Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/278

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254 ALBINUS ALBRECHTSBERGER describes them in his Voyage dans lea Alpes, Buzzi, surgeon to the hospital at Milan, Sum- mering, and others. ALUIM S (Ger. WEISS), Bernhard Siegfried, a German anatomist, born in Frankfort-on-the- Oder, Feb. 24, 1697, died in Leyden, Sept. 7, 1770. He was educated by his father, profes- sor of medicine at Frankfort, and afterward at Leyden, and also studied under Winslow and Senac in Paris. At the age of 22 he was called to fill the office of demonstrator at Ley- den, then the most celebrated school of medi- cine in Europe, and two years later became professor of anatomy and surgery. He pub- lished De Osaibus Corporis Humani, Historia Musculorum Hominis, and lastly, Tabulae Sce- leti et Musculorum Corporis Humani (fol., Ley- den, 1747), illustrated with costly plates pre- pared under his own inspection. He edited the works of Harvey. ALBION, the appellation by which Great Britain was originally known to the Greeks and Romans. It is a Celtic word, meaning high island or mountain land, and was probably ap- plied originally to the northern part, embracing the Scottish highlands. The root of the word is thus the same as that of the word Alps. The derivation from the Latin albus, white, is now rejected by the best critics. ALBION, a village, the capital of Orleans co., N. Y., about 40 m. N. E. of Buffalo ; pop. in 1870, 3,322. The Erie canal and the Niagara Falls and Suspension Bridge branch of the New York Central railroad pass through it. It has several churches, an academy, a female semi- nary, two or three banks, and two weekly newspapers. ALBION, New, a name originally bestowed by Sir Francis Drake on the territory now known as California and the adjacent coast, which he visited in June, 1579, but now re- stricted by Humboldt and other geographers to that part of the N. W. coast lying between lat. 43 and 48 N.. ALBIRCO, a star in the head of the constella- tion Cygnus. It is one of the double stars, and has lately attracted the especial attention of spectroscopists by the difference in the lines be- tween its two constituents. The primary star is orange, the smaller blue. ALBOIN, king of the Lombards, succeeded his father in Pannonia about 560, and died in 574. After aiding Narses against the Ostrogoths, and defeating and slaying Cunimond, king of the Gepidse, he invaded Italy in 668, overran the peninsula as far as the Tiber, and fixed the Lombard capital at Pavia, which he captured after a three years' siege. He had married his prisoner Rosamond, daughter of Cunimond, and at a feast in Verona forced her to drink out of her father's skull ; in revenge for which she caused her paramour Hejmichis to assas- sinate him. The guilty pair then fled to Ravenna, where Rosamond poisoned Helmichis in order that she might marry the exarch Longinus. Her victim discovered the treachery and com- pelled her to die with him. Alboin, in spite of his barbarity, was a beneficent ruler, and is a favorite hero of German poetry. ALBONI, Marietta, an Italian contralto singer, born at Cesena, March 10, 1826, or, according to some authorities, at Forli in 1824. Her musical education was completed under Ros- sini, in Bologna, and she made her debut at the Scala theatre in Milan. After singing at Vienna, St. Petersburg, and in various parts of Italy and Germany, she reached London and Paris in the year 1847. Her voice was a true contralto of the sweetest and most so- norous quality, extending from F in the bass to C in alt of the soprano a eompass of 2 oc- taves. Her favorite parts were in Rossini's Gazza Ladra, La Donna del Logo, Semiramide, and Cenerentola, the florid music of which she executed with marvellous ease. In June, 1852, she arrived in New York on a professional tour, and for upward of a year sang in operas, con- certs, and oratorios, in the principal cities of this country. In 1869 she sang in Paris in Rossini's posthumous mass, at a salary of 3,000 francs for each performance; and in March, 1872, she reappeared there in opera. AL-BORAK, the name of the camel on which Mohammed made his imaginary journeys from the temple at Jerusalem to the celestial regions. ALBORNOZ, Gil Alvarez Carillo, a Spanish pre- late and warrior, born in Cuenca, died in Viter- bo, Aug. 24, 1367. As archbishop of Toledo, he took part in the contest with the Moors; and having saved the life of Alfonso XI. in the battle of Algeciras, he was ennobled, and in 1343 commanded in the siege of that place. Falling into disgrace with Alfonso's successor, Pedro the Cruel, he fled to Avignon, where Pope Clement VI. created him cardinal. In 1353 Innocent VI. sent him as legate to Italy, to regain for the papacy the control of Rome ; and in the course of the years 1353-'62 he suc- ceeded, under the most unfavorable circum- stances, in again subjecting the ecclesiastical states to the papal power. ALBRECHT, Friedrieh Rndolph, archduke of Austria, born Aug. 3, 1817. He is the eldest son of the late archduke Charles, second son of the emperor Leopold II., and is consequent- ly first cousin of the reigning emperor's father. He distinguished himself in his youth as a cav- alry commander, and had an important share in the battle of Novara in 1849. He was gov- ernor general of Hungary 1851-'60. During the campaign of 1866 he commanded the Aus- trian forces in Venetia, and gained the brilliant victory of Custozza over the Italians (June 24), but the defeat of Benedek at Sadowa (July 3) neutralized this success. The archduke was called to replace Benedek, but the treaty of Prague immediately put an end to the war. He is a field marshal, and inspector general of the Austrian army. His wife, daughter of King Louis I. of Bavaria, died in 1864. ALBRECHTSBERGER, Jobann Georg, one of the first modern masters of counterpoint, born in