Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/177

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ALUNITE
135
ALVORD

for cooking-vessels, efforts to cast it for pots and pans have often been made, but unsuccessfully till 1895 when aluminum was, weight for weight, three times the price of copper, but, bulk for bulk, the cheaper metal. In 1855 Napoleon III. paid the expense for making industrial use of aluminum at Javel, Many other manufactories of aluminum were also started about the same time in France. In 1856, Alfred Mounier produced aluminum at Camden. In 1857, the price of aluminum was from $28 to $32 a pound. Between 1862 and 1877 it ranged from $12 upward, and when in 1888 electrical methods of production were used, the price of aluminum was reduced to less than $1. In recent years it has dropped to a quarter and even a fifth of that price.

The sources most used for the production of aluminum are bauxite, a mineral first found near Baux, but since then found in Styria in Austria, in Ireland, and in many places in the United States; and cryolite, found on the W. coast of Greenland. There is no other useful metal, iron not excepted, which is widely scattered over the earth and which occurs in such abundance. The value of the aluminum produced in the United States in 1918 was $41,159,000. The production of bauxite was 569,000 long tons, valued at $3,244,000. For occurrence and production in the United States, see BAUXITE.

Aluminum Alloys.—The aluminum bronzes, now becoming so generally introduced, are the alloys of aluminum and copper, in which the amount of copper considerably exceeds that of aluminum. The value of these aluminum bronzes consists in their non-corrosive properties and in their strength.

ALUNITE, a chemical compound of aluminum and potassium sulphate. It is used as a source of alum. It is found chiefly in Europe and also in several parts of the United States, especially in Colorado.

ALVA, or ALBA, FERDINAND ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO, DUKE OF, prime minister and general of the Spanish armies under Charles V. and Philip II., was born in 1508. He fought in the wars of Charles V. in France, Italy, Africa, Hungary, and Germany. He is more especially remembered for his bloody and tyrannical government of the Netherlands (1567-1573), which had revolted, and which he was commissioned by Philip II. to reduce to entire subjection to Spain. Among his first proceedings was to establish the "Council of Blood," a tribunal which condemned, without discrimination, all whose opinions were suspected, and whose riches were coveted. People by hundreds of thousands abandoned their country. The most oppressive taxes were imposed, and trade was brought completely to a standstill. Resistance was only quelled for a time, and soon the provinces of Holland and Zealand revolted against his tyranny. A fleet which was fitted out at his command was annihilated. Hopeless of finally subduing the country, he asked to be recalled, and, accordingly, in December, 1573, Alva left the country, in which, as he himself boasted, he had executed 18,000 men. He was received with distinction in Madrid. He had the honor, before his death, of reducing all Portugal to subjection to his sovereign. He died Jan. 12, 1582.

ALVARADO, PEDRO DE (äl-vä-rä´dō), a famous comrade of Cortes, was born at Badajoz, toward the close of the 15th century. In 1518 he sailed for the New World, and accompanied Grijalva in his exploring voyage along the shores of the American continent. It was now that the Spaniards heard of the riches of Montezuma, and of his vast empire. Alvarado was soon sent back to Cuba to inform the Governor, Velasquez, of the result of the expedition. In February, 1519, he sailed with Cortes from Havana, and took an active part in the conquest of Mexico. He died in 1541.

ALVAREZ, DON JOSÉ (al-vä-´rāth), the greatest of modern Spanish sculptors, was born in 1768, in the province of Cordova. During youth he labored with his father, a stone-mason; and when 20 years old, began to study drawing and sculpture in the academy at Granada. In 1794 he was received into the Academy at San Fernando, where, in 1799, he gained the first prize and a grant to enable him to study at Paris and Rome. In Rome, he executed a famous group, now in the Royal Museum at Madrid, representing a scene in the defense of Saragossa. He died at Madrid in 1827.

ALVORD, CLARENCE WALWORTH, an American educator, born in Greenfield, Mass., in 1868. He graduated from Williams College in 1891, and afterward took post-graduate studies at the University of Berlin and the University of Chicago. After having taught in several schools in Massachusetts, he was appointed instructor in history at the University of Illinois in 1897, and became, successively, associate professor, assistant professor, and full professor, the latter in 1913. He devoted special atten-