which it had obtained from successive kings of France. John of Albret, son of Alain, became king of Navarre by his marriage with Catherine of Foix. Their son Henry, king of Navarre, was created duke of Albret and peer of France in 1550. By his wife Margaret, sister of the French king, Francis I., he had a daughter, Jeanne d’Albret, queen of Navarre, who married Anthony de Bourbon, duke of Vendome, and became the mother of Henry IV., king of France. The dukedom of Albret, united to the crown of France by the accession of this prince, was granted to the family of La Tour d’Auvergne in 1651, in exchange for Sedan and Raucourt.
To a younger branch of this house belonged Jean d’Albret, seigneur of Orval, count of Dreux and of Rethel, governor of Champagne (d. 1524), who was employed by Francis I. in many diplomatic negotiations, more particularly in his intrigues to get himself elected emperor in 1519. (M. P.*)
ALBRIGHT, JACOB (1759–1808), American clergyman, was born near Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of May 1759. He was of “Pennsylvania-German” parentage, his name being originally Albrecht, and was educated in the Lutheran faith. At an early age he became a tile-burner. In 1790 he was converted to Methodism, and in 1796 determined to devote himself to preaching that faith among the Pennsylvania Germans. His efforts met with great success, and in 1800 he founded what was virtually a new and independent church organization on the Methodist system, of which he became the presiding elder, and eventually (1807) bishop. This church is officially the Evangelical Association, but its adherents have been variously known as “New Methodists.” “Albrights,” and “Albright Brethren.” Albright died on the 18th of May 1808, at Mühlbach, Pennsylvania.
ALBUERA, or Albuhera, LA, a small village of Spain, in the province of Badajoz, 13 m. S.E. of the town of that name. Pop. (1900) 820. Albuera is celebrated on account of the victory gained there on the 16th of May 1811 by the British, Portuguese and Spaniards, under Marshal Beresford, over the French army commanded by Marshal Soult. (See Peninsular War.)
ALBUFERA DE VALENCIA, a lagoon, 7 m. S. of Valencia in Spain, about 12 m. in length and 4 in breadth, 12 ft. being its greatest depth. It communicates with the sea by a narrow outlet, which can be opened or closed at pleasure. The lake is crown property, and is of great value from the fish and wild-fowl with which it abounds. Rice is grown in large quantities by the inhabitants of the adjoining villages. In 1812 Marshal Suchet was created duke of Albufera by Napoleon for his conquest of Valencia, and invested with the domain; but the battle of Vittoria in 1813 deprived him of his possession, though he still retained the title. Subsequently the revenues of Albufera were conferred upon the duke of Wellington in token of the gratitude of the Spanish nation. (See Peninsular War.)
ALBULAE AQUAE, a group of springs, 4 m. W. of Tibur, the water of which is bluish, strongly impregnated with sulphur and carbonate of lime, and rises at a temperature of about 75° F. Remains of a Roman thermal establishment exist near the principal spring, the so-called Lago della Regina (which is continually diminishing in size owing to the deposit left by the water), and dedicatory inscriptions in honour of the waters have been found. The baths are still frequented by the Romans, though the modern establishment is about 1 m. S. on the high road.
See T. Ashby in Papers of the British School at Rome, iii. 117.
ALBULA PASS, now the principal route from the N. to the Upper Engadine in the Swiss Canton of the Grisons. It was already frequented in the 13th century, while a carriage road (highest point, 7595 ft.) was constructed across it in 1865, but for a long time it was not as much used as the easier and more direct Julier Pass (7504 ft.), until the opening of the railway in 1903, which has vastly increased its practical importance. Starting from Coire the Rhine valley is followed to Reichenau (614 m.), and then that of the Hinter Rhine to Thusis (1012 m.). The line then runs through the grand Schyn gorge (cut by the Albula torrent) to Tiefenkastell (712 m.), where it leaves the Julier road on the right (S.) and continues to follow the course of the Albula past Filisur and Bergun (1212 m.) to the mouth (5879 ft.) of the great tunnel (334 m. in length; highest point, 5987 ft.) which has been pierced below the pass. The descent lies through the Bevers glen to Bevers (212 m.), where the Upper Engadine is reached, about 5 m. below St. Moritz, which is 56 m. from Coire by this route.
(W. A. B. C.)
ALBUM (Lat. albus, white), in ancient Rome, a board chalked or painted white, on which decrees, edicts and other public notices were inscribed in black. The Annales Maximi of the Pontifex Maximus, the annual edicts of the praetor, the lists of Roman and municipal senators (decuriones) and jurors (album indicum) were exhibited in this manner. In medieval and modern times album denotes a book of blank pages in which verses, autographs, sketches, photographs and the like are collected. It is also applied to the official list of matriculated students in a university, and to the roll in which a bishop inscribes the names of his clergy. In law, the word is the equivalent of mailles blanches, for rent paid in silver (“white”) money.
ALBUMAZAR, more properly Abu-maaschar (805–885), Arab astronomer, was born at Balkh, flourished at Bagdad, and died at Wasid in Central Asia. His principal works are: De Magnis Conjunctionibus (Augsburg, 1489); Introductorium in Astronomiam (Venice, 1506); and Flores Astrologici (Augsburg, 1488). He maintained in the first that the world, created when the seven planets were in conjunction in the first degree of Aries, will come to an end at a like conjunction in the last degree of Pisces.
See Biog. Universelle (Jourdain); Lalande, Bibliographie Astronomique; Poggendorff, Biog. literarisches Handwörterbuch; Houzeau, Bibl. Astronomique.
ALBUMIN, or Albumen (Lat. albus, white), an organic substance typical of a group of bodies (albumins or albuminates) of very complicated chemical composition. They are sometimes called the histogenetic bodies or proteids, because they are essential to the building up of the animal organism. The vegetable kingdom is the original source of albuminous substances, the albumins being found in greatest quantity in the seed. They also occur in the fluids of the living organism. The chemistry of the albumins is one of the most complicated and difficult in the whole domain of organic chemistry. It has attracted the attention of many workers, and has formed the subject of a huge literature. In this field Béchamp, Cohnheim, Albrecht Kossel, and, especially, Emil Fischer and his pupils have been extremely active. The general trend of these researches lies in the study of the decomposition or “breaking down" products of the albumin molecules; once these are accurately determined, the synthesis of an albumin is but a matter of time. Already we have proceeded far in our knowledge of the decomposition products, and certain simple proteids have been synthesized.
The albumins contain in all cases the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen; their composition, however, varies within certain limits: C＝50-55%, H＝6·9-7·3%, N.＝15-19%, S＝0·3-2·4%, O＝19-24%, crystallized albumin is C＝51·48%, H＝6·76%, N＝18·14%, S＝0·96%, O＝22·66%, which points to the General characters.formula C720H1134N218S5O248, corresponding to the molecular weight 16,954. A high molecular weight characterizes these substances, but so far no definite value has been determined by either physical or chemical means; A. P. Sabanezhev obtained the value 15,000 by Raoult’s method for purified egg albumin. All albumins are laevo-rotatory; and on incineration a small amount of inorganic ash is invariably left. They are usually insoluble in water, alcohol and ether; and their presence as solutes in vegetable and animal fluids is not yet perfectly understood, but it is probably to be connected with the presence of salts or other substances. A remarkable change occurs when many albumins are boiled with water, or treated with certain acids, their solubility and general characters being entirely altered, and the fluid becoming coagulated. This change is seen
