Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/452

ALMANAC. Dr. Maskelyne's death it gradually lost its character, and in 1830, in consequence of the numerous complaints made against it, the Government requested the Astronomical Society to pronounce upon the subject. The suggestions of the society were adopted, and in 1834 the first number of the new series appeared, with such additions and improvements as the advanced state of astronomical science rendered necessary. Still older than this almanac is the French Connaissance des Temps, commenced in 1679 by Picard, and now published under the authority of the Bureau des Longitudes. Its plan is similar to that of the Nautical Almanac, but it has contained a larger amount of original memoirs, many of them of great value. Equally celebrated is the Berlin Astronomisches Jahrhuch, issued from the Berlin Observatory. In the United States the American Nautical Almanac was begun in 1849 by Charles Henry Davis, United States Navy, and the first volume (for 1855) was published in 1853. The publication is issued from the office of the Nautical Almanac and American Ephemeris, United States Navy Department, in Washington, and contains tables of the predicted positions of the sun, moon, and planets, and of all the fixed stars used in navigation. It is published three years in advance, for the convenience of navigators bound on long voyages. The Nautical Almanac or Astronomical Ephemeris is of the greatest importance to astronomers, as it contains collections of numerical data required in the computation of their celestial observations, which are equally necessary to enable navigators to find their way across the sea by the aid of the sextant.

The preparation and publication of these almanacs, though most important, are so costly, that they are possible only to the great financial resources of governments, and it is largely for this purpose that governmental astronomical observatories are maintained.

Congress in 1849 provided for the publication of such a work, in which &ldquo;the meridian of the observatory at Washington shall be adopted and used as the American meridian for astronomical purposes, and the meridian of Greenwich shall be adopted for all nautical purposes.&rdquo; This law caused the division of the work into the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. The first-named part is chiefly for the use of astronomers; the second is adapted to the use of navigators.

ALMANACK DE GOTHA, al'ma'na' de go'- ti'. See KuTiiA, Almanacii de.

AL'MANDINE (Fr. almandinc, from I.at. alabandina). The red, transparent, precious variety of Garnet (q.v.), so called from .labanda, a town in Caria, where it was found. This name is also given to a violet colored variety of Spinel ruby.

ALMANSA, al-miin'sa. A town of Murcia, Spain, in tlic ])rovince of Albacete, 43 miles east by south of Albacete, on the JIadrid and Alicante liailway (Map: Spain, E 3). It is two thousand feet above sea level, and stands on a fertile pla- teau. Almansa carries on manufactures of linen, hempen, and cotton fabrics, the materials of which arc supplied from the neighborhood; also nf bi-andy, leather, and soap. Population. 1000, 11.117. Xear Almansa the French, under the Duke of Berwick, natural son of Janus II. of England, gained a victory on April 25, 1707, over an army of Spanish and English troops commanded by Henry de Euvigny, Earl of Gal- way. The battle of Almansa was, in its results, one of the most important in the war of the Spanish succession.

AL-MANSUR, al'man-soor' (Ar., The Vic- torious), Abu .I.'far Abdallah ibx Mohammed (712-775). The second caliph of the house of the Abbassides (754-775). He regulated the finances and the post in the kingdom and patron- ized learning. One of his great achievements was to found Bagdad. He died during a pilgrim- age to Jlecca, at the age of sixty-three. See ABCA.ssinES.

ALMA-TADEMA, iil'ma tii'dem.a. Sir Laurence (1830 — ). A well-known painter, of Dutch origin and Belgian training but English residence for more than half his life. He was born in West Friesland January 8, 1836, and while still a boy showed so decided a vocation for art that he was sent to Antwerp to study under Wappers and for a longer period under Leys, who was making the mediteval and Renaissance periods live again as his pupil was to do with earlier ages. Pictures of Frankish and ancient Egyptian life occupied him between 1860 and 1875, by which time he had begun to devote himself mainly to depicting the life of the Greeks and Romans. Early essays in this style were the "Roman Amateur" and "Pyrrhic Dance." which he sent o^•er to the Royal Academy in 1869. In the following year he went to live in London. His success was recognized by membership in the Academy in 1879 and knighthood in 1899. Among important later pictures are "The Roses of Heliogabalus" ( 1888), "Spring" (1894), "The Conversion of Paula" (1898), and "Thermae Antoninianoe" (1899). His work is remarkable for its careful arclL-eoIogical research. He is peculiarly successful in defining the textures of marble and bronze, which he does with great realism and judgment. In composition he is scholarly; the various parts or quantities of his scenes are balanced with true artistic instinct. His drawing is good, his coloring faithful, but he is at times charged, and not without reason, with a lack of sentiment. It is a visual pleasure of coloring, intelligent groiiping, fine differentia- tion of textures and of stuffs that his pictures afford; they are solid and competent in execu- tion and they have the value of trustworthy records of the past : but they rarely move more than the intellect and the sight. Consult Zini- mern, L. Alma-Tadcma, His Life and Work (Lon- don. 1880) ; Georg Ebers, L. Alma-Tadema (Eng. trans.. New York, 1886).

ALMA VIVA, jil'ma-ve'va, CotmT. A char- acter in Beaumarchais's comedies Le barbier de 8^-villc, Le mariage de Figaro, and La mire coupablc, appearing successively as .a fascinat- ing young nobleman, a disillusioned husband, and an old gallant.

ALMEH, al'mo, or ALMAI (Ar. 'alimah, learned woman, from 'alama, to know). A class of singing girls in Egypt. To enter the almeh one must have a good voice, know the rules of verse, and be able to improvise couplets adapted to circumstances. They are in demand at all entertainments and festivals, and at funerals as hired mourners. They are distinct from the ghawdzi, or dancing girls, who are of a lower order and perform in the streets.