ALL 
tomary rite of ratifying an alliance. Among the Jews and 
Chaldeans, heifers or calves ; among the Greeks, bulls or 
goats; and among the Romans, hogs; were facrificed on 
this occafion. Among the ancient Arabs, alliances were 
confirmed by drawing blood out of the palms of the hands 
of the two contra&ing princes with a (harp ftone, dipping 
herein a piece of their garments, and therewith fmearing 
feven (tones, at the fame time invoking the gods Vrotalt 
and Alilat, i. e. according to Herodotus, Bacchus and 
Urania. Among the people of Cholchis, the confirma¬ 
tion of alliances is laid to be eftefted by one of the princes 
offering his wife’s breads to the other to fuck, which he 
was obliged to do till there iflued blood. 
Alliance, in a figurative fenfe, is applied to any kind 
of union or connection; thus we fay, there is an alliance 
between church and (late. 
AL'LIAR RERIS. A term ufed in preparing the phi- 
lofopher’s ftone, to fignify philofophical copper, which is 
alfo called water of quickfilver, white copper, and many 
other names. 
ALLIA'Rl A,y. in botany. See Erysimum. 
ALLI'CIENCY,y [ allicio , Lat. to entice or draw.] 
The power of attracting any thing; magnetifm ; attrac¬ 
tion.—The feigned central alliciency is but a word, and the 
manner of it ftill occult. Glanville. 
AL'LIENCY, f. [from allicere , Lat.] Enticingnefs; 
alluringnefs. 
To AL'LIGATE, v. a. [alligo , Lat. from ad, to, and 
ligo, to bind.] To tie one thing to another ; to unite. 
ALLIGA'TI,y in Roman antiquity, the bafeitkind of 
(laves, who were ufually kept fettered. The Romans had 
three degrees, or orders, of (laves or fervants ; the firft 
employed in the management of their eftates ; the fecond 
in the menial or lower functions of the family ; the third, 
called alligati, above-mentioned. 
ALLIGA'TION, f. The aCt of tying together; the 
(late of being fo tied. In arithmetic, the rule that teach¬ 
es to adjuft the price of compounds, formed*of feveral 
ingredients of different value. See Arithmetic. 
ALLIGA'TOR,y in zoology, a fynonyme of the la- 
certa crocodilis. See Lacerta. 
A.lligator-pear,/. in botany. See Laurus. 
AL'LIGATURE,y. The link, or ligature, by which 
two things are joined together. 
ALLIO'NIA, f. [named in honour of Charles Allioni, 
profeffor of botany at Turin, &c.] In botany, a genus of 
the tetrandria monogynia clafs, ranking in the natural or¬ 
der of aggregate. The generic characters are—■Calyx: 
perianthium common to three flowers, Ample, oblong, 
five-parted; parts ovate, acute, permanent; proper ob- 
folete, fuperior. Corolla: proper one-petalled, funnel- 
(haped, edge quinquefid, ereCt. Stamina: filaments feta- 
ceous, longer than the corolla, bending to one fide; an- 
therae roundifh. Piftillum : germ inferior, oblong; ftyle 
fetaceous, longer than the ftamens ; ftigma multifid, linear. 
Pericarpium: none. Seeds: folitary, oblong, five-cor¬ 
nered, naked. Receptaculum: naked.— EJJ'entialCharaEler. 
Calyx common, oblong, fimple, three-flowered; proper 
pbfolete, fuperior.' Corollules irregular. Receptaculum 
naked. 
Species, i. Allionia violacea: leaves heart-fliaped, ca¬ 
lyxes quinquefid. Native of South America. 
2. Allionia incarnata : leaves obliquely ovate, calyxes 
triphyllous. This is an annual glaucous plant; a native 
of Peru, o'n rocks, and in fandy foils. Introduced into 
the Paris garden, from feeds fent by Dombey. It flou- 
rilhes there, and perfects its feeds in the middle of fummer. 
ALLIO'TICS, f in pharmacy, medicines which by 
fermentation and cleanfing alter and purify the blood. 
AL'LIOTH,y. a ftar in the tail of the greater bear, 
much ufed for finding the latitude at fea. 
ALLI'SION,y. [from allifum, fup. of allido, of ad, to, 
and Icedo, to hurt.] The aCt of ftriking one thing againft 
another.—There have not been any iflands of note, or con- 
fiderable extent, torn and call: off from the continent by 
Vol. I. No. 22, 
ALL 343 
earthquakes, or fevered from it by the boifterous allifion 
of the fea. Woodward. * 
ALLITERA'TION,y [ad and litera, Lat.] An orna¬ 
ment of language, chiefly ufed in poetry, which conlifts 
in the repetition of the fame letter at certain intervals. 
It fometimes deforms language however inftead of adorn¬ 
ing it, efpecially in profe compofrtions ; and, on this ac¬ 
count, as well as the trivial degree of excellence which 
attaches to it even when judicioufly applied, critics in ge¬ 
neral difregard it. The poets furnifti numerous inftances 
of alliteration, moft of them perhaps accidental. Dn 
Johnfon cites the following line from Milton, as an ifi 4 
fiance: 
“ .Behemoth digged Corn—” 
But Grey’s Odes abound with alliterations; almoft every 
ftrophe commencing and concluding with an alliterative 
line : 
“ Ruin feize thee, ruthlefs king.” 
“To /ligh-born f/oel’s /iarp, or foft Zlewe/lyn’s /ay.” 
“ (Leave the warp, and weave the woof.” 
“ Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom.” 
“ Regardlefs of theyweeping whirlwind’syway.” 
“ That hufh’d in grim repofe, experts his ev’ning prey.” 
From Mr. Pope we may alfo draw an example : 
“ Eternal beauties grace the shiningycene, 
Fields everyrefh, and groves for ever green.” 
AL'LIUM, y [derivation uncertain. Some deduce it 
from aAAecr•&«(, exilire, on account of its quick growth; 
others from halo, becaufe it exhales a ftrong fmell; others 
from ciy'h a head of garlic.] In botany, a genus of the 
hexandria monogynia clafs, ranking in the natural order 
of fpathaceae. The generic characters are—Calyx t 
fpathe common, roundifti, withering, many-flowered. Co¬ 
rolla: petals fix, oblong. Stamina: filaments fix, fubu- 
late, often the length of the corolla; antheras oblong, up¬ 
right. Piftillum : germ fuperior, ftiort, bluntly three- 
cornered, the corners marked with a line; ftyle fimple; 
ftigma (harp. Pericarpium: capfule very fliort, broad, 
three-lobed, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds: few, 
roundifti. In fome fpecies three alternate filaments are 
broad and forked, with an intermediate anther.— EJJ'en ■- 
tial CharaEler. Corolla fix-parted, fpreading; fpathe ma¬ 
ny-flowered; umbel heaped ; capfule fuperior. 
Species. I. Stem-leaves flat; umbel capfule-bearing, 
x. Allium ampeloprafum, or great round-headed garlic: 
umbel globofe, ftamens three-cufped, petals with a rough 
keel. This fpecies is found growing naturally in the Eaft, 
in Switzerland, in a final 1 ifland in the Briftol channel, 
&c. With us it flowers in July and Auguft. 
2. Allium porrum, or common leek: umbel globofe, 
ftamens three-cufped, petals with a rough keel, root coat¬ 
ed. It is very like the former, and perhaps only a varie¬ 
ty. It flowers in April and May. 
3. Allium lineare, or linear-leaved garlic: umbel glo¬ 
bofe, ftamens three-cufped, twice as long as the corolla. 
This grows naturally in Siberia. It has narrower leaves 
than the common leek, the (talks are fmaller, and do not 
rife fo high ; the heads Of flowers are alfo fmaller, and of 
a purple colour. 
4. Allium rotundum, or great round-headed garlic: 
umbel fubglobofe, ftamens three-cufped, lide-flowers nod¬ 
ding. Native of the fouthern parts of Europe. 
5. Allium vidtorialis, or long-rooted garlic: umbel 
rounded, ftamens lanceolate, larger than the corolla, leaves 
elliptic. Grows on the mountains of Switzerland, Auf- 
tria, Silefia, and Savoy. The wild plant has the root- 
leaves half an inch broad ; tranfplanted into a garden, the 
leaves grow to four inches in breadth, without becoming 
much longer. The Item is from a foot to eighteen inches 
in height. 
6. Allium fub-hirfutum, or hairy garlic or Diofcorides’s 
moly; ftamens awl-(haped, lower leaves hirfute. Native . 
4 U of- 
