Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/361

ALL SAINTS' BAY ALLSTON 337 is founded on the fact that alloys are much more imperfect conductors of electricity than the separate metals, from offering more re- sistance. Small coils of wire are made of an alloy similar to German silver, in which the resistance is equal to many miles of telegraph wire ; they are used in connection with volta- meters to measure the strength of batteries, and to detect imperfections or breaks in tele- graph wires. ALL SAINTS' BAY, or Itahia de Todos Santos, in the province of Bahia, Brazil, one of the larg- est and finest natural harbors in the world. It is 37 m. long and 27 wide, and its surface is dotted with islands. The town of Bahia lies on the E. side of the bay. ALL SAINTS' DAY, a festival in honor of all the angels and saints of heaven, observed in the Roman Catholic church on Nov. 1, and also in the Protestant Episcopal and Lutheran churches. In the eastern churches the same festival has been observed since the 4th cen- tury. In the West, it was instituted by Pope Boniface IV. in the early part of the 7th cen- tury, on the occasion of dedicating the Pan- theon, a temple built by Marcus Agrippa, 25 B. C., in honor of Jupiter the Avenger and all the gods, to the worship of the true God, under the invocation of the Virgin Mary and all the saints. The feast became general in the 9th century. It is also called All Hallows. ALL SOULS, the day after All Saints, set apart by the Catholic church for the commem- oration of all the faithful departed, for whom the mass of requiem is said, and the office of the dead recited. In Germany, the people, both Catholic and Protestant, visit the grave- yards on this day, and strew flowers on the graves of their friends. ALLSPICE, or Jamaica Pepper, the immature berry of the Eugenia pimenta, so named from its being supposed to combine the flavor of sev- eral other spices, such as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. The allspice, pimento, or bayberry tree is a native of South America and the 23 VOL. i. 23 West India islands, especially Jamaica. The tree is of a highly ornamental character, often upward of 25 or 30 feet in height ; the leaves inclining to oval, covering the numerous branches with a luxuriant evergreen foliage; the flowers small and without show, succeeded by spherical berries with a persistent calyx, and a fragrant aromatic odor. When they are quite ripe, they are of a dark purple color, and filled with a sweet pulp. In many parts of Jamaica the allspice tree grows in great abun- dance without cultivation, but it is not easily propagated by artificial means. The commer- cial value of the fruit makes it an object of great interest with the planters, and no crop receives a larger share of attention. The fa- vorite situation for a pimento walk, or planta- tion, is among the hills on the north side of the island. A spot is selected in the vicinity of another plantation, or in a locality favorable to the spontaneous growth of the trees ; this is stripped of all other wood, and the young pimento plants soon make their appear- ance, either from seeds previously existing in the soil, or which have been deposited by birds, who feed upon the berries with great avidity. It is said that a single tree has been known to produce 150 Ibs. of the raw fruit, or 100 Ibs. of the dried spice. The crop, however, is uncertain, and abundant only once in five years. The berries require care in gathering as well as drying. They must be picked when they have attained full growth, but before they begin to ripen, and carefully dried. When the seeds are allowed to ripen fully, they lose that aromatic warmth for which they are esteemed as a spice, and acquire a taste almost exactly like that of juniper berries, which renders them agreeable food for birds, the most industrious planters of these trees. The leaves and the bark participate in the warm aromatic proper- ties of the berries. ALLSTON, Washington, an American painter, born at Waccamaw, S. C., Nov. 5, 1779, died in Cambridge, Mass., July 9, 1843. From con- siderations of health he was removed in his early boyhood to Newport, K. I., and com- pleted his education at Harvard college, where he graduated in 1800. Having developed a decided inclination for painting, he went in 1801 to London and became a student of the royal academy, then under the presidency of his countryman Benjamin West, to whom he was indebted for many useful hints in the prosecu- tion of his art. A three years' course of study in London was succeeded by a lengthened so- journ in Rome, where he familiarized himself with the works of the old masters, and gained a reputation as a colorist. During a brief visit to America in 1809 he married a sister of Dr. William Ellery Channing, and returning soon after to London entered upon his career as an artist. Within the next few years he produced a number of works of great merit, founded for the most part on subjects taken from sacred history. Two of these, " The Dead Man, Re-