pnugues/EB7 huggingface dataset:
ALBINOVANUS, a Latin poet, whom Ovid surnamed the Divine. There is now nothing of his extant, except an elegy on Drusus, and another on the death of MecaenSr.
ALBINUS, Bernhard Siegfred, a celebrated physician and anatomist, was born of an illustrious family at Frankfort on the Oder in 1697. His father was then professor of the practice of medicine in the university of Frankfort; but in the year 1702 he repaired to Leyden, being nominated professor of anatomy and surgery in that university. Here his son had an opportunity of studying under the most eminent masters in Europe, who, from the singular abilities which he then displayed, had no difficulty in prognosticating his future eminence. But while he was distinguished in every branch of literature, his attention was particularly turned to anatomy and surgery. His peculiar attachment to these branches of knowledge gained him the intimate friendship of Ruysch and Rau, who at that time flourished in Leyden; and the latter, so justly celebrated as a lithotomist, is said to have seldom performed a capital operation without inviting him to be present. Having finished his studies at Leyden, he went to Paris, where he attended the lectures of Du Verney, Vaillant, and other celebrated professors. But he had scarce spent a year there when he was invited by the curators of the university of Leyden to be a lecturer on anatomy and surgery at that place. Though contrary to his own inclination, he complied with their request, and upon that occasion was created doctor of physic without any examination. Soon after, upon the death of his father, he was appointed to succeed him as professor of anatomy; and upon being admitted into that office on the 9th of November 1721, he delivered an oration, De vera via adfabricae humani corporis cognitionem ducente, which was heard with universal approbation. In the capacity of a professor, he not only bestowed the greatest attention upon the instruction of the youth intrusted to his care, but on the improvement of the medical art. With this view he published many important discoveries of his own, and by elegant editions turned the attention of physicians to works of merit, which might otherwise have been neglected. By these means his fame was soon extended over Europe; and the societies of London, Petersburg, and Haerlem, cheerfully received him as an associate. In 1745 he was appointed professor of the practice of medicine at Leyden, and was succeeded in the anatomical chair by his brother Frid. Bern. Albinus. He was twice rector of the university, and as often he refused that high honour when it was voluntarily offered him. At length, worn out by long service and intense study, he died on the 9th of September 1770, in the 74th year of his age.
ALBION, the ancient name of Britain.

New Albion, a name given by Sir Francis Drake to California, on the north-west coast of America, which he discovered and took possession of in the year 1578. Captain Cook visited this coast in 1778, and landed in a place situated in long. 235. 20. E. lat. 44. 33. N. In the year 1792 it was again visited by Captain Vancouver, who was employed in surveying the western coast of North America. The name is now applied to a country farther north than California, but without any definite boundaries.
ALBIREO, in Astronomy, a star of the third or fourth magnitude, in the constellation Cygnus.
ALBIS, in Ancient Geography, now the Elbe, which divided ancient Germany in the middle, and was the boundary of this country, so far as it was known to the Romans; all beyond they owned to be uncertain, no Roman except Drusus and Tiberius having penetrated so far as the Elbe.
ALBI SOLA, a small town belonging to the republic of Genoa. Here is a porcelain manufacture, and several country-houses of the Genoese nobility. It was bombarded in 1745 by the English. Long. 8. 20. E. Lat. 44. 15. N.
ALBLASSER-WAARD, a district in the circle of Dordrecht and province of Holland, inclosed on two sides by the Merwe, and on the third by the Lech. It receives its name from the river that flows through it, and comprehends sixteen villages, which yield abundance of good hemp.
ALBOGALERUS, in Roman Antiquity, a white cap worn by the piamen Dialis, on the top of which was an ornament of olive branches.
ALBORAK, amongst the Mahometan writers, the beast on which Mahomet rode in his journeys to heaven. The Arab commentators give many fables concerning this extraordinary mode of conveyance. It is represented as of an intermediate shape and size between an ass and a mule. A place, it seems, was secured for it in paradise at the intercession of Mahomet; which, however, was in some measure extorted from the prophet, by Alborak’s refusing to let him mount when the angel Gabriel was come to conduct him.
ALBORO, in Zoology, a name by which the erythrinus, a small red fish caught in the Mediterranean, is commonly known in the markets of Rome and Venice.
ALBOURG, a town of Denmark, in North Jutland, capital of the diocese of the same name, and a bishop’s see. It has this name, which signifies eel-town, on account of the great number of eels taken here. It is seated on a canal 10 miles from the sea, 30 north of Wiburg, and 50 north of Aarhuus. It has an exchange for merchants, and a safe and deep harbour. They have a considerable trade in herrings and corn, and a manufactory of guns, pistols, saddles, and gloves. Long. 9. 50. E. Lat. 57. 2. N.
ALBRICIUS, born at London, was a great philosopher, a learned and able physician, and well versed in all the branches of polite literature. He lived in the 11th century, and wrote several works in Latin; particularly, 1. Of the Origin of the Gods; 2. The Virtues of the Ancients; 3. The Nature of Poison.
ALBUERA, a town of Spain, in the province of Estremadura, which has been rendered celebrated by a victory gained there on the 16th of May 1811, over a French army marching from Seville to the relief of Badajos, which was besieged by Marshal Beresford.
ALBUFEIRA, a Portuguese town, on a bay in the province of Algarve, containing 1 parish church, 1 hospital, 1 poor-house, 962 houses, and 3181 inhabitants. Its [7:2:385]harbour is capable of containing large ships, and is well defended by a castle and battery. Lat. 37. 7. N.
ALBUM, in Antiquity., a kind of white table or register, wherein the names of certain magistrates, public transactions, &c. were entered. Of these there were various sorts; as the album decurionum, album senatorum, album judicum, album praetoris, &c.

Album Decurionum was the register wherein the names of the decuriones were entered. This is otherwise called rnatriculatio decurionum. Album Senatorum,the ∖∖s↑, of senators’ names, which was first introduced by Augustus, and renewed yearly.

Album Judicum, that wherein the names of the persons of those decuriae who judged at certain times were entered.

Album Praetoris, that wherein the formula of all actions, and the names of such judges as the pretor had chosen to decide causes, were written.

The high-priest entered the chief transactions of each year into an album, or table, which was hung up in his house for the public use.

Album is also used, in later times, to denote a kind of table, or pocket-book, wherein the men of letters with whom a person has conversed inscribed their names, with some sentence or motto.

Album Graecum, the white dung of dogs, formerly prescribed for inflammations of the throat, &c. but now disused, and chiefly employed by leather-dressers to soften leather after the application of lime.
ALBUMAZAR, a learned Arabian astronomer in the tenth century, who wrote a treatise Of the Revolution of the Years.
ALBUMEN, a substance found both in animal and vegetable matters, and in great abundance in the white of eggs.
ALBUQUERQUE, a town of Spain, in the province of Estremadura, is seated on an eminence, nine miles from die frontiers of Portugal, and containing 5500 inhabitants. It is commanded by an almost impregnable fortress, built on a high mountain, and serving to defend the town. It has some trade in wool and woollen manufactures. It was taken by the allies of Charles king of Spain in 1705. 1x>ng. 7. 0. W. Lat. 38. 52. N.
ALBURN, the English name of a compound colour, being a mixture of white and red,+r reddish brown. Skinner derives the word, in this sense, from the Latin alhus, and the Italian burno, from bruno, brown.
ALBURNUM, the soft white substance which in trees is found between the liber or inner bark and the wood, and in process of time acquiring solidity, becomes itself the wood. From its colour and comparative softness, it has been styled by some writers the fat of trees, adeps arborium.
ALBY, an arrondissement in the south-west of France, in the department of the Tarn, comprehending an extent of 56G square miles, or 362,240 acres. It is divided into 8 cantons and 105 communes, and contains 70,054 inhabitants.
ALCAEUS, a famous ancient lyric poet, born at Mitylene, in the island of Lesbos. Horace seems to think him the inventor of this kind of poesy.
Now the Homan muse inspire,
And warm the song with Grecian fire.
Francis .

He flourished in the 44th Olympiad, at the same time with Sappho, who was likewise of Mitylene. Alcaeus was a great enemy to tyrants, but not a very brave soldier. He was present at an engagement wherein the Athenians gained a victory over the Lesbians; and here, as he himself is said to have confessed in one of his pieces, he threw down his arms and saved himself by flight. Horace, who of all the Latin poets most resembled Alcaeus, has made the like confession:
With thee I saw Philippi’s plain,
Its fatal rout, a fearful scene!
And dropp’d, alas! th’ inglorious shield,
Where valour’s self was fore’d to yield;
Where soil’d in dust the vanquish’d lay,
And breath’d th’ indignant soul away.
Francis .

The poetical abilities of Alcaeus are indisputable; and though his writings were chiefly in the lyric strain, yet his muse was capable of treating the sublimest subjects with a suitable dignity. Hence Horace says,
Alcaeus strikes the golden strings,
And seas, and war, and exile, sings.
Thus while they strike the various lyre,
The ghosts the sacred sounds admire;
But when Alcaeus lifts the strain
To deeds of war and tyrants slain,
In thicker crowds the shadowy throng
Crink deeper down the martial song.
Francis .

Alcaeus, an Athenian tragic poet, and, as some think, the first composer of tragedies. He renounced his native country Mitylene, and passed for an Athenian. He left 10 pieces, one of which was Pasiphaë, that which he produced when he disputed with Aristophanes, in the 4th year of the 97th Olympiad.

There is another Alcaeus mentioned in Plutarch, perhaps the same whom Porphyrius mentions as a composer of satirical iambics and epigrams, and who wrote a poem concerning the plagiarism of Euphorus the historian. He lived in the 145th Olympiad.

We are told likewise of one Alcaeus, a Messenian, who lived in the reign of Vespasian and Titus. We know not which of these it was who suffered for his lewdness a very singular kind of death, which gave occasion to the following epitaph:
Aλϰαιου ταφος; oὑτος, &c.
This is Alcaeus’s tomb, who died by a radish,
The daughter of the earth, and punisher of adulterers.

This punishment, inflicted on adulterers, was thrusting one of the largest radishes up the anus of the adulterer; or, for want of radishes, they made use of a fish with a very large head, which Juvenal alludes to:
Quosdam moechos et mugilis intrat.
Sat. x.
The mullet enters some behind.

Hence we may understand the menace of Catullus:
Ah! tum to miserum, malique fati,
Quem attractis pedibus, patente porta,
Percurrent raphanique, mugilesque.
Epig. xv .
Ah! wretched thou, and born to luckless fate,
Who art discover’d by the unshut gate!
If once, alas! the jealous husband come,
The radish or the sea-fish is thy doom.
ALCAICS, in Ancient Poetry, a denomination given to several kinds of verse, from Alcaeus, their inventor.

The first kind consists of five feet, viz. a spondee or iambic, an iambic, a long syllable, a dactyle, another dactyle. Such is the following verse of Horace:
Omnes ∣ eo∣dem ∣ cogimur, ∣ omnium
Versa|tur ur|na | serius, | ocius,
Sors exitura.

The second kind consists of two dactyles and two trochees; as,
Exili|um imposi|tura ∣ cymbae.

Besides these two, which are called dactylic Alcaics, there is another, simply styled Alcaic, consisting of an [7:2:386] epitrite, a choriambus, another choriambus, and a bacchius. The following is of this species:
Cur timet fla|vum Tibcrim ∣ tangere, cur ∣ olivum?

Alcaic Ode, a kind of manly ode, composed of several strophes, each consisting of four verses; the first two of which are always alcaïcs of the first kind; the third verse is a dimeter hypercatalectic, or consisting of four feet and a long syllable; and the fourth verse is an alcaïc of the second kind. The following strophe is of this species, which Horace calls minaces Alcaei camenae.
Non possidentem mnlta vocaveris
Recte beatnm; rectius occupat
Nomen beati, qui deorum
Muneribus sapienter uti, &c.
ALCAID, Alcayde, or Alcalde, in the polity of the Moors, Spaniards, and Portuguese, a magistrate or officer of justice, answering nearly to the French provost and the British justice of peace. The alcaid among the Moors is vested with supreme jurisdiction, both in civil and criminal cases.
ALCALA de Guadeira, a small town of Spain, in Andalusia, upon the river Guadeira. Here are abundance of springs, from whence they convey water to Seville by an aqueduct. Long. 6. 16. W. Lat. 37. 15. N.

ALCΑLΑ de Henares, a city of Spain, in the province of New Castile. It is celebrated for its university, which is considered the best ecclesiastical school in the kingdom. It was founded by Cardinal Ximenes; and one of its first and best productions has been the Complutensian edition of the Holy Scriptures, which was prepared here. The river Henares runs by the city, and gives its distinguishing name. Here is also a military school for the artillery and engineer corps; 1600 houses, 4760 inhabitants. Its powder-mills produce 15 cwt. annually.

ALCALA-Peal, a small city of Spain, in Andalusia, with a fine abbey. It is built on the top of a high mountain, in a mountainous country, nine leagues from Jaen. It bears the title of a city, and contains a rich abbey and a population of 8000 or 9000. Long. 4. 15. W. Lat. 37.18. N.
ALCALY, or Alcali, or Alkali. See Chemistry, Index.
ALCAMO, a city of Sicily, on the river Freddo or St Bartholomew, in the intendancy of Trapani. It is a parliamentary city, in a district of peculiar fertility, which produces some of the best wines of the island. It contains a very strong castle, many churches and monasteries, and 13,000 inhabitants. Near to it are remains of the ancient Segesta, with its temple and theatre in good preservation; and near the sea are some celebrated warm baths.
ALCANIZ, a Spanish town upon the Guadaloupe, in the province of Arragon, with a college, three parish churches, six monasteries, one hospital, and 4200 inhabitants. The surrounding country is wild, but rich in olives, mulberry trees, and alum.
ALCANNA, or Alkanna, in Commerce, a powder prepared from the leaves of the Egyptian privet, in which the people of Cairo drive a considerable trade. It is much used by the Turkish women, to give a golden colour to their nails and hair. In dyeing, it gives a yellow colour when steeped with common water, and a red one when infused in vinegar. There is also an oil extracted from the berries of alcanna, which is sometimes used in medicine.
ALCANTARA, a town of Spain, in the province of Estremadura, on the left bank of the Tagus, over which is a magnificent bridge. It is in long. 6.10. W. lat. 39. 44. N. It has two parish churches, five monasteries, and 3000 inhabitants.

Knights of Alcantara, a. military order of Spain, which took its name from the above-mentioned city. They make a very considerable figure in the history of the expeditions against the Moors. The knights of Alcantara make the same vows as those of Calatrava, and are only distinguished from them by this, that the cross fleur de lis, which they bear over a large white cloak, is of a green colour. They possess 37 commanderies. By the terms of the surrender of Alcantara to this order, it was stipulated that there should be a confraternity between the two orders, with the same practices and observances in both; and that the order of Alcantara should be subject to be visited by the grand master of Calatrava. But the former soon released themselves from this engagement, on pretence that their grand master had not been called to the election of that of Calatrava, as had been likewise stipulated in the articles. After the expulsion of the Moors, and the taking of Granada, the sovereignty of the order of Alcantara and that of Calatrava was settled in the crown of Castile by Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1540 the knights of Alcantara sued for leave to marry, which was granted them.
ALCARAZ, a small city of La Mancha, in Spain, defended by a pretty strong castle, and remarkable for an ancient aqueduct. It stands near the river Guardamena, and the soil about it is very fruitful. They have a breed of little running horses, which are very fleet and strong. It is 25 miles north of the confines of Andalusia, 108 south of Cuença, and 138 south by east of Madrid. Long. 2. 45. W. Lat. 38. 56. N.
ALCASSAR do Sal, a town of Portugal, in Estremadura, which has a castle said to be impregnable. It is indeed very strong, both by art and nature, being built on the top of a rock which is exceedingly steep on all sides. Here is a salt-work, which produces very white salt, from whence the town takes its name. The fields produce large quantities of a sort of rushes, of which they make mats, which are transported out of the kingdom. Long. 9. 10. W. Lat. 38. 18. N.

Alcassar, a city of Barbary, seated about two leagues from Larache, in Asga, a province of the kingdom of Fez. It was of great note, and the seat of the governor of this part of the kingdom. It was built by Jacob Al-manzor, king of Fez, about the year 1180, and designed for a magazine and place of rendezvous for the great preparations he was making to enter Granada in Spain, and to make good the footing which Joseph Almanzor had got some time before. It is said his father first invaded Spain with 300,000 men, most of whom he was obliged to bring back to Africa to quell a rebellion that had broke out in Morocco. This done, he returned to Spain again with an army, as is said, of 200,000 horse and 300,000 foot. The city is now fallen greatly to decay, so that of fifteen mosques there are only two that they make use of. The reason, probably, is the bad situation of the town; for it stands so low, that it is excessively hot in summer, and almost overflowed with water in the winter. This they affirm to be owing to the curse of one of their saints. Here are a great number of storks, which live very familiarly with the people, walking about the town, possessing the tops of the houses and mosques without molestation; for they esteem them sacred birds, and account it sinful to disturb them. At present the bashaw of Tetuan appoints a governor to this town, which is the last of his dominions towards Mequinez. Near this city there is a high ridge of mountains running towards Tetuan, whose inhabitants were never brought entirely under subjection; and whenever it was attempted, they revenged themselves by infesting the roads and robbing and destroying the travellers. When they were pursued, they retired into their woody [7:2:387]mountains, where none could safely follow them. Not far from hence is the river Elmahassen, famous for the battle fought between Don Sebastian, king of Portugal, and the Moors, in which the Portuguese were defeated, and their king slain. Long. 12. 35. W. Lat. 35.15. N.
ALCAUDETE, a town of Andalusia, in Spain, in the province of Jaen, in a fertile territory, producing wine, oil, corn, and abundance of fruits. It has a castle, two parish churches, four monasteries, and 4000 inhabitants.
ALCAVALA, in the Spanish Finances, was at first a tax of 10 per cent., afterwards of 14 per cent., and is at present of only 6 per cent., upon the sale of every sort of property, whether movable or immovable; and it is repeated every time the property is sold. The levying of this tax requires a multitude of revenue officers sufficient to guard the transportation of goods, not only from one province to another, but from one shop to another. It subjects not only the dealers in some sort of goods, but those in all sorts, every farmer, every manufacturer, every merchant and shopkeeper, to the continual visits and examination of the tax-gatherers. Through the greater part of a country in which a tax of this kind is established, nothing can be produced for distant sale. The produce of every part of the country must be proportioned to the consumption of the neighbourhood. It is to the Alcavala, accordingly, that Ustaritz imputes the ruin of the manufactures of Spain. He might have imputed to it likewise the declension of agriculture, it being imposed not only upon manufacturers, but upon the rude produce of the land.
ALCAZAR de St Juan, a city on the border of a small lake, in the province of Toledo, in Castile. It contains 2200 inhabitants. It has a saltpetre refinery, and some gunpowder works.

Alcazar Leguer, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Fez, and in the province of Ilabat. It was taken by Alphonse, king of Portugal, in 1468; but soon after that it was abandoned to the Moors. It is seated on the coast of the straits of Gibraltar. Long. 3. 50. W. Lat. 38. 0. N.
ALCHEMY, that branch of chemistry which had for its principal objects the transmutation of metals into gold, the panacea or universal remedy, an alkahest or universal menstruum, an universal ferment, and many other things equally ridiculous.

Kircher, instructed in all the secrets of chemistry, has fully exposed the artifices and impostures of alchemists. An alchemist puts into a crucible the matter which is to be converted into gold: this he sets on the fire, blows it, stirs it with rods, and, after divers operations, gold is found at the bottom of the crucible, instead of the matter first put in. This there are a thousand ways of effecting, without any transmutation. Sometimes it is done by dexterously dropping in a piece of gold concealed between (∣ the fingers; sometimes by casting in a little of the dust of gold or silver, disguised under the appearance of some elixir, or other indifferent matter; sometimes a crucible is used which has a double bottom, and gold put between the two; sometimes the rod used to stir the matter is hollow, and filled with the dust of the metal desired; at other times there is metal mixed with the charcoal, the ashes of the furnace, or the like. Mr Harris very properly distinguishes alchemy from chemistry, and defines the former to be ars sine arte, cujus principium est mentiri, medium laborare, et finis mendicare; and the Italians have a proverb, non tifidiare al alchemista povero o medicoama-lαtο. The ruin which has attended this delusion has occasioned several states to make severe laws against pretences to alchemy. The Romans formerly banished all such as professed it; and the sacred canons likewise di rected the thunder of their censure against them. Dio-clesian and Caesar directed all books which treated of this subject to be burnt. Rymer furnishes us with a licence for practising alchemy, with all kinds of metals and minerals, granted to one Richard Carter in 1476. (Rym. Feed. tom. xii.) Nevertheless we have had severe laws against alchemy, and multiplying of metals, as much so as against coining itself.
ALCIAT, or Alciate, Andrew, a great lawyer, who flourished in the 10th century, was born at Milan. He mixed much of polite learning in the explication of the laws, and happily drove out the barbarity of language which till then had reigned in the lectures and writings of lawyers; for which Thuanus highly praises him. He published a great many law-books, and some notes upon Tacitus. His Emblems have been much admired, and translated into French, Italian, and Spanish; and several learned men have written commentaries on them.