Page:LA2-NSRW-1-0061.jpg

ALCOHOL

chief employment of the people was navigation. It was said that the ships were intelligent, and without helm or pilot could find any coast or harbor. King Alcinous received Ulysses near the close of the latter's long period of wandering. He entertained him hospitably and furnished him with a ship to carry him to Ithaca. Upon its return to Scheria this ship and its sailors were transformed to stone by Neptune as a mark of his wrath for the favor shown to Ulysses.  Al' cohol, the spirit of fermented liquors. The word is of Arabic origin, and was originally used as the name of a kind of black paint used by Eastern women for darkening the eyes. It is not known why the word was applied to its present use. Alcohol is made from the juice of grapes, apples, etc., and from corn, grain and other materials containing starch, after the latter has been converted into sugar. When the juices or "mashes" ferment or "work", the sugar which they contain changes into the spirit alcohol. It has great affinity for water, which is to a great degree separated from it by distillation and other processes. When pure it is a deadly poison, and is the intoxicating principle in the so-called spirituous liquors. Brandy, whiskey, rum and gin, which are called distilled liquors, are about one-half alcohol; port wine about one-fourth or one-fifth, and claret and white wines one-tenth, while ale and cider have still less.

When alcohol is drunk it undergoes oxidation in the body, just as sugar, starch and other similar substances do. As a narcotic, it produces at first high spirits; then, as it gets possession of the nerves of feeling, stupidity; then when it has paralyzed the nerves of motion, insensibility; and, finally, if taken in large enough quantities, it reaches the heart and the result is death. Alcohol has many interesting properties and uses. As it never freezes at any natural temperatures, it is used in cold countries in thermometers. It is used in medicines by mixing it with drugs; in varnishes by mixing with resins and gums; and in cologne by mixing with oils. It is used in preserving specimens, as it is an antiseptic. Chemists find it a clean and valuable fuel.  Alcott (awl'kot), Amos Bronson, American educator, philosophical writer and one of the founders of the New England Transcendentalist school, was born at Wolcott, Conn., November 29, 1799, and died at Boston, March 4, 1888. His active life began by teaching in schools, founded by himself and on methods of his own, the teaching being imparted more by conversation than by books. Later on, he exchanged the schoolroom for the lecture platform, and became dean of the Concord School of Philosophy. At Concord, he was intimate with Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau and Channing, and was a frequent contributor to The Dial. Besides his Table Talk his best known work is his Concord Days.  Alcott,   Louisa  May,   daughter   of   the above, was born in 1833 and died in 1888. Her books for children are perhaps the most popular works of the kind published in this country. Her Hospital Sketches are selections from letters written home from the army in 1863, where she was a volunteer nurse. Her best known books are Little Women, Little Men, Old-Fashioned Girls, Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom.  Alcuin (al'kwin), born in England about 735 A. D., and died in France in 804. He was educated in the cathedral school at York, England, and became head master of that school. He is, perhaps, best known for his labors in the celebrated palace school opened by King Charlemagne in France. Alcuin became the head of this school and, in addition to teaching, he had corrected copies made of classical manuscripts which had gradually become very inaccurate through careless copying. During his last years, Alcuin was abbot of the monastery of St. Martin in Tours, France.  Alden (awl'den), John (born 1599, died 1689), one of the Pilgrim fathers, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620. For more than fifty years he was a magistrate of Plymouth colony. Miles Standish once sent him to a lady with an offer of marriage, but she, liking John better, said, "Prithee, John, why do you not speak for yourself?" —and John married her. The story is told by Longfellow in his Courtship of Miles Standish.  Alder (al'der), hardy ornamental tree or shrub, fond of the water and the wood valued for its durability in water. It belongs to the genus Alnus; 20 species are known. A giant among these is the famous black alder of Europe, Asia and North Africa. The alder is widely distributed. In North America there are six species of trees and three of shrubs. "The alder by the river" is not only a very pretty feature of the landscape, but also of value to the land, keeping the banks from crumbling. The tree is not ranked with the more important timber trees, but is put to numerous uses; alder branches furnish the best charcoal for the making of gunpowder; from the bark and shoots is obtained a dye; the wood is turned to account in various small common articles, and is used for piles, pumps, watering-troughs, etc. 