of its vegetation. The mean temperature about equals that of Great Britain, but the extremes are greater. The fourth region is the subAlpine or coniferous. Here are vast forests of pines of various species, which have in many places been inconsiderately cut down, the result being that the valleys have been deprived of shelter and denuded of soil. Most of the Alpine villages are in the two last regions. On the northern slopes pine forests extend to 6,000, and on the southern slopes to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea. This is also the region of the lower or permanent pastures where the flocks are fed in winter. The fifth is the pasture region, the term alp being used in the local sense of high pasture grounds. It extends from the uppermost limit of trees to the region of perpetual snow. The landscape is adorned with numerous shrubs; rhododendrons, junipers, bilberries and dwarf willows being among the distinctive forms of vegetation. The sixth is the region of perpetual snow. The line of snow appears from a distance to be continuous at a limit which varies, according to seasons and localities, from 8,000 to 9,500 feet, but on approaching this apparently continuous line it is found to be broken up and crossed by patches of brilliant vegetation, the limit of which appears to be imposed by want of soil rather than severity of climate. Few flowering plants extend above 10,000 feet, but they have been found as high as 12,000 feet. At this great elevation two species of quadrupeds may be seen, the bouquetin or wild goat, and the chamois, which delight in heights inaccessible to man. The bouquetin, which has become very rare, scales the most elevated peaks, while the chamois is generally found rather lower, but is never seen in the plains. In summer the high mountain pastures are covered with large flocks of cattle, sheep and goats, which in winter are removed to a lower and warmer level. The marmot and white or Alpine hare inhabit both the snowy and the woody regions. Lower down are found the mole, the wildcat, the fox, the lynx, the bear and the wolf; but the last two are now extremely rare. The vulture, eagle and other birds of prey frequent the rugged Alpine rocks, and "the snowy ptarmigan" seeks food and shelter among the diminutive plants that border upon the snow-line. Other kinds of game, including the grouse, woodcock and partridge, may be found from the upper limit of the woods to the more level and habitable parts below. Several kinds of water-fowl frequent the higher lakes, where excellent trout and other fish are found; but those lakes situated at the greatest elevation are, from their low temperature, entirely destitute of fish.

Geology and Minerals. The geological structure of the Alps forms the subject of, or is incidentally discussed in, many books of great distinction, some of which we include among the works mentioned in the bibliography below. In general three zones can be distinguished, a central, in which crystalline rocks prevail, and two exterior zones, in which sedimentary rocks predominate. The rocks of the central zone consist of granitic gneiss of various forms, seldom pure granite, gneiss, hornblende, mica slate and other slates and schists. In the western Alps there are also considerable elevations in the central zone that belong to the Jurassic (Oolite) and Cretaceous

formations. From the disposition of the beds, which are broken, tilted and distorted on a gigantic scale, the Alps appear to have been formed by a succession of disruptions and elevations extending over a very protracted period. The large beds of calcareous rock which overlie the older rocks both to the east and west appear to have been ruptured and rolled back by the upheaval of the central mass. Mining is not carried on to an extent proportionate to the magnitude of the mountain range. Iron and lead, however, are found in considerable abundance, and the Bleiberg (lead mountain) mine, in Carinthia, furnishes the purest lead in Europe. Rock-salt is abundant toward the north of the chain, and the salt works of Bex in Canton de Vaud, of Hall in Tyrol, of Hallein and of Berchtesgaden in the vicinity of Salzburg, are of note. Mercury exists chiefly in the east part; the richness of the mine of Idria, northwest of Trieste, is well known. Besides those principal products, gold, silver, copper, zinc and coal are mined to some extent.

Bibliography. Ball, J., Hints and Notes for Travellers in the Alps' (ed. 1899); Bertrand, M., Etudes dans les Alpes françaises' (in Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr., ser. 3, Vol. XXII, 1894); Chodat and Pampanini, 'Sur la Distribution des Plantes des Alpes Austro-Orientales' (in the Globe, organe de la Soc. de Géographie de Genève, Tome XLI, 1902); Climbers' Guides Series, edited by Sir Martin Conway and W. A. B. Coolidge (10 vols., 1890-1904); Conway, M., The Alps (1904); Coolidge, W. A. B., Josias Simler et les Origines de l'Alpinisme jusqu'en 1600) (1904) and, with H. Duhamel and F. Perrin, Guide du Haut Dauphiné (English trans. 1905); Diener, C., 'Bau und Bild der Ostalpen und des Karstgebietes' (in Bau und Bild Oesterreichs, Vienna and Leipzig 1903); Fatio, V., 'Faune des vertébrés de la Suisse' (5 vols., 1869-1904); Förderreuther, M., Die Allgauer Alpen' (1906); Jerosch, Geschichte und Herkunft der schweizerischan Alpenflora) (1903); 'Livret-guide géologique dans le Jura et les Alpes de la Suisse (Paris and Lausanne 1894); Rey, G., 'Il Monte Cervino' (1904); Rothpletz, A., 'Ein geologischer Querschnitt durch die Ost-Alpen' (Stuttgart 1894); Schröter, 'Das Pflanzenleben der Alpen (Zürich 1908); Suess, E., Das Antlitz dur Erde) (English trans., Oxford 1904); Willis, B., Report on an Investigation of the Geological Structure of the Alps' (Washington 1912).

MARRION WILCOX.

ALSACE-LORRAINE, äl-säs-lō-rān' (German, Elsass-Lothringen), a district occupying the extreme southwest corner of Germany, bounded west by France, east by Baden and south by Switzerland. Its length from north to south is 123 miles; its breadth varies from 22 to 105 miles; and its area is 5,580 square miles, of which 1,353 belong to Upper Alsace (in the south), 1,844 to Lower Alsace (northeast) and 2,383 to Lorraine (northwest). Pop. (1910) 1,874,014, of which 1,428,343 are Roman Catholics, and more than 80 per cent speak German -- mainly the vernacular Alsatian, a dialect of Alemannian. The most populous districts in their order are Lower Alsace, Lorraine and Upper Alsace. The French-speaking population is mainly in the larger towns and

in Lorraine. The Rhine flows 115 miles north by east, along all the eastern border, and receives, below Strasburg, the Ill from Alsace, 127 miles long. Other rivers are the Moselle, flowing through Lorraine past Metz, and its affluent, the Saar. Along the Rhine is a strip of level country, 9 to 17 miles broad and declining from 800 to 450 feet above sea-level. Westward of this rise the Vosges Mountains, culminating at a height of 4,677 feet; while Lorraine, rather hilly than mountainous, rarely attains 1,300 feet. About 48.5 per cent of the entire area is arable, 11.6 meadow and pasture and 30.8 under wood. Alsace-Lorraine produces much wine, grain and tobacco; it is rich in mines, iron and coal; and manufactures iron, cotton, wool, silks, chemicals, glass and paper. It contains the important cities of Strassburg (pop. 1905, 167,678); Metz (pop. 1910, 68,598); Kalmar (pop. 1910, 43,808). As a French province, Alsace was divided into the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin. Lorraine fell into the departments of Meuse, Moselle, Meurthe and Vosges (parts of all which still remain French). The lieutenant-governor (Statthalter), representing the imperial government, resides at Strasburg, and is assisted by a ministry of five departments and a council of state.

From the 10th century Alsace-Lorraine formed part of the German empire till a part of it was ceded to France at the Peace of Westphalia (1648). and by the Peace of Ryswick (1697) the cession of the whole was ratified. German never ceased to be the chief language of the people, and all newspapers were, during the whole period of the French possession, printed in both languages. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian war, Alsace and German Lorraine were, by the Treaty of Frankfort, incorporated in the new German empire. The great mass of the population was strongly against the change, and 160,000 elected to be French, though only 50,000 went into actual exile, refusing to become German subjects. Since the era of the Revolution Alsace in sentiment was wholly French. To France she gave the bravest of her sons- Kellerman, Kléber and many another hero. Strasburg first heard the 'Marseillaise'; and MM. Erckmann-Chatrian, Lorrainers both, have faithfully represented their countrymen's love of La Patrie in the days of the second as of the first Napoleon. Of late it is claimed by the Germans that, through the emigration of the irreconcilables and the immigration of German settlers, the tendency of the old natives to accept the inevitable, and the rising up of a new generation, to whom the French connection is a tradition, the situation has slowly but steadily changed in favor of Germany and the existing firm but fair administration. The irritating passport system, a special grievance not in force elsewhere in Germany, was withdrawn in 1873. On 9 May 1902, Emperor William directed that a bill be laid before the Federal Council abolishing paragraph 10 in the imperial constitution, which imposed practically a dictatorship on the reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine. In December 1913, however, occurred the "Zabern" incident, in which as a result of an assault committed by an officer on a civilian cripple violent antiPrussian riots broke out. Bitter feeling had not subsided when the war broke out. Consult

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Hazen, C. D., Alsace-Lorraine under German Rule (New York 1917); Jordan, D. S., 'Alsace-Lorraine' (1916).

ALSBERG, älz'berg, Carl Lucas, American chemist, son of Meinhard Alsberg, one of the founders of the New York Chemical Society, now the American Chemical Society: b. New York city, 2 April 1877. In 1900 he was graduated from the medical college in Columbia University. For the three years following he studied physiology, pharmacology and chemistry in Germany, studying under Hofmeister and Emil Fischer. In 1902 he became head of the department of biochemistry in the Harvard Medical School. In 1908 he was appointed chemical biologist in charge of the Poisonous Plants laboratory in the Bureau of Plant Industry, at Washington. In 1912 he was nominated by President Taft to succeed Harvey W. Wiley as chief of the Bureau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture.

ALSEN, äl'zěn, Germany, island of the Schleswig-Holstein province, in the Baltic, separated from the mainland by Alsen Sound at its narrowest point, 400 yards wide. Formerly a part of Denmark, Alsen was taken by the Prussians, 29 June 1864, and with a portion of the mainland joined by a drawbridge constitutes the district of Sonderburg. Sonderburg, the chief town, is strongly fortified and has a good harbor. Alsen is nearly 20 miles long with an extreme breadth of 12 miles. Area, 125 square miles; pop. 25,000.

ALSOP, al'sop, Richard, American poet : b. Middletown, Conn., 23 Jan. 1761; d. Flatbush, L. I., 20 Aug. 1815. He studied at Yale, but did not complete his course. He formed the literary group known as the "Hartford Wits," which includes Benjamin Trumbull, Lemuel Hopkins and Theodore Dwight. Alsop was largely responsible for the Echo (1791-95), a series of travesties and burlesques on current fads and literature (pub. in book form 1807). He wrote 'Monody on the Death of Washington' (1800); the Enchanted Lake of the Fairy Morgana' (1808).

ALSTED, äl'stět, Johann Heinrich, German encyclopedist and theologian: b. 1588; d. 1638. His Cursus Philosophici Encyclopedia' (2 vols., fol., Herborn 1630), the most important complete work of its kind that had appeared, contains an interesting, and probably the earliest, article on the use and abuse of tobacco. Tractatus de Mille Annis) (1627) prophesied the beginning of the millennium in 1694. He also published Thesaurus Chronologiæ and Triumphus Bibliorum Sacrorum,' attempting to prove that the Scriptures contain the principles of all arts and sciences. Alsted was professor of philosophy theology at Herborn and later at Weissenberg. ALSTON, Theodosia Burr. See BURR, THEODOSIA.

and

ALSTRÖMER, äl'stre-mer, Jonas, Swedish benefactor: b. 1685; d. 1761. Of humble parentage, he went to England as clerk for a Stockholm merchant, later engaged in shipbroking business independently, amassed a fortune, returned to Sweden in 1724, established woolen and other factories, introduced improved breeds of sheep, the culture of dye plants and potatoes and contributed to the formation of the

Levant and East India companies. He was ennobled and a statue to him was erected on the Stockholm exchange. His son, ALSTRÖMER, CLAS (CLAUDE): b. 1736; d. 1796; author of a work on the breeding of fine-wooled sheep, was also a distinguished botanist, a pupil and friend of Linnæus, who named after him the Alströmer ог Inca Lily. This remarkable Peruvian plant Alströmer discovered at Cadiz and sent to Linnæus along with other specimens collected during his botanizing rambles over Europe.

ALTAI, al'ti, MOUNTAINS, a mountain range of central Asia, extending from the desert of Gobi in a northwesterly direction along the boundary of Mongolia and Sungaria. After passing the Russian frontier it gradually falls off in altitude and merges into the steppes. The rivers of this region are mostly head waters of the Obi and Irtysh. The mountain scenery is generally grand and interesting. The highest summit is Baluka, about 17,500 feet above the sea. The area covered by snow and glaciers is large. The mountains have a severe climate, but agriculture is carried on to some extent in the larger valleys. The inhabitants are chiefly Russians and Kalmuks.

ALTAIC LANGUAGES, a family of languages occupying a portion of northern and eastern Europe, and nearly the whole of northern and central Asia, together with some other regions, and divided into five branches, the Ugrian or Finno-Hungarian, Samoyedic, Turkic, Mongolic and Tungusic. Also called Ural-Altaic and Turanian.

ALTAMURA, äl'ta-moo'ra, Italy, city of Bari province, at the foot of the Apennines, 60 miles by rail northwest of Tarentum. Two annual fairs are largely attended and considerable trade is carried on in regional products, oil, wine, olives, grain and cattle. It is a bishop's see with a fine Romanesque 13th century cathedral and interesting archæological remains. Pop. 26,000.

ALTAR. From the Latin alta ara, a raised space. An elevation of any kind (earth, grass, stones, etc.) was used by the primitive races as a sacrificial spot. With the commencement of culture altar construction came into being, built of brick, stone, marble, etc. A separate altar was dedicated to each god of the Greeks, Romans and Eastern pagans. Very soon they developed into works of art according, in quality, with the best craftsmanship the period afforded, and proof of the sentiment of sacrifice felt. The ram's skull (@gicrane) or ox skull (bucrane) signs of animal sacrifice adorned the altar corners of the ancient Greeks and Romans, while wreaths and garlands of fruits and flowers draped the sides. These altars were erected (in the more primitive times) outdoors (on streets, squares, in meadows, near springs, on tops of mountains, etc.). Later came the altars dedicated to the household (lares and penates) within the walls of the habitations. With the advancement of art came structures of monumental form with architectural members the plinth, capital, moldings, and even steps (degrees). These were altars devoted to burnt sacrifices. They are known as Pagan altars.

Early altars of the Jews were also erected

for burnt sacrifice and were also in the open air (often on the tops of mountains), until the raising of Solomon's Temple, when an incense altar was erected within the Temple, the altar for burnt sacrifice being in the front court yard, open to the sky.

Christian Altars. While the consecrated bread and wine (Flesh and Blood) are symbolic of Christ's sacrifice, the Christian altar is dedicated to the memory of the Last Supper and not to sacrificial ceremonies. Thus the primitive Church used some form of portable table which alone through the presence on its surface of the Host became sanctified. And on the withdrawal of the sacramental service the table was taken to pieces and stowed away while the Eucharist was kept devoutly screened and protected. Veritable sanctified altars of stone or wood, etc., took the place of ordinary tables for the display of the Eucharist about the 4th century, when they were built as fixed structures of stone or wood, in the early basilicas. In 517 a canon enforced the use of stone for the altar. These altars became consecrated by the presence of the body or relics of a martyr which were placed under the altar. The altar was placed immediately in front of the apsis (see BASILICA) of the basilica (always in the eastern end), where the bishops and clergy sat in a semicircle. The construction of these early stone altars consisted of a slab supported by pillars. In the open space beneath the slab reposed the body or relics of the saints enclosed in shrines. To protect the relics from dust or irreverence these curtains subsequently suggested ornamenting the altar front with an embroidered hanging, called antependium or frontal (Pugin). These antependia developed into elaborate ornamentation in precious metals, adorned with enamels and jewels; others were of delicately carved wood, painted, gilt, often embellished with crystals. Extant examples of altars of the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries are those of St. Victor in Marseilles Museum, of St. Nazaire and of St. Celsus at Ravenna, of Auriol in Provence, etc.

Up to the 9th century the altar was sanctified by the body or relic reposing beneath the altar and nothing was permitted on the altar. Even the Eucharist was suspended above the altar. From the 5th century the altar was covered with a dome (ciborium) supported by four columns and enclosed with hangings supported on rods. Attached to a chain or cord from the centre of the dome hung the pyride holding the consecrated Host, often found in the form of a dove of gold or silver. With the 9th century the relics of the saints became exposed on the altar, enclosed within a shrine. Soon the relics were followed by the Book of the Four Evangels, but images were not admitted on the altar till the 9th century. The candlesticks still posed on the floor alongside the altar.

The Romanesque and Gothic periods used the massive table form of the 4th century with its slab of stone (Regensburg has an altar of this style); usually a ciborium covers these altars. Silver plastic decoration (usually from the hands of a goldsmith) soon began to be displayed in altar decoration. Perhaps most noted of the period is that of the Collegiate Church at Klosterneuenburg (Austria) by