ALM 
ALLOTTING, or Allotment of. goods, 
Jn commerce, is the dividing a ship’s cargo 
into several parts, which are to be purchased 
by several persons, whose names being writ- 
ten upon as many slips of paper, are applied 
by an indifferent person to the several lots ; 
by whic h means the goods are divided with- 
out partiality, each man having the parcel 
upon which bis name is fixed. 
ALLOTMENTS- of land, are such por- 
tions of ground as are granted to- claimants on 
the division and inclosure of commons and 
waste lands, and which are generally propor- 
tionate to the extent of the right which they 
enjov upon them. 
ALLOWANCES, at the custom-house, 
to goods rated by weight, are two, viz. draught 
and tare. 
ALLOY, or At. lay, a proportion of a 
baser metal mixed with a liner one. Thus 
all gold coin has an alloy of silver and copper, 
as silver coin has of copper alone ; the pro- 
portion in the former case, for standard gold, 
being two carats of alloy in a pound troy of 
gold; and in the latter, eighteen penny- 
weight of alloy tor a pound troy of silver. 
According as gold or silver has more or 
less alloy than that mentioned above, it is 
said to be coarser or finer than the standard. 
It ought, however, to be remarked, that the 
coin of different nations varies greatly in this 
respect ; some using a larger, and others a 
less proportion of alloy, the original inten- 
tion of which was to give tiie coin a due de- 
gree of hardness. 
ALLUME'E, in heraldry, a term applied 
to the eyes of a bear, or other beast, when 
they are drawn sparkling and red. 
ALLUSION, in rhetoric, a figure by 
which something is applied to, or understood 
of another, on account of some similitude be- 
tween them. An allusion to words is trilling 
and low, making what we commonly call a 
pun. Allusions, however, to some apoph- 
thegm, remarkable event, or generally re- 
ceived custom, are not only extremely pleas- 
ing, but approved by the best writers, an- 
tient as well as modern. 
ALLUVIAL Limestone, a sort of stone 
found in many districts,, supposed to have 
been formed in the earliest ages of the world 
by the desposition of calcareous matters held 
in the state of solution in water. 
ALLUVION, among civilians, denotes 
the gradual increase of land along: the sea- 
shore, or on the banks of rivers. '1 nis, when 
slow and imperceptible, is deemed a lawful 
means of acquisition ; but when a consider- 
able portion of land is torn away at once, by 
the violence of the current, and joined to a 
neighbouring estate, it may be claimed by 
the king. 2 Black. 262. 
ALMAD1E, a kind of canoe or small ves- 
sel, about four fathom long, usually made of 
bark, and used by the negroes of Africa. 
Almadie is also the name of a kind of 
long boats, fitted out -ut Calicut, which are 
eighty feet in length, and six or seven in 
breadth. They are .exceedingly swift, and 
are otherwise called cathuri. 
ALM AGRA, in natural history, the name 
©f a fine deep-red ochre, with a faint admix- 
ture of purple, used both in painting and me- 
dicine, being an excellent astringent. It is the 
same with what the antients called sil atticum. 
ALMANAC, a table containing the ca- 
lendar of days and months, the rising and 
A L M * 
setting of the sun, the age of the moon, 
&c. 
The first thing to be done in the construc- 
tion of almanacs is to compute the sun’s and 
moon’s place for each day of the year, or it 
may be taken from some ephemerides and 
entered in the almanac ; next, find the do- 
minical letter, and, by means thereof, distri- 
bute the calendar into weeks: then, having 
computed the time of Easter by it, iix the 
other moveable feasts ; adding the immove- 
able ones, the rising and setting of each lu- 
minary, the length of day and night, the as- 
pects of the planets, the phases of the moon, 
and tlxe sun’s entrance into the cardinal points 
of the ecliptic, i. e. the two equinoxes and 
solstices. * 
These are the principal contents of alma- 
nacks ; besides which there are others of a 
political nature, and consequently different 
in different countries, as the birth-days and 
coronation of princes, tables of interest, & c. 
Almanac, nautical, and astronomical 
ephemeris, is a kind of national almanac, pub- 
lished annually, by anticipation, under the 
direction of the commissioners of longitude. 
It contains among other things, the distances 
of the moon from the sun and fixed stars, for 
every three hours of apparent time, adapted 
to the meridian of Greenwich ; by comparing 
which with the distances carefully observed 
at sea, the mariner may readily infer his lon- 
gitude to a degree of exactness, that is found 
sufficient for most nautical purposes. 
ALMA11IC heresy, one broached in 
France, in 1209, the distinguishing tenet of 
which was, that no Christian could be saved 
unless he believed himself to be a member of 
Christ. 
ALME, singing and dancing girls in 
Egypt, who can occasionally chaunt unpre- 
meditated verse. They derive their name 
from having received a better education than 
other women, and they form a celebrated so- 
ciety in the country. The qualifications for 
admission are, a good voice, a knowledge of 
the language and of the rules of poetry, and 
an ability to compose and sing couplets on 
the spot, adapted tofthe occasion. 
ALMEHRAB, in the Mahometan cus- 
toms, a nich in the mosques, pointing to- 
wards the kebla, or temple of Mecca, to 
which they are obliged to bow in praying. 
ALMElSAR, a celebrated game among 
the ancient Arabs, performed by a kind of 
casting lots with arrows, forbidden by Ma- 
homet, on account of the frequent quarrels 
occasioned by it. 
ALMENE, in commerce, a weight of two 
pounds, used to weigh saffron in several parts 
of the continent of the' East Indies; 
ALMENDINE, Almandine, or Al- 
bandine, a kiiid of ruby, but softer and 
lighter than the oriental ruby. 
ALMERICANS, followers of the Aimaric 
heresy, which see. 
ALMOND-Tree, see Amygdalus. 
Almond, in commerce, a measure by 
which the Portuguse sell their oil r twenty-six 
almonds make a pipe. 
Almond-furnace, among refiners, that 
in which the slags of litharge, left in refining 
silver, are reduced to lead again, by the help 
of charcoal. 
Almond is also a name given to a species 
of rock-crystal, which lapidaries use in adorn- 
ing branch-candlesticks, &e. on account of 
A L O ' 
the resemblance they bear to the fruit of the 
same name. 
ALMONER, an officer appointed to dis- 
tribute alms to the poor. 
The lord almoner, or lord high almoner of 
England, is an ecclesiastical officer, usually 
a bishop, who has the forfeiture ot all deo- 
dands, and the goods of all felos-de-se, which 
he is to distribute among the poor. 
By virtue of an ancient custom, the lord 
almoner may give the first dish from the 
king’s table, to whatever poor person he 
pleases ; or, in lieu of it, an alms in money. 
The parishioners, also, of the parishes ad- 
jacent to the king’s place of residence, nomi- 
nate twenty-four poor men, to whom the lord 
almoner distributes four pence a day in 
money, bread, and small beer. 
Almoner is sometimes also used for a< 
deacon of a church, a chaplain, or even a le- 
gatee. 
Almoner is also used for a person who 
left alms to the poor, by his last will. It is 
sometimes used for a legatee : in this sense 
the same person cannot be both almoner and 
heir. 
ALMS, a general term for what is given, 
out of charity to the poor. 
In the early ages of Christianity, the alms 
of the charitable were divided into four parts, 
one of which was allotted to the bishop, a nor- 
ther to the priests, and another to the dea- 
cons and sub-deacons, which made their whole 
subsistence ; the fourth part was employed 
in relieving the poor, and in repairing the 
churches. 
Alms also denotes lands or other effects 
left to churches, or religious houses, on condi- 
tion of praying for the soul of the donor. 
Hence, 
Alms free, was that which is liable to no- 
rent or service. 
Alms reasonable , was a certain portion of 
the estates of intestate persons, allotted to 
the poor. 
ALMUCANTA.RS, in astronomy, are the 
same with respect to the azimuths and horY 
zon, that the parallels of latitude are with re 1 - 
gard to the meridians and equator. 
ALMUTAZAPHUS, a magistrate of 
Aragon, whose office it was to inspect mea- 
'sures and weights, and search houses for 
stolen goods. 
ALNAGE, or Aulnage, in the English 
polity, the measuring of woollen manufac- 
tures, with an aul or ell, and the other func- 
tions of the alnager. 
Alnage was at first intended as a proof of 
the goodness of the commodity, and there- 
fore a seal was invented as a signal, that the 
commodity was made according 1o the sta- 
tute. But now that these seals may be 
bought and affixed to whatever commodity 
the buyer pleases, our rivals have acquired 
an opportunity of supplanting our trade with 
foreign nations, to the great prejudice of our 
woollen manufactures. 
ALNAGER, see article above-. 
There were three officers relating to' the 
alnage, namely, a searcher, measurer, and 
alnager ; all which were antiently comprized’ 
in the alnager ; the office is now abolished. 
ALNUDE, a measure of liquids, the same 
with almond. 
ALOA, in Grecian antiquity, a festival, 
kept in honour of Ceres by the husbandmen* 
and supposed to resemble our harvest-home- 
