1853 he organized the Allan Line of steamships, plying between
Montreal. Liverpool and Glasgow; till his death he was
closely associated with the commercial growth and prosperity
of Canada, and in 1871 was knighted in recognition of his
services. In 1872- 1873 he obtained from the Canadian government
a charter for building the Canadian Pacific railway, but the
disclosures made with reference to his contributions to the
funds of the Conservative party led to the Pacific scandal
(see CANADA, History), and that company was soon afterwards
dissolved. He died in Edinburgh on the 9th of December 1882.
See J. C. Dent, Canadian Portrait Gallery (1881).
ALLAN, SIR WILLIAM (1782-1850), Scottish painter, was born at
Edinburgh, and at an early age entered as a pupil in the School
of Design established in Edinburgh by the Board of Trustees
for Arts and Manufactures, where he had as companions, John
Wilkie, John Burnet the engraver, and others who afterward
distinguished themselves as artists. Here Allan and Wilkie
were placed at the same table, studied the same designs, and
contracted a lifelong friendship. Allan continued his studies
for some time in London; but his attempt to establish himself
there was unsuccessful, and after exhibiting at the Royal
Academy (1805) his first picture, ``A Gipsy Boy and Ass,''
an imitation in style of Opie, he determined, in spite of his
scanty resources, to seek his fortune abroad. He accordingly
set out the same year for Russia, but was carried by stress of
weather to Memel, where he remained for some time, supporting
himself by his pencil. At last, however, he reached St
Petersburg, where the kindness of Sir Alexander Crichton,
the court physician, and other friends procured him abundant
employment. By excursions into southern Russia, Turkey,
the Crimea and Circassia, he filled his portfolio with vivid
sketches, of which he made admirable use in his subsequent
pictures. In 1814 he returned to Edinburgh, and in the two
following years exhibited at the Royal Academy ``The Circassian
Captives'' and ``Bashkirs tonducting Convicts to Siberia.''
The former picture remained so long unsold, that, thoroughly
disheartened, he threatened to retire to Circassia when,
through the kindness of Sir Walter Scott, a subscription of
1000 guineas was obtained for the picture, which fell by lot
into the possession of the earl of Wemyss. About the same time
the Grand Duke Nicholas, afterwards tsar of Russia, visited
Edinburgh, and purchased his ``Siberian Exiles'' and ``Haslan
Gheray crossing the River Kuban,'' giving a very favourable
turn to the fortunes of the painter, whose pictures were now
sought for by collectors. From this time to 1834 he achieved
his greatest success and firmly established his fame by the
illustration of Scottish history. His most important works
of this class were ``Archbishop Sharpe on Magus Moor''; ``John
Knox admonishing Mary Queen of Scots'' (1823), engraved by
Burnet; ``Mary Queen of Scots signing her Abdication'' (1824);
and ``Regent Murray shot by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh.''
The last procured his election as an associate of the Royal
Academy (1825). Later Scottish subjects were ``Lord Byron''
(1831), portraits of Scott and ``The Orphan'' (1834), which
represented Anne Scott seated near the chair of her deceased
father. In 1830 he was compelled, on account of an attack of
ophthalmia, to seek a milder climate, and visited Rome, Naples and
Constantinople. He returned with a rich store of materials,
of which he made excellent use in his ``Constantinople Slave
Market'' and other productions. In 1834 he visited Spain and
Morocco, and in 1841 went again to St Petersburg, when he
undertook, at the request of the tsar, his ``Peter the Great
teaching his Subjects the Art of Shipbuilding,'' exhibited
in London in 1845, and now in the Winter Palace of St
Petersburg. His ``Polish Exiles'' and ``Moorish Love-letter,''
&c., had secured his election as a Royal Academician in 1835;
he was appointed president of the Royal Scottish Academy
(1838), and royal limner for Scotland, after Wilkie's death
(1841); and in 1842 received the honour of knighthood. His
later years were occupied with battle-pieces, the last he
finished being the second of his two companion pictures of the
``Battle of Waterloo.'' He died on the 22nd of February 1850,
leaving a large unfinished picture--``Bruce at Bannockburn.''
ALHAN-DESPREAUX, LOUISE ROSALIE (1810-1856), French
actress, was ``discovered'' by Talma at Brussels in 1820, when
she played Joas with him in Athalie. At his suggestion she
changed her surname, Ross, for her mother's maiden name, and, as
Mlle. Despreaux, was engaged for children's parts at the
Comedie Francaise. At the same time she studied at the
Conservatoire. By 1825 she had taken the second prize for
comedy, and was engaged to play inigenue parts at the Comeedie
Francaise, where her first appearance in this capacity was as
Jenny in L'Argent on the 8th of December 1826. In 1831 the
director of the Gymnase succeeded in persuading her to join his
company. Her six years at this theatre, during which she
married Allan, an actor in the company, were a succession of
triumphs. She was then engaged at the French theatre at St
Petersburg. Returning to Paris, she brought with her, as
Legouve says, a thing she had unearthed, through a Russian
translation, a little comedy never acted till she took it up,
a production half-forgotten, and esteemed by those who knew it
as a pleasing piece of work in the Marivaux style--Un Caprice
by Alfred de Musset, which she had played with success in St
Petersburg. Her selection of this piece for her reappearance
at the Theatre Francaise (1847) laid the corner-stone
of Musset's lasting fame as a dramatist. In the following
year his comedy Il ne faut jurer de rien was acted at the
same theatre, and thus led to the production of his finer
plays. Among plays by other authors in which Mme. Allan won
special laurels at the Theatre Francaise. were Par droit
de conquete, Peril en la demeure, La joie fait peur,
and Lady Tartuffe. In the last, with a part of only fifty
lines, and playing by the very side of the great Rachel, she
yet held her own as an actress of the first rank. Mme. Allan
died in Paris, in the height of her popularity, in March 1856.
/NH-CH-NH-CO-NH2 ALLANTOIN, C4H6N4O3 or CO |
\NH-CO
the diureide of glyoxylic acid. It is found in the allantoic
liquid of the cow, and in the urine of sucking calves. It
can be obtained by the oxidation of uric acid by means of lead
dioxide, manganese dioxide, ozone or potassium permanganate:
C5H4N4O3 + H2O + O = C4H6N4O3 + CO2.
It has been synthesized by E. Grimaux by heating one part of
glyoxylic acid with two parts of urea for ten hours at 100 deg.
C.: 2CO(NH2)2 + CH(OH)2COOH = 3H2O + C4H6N4O3. It
forms glancing prisms of neutral reaction slightly soluble in
water. On standing with concentrated potassium hydroxide solution
it gives potassium allantoate C4H7N4O4K. On heating with
water it undergoes hydrolysis into urea and allanturic acid
C3H4O3N2. It is reduced by sodium amalgam to glycouril
C4H6N4O2, whilst with hydriodic acid it yields urea and hydantoin
C3H4N2O2. Hot concentrated sulphuric acid also decomposes
allantoin, with production of ammonia, and carbon monoxide and
dioxide. By dry distillation it gives ammonium cyanide.
ALLEGHANY, or THE ALLEGHANIES (a spelling now more common
than Allegheny), a name formerly used of all the Appalachian
Mountains (q.v.), U.S.A., and now sometimes of all that
system lying W. and S. of the Hudson river, being steep
and narrow-crested in Pennsylvania (1500-1800 ft.), and in
Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia higher (3000 ft.-4473
ft). and with broader crests. Another usage applies to
the ridges ( ``the Alleghany Ridges'') parallel to the Blue
Ridge; the north-western part of this region is sometimes
called the Alleghany Front or the Front of the Alleghany
Plateau. The Alleghany Plateau is the north-westernmost
division of the Appalachian system; it is an eroded mass of
sedimentary rock sloping north-westward to the Prairie and
Lake Plains and reaching south-west from the south-western
part of New York state through Tennessee and into Alabama.
ALLEGHENY, formerly a city of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., on the N. bank of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.
opposite Pittsburg; since 1907 a part of Pittsburg.
Pop. (1890) 105,287; (1900) 129,896, of whom 30,216 were
foreign-born and 3315 were negroes; of the foreign-born 12,022
were from Germany, 5070 from Ireland, 3929 from Austria, and
2177 from England; (1906, estimate) 145,240. Allegheny is
served by the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pittsburg & Western
railways, by the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago, the Western
Pennsylvania, the Buffalo & Allegheny Valley, the Cleveland &
Pittsburg, the Erie & Pittsburg, the Pittsburg, Youngstown &
Ashtabula, and the Chautauqua divisions of the Pennsylvania
railway system, and by Ohio river freight and passenger
boats. Extending along the river fronts for about 6 1/2 m.
are numerous large manufactories and the headquarters of
the shipping interests; farther back are the mercantile
quarters and public buildings; and on the hills beyond are
the residence districts, commanding extensive views of the
valley. Two of the principal thoroughfares, Federal and Ohio
streets, intersect at a central square, in which are the city
hall, public library, post office and the marketplace; and
surrounding the main business section on the E., N. and W.
is City Park of 100 acres, with lakes and fountains, and
monuments to the memory of Alexander von Humboldt, George
Washington and T. A. Armstrong. Farther out is Riverview
Park (219 acres), in which is the Allegheny Astronomical
Observatory, and elsewhere are a soldiers' monument and a
monument (erected by Andrew Carnegie) in memory of Colonel Johnes
Anderson. In Allegheny are the following institutions of
higher learning:--the Allegheny Theological Seminary (United
Presbyterian), opened in 1825; the Western Theological
Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, opened in 1827; and
the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Presbyterians,
opened in 1856. There is a fine Carnegie library with a
music-hall. Among penal and charitable institutions are the
Riverside State Penitentiary, three hospitals, three homes
for orphans, a home for the friendless and an industrial
school. Six bridges spanning the river and electric lines
crossing them have brought Allegheny into close industrial and
social relations with the main part of Pittsburg, and on the
hills of Allegheny are beautiful homes of wealthy men. As a
manufacturing centre Allegheny was outranked in 1905 by only
two cities in the state--Philadelphia and Pittsburg; among
the more important of its large variety of manufactures are
the products of slaughtering and meat-packing establishments,
iron and steel rolling mills, the products of foundries and
machine- shops, pickles, preserves and sauces, the products of
railway- construction and repair shops, locomotives, structural
iron and plumbers' supplies. In 1905 the total value of
Allegheny's factory products was $45,830,272; this showed an
apparent decrease (exceeded by one city only) of $7,365,106,
from the product-value of 1900, but the decrease was partly
due to the more careful census of 1905, in which there were not
the duplications or certain items which occurred in the 1900
census. But in the live years there was a decrease of 3865
