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 A L O A L N ( 125 ) ALMONER, an officer appointed to diftribute alms to fix feals upon them. Another branch of his office is to colledl an alnage-duty to the king. the .poor. ALMONRY, Aumbry, Ambry. See Ambry. ALNAM, in botany, an obfolete name of the Pule glum. ALMS, a general term for what is given out of chari- See Pulegium. ty to the poor. ALNEY, a fmall ifland formed by the branches of the In the early ages of Chriftianity,' the alms of the Severn, near Glocefter, in England; called alfo the charitable were divided into four parts; one of which Eight. was allotted to the biffiop, another to the priefls, and ALNUS, in botany, a fynonyme of a fpecies of betula, a third to the deacons and fub-deacons, which made or alder-tree. See Betula. their whole fubfiftence ; the fourth part was employed Alnus, in the ancient theatres, that part which was in relieving the poor, and in repairing the churches. moft diftant from the ftage. Alms, alfo denotes lands or other effefts left to churches ALNWICK, the county-town of Northumberland, in or religious houfes, on condition of praying for the England, fituated upon the alne. foul of the donor. Hence, ALOA, in Grecian antiquity, a feftival kept in honour of Free Alms was that which is liable to no rent or fer- Ceres by the hufbandmen, and fuppofed to refemble our harveft-home. vice. Reafonable Al m s was a certain portion of the eftates of ALOE, in botany, a genus of the hexandria monogynia inteftate perfons, allotted to the poor. clafs. The charadters are : The corolla is eredt, open Alms-^x; or Alms-cA?/?, in churches, and hofpitals, at the top, and the nedtarium at the bottom of it; the ebc. a llrong box, with a hole or flit in the upper part, filaments of the ftamina are inferred in the receptato receive the alms of the charitably difpofed. cle, the leaves are thick, fucculent, and for the. moft A^wis-feoth, or Alhihs-feoth, a term anciently ufed for part befet with briftles ; the fruit is oblong and cylinPeter’s pence. See Peter’s Pence. drical, and divided into three cells, which contain flat Ahvi&-houfe? a kind of hofpital for the maintenance of a femicircular feeds. There are eight fpecies of the certain number of poor, aged, or difabled perfons. aloe, viz. the perfoliata, variegata, difticha, fpiALMSTAD, a town of Sweden, in the province of ralis, vifcofa, pumila, uvaria, and retufa, moft of Smaland, four miles E. of Chriflianftad. them natives of Africa. The retufa, or pearl aloe, is ALMOXARIFARGO, an old duty paid upon the Bri- a very beautiful plant. It is fmaller than moft of the tifh woollen manufadtures in old Spain : Alfo a duty aloe kind. The leaves are fhort, very thick, ffiarp of 2t per cent, paid in Spanifh America, upon the ex- pointed, and turning down with a large thick end, apportation of bulls hides in European veflels. pear there triangular. The colour of the leaves is a ALMUCANTARS, in aftronomy, an Arabic word de- fine green, ftriped in an elegant manner with white, noting circles of the fphere palling through the center and frequently tipped with red at the point. The of the fun, or a ftar, parallel to the horizon, being flower-ftalk, which rifes in the midft of the leaves, is the fame as parallels of altitude. See Parallels of round, fmooth, of a purple colour, and generally about Altitude. eight inches high. When the plant has been properly ALMUCIUM, denotes a kind of cover for the head, cultivated, the flowers are ftriped with green and worn chiefly by monks and ecclefiaftics: It was of a white; and fometimes they are entirely white. This f^uare form, and feems to have given rife to the bon- aloe is Angular in not having the bitter reflnous juice nets of the fame fliape, ftill retained in univerfities and with which the leaves of moft others abound; when cathedrals. a leaf of this fpecies is cut, what runs from it is waALMUCIA, is fometimes alfo ufed for the furs, or tery, colourlefs, and perfectly inflpid. Linnaeus fays muffs, worn by the ancient canons on their left arms. that this plant thrives beft in a clay foil, and that it ALMUG-TREE, mentioned in Scripture, is fuppofed to grows wild in the clay-grounds of Africa. See plate be the fame with that which produces the gum arabic. XL fig. 1. ALMUNECAR, a port-town of Granada, in Spain, The infpiffated juice of the aloe is a ftimulating fituated upon the Mediterranean: W. Ipng. 30 45'. cathartic bitter, and is ufed in various forms, for N. lat. 36° 40'. cleanfing the primae viae, attenuating and refolving ALMUTAZAPHUS, a magiflrate of Arragon, whofe vifcid juices, for promoting the uterine and hemoroffice it was to infpedt meafures and weights, and rhoidal fluxes, killing worms, fac. fearch houfes for ftolen goods. ALOE-WOOD. See Xylo-Aloes. ALMUTHEN, in aftrology, the planet which furpaf- ALOEDARY, an ohfolete name of a purging medicine, fes the reft with refpedt to dignities. See Dignity. whofe chief ingredient is aloes. ALNABATI, in botany, an obfolete name of the filiqua. ALOETICS, the name of all medicines whofe chief inSee Siliqjja. gredient is aloes. ALNAGE, or Aulnage, in the Englilh polity, the ALOGIANS, in church-hiftory, a fe<£t of ancient heremeafuring of woollen manufadtures with an ell, and tics, who denied that Jefus Chrift was the Logos, and the other fundtions of the alnager. confequently rejeaed the gofpel of St. John. ALNAGER, in the Englifh polity, a public fwom officer, ALOGOTROPHIA, among phyficians, the unequal whofe hufinefs is to examine into the affize of all growth or nouriftment of any part of the body, as in woollen cloth made throughout the kingdom, and to the rickets. Vol. I. No. 6. 3 Ii 'ALOIDES,