normal occurrence, and in many birds as an individual variation,
only a single caecum occurs. In some mammals, e.g. many
armadillos, in Hyrax and the manatee, the caeca are normally
paired; in many other (e.g. some rodents and marsupials)
in addition to the normal caecum there is a reduced second
caecum, whilst in quite a number of forms the relation of
the caecum, ileum and colon at their junction is readily
intelligible on the assumption that the caeca were originally
paired. The origin and many of the peculiarities of the
ileo-caecal valve find their best explanation on this hypothesis.
The caeca are hollow outgrowths of the wall of the gut, the
blind ends being directed forwards. The caecal wall is in
most cases highly glandular and contains masses of lymphoid
tissue. In birds and in mammals this tissue may be so
greatly increased as to transform the caecum into a solid
or nearly solid sac, the calibre of which is for the most
part smaller than that of the unmodified caecum. In some
birds, the whole area of the caecum may be modified in
this way; in mammals, it is generally the terminal portion,
which then becomes the vermiform appendix, familiar in
the anthropoid apes, in man and in some rodents. It is
difficult to see in this modification merely a degeneration;
not improbably it is the formation of a new glandular organ.
The caeca exhibit almost every gradation of development,
from relatively enormous size to complete absence, and there
is no definite, invariable connexion between the nature of
the food and the degree of their development. In the case
of birds, it may be said that on the whole the caeca are
generally large in herbivorous forms and generally small in
insectivorous, frugivorous, carnivorous and piscivorous
forms, but there are many exceptions. Thus, owls and falcons
have a diet that is closely similar, and yet owls have a
pair of very long caeca, whilst in the Falconidae these
organs are much reduced and apparently functionless. The
insectivorous and omnivorous rollers, motmots and bee-eaters
have a pair of large caeca, whilst in passerine birds of
similar habit the caeca are vestigial glandular nipples. It
is impossible to doubt that family history dominates in this
matter. Certain families tend to retain the caeca, others
to lose them, and direct adaptation to diet appears only to
accelerate or retard these inherited tendencies. So also
in mammals, no more than a general relation between diet
and caecal development can be shown to exist, although the
large size of the single caecum of mammals is more closely
associated with a herbivorous as opposed to a carnivorous,
frugivorous, piscivorous or omnivorous diet than is the case in
birds. There is no relationship between diet and the complete
or partial presence of both members of the primi-pair of caeca in
mammals, the occurrence of the pair being rather an ``accident''
of inheritance than in any direct relation to function.
LITERATURE.--T. W. Bridge, in The Cambridge Natural History
(vol. vii).; D. S. Jordan, A Guide to the Study of Fishes; R.
Owen, Anatomy of Vertebrates; M. Weber, Die Saugethiere;
W. H. Flower, The Organs of Digestien in Mammalia; R.
Wiedersheim, Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Anatomie der
Wirbelthiere; A. Oppel, Lehrbuch der vergleichenden
mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere; Chalmers Mitchell,
``The Intestinal Tract of Birds,'' Transactions of the
Linn. Soc. of London (vol. viii., 1901); and ``On the
Intestinal Tract of Mammals,'' Transactions of the Zool.
Soc. of London (vol. xvii., 1905). (In the two latter
memoirs a fuller list of literature is given.) (P. C. M.)
ALIMONY (from Lat. afere, to nourish), in law the
allowance for maintenance to which a wife is entitled out of
her husband's estate for her support on a decree for judicial
separation or for the dissolution of the marriage. Though,
as a rule, payable to a wife, it may, if the circumstances
of the case warrant it, be payable by the wife to the
husband. Alimony is of two kinds, (a) temporary (pendente
lite), and (b) permanent. Temporary alimony, or alimony
pending suit, is the provision made by the husband for the
wife in causes between them to enable her to live during the
progress of the suit, and is allowed whether the suit is by
or against the husband and whatever the nature of the suit may
be. The usual English practice is to allot as temporary
alimony about one-fifth of the husband's net income; where
it appears that the husband has no means or is in insolvent
circumstances, the court will refuse to allot temporary
alimony. So where the wife is supporting herself by her own
earnings, this fact will be taken into consideration. And
where the wife and husband have lived apart for many years
before the institution of the suit, and she has supported
herself during the separation, no alimony will be allotted. Nor
will the wife be entitled to alimony where she has sufficient
means of support independent of her husband. Permanent
alimony is that which is allotted to the wife after final
decree. By the Matrimonial Causes Act 1907, the court may,
if it think fit, on any decree for dissolution or nullity of
marriage, order that the husband shall, to the satisfaction
of the court, secure to the wife such a gross sum of money or
such annual sum of money for any term not exceeding her life,
as having regard to her fortune (if any), to the ability of
her husband, and to the conduct of the parties, it may deem
reasonable. The court may suspend the pronouncing of its
decree until a proper deed or instrument has been executed by
all necessary parties. The court may also make an order on the
husband for payment to the wife during their joint lives of a
reasonable monthly or weekly sum for her maintenance; the court
may also at any time discharge, modify, suspend or increase
the order according to the altered means of the husband; the
court has also power to make provision for children. Alimony
is paid direct to the wife or to a trustee or trustees on her
behalf, but the court may impose any restrictions which seem
expedient. We may also describe as a kind of alimony the
allowance of a reasonable weekly sum not exceeding L. 2 which
in England, under the Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women)
Act 1895, may be given to a married woman on applying to
a court of summary jurisdiction if she has been forced by
cruelty to leave her husband or has been deserted by him.
United States.--Alimony is granted by the courts of the
several states on much the same principle as in England, though
in many states the courts of equity as such may grant alimony
without divorce or separation proceedings independently of
any statute, on the ground that it is just that the husband
should support his wife when she lives apart from him for his
fault, and since the courts of common law provide no remedy
the courts of equity will. This is so in Alabama (Brady v.
Brady, 1905, 39 So. Rep. 237), Kentucky, North Carolina, Iowa,
California, Ohio, Virginia, South Dakota and the District of
Columbia. In other states alimony without such proceedings
is allowed by statute, and such alimony is now very general
throughout the United States. The usual grounds for the
allowance of it are desertion and such conduct as would amount
to legal cruelty. After divorce a vinculo, alimony or
separate maintenance is sometimes granted on good reason.
The marriage must be proven as a fact, but a ``common law''
marriage, i.e. one established by cohabitation and repute, is
sufficient. In several states alimony or maintenance is by
statute allowed to the husband in certain cases out of the wife's
property. This is so in Massachusetts, Virginia, Rhode Island and
Iowa. In Oregon he is entitled to one-third of his wife's
real estate in addition to maintenance on divorce for her
fault. The amount of alimony depends upon the circumstances of
each case as in England. Permanent alimony is generally more
than when pendenite lite, and usually one-third the husband's
income. It may generally be changed from time to time as the
circumstances of the parties change. Judgment for alimony is
considered a judgment in personam and not in rem, and can
only be enforced outside the state where rendered in case the
husband has been personally served with process within that
state. The remarriage of the man is not sufficient ground for
reducing the alimony (Smith v. Smith, 1905, 102 N.W. Rep.
631), but on remarriage of a woman to one able to support
her, her former husband being in poor circumstances, it will
be reduced (Kiralfy v. Kiralfy, 1901, 36 Wisc. N.S. 407).
ALIN, OSCAR JOSEF (1846--1900), Swedish historian and
politician, was born at Falun on the 22nd of December 1846.
In 1872 he became docent, and in 1882 professor of political
economy at Upsala, of which university he was afterwards
rector. In September 1888 he was elected a member of the
first chamber of the Riksdag, where he attached himself to
the conservative protectionist party, over which, from the
first, he exercised great authority. But it is as a historian
that Alin is most remarkable. Among his numerous works
the following are especially worthy of note: Bidrag till
svenska radets historia under. medeltiden (Upsala, 1872);
Sveriges Historia, 1511-1611 (Stockholm, 1878); Bidrag
till svenska statsrickets historia (Stockholm, 1884-1887);
Den svensk-norsk Unionen (Stockholm, 1889-1891), the best
book on the Norwego-Swedish Union question from the Swedish
point of view; Fjerde Artiklen af Fredstraktaten i Kiel
(Stockholm, 1899); Carl Johan och Sveriges yttre politik,
1810-1815 (Stockholm, 1899); Carl XIV. och Rikets Stander,
1840-1841 (Stockholm, 1893). He also edited Sveniska
Riksdagsakter, 1521-1554 (Stockholm, 1887), in conjunction
with E. Hildebrand, and Sveriges Grundlagar (Stockholm,
1892). He died at Upsala on the 31st of December 1900.
Obituary notice in Sv. Hist. Tidssk. (1901). (R. N. B.)
ALIPUR, a suburb of Calcutta, containing Belvedere
House, the official residence of the lieutenant-governor of
Bengal, and a number of handsome mansions. It lies within
the limits of the south suburban municipality, and is a
cantonment of native troops. On the Calcutta maidan,
opposite Alipur Bridge, stood two trees under which
duels were fought. It was here that the meeting in 1780
between Warren Hastings and Sir Philip Francis took place.
ALIQUOT (a Lat. word meaning ``some,'' ``so many''),
a term generally occurring in the phrase ``aliquot
part,'' and meaning that one quantity is exactly
divisible into another; thus 3 is an aliquot part of 6.
ALIRAJPUR, a native state of India, under the Bhopawar agency
in Central India. It lies in Malwa, near the frontier of
Bombay. It has an area of 836 sq. m.; and a population (1901) of
50,185. The country is hilly, and many of the inhabitants are
aboriginal Bhils. It has from time to time been under British
administration. The chief, whose title is Rana, is a Rahtor
Rajput. He has an estimated revenue of L. 8700, and pays
a tribute of L. 700. The Victoria bridge at Alirajpur
was built to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of 1897.
ALISMACEAE (from the Gr. alisma, a water-plant mentioned by
Dioscorides), in botany, a natural order of monocotyledons belonging
to the series Helobieae, and represented in Britain by the water
plantain, Alisma Plantago, the arrow-head, Sagittaria,
the star-fruit, Damasonium, and flowering rush, Butomus
(from the Gr. bous, ox, temnein, to cut, in allusion to
leaves cutting the tongues of oxen feeding on them). They are
