the destruction wrought in less than two years amounted to 65 vessels, and about $4,000,000 in property. In June, 1864, she put into Cherbourg, France, for repairs. Here she was intercepted by the Federal corvette “Kearsarge,” Captain Winslow, and, after an hour's battle, Semmes surrendered. An account of her history is given in “Two Years on the Alabama,” by Arthur Sinclair (1895).
ALABAMA, UNIVERSITY OF, organized in 1831; location, Tuscaloosa. Besides a curriculum of science and belles-lettres, it has a medical school at Mobile. In 1919 it had a teaching corps of 125 instructors and was attended by 1,800 students. It has 6,000 graduates. President, G. H. Denny, LL. D.
ALABASTER (from Greek alabastros, or the earlier form, alabastos), a tapering box, made for holding ointment; a rosebud; a measure of capacity, holding 10 ounces of wine or 9 of oil. The word is also applied to the mineral now called granular gypsum, and to any vessel made of it. Alabaster was named from Alabastron (near modern Antinoë), an Egyptian town.
In mineralogy, massive gypsum, either white or delicately shaded.
ALAGOAS, a maritime state of the republic of Brazil, bounded on the N. and W. by Pernambuco. The country is mountainous in the N. W., and low, marshy and unhealthy on the coast. The chief productions are the sugar-cane, cotton plant, manioc or cassava, ipecacuanha, maize, rice, etc., and also timber and dye-woods. Pop. (1917) 946,617. The town of Alagoas, once the capital, pop. about 50,000. The present capital is the port of Maceio.
ALAJUELA (äl-ä-whā′la), a city of
of Costa Rica, Central America, 23 miles
W. N. W. of Cartago. The same name is
used for a state. Pop. (1917) state,
109,063; city, 6,481.
ALAMANNI, or ALEMANNI, LUIGI (äl-ä-mä′nē), an Italian poet and diplomatist, born in Florence, on Oct. 25, 1495. In 1522 he took part in a conspiracy against Cardinal Giulio de Medici, and after its discovery, fled to France, where he found protection with François I. In 1527 he reappeared in Florence, endeavored to obtain the protection of the emperor for the republic, but was compelled to flee the city. The Medici, on their return in 1532, declared him a rebel. He went back to France, where he served as ambassador for François I. to Henry II. He wrote “La Cultivazione” (1533), a book about agriculture. He also wrote love songs, epigrams, satires, comedies, translations, and various other things. He died April 18, 1556.
ALAMEDA, coextensive city and township in Alameda co., Cal.; on San Francisco Bay and the Southern Pacific railway; 11 miles E. S. E. of San Francisco. It is the seat of the College of Notre Dame (Roman Catholic); a popular summer resort, and the place of residence of many San Francisco business men. It has a State bank, electric light and street railway plants, the largest borax works in the world, extensive potteries, oil refineries, and ship-building yards. Pop. (1910) 23,383; (1920) 28,806.
ALAMO, THE, a mission church at San Antonio, in what is now Bexar co., Tex.; converted into a fort. In 1836 it was occupied by about 150 of the revolutionists in the Texan War of Independence. Though attacked by 4,000 Mexicans under Santa Ana, the Texans held it from Feb. 23 to March 6, when Santa Ana took it by storm. All but seven of the garrison perished, six of these being murdered after their surrender, and one man escaping to report the affair. In this garrison were the celebrated David Crockett and Col. James Bowie, inventor of the bowie-knife. The memory of this massacre became an incitement to the Texans in subsequent encounters, and “Remember the Alamo!” became a war-cry in their struggle for autonomy.
ALARCÓN, HERNANDO, a Spanish navigator; flourished in the 16th century; leader of an expedition to Mexico, which set sail in 1540. He proved that California was a peninsula and not an island, as had been previously supposed. He penetrated in boats a considerable distance up the Colorado river. On his return to New Spain he made a valuable map of the California peninsula.
ALARCÓN Y MENDOZA, DON JUAN RUIZ DE (ä-lär-kōn ē mān-dō′thä), a noted Spanish dramatist, born at Tasco, Mexico, about 1580 or 1590. He went to Spain in 1600 and became royal attorney in Seville. He was appointed reporter of the royal council of the Indies at Madrid about 1628. The last great dramatist of the old Spanish school, he may be considered also as the creator of the so-called character comedy. His principal works are: “The Weaver of Segovia”; “Suspicious Truth,” the model for Corneille's “Liar”; “Walls Have Ears”; “The Proof of Promises”; “The Anti-Christ.” He died in Madrid, Aug. 4, 1639.
