Alembic
a simple apparatus sometimes used used by chemists for distillation. The body contains the substance to be distilled, and is like a bottle, bulging below and narrowing toward the top; the head, of a globular form, with a flat under-ring, fits onto the neck of the cucurbit, condenses the vapor from the heated liquid, and receives the distilled liquid on the ring inclosing the neck of the lower vessel, and thus causes it to find egress by a discharging pipe into the third section, called the receiver.
ALENÇON (al-an-sôn'), an ancient countship of France; united to the crown in 1212 by Philip Augustus. Later it became a duchy, dependent on the house of Valois. JEAN IV., born in 1409, in 1417 lost the duchy to the King of England.
He distinguished himself in the wars against England and, when they were driven out, received his duchy back.
ALEPPO received his freedom, title, and estates back from Charles VIII., and died Nov. 1, 1492. The son of René, Duke CHARLES IV., born in 1489, married MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, sister of Francis I. At the battle of Pavia he was commander of the left wing. At a decisive moment he and his troops took to flight and caused the misfortune of the day, the capture of King Francis I. He died April 11, 1525, and with him perished the house of Alençon. His wife, MARGUERITE, remained in possession of the duchy until her death in 1549. From 1549 to 1566 CATHERINE DE MEDICI was Duchesse d'Alençon, and Charles IX. presented it to his younger brother, FRANCIS OF ANJOU. After his death it was reunited to the crown. Henry IV. transferred the duchy in 1595 to the Duke of Württemberg, who willed it in 1608 to his son, from whom, in 1612, Marie de Medici purchased it back for the crown. The title is now borne by a grandson of Duke Philippe de Nemours. See BOURBON.
ALENÇON, a city of France, and capital of the department of Orne, on the Sarthe. Its Cathedral of Notre Dame, built between 1553 and 1617, is in the Gothic style. The Hôtel de Ville was built in 1783 on the site of the ancient castle of the dukes of Alençon, two of the towers of which are still preserved and used as prisons. There are manufactories of muslin, linen, leather, and a lace called point d'Alençon. It has also a lively trade in horses. During the Franco-Prussian War the city was captured by the Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg. Pop. about 17,500.