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ALB

ALBERTUS, a gold coin, worth about 14 French livres: itwas coined during the administration of Albertus, archduke ofAustria.

ALBI, an ancient city of France, in the department of Tarn ,335 miles S. from Paris . Long. 2. 14. E. Lat. 43. 56. N.

ALB1FICATION, in chemistry, the whitening of metals orliquors.

ALBIGENSES , in church history, a party of reformers, aboutToulouse and the Albigeois in Languedoc , who sprung up in the12th century, and distinguished themselves by their opposition tothe discipline and ceremonies of the church of Rome . This secthad their name, it is supposed, either because there were greatnumbers of them in the diocese of Albi, or because they werecondemned by a council held in that city. 1 n fact, it does notappear, that they were known by this name before the holding ofthat council.—The Albigenses were also called Albiani, Albi-gesei, Albii, and Albanenses, though some distinguish these lastfrom them. Other names given to them are, Ilenricians, Abe-lardists, Bulgarians , &c. some on account of the principles theyassumed ; others on account of the country from whence it is pre-tended they were derived; and others on account of persons ofnote who adopted their cause. The Albigenses are frequentlyconfounded with the Waldenses; from whom, however, they dit-fer in many respects, both as being prior to them in point of time,as having their origin in a different country, and as being chargedwith divers heresies, particularly Manicheism , from which theWaldenses are exempt. But several Protestant writers have Vin-dicated them from that imputation. In an assembly held at Mi-lan, the archbishop of Toulouse drew up articles; agreeably towhich the count Raimond made a most ample declaration againstthem, which he published at Toulouse in 1253. From this timethe Albigenses dwindled by little and little, till the times of thereformation; when such of them as were left fell in with the Vau-dois, and conformed to the doctrine of Zuinglius and the disciplesof Geneva.

Albigenses is also a name sometimes given to the followersof Peter Vaud, or Waldo; and hence synonymous with Wal-denses, or Poor Men of Lyons. In this sense tne word is appliedby Camerarius, Thuanus , and several other writers. The reasonseems to be, that the two parties agreed in their opposition to thepapal innovations and encroachments, though in divers other re-spects different enough. For a farther account of the Albigenses ,see Limborch ’s History of the Inquisition, translated by Chandler,vol. i. p. 42—70, and Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii.p. 580, 8vo.

ALBIGEOIS, a small territory of France, in Upper Langue-doc , about 27 miles in length, an 1 20 in breadth.

ALBIGESEI, or ALBII. See Albigenses .

ALBINOS, the name by which the Portuguese call the whiteMoors, who appear to be affected with the leprosy, and arc look-ed upon b\- the negroes as monsters.

ALBINUS, Bernard Sigeered, a celebrated physician andanatomist, was born, of an illustrious family, at Frankfort on theOder, in 1697. His father was then professor of medicine in theUniversity of Francfort. His anatomical plates, 3 vols. folio,P'44, 1749, and 1753, prove him to have been an anatomist ofthe first rank. lie died in 1771, aged 74 years.

ALBIOECE, or ALEBECE, otherwise called Civitas Reien-s, um ; nowRiez, in Provence, 18 leaguesN. E. of Toulon , origi-nally a Homan colony. Long. 1. 0. E. Lat. 43. 20. N.

ALBION, [from albus, white, Lat.] iii ancient geography, theisland of Greai Britain, so called by Caisar, on account of thee.iialky cliffs on the English coast.

. Albion, New, a name given by Sir Francis Drake to Cali-fornia .

ALB1REO, the star ji in Cvgnus.

ALBIS, in ancient geography, the Elbe .

ALBOGALERUS, in Roman antiquity, a sacerdotal cap, orOrnament worn by the priest.

ALBOLODUV, a town of Spain in Granada .

ALBORAK, amongst the Mahometan writers, the beast onwhich Mahomet rode in his journies to heaven. The Arabic com-mentators give many fables concerning this extraordinary vehicle.It is represented as of an intermediate shape and size between anass and a mule.

ALBORAN, an island between Spain and Africa ,

Vol. i,~ no. 5.

ALBR1C1US, born at London , in the 11th century, was agreat philosopher, an able physician, and well versed in all thebranches of polite literature. He wrote several works in Latin ;particularly, 1. Of the Origin of the Gods. 2. The Virtues ofthe Ancients. 3. The Nature of Poison, &c.

ALBUCA, Bastard Star of Bethlehem: a genus of themonogynia order, and liexandria class ; natural order, Coronaria.'.No calyx ; corolla six-petaled ; capsule oblong, obtuse, triangular,three-celled, three-valved; seeds numerous, flat, and incumbent.

It lias fourteen species, all natives of the Cape.

ALBUGINEA Ocui.i. See Adnata.

Albuginea, the third coat of the testicles; so called from itswhite colour. It is a strong thick membrane, very smooth on theouter surface ; the inner being rough and uneven.

ALBUGO, or LEUCOMA, a distemper occasioned by awhite opaque spot, growing on the cornea of the eye, and obstruct-ing vision.

ALBU.LA, a genus of fishes of the truttaceous kind, having noteeth. The principal species are, A. indica, and A. nobilis.

Albula, the mineral waters of the aluminous kind; hence en-dowed with an astringent quality, and of use in wounds.

ALBUM, in antiquity, a kind of white table, or register,wherein the names of certain magistrates, public transactions, &c.were entered.

Album Amicorum, a kind of memorandum or pocket-book, orliterary repository, wherein the men of letters, with whom a personhas conversed, inscribe their names with some sentence or motto.—The famous Algernon Sidney being in Denmark , was by theuniversity of Copenhagen presented with their album, whereuponlie wrote these words :

-Manus hare inimica tyrannis

Ense petit placidain sub libertate quietem.

ALBUM AZAR, a learned Arabian astronomer in the tenthcentury. His works were printed in Latin , at Venice, in 1586,8vo.

ALBUMEN, the white of an egg; according to Boerhaave,makes an extraordinary menstruum. Boiled hard in the shell,and afterwards suspended in the air by a thread, it resolves anddrops down into an insipid scentless liquor, which appears to bethat anomalous unaccountable menstruum so much used by Para-celsus ; and will, though it contains nothing sharp, oleaginous, orsaponaceous, make a thorough solution of myrrh ; which is morethan either water, oil, spirits, or even fire itself, can effect. Alittle putrid white of egg taken into the stomach, occasions a nausea,horror, fainting, vomiting, diarrhoea, and gripes; it inflames thebile, excites heat, thirst, lever; and dissolves the humours likethe plague. On the contrary, the white of fresh laid eggs, if takenwarm from the hen, is extremely nourishing to the infirm : it may betaken in hike-warm milk; but if any other heat be applied to it,the nutritious quality will be diminished.

Albumen, in chemistry, not only denotes the white of eggs,but all glary, tasteless, substances, which have the property ofcoagulating like it, when heated nearly to the boiling point. Thissubstance forms a constituent of many of the fluids of animal bodies,and when coagulated, it constitues also an important part of theirsolids. The essential characters of albumen are the following:1. In its natural state it is soluble in water, and forms a glary,limpid, liquid, having very little taste: in this state it may be em-ployed as a paste an<i a varnish. 2. The solution is coagulated byacids, alcohol, and by heat of the temperature of 170°. 3. Dis-

solved in water, it is precipitated by the infusion of tan; and alsoin the form of while powder by Hie salts of most of the whitemetals, as silver, mercury, lead, and tin. 4. When burnt it emitsammonia; and when treated with nitric acid, yields azotic gas.The juice of the papaw tree yields albumen ; so also does thejuice of the fruit of the hibiscus esenientus : this lias been used inthe West Indies as a substitute for the white of eggs in clarifyingsugar. Albumen is useful for clarifying liquors ; for which purpose,being mixed and incorporated with the liquors to lie clarilied, andthe whole afterwards boiled, the albumen is bv this means broughttogether and hardened, and thus carries off the gross parts of theliquor.

Album Ocui.i, among anatomists, the tunica adnata; alsocalled albmro; or the white of the eye.

ALBUNA, the tentli Sybil, worshipped as a goddess by theanciifnt Romans.

T ALBURN,