is volatile (para-oxybenzaldehyde is not) and gives a violet coloration with ferric chloride. For dioxybenzaldehydes and their derivatives see Piperonal and Vanillin.
Cinnamic aldehyde (β-phenyl acrolein), C6H5·CH:CH·CHO, an unsaturated aromatic aldehyde, is the chief constituent of cinnamon oil. It is prepared by oxidizing cinnamyl alcohol, or by the action of sodium ethylate on a mixture of benzaldehyde and acetaldehyde. It is a colourless aromatic-smelling oily liquid, which boils at 247° C. and readily oxidizes on exposure.
By condensation of aldehydes with pyruvic acid and naphthylamines, the α-alkyl-naphthoquinoline-γ-carboxylic acids are produced; the same reaction takes place with the aromatic amines generally (O. Doebner, Ann. 1894, 281, p. 1),
ALDEN, JOHN (1599?–1687), one of the “Pilgrims” who in 1620 emigrated to America on the “Mayflower” and founded the Plymouth Colony. According to William Bradford’s History of the Plimoth Plantation, he was hired as a cooper at Southampton, “where the ship victuled,” just before the voyage, “and being a hopfull yong man, was much desired.” He was one of the first settlers of Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he lived during the greater part of his life, and from 1633 until 1675 he was an “Assistant” to the governor of the colony, frequently serving as acting governor. At the time of his death, at Duxbury, on the 12th of September 1687, he was the last male survivor of the signers of the “Mayflower Compact” of 1620, and with the exception of Mary Allerton was the last survivor of the “Mayflower” company. He is remembered chiefly because of a popular legend, put into verse as The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry W. Longfellow, concerning his courtship of Priscilla Mullins, whom he married in 1623, after having wooed her first on behalf of his friend, Miles Standish.
ALDER, a genus of plants (Alnus) belonging to the order Betulaceae, the best-known of which is the common alder (A. glutinosa). The genus comprises a few species of shrubs or trees, seldom reaching a large size, distributed through the North Temperate zone, and in the New World passing along the Andes southwards to Chile. The British species A. glutinosa is confined to the Old World. This tree thrives best in moist soils, has a shrubby appearance, and grows under favourable circumstances to a height of 40 or 50 ft. It is characterized by its short-stalked roundish leaves, becoming wedge-shaped at the base and with a slightly toothed margin. When young they are somewhat glutinous, whence the specific name, becoming later a dark olive green. As with other plants growing near water it keeps its leaves longer than do trees in drier situations, and the glossy green foliage lasting after other trees have put on the red or brown of autumn renders it valuable for landscape effect. The stout cylindrical male catkins are pendulous, reddish in colour and 2 to 4 in. long; the female are smaller, less than an inch in length and reddish-brown in colour, suggesting young fir-cones. When the small winged fruits have been scattered the ripe, woody, blackish cones remain, often lasting through the winter. The alder is readily propagated by seeds, but throws up root-suckers abundantly. It is important as coppice-wood on marshy ground. The wood is soft, white when first cut and turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for piles. The supports of the Rialto at Venice, and many buildings at Amsterdam, are of alder-wood. Furniture is sometimes made from the wood, and it supplies excellent charcoal for gunpowder. The bark is astringent; it is used for tanning and dyeing.
ALDER-FLY, the name given to neuropterous insects of the family Sialidae, related to the ant-lions, with long filamentous antennae and four large wings, of which the anterior pair is rather longer than the posterior. The females lay a vast number of eggs upon grass stems near water. The larvae are aquatic, active, armed with strong sharp mandibles, and breathe by means of seven pairs of abdominal branchial filaments. When full-sized they leave the water and spend a quiescent pupal stage on the land before metamorphosis into the sexually mature insect. Sialis lutaria is a well-known British example. In America there are two genera, Corydalis and Chauliodes, which are remarkable for their relatively gigantic size and for the immense length and sabre-like shape of the mandibles.
ALDERMAN (from A.-S. ealdorman, compounded of the comparative degree of the adjective eald, old, and man), a term implying the possession of an office of rank or dignity, and, in modern times, applied to an office-bearer in the municipal corporations and county councils of England and Wales, and in the municipal corporations of Ireland and the United States. Among the Anglo-Saxons, earls, governors of provinces and other persons of distinction received this title. Thus we read of the aldermannus totius Angliae, who seems to have corresponded to the officer afterwards styled capitalis justiciarius Angliae, or chief-justice of England; the aldermannus regis, probably an occasional magistrate, answering to the modern justice of assize, or perhaps an officer whose duty it was to prosecute for the crown; and aldermannus comitatus, a magistrate with a middle rank between what was afterwards called the earl and the sheriff, who sat at the trial of causes with the bishop and declared the common law, while the bishop proceeded according to ecclesiastical law. Besides these, we meet with the titles of aldermannus civitatis, burgi, castelli, hundredi sive wapentachii, &c. In England, before the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, their functions varied according to the charters of the different boroughs. By the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and other acts, consolidated by the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, the aldermen are elected by the councillors for six years, one-half going out every three years. The number of councillors in each borough varies according to its magnitude. One-fourth of the municipal council consists of aldermen and three-fourths of councillors. In the counties, too, the number of aldermen is one-third of the number of councillors, except in London, where it is one-sixth. In the municipal corporations of Scotland there is no such title as alderman, the office-bearers of corresponding rank there being termed bailies. The corporation of the city of London was not included in the Borough Reform Act, and the antiquated system remains there in full force. The court of aldermen consists of twenty-six, twenty-five of whom are elected for life by the freemen of the respective wards, who return two persons, one of whom the court of aldermen elect to supply the vacancy. The city is divided into twenty-six wards; twenty-four of these send up one alderman each, the other two combine to choose a twenty-fifth. The twenty-sixth alderman serves for the independent borough of Southwark (q.v.) and is appointed by the other aldermen, who generally select the senior from among themselves when a vacancy occurs. The lord mayor is elected from such of the aldermen as have served the office of sheriff; of these the Common Hall, which consists of the freemen of the different wards, select two, and the aldermen elect one of these to the mayoralty. The court of aldermen has the power of appointment to certain offices, exercises judicial functions in regard to licensing and in disputes connected with the ward election, has some power of disposal over the city cash and possesses magisterial control over the city, each alderman being a judge and magistrate for the whole city, and by virtue of his office exercising the functions of a justice of the peace. The aldermen are members of the court of common council, the legislative body of the corporation, which consists in all of 232 members, the remainder being elected annually by the freemen. In the United States aldermen form as a rule a legislative rather than a judicial body, although in some cities they hold courts and possess very considerable magisterial powers.
ALDERNEY (Fr. Aurigny), one of the Channel Islands, the northernmost of the principal members of the group, belonging to England. It lies in 49° 43′ N. and 2° 12′ W., 9 m. W. of Cape La Hague on the coast of Normandy. The harbour, on the north coast in the bay of Braye, is 25 m. from St Peter
