Aley
ROBERT JUDSON, American scientist and educator, born in Coal City, Ind., in 1863. After graduating from Indiana University in 1888, he took postgraduate studies at Leland Stanford Jr. University and the University of Pennsylvania, taught in the common and high schools, and was appointed director of mathematics in Indiana Indiana University in 1887. He remained in this position position until 1909, when he was appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction and in the following year was appointed president of the University of Maine. Editor of several educational journals and a member of many learned and scientific societies, he was also author of "The Geometry of the Triangle" (1897); "The Essentials of Algebra" (1904); "Story of Indiana" (1912).
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Alfadur
or Alfadir, al-fa'dir, all-father, in Norse mythology, an appellation of Odin, as the supreme god of all mankind. See Odin
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Alfieri
VITTORIO, COUNT, an Italian dramatist, born at Asti in Piedmont, Jan. 17, 1749. He came into his vast paternal inheritance at the age of 14; and two or three years afterward began a series of travels which extended over nearly all the European countries, returning to Turin, 1772. A love affair turned his mind toward literature, and his tragedy "Cleopatra" was produced in Turin in 1775. This and his other tragedies, "Polinice," "Antigone," "Brutus" are on classic themes. "Saul," founded on Hebrew sacred history, was by far the most popular of Alfieri's dramas. The "Filippo" presents, by the hand of a master, the somber character of Philip II. of Spain. He wrote in all 21 tragedies and six comedies, and composed many sonnets; among his odes are five on American independence. His prose works comprise an essay on "Tyranny," a volume of essays on "Literature and Government," and "Memoirs of his Life." He died at Florence, Oct. 8, 1803.
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Alfred University
a coeducational (non-sectarian) institution in Alfred, N. Y.; organized in 1836; reported in 1919: Professors and instructors, 40; students, 400. President, Booth C. Davis, Ph. D.
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Alfridarya
A science resembling astrology, which lays down that all the planets, in turn influence the life of man, each one governing a certain number of years.
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Alge
the general name for the seaweeds and similar plants, mostly growing in salt and fresh water. Vast masses of gulf-weed float in the Atlantic Ocean over an area called the Sargasso Sea. Some kinds are used for food, and others for making iodine and soda.
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Algeciras
or ALGEZIRAS ( al - hethe - ras), a seaport on Gibraltar Bay, province of Cadiz, Spain; anciently known as Portus Albus. It was the first landing place of the Moors, who held it from 713 till 1344, when Alfonso XI. of Castile obtained possession of it after 20 months' siege. The city was entirely destroyed, remaining in ruins till 1760. In 1801 two engagements took place near Algeciras, between the English and the allied French and Spanish fleets. Here the important Morocco conference met in 1906. See MOROCCO.
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Alger
RUSSELL ALEXANDER, an American merchant, capitalist, and politician, born in Lafayette, O., Feb. 27, 1836. He served in the Civil War, rising from a captaincy to the rank of brevet Major-General of Volunteers. He was Governor of Michigan from 1885 to 1887; a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1888; Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (1889-1890); and became Secretary of War in President McKinley's Cabinet in 1897. Almost from the beginning of the Spanish-American War of 1898 he was the object of much public censure for shortcomings in his department, and finally resigned in 1899. He became U. S. Senator in 1902. He died Jan. 4, 1907.
HORATIO, an American writer of juvenile books, born at Revere, Mass., Jan. 13, 1834; graduated from Harvard in 1852, settled in New York in 1866, and became interested in the condition of self-supporting boys, described in his series of more than 50 books, including "Ragged Dick," "Tattered Tom," "Luck and Pluck," which became very popular. He died in Natick, Mass., July 18, 1899.
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Algin
a jellylike substance found in marine alge. It was discovered in 1881 by E. C. C. Stanford, of Glasgow. If the leaflike thalli of a laminaria are immersed in water containing a little carbonate of soda, the whole cellular ant becomes broken up in fabric of the plant the course of 24 hours, forming a thick ho gelatinous mass containing about 2 per cent. of algin. This mass, after being cautiously heated, is filtered through coarse linen. The properties of algin in the soluble form are those of a very viscous gum, drying up to a transparent elastic film. As a size or dressing for textile fabrics, algin goes further and does more work than starch or any of ary gums, and has the advanthe ordinary tage of being easily rendered insoluble Algin makes an excellent in water. thickening for soups, and, with the addition of a little gelatine or isinglass, is serviceable for jellies. The insoluble form of algin, in the dry state, resembles horn, and can be turned and It is a by-product of the polished. manufacture of iodine and is used in the preparation of photographic paper.
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Algol
a fixed star in Medusa's head, in the constellation Perseus. Technically of 2½ magnitude, it really varies from the 2d to the 4th magnitude in 3½ hours, remaining thus for about 20 minutes. In 3½ hours more it is again of the 2d magnitude, at which it continues for 2 days and 13 hours, after which the same series of changes takes place again.
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Algonkian
or ALGONQUIAN, an Indian linguistic stock, originally the most extensive in North America. It extends southward from Labrador to Pamlico Sound, N. C., and westward from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, comprising about 40 tribes, each with a separate language and numerous dialects. with the English, Constant wars French, and Dutch colonists depleted their numbers. Filled at first with the idea of freeing the soil from the whites, they afterward degenerated into mere mercenaries, fighting on either side for revenge or gain. After the War of 1812, in which they took the side of the British, the United States Government resolved to send them as far W. as possible. After 1840, few of them remained E. of the Mississippi. War and disease have thinned their number, until only 37,000 remain in the United States, and 63,000 in Canada. The chief occupations of the Algonkians were hunting, fishing and corn raising.
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