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Rh & North-Western, Manchester, South Junction & Altrincham and Cheshire Lines railways. Pop. of urban district (1901) 16,831. Many residences in the locality are occupied by those whose business lies in Manchester, who are attracted by the healthy climate and the vicinity of Bowdon Downs and Dunham Massey Woods. Market gardening is carried on, large quantities of fruit and flowers being grown for sale in Manchester. Cabinet-making is also practised; and there are sawmills, iron foundries, and manufactures of cotton, yarn and worsted.

Altrincham (Aldringham) was originally included in the barony of Dunham Massey, one of the eight baronies founded by Hugh, earl of Chester, after the Conquest. An undated charter from Hamo de Massey, lord of the barony, in the reign of Edward I., constituted Altrincham a free borough, with a gild merchant, the customs of Macclesfield, the right to elect reeves and bailiffs for the common council and other privileges. In 1290 the same Hamo obtained a grant of a Tuesday market and a three days' fair at the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin; but in 1319, by a charter from Edward II., the date of the fair was changed to the feast of St James the Apostle. A mayor of Altrincham is mentioned by name in 1452, but the office probably existed long before this date; it has now for centuries been a purely nominal appointment, the chief duty consisting in the opening of the annual fairs. The trade in worsted and woollen yarns, which formerly furnished employment to a large section of the population, has now completely declined, partly owing to the introduction of Irish worsted.

ALTRUISM (Fr. autrui, from Lat. alter, the other of two), a philosophical term used in ethics for that theory of conduct which regards the good of others as the end of moral action. It was invented by Auguste Comte and adopted by the English positivists as a convenient antithesis to egoism. According to Comte the only practical method of social regeneration is gradually to inculcate the true social feeling which subordinates itself to the welfare of others. The application to sociological problems of the physical theory of organic evolution further developed the altruistic theory. According to Herbert Spencer, the life of the individual in the perfect society is identical with that of the state: in other words, the first object of him who would live well must be to take his part in promoting the well-being of his fellows individually and collectively. Pure egoism and pure altruism are alike impracticable. For on the one hand unless the egoist’s happiness is compatible to some extent with that of his fellows, their opposition will almost inevitably vitiate his perfect enjoyment; on the other hand, the altruist whose primary object is the good of others, must derive his own highest happiness—i.e. must realize himself most completely—in the fulfilment of this object. In fact, the altruistic idea, in itself and apart from a further definition of the good, is rather a method than an end.

The self-love theory of Hobbes, with its subtle perversions of the motives of ordinary humanity, led to a reaction which culminated in the utilitarianism of Bentham and the two Mills; but their theory, though superior to the extravagant egoism of Hobbes, had this main defect, according to Herbert Spencer, that it conceived the world as an aggregate of units, and was so far individualistic. Sir Leslie Stephen in his Science of Ethics insisted that the unit is the social organism, and therefore that the aim of moralists is not the “greatest happiness of the greatest number,” but rather the “health of the organism.” The socialistic tendencies of subsequent thinkers have emphasized the ethical importance of altruistic action, but it must be remembered always that it is ultimately only a form of action, that it may be commended in all types of ethical theory, and that it is a practical guide only when it is applied in accordance with a definite theory of “the good.” Finally, he who devotes himself on principle to furthering the good of others as his highest moral obligation is from the highest point of view realizing, not sacrificing, himself.

ALTWASSER, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, 43 m. by rail S.W. from Breslau, and 3 m. N. from Waldenburg. It has factories for glass, porcelain, machinery, cotton-spinning, iron-foundries and coal-mines. Pop. (1900) 12,144. ALTYN-TAGH, or, one of the chief constituent ranges of the (q.v.) in Central Asia, separating Tibet from east Turkestan and the Desert of Gobi. ALUM, in chemistry, a term given to the crystallized double sulphates of the typical formula M2SO4·M1112·(SO4)324H2O, where M is the sign of an alkali metal (potassium, sodium, rubidium, caesium), silver or ammonium, and M111 denotes one of the trivalent metals, aluminium, chromium or ferric iron. These salts are employed in dyeing and various other industrial processes. They are soluble in water, have an astringent, acid and sweetish taste, react acid to litmus, and crystallize in regular octahedra. When heated they liquefy; and if the heating be continued, the water of crystallization is driven off, the salt froths and swells, and at last an amorphous powder remains.

Potash alum is the common alum of commerce, although both soda alum and ammonium alum are manufactured. The presence of sulphuric acid in potash alum was known to the alchemists. J. H. Pott and A. S. Marggraf demonstrated that alumina was another constituent. Pott in his Lithogeognosia showed that the precipitate obtained when an alkali is poured into a solution of alum is quite different from lime and chalk, with which it had been confounded by G. E. Stahl. Marggraf showed that alumina is one of the constituents of alum, but that this earth possesses peculiar properties, and is one of the ingredients in common clay (Expériences faites sur la terre de l’alun, Marggraf’s Opusc. ii. 111). He also showed that crystals of alum cannot be obtained by dissolving alumina in sulphuric acid and evaporating the solutions, but when a solution of potash or ammonia is dropped into this liquid, it immediately deposits perfect crystals of alum (Sur la régénération de l’alun, Marggraf’s Opusc. ii. 86).

T. O. Bergman also observed that the addition of potash or ammonia made the solution of alumina in sulphuric acid crystallize, but that the same effect was not produced by the addition of soda or of lime (De confectione aluminus, Bergman’s Opusc. i. 225), and that potassium sulphate is frequently found in alum.

After M. H. Klaproth had discovered the presence of potassium in leucite and lepidolite, it occurred to L. N. Vauquelin that it was probably an ingredient likewise in many other minerals. Knowing that alum cannot be obtained in crystals without the addition of potash, he began to suspect that this alkali constituted an essential ingredient in the salt, and in 1797 he published a dissertation demonstrating that alum is a double salt, composed of sulphuric acid, alumina and potash (Annales de chimie, xxii. 258). Soon after, J. A. Chaptal published the analysis of four different kinds of alum, namely, Roman alum, Levant alum, British alum and alum manufactured by himself. This analysis led to the same result as that of Vauquelin (Ann. de chim. xxii. 280).

The word alumen, which we translate alum, occurs in Pliny’s Natural History. In the 15th chapter of his 35th book he gives a detailed description of it. By comparing this with the account of  given by Dioscorides in the 123rd chapter of his 5th book, it is obvious that the two are identical. Pliny informs us that alumen was found naturally in the earth. He calls it salsugoterrae. Different substances were distinguished by the name of “alumen”; but they were all characterized by a certain degree of astringency, and were all employed in dyeing and medicine, the light-coloured alumen being useful in brilliant dyes, the dark-coloured only in dyeing black or very dark colours. One species was a liquid, which was apt to be adulterated; but when pure it had the property of blackening when added to pomegranate juice. This property seems to characterize a solution of iron sulphate in water; a solution of ordinary (potash) alum would possess no such property. Pliny says that there is another kind of alum which the Greeks call schistos. It forms in white threads upon the surface of certain stones. From