Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/374

ALESIUS.  lecturer on theology at Cambridge. But he gave offense, and soon went to London and practiced medicine. In 1540 he returned to the Continent, and was chosen to a theological chair at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, the first professor who taught the reformed doctrines. In 1543 he quitted Frankfort for Leipzig, where he filled a similar professorship until his death. He visited England in 1549. He died at Leipzig.  ALESSANDRIA,. The capital of the Italian province of the same name (1950 square miles; pop., 1900, 812,022), and a strong fortress, situated in a marshy region on the Tanaro, 47 miles from Genoa by rail (Map:, C 3). Its chief ecclesiastical buildings are the cathedral, built in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the old Church of Santa Maria di Castello. There are a royal palace, an old castle, and extensive barracks. Noteworthy is the Academy of Sciences and Arts, founded in 1562. Alessandria has cotton, woolen, and linen mills, hat factories, etc. The city derives considerable commercial importance from its position on the chief railway lines of Eastern Italy. Population of commune, 1881, 62,464; 1901, 71,293.

Alessandria was founded in 1168 by the inhabitants of Cremona, Milan, and Placentia, as a bulwark against Frederick Barbarossa, and was named Alessandria in honor of Pope Alexander III. Frederick tried to capture it, but failed. As it was a fortress to guard the passage of the Bormida and Tanaro, and also the central point of communication between Genoa, Milan, and Turin, the town was often a scene of battle. It was taken and plundered in 1522 by Duke Sforza; besieged, but without success, by the French, under the Prince of Conti, in 1057; and taken, in spite of obstinate resistance, by Prince Eugene, in 1707. After the prostration of Austria at the battle of Marengo, in 1800, Bonaparte concluded an armistice at Alessandria, in accordance with which upper Italy, as far as the Mincio, was ceded to the French, with twelve fortresses. It was the principal armory of the Piedmontese during the insurrection of Lombardy and Venetia in 1848-49, when many new fortifications were added.  ALESSI,, (1512-72). An Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in Perugia. He was associated with Michelangelo at Rome in 1530, but followed more the manner of Vignola, and never reached the foremost rank. Aside from a few works at Perugia, his masterpieces are at Genoa, whose famous palace architecture he helped develop, especially in the Cambiaso, Spinola, and Serra palaces. Of his Genoese villas, the most beautiful is the Pallavicini. His influence was felt throughout Italy, and in France and Portugal, and especially Flanders.  ÅLESUND,, or AALESUND. A town in the Norwegian province of Romsdal, on two islands of the Skjärgaard Archipelago (Map;, B 5). It has an excellent harbor, and is an important trading centre, getting a large revenue from cod-fishing. Pop., 1900, 11,700.  ALEU′ROMANCY, See.  ALEURONE, (Gk., aleuron, wheaten flour). The stored proteid which occurs as minute granules in the food-bearing tissue (endosperm) and embryos of many seeds. The granules are much smaller than starch

grains, with which they often occur. They are usually rounded in form (though the so-called proteid crystals of some plant tissues are angular), and may be simple or complex in structure. The more complex form of granule consists, in great part, of amorphous proteid substance, in which lie imbedded a large crystalloid and a much smaller globoid. The crystalloid is an angular mass of proteid material, differing from most true crystals by swelling in water; the globoid is a nearly spherical mineral concretion, consisting mainly of a double phosphate of magnesium and calcium. Seeds rich in aleurone are the castor bean (Ricinus), the Brazil nut (Bertholletia), peas, beans, etc. See.

 ALEUTIAN ISLANDS,, also called the. The name of a group of islands, numbering above 150, and consisting of several clusters, which form an insular continuation of the peninsula of (q.v.) (Map:, A 5). They lie on both sides of the parallel of 55° N. lat., separating the Sea of Kamtchatka from the Pacific, and naturally subdivide themselves into five groups: (1) the Komandorski Islands, sometimes not regarded as belonging to the Aleutian Islands; (2) the Sasignan, or “Nearest,” Islands; (3) the Rat Islands; (4) the Andreianowsky, very small and little frequented; (5) the Fox Islands, among which is Unimak, the largest in the archipelago. The islands are all craggy, and have a desolate appearance from the sea. Several volcanoes are periodically active, and warm volcanic springs are numerous. Cool springs are frequent and form broad, rapid streams, which empty into adjacent bays or collect in rocky depressions and form lakes which discharge their water into the sea by natural channels. The whole chain or group forms a connecting link between the volcanic range of the west coast of America and Kamtchatka. On account of numerous rocks they are not very accessible to ships. There are many low, scrubby bushes, grasses, moss, and lichens, but no strong and stately growth of trees. Cultivated plants do not succeed well. There are foxes and reindeer, and in the neighboring waters are seal, fish and otter.

The natives are known collectively as “Aleut” (“Aleuts,” “Aleutians,” or “Aleutian Islanders”), from the Russian designation of a people or tribe of Eskimoan stock calling themselves Unungun. They are closely allied in physical characteristics, as in language, to the Innuit, or Eskimo proper; their vocabulary differs 