where he remained for some time, supporting himself by his pencil. At last, however, he reached St Petersburg, where the kindness of Sir Alexander Crichton, the court physician, and other friends procured him abundant employment. By excursions into southern Russia, Turkey, the Crimea and Circassia, he filled his portfolio with vivid sketches, of which he made admirable use in his subsequent pictures. In 1814 he returned to Edinburgh, and in the two following years exhibited at the Royal Academy “The Circassian Captives” and “Bashkirs conducting Convicts to Siberia.” The former picture remained so long unsold, that, thoroughly disheartened, he threatened to retire to Circassia when, through the kindness of Sir Walter Scott, a subscription of 1000 guineas was obtained for the picture, which fell by lot into the possession of the earl of Wemyss. About the same time the Grand Duke Nicholas, afterwards tsar of Russia, visited Edinburgh, and purchased his “Siberian Exiles” and “Haslan Gheray crossing the River Kuban,” giving a very favourable turn to the fortunes of the painter, whose pictures were now sought for by collectors. From this time to 1834 he achieved his greatest success and firmly established his fame by the illustration of Scottish history. His most important works of this class were “Archbishop Sharpe on Magus Moor”; “John Knox admonishing Mary Queen of Scots” (1823), engraved by Burnet; “Mary Queen of Scots signing her Abdication” (1824); and “Regent Murray shot by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh.” The last procured his election as an associate of the Royal Academy (1825). Later Scottish subjects were “Lord Byron” (1831), portraits of Scott and “The Orphan” (1834), which represented Anne Scott seated near the chair of her deceased father. In 1830 he was compelled, on account of an attack of ophthalmia, to seek a milder climate, and visited Rome, Naples and Constantinople. He returned with a rich store of materials, of which he made excellent use in his “Constantinople Slave Market” and other productions. In 1834 he visited Spain and Morocco, and in 1841 went again to St Petersburg, when he undertook, at the request of the tsar, his “Peter the Great teaching his Subjects the Art of Shipbuilding,” exhibited in London in 1845, and now in the Winter Palace of St Petersburg. His “Polish Exiles” and “Moorish Love-letter,” &c., had secured his election as a Royal Academician in 1835; he was appointed president of the Royal Scottish Academy (1838), and royal limner for Scotland, after Wilkie’s death (1841); and in 1842 received the honour of knighthood. His later years were occupied with battle-pieces, the last he finished being the second of his two companion pictures of the “Battle of Waterloo.” He died on the 22nd of February 1850, leaving a large unfinished picture—“Bruce at Bannockburn.”
ALLAN-DESPRÉAUX, LOUISE ROSALIE (1810–1856), French
actress, was “discovered” by Talma at Brussels in 1820, when
she played Joas with him in Athalie. At his suggestion she
changed her surname, Ross, for her mother’s maiden name, and,
as Mlle. Despréaux, was engaged for children’s parts at the
Comédie Française. At the same time she studied at the Conservatoire.
By 1825 she had taken the second prize for comedy,
and was engaged to play ingénue parts at the Comédie Française,
where her first appearance in this capacity was as Jenny in
L’Argent on the 8th of December 1826. In 1831 the director of
the Gymnase succeeded in persuading her to join his company.
Her six years at this theatre, during which she married Allan,
an actor in the company, were a succession of triumphs. She
was then engaged at the French theatre at St Petersburg. Returning
to Paris, she brought with her, as Legouvé says, a thing
she had unearthed, through a Russian translation, a little comedy
never acted till she took it up, a production half-forgotten, and
esteemed by those who knew it as a pleasing piece of work in the
Marivaux style—Un Caprice by Alfred de Musset, which she had
played with success in St Petersburg. Her selection of this piece
for her reappearance at the Théâtre Française (1847) laid the
corner-stone of Musset’s lasting fame as a dramatist. In the
following year his comedy Il ne faut jurer de rien was acted at the
same theatre, and thus led to the production of his finer plays.
Among plays by other authors in which Mme. Allan won special
laurels at the Théâtre Française, were Par droit de conquête,
Péril en la demeure, La joie fait peur, and Lady Tartuffe. In the
last, with a part of only fifty lines, and playing by the very side
of the great Rachel, she yet held her own as an actress of the first
rank. Mme. Allan died in Paris, in the height of her popularity,
in March 1856.
ALLANTOIN, C4H6N4O3 or CO
|
NH – CH – NH – CO – NH2 | , the diureide of glyoxylic acid. |
| | | ||
| NH – CO |
It is found in the allantoic liquid of the cow, and in the urine of sucking calves. It can be obtained by the oxidation of uric acid by means of lead dioxide, manganese dioxide, ozone or potassium permanganate:
C5H4N4O3 + H2O + O＝C4H6N4O3 + CO2.
It has been synthesized by E. Grimaux by heating one part of glyoxylic acid with two parts of urea for ten hours at 100° C.: 2CO(NH2)2 + CH(OH)2COOH＝3H2O + C4H6N4O3. It forms glancing prisms of neutral reaction slightly soluble in water. On standing with concentrated potassium hydroxide solution it gives potassium allantoate C4H7N4O4K. On heating with water it undergoes hydrolysis into urea and allanturic acid C3H4O3N2. It is reduced by sodium amalgam to glycouril C4H6N4O2, whilst with hydriodic acid it yields urea and hydantoin C3H4N2O2. Hot concentrated sulphuric acid also decomposes allantoin, with production of ammonia, and carbon monoxide and dioxide. By dry distillation it gives ammonium cyanide.
ALLEGHANY, or THE ALLEGHANIES (a spelling now more
common than Allegheny), a name formerly used of all the
Appalachian Mountains (q.v.), U.S.A., and now sometimes of
all that system lying W. and S. of the Hudson river, being steep
and narrow-crested in Pennsylvania (1500-1800 ft.), and in
Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia higher (3000 ft.-4473 ft).
and with broader crests. Another usage applies to the ridges (“the Alleghany Ridges”) parallel to the Blue Ridge; the north-western
part of this region is sometimes called the Alleghany Front or
the Front of the Alleghany Plateau. The Alleghany Plateau is
the north-westernmost division of the Appalachian system; it is
an eroded mass of sedimentary rock sloping north-westward to
the Prairie and Lake Plains and reaching south-west from the
south-western part of New York state through Tennessee and
into Alabama.
ALLEGHENY, formerly a city of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., on the N. bank of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers,
opposite Pittsburg; since 1907 a part of Pittsburg. Pop. (1890)
105,287; (1900) 129,896, of whom 30,216 were foreign-born
and 3315 were negroes; of the foreign-born 12,022 were from
Germany, 5070 from Ireland, 3929 from Austria, and 2177 from
England; (1906, estimate) 145,240. Allegheny is served by the
Baltimore & Ohio and the Pittsburg & Western railways, by
the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago, the Western Pennsylvania,
the Buffalo & Allegheny Valley, the Cleveland & Pittsburg, the
Erie & Pittsburg, the Pittsburg, Youngstown & Ashtabula,
and the Chautauqua divisions of the Pennsylvania railway
system, and by Ohio river freight and passenger boats. Extending
along the river fronts for about 612 m. are numerous large
manufactories and the headquarters of the shipping interests;
farther back are the mercantile quarters and public buildings;
and on the hills beyond are the residence districts, commanding
extensive views of the valley. Two of the principal thoroughfares,
Federal and Ohio streets, intersect at a central square, in
which are the city hall, public library, post office and the marketplace;
and surrounding the main business section on the E., N.
and W. is City Park of 100 acres, with lakes and fountains, and
monuments to the memory of Alexander von Humboldt, George
Washington and T. A. Armstrong. Farther out is Riverview
Park (219 acres), in which is the Allegheny Astronomical
Observatory, and elsewhere are a soldiers’ monument and a
monument (erected by Andrew Carnegie) in memory of Colonel
Johnes Anderson. In Allegheny are the following institutions
of higher learning:—the Allegheny Theological Seminary (United
Presbyterian), opened in 1825; the, Western Theological Seminary
of the Presbyterian Church, opened in 1827; and the Theological
Seminary of the Reformed Presbyterians, opened in 1856.
There is a fine Carnegie library with a music-hall. Among penal
