marsh- or water-plants with generally a stout stem (rhizome)
creeping in the mud, radical leaves and a large, much branched
inflorescence. The leaves show a great variety in shape, often
FIG. 1.--Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus.) 1, Flower in
vertical section; 2, horizontal plan of arrangement of flower.
the same plant, according to their position in, on or above the
water. The submerged leaves are long and grass- like, the
floating leaves oblong or rounded, while the aerial leaves
are borne on long, thin stalks above the water, and are often
heart- or arrow-shaped at the base. The flower-bearing stem
is tall; the flowers are borne in whorls on the axis as in
arrow-head, on whorled branchlets as in water plantain or in
an umbel as in Butomus (fig. 1). The flowers are regular
and rather showy, generally with three greenish sepals,
followed in regular succession by three white or purplish
petals, six to indefinite stamens and six to indefinite free
carpels. The floral arrangement thus recalls that of a
buttercup, a resemblance which extends to the fruit, which is
a head of achenes or follicles. The flowers contain honey,
and attract flies, short-lipped bees or other small insects
by the agency of which pollination is effected. The fruit
of Butomus is of interest in having the seeds borne over
the inner face of the wall of the leathery pod (follicle).
Damasonium derives its popular name, star-fruit, from the
fruits spreading when ripe in the form of a star. It is a western
FIG. 2.--Water Plantain (Alisma Plantago.) Plant
about 3 ft. high. 1, Flower; 2, same in vertical
section; 3, horizontal plan of flower; 4, mature fruit.
Mediterranean plant which spreads to the south of England,
where it is sometimes found in gravelly ditches and pools.
The order contains about fifty species in fourteen genera, and
is widely distributed in temperate and warm zones. Alisma
Plantago (fig. 2), a common plant in Britain (except in the
north) in ditches and edges of streams, is widely distributed
in the north temperate zone, and is found in the Himalayas,
on the mountains of tropical Africa and in Australia.
ALISON, ARCHIBALD (1757-1839), Scottish author, son of
Patrick Alison, provost of Edinburgh, was born on the 13th of
November 1757 at Edinburgh. After studying at the university
of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, he took orders in
the Church of England, and was appointed in 1778 to the curacy
of Brancepeth, near Durham. In 1784 he married Dorothea,
youngest daughter of Professor Gregory of Edinburgh. The next
twenty years of his life were spent in Shropshire, where he
held in succession the livings of High Ercall, Roddington and
Kenley. In 1800 he removed to Edinburgh, having been appointed
senior incumbent of St Paul's Chapel in the Cowgate. For
thirty-four years he filled this position with much ability,
his preaching attracting so many hearers that a new and
larger church was built for him. His last years were spent at
Colinton, near Edinburgh, where he died on the 17th of May
1839. Alison published, besides a Life of Lord Woodhouselee,
a volume of sermons, which passed through several editions,
and a work entitled Essays on the Nature and Principles of
Taste (1790), based on the principle of association (see under
AESTHETICS, p. 288). His elder son, Dr Wilham Pulteney Alison
(1790-1859), was a distinguished Edinburgh medical professor.
SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON, Bart. (1792-1867), the historian,
was the younger son, and was born at Kenley, Shropshire, on
the 29th of December 1792. He studied at the university of
Edinburgh, distinguishing himself especially in Greek and
mathematics. In 1814 he passed at the Scottish bar, but he
did not at once practise. The close of the war had opened
up the continent, and Alison set out in the autumn of 1814
for a lengthened tour in France. It was during this period
that the idea of writing his history first occurred to him.
A more immediate result of the tour was his first literary
work of any importance, Travels in France during the Years
1814-1815, written in collaboration with his brother and A. F.
Tytler, which appeared in the latter year. On his return to
Edinburgh he practised at the bar for some years with very fair
success. In 1822 he became one of the four advocates-depute
for Scotland. As a result of the experience gained in this
office, which he held until 1830, he wrote his Principles of
the Criminal Law of Scotland (1832) and Practice of the
Criminal Law of Scotland (1833), which in 1834 led to his
appointment by Sir Robert Peel to the office of sheriff of
Lanarkshire, which ranks next to a judgeship in the supreme
court. The office, though by no means a sinecure, gave him
time not only to make frequent contributions to periodical
literature, but also to write the long-projected History
of Europe, for which he had been collecting materials for
more than fifteen years. The history of the period from the
beginning of the French Revolution till the restoration of
the Bourbons in 1815 was completed in ten volumes in 1842,
and met with a success almost unexampled in works of its
class. Within a few years it ran through ten editions, and
was translated into many of the languages of Europe, as well
as into Arabic and Hindustani. At the time of the author's
death it was stated that 108,000 volumes of the library
edition and 439,000 volumes of the popular edition had been
sold. A popularity so widespread must have had some basis of
merit, and the good qualities of Alison's work lie upon the
surface. It brought together, though not always in a
well-arranged form, an immense amount of information that
had before been practically inaccessible to the general
public. It at least made an attempt to show the organic
connexion in the policy and progress of the different nations
of Europe; and its descriptions of what may be called external
history--of battles, sieges and state pageants--are spirited and
interesting. On the other hand the faults of the work are
numerous and glaring. The general style is prolix, involved
and vicious; mistakes of fact and false deductions are to be
found in almost every page; and the constant repetition of
trite moral reflections and egotistical references seriously
detracts from its dignity. A more grave defect resulted from
the author's strong political partisanship, which entirely
unfitted him for dealing with the problems of history in
a philosophical spirit. His unbending Toryism made it
impossible for him to give any satisfactory explanation of
so complex a fact as the French Revolution, or accurately to
estimate the forces that were to shape the Europe of the 19th
century. A continuation of the History, embracing the period
from 1815 to 1852, which was completed in four volumes in
1856, did not meet with the same success as the earlier
work. The period being so near as to be almost contemporary,
there was a stronger temptation, which he seems to have found
it impossible to resist, to yield to political prejudice, while
the materials necessary for a clear knowledge of the influences
shaping European affairs were not as yet accessible. The book
is now almost wholly out of date. In 1845 Alison was chosen
rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen, and in 1851 of Glasgow
University. In 1852 a baronetcy was conferred upon him, and
in the following year he was made a D.C.L. of Oxford. His
literary activity continued till within a short time of his
death, the chief works he published in addition to his History
being the Principles of Population (1840), in answer to
Malthus; a Life of Marlborough (1847, 2nd edition greatly
enlarged, 1852); and the Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir C.
Stewart (1861.) This latter, based on MS. material preserved at
Wynyard Park, is still of value, not only as the only available
biography, but more especially because Alison's Tory sympathies
enabled him to give a juster appreciation of the character
and work of Castlereagh than the Liberal writers by whom for
many years he was misjudged and condemned (see LONDONDERRY,
Robert Stewart, 2nd marquess of). Three volumes of Alison's
political, historical and miscellaneous essays were reprinted in
1850. He died at Possil House, Glaagow, on the 23rd of May
1867. His autobiography, Some Account of my Li/e and
Writings, edited by his daughter-in-law, Lady Alison, was
published in 1883 at Edinburgh. Sir Archibald Alison married
in 1825 Elizabeth Glencairn, daughter of Colonel Tytler, by
whom he had three children, Archibald, Frederick and Eliza
Frances Catherine. Both sons became distinguished officers.
SIR ARCHIBALD ALISON, Bart. (1826-1907), the elder of the
sons, entered the 72nd Highlanders in 1846. He served
at the siege of Sevastopol; and during the Indian Mutiny
he was military secretary to Sir Colin Campbell and was
severely wounded at the relief of Lucknow, losing an
arm. From 1862 to 1873 he was assistant adjutant-general at
headquarters, Portsmouth and Aldershot. He was second in
command of the Ashanti expedition 1873-1874, and was made a
K.C.B. For three years Alison was deputy adjutant-general in
Ireland, and then, for a few months, commandant of the Staff
College. He was promoted to be major-general in 1877,
and was head of the intelligence branch of the war office
(1878-1882). He commanded the troops at Alexandria in 1882
until the arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley, led the Highland
brigade at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and remained in command
of the army of occupation until 1883. He commanded at Aldershot
1883-1888, was for some months adjutant-general to the forces
during Lord Wolseley's absence in Egypt, was made G.C.B. in
1887, was promoted general, and became a military member of the
Council of India in 1889. He retired in 1893 and died in 1907.
ALIWAL, a village of British India, in the Ludhiana district
of the Punjab, situated on the left bank of the Sutlej, and
famous as the scene of one of the great battles of the 1st Sikh
War. Late in January 1846 it was held by Ranjur Singh, who had
crossed the river in force and threatened Ludhiana. On the 28th
Sir Harry Smith, with a view to clearing the left or British
bank, attacked him, and after a desperate struggle thrice pierced
the Sikh troops with his cavalry, and pushed them into the
river, where large numbers perished, leaving 67 guns to the
victors. The consequence of the victory was the submission
of the whole territory east of the Sutlej to the British.
ALIWAL NORTH, a town of South Africa, on the south bank
of the Orange River, 4300 ft. above the sea, and 282 m. by
rail N.W. by N. of the port of East London. Pop. (1904)
5566, of whom 1758 were whites. The town, a trading and
agricultural centre for the N.E. part of the Cape and the
neighbouring regions of Basutoland and Orange Free State,
presents a pleasing appearance. It contains many fine stone
buildings. The streets are lined with trees, and water from
the neighbouring sulphur springs flows along them in open
channels. The river, here the boundary between the Cape province
and Orange Free State, is crossed by a stone bridge 860 ft.
long. The sulphur springs, 1 m. from the town, which yield
over 500,000 gallons daily, are resorted to for the cure
of rheumatism and skin diseases. By reason of its dry and
bracing climate, Aliwal North is also a favourite residence
of sufferers from chest complaints. In the neighbourhood are
stone quarries. Aliwal North is the capital of a division
of the province of the same name, with an area of 1330 sq.
