A rival interpretation of the phenomena it dealt with was put forward by F. Tisserand in 1895.[1] It involved the action of no third mass, but depended solely upon the progression of the line of apsides in a moderately elliptical orbit due to the spheroidal shape of the globes traversing it. Inequalities of the required sort in the returns of the eclipses would ensue; moreover, their duration should concomitantly vary with the varying distance from periastron at the times of their occurrence. It is a moot question whether changes of the latter kind actually occur. When they are proved to do so, Tisserand’s hypothesis will hold the field.
Algol gives a helium-spectrum which undergoes no alteration at minimum. Hence the light from the marginal and central portions of the disc is identical in quality, and the limb can be little, if at all, darkened by the smoke-veil absorption conspicuous in the sun. The rays of this star spend close upon a century in travelling hither. Dr Chase’s measures with the Yale heliometer indicated for it, in 1894, a parallax of about 0″ ·035;[2] and it must, accordingly, be of nearly four times the total brightness of Sirius, while its aerial lustre exceeds seventy-fold that of the solar photosphere. Variables of the Algol class are rendered difficult to discover by the incidental character of their fluctuations. At the end of 1905, however, about 37 had been certainly recognized, besides some outlying cases of indeterminate type, in which continuous occultations by two bright stars, revolving in virtual contact, are doubtfully supposed to be in progress. (A. M. C.)
ALGONQUIN, or Algonkin (a word formerly regarded as a French contraction of Algomequin, “those on the other side” of the river, viz. the St Lawrence, but now believed to be from the Micmac algoomaking—“at the place of spearing fish”), a collective term for a number of tribes of North American Indians dwelling in the valley of the Ottawa river and around the northern tributaries of the St Lawrence. The Algonquins allied themselves with the French against the Iroquois. Many were driven west by the latter and later became known as Ottawa. The French missionaries at work among the Algonquins early in the 17th century found their language to be the key to the many Indian dialects now included by philologists under the general term “Algonquian stock.” The chief tribes included in this stock were the Algonquin, Malecite, Micmac, Nascapi, Pennacook, Fox, Kickapoo, Delaware, Cheyenne, Conoy, Cree, Mohican, Massachuset, Menominee, Miami, Misisaga, Mohegan, Nanticoke, Narraganset, Nipmuc, Ojibway, Ottawa, Pequot, Potawatami, Sac, Shawnee and Wampanoag. The Indians of Algonquian stock number between 80,000 and 90,000, of whom rather more than half are in the United States, the rest being in Canada. Of the Algonquins proper there remain about 1500 settled in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.
For details see Handbook of American Indians, ed. F. W. Hodge, Washington, 1907.
ALGUAZIL, a Spanish title often to be met in stories and plays, derived from the Arabic “visir” and the article, “al.” The alguazil among the early Spaniards was a judge, and sometimes the governor of a town or fortress. In later times he has gradually sunk down to the rank of an officer of the court, who is trusted with the service of writs and certain police duties, but he is still of higher rank than the mere corchete or catch-poll. The title has also been given to inspectors of weights and measures in market-places, and similar officials.
ALGUM, or Almug Tree. The Hebrew words Algummim or Almuggim are translated Algum or Almug trees in the authorized version of the Bible (see 1 Kings x. 11, 12; 2 Chron. ii. 8, and ix. 10, 11); almug is an erroneous form (see Max Müller, Science of Language, vol. i.). The wood of the tree was very precious, and was brought from Ophir (probably some part of India), along with gold and precious stones, by Hiram, and was used in the formation of pillars for the temple at Jerusalem, and for the king’s house; also for the inlaying of stairs, as well as for harps and psalteries. It is probably the red sanders or red sandal-wood of India (Pterocarpus santalinus). This tree belongs to the natural order Leguminosae, sub-order Papilionaceae. The wood is hard, heavy, close-grained and of a fine red colour. It is different from the white fragrant sandal-wood, which is the produce of Santalum album, a tree belonging to a distinct natural order Santalaceae.
ALHAMA DE GRANADA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Granada, 24 m. S.W. of Granada. Pop. (1900) 7679. Alhama is finely situated on a ledge of rock which overlooks a deep gorge traversed by the river Marchan or Alhama; while the rugged peaks of the Sierra de Alhama rise behind it to a height of 6800 ft. The town is largely modern; for over one thousand of its picturesque old Moorish houses, which formerly rose in terraces up the mountain side, were destroyed, together with five churches, the hospital, the theatre, the prison, and 800 of the inhabitants, in an earthquake which took place in 1884. Subscriptions were received from all parts of Spain, and the present town was built at a little distance from its predecessor. Few vestiges of antiquity survived, except the baths from which Alhama (in Arabic “the Bath”) derives its name. These are situated near the river, and appear to have been used continuously since Roman times (c. 19 B.C.–A.D. 409) . The temperature of the hot sulphurous springs is about 112° F.; and, as the waters are considered beneficial in cases of rheumatism and dyspepsia, many visitors come to Alhama in spring and autumn, attracted also by the fine scenery of the district. In the 15th century Alhama, and the neighbouring fortress of Loja (q.v.), were generally regarded as the keys of the kingdom of Granada, and their capture went far to insure the overthrow of the Moorish power. Alhama was taken by the Spanish marquis of Cadiz in 1482; and its fall is celebrated in an ancient ballad, Ay de mi, Alhama, which Byron translated into English.
ALHAMBRA, THE, an ancient palace and fortress of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, in southern Spain, occupying a hilly terrace on the south-eastern border of the city of Granada. This terrace or plateau, which measures about 2430 ft. in length by 674 ft. at its greatest width, extends from W.N.W. to E.S.E., and covers an area of about 35 acres. It is enclosed by a strongly fortified wall, which is flanked by thirteen towers. The river Darro, which foams through a deep ravine on the north, divides the plateau from the Albaicin district of Granada; the Assabica valley, containing the Alhambra Park, on the west and south, and beyond this valley the almost parallel ridge of Monte Mauror, separate it from the Antequeruela district.
The name Alhambra, signifying in Arabic “the red”, is probably derived from the colour of the sun-dried tapia, or bricks made of fine gravel and clay, of which the outer walls are built. Some authorities, however, hold that it commemorates the red flare of the torches by whose light the work of construction was carried on nightly for many years; others associate it with the name of the founder, Mahomet Ibn Al Ahmar; and others derive it from the Arabic Dar al Amra, “House of the Master”. (For an account of the period to which the Alhambra belongs, see Granada (city).) The palace was built chiefly between 1248 and 1354, in the reigns of Al Ahmar and his successors; but even the names of the principal artists employed are either unknown or doubtful. The splendid decorations of the interior are ascribed to Yusef I., who died in 1354. Immediately after the expulsion of the Moors in 1492, their conquerors began, by successive acts of vandalism, to spoil the marvellous beauty of the Alhambra. The open work was filled up with whitewash, the painting and gilding effaced, the furniture soiled, torn or removed. Charles V. (1516–1556) rebuilt portions in the modern style of the period, and destroyed the greater part of the winter palace to make room for a modern structure which has never been completed. Philip V. (1700–1746) Italianised the rooms, and completed the degradation by running up partitions which blocked up whole apartments, gems of taste and patient ingenuity. In subsequent centuries the carelessness of the Spanish authorities permitted this masterpiece of Moorish art to be still further defaced; and in 1812 some of the towers were blown up by the French under Count Sebastiani, while the whole buildings narrowly escaped the same fate. In
