Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/147

ALS His "Encyclopædia Biblica" was based upon the false principle, afterwards revived by Hutchinson, that the Scriptures contain the first principles of all science and art. His treatise, "De Mille Annis," embodied millennarian views, and fixed the commencement of the personal reign of Christ on the earth for the year 1694. By an anagram of his name, his contemporaries honoured him with the appellation of "Sedulitas." His writings have long been destitute of all interest and value, save as showing the state of knowledge in his time.—P. L.  ALSTON,, a Scotch physician and botanist, was born at Eddlewood, in the west of Scotland, in 1683. His father was allied to the noble family of Hamilton. Young Alston pursued his studies at the university of Glasgow, and afterwards visited the continent. On the death of his father, he resumed his medical studies at Glasgow, and was patronized by the duchess of Hamilton. At the age of thirty-three he went to Leyden, to attend the lectures of Boerhaave. He remained there for nearly three years, and took the degree of M.D. At Leyden he became acquainted with Dr. Alexander Monro, who was afterwards professor of anatomy and surgery in the university of Edinburgh. On his return to Edinburgh, Alston gave instructions in botany in the king's garden at Holyrood, which was under the charge of the duke of Hamilton, hereditary keeper of the palace. On the 17th March, 1738, Alston was appointed professor of botany and materia medica in Edinburgh. He delivered two courses of lectures annually; one on botany, and another on materia medica. He was laborious in the discharge of his duties, and devoted his attention specially to medicinal plants. He published an introduction to botany, under the name of "Tirocinium Botanicum," in which he gives, first, a general dissertation on the study of botany, with a view of the classifications of Tournefort and Linnæus; second, elements of botany after Linnæus's "Fundamenta Botanica;" third, the names of plants, chiefly medicinal, cultivated in the Edinburgh Botanic garden, and used for demonstration. At the time of Alston's appointment to the chair, the sexual system of Linnæus was promulgated, and it seems to have been strenuously opposed by many cultivators of botany, and by Alston among others. He wrote a paper in Latin on the sexes of plants in his Tirocinium, which was afterwards translated by himself, and published in the Edinburgh Physical and Literary Essays for 1771. In this paper he opposes the Linnæan views, and states that, in spinage, hemp, and other dioecious plants, perfect seed can be produced without the contact of pollen. Alston wrote a valuable work on materia medica, in which he corrected many errors relative to species and the medicinal properties of plants. This work was published after his death by Dr. John Hope. In the Edinburgh Medical Essays, Alston wrote dissertations on tin as an anthelmintic, and on opium. In 1752 he published a dissertation on quicklime and lime-water as lithontriptic remedies, &c. He died on 22d November, 1760, at the age of 77.—J. H. B.  ALSTON,, a native of the United States, exercised landscape painting with considerable success. He studied at Rome, where he executed some very good pictures, and wrote an interesting handbook on landscape painting. Died in 1830.  ALSTORPH,, a Dutch antiquary, born at Groningen about 1680. He died in 1719.  ALSTROEMER,, a Swedish naturalist, was born on 9th August, 1736, at Alingsas. He studied under Linnæus, and devoted his attention in part to botany. He travelled over Europe, and made a small collection of plants. Linnæus notices him as a contributor to his Species Plantarum; and he named a genus Alstroemeria after him. He died at Gasewadsholm on 5th March, 1796.—J. H. B.  ALSTROEMER or ALSTROEM,, a native of Alingsas in Sweden, born in 1685. After undergoing a great variety of adventures, he succeeded, by his indefatigable energy and enlightened patriotism, in conferring very great advantages on his native country, by introducing numerous improvements in its woollen manufactures. He ultimately attained well-merited distinction, and died at Stockholm in 1761.—F.  ALT or ALTZIUS,, a German historical and portrait painter of Tübingen, in the second half of the 16th century.  ALT,, Baron d', a Swiss historical writer, born at Friburg in 1689. He died in 1771. <section end="147H" /> <section begin="147I" />ALTANI,, an Italian prelate and diplomatist. He was appointed bishop of Urbino in 1436, and performed some important political duties as papal nuncio. <section end="147I" /> <section begin="147J" />ALTANI,, surnamed , a poet of the same family as the preceding, born in 1505. He studied at Padua, and became intimate with many of the most remarkable scholars of his age. He died in 1570. <section end="147J" /> <section begin="147K" />ALTANI,, surnamed , an Italian dramatist of the seventeenth century. <section end="147K" /> <section begin="147L" />ALTANI,, an Italian author, who lived about. 1700. <section end="147L" /> <section begin="147M" />ALTAPHLISI,, a Jewish physician, who flourished before 1535, and whose writings are preserved in the Bodleian library at Oxford. <section end="147M" /> <section begin="147N" />ALTARDJEMAY, an Arabian, who lived in the ninth century, and who was commissioned by the caliph Vatek to explore Tartary and the regions north of the Caspian. The narrative of his journey abounds in fables. <section end="147N" /> <section begin="147O" />* ALTAROCHE,, a French literary character, born in 1811. Having been originally destined for the bar, he embraced the profession of journalism after the Revolution of 1830, and was connected with many of the leading Parisian papers; was one of the originators, and for fourteen years the principal editor of the Charivari, the Punch of France. He produced a number of novels, songs, political works, &c. In 1850 he became manager of the Odeon theatre.—J. W. S. <section end="147O" /> <section begin="147P" />ALTDORFER,, a Bavarian painter and engraver, was born at Altdorf, near Landshut, in 1488, and died at Regensburg in 1538. He is considered the best pupil of Albert Durer, and executed many important works, amongst others the "Battle of Arbela," now in the Pinacotheca at Munich. <section end="147P" /> <section begin="147Q" />ALTEN,, Count of, a Hanoverian officer, born at Burgwedel in 1764, served with distinction in the Peninsula under Wellington, and died at Botzen in 1840. <section end="147Q" /> <section begin="147R" />ALTENBURG,, a Lutheran divine, musician, and poet. Died in 1640. <section end="147R" /> <section begin="147S" />ALTENSTEIG,, a Roman catholic theologian of Southern Germany, flourished in the sixteenth century, and held a professorship in the university of Tübingen. <section end="147S" /> <section begin="147T" />ALTENSTEIN,, Baron von, minister of public instruction in Prussia, was born at Anspach in 1770, and died at Berlin in 1840. He served with great zeal and ability as a statesman and financier, co-operating with Niebuhr, Stägemann, the Humboldts, &c. His leisure was devoted to literary and scientific pursuits. He took a leading part in the foundation of the universities of Berlin (1809) and of Bonn. The last twenty-three years of his life were more particularly devoted to the superintendence of the educational system of Prussia, which owes to him many of its most admirable features.—J. W. S. <section end="147T" /> <section begin="147U" />ALTER,, a distinguished scholar, born in 1749; died at Vienna in 1804. He published an edition of the New Testament, with various readings, the text being that of the Codex Vindobonensi in the imperial library. The work, though of no great critical value, was very carefully and skilfully executed. <section end="147U" /> <section begin="147V" />ALTHAMMER,, a protestant theologian of Germany, was born at Brenz in Suabia in 1498, and died at Jagerndorf in Upper Silesia in 1564. <section end="147V" /> <section begin="147W" />AITHEN,, a Persian, was born in 1711, and died in 1774 in France, into which country he had introduced the cultivation of madder. He had in early youth been sold into slavery in Asia Minor, in consequence of the Affghan invasion of Persia, and had been employed in the cultivation of madder. He at length escaped, carrying with him some of the seed of this valuable plant, the exportation of which was forbidden on pain of death, and took refuge with the French consul, by whom he was forwarded to Marseilles. It is to be regretted that a man who had enriched France to such an extent, should have been permitted to die in poverty and neglect. A marble monument was erected to his memory in 1821, on the very day when his only daughter perished in an hospital!—J. W. S. <section end="147W" /> <section begin="147X" />ALTHOL,, was born at Detmold, 1758, studied at Halle and Göttingen, became physician to the king of Saxony, and died, 1832, leaving several medical works. <section end="147X" /> <section begin="147Zcontin" />ALTHUSEN,, was born in 1557 at Embden, studied jurisprudence at Basle, became professor of civil law at Herborn, and died in 1638. He defended the civil and religious liberties of his native town, of which he had been chosen syndic, against the counts of East Friesland. He protested against trials for witchcraft, then very numerous. In his political writings he maintains that the sovereignty resides in the people <section end="147Zcontin" />