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362 ALTHORP ALTON Avignon, where the soil seemed to him favor- able to the growth of madder. He failed to interest the public mind in favor of his plan, but a French lady, Mme. de Clausenette, con- sented to plant the seeds which he had brought with him from Smyrna. The experiment was successful and extensively imitated, but Althen, who had thus conferred a great benefit upon France, was left to die in the greatest penury ; and on the same day that the honor of a mon- ument in the Calvet museum at Avignon was paid to him by the French authorities, his only daughter died in despair at the hospital. Ml Hour. Viscount. See SPENCER. ALTITUDE, the scientific or technical word for height. The altitude of a triangle is the distance from either corner of the triangle to the opposite side, when that side is considered as the base of the triangle. The altitude of a cone or a pyramid is the height of its vertex above the plane on which it stands. The altitude of a star is its height above the horizon. This alti- tude is measured in degrees, a star in the zenith having the greatest possible altitude of 90 de- grees. Apparent altitude is that which the star or other heavenly body appears to have, from which the true altitude is obtained by mak- ing allowance for the various errors arising from the refraction of the air, the height of the observer, the distance of the body from the earth, &c. ALTKIRCII, a town of the new German de- partment of Upper Alsace, on the 111, 16 m. E. of Belfort, France, and 70 m. S. of Strasburg ; pop. about 3,200. It is a manufacturing town of some importance, and contains a fine modern church and a ruined castle, which in former times was occupied by the Austrian archdukes in their visits to Alsace. It was founded in the 12th century, and belonged to the counts of Pfirt (Ferrette). The German authorities have selected Altkirch as the town to be fortified as a counter-fortress to Belfort. il.nff III., a river of Bavaria, 150 m. long, rising 7 m. N. E. of Rothenburg in Middle Franconia, and emptying into the Danube at Kelheim, S. W. of Ratisbon. The Ludwig's canal connects it with the Regnitz, an affluent of the Main, thus uniting the North and Black seas through the Rhine and Danube. ALT-GETTING. See ALTEN-OETTINO. ALTON, a city and port of entry of Madison county, 111., on the left bank of the Mississippi river, 3 m. above the mouth of the Missouri, about 20 m. below the mouth of the Illinois, and 25 m. N. of St. Louis, Mo. ; pop. in 1860, 6,332; in 1870, 8,865. Its length along the river is about 2f m. ; its average breadth about H m. A little W. of the centre it is divided by a small stream called Piasa creek, which has its sources in springs within and near the city limits, and is arched over and used as a main sewer. The valley of this stream and the bottom land W. of its mouth along the Missis- sippi are the chief seats of business. Each side of this valley and up and down the river from it the ground rises rapidly and in some parts ab- ruptly into irregular and broken bluffs, the highest being 224J feet above the river. The whole city is underlaid with limestone rock, which is full of fissures and caves, crops out in many places, and in the western part along the river forms perpendicular bluffs. Alton is the centre of a rich farming country. Besides the river navigation, three railroads connect it with all parts of the country. The princi- pal manufacturing establishments (1872) are two large flouring mills, two iron founderies, an extensive woollen mill, glass works, a castor oil mill, a large tobacco manufactory, a manufac- tory of agricultural implements, a planing mill, and several lumber yards and steam saw mills. The packing business is carried on, but less ex- tensively than formerly. Lime of excellent quality is made, and, with building stone, is ex- ported largely. There are two banking houses, gas works, and a steam ferry to the opposite shore. There is a large Roman Catholic cathe- dral, Alton having been made a bishopric in 1868. The other churches are: one Baptist, one orthodox Congregational, one Unitarian, two Protestant German, one Presbyterian, one Cumberland Presbyterian, one Methodist, one Catholic, and one colored Baptist. Alton has a daily and weekly newspaper, a weekly paper in German, and a weekly religious journal, the " Cumberland Presbyterian," the organ of that denomination in the West. There are several benevolent societies and a library association. The state penitentiary, established here in 1827, was removed several years since to Joliet. The buildings are yet standing, and were used during the civil war as a government prison. Upper Alton, about 1 m. E., is the seat of Shurtleff college, a Baptist institution. (See SHURTLEFF COLLEGE.) In 1807 there was one small building where Alton now stands, used by the French of Cahokia and St. Louis as a trading house with the Indians. The town was laid out in 1817. ALTON, an Austrian noble family, of Irish descent. I. Richard, count d', a general, born in Ireland in 1732, died in Treves, Feb. 19, 1790. He entered the Austrian service very young, rapidly rose to high rank, and in 1788 be- came Feldzeugmeister. In November, 1787, he was appointed to the command of the Aus- trian Netherlands, then in insurrectionary fer- ment. His harsh measures provoked the first bloodshed at Brussels, June 22, 1788. After the victory of the patriots at Turnhout, Oct. 27, 1789, he gave the order to destroy all re- bellious places; but in December, after the outbreak in Brussels, he retreated to Luxem- burg, and was recalled to Vienna, but died on the way thither. II. Edward, count d', brother of the preceding, also a general, born in Ire- land in 1737, died Aug. 24, 1793. He distin- 1 guished himself in the seven years' and Turk- i ish wars. In 1792 he was imprisoned for writing in defence of his brother's conduct, but afterward commanded a division at the siege