Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/364

ALCOHOLS. CH.COCI + 2Zn(CH,)j + 2H,0 = Acetyl chloride Zinc-metbyl (CHjjjCOH + CH.ZnCl + Zn(0H)2 + Ca, Tertiary butyl Zinc-chloro- Zinc Methane alcohol methyl hydroxide

The aromatic alcohols may be prepared by methods analogous to those just described. Aro- matic alcohols must be distinguished from the phenols — a class of hydroxyl derivatives of the aromatic hydrocarbons — which are in many re- spects quite different from the true alcohols: thus, phenates of the alkali metals are obtained by the action of alkaline hydroxides on phenols, while alcoholates can only be produced from alcohols by the action of the alkali metals them- selves, their hydroxides having no action on alcohols. Theoretically the difference between aromatic alcohols and phenols consists in this, that in the latter the hydroxyl groups are attached immediately to the so-called benzene ring, while in the former they are attached to a side-chain. The difference is clearly shown by the following constitutional formulae, represent- ing, respectively, a well-known phenol and the simplest aromatic alcohol known:

/OH CeH, C„H,— CH,— OH CH, Cresol (a phenol) Benzyl alcohol (an alcohol)

The more important alcohols are described under special heads.

ALCOLEA, iil'ko-la'a, A bridge across the river Guadalquivir, eight miles northeast of Cordova, Spain, the scene of a battle September 28, 1868, between the revolutionary troops of Serrano and those of Queen Isabella. The latter were beaten and the Queen, dethroned, fled to France.

ALCORAN, al'ko-ran or al'ko-rUn'. See

ALCORN, al'kern, (1816-94). An American statesman, born in Galconda, Illinois. He was educated at Cumberland University, Kentucky, and became a lawyer in that State and sat in its Legislature. He went to Mississippi in 1844, and served in the State Legislature from 1846 to 1865, when he was elected United States Senator, but was not then permitted to take his seat. He was elected governor on the Republican ticket in 1869, but resigned two years later to enter the United States Senate, where he continued until 1877. In 1873 he was defeated for governor on an independent ticket. He was the founder of the levee system of the Mississippi.

ALCOTT, a̤l'kŭt, (1799-1888). An American educational reformer, conversationalist, and transcendental philosopher. He was born at Wolcott, Conn., November 29, 1799, and died in Boston, March 4, 1888. He was the son of a farmer, and his first experience of life was gained as a peddler in the South. In 1828 he became an educational reformer and established in Boston a school, in which he attracted much attention by the novelty of his methods. Of this there is a very attractive account by Elizabeth Peabody (Record of a School, 1834; third edition, 1874). His method was largely conversational, and a transcript of his talks appeared in 1836 as Conversations

with Children on the Gospels. Ways that would now seem more commendable than noteworthy then met with bitter denunciation, so that Alcott abandoned his school, moved to Concord, and sought to disseminate his views on theology, education, society, civics, and vegetarianism through lectures, winning attention by his originality and graceful speech. In 1842 he visited England and returned with two friends, one of whom bought an estate near Harvard, Mass., where they endeavored to found a community, &ldquo;Fruitlands,&rdquo; which speedily failed. Alcott then went to Boston, and thence to Concord, leading the life of a peripatetic philosopher, and giving &ldquo;conversations,&rdquo; which found increasing favor, especially in the West. In later years his manner became more formal and his always nebulous teaching apparently more orthodox. Besides frequent contributions of &ldquo;Orphic Sayings&rdquo; to the Transcendental organ, The Dial, he published fragments from his voluminous diary, Tablets (1868); Concord Days (1872); Table Talk (1877); Sonnets and Canzonets (1877), and also New Connecticut (1881), and an Essay on Ralph Waldo Emerson, His Character and Genius (1882). For his biography, consult Sanborn and Harris, Life (Boston, 1893); also Lowell's contemporary criticism, in A Fable for Critics (New York, 1848), and A Study from Two Heads, in the Poems.

ALCOTT, (1832-88). An American novelist and juvenile writer. She was born at Germantown, Pa., November 29, 1832, and died at Boston, March 6, 1888. She began her active life as a teacher, writing stories of harmless sensation for weekly journals, and publishing the insignificant Flower Fables (1855). During the Civil War she volunteered as an army nurse, and wrote for a newspaper the letters afterward collected as Hospital Sketches (1863). She first attracted notice by Little Women (1868; second part, 1869), the best and most popular of her writings. Among the more noteworthy of numerous other contributions to the literature of adolescence are: An Old-Fashioned Girl (1869), Little Men (1871), Jo's Boys (1886). Her novels, Moods (1863) and Work (1873), attracted little attention. In later years she suffered much from ill-health; but her writing was to the last singularly buoyant and hopeful, full of faith in human nature, democracy, and freedom. She was typical in her social ethics of the literary generation in which her father, Amos Bronson Alcott (q.v.), had been a prominent figure. There is a Life, by Cheney (Boston, 1889).

ALCOTT, (1840-79). An American artist, daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott, and wife of Ernest Nieriken. She was born at Concord, Mass., and after attending the Boston School of Design, studied under Krug, Dr. Rimmer, Hunt, Vautier, Johnston, and Müller. She showed considerable skill in still-life studies, but attained her greatest success by her oil and water-color copies of the paintings of Turner, which were highly praised by Mr. Ruskin, and were given to the pupils of the South Kensington schools, London, to work from. Mrs. Nieriken was the author of Concord Sketches (Boston, 1869).

ALCOY, al-ko'e. A town of Spain, in the province of Alicante. It is situated on the river Aleoy, 24 miles north-northwest of the city of