Alain of Lisle
It has been said by some writers that there were two men to whom was given the name of Alanus Insulensis, one of whom was Bernardine, Bishop of Auxerre, and author of a Commentary on the Prophecies of Merlin ; the other, that Universal Doctor.' whose brilliant career at the Paris University was followed by his withdrawal to a cloister, where he devoted himself entirely to the study of philosophy. Others again maintain that the Bishop of Auxerre and the " Universal Doctor were one and the same. Even the date when they lived is very uncertain, being variously placed in the twelfth and thirteenth centhirteenth centuries. In the year 1600 a treatise on alchemy, entitled Dicta de Lapide Philosophico was published at Leyden, bearing on its title-page the name of Alanus Insulensis. It was thus ascribed to Bernardine, to the "Universal Doctor," and, by still others, to a German named Alanus. Supposing the two first-mentioned to be separate and distinct persons, we have nevertheless no proof that either was interested in alchemy ; and as for the third, there is no proof that he existed at all. On the other hand, we know that it was customary at that time to ascribe works of a very inferior nature to illustrious persons who had died, and were thus unable to deny them. The Dicta de Lapide Philosophico, a work of no great alchemistical value, on account of its vague and indefinite nature, may be, and probably is, a spurious work, wrongly ascribed to Alain.
Alamut A mountain in Persia. (See Assassins.) Alary (François) : A visionary, who had printed at Rouen in 1701, The Prophecy of Count Bombaste, (Chevalier de la of Paracelsus, (published in 1609 on the birth of Louis the Great.)