Algiers area of forest land is 750,000 acres, or 7 per cent. of the entire superficies. Imports. Chiefly cheese, flour, vegetables, coffee, sugar, building materials, wine, glass, silk, cotton, linen, and woollen manufactures; earthenware, cast-iron and steel, &c. Exports. Sheep, leeches, silk, horns, cereals, hides, fruit, tobacco, oils, rags, ores, &c. Duties. Raw and manufactured goods enter free; tonnage duties on foreign shipping has been abolished; the coasting trade is open to all nations; the custom-houses on the frontier have been abolished. Shipping and Navigation. The following is a statement of the relative amount of tonnage of each nation trading with Algeria : ALGORITHEN, an Arabic word, expressive of numerical computation. ALICANTE, a seaport of Spain and capital of a province of the same name. Lat. 38° 20' N. Lon. o 27 W. Pop. 21,000. Products. Those of Valencia, such as corn, oil, silk, grass, soda, cotton and linen fabrics, wine, &c. Imports. Coal principally, the values of which are diminishing, as it is probable that the centre of Spain will soon be supplied with coal and coke from the mines of Belmez and Espiel, in the province of Cordova, a railway to connect this with the Andalusian line having just been finished. The following statement shows value of trade at this port for the years 1865-67. Value Value of of Imports. Exports. £ £ 18,915 62,144 61,107 27,295 51,854 33,593 24,039 34,833 43,344 Alkaline The Mole, which has a fixed light 95 feet in height, has been so enlarged that vessels drawing 22 feet of water can freely discharge there. ALICENDE, an European plant, from which flax is prepared and made into cloth. ALIDADE, an instrument used for taking altitudes, distances, &c. ALIQUANT PART, in arithmetic, is that number which cannot measure any other exactly without leaving some remainder. ALIQUOT PART is that part of a number or quantity which will exactly measure it without any remainder. ALKALINE SALTS, although divided into two kinds, the fixed and volatile, and the former into two species, vegetable and mineral, possess many properties in common. These are-1. In taste acrid and pungent. 2. A tendency to dissolve animal substances and reduce them to a gelatinous substance. 3. An attraction for acids, with a power of separating earths and metals from them. 4. They change the blue vegetable juices to green, the green to yellow, the yellow to orange, the orange to red, and the red to purple. 5. They unite with oils, and destroy or injure almost all kinds of colours; but can be put upon cloth. Hence their use in Vegetable the process of bleaching, &c. alkali, in the pure state, is of a white colour when dry, and very caustic to the taste. Mineral or Fossil alkali differs from vegetable in having less attraction for acids, in being more easily fusible by itself, and forming a more soluble compound with the vitriolic acid. Volatile alkali differs from the others in being unable to resist the fire, and being entirely resolvable into a permanently elastic fluid, called alkaline air. Its powers on colour are also considerably weaker than those of the fixed alkalies. When procured immediately by the distillation of any substance capable of yielding it, it is obtained in a state similar to that in which the alkalies are usually met with, viz. half mild and half caustic. By exposing the liquid alkali to a great quantity of fixed air, we may at last have it perfectly mild and neutralised, in which state it appears as a white salt extremely volatile, though less so than the pure caustic alkali. From the following table may be seen the compounds resulting from the various combinations of the alkaline salts with the different acids : 1. Vegetable fixed Alkali, combined with Vitriolic acid Nitrous acid.. Ships. Tons. Marine acid 1865 464 1866 448 Other Nations. Acid of Phosphorus, &c. 123,142 unknwn. unknwn. Acetous acid..... 49,563 199,717 104,632 31,127 123,030 24,188 30,863 76,143 28,406 Saccharine acid, &c. Aerial acid 2. Fossil or Mineral fixed Alkali, combined necessary, because (1) the mixture of the with Glaubers salt. Forms. Cubical nitre. A salt resembling terra foliata tar tari, which does not deliquate. Rochelle salt. Borax. Unknown salts, Mild fossil alkali. 3. Volatile Alkali, combined with Vitriolic ammo niac or Glauber's nitre. ammo Common sal am moniac. A salt metals which when smelted from the mines are not perfectly pure; (2) the saving the expense it must otherwise cost if they were to be refined; (3) the necessity of rendering them harder by mixing some parts of other metals with them, to prevent the diminution of weight by wearing, in passing from hand to hand; (4) the melting of foreign gold or coin which is alloyed; (5) the charges of coinage, which must be made good by the profits arising from the money coined; (6) the duty belonging to the Sovereign on account of the power she has to cause money to be coined in her dominions. In estimating the alloy of gold it is by carats; and that of silver by penny. weights. ALMADIE, a kind of canoe used on the Malabar coast. ALMANACK, a table containing a calendar of days and months of the year, the rising and setting of the sun, the moon's age, &c. &c. ALMENE, a weight used for weighing saffron on the Indian coast. ALMOND, a measure for oil, containing four gallons and a half-Portuguese. ALMONDS [Fr. Amandes, Ger. Mandeln Du. Amandelen, Sw. Mandlar, It. Mandorle, Sp. Almeudras], a which fruit grown in shoots into fine warm countries, on a tree resembling the long crystals, and peach in leaf and blossom, and of two kinds, does not 'deli- sweet and bitter. It is enclosed in a shell covered by a tough, cottony skin, and ripens quate in the air. An anomalous salt. in August. An oil drawn from this fruit is Microcosmic salt, exceedingly useful for medical purposes. or essential salt of Bitter almonds are principally produced in Barbary-an inferior sort of sweet almond is urine. also brought from thence; the other sorts Anomalous salts. are produced abundantly in Spain and elsewhere. Volatile sal am- ALLEGEAS, or ALLEGIAS, is a mineral manufactured in the East Indies of two descriptions, one being of cotton, and the other from the fibre of herbs, somewhat similar to flax or hemp. ALLEVEURE, a Swedish brass coin, value one halfpenny. ALLEGATION, in arithmetic, is a rule or operation whereby questions are resolved relating to the mixture of divers commodities or ingredients together, with the value and effect thereof; being of two kinds, medial and alternate. Allegation medial shows what the mean price of a pound, ounce, &c., is worth when several quantities of several values are mixed together. Allegation alternate shows how much of various kinds of samples may be taken to make up any assigned quantity of a compound which shall be worth a price proposed. ALLOCATION, the admitting or allowing of an article in an account. ALLOY is the proportion of a baser metal mixed with a finer one. In coining, alloy is ALMONDS of crystal are used in ornamenting gaseliers, chandeliers, &c. &c., and take the name from the fruit to which they bear a resemblance. ALMOND-FURNACE, among refiners, is that in which the flags of litharge left in refining silver are reduced to lead again by the aid of charcoal. ALOES [Ger. Du. Da. and Sw. Aloe, Fr. Aloes, It. and Sp. Aloe, Rus. Sabir], the inspissated juice of the plant Aloe. There are three kinds to be met with: 1. Aloe perfoliata. Socotorine aloes, from the island of Socotria, is of a glossy surface, clear, and, in the lump, is of a yellowish colour, inclining to a purple cast of red; but when reduced to powder it is of a bright golden colour. It is the purest, though it is seldom found genuine in this country. In taste it is bitter and aromatic, but disagreeable; the smell resembles myrrh. 2. Aloe hepatica. Hepatic Barbadoes, or common aloes, is also imported from the western coast of India. It is not so clear and bright as the preceding kind; it is also of a darker colour, more compact texture, and drier. Its smell is much stronger and more All the different sorts are gum resins, which contain more gummous than resinous parts. ALOES WOOD [Ger. Aloeholz, Du. Aloëhout Paradyshout, Da. Aloetra, Sw. Aloetra, Fr. Bois d'Aloes, It. Legno di Aloe, Sp. Aloe chino, Port. Pao de Aloes, Rus. Aloe derewo] comes from China and several of the Indian islands. There are three kinds. 1. Calabac or tambac, the finest quality, is of a light, spongy texture, very porous, and its pores filled up with a soft and fragrant resin. Its scent is very fragrant, and its taste acrid and bitterish, but aromatic, and not unpleasant. It varies in colour: in some instances black and purple, others black and yellow, and sometimes yellow alone. 2 The common aloe wood comes next in value; it is less resinous, as its texture is denser and more compact than the other. It is in small fragments of a dusky brown colour, variegated with resinous black veins. 3. The calambour is light and friable, of a dusky green black and deep brown colour, and often mottled. It is used chiefly by cabinet-makers. The two first of these aloes are used in medicine as a cordial. A very fragrant oil may be produced from them by distillation. ALPHABET, in a mercantile sense, signifies the twenty-four letters which serve either as an index to contain the names of correspondents and customers, with references to the ledger, or to particularize the respective books of ac count. ALPHOENIX, a description of barley-sugar, boiled, and afterwards poured upon a marble slab covered with oil of sweet almonds. ALTIN, money used in Muscovy in accounts, of the value of three copeks, 100 of which make a rouble. ALUDELS, amongst chemists, are bottomless earthenware pots, used in sublimation. ALUM is a white mineral salt, dug out of the earth, calcined, and washed in several pits of water, It is afterwards boiled, when the impurities subside, leaving a transparent liquor, which, being removed into a cooler, and some urine added to it, begins to gather into a mass; that is then taken out, washed, and melted over again, when it is fit for use. England, Italy, France, Hungary, and Sweden are the countries chiefly productive of alum. The best English alum, produced on the hills of Yorkshire and Lancashire, is extremely white, clear, and transparent, of an acid taste, leaving in the mouth a sense of sweetness, accompanied by a considerable degree of astringency. Roman alum is considered as the best and purest quality of commercial alum, and is known by its reddish hue, derived from Amber a slight film of sesquioxide of iron." Besides the mineral species of alum, there are the saccharine alum, burnt alum, and plomose alum, sold by chemists and druggists. "Alum is of great use in the arts, for preparing and separating skins, for mordants in calico printing and in dyeing, for glazing paper, for hardening and whitening tallow in candle-making, for clarifying liquors, and in medicines as an astringent and caustic." The kind in common use is potash alum, which consists of― Alumina Potash ................... 10'82 9'94 ALZENBURGER, a Rhine wine of a secondary quality, the produce of Breisig. AMA is a term used for a wine measure, as a pipe, a cask, &c. AMADOW [Ger. Zunderschwamm, Fr. Amadow], a spongy excrescence growing on old trees, which comes from Germany as tinder or touchwood. It is prepared by being boiled, and when dried and beaten put into a strong lye containing saltpetre, after which it is placed in an oven to dry. AMAIN, on board ship, is to lower the sails. AMALGAMATION, the operation of making an amalgam, or mixing mercury with any metal. For the combination of any one metal, with another, it is generally sufficient that one of them be in a state of fluidity. Mercury being always fluid, is therefore capable of amalgamation with other metals without heat; nevertheless, heat considerably facilitates the operation. To amalgamate without heat requires nothing more than rubbing the two metals together in a mortar; but the metal to be united with the mercury should be previously divided into very thin plates or grains. When heat is used-which is with some metals indispensably necessary-the mercury should be heated till it begins to smoke, and the grains of metal made red-hot before they are thrown into it. If it be gold or silver, it is sufficient to stir the fluid with an iron rod for a little while, and throw it into a vessel filled with water. This amalgam is used for gilding or silvering on copper, but is afterwards exposed to a degree of heat sufficient to evaporate the mercury. Amalgamation with lead or tin is effected by pouring equal parts of mercury into either of these metals in a state of fusion, and stirring all with an iron rod. AMAN, a species of cloth of a blue colour, made in the Levant. Amber (Succinum) [Ger. Bernstein, Du. Barnsteen, Da. Bernsteen Rav, Sw. Bernsten Raf, Fr. Ambre jaune, It. Ambre gialla, Sp. Ambar, Port. Ambar, Ambre, Alambre, Rus. Jantar]. This is a pellucid and very hard inflammable substance of one uniform structure: a bituminous taste, very fragrant smell, and highly electric. It is contended Amber that amber is a bitumen which, trickling into the sea from some subterraneous sources, and then mixing with vitriolic salts that abound in these parts, becomes congealed and fixed. Good amber is however found by digging a great distance from the sea, which renders it probable that it is a bitumen of the naphtha or petroleum kind hardened into its present state by a vitriolic acid or oil of vitriol. The natural colour of amber is a fine pale yellow, but it is often made white and sometimes black: in both cases it is rendered opaque by the admixture of extraneous bodies. The most frequent variation however from the yellow is into a dusky brown; sometimes it is tinged with metallic particles, and remains pellucid. The salt, oil, and tincture of Amber have been variously applied in medicine; but its mechanical uses for toys, beads, cabinets, and utensils, and the better sorts of varnishes, are of more importance. In East Prussia, and especially in that part called the Samland, amber is found in abundance; and during the prevalence of certain winds is frequently thrown by the sea on the shore in large quantities; it is collected there, as well as fished for on the surf, as also dug out of the sand hillocks running along the sea coast. In these sand hillocks, regular beds of amber are found enclosed in a soil of blue clay which is to be met with at an average depth of one hundred feet in a thickness of twenty-five to thirty feet. It is stated that out of some diggings established in those parts, 4,500 lb. of amber were raised in the course of four months of the year 1869. Diggings of this kind exist at present in various spots of the Samland, more especially at Wangen Sassan, Groskuhren, Kleinkuhren, Kraxtepellen, Kreislacken, and Hubnicken. Besides these works, there are other establishments at Brusterort where amber is obtained by divers from the bottom of the sea, and at Schwarzort (near Memel), where it is raised by dredging for it at the bottom of the Curish Haff: the dredging establishment last mentioned has increased considerably in importance of late years, and at present about 80,000 lb. of amber are annually obtained by it. The total amount of amber obtained during the year 1869 in all parts of the provinces of Prussia by the various means of collection is estimated at about 150,000 lb., the value of which may be taken at about 550,000 Prussian dollars. The quantity collected (by fishing for it) in the sea and upon the shore is about equal to that raised by the digging and dredging works. According to the opinion of competent persons, the produce of the diggings could be increased considerably by working them upon a regular mining system. Apart from the fact that no certain knowledge has hitherto been arrived at as to the actual extent of the amber fields in the blue clay, and that these fields exist most probably not only in the vicinity of the seacoast, but also in the interior of the Samland and even beyond that Ambergris district and the frontiers of Eastern Prussia, it is most likely that below the stratum of clay to which the diggings are at present confined, there are other strata in which amber would be met with. This supposition is based upon the circumstance that considerable quantities of amber have been found amongst the soil washed away by the sea during heavy gales from those portions of the coastal sand hills which lie below the layer of blue clay first alluded to. The chief seat of the retail amber trade is Dantzig; the wholesale trade is at present in the hands of only two or three firms in the province of Prussia. The working of the Prussian amber into mouth-pieces, beads, &c., is likewise carried on chiefly at Dantzig, but also in all large cities; of late a manufactory of amber wares has been established at Polangen, a small Russian town near Memel, and it is intended to open similar works at Konigsberg, Moscow, and at New York. Amber is exported from East Prussia chiefly to Vienna, London, Paris, Moscow, and New York, in all of which cities the Prussian merchants keep agents who are supplied with stocks of this article, assorted according to the requirements of the place. Great progress has lately been made with regard to the sorting of the various kinds of amber. There are now no less than fifty distinct kinds, differing in size, colour, hardness, and clearness. It is owing partly to this circumstance, and partly to the growing extent of the demand, that an increase in the sale of amber continues to take place. The demand from South Germany, Russia, the Danubian Principalities, and in the East in general, as compared with the comparatively limited amount hitherto obtainable, will, it is thought, prevent any increase of production from acting prejudicially on the profitableness of the trade in this article. Considering, moreover, the almost entire absence of mineral products in this part of Prussia, and the importance of opening additional channels of employment for the inhabitants, the Konigsberg Chamber of Commerce strongly recommends the introduction of the system above alluded to, by which the amber diggings might be extended, and worked upon a regular mining principle. AMBERADA, a description of sham amber, formerly used in the African trade. AMBERGRIS [Ger. Amber, Fr. Ambregris, It. Ambra-grigia, Sp. Ámbar-gris, Rus. Ambra] is now generally used in perfumery, though in some parts of Africa and Asia it is used as a spice in cookery. It is found floating on the sea, or in the abdomen of healthy sperm whales, and in pieces weighing from one ounce to one hundred pounds weight. The chief sup plies are received from the Bahamas, and in smaller quantities from the Maldives, Brazil, and the Chinese coast. It is an ash-coloured, fatty, inflammable substance, rugged on its surface, and melts freely on being heated, when it emits a fragrant odour. The ash-coloured is the finest, and such pieces as are white, or are growing black, are particularly unpleasant Amber-Seed held over the fire. Choose those that have an agreeable odour, and are in colour entirely grey outside, with small dark spots encircled in grey inside. The price of it at present is 265. per ounce, but as it is becoming very scarce, that figure is certain to rise much higher. AMBER-SEED [Fr. Ambrette, Ger. Bisamkorner, Du. Muskuszaad, Da. Desmerkorn, Sw. Desmanskorn, It. Granelli d'ambretta, Sp. Ambarilla, Port. Ambaralhi], a seed used in perfumery, brought from Egypt and Martinico. AMBOYNA, a fancy wood used by cabinetmakers, imported from Amboyna and Ceram. It is of various colours and shaded. AMBULANT, the term given in Amsterdam to brokers or agents who have not been sworn before a magistrate. AMEAS SEED [Fr. Semence d'ammi, Ger. Ammysamen, It. Ameos Ammi, Sp. Ameos Ammi] is an aromatic from the seed of a fruit resembling camphor in taste. AMEMOSCOPE, a machine which indicates from what point of the compass the wind blows. This is found by means of an index moving about an upright circular plate, the index being turned by an horizontal axis, and the axis by an upright staff, at the point of which is the fane moved about by the wind. AMETHYST [Ger. Amethyst, Du. Amathiststeen, Da. Ametist, Sw. Ametist, Fr. Amethyste, It. Amatista, Sp. Ametisto, Port. Ametista-Ametisto], a gem of a purple colour, which seems composed of a strong blue and a deep red, and according as either of those prevails, affording different tinges of purple, sometimes approaching to a violet, and sometimes even fading to a pale colour. Amethysts are generally of a purple colour, and may at any time be easily made so by putting them into the fire, in which pellucid or colourless state they only want the hardness not to be distinguished from diamonds. The amethyst is scarcely inferior to any of the gems in the beauty of its colours, and, in its purest state is of the same hardness and at least of equal value with the ruby or sapphire. It is found of various sizes, from the bigness of a small vetch to an inch and a half in diameter, and often much more than that in length. This precious stone is found in the East and West Indies, and in several parts of Europe, some of the first specimens of the Oriental ones being so hard and bright as to equal any of the coloured gems in value. However, by far the greater number of amethysts fall infinitely short of these, as all the European ones, and not a few of those brought from the East and West Indies, are very little harder than common crystal.-Kauffmann. AMFUHR, a secondary Moselle, the produce of Burg on the Rhine. AMIANTHUS OF EARTHFLAX, a fibrous, flexile, elastic mineral substance, consisting of short, abrupt, and interwoven filaments. It is found in Germany in the strata of iron ore, some Ammonia times forming veins, and an inch in diameter; also in Crete and Cyprus; in Tartary; Namur, in the Low Countries; in Egypt; in the mountains of Arcadia; in Corsica, Wales, Scotland, France, and Russia. The amianthus may be split into threads and filaments from one to ten inches in length, very fine, brittle, yet somewhat tractable, silky, and of a greyish colour. AMMERSCHWIR, a rich and luscious straw wine of the first class, produced in the Haut Rhin. AMMONIA, Volatile Alkali, or Spirits of Hartshorn, a pungent volatile substance, of great importance and extensive use, which is formed during the putrefactive fermentation of animal matter. When pure, it is a gaseous body composed of three equivalents of hydrogen and one of azote: sp. gr. 590; but in medicine and the arts it is generally used either in solution in water or in combination with other substances. Liquid Ammonia or Hartshorn is an aqueous solution of ammonia, prepared either by passing the gas as it is formed directly into water, or by distillation from sal ammoniac, burnt bone, and water. In the former case, the sp. gr. is 880, in the latter '954 It is limpid, colourless, very volatile, has a pungent smell and a caustic taste, and is one of the most useful stimulants in the materia medica. Acetate of Ammonia, or Spirit of Mondereras, is prepared by adding sesqui-carbonate of ammonia to dilute acetic acid. It has a sweetish bitter taste, and is employed externally as a refrigerant, and internally as a diaphoretic. Carbonate of Ammonia. The carbonate of ammonia may be obtained by uniting one volume of carbonic acid gas with two volumes of ammonial gas. It is a dry, white, volatile powder, and is used as a stimulant, called Spirit of Sal Volatile. The sesqui-carbonate of ammonia is obtained by sublimation from a mixture of muriate or sulphate of ammonia and chalk, and usually occurs in cakes broken out of the subliming vessel. When fresh, it is of a crystalline texture, semi-transparent and hard, odour pungent and taste penetrating. It is extensively used in chemical preparations. In medicine it is employed as a stimulant, and is usually called smelling salts. Muriate of Ammonia, or Sal-Ammoniac [Fr. Sel Ammoniac, Ger. Salmiak, It. Sale Ammoniaco], was originally procured from Egypt, where it was made from the soot of camels' dung. It is now, however, prepared in abundance in this country by decomposition of the ammonial fluid given off during the preparation of coal gas, also by a complicated process from bones and other refuse of animal substances containing its ingredients. It is likewise found native at Etna and Vesuvius, in some of the Tuscan lakes, and in Persia, Bucharia, &c. As generally obtained, it is in large cakes of a semi-circular form, translucent and colourless, with a sharp saline taste, but |