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forms show the progress of degradation between the Greek and the corrupted Hebrew. The forms of r are chiefly remarkable for the different positions of the angle which constitute the letter. The round form in 6, 10, and 16, is also found in the coins of the cities Gela, Agrigentum, and Regium. The third letter of the Latin alphabet has this form, and once possessed the same power. Hence, the oldest orthography of that language presents macistratus, leciones, for magistratus, legiones, and it is known that the common name Caius was pronounced Gaius, and indeed was so written by the Greeks. The form of the Hebrew daleth may be traced through the Samaritan from the Greek, in precisely the same way as the beth. The difference between the Samaritan or Phenician letters for daleth and those for

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beth consists solely in the lower stroke thrown out by the latter from the perpendicular, and the same is the case with the Hebrew letters; in both, the triangular or circular top has degenerated into a thick line.-The form of E in 10 is very anomalous and very rare. Of the other forms the Samaritan is again purer than the Hebrew. The next letter has been the subject of much controversy. The form in 8, 10, and 15, may perhaps be considered as the parent of all the rest; and again the Phenician has the advantage over the Hebrew, the form in 2 being intermediate between 4 and 1. The zain bears a faint resemblance to of No. 9, which is the oldest form of that Greek letter, and from which the late forms are derived, upon the simple principle above mentioned, of completing a letter at one movement, and therefore substituting the diagonal stroke for the perpendicular.

The next letter has gone through violent changes, both in form and power. Its original power seems to have been a guttural ch, which would naturally wear away into an ordinary aspirate; or perhaps more correctly it may be stated, that its first power, as in the other letters, was syllabic, namely, che, which became he, and in the Greek language eventually only e. The two Hebrew names of the letters, cheth, heth, and the Greek form eta, all bear evidence in favour of such a supposition, and it would be difficult otherwise to account for the singular fact, that the same character H was at one time the Greek representative of an aspirate, afterwards of an initial he, and finally of a long e. In No. 26 of Plate II. H is the long vowel ē, and so in 30 of Plate III. and those which follow. In all the others which precede, it is an aspirated consonant. With regard to the various forms, the character in 3, 4, 6, 9, 22 being supposed to be the purest, No. 2 is half-way between the Hebrew on the one hand, and 18 on the other. But the Greek form did not stop here. When the letter H was appropriated as a vowel, the aspirate gradually lost its second pillar, until at last it appeared in the first of the two forms given in the Heraclean tablet, the second in that column being, as we have just stated, the representative of the long vowel. This form of the aspirate appears in many manuscripts above the initial letter of the word, but was eventually further corrupted into a mere comma, thus (). There exists, it should be stated, a story, that the Greeks derived their aspirate in a mode somewhat different from the above statement. The letter H, we are told, was cut into two parts, each consisting of a pillar and half the cross stroke; the first half being employed as an aspirate, the second as what they call a soft breathing, by which is meant simply the absence of an aspirate. A character to denote the absence of a sound is, it has been justly remarked, something new in alphabetic writing; and in fact it is now a common belief, that the soft breathing and its supposed representative are the mere creation of grammarians: at any rate, the supposed character for the soft breathing is found in no inscription whatever, and in no manuscript of any antiquity.-Of the next letter it need only be stated, that the Hebrew character is generally considered by modern Hebraists as a mere T, and it is often called teth. Of the iod the Samaritan form seems even more perfect than the Greek in 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17. The third of these, however, bears a close affinity to the Hebrew. The forms in 12 and 16 are gradually approaching the straight line, which afterwards prevailed.-The kappa in 21 is a mean between the more perfect in No. 9 and the Hebrew caph. The next letter has a great uniformity throughout, the chief difference turning upon the different position of the angle as in the gamma; but it may be observed, that the forms in 27 and 28 closely approximate to the Phenician and Hebrew in 1, 2, 3.-Of μ and we have spoken before. The samech and Greek & present many difficulties. Their forms, in the first place, have no similarity; the Greek letter is rarely met with in old inscriptions, as it was common to employ in its place the x and σ, as may be seen in 23 and 29 (the σ in the Nanian column is open to much suspicion.) The X given in 9, though found in Greek, is more common in Latin; yet even in this language the old inscriptions generally have XS, rather than X alone; so that it would seem that here, too, the X had originally the power of the Greek x. The reason why the Greeks generally wrote X rather than KΣ or г, was most probably because the letter sigma has something of the nature of an aspirate, as Payne Knight contends. Upon the same principle they wrote 2 for V, not П. (Сolumn 29.)-The letter ayin is the subject of controversy, some calling it a nasal consonant, others a guttural, others a vowel o. The first and third assertions seem more at variance than they really are, for the close connection between the two sounds n and o is well marked in the Portuguese tongue in the pronunciation of such words as João, the representative of our John or Johann. The Romans, too, thought it enough to write Plato, where the Greeks wrote Platon. Lastly, if the vowel and liquid scales that have been given above be applied to one another, it will be found that the liquid n ought to have an affinity to the vowels o and a,* in the same way that the lip liquid m is related to u and w, and the palatal / (witness the mouillé sound of the French ) to y, i, and e.-But, to proceed, the Hebrew pe has, it has already been observed, a stroke at the bottom which appears to have something of the nature of a flourish. Remove it, and the identity of the remainder with the Greek is self-apparent. The difference between the Greek II and the Roman

The connection between a and the final nasals is exhibited in the Ionic plurals of passive verbs, the double form of the accusatives of the third declension, and the Greek numerals dékа, enта &c., compared with the Latin.

P is chiefly due to modern printers. The Greek had almost invariably its second leg much shorter than the first, and the Roman P very rarely had the circular bend completed so as to reach the main shaft. See the plates, and, above all, compare the Etruscan P in 7 with the Roman P in IV. 3.-The letter tsadi has no representative in the Greek alphabet, unless, indeed, it bear any relation to the Greek figure called sanpi, which, however, was never used, as far as it is known, for an alphabetic character; and secondly, even as a numeral, it does not occupy the place between and koppa.--In the koppa, the Hebrew, or perhaps rather the Phenician, has a fuller and a more perfect form than the Greek; but be this as it may, the connection between them requires no comment. If the p in 9 or 11 be the earliest form, the derivation of the rest is simple. The Hebrew has suffered the same injury as in beth and daleth, a comparison with which will remove all doubt. In 3, 13, and more fully in 22, 24, 27, we see the origin of the Roman r.-The original form of shin was perhaps as near the Hebrew as any of our characters; but, in fact, the difference between the shin in 1 and 4, and the Greek sigma in 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 26, &c., or the Etruscan in 6, depends solely upon the altered position. The relative situation of the several strokes among each other is the same in both.-The next letter, sin, should perhaps have been omitted, as the difference between the power of sin and shin arises solely from the position of the point, which is near the right tooth in shin, near the left in sin. So completely are the two characters one in their origin, that they stand for the same number in the series of Hebrew letters.-The T in 6 would be a fit and proper parent for all the other forms. In the three characters, 1,2,3,7,8, the cross stroke has had an unfair preponderance to one side, as is the case again in our modern small character. In the Hebrew a little flourish has added to the difference. The next letter, it has been already observed, seems to have grown out of the ayin. Its forms vary, but not unintelligibly. The modern u and v are, it has been already said, both derived from the Latin form, which had the double power of our consonant w, and our vowel u.-With regard to and x, we find in 14 the double forms used before they were adopted; but unhappily the genuineness of this inscription is doubted. Of the 4, mention has been already made.-2 brings us to the close; and it may be sufficient to observe, that among the forms given to this letter by Mionnet, in his work on ancient coins, one consists of an ordinaryo lying upon a horizontal straight line. This has led to the notion that the letter was thus originally formed to mark a long ō, and, in confirmation of this notion, the letter H, as written in No. 9, was appealed to, which it was contended was formed in like manner from the letter E, with a perpendicular stroke on the right. The form of w, in 32, would appear to be made up of the letter ayin or o repeated, precisely as our own w has its form as well as name from a repetition of u or v. The letter a as well as n were not used in public documents at Athens until the year 403 B. c., when Euclid was Archon, but it must not be supposed that the letters were then invented, for, as Payne Knight has observed, the w appears on the coins of Gelon, who died 478 B. C., and the 7 on very ancient coins of the Regians. Still in early times it was the ordinary practice to use o and e for both long and short vowels.

In forming a table of the real Roman characters, there is some difficulty from the circumstance, that nearly all those who report ancient inscriptions take the liberty of using modern characters. Of those given in plate 4, the first is from the fac-simile of the Baccanalian inscription given by Drakenborch in the seventh volume of his 'Livy;' the date of which is fixed at 186 B. c., by the names of the consuls given in the decree. This inscription is in the Cæsarean Museum at Vienna. The second and third columns are from an inscription given by Maffei, in his 'Istoria Diplomatica,' p. 38, and here the date is fixed to the year 27 A. D., in the reign of Tiberius, by the names of the consuls, M. Crassus Frugi, L. Calpurnius Piso. Column 4 is from the same work of Maffei, p. 31, and belongs to the year 68 or 69, as is determined by the mention of the Emperor Galba. Both these inscriptions are of very coarse execution. Fac-similes of some very ancient inscriptions are also to be seen in the works on Herculaneum and in Muratori. The characters of the Medicean manuscript of Virgil, preserved at Florence, are taken from Burmann's engraved specimen, in the first volume of his edition of that author, p. xxxvi. of the preface. The remaining alphabets of that plate are from Astle's Origin of Writing.' The separate alphabets, beginning with the Coptic and ending with the Runic, are chiefly from the French "Encyclopædia.'

The Roman alphabet requires but little comment. It has been seen how completely it agrees with the Greek. In the order of the letters the only violent difference consists in the insertion of the G after F, but what place could be better suited to it than the position of Z, a character which had no correlative in the Latin series? Our modern grammars, indeed, give both y and z, but Suetonius tells us indirectly that the Roman alphabet terminated at x, for the Emperor Augustus, he observes, employed a peculiar cypher in his papers. For the letter a he wrote b; for b, c; and so on, until for x he wrote a or aa. Some commentators, indeed, scandalised at the ignorance of Suetonius in not knowing his own A, B, C, have substituted z for x in the above passage. But, in fact, there is not a single Latin word that contains either y or z. Modern printers have further increased the Latin alphabet by giving in two instances double characters where the Romans had but one. The

letter I of the Romans, besides its power as a vowel, represented also the closely-allied sound of our consonant Y, or the German J. When it is used with this consonantal power, modern printers have taken the liberty of substituting the character J, and modern readers have aggravated the error by giving it the sound of that English letter. Thus the Latin word IVGVM is now printed and pronounced jugum, instead of iugum or yugum, so as to destroy the close similarity of the word to the corresponding English term, yoke. Again, the Roman letter repre sented by v in inscriptions, and by u in the round form of manuscripts, has suffered the same fate. As a vowel, it has u for its character in modern books of Latin. But the Romans, as we have already stated, also employed it as a consonant, equivalent to our w. In this case the printer has preferred the sharp form v, which has again misled the modern reader as to the sound. When pronounced correctly, the Latin words vespa, vastare, ventus, bear a close analogy to our own terms wasp, to waste, wind. The letter K, though it became unnecessary when the third character was changed from a gamma to C, is a genuine member of the Roman alphabet, though often excluded from school grammars. What we have said leads to the result that the Roman alphabet had twenty-one letters, and this number agrees with the statement in Cicero ('Nat. Deor.' ii., 37 or 93).

It would be rather an amusing subject of inquiry, to trace to their source the remarkable differences in the magnitude of our modern small characters, some rising above, others descending below the general line. The first attempts of certain letters to shoot out into an undue extent may be seen in several parts of Plate IV., and we will leave the development to any reader who may be disposed to pursue it. It is but right to state further that the remarks we have made, and the alphabets we have given, are by no means sufficient to enable any one to read ancient manuscripts. Independently of the varying forms of letters, there are numberless contractions, which can only be learned by long practice.

ALPHONSINE TABLES. [ALONSINE.]

AL-SIRAT (that is, literally, The Path'), in the theology of some of the Mohammedans, is the name of a bridge extending over the abyss of hell, which must be passed by every one in order to enter paradise. It is described as being narrow, like the edge of a sword. Some, it is said, will pass it with the rapidity of lightning, others with the swiftness of a horse at full gallop, others like a horse at a slow pace, others still slower, on account of the weight of their sins, and some will fall down from it, and be precipitated into hell.

ALT, in music (from the Latin altus, high), that part of the scale beginning with F, the fifth line in the treble clef, and ending at E, the third leger, or additional, line above the same clef.

ALTA, in music (Italian 'high'), generally used in addition to the word ottava, as 'ottava alta,' an octave higher; più,' more, being by custom omitted.

ALTAR, an erection to offer sacrifice upon. The first altar mentioned is that set up by Noah, to offer sacrifice when he quitted the ark; and throughout the history of the Jewish patriarchs, altars are continually said to have been erected by them, in different places, as circunstances rendered it expedient. These seem to have been built of earth, or unhewn stone, like the altars which God commanded Moses to raise: Exod. xx. 24, 25. But when the Jewish law was given, the right of raising altars and offering sacrifice was no longer left common to all men; but one altar of burnt-offering, at which alone victims were slain, was made for the whole nation, and the priests, as ministers for the nation, offered sacrifice upon it for all. This in the first instance was constructed of wood, covered with brass, and always followed the ark, while the ark was migratory; but when Solomon built the temple, he placed a stone altar, with a brazen hearth, in the court before it. The Jews had two other altars, one solely appropriated to burning incense, called the altar of incense; the other called the altar of shew-bread, because loaves were placed upon it, and changed every Sabbath; which stood in the interior of the temple.

We constantly meet in the Bible with the expression of the 'horns of the altar.' Some suppose that these were really the horns of animals; others that they were merely projections at the corners. One use of them is obvious: victims might be conveniently bound to them. Psalm cxviii. 27. But horns were an emblem of power and authority throughout the east; and probably they were also meant to indicate the greatness of him to whom the altar was sacred. The altars of the Greeks and Romans had sometimes horns also, to which animals were fastened, and to which those who fled thither for protection used to cling. It was an act of impiety to force such persons away. This belief in the sanctity of places was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, which, in the season of its temporal power, largely bestowed the privilege of sanctuary upon favourite churches and convents. [ASYLUM.]

A sort of natural religion seems to have pointed out the tops of hills and groves, as the fittest spots for altars. The pagan nations which surrounded the Jews were especially addicted to worshipping in high places; and it was hardly possible to prevent the Jews themselves from falling into this habit. "They also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree." 1 Kings xiv. 23. Passages of the same import occur continually in the Jewish Chronicles. The northern nations of ancient Europe worshipped

in the thickest shade of their forests. The ancient Persians, as Herodotus tells us (I. 131), made no temples, nor statues, nor altars, but worshipped the deity on the tops of the mountains.

The altars of the Greeks were of three sorts: those dedicated to the heavenly gods (Bwuds), were often structures of considerable height; those of demi-gods and heroes were low and near the ground (éσxápa); and those of the infernal deities (if such may be called altars) were trenches sunk in the ground (Bólрos, λáккos). They may again be divided into three classes, those for burnt-offerings (μTUрos): those on which no fire was used, which were (upoi), meant for offerings of fruit, meal-cakes, &c.; and those on which fire might be used to consume vegetable productions, but no blood was spilled (aváμaкTO), the altar when dedicated to either of the latter classes, it was often nothing more than a raised hearth or step. Each temple usually had two altars, one in the open air before it, for burnt-offerings; another before the statue of the god to whom the building was sacred. Altars were often erected where there was no temple. The Greek altars were usually square, sometimes circular, or triangular. They were often made of marble, and elegantly sculptured.

The Roman altars and rites of worship much resemble the Greek. We must distinguish between altare and ara. The former, as is indicated by the syllable alt, signifying high, was an elevated structure, used only for burnt-offerings, and dedicated to none but the heavenly gods: the latter might belong either to the heavenly, or infernal gods, or to heroes. The Romans, however, like the Greeks, dug trenches (scrobes), into which they poured libations to the infernal gods. Ara seems to be the general term, and is used by Virgil as including altare;

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From altare comes the English word altar, which by the Roman Catholic church is used in its proper sense, to denote an erection on which sacrifice is offered, it being their doctrine that the mass is a sacrifice. Applied to the communion-table of an English Protestant church, the word is used metaphorically, or rather is misplaced; for the English church teaches the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be no sacrifice, Lut merely a symbol. Altars were in England taken down, and wooden tables substituted, by royal command at the bishop's visitations in 1550; again set up at the commencement of the reign of Mary, and finally removed at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth. Several of them, however, which escaped destruction, still remain in churches in various parts of England, and some of them are fine examples of the art of the period.

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ALTAR-PIECE. We are accustomed in this country to give the name of Altar-piece only to paintings on sacred subjects placed over the altar at churches; but in earlier times the same name was given to small elaborately worked productions in gold and silver, and other metals, connected with the offices of religion. The exhibition of Medieval Art at the rooms of the Society of Arts in 1850 contained many such specimens, in which much skill was often shown both by the artist and the artificer. One was an altar-piece of silver, partly gilt, enriched with scrolls and garlands, and enclosing enamels and gems. ALTERATIVES, a word signifying things that produce a change.' Under this head are comprehended those medicines which do not produce any immediate or very perceptible effect, but which gradually bring the body from a diseased to a more healthy state. They seem to act in removing unhealthy conditions of the system, much in the same way that a drop of water hollows a stone, not by its violence, but by frequently falling. They are generally given in small and frequent doses, and, even when given in large doses, they are often repeated. The former mode of administering them is employed when they are powerful medicines, the latter when less active. Out of almost every class of medicines some one may be used as an alterative-its claim to be so regarded depending less upon its natural powers than upon the manner in which these are modified, so as to effect a particular purpose. Thus by diminishing the dose, or combining them with other medicines, some of the most powerful drugs we possess are capable of being employed as alteratives, and made to produce effects exactly opposite to what they do when given alone, or in large doses. Ten grains of ipecacuanha, for example, taken with some fluid into the stomach, will speedily cause a feeling of sickness, followed by vomiting -three or four grains will cause a feeling of sickness and loss of appetite, though not actual vomiting-while one-quarter or one-half a grain taken about an hour before each meal for several days in succession, will be found greatly to increase the appetite, and improve the digestion. Yet even ten grains of ipecacuanha, if taken along with two of opium, will not produce any obvious effect on the stomach, but, if the patient be kept warm in bed, will cause a profuse flow of perspiration.

Many of the forms or preparations of mercury, even the most active and poisonous, when given in very small doses, neither prove purgative nor destructive to life, but, on the contrary, often produce signal benefit, relieving the patient from many complaints which rendered his days miserable, or even threatened to shorten them. Nor is the most dreaded of the mineral poisons-arsenic itself-incapable of con

tributing to the restoration of health, since we see it now make the shivering ague cease, and at another time cause the agonising headache to depart. Others which are less active may be given in very large doses, as sarsaparilla, and similar articles.

The variety of agents which may be used as alteratives must convince us that they cannot all act in the same way, and that their beneficial Most of them appear effects cannot be attributed to the same cause. to act upon the secretions and excretions-either by increasing their quantity or altering their quality. In many parts of the body, but particularly along the course of the alimentary canal, are situated glands, the duty of which is to elaborate from the blood certain fluids containing salts and other principles, which are primarily useful in keeping moist the surfaces over which they flow, and often secondarily useful in effecting changes in the matters with which they come in contact, as the saliva with the food, as soon as it is received into the mouth, and the bile with the chyle, upon its passage out of the stomach. These, then, are secretions. The kidneys and skin are organs by which fluids are separated from the blood, serving as vehicles for the removal from the system of salts and other principles no longer useful, the retention and accumulation of which would soon prove hurtful, and ultimately fatal. These are termed excretions:-that of the kidneys being of no primary or secondary use, while that of the skin keeps this covering moist and pliant,-states necessary for its answering the objects of its existence.

The preservation of a due proportion in the quality and quantity of these secretions and excretions is essential to the maintenance of that equilibrium, that fair and equal, or harmonising play of all the organs of the body, when, feeling no weight or oppression in any part, a man readily says he is well. The disturbance of this balance gives rise to various degrees of uneasiness and ill-health; states to which the French apply the expressive term-malaise.

The functions of secretion and excretion being rather vital than chemical processes, they are greatly dependent upon the state of the nervous system. This, again, is only perfect when the blood is of a proper quality; and this last is beholden for its excellence to the thorough performance of digestion, for which a due supply of nervous energy is required.

As all these functions act and re-act upon each other, it matters but little which of them is the first to fail in contributing its part to the general welfare, as all in time suffer; but the functions of secretion and excretion, perhaps, soonest show a falling off, and soonest attract the attention of the patient. He awakes with a dry tongue, and observes that the secretion from the kidneys is less in quantity and more highly coloured than natural, or excessive in quantity and pale, or he perceives that the skin is dry and harsh, or

bloated.

To remedy these states, alteratives are often employed. Small doses of some mercurial, alone, at night, or with rhubarb and soda during the day, or small quantities of ipecacuanha, will often relieve the dryness of the mouth. A little common salt taken immediately on waking will also remove it. With this view a little bacon has often been recommended at breakfast-the benefit being due to the salt, not the bacon.

The removal of the depraved and unhealthy secretions from the intestinal canal, where they are apt to linger, causing uneasiness to the patient, and by the unpleasantness of his breath rendering his presence disagreeable to others, is best effected by a course of gentle purgatives The frequent repetition of too powerful purgatives is to be reprobated, as often occasioning disease of the inner coats of the alimentary canal. After these, some strengthening medicine, as bark or iron, will generally be useful, especially if the nervous system be out of order, owing to much mental exertion, or protracted night-watching. At this stage of the treament, exercise and travelling, change of scene and pursuit, are of much service; or a visit to some watering-place; for the mineral springs, having the saline ingredients very minutely divided, may be considered as nature's alteratives.

Where the skin is much affected, exercise of a regulated kind, such as that practised by trainers, may prove useful, as the diet is at the same time strictly attended to. Indeed, a partial or complete change of diet is often the most effectual alterative we can employ.

But neither medicines nor a strict plan of diet should be begun or continued without the advice of a competent judge. It is in such cases that persons are most apt to undertake the cure of their own complaints, and, either by using inefficient means, allow them to get rooted in the system-or, by employing the nostrums and secret, but often dangerous, combinations of quacks, become a prey, in their purses and persons, to ignorance and fraud.

The explanation of the functions of the system, and the action of remedies, already given and hereafter to be given in this work, are by no means intended to enable the patient to dispense with the assistance of his medical attendant, but to prepare him to receive the full benefit of that assistance, by enabling him to understand something of the principles on which his treatment is conducted, and thereby to teach him how he may co-operate with his physician in rendering it effectual.

ALTERNATE. In geometry, angles are said to be alternate which are made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it, as A B C and

BCD, or EBC and B C F. If two lines be parallel, the alternate angles that its right ascension and declination are known; and certain cormade by a third line with them are equal. rections must be applied to the observed altitude, for which see DIP; PARALLAX; REFRACTION.

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In fixed observatories on land, the altitude of stars, or rather their zenith distances, which are what the altitudes want of ninety degrees, are observed with the mural or the transit circle [CIRCLE, ASTRONOMICAL; TRANSIT]; but only when the stars are on the meridian. Let a be

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2 and 8 are alternate terms, as also 4 and 16. If alternate terms be rendered consecutive, and consecutive terms alternate, the proportion still continues; thus,

2 is to 8 as 4 is to 16.

This proposition is the sixteenth of the fifth Book of Euclid, and is referred to by the Latin word alternando, or by the English words by alternation,' or 'alternately.'

ALTHIONIC ACID (HO, C, H, S, O,?) is produced when oil of vitriol in great excess is heated with alcohol until olefiant gas begins to be evolved. It has the same composition as sulphovinic acid, but its compounds differ in crystalline form. It is highly probable that the althionates are compounds of the sulphovinates and isethionates. ALTIMETER is the name which the Rev. E. L. Berthon gave to a measuring instrument patented by him in 1850. It is a somewhat complicated contrivance, intended to measure the altitude of the sun, moon, or a star. There are two glass bulbs, one containing mercury and the other spirit, and placed in connexion with each other by vertical and horizontal tubes. A telescope is attached, through which the object is viewed. The vertical tubes are graduated; and the heights at which the two fluids adjust themselves in these tubes, when the telescope is directed obliquely upwards, is made to indicate the altitude or angle of elevation of the object viewed, by a particular arrangement of the several parts.

ALTISSIMO, in Music, is the scale which commences with F, the octave above the fifth line in the treble.

ALTITUDE, from the Latin altus, high, may be rendered by the English word height. This being the case, we should have referred it to the English word, if the term were not particularly reserved in astronomy to signify, not the length, but the angle of elevation. Thus, if a be the position of a spectator on the earth, and A B the line on the

B

horizon, which is drawn towards the point directly under the star s, the angle BAS is the altitude of the star. For other less common applications of the term, see HEIGHTS.

The altitude of the pole is the geographical latitude of the place of observation, and remains the same throughout the twenty-four hours: the altitudes of the stars and sun change with the diurnal motion; being nothing when they rise and set, and greatest when they are on the meridian.

The altitude of a star is directly observed at sea with the SEXTANT; and the uses which are made of such observations may be seen in the following mathematical propositions, into the proofs of which we

cannot enter here.

1. When the latitude of the place is known, the time of day may be found from one observation of the altitude of the sun or a star; or conversely, if the time of day be known, the latitude may be found from the observation.

2. When neither the time nor the latitude is known, both may be found by observing any two altitudes of the sun or a star, and noting the time which elapses between the observations; but it is most convenient to observe one altitude first, before a star comes to the meridian, and then wait for the time when the same star comes to the same altitude on the other side of the meridian. Or if the latitude be very nearly known, a more accurate approximation may be simply made by the above method.

3. If the star be one of those which never sets, the latitude of the place is the half sum of its greatest and least altitudes.

In all that precedes, it is supposed that the star is known,—that is,

B

A

C

the place of the observer, c and B the north and south points of his horizon, P the north pole, z the zenith, CP ZB the meridian, arcs of which may be made to represent angles at A, and s the star on the meridian, whose altitude, B s, or c s, according as it is south or north of the zenith, or its complement, the zenith distance, z s, has been observed. Then, E being a point in the equator, and PE being equal to zc, both being ninety degrees, take away the common part z P, and Ez is equal to P C, the latitude of the place. And E s, or the star's declination, is Ez diminished by zs, if the star passes the meridian above E, or z s diminished by E z, if the star passes below E. If the star passes between the zenith and the pole, the declination E s is the sum of EZ and z S. That is, the declination of a star is the difference between its observed zenith distance and the latitude of the place, if the star passes south of the zenith, or the sum of the same quantities, if it passes between the zenith and the pole. In the first case the declination is north, if the latitude be greater than the zenith distance; south, if the zenith distance be greater than the latitude: in the second case, it is always north.

In this way, with a number of minute precautions for the sake of accuracy, catalogues of the declinations of stars are formed, by observation of their altitudes, or, which amounts to the same thing, of their zenith distances.

ALTO, in Music, is the highest natural adult male voice, or countertenor, the usual compass of which is, from F the fourth line in the bass, to C the third space on the treble, for example

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Alto is also one name of the instrument called in England the tenor, and in Italy the viola.

ALTO CLEF, in Music, a name of the C clef, when placed on the third line; more commonly, in England, called the countertenor clef. [CLEF.]

ALTO-RILIEVO, BASSO-RILIEVO, MEZZO-RILIEVO. The Italian term alto-rilievo is commonly applied to any work of sculpture connected more or less with a plane surface or back-ground, and in this general sense is opposed to insulated detached figures, or sculpture in the round. In its more particular meaning, alto-rilievo, or high relief, is usually appropriated to figures which are not only rounded to the full bulk, but have generally some portions of the figures quite detached. Basso-rilievo, low or flat relief, on the other hand, has only a very slight projection from the ground; and mezzo-rilievo (a style between the two), although sometimes rounded to a considerable bulk, has no part entirely unconnected with the plane surface or ground. A more accurate definition of the styles to which these designations refer will result from the explanations that follow. The terms used by the Greeks and Romans to distinguish these kinds of relief cannot perhaps be determined with complete accuracy; and it may be here remarked, that those writers are mistaken who suppose the word Toreutike (TOрEUTIKÝ) to have been applied by the Greeks exclusively to altorilievo, since Heyne, and indeed other writers before him, have proved that the term was appropriated to carving, and chiefly chasing in metal, in any kind of relief. The Latin word corresponding with it is calatura. The Greeks seem to have employed the term anaglypta to denote works in relief in general; and the ectypa scalptura of Pliny (xxxvii. 10) also means work in relief. The term glypta (from yλúpw, to cut into, to hollow out), with other words formed from the same verb, appears to denote sculpture in the concave sense, intaglio. Herodotus, in a passage of his second book (cap. 138), where we have little doubt that he is speaking of the sunk Egyptian reliefs (which will be mentioned in another part of this article), couples a word formed from the verb (yλúpw with the word typus (Turos): typus itself (perhaps) always means a work in relief properly so called. (See Herod. iii. 88; Cicero ad Atticum, i. 10.) Italian writers of the time of Vasari, it appears, used the term mezzo-rilievo for the highest relief, basso-rilievo for the less prominent, and stiacciato for the flattest or least raised. Whatever the origin of this kind of sculpture may have been, and there is no doubt of its being very ancient, an idea will be best formed

of its style, as practised by the Greeks, by supposing it to be derived from the partial insertion of a statue in a perpendicular plane. Altorilievo is often literally nothing more than this. Applied however to a flat surface, the disposition of the limbs and the actions of the figure become necessarily more or less parallel with that surface, in order sufficiently to adhere to it. The attitude is thus, in a certain degree, adapted or selected. In inserting or embedding a figure in a flat ground, it is obvious, that although it may be buried less than half its thickness, as in alto-rilievo, it cannot be buried more, nor indeed (the structure of the figure strictly considered) quite so much, without ceasing to present the real boundary or profile of the form. In the less prominent kinds of rilievo it is therefore still required that the outline should present the real form, and this principle in its further application excludes, in a great measure, the unreal forms of perspective and foreshortening, which would suppose that the objects are no longer parallel with the surface on which they are displayed. Attempts at foreshortening must in most cases fail to satisfy the eye. The work can only be seen in front, and the appearance it presents is therefore required to be at once intelligible, for no uncertainty can be removed by an inspection from another point of view, as in walking round a statue. The bulk, or thickness, need not however be real, provided it appear so. The compression of the bulk, which constitutes the various degrees of mezzo- and basso-rilievo, thus follows the compression or flattening of the action, the characteristic of alto-rilievo. Lastly, the modifications of which this branch of sculpture was susceptible, were adopted, as we shall see, according to the varieties of light, situation, dimensions, and use.

at once betray the solidity of that surface. In the attempt to represent, together with actual projection, the apparent depth of a picture, or to imitate space, figures which are supposed to be remote are reduced in size; but although thus diminished in form, they cannot have the strength of their light and shade diminished, and if deprived of shadow by inconsiderable relief, they cease to be apparent at all when the work is seen from its proper point of view that is, at a sufficient distance; having no distinctness whatever in the absence of colour, but by means of light and shade. In short, the art, thus practised, has no longer an independent style, and only betrays its inferiority by presenting defects which another mode of imitation can supply. A passage in Vitruvius proves that the ancients were not unacquainted with perspective; and the same author states that perspective scenic decorations were first employed by Agatharcus at Athens, in the time of schylus. However greatly the science may have been advanced by the moderns, this may be sufficient to prove that the absence of perspective in Greek bassi-rilievi was not from an absolute ignorance of its principles, but from a conviction that they would be misapplied in sculpture.

In carefully keeping within the limits, however narrow, which defined the style of rilievo, the great artists of antiquity failed not to condense into that style the utmost perfection compatible with it, while the various applications of the works suggested abundant variety in their treatment and execution. The British Museum contains unquestionably the finest existing specimens of this branch of sculpture in the rilievi which decorated the Parthenon, or Temple of Minerva, at Athens. We have here to consider the judicious adaptation of their styles for the situations they occupied; but in regard to their general excellence as works of imitation, it may also be well to remember that these sculptures were the admiration of the ancients themselves. Seven hundred years after they were produced, Plutarch spoke of them as The figures which adorned the pediment are separate statues, although in their original situation, casting their shadows on the tympanum, they must have had the effect of bold alti-rilievi; the circumstance of their

The Greeks, as a general principle, considered the ground of figures in relief to be the real wall, or whatever the solid plane might be, and not to represent air as if it was a picture. The art with them was thus rather the union of sculpture with architecture than a union of sculp-" inimitable works." ture with the conditions of painting. That this was founded on the most rational principles will be evident from a few simple considerations. The shadows thrown by figures on the surface from which they project

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being thus completely detached must have given the greatest distinctness to their forms, and as they occupied the highest part of the building, their gigantic size and complete relief made them fully effective at a considerable distance. The sculptures which adorned the metopes, or spaces between the triglyphs, are in alto-rilievo. Those in the British Museum, representing combats with Centaurs, were taken from the south side of the building: the subjects were varied on the other sides, but they mostly related to the warlike exploits of the Athenians. It has been well observed, that the subjects of combats, usually chosen for the metopes in Doric temples, afforded opportunities of composing the figures so as to produce diagonal lines, which effectually distin

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guished the groups from the architecture, and at the same time had the effect of reconciling the vertical forms of the triglyphs with the horizontal lines of the epistylium and cornice. The compositions in question all fully occupy the space destined for them, and are calcu lated, from their treatment and relief, to produce the utmost possible effect. Those works which received the open light were thus boldly relieved from their ground to insure the masses of shadow which make them conspicuous: the principle, applicable to external architecture, that projection commands shade, was thus extended to external decorations; and care seems to have been taken to keep the light on the figures as unbroken as possible, especially as the whole series of metopes

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