, within the precincts of that lordship. 
Cowell 
ALECTORIA, a stone said to be formed 
in the gall-bladders of old cocks, to which 
the antients ascribed many fabulous virtues. 
This is Otherwise called alectorius lapis and 
alectbrolithos, in English the cock-stone. 
Modern naturalists hold the alectorius lapis 
to be not generated in, but swallowed down 
into, the stomach or gizzard ot cocks and ca- 
pons. It is known that many fowls swallow 
pebbles, which are supposed to be of service 
in trituration and digestion. 
A-LEE, in the sea language, a term only 
used when the wind, crossing or flanking the- 
line of a ship’s course, presses upon the masts 
and sails so as to make her incline to one 
side, which is called the lee-side: hence-, 
when the helm is moved over to this side, it 
is said to be a-lee or hard-a-lce. 
ALEGER, an inferior sort of vinegar, made 
of ale or malt liquor instead of wine. 
ALEMBICK, vessel formerly used in 
distilling. They were usually made of glass- 
or copper. The bottom, which contained, 
the subject for distillation, was called, from 
its shape, the cucurbit; the upper part, which- 
received and condensed the steam, was called 
the head, the beak being fitted into the neck 
of a receiver. Retorts, and the common 
worm-still, are now more generally em- 
ployed. 
ALETRIS, in botany, a genus of the mo- 
nogynia order and hexandria class of plants ; 
and iii the natural method ranking under the 
tenth order, coronariie. The characters are r 
the corolla is monopetalous, funnel-shaped, 
hexangular, much corrugated, semiquin— 
quefid, and persistent; the stamina consist, 
of six subulated filaments, the length of the 
corolla, and inserted into the base of the di- 
visions of the corolla ; the anthers: are oblong 
and erect: the pistillum has an ovate ger- 
men; the stylus subulated, and the length 
of the stamina ; the stigma is trifid: the pe- 
ricarpium is an ovated capsule, triquetrous,, 
pointed, and trilocular : the seeds are nunie— 
