Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/174

ALSBERG ments of Meuse, Moselle, Meurthe, and Vosges.

In Cæsar's time Alsace-Lorraine was occupied by Celtic tribes, and formed part of ancient Gaul; but during the decline of the empire the Alemanni and other tribes from beyond the Rhine occupied and largely Germanized it. From the 10th century it formed part of the German empire, under various sovereign dukes and princes, latterly of the house of Hapsburg; till a part of it was ceded to France at the Peace of Westphalia (1648), and the rest fell a prey to the aggressions of Louis XIV., who seized Strasbourg (1681) by surprise in time of peace. By the Peace of Ryswick (1697), the cession of the whole was ratified. In 1814-1815 Russia would not hear of the restitution of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany; and not till 1871, after the Franco-Prussian war, were Alsace and German Lorraine, by the treaty of Frankfort, incorporated in the new German Empire. The great mass of the population were strongly against the change, and 160,000 elected to be French, though only 50,000 went into actual exile, refusing to become German subjects. For, at least since the era of the Revolution, Alsace in sentiment was wholly French, To France she gave the bravest of her sons—Kellermann, Kleber, and many another hero. Strasbourg 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 third as of the first Napoleon.

France long cherished the hope of regaining the lost territories, but had resigned herself to the inevitable when the war of 1914-1918 suddenly thrust on her by Germany enabled her, through the victory of the Allies, to realize her dream. See FRANCE; WORLD WAR.

ALSBERG, CARL LUCAS, an American biochemist, born in New York in 1877. He graduated from Columbia University in 1896 and later studied in Germany, He was in the chemical department of Harvard University from 1905 to 1908. In the latter year he became chemical biologist for the Bureau of Plant Industry, serving until 1912, when he became Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry in the United States Department of Agriculture. He was a member of many chemical societies.

ALSTRŒMERIA (al-stra-mē´rē-a), a genus of South American plants, order amaryllideæ, some of them cultivated in European greenhouses and gardens. A. salsilla and A. avata are cultivated for their edible tubers.

ALTAI MOUNTAINS (al´tī), an important Asiatic system on the borders of Siberia and Mongolia, partly in Russian and partly in Chinese territory, lying between lat. 46° and 53° N., long. 83° and 91° E., but having great eastern extensions. The Russian portion is comprised in the governments of Tomsk and Semipalatinsk, the Chinese in Dsungaria. The rivers of this region are mostly headwaters of the Obi and Irtish. The highest summit is Byeluka, height 11,000 feet. The vegetation is varied and abundant. The mountain forests are composed of birch, alder, aspen, fir, larch, stone pine, etc. The wild sheep has here its native home and several kinds of deer occur. The Altai are exceedingly rich in minerals, including gold, silver, copper, and iron. The inhabitants consist chiefly of Russians and Kalmuks.

ALTAR, an erection made for the offering of sacrifices for memorial purposes, or for some other object. An altar designed for sacrifice is mentioned in Scripture as early as the time of Noah (Genesis viii:20).

At Sinai directions were given that altars should be of earth or of stone unhewn, and that the ascent to them should not be by steps (Exod. xx: 24-26), When the tabernacle worship was established, there was an altar of wood covered with brass, designed for sacrifice, and one overlaid with gold, on which incense was burned (Exod. xxvii: 1-8; xxxi: 1-10). Both had projections at the four corners of the upper surface. To those of the brazen altar victims were bound, and a fugitive from death seizing hold of one of these could not legally be dragged away to meet his doom.

In the early Christian centuries altars were generally of wood. During the 6th century stone was employed in the construction, and this continued to the time of the Reformation.

In the Church of Rome an altar is essential, it being believed that in the mass an actual though bloodless sacrifice is offered for sin. Formerly, also, there was an upper altar (superaltare), which was a small portable one for the consecration of the communion elements.

The stone altars, which were in the churches of the Church of England when the Reformation began, were removed about 1550, and tables substituted for them.

Many of the old ethnic nations built altars for idolatrous worship on the tops of hills or in groves. The Greeks and Romans built high altars to the heavenly