ALB
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A L C
Alebsftcr cuts very fmooth and eafy, and is much us'd among Sculptors for Utile Statues, Vafes, Columns, £$c. See Statue, Foundery, &c.
They i'ometimes alio employ it like Plaifter of Paris : in order to which-, they bum and calcine it ; after which, mixing it up with Water to a thin Confidence ; it is call into a Mouid, where it readily coagulates into a firm Body. See Plaister.
Alabafter, Mr. "Boyle obferves, being finely poudcr d, and thus let in a Bafon over the Fire ; will, when hot, a flume the Appearance of a Fluid, by rolling in Waves, yielding to the fmalleft Touch, and emitting Vapour ; all which Pro- perties it lofes again, on the Departure of the Heat, and difcovers it felf a mere incoherent Pouder. See Fluid, and Fluidity. . r
Some derive the Word from the Latin alblls, becaulo ot the Whitenefs of this Stone.— Others, from the Greek &h&- £«£(}?, which they form from the Privative a and Aaj/£aW', capio ; this Stone being too fmooth and flippery for the Hand to fiflen hold of it.
The Alabaster Box of precious Ointment, mention d in St. AfffanXXVI. 7. Mark XIV. 3. and Luke VII. 57. has niven the Criticks and Interpreters fome Pain. — To fup- pofe^t a Vafe of Alabafter, docs not feem confident with its breaking lo eafily, as is intimated by St. Mark.
F. Kircher, in tn^Oedip. JEgyp. notes, that Alabafter, Alabaftrum, was not only ufed for a Vafe of odoriferous Li- quor, but alfo for an Egyptian Meafure, containing nine Kofti, or Egyptian Pounds ; amounting, according to his Computation, to 24 Reman Sextarics, or Pounds. See Measure, Weight, &c.
ALABASTRA, in a Plant, are thofe little green Leaves which compafs in the bottom of the Flower. See Ca-
ALAISEE, in Heraldry. SeeHuMETTY.
A-LA-MIRE, in Mufick. Sec Note, and Gamut.
ALAMODE, a fort of Silk, or Taffety. See Stuff, Silk, Taffety, Sjfc.
ALANORARUJS, in our antient Cuftoms, a Keeper or Manager of Spaniels, or Setting-Dogs, for the Sport of Hunting, Flawking, iSc. See Hunting, and Hawk- ing.
The Word is form'd from the Gothic Alan, a Greyhound.
ALARES, in Antiquity, are fuppofed by fome Authors to have been a kind of Militia, or Soldiery among the Ro- mans i fo called from Ala, a Wing, becaufe of their Light- nefs and Swiftnefs in the Combat.
Others make them a People of Tannonia : but others, with more probability, take Alares for an Adjective or Epi- thet ; and apply it to the Roman Cavalry ; becaufe plac'd in the two Wings, or Al£ of the Army ; for which Rea- fon, a Body of Horfe was called Ala. See Wing, Caval- ry, e?c.
Alares Mufculi, in Anatomy. See Pterygoids.
ALARM, a Signal given by Shouts, or by Inftruments of War, for the Soldiers to take to their Arms, at the unexpec- ted Arrival of an Enemy.
The Word is form'd from the French a I'arme, to your Arms.
Aearm -Toft, is the Ground appointed to each Regiment, by the Quarter-Mader-General, for them to march to, in cafe of an Alarm.
In a Garilbn, the Alarm-Toft is the Place where every Regiment is order'd to draw up, on all Occafions. See Place.
ALB, Alee, Alba, antiently called Camifia, a Robe or Veftment of white Linen, hanging down to the Feet ; wherein the RomiJIl Prieffs perform divine Service.
The Alb correfponds to the Surplice among us. — It takes its Name from its Colour, albus, white.
ALBA Firma, or Album, was a yearly Rent, payable to the Chief Lord of a Hundred; fo called, becaufe paid wholly in white Money, or Silver, and not in Corn, which was called Slack Mail.
ALBIGENSES, a Seer or Party of Reformers about Tholoufe, and the Albigeois, in Languedoc ; who, in the XHth Century, became remarkable tor their opposition to the Difcipline and Ceremonie* of the Church of Rome. See Reformation.
They were alfo known by various other Names ; as, the fetrobrnffians, Armldifts, Cathares, Tatarius, 'Publicans, Tijferans, Sons-hommcs, Taffcgers, &c.
'Tis pretended, they received their Opinions from Bulga- ria ■ which having been infected by the Taulicians of Ar- menia, difTufed the fame into Italy, Germany, &c. and that Teter Sruys was the firft that brought 'em into Lavguedoc, about the Year 11:6. See Petrobrussian.
The Romanifts tax them with abundance of heterodox Opinions ; as, for inftance, that there are two Gods, the one inSnitcly Good, and the other infinitely Evil : That the good God made the invifible World, and the Evil one that
which we live in ; and the red of the Manichean Teneis See Manichee.
But this teeth's rather one of thofe pious Frauds allowed particularly in that Church, which eltcems it a kind of Merit to blacken Hereticks;
However this be, the Albigcnfes grew fo formidable in a little time, that a Holy League or Croizade was agreed upon among the Catholicks ; and. War denoune'd again!! them the Pope himfelf railing the firit Standard. — In 1229, a Peace was flruck up, and an Inquifition eftablifh'd at Tholoufe from which time they dwindled by little and little, till the Times of the Reformation ; when fuch of them as were left, fell in with the Vaudois, and became conformable to the Doctrine of "Luinglius, and the Difcipline of Geneva. See Vaudois.
ALBUGINEA, in Anatomy, the outctmoft Coat or Te- gument of the Eye ; called alfo the Adnata, Conjunctiva, &c See Adnata, Conjunctiva, ££c.
It takes the Name Atbuginea, from its Whitenefs ; it being this that forms what we call the White of the Eye, See Eye.
The fame Term is alfo applied to the Membrane imme- diately encompafling the Tefticle. See Testicle, and Scrotum.
ALBUGO, or Album Oculi, the fame with the Alba- ginea, or White of the Eye. See Eye, Albuginea, 6?c.
Albugo is alfo a Dileafe of the Eye ; otherwife called Leucoma, and popularly, Tin and Web. See Leucoma, and Pin.
The Albugo is a whitidi Speck or Film, growing, fay fome
Authors, on the Cornea ; and obftructing the Sight. .
Others, more juftly, place the Albugo on the Atbuginea 3 by this diilinguifhing it from the Pterygium, which is a fimiUr Speck on the Cornea. See Pterygium.
It ofteneft arifes as a Scar, after an Inflammation or Ulcer in the Part j particularly in the Small Pox. — The Cure is the fame as in the Pterygium.
ALBUM Gr<ecum, or Stercns Canis Officinale, Dogs white Dung, is a Medicinal Drugj in the prefent Practice, ufed with Honey, to cleanfe and deterge, chiefly in Inflamma- tions of the Throat 5 and that principally outwardly, as a Plaifter.
ALBUMEN Ovi, the White of an Egg. See Egg.
It is ufed in Medicine, as being of a glutinous or binding Nature, on which Account it is often mixed with Bole Ar- moniac, i$c. to prevent any drained Part from rifing into a Tumor, and redore it to its Tone or Eiadicity. — It is alfo an Ingredient in fome Mixtures for confolidating frelh Wounds, and preventing too great a Lofs of Blood.
ALBURN Colour, Brown. See Auburn.
ALCADE, or Alcalde, or Alcaid, in the Spanijh Y& licy, a fort of Judge or Minitter of Juftice, anfwering to a Provod. See Provost.
The Spaniards borrow their Alcade from the Saracen Al- caid. See Alcaid.
ALCAICKS, in the antient Poetry, a Name common to fcveral Kinds of Verfes ; thus called from the Poet Alceus, the Inventor thereof. See Verse.
The firfl Species of Alcaicks, confids of two Dactyls and two Trochees : As,
Exilium impofintra cymie.
There is another Kind, confiding of five Feet, of which the fird is a Spondee or Iambick ; the fecond an Iambick ; the third a long Syllable ; the fourth a Dactyl ; the fifth a Dactyl or Amphimacer: As thefe of Horace,
Omnes eodem ccgimur, omnitim Verfatur urna, Jerius, ocitts Sors exitura,
Befides thefe two Kinds of Verfes, which are call'd Al- caick DaBylics, there is a third fort, called Amply Alcaick; whereof the firft is an Epitrite, the fecond and third Cbo- riambus's, and the fourrh a Bacchius 5 as,
Cur timet fla\vum Tiberim ] t anger e ? cur \ cUvum 1 -
'The Alcaick Ode, confifts of four Strophes, each of which contains four Verfes ; rhe two firft are Alcaick Verfes of the fecond Kind ; the third an Iambick Dimeter Hyper- catalectick, i. e. of four Feet and a long Syllable : As,
Sors exitura, c£ nos in ceternum.
The fourth is an Alcaick of the firft Kind. The emits
Alcaick Strophe is as follows :
Omnes eodem cogimur, omnium Verfatur urna, Jerius, ocius Sors exitura, (S nos in sternum Exilium impofitura cymb#.
ALCAIP.
