Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd].
- Date:
- [1851]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
73/1000
![s ited, but consists both of higli and low tracts ; I good supply of excellent wnter is procured 111° every part of the island. The Alderney ofl-s maintain their i-eputation: they are easily Ustinguished from those of the neighbouring islands by being remarkably small, and straight I a the back. ALE. The distinction between ale and beer, the processes of manufacture, and the arrange- ments of the great London breweries, are described under Beeweeies and Brewing. ^ ALEMBIC, a chemical apparatus used in distillation. It consists of a body, cucurbit, or matrass, to contain the fluid to be distilled; a head, or capital, fixed above it to receive and condense the vapom- which rises on the apph- cation of heat to the cucurbit; and a pipe de- scending from the head to a receiver, or vessel prepared to receive the condensed product of distillation, which in its t)assage from the head to the receiver, is frequently passed tlu-ough a ivorm or serpentine pipe immersed in cold water as a refrigeratory. Alembics or stills are made of both glass and metal, the several parts being fitted together with ground or luted joints, and of various forms according to the purpose for which they are employed. They are of great use in manu- factm-ing chemistiy. ALEPPO. [Haleb.] ALEUROMETEK. One of the novelties of 1849 was a contrivance called an Aleuro- laeter, invented by M. Boland, a Paris baker, for ascertaining the paniflable or bread-making qualities of wheaten flour. This determina- tion depends upon the erpansion of the L'luten contained in a given quantity of Hour, when freed from its starch. A ball of gluten being placed in a cylinder to which a piston is fitted, the apparatus is ex- losed to a temperature of 150°; and as the luten dilates, its degree of dilatation is marked by the piston rod. The greater the dilatation, the better is the flour fitted for making bread. ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, situated in the North Pacific Ocean, between Cape Alaska in North America, and the peninsula of Kamt- chatka in Asia, are one of the centres of the fur-trade. In 1785 a commercial establish- ment was formed there, for the prosecution of this trade ; and in 1799 this company re- ceived great aid and protection from the Russian government, which has ever since ' continued. The fur animals which the islands } yield are bears, beavers, ennines, otters, foxes, f and seals. Almost the only occupations of • the inhabitants are fishing and hunting, and ■ the preparation of implements necessary for t the prosecution of those pursuits. In fishing ALEXANDBIA. 78 they fidake iise of a species of canoe, which they call a baidar, and which consists of a skeleton of wood, over which a covering of seal skins is extended. Thus constructed, these canoes are so extremely light that they may be carried about by one person without difficulty. Domestic occupations, such as making clothes, and even the covering of canoes, are performed by the women, who likewise make mats, baskets, and other useful articles of straw. The Aleutian Islands have been recom- mended by Lieut. Maury as a coaling station, on the route of the Pacific Steamers from California to China, planned on his proposed Great Circle system. ALEXA'NDRIA, called Iskanderieh by the Arabs, the only seaport of Egypt, stands on an artificial neck of land which joins the con- tinent to the ancient island of Phai-os. It has two ports. The old port on the west side of the town, is at the extremity of an exten- sive roadstead; there are three passages into this roadstead, the deepest of which will admit frigates, and probably vessels of the line. The new port, which is on the east side of the town, is more exposed and shal- lower than the old port. The fort of Pharos, which is also a light-house, is connected with the island of Pharos by an artificial dyke, made in part of antient granite columns laid transversely. Alexandria is the chief commercial town of Egypt. All the products intended for foreign export are conveyed by the Nile and Mahmoudieh Canal to Alexandria for ship- ment. The Mahmoudieh Canal, which was restored and completed by Mohammed Ali, in 1819, joins the Nile at Atfeh, 40 miles from Alexandria. Alexandria has become an important station in the line of communica- tion with the East Indies, and its importance in this respect is annually increasing. Steam- boats from England, Marseille, Trieste, and Constantinople, sail to and from Alexandria regularly, and goods and passengers, as wsll as mails, pass by the Mahmoudieh Canal and the Nile to Cairo, thence across the desert to Suez, then by the Red Sea and Arabian Sea to Bombay; and so from Bombay by the same route back again. It is an instructive example of the changes which mark the history of commerce, that this same city of Alexandria, which is now growing in trading importance every year, was a great centre of commerce more than 2,000 years ago; while in a great part of the intervening period it sank to a position of insignificance. Humboldt, in his Cosmos, says:—Under PtolemmUs Philadelphus,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21495348_0073.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
