ALT 
Suffolk; on the fea-fliores of Cornwall; in Holland, 
France, Italy, Siberia, &c. It has a perennial root, and 
an annual Hulk, growing erect, to the height of four or 
five feet, and putting out a few lateral branches. The 
leaves are foft, angular, and alternate. The flowers are 
axillary, lhaped like thofe of the mallow, but fmaller and 
of a pale colour. Thefe appear in June or July, and the 
feeds ripen in September. The outer calyx is frequently 
cleft into feven parts. Capfules about twenty, rounded- 
kidney-fhaped, triangular-flatted, clofed on every fide, 
tomentofe on the back, coriaceous, not gaping. Common 
receptacle central, in the middle, fwelling globularly, and 
grooved, but ending at top in a long conical point. Seeds 
fmooth and brown. The whole plant, particularly the 
root, abounds with a mild mucilage, which is emollient 
in a much greater degree than common mallow. The 
root boiled is much ufed as an emollient cataplafm, and 
an infufion of it is very generally prefcribed in all cafes 
wherein mild mucilaginous fubftances are ufeful, as a pec¬ 
toral, and in complaints of a gravelly nature. The infu¬ 
fion is much fuperior to the fyrup which is kept in the fhops. 
2. Althaea cannabina, or hemp-leaved marfli-rnallow ; 
lower leaves palmate, upper digitate. This fpecies has a 
woody ftem, which rifes to the height of four or five feet, 
and puts out many fide branches. The leaves are alter¬ 
nate. The flowers are axillary, not fo large as thofe of 
the common marfh-mallow, but of a deeper red colour, 
and the calyx much larger. This fort feldom flowers the 
firfi year, unlefs the fummer prove warm; but, when the 
plants live through the winter, they will flower early the 
following fummer, and produce good feeds. It grows na¬ 
turally in Hungary, Ifiria, Auftria, Carniola, Italy, the 
fotvth of France, &c. by wood Tides. 
3. Althaea hirfuta, or hairy marfh-mallow : leaves tri¬ 
fid, lmiry-hifpid, fmooth above; peduncles folitary, one- 
flowered. A low plant, the branches trailing on the 
ground. The leaves and ftalks are befet with ftrong hairs; 
the flowers are axillary, fmaller than thofe of the common 
fort, and have purplifh bottoms. The leaves are deeply 
cut into three parts, and have long petioles. The ftalks 
are woody, but feldom laft more than two years. It grows 
wild in Spain and Portugal, Italy, Auftria, Carniola, Ger¬ 
many, Switzerland, and France. 
4. Althaea Ludwigii, or Ludwig’s marfh-mallow : leaves 
lobed, naked on both tides, peduncles collected, one-flow¬ 
ered. 
5. Althaea Narbonenfis, or Narbonne marfh-mallow: 
leaves tomentofe on both Tides; the lower five-lobed; the 
upper three-lobed ; peduncles folitary, one-flowered. It 
was firft difcovered by the abbe Pourret, near Narbonne; 
is alfo found in Spain ; and it flowers in Auguft and Sep¬ 
tember. 
6. Althaea corymbofa: leaves fimple, cordate or angu¬ 
lar, fmooth, peduncles and calyxes hairy, flowers in co¬ 
rymbs. 7. Althaea racemofa: leaves fimple, cordate, 
ovate, ferrate, fcabrous on the upper furface, raceme ter¬ 
minating, ereCt. Natives of Jamaica. 
Propagation and Culture. The marfh-mallow may be 
propagated faft enough, either by feeds, or parting the 
roots. The feeds fhould be fown in the fpring; but the 
beft time tor parting the roots is in autumn, when the 
ftalks decay. It will thrive in any foil or lituation, but in 
moift places will grow larger than in dry land. The plants 
fhould not be nearer together than two feet; for the roots 
fpread wide. 
Althea, J. inbotany. See Hermannia, Hibiscus, 
Lavatera, Malva, Melochia, Nap.'ea, Sida, and 
Waltheria. 
Althaea FRUTEx,y. in botany. See Hibiscus. 
Althea, in profane hiftory, the daughter of Theftius 
and Eurythemis, who married Oeneus, king of Calvdo- 
nia, and was mother of Meleager. This young piince 
being obliged to go to war with her two brothers, and ha¬ 
ying flain them, Altiuea, out of defpair for their death, 
burnt a log ot wood, on the prcfervation of which the life 
Vo l. I. No. 24. 
ALT 377 
of her fon depended; but file afterwards died of grief. 
See Meleager. 
ALTHyR'MENES, a fon of Crateus, who exiled him- 
felf to avoid becoming a patricide; yet at length killed his 
father unknowingly, for which, on his entreating the gods, 
the earth opened and fwallowed him up. See Crateus. 
ALTHO'UGH, conj. [from all and though.-] Notwith- 
ftanding; however it may be granted; however it may be 
that.—We all know, that many things are believed, al¬ 
though they be intricate, obfcure, and dark: although they 
exceed the reach and capacity ot our wits; yea, although 
in this world they be no way pollible to be underftood. 
Hooker. 
AL'TIGRADE, adj. [from altus and gradior, Lat.J 
Riling on high. 
ALTI'LOQUENCE, f. [from altus and loquor, Lat.] 
High fpeech; pompous language. 
ALTI'METRY,/ [from alta , high things, and metior, 
Lat. to meafure.] The art of taking or meafuring alti ¬ 
tudes or heights, whether acceflible or inaccellible, gene¬ 
rally performed by a quadrant. See Geometry. 
AL'TIN,/. a money of account in Mufcovy, worth 
three coptcs\ one hundred of which make a ruble, worth 
about 4s. 6d. fterling. 
. Altin, a lake in Siberia, from whence iffttes the river 
Ob, or Oby, in N. lat. 52. o. E. Ion. 85. 55. d his lake is 
called by the Ruffians Telojkoi OJ'ero , trom the TelelTi, a 
Tartarian nation, who inhabit the borders of it, and who 
give it the name of Altin-Kul. By the Calmucs it is called 
Altinnor. It is near ninety miles long aijd fifty broad, with 
a rocky bottom. The north part ot it is fometimes fro¬ 
zen fo hard as to be palfable on toot, but the fouthern 
part is never covered with ice. The water in Altin lake, as 
well as in the rivers which run through the adjacent pla¬ 
ces, only rifes in the middle ot fummer, when the fnows 
on the mountains are melted by the heat of the fun. 
AL'TINCAR,/. among mineralifts, a fpecies of facti¬ 
tious fait ufed in the fufiion and purification of metals. 
The altincar is a fort of flux powder. Divers ways of 
preparing it are given by Libavius. 
AL'TING (Henry), profefibrof divinity at Heidelberg 
and Groningen, was born at Embden in 1583, of a family 
which had been long confpicuous in Frifeland. His fa¬ 
ther, Menfo Alting, was the firft, who, with two others, 
preached the reformation in the territory of Groningen, 
about the year 1566, under the tyrannical government of 
the duke of Alva ; and the firft that preached in the great 
church of Groningen, after the reduction of that town by 
the States General in 1594. Henry was chofen, in 160$, 
preceptor to the three young counts of Naffau, Solms, and 
Izenberg. After various difficulties, he fettled at Gro¬ 
ningen, where he continued till his death, Auguft 25, 
1644. Molt of his works were never publilhed; thofe 
which have been are the following: Notae in decadem 
Problematum J. Bchm, 1618. Loci communes Explieatio 
Catechefeos Palatinae, 1646, in 3 vols. Exegefis Auguf- 
tame confef. 1647. Methodus Theologitc, 1630. Rap- 
pears from the catalogue of his works annexed to his life, 
that the Medulla Hift. Prophana:, publilhed by Dr. Pareus, 
was compofed by Alting. The molt remarkable piece 
among Alting’s MSS. is, the ecclefiaftieal Hiftory of the 
Palatinate, from the reformation to the adminiftration of 
John Cafimir. 
Alting (James), fon of the former, was born at Hei¬ 
delberg in 1618. He travelled into England in 2640, where 
he was ordained by the learned Dr. Prideaux, bifhop of 
Worcefter. He afterwards accepted of the profeffiorffiip 
of Groningen, vacant by the death ot Gomarus; but his 
lituation was rendered very difagrceable by the continual 
difputes which he had with his colleague Sam. des Ma« 
rets, who favoured the fchool-divinity. He died in 1697. 
He recommended the edition of his works to Menfo A 1 • 
ting (author of Notitia German. Infer Antiques, fol. Amft, 
1679); but they were publilhed in 3 vols. folio, with his 
life, by Mr. Bekker of Amfterdam. They contain vari- 
3 D ous 
