ALA
They are found in Burgundy, Mifnia, &c. Of thefe lightly burnt, is made that which is. popularly called plainer of Paris. — [ d Grew, Muf. P. 3. fee. I. c. 6. p. 319. Woodw. Nat Hift. Engl. Foff. T. 1. It. T. 2. p. 6. Ruland. Lex. Ferrant. Imperat. Hift. Nat. 1. 24. c. 13. feq. ■ Muf. Reg. Soc.J
Antient authors fpeak much of the medicinal virtues of Ala- 'bafter, as a difcutient f . Some recommend it as a fpecific in a-dyfentery s . But modern phyficians fcarce allow it in •either of thofe characters. Yet fome difpenfatories Mill retain a preparation of it, under the title of Unguentum Aiabaftri-
num, prefcribed for the head-ach h [' Nicol. Lapid. P. 3.
c. 66. p. 217. e Boot, de Gem. I. 2. c. 270. h Burg,'. Lex. Med. p. 374. feq. Zuing. Comp. Medic, p. 553.]
Alabaster is alio ufed for a vafe, wherein odoriferous liquors were antiently put. Gorr. Def. Med. p. 10. Pitifc Lex Ant. T. 1. p. 67. Calm. Difl. Bibl. p. 174. feq. The reafon of the denomination is, that veffels for this pur- pore were frequently made of the Alabajter ftone, which Pliny, and other antients, reprefent as peculiarly proper for this purpofe.
Several critics will have the box mentioned in the gofpels as made of Alabajler, to have been of glafs ». And though the texts fay, that the woman broke it, yet the pieces feem miraculoufly to have been united, fince we are told, the entire box was purchafed by the emperor Conftantine, and preferved as arelick of great price b — [■ Cafitub. Exerc. 14. §■ '3- P- 2 44- Jour, des Scav. T. 3. p. 77. It. T. 25. p. 604. Mifc. Lipf. T. 11. obf. 228. p. 177. feq. Calm. Di&. Bibl. p. 174. Baron. An. c. 32. Suid. Lex. Mif. Lipf. loc. cit.]
Others will have it, that the name Alabajltr denotes the form, rather than the matter of this box. In this view they define Alabajler, by a box without a handle, deriving the word from the privative « and *a#», an/a, handle.
Alabaster is alfo faid 'to have been ufed for an antient liquid meafure, containing ten ounces of wine, or nine of oil. Epiphan. ap. Bcverin. de Ponder. & Menfur. p. 115.
In this fenfe, the Alabajltr was equal to half the fex- tary.
ALABASTRA, {Cyd.) in botany, amount to the fame with calyx, or flower cup, before it be expanded. What Pliny calls Alabaftra, an antient poet calls pyramided. The deno- minations are taken from the form of the antient ungent vef- fels, which the young flower in this ftate refembled. Har- douln. in Not. ad Plin. loc. cit.
Some, with Jungius, explain Alabaftra, by the globe, or roundilh bud of the rofe juft peeping out. Mill. Gard. Dicf. in voc.
ALABASTRIT^, Ahlaftm, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of foffils allied to the marbles, and defined to be ftones compofed of large feparate concretions, of great brigbt- nefi, and an elegant, but fhattery ftructure, not very hard, not giving fire with fteel, fermenting with and foluble in acids, and calcining in a flight fire. Of this genus we have only three known fpecies.
1. A white, fhattery, lucid kind, called Lygdine marble by the antients. See Lygdinum marmor.
2. A bright, fhattery, yellowilh white one, called Phengites by the antients. See Phengites.
3. A yellow and reddifh variegated fhattery kind, which was what they called fimply Alabajter. See Alabaster, Cycl. and Suppl.
The Alabajler of the antients was therefore a very different fubftance from what our workmen commonly call by that name, which is any fpecies of white marble ; though fome of them have alfo called this the oriental alabafler. It is a very remarkably bright glittering and pellucid ftone, of an extremely elegant, but very fhattery texture, but of a moft extremely agreeable variety and difpofition of colours. Its ground is a fine clear pale yellow, between that of honey and amber, pellucid and bright as the phengites, and of the fame fhattery ftructure. It is beautifully variegated with arched and undulated veins, fome broader and others nar- rower, and fome of a pale reddifh hue, others whitifh, and others of a very agreeable pale brown. The whole makes a very elegant ftone, and though but foft and friable, yet is capable of a very fine polifh. It is found in Egypt at this time, as it was alfo in the times of the antients ; but we have alfo great abundance of it in Cornwal, and fome other parts of England.
The antients called this ftone alfo onyx, and marmor onychites, partly from its having its variegations difpofed in a fort of onyx order, and partly from its being ufed like the gem of that name, for making boxes for perfumes, &c. V. Hill's Hift. of Foff. p. 492. ALABASTRITES is often ufed as fynonymous with Alabajler. But Anfalmus Boetius diftinguiflies between Alabajler and Alabaftrites, in making the criterion of the former to be fo foft, that it- may be cut with a knife ; and of the latter, that it is fo hard that it cannot be fo cut. Nial. Lapid. P. 3. c. 69. p. 215. Suppl. Vol. I.
ALA
Grew rpcaks of a fort of" Alabaftrites ', reprefenting the tranf- Verfc feetion of the trunk .of a tree. Grew. Muf. Keg. Soeiet; P. 3. fee. 1. p. 268. ALABASTRUM dendroide; in ! natural hiftory, a name given by authors to a fpecies of alabafter, found in great abundance in the province of Hohenftein, and famous for the elegant delineations of trees* and other figures defcribed in it. It is a foffil ftone, and often is compofed of laminse, fo thin as fcarce to equal thick paper $ thefe eafily part horizontally from one another, and may be feparated in divers thickneffes. Thefe -all {hew, on both fides, beautiful landfcapes. The deli- neations of trees, fhrubs, and herbs, are all in black. Thefe are moft elegantly regular, and are feen. growing on the banks of rivers, on rugged mountains, or from the ruins of old buildings ; all which are figured with great elegance. Gver thefe there is a reprefentation of clouds, of various forms and figures, and of all the natural colours, black, white, blueifh, and tinged in feveral ■ parts with ftreaks of fire colour. The colours in thefe very often reprefent all the beauties of the clouds painted by a fetting fun. Other pieces frequently re- prefent vaft caverns in the earth, natural cafcades of rivers, and almoft infinite variety of other natural profpects, with the fame regularity and beauty. The colours are principally grey, black, reddifh, and white. Rkter. de Alabaft. ALACUOTH, among Arabian phyficians, an infirmity of the nerves, whereby a perfon in the ad of venery, lets go at the fame time his faces. Jvifen. ap. Cartel. Lex. Med. p. 27. ALADINISTS, a feci: among the Arabs, anfwering to free- thinkers among us.
The Ahdimjh multiplied greatly under the two learned kings Almanfor and Miramolinus. Naud. Arcan. Stat, e. 4. P- 37 2 - ALALCOMENIUS, in antient chronology, the Boeotian name for the Athenian month Mamaficrion, which was the fourth of their year, and anfwercd to the latter part of our Septem- ber and beginning of October. See the articles Mjemao terion and Month. ALAMANNICUM, in antiquity, a tribute impofed on the people by the emperor Alexias Angelus, for raifing the (Urn of fixteen talents of gold, to be paid the Alamanni^ as the conditions of a peace ftipulated with them. Du Carige, GlofT. Gnec. T. 1. p. 48.
The ecclefiaftics themfelves were not exempted from this tax. N'tcet. in Alex. 1. 1. n. 8. ALAMODALITY, Alamodalitas, is defined, by a late writer, ■ a ftudy, or endeavour to accommodate a man's felf in point of behaviour,, drefs, conversion, and other actions of life, to the reigning tafte of cuftom, from a motive of complai- fance, and to avoid the imputation of ill-breeding.- Alamodality of writing , Alamodalitas fcriberuti, is defined, by the fame perfon, a particular ftudy, or endeavour of learned men to adapt the productions of their minds, both as to the choice of fubjeci;, and the manner of treating it, to the genius or tafte of the times, in order to render them more acceptable to the readers,
A German writer, under the name of Geamoenus S has a difiertation exprefs on Alamodality in writing, which he even maintains to be, in fome meafure, jure divino, from a pre- cept of St. Paul b , which, according to fome good MSS. and learned commentators, is to be read, ferving the time, T» koh%» lukihofa ; though the Englifh translators follow another reading, and for *«ip«, fubftitute Kwptw, the Lord, This writer enlarges on the neceffity of conforming to the tafte of the time, and traces the different taftes and fafhions of writ- ing, which have had their turn in Germany, from Luther 'to the prefent time, viz. the Polemic, the Afcetic, the Sa- tyric, the Romantic, the Moral, the Hiftorieal, and the Phi- lological, which have each had their age, or period. — The fame diverfity he obferves to have prevailed in the manner of "Writing, preaching, &c. Luther's time he calls the Heroic age, which was fucceeded by the Synthetic, or Schematic, and that by the Laconic, or Sententious, which he calls the Englifh method. The laft was the age of Journals, or perio- dical pieces, the prefent may be called the Dictionary age.— [ a Geamocni, de Alamodalitate Scribendi, ap. Mile. Lipf. T. 5. obf. 99. An extract of it is given in Jour, des Scav. T. 65. p. 6. feq. b Rom. c. 12. v. 11.] A LA MODE, (Cycl.) a phrafe originally French, importing a thing to be in the fafhion, or mode.
The phrafe has been adopted not only into feveral of the living languages, as the Englifh and High-Dutch, but fome have even taken it into the Latin. Hence we meet with Alamodicus and Alamodalitas. A learned German a has a ferious enquiry whether it be lawful to dance Alamodice, by which he means French dancing. Zach. Grapius has a dif- fertation exprefs on Alamodic, or artificial fermons b . — [ a Nov. Liter. Lubec. 1705. p. 3. b Roftoc. 1704. An extract is given in Nov. Liter. Lub. 1704. p. 261. feq.] Writers on cookery give the preparation of Alamode, or larded beef. Collins, Salt and Fifh. p. 132. ALANFUTA, in the Arabian phyfic, the name given to a vein between the chin and under lip, antiently ufed to be opened 1 X againft
