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 ALTENSTEIN ALTHEN 361 a part of its fragments are preserved in the church of Steinbach ; a small monument marks the place where it stood. Since 1798 Alten- stein has been the summer residence of the court, and has been surrounded by a splendid park. In 1799 a grotto was here discovered, which is among the most remarkable natural curiosities of Germany. It is of vast propor- tions, and through its whole extent flows a rapid stream of water sufficiently deep to bear barges, and turning a mill at the place where it issues from the earth. The entrance to the cavern is through a subterranean gallery. ALTENSTEIN, Karl, baron von Stein zum Al- tenstein, a Prussian minister of state, born in Anspach, Oct. 7, 1770, died in Berlin, May 14, 1840. He was called by Hardenberg into the ministry at Berlin in 1799. During the war of 1806 he fled with the court from Berlin to Konigsberg, and after the treaty of Tilsit be- came the head of the department of finance. He took a principal part in the foundation of the university of Berlin in 1809. In 1815 he was sent with Wilhelm von Humboldt to Paris, to present the claims of Prussia for the restoration of the treasures of art and litera- ture carried from the country by the French armies ; and in the same year he was 'made a member of the commission for determining the boundaries of the Prussian possessions in West- phalia and in the province of the Rhine. After his return to Berlin he was made minister of public worship and education, and in this posi- tion he rendered lasting service to the univer- sities, gymnasiums, and schools. Under his direction the university of Bonn was founded, and reforms were introduced into the several branches of popular instruction. He was a zealous partisan of the philosopher Fichte. ALTERATIVES, a term applied by modern writers on medical science in a somewhat ob- scure manner. A certain class of substances are denominated " alteratives " in manuals of therapeutics. The effects produced by these substances, administered in comparatively small and frequent doses, are practically known, but the modus operandi is a mystery. As the same substances in large doses act as emetics, purgatives, or poisons, a name was re- quired to designate the peculiar effects of these substances administered in minute doses ; and the most appropriate word that could be found, apparently, was the word " alterative." As the manner of action of drugs in health and disease becomes more accurately known, the medicines thus designated will undoubtedly be removed to other classes, or this name will be replaced by something more rational and defi- nite. It is probable that some alteratives act either by modifying the character of the nutri- tive material carried by the blood to the tissues, or by promoting the destructive metamor- phosis of tissue outside the blood vessels. In these processes, diseased tissues, being the more weakly organized, experience the earliest effects, and in this way the good may be ob- tained without the evil. The principal sub- stances used as alteratives are iodine and mer- cury, and their respective combinations with potassium and other substances. Arsenical preparations are also used as alteratives in small doses. They are mostly employed in chronic diseases and cutaneous, scrofulous, and syphi- litic affections. Many other substances are now used as alteratives in small doses, the effects being more or less immediate and temporary, or slow and lasting, according to the dose ad- ministered. Any powerful medicine given in frequent small doses may be called an alter- ative, therefore, as it acts continuously, gently, slowly, and, when well selected, often most efficiently. Each medicinal substance acts in proportion to the frequency and potency of the dose administered, when given alone, or with a neutral menstruum, such as mucilage or water. Ten grains of ipecacuanha, taken alone or in water, act as an emetic ; but combined with a strong dose of opium (two grains of good quality, or three of an inferior kind), the ipecacuanha will not produce an obvious effect upon the stomach, but be absorbed into the blood and cause a profuse flow of perspiration, if the patient be kept warm in bed. Arsenic is a violent poison in large doses ; in minute doses, frequently repeated, it is a cure for ague and fever. Many of the most active and poisonous preparations of mercury are highly beneficial in small doses, although dangerous in large ones. ALTERNATE GENERATION. See JELLY FISH. ALTHJ2A (Gr. aWetv, to cure), a genus of plants belonging to the natural order malvacea. They have a double calyx, the outer whorl with from 6 to 9 sepals, and the inner with 5. A. officinalis is the marsh mallow, the knowledge of which in medical botany is of great antiqui- ty. The mucilaginous roots and leaves of this plant are used in all cases in which emollient or demulcent substances are required. It is a perennial plant, with a white, fleshy root, 12 or 15 inches long. The stems are 2 or 3 feet high, and covered all over with a soft down. The leaves are also covered with down, which gives the whole plant a hoary aspect. The leaves are soft and stalked, the flowers of a pale rose color, appearing in very short clusters from the axil of the leaves. The corolla is like that of the common mallow. The demulcent lozenges sold under the name of pdte deguimauve are made of A. officinalis; they are made in large quantities in the south of France, particularly at Marseilles. The hollyhock, A. rosea, grows wild in China. (See HOLLYHOCK.) Althaea is a common name of the ornamental shrub hibiscus Syriacus, also called rose of Sharon. (See HIBISCUS.) ALTHEN, Ehan, a Persian who introduced madder into France, born in 1711, died in 1774. He was sold to an Anatolian planter, who for 14 years kept him working on cotton and mad- der. On effecting his escape from slavery, he found his way from Smyrna to Marseilles and