rendered very easy by the violence and extravagance of his adversaries. The list of his more noteworthy literary works is completed by the mention of the Histoire des membres de l’Académie française, containing biographical notices of all the members of the Academy who died between 1700 and 1772, the year in which he himself became secretary. Alembert was much interested in music both as a science and as an art, and wrote Éléments de musique théorique et pratique (1779), which was based upon the system of J. P. Rameau with important modifications and differences.
Alembert’s fame spread rapidly throughout Europe and procured for him more than one opportunity of quitting the comparative retirement in which he lived in Paris for more lucrative and prominent positions. The offer of Frederick the Great has already been mentioned. In 1762 he was invited by Catherine of Russia to become tutor to her son at a yearly salary of 100,000 francs. On his refusal the offer was repeated with the additional inducement of accommodation for as many of his friends as he chose to bring with him to the Russian capital. Alembert persisted in his refusal, and the letter of Catherine was ordered to be engrossed in the minutes of the French Academy. In 1755, on the recommendation of Pope Benedict XIV., he was admitted a member of the Institute of Bologna. A legacy of £200 from David Hume showed the esteem in which he was held by that philosopher.
Alembert continued to the end to lead the quiet and frugal life dictated by his limited means as well as his simple tastes. His later years were saddened by circumstances connected with a romantic attachment he had formed for Mademoiselle de Lespinasse, whose acquaintance he made at the house of Madame du Deffand, a noted resort of literary men and savants. She nursed him assiduously during an illness he had in 1765, and from that period till her death in 1776 they lived in the same house without any scandal. On her part there seems to have been from first to last nothing more than warm friendship, but his feelings towards her were of a stronger kind and her death deeply affected him. He never recovered his elasticity of spirits, though he continued to occupy himself with his favourite pursuits, and to frequent the society of his brother philosophers. After the death of Voltaire (1778), whose friend and correspondent he had been for more than thirty years, he was regarded as the leader of the philosophical party in the Academy. He died at Paris on the 29th of October 1783.
The chief features of Alembert’s character were benevolence, simplicity and independence. Though his income was never large, and during the greater part of his life was very meagre, he contrived to find means to support his foster-mother in her old age, to educate the children of his first teacher, and to help various deserving students during their college career. His cheerful conversation, his smart and lively sallies, a singular mixture of malice of speech with goodness of heart, and of delicacy of wit with simplicity of manners, rendered him a pleasing and interesting companion; and if his manner was sometimes plain almost to the extent of rudeness, it probably set all the better an example of a much-needed reform to the class to which he belonged. The controversy as to the nature of his religious opinions, arising as it did chiefly out of his connexion with the Encyclopaedia, has no longer any living interest now that the Encyclopaedists generally have ceased to be regarded with unqualified suspicion by those who count themselves orthodox. It is to be observed, moreover, that as Alembert confined himself chiefly to mathematical articles, his work laid him less open to charges of heresy and infidelity than that of some of his associates. The fullest revelation of his religious convictions is given in his correspondence with Voltaire, which was published along with that with Frederick the Great in Bossange’s edition of his works.
The scientific works of Alembert have never been published in a collected form. The most important of them have been mentioned above, with the exception of the Opuscules mathématiques (1761–1780), 8 vols. 4to. His literary and philosophical works were collected and edited by Bastien (Paris, 1805, 18 vols. 8vo). A better edition by Bossange was published at Paris in 1821 (5 vols. 8vo). The best account of the life and writings of Alembert is contained in Condorcet’s Éloge, presented to the Academy and published in 1784.
ALEMBIC (Arab. al, definite article, anbiq, a still; cognate to the Gr. ἄμβιξ, a cup), an apparatus for distillation, used chiefly by the alchemists, and now superseded by the retort and the worm-still. It varied considerably in form and construction, but consisted essentially of three parts—a vessel containing the material to be distilled and called, from its gourd-like shape, the cucurbit or mattrass; a vessel to receive and condense the vapour, called the head or capital; and a receiver for the spirit, connected by a pipe with the capital. The entire apparatus was sometimes constructed of glass, but it was more usual to make the cucurbit of copper or earthenware and the capital alone of glass.
ALEMTEJO (i.e. “Beyond the Tagus”), an ancient province of central and southern Portugal; bounded on the N. by Beira, E. by Spanish Estremadura and Andalusia, S. by Algarve and W. by the Atlantic Ocean and Portuguese Estremadura. Pop. (1900) 416,105; area 9219 sq. m. Alemtejo is traversed by several mountain ranges, whose height does not generally rise much above 2000 ft. The low and sandy coast has a length of less than 25 m. and includes no harbour, except at the unimportant town of Villa Nova de Milfontes (pop. 1900, 825), which overlooks the Mira estuary. The principal rivers are the Tagus, which divides Alemtejo from Beira; its tributary the Zatas, or Sorraia, fed by a whole system of lesser affluents; the Guadiana, which, crossing the Spanish frontier, flows southwards through the province; the Sado, which rises in the Serra de Monchique, and flows to the north; and the Mira, which waters the valley between the Caldeirão and Monchique ranges. There are several extensive plains, notably those of Alemtejo, lying south-west of the Serra de Portalegre; of Beja, between the Sado and Guadiana; and of Ourique, farther south between the same rivers. Some portions of these plains are fruitful, others marshy, while large tracts are mere desolate wastes.
The climate in the lower parts of the country is exceedingly hot and is rendered unhealthy in summer by the stagnant marshes. Towards the Spanish frontier the soil is fertile, and in the south the country is covered by extensive forests of oak, pine, chestnut, cork and ilex, especially on the sides of the Mezquita and Caldeirão ranges. In the more fertile parts, grapes, figs, citrons, pomegranates and other fruits are produced. Wheat, maize and rice are grown, and some attention is given to the rearing of mules, asses, goats, cattle and sheep; while the Alter breed of horses, named after the villages of Alter do Chão and Alter Pedroso (3971), near Portalegre, is often accounted the best in the kingdom. Agriculture, however, is in a backward state, the sparse population being mostly concentrated in the towns, leaving extensive districts uncultivated and almost uninhabited. Droves of swine are fed on the waste lands, growing to a great size and affording excellent hams. The mineral wealth of Alemtejo is little exploited, although there are copper and iron mines and marble quarries. Medicinal springs exist at Aljustrel (3790), Castello de Vide (5192), Mértola (3873), Portalegre, Vimieiro (1838) and elsewhere. Chief among the local industries are the preparation of exceptionally fine olive oil, and the manufacture of cloth, pottery and leather. Alemtejo is traversed by three very important main lines of railway, the Madrid-Cáceres-Lisbon, Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon and Lisbon-Faro; while the two last are connected by a branch line from Casa Branca to Evora and Elvas. For administrative purposes the province is divided into the districts of Portalegre in the north, Evora, in the central region and Beja in the south; but the titles of these new districts have not superseded the ancient name of Alemtejo in ordinary usage. The chief towns Beja (8885), Elvas (13,981), Estremoz (7920), Evora (16,020) and Portalegre (11,820) are described in separate articles.
ALENÇON, COUNTS AND DUKES OF. The first line of the counts of Alençon was founded by Yves, lord of Bellesme, who in the middle of the 10th century possessed and fortified the town of Alençon. His successors, involved in all the wars of the kings of England in Normandy, were alternately deprived and
