secure the permanent harmony of the powers, was an effective
instrument for peace during the years immediately following
the downfall of Napoleon; and it set the precedent for those
periodical meetings of the representatives of the powers, for
the discussion and settlement of questions of international
importance, which, though cumbrous and inefficient for
constructive work, have contributed much to the preservation
of the general peace (see EUROPE: History.) (W. A. P.)
ALLIARIA OFFICINALIS, also known botanically as Sisymbrium
Alliaria, and popularly as garlic-mustard, Jack-by-the-hedge, or
sauce-alone, a common hedge-bank plant belonging to the natural order
Cruciferae. It is a rankly scented herb, 2 to 3 ft. high, with
long-stalked, coarsely-toothed leaves, and small white flowers
which are succeeded by stout long four-sided pods. It is widely
spread through the north temperate region of the Old World.
ALLIBONE, SAMUEL AUSTIN (1816-1889), American author and
bibliographer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the
17th of April 1816, of French Huguenot and Quaker ancestry.
He was privately educated and for many years was engaged in
mercantile business in his native city. He, however, devoted
himself chiefly to reading and to bibliographical research;
acquired a very unusual knowledge of English and American
literature, and is remembered as the compiler of the well-known
Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and
American Authors (3 vols.: vol. i. 1854, vols. ii. and iii.
1871). To this, two supplementary volumes, edited by John
Foster Kirk, were added in 1891. From 1867 to 1873, and
again in 1877-1879, Allibone was book editor and corresponding
secretary of the American Sunday School Union; and from
1879 to 1888 he was librarian of the Lenox Library, New York
City. He died at Lucerne, Switzerland, on the 2nd of September
1889. In addition to his Critical Dictionary he published
three large anthologies and several religious tracts.
See the ``Memoir'' by S. D. M`Connell, an address delivered before
the Historical Society of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1890).
ALLIER (anc. Elaver), a river of central France flowing
into the Loire. It rises in the department of Lozere, among
the Margeride mountains, a few miles east of the town of
Mende. The upper course of the Allier separates the mountains
of the Margeride from those of the Velay and lies for the most
part through deep gorges. The river then traverses the plains
of Langeac and Brioude, and receives the waters of the Alagnon
some miles above the town of Issoire. Swelled by torrents
from the mountains of Dore and Dome, it unites with the river
Dore at its entrance to the department to which it gives its
name. It then flows through a wide but shallow channel, joining
the Sioule some distance above Moulins, the chief town on its
banks. It soon after becomes the boundary line between the
departments of Cher and Nievre, and reaches the Loire 4 m.
west of Nevers, after a course of 269 m. Its basin has an
area of 6755 sq. m. The Allier is classed as navigable for the
last 154 m. of its course, but there is little traffic on it.
ALLIER, a department of central France, formed in 1790
from the old province of Bourbonnais. Pop. (1906) 417,961.
Area, 2849 sq. m. It is bounded N. by the department of
Nievre, E. by Saone-et-Loire, from which it is divided by
the river Loire, S.E. by Loire, S. by Puy-de-Dome, S.W. by
Crouse and N.W. by Cher. Situated on the northern border
of the Central Plateau, the department slopes from south to
north. Its highest altitudes are found in the south-east,
in the Bois-Noirs, where one point reaches 4239 ft., and in
the Monts de la Madeleine. Plains alternating with forests
occupy the northern zone of the department, while the central
and western regions form an undulating and well-watered
plateau. Entering the department in the south, and, like the
other chief rivers, flowing almost due north, the Allier drains
the central district, receiving on its left the Sioule. East
of the Allier is the Bebre, which joins the Loire within the
limits of the department; and on the west the Cher, with its
tributary the Aumance. Rigorous and rainy in the south-east,
the climate elsewhere is milder though subject to sudden
variations. Agriculturally the department is flourishing,
the valleys of the Allier and the Sioule known as the Limagne
Bourbonnaise comprising its most fertile portion. Wheat, oats,
barley and other cereals are grown and exported, and owing to
the abundance of pasture and forage, sheep and cattle-rearing
are actively carried on. Potatoes and mangels yield good
crops. Wines of fair quality are grown in the valley of the
Sioule; walnuts, chestnuts, plums, apples and pears are principal
fruits. Goats, from the milk of which choice cheese is
made, and pigs are plentiful. A large area is under forests,
the oak, beech, fir, birch and hornbeam being the principal
trees. The mineral waters at Vichy (q.v.), Neris,
Theneuille, Cusset and Bourbon l'Archambault are in much
repute. The mineral wealth of the department is considerable,
including coal as well as manganese and bituminous schist;
plaster, building stone and hydraulic lime are also
produced. Manufactories of porcelain, glass and earthenware
are numerous. Montlucon and Commentry are ironworking
centres. There are flour mills, breweries and saw-mills; and
paper, chemicals, wooden shoes, wool and woollen goods are
produced. Besides the products of the soil Allier exports
coal, mineral waters and cattle for the Paris market. Building
materials, brandy and coal are among the imports. The railways
belong chiefly to the Orleans and Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean
companies. The lateral canal of the Loire, the Berry Canal and
the canal from Roanne to Digoin together traverse about 57 m.
in the department. Allier is divided into the arrondissements
of Moulins, Gannat, Lapalisse and Montlucon (29 cantons, 321
communes). It forms the diocese of Moulins and part of the
ecclesiastical province of Bourges, and falls within the
academie (educational division) of Clermont-Ferrand and the
region of the XIII. army-corps. Its court of appeal is at
Riom. Moulins, the capital, Montlucon and Vichy, are the
principal towns. Souvigny possesses the church of a famous
Cluniac priory dating from the 1ith-12th and 15th centuries,
and containing the splendid tombs (15th century) of Louis
II. and Charles I. of Bourbon. At St Menoux, Ebreuil and
Gannat there are fine Romanesque churches. Huriel has a
church of the 11th century and a well-preserved keep, the
chief survival of a medieval castle. St Pourcain-sur-Sioule
has a large church, dating from the 11th to the 18th
centuries. The castle of Bourbon l'Archambault, which
belonged to the dukes of Bourbon, dates from the 13th and 15th
centuries. The Romanesque churches of Veauce and Ygrande,
and the chateaus of Veauce and Lapalisse, are also of
interest, the latter belonging to the family of Chabannes.
ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1813-1903), English historical
writer, was born at Midsomer Norton, near Bristol, on the
12th of February 1813. He was educated at Eton and at
Wadham College, Oxford, of which he became a fellow in
1833. In 1840 Bishop Blomfield of London appointed him his
examining chaplain and presented him to the rectory of Launton,
Oxfordshire, which he resigned in 1850 on becoming a Roman
Catholic. Allies was appointed secretary to the Catholic poor
school committee in 1853, a position which he occupied till
1890. He died in London on the 17th of June 1903. Allies
was one of the ablest of the English churchmen who joined the
Church of Rome in the early period of the Oxford movement, his
chief work, The Formation of Christendom (London, 8 vols.,
1865-1895) showing much originality of thought and historical
knowledge. His other writings: St Peter, his Name and Office
(1852); The See of St Peter, the Rock of the Church (1850);
Per Crucem ad Lucem (2 vols., 1879), have gone through
many editions and been translated into several languages.
See his autobiography, A Life's Decision (1880); and the study of
his daughier, Mary H. Allies, Thomas Allies, the Story of a Mind
(London, 1906), which contains a full bibliography of his works.
ALLIFAE (mod. Alife), a town of the Samnites, 15
m. N.W. of Telesia, and 17 m. E.N.E. of Teanum. The
site of the Samnite city, which in the 4th century B.C.
had a coinage of its own, is not known; the Roman town
lay in the valley of the Vulturnus, and its walls (4th
century) enclose a circuit of 1 1/2 m., in which are preserved
remains of large baths ( Thermae Herculis) and a theatre.
ALLIGATOR (Spanish el lagarto, ``the lizard''), an animal
so closely allied to the crocodile that some naturalists
have classed them together as forming one genus. It differs
from the true crocodile principally in having the head
broader and shorter, and the snout more obtuse; in having
the fourth, enlarged tooth of the under jaw received, not
into an external notch, but into a pit formed for it within
the upper one; in wanting a jagged fringe which appears on
the hind legs and feet of the crocodile; and in having the
toes of the hind feet webbed not more than half way to the
tips. Alligators proper occur in the fluviatile deposits of
the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die
out until the Pliocene age; they are now restricted to two
species, A. mississippiensis or lucius in the southern
states of North America up to 12 ft. in length, and the small
A. sinensis in the Yang-tse-kiang. In Central and South
America alligators are represented by five species of the genus
Caiman, which differs from Alligator by the absence of a
bony septum between the nostrils, and the ventral armour is
composed of overlapping bony scutes, each of which is formed
of two parts united by a suture. C. sclerops, the spectacled
alligator, has the widest distribution, from southern Mexico
to the northern half of Argentina, and grows to a bulky
size. The largest, attaining an enormous bulk and a length of
20 ft., is the C. niger, the jacare-assu or large caiman
of the Amazons. The names ``alligator'' and ``crocodile''
are often confounded in popular speech; and the structure
and habits of the two animals are so similar that both are
most conveniently considered under the heading CROCODILE.
ALLINGHAM, WILLIAM (1824-1889), Irish man of letters and
poet, was born at Ballyshannon, Donegal, on the 19th of
March 1824 (or 1828, according to some authorities), and was
the son of the manager of a local bank. He obtained a post
in the custom-house of his native town and filled several
similar situations in Ireland and England until 1870, when
he had retired from the service, and became sub-editor of
Fraser's Magazine, which he edited from 1874 to 1879. He
had published a volume of Poems in 1850, followed by Day
and Night Songs, a volume containing many charming lyrics, in
1855. Allingham was on terms of close friendship with D. G.
Rossetti, who contributed to the illustration of the Songs.
His Letters to Allingham (1854-1870) were edited by Dr
Birkbeck Hill in 1897. Lawrence Bloomfield, a narrative
poem illustrative of Irish social questions, appeared in
1864. Allingham married in 1874 Helen Paterson, known under
her married name as a water-colour painter. He died at
Hampstead on the 18th of November 1889. Though working on
an unostentatious scale, Allingham produced much excellent
lyrical and descriptive poetry, and the best of his pieces
