Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/338

 314 ALIEN ALIMENT cannot maintain an action in our courts, unless he is here by license of our government or is otherwise under its protection. But an alien friend, whether resident here or not, may sustain in our courts an action like our own citizens for any injury to his person or rights. As to non- resident aliens, an illustration of the rule is furnished by the suits for infringement of trade marks in this country, which have been in several instances maintained by English manu- facturers. Suits by or against aliens, whether living here or abroad, to which a citizen of the United States is an opposite party, may be brought under the laws of the federal govern- ment in the United States circuit courts ; and suits by aliens for torts in violation of the law of nations may be brought in the district courts. Upon the outbreak of a war with the alien's country his civil capacity to sue is suspended, and his property is subject to confiscation. A statute of the United States of 1798, still in force, provides that in such an event the sub- jects of the hostile nation within our territory may be restrained, secured, or removed as alien enemies, though they shall be allowed such time for removal of their effects as is provided by treaties with their countries. Aliens are in- capable of serving on juries, voting, or holding office. Where they can hold property, they are generally subject to. militia duty and the other burdens and taxes of citizens. The prac- tice of trying aliens by a jury de medietate lin- guae (half aliens) has fallen into general disuse. The power to expel aliens from the state is vested in France in the minister of the interior, and in England and America theoretically in the executive, though it has never been exer- cised in either of the two latter countries ex- cept in pursuance of an act of parliament or of congress. Such an act was passed in England in 1848, but a report made in 1850 showed that it had not been enforced in a single in- stance. In England some important points of the law respecting aliens have been lately set- tled by the enactment of the naturalization act of 1870. It declares that henceforth real and personal property of every description may be taken, acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien, in the same manner in all respects as by a native-born British subject ; and that a title to real and personal property of every descrip- tion may be derived from, through, or in suc- cession to an alien, as it may be from a native citizen of the kingdom. The act also provides that any alien naturalized in Great Britain may make a declaration of alienage after proclama- tion of any treaty with his native state which insures that privilege for its subjects ; and also that any person born out of her majesty's do- minions of a British father may, if of full age and under no disability, make a declaration of alienage. From the passage of the act no alien shall be entitled to be tried by a jury de medie- tate lingua, but shall be triable like a native British subject. Provisos of the act declare that its terms shall not qualify an alien for any office or for any municipal, parliamentary, or other franchise, nor enable him to enjoy any rights or privileges as a British subject, except the rights and privileges as to property con- ceded by the act. Other significant but less im- portant provisions are contained in the statute. A I.I (.11 1 Hi I. Dante degli. See DANTE. ALIGHUR, or Allygnrh. I. A district of Brit- ish India, in the Meerut division of the North- western Provinces, between lat. 27 27' and 28 11' N., and Ion. 77 32' and 78 47' E. ; area, 2,149 sq. m. ; pop. about 1,200,000. "With the exception of a ridge near the middle of the district, the surface is almost level. The crops are wheat, barley, millet, pulse, indigo, cotton, tobacco, and sugar. At the beginning of this century Alighur was the seat of power of the French adventurer Perron. II. A fort in the preceding district, 55 m. N. of Agra, on the road to Meerut. It was held by Perron with a force of Mahrattas in 1803, and was stormed by the British Sept. 4, about 2,000 of the garrison falling in the assault. A regiment of sepoys mutinied here in May, 1857, and held the place till October, the English escaping without loss of life. ALIMENT, or Food, all the solid and liquid substances requisite for the nourishment of the body. The living body is in a constant state of change. Every one of its motions, every exertion of the voluntary muscles, even the contractions of the heart and the movements of respiration, are attended by the disintegra- tion of some portion of the tissues, which must be renovated in order to maintain their vital activity. This constant waste of tissues de- mands a corresponding supply of food, by which the loss may be made good. Properly speaking, all the ingredients of the body con- stantly require to be replaced, and must there- fore form a part of the food. Alimentary ma- terials are accordingly divided into groups, dis- tinguished from each other by certain char- acteristics. 1. The first comprises the inor- ganic substances proper, namely, water and the mineral salts. They are all essential as ingredients of the food, since they form an es- sential part of the bodily frame. Of these in- organic substances, water is the most abundant and the most constantly indispensable. It forms from two thirds to three quarters of the entire mass of the human body, and is constantly dis- charged from the body by the perspiration, the respiration, and' the urine. The water thus lost must consequently be replaced by that which is taken with the food and drink. The quantity of water taken in to supply the wants of the system is for an adult man, on the aver- age, about 4^ pounds per day. Of the mineral salts which are necessary constituents of the body and of the food, chloride of sodium, or common salt, and phosphate of lime are the most important. They exist in greater or less abundance in every one of the solids and fluids of the body. Chloride of sodium, for example, is present in the blood in the proportion of 4|