ALLONGE (from Fr. alloinger, to draw out), a slip of paper affixed to a negotiable instrument, as a bill of exchange, for the purpose of receiving additional indorsements for which there may not be sufficient space on the bill itself. An indorsement written on the allonge is deemed to be written on the bill itself. An allonge is more usually met with in those countries where the Code Napoleon is in force, as the code requires every indorsement to express the consideration. Under English law, as the simple signature of the indorser on the bill, without additional words, is sufficient to operate as a negotiation, an allonge is seldom necessary.

ALLOPHANE, one of the few minerals known only in the amorphous state. It is a glassy substance, usually occurring as thin encrustations with a mammillary surface; occasionally, however, it is earthy and pulverulent. The colour varies considerably. from colourless to yellow, brown, blue or green. Specimens of a brilliant sky-blue colour, such as those found formerly in Wheal Haniblyn, near Bridestowe in Devonshire, and in Sardinia, are specially attractive in appearance; the colour is here due to the presence of the copper mineral chrysocolla. The hardness is 3, and the specific gravity 1.9. Chemically, it is a hydrous aluminium silicate, Al2SiO5.5H2O. Allophane is always of secondary origin, resulting from the decomposition of various aluminous silicates, such as felspar. It is often found copper and iron. It was first observed in 1809 in marl at Grafenthal, near Saalfield in Thuringia; and has been found in lines fissures and funnel-shaped cavities. The name allophane was given by F. Stromeyer in 1816, from the Gr. allos, another, and faino, to appear, in allusion to the fact that the mineral crumbles and changes in appearance when heated before the blowpipe. Other names for the species are riemannite and elhuyarite, whilst closely allied minerals are carolathine, samoite and schrotterite (opal-allophane).

ALLORI, ALESSANDRO (1535—1607), Italian painter of the Florentine school, was brought up and trained in art by his uncle, Angelo Bronzino (q.v.) whose name he sometimes assumed in his pictures. Visiting Rome in his nineteenth year, he carefully studied the works of Michelangelo; but the influence of that great master can only be traced in the anatomical correctness of his drawing of nude figures. He was successful as a portrait painter. His son CRISTOFANO ALLORI (1577-1621), born at Florence, received his first lessons in painting from his father, but becoming dissatisfied with the hard anatomical drawing and cold colouring of the latter, he entered the studio of Gregorio Pagani (1558-1605) who was one of the leaders of that later Florentine school which endeavoured to unite the rich colouring of the Venetians with the correct drawing of Michelangelo's disciples. Allori became one of the foremost of this school. His pictures are distinguished by their close adherence to nature and the delicacy and technical perfection of their execution. His technical skill is proved by the fact that several copies he made after Correggio have been taken to be duplicates by Correggio himself. His extreme fastidiousness limited his power of production, though the number of his works is not so small as is sometimes asserted. Several specimens are to be seen at Florence and elsewhere. The finest of all his works is his "Judith and Holofernes,'' in the Pitti Palace. The model for the Judith was his mistress, the beautiful Mazzafirra, who is also represented in his Magdalene; and the head of Holofernes is generally supposed to represent himself.

ALLOTMENT from O. Fr. a and loter, to divide by lot), the act of allotting; a share or portion assigned. In England, the term denotes a portion of land assigned on partition or under an inclosure award (see COMMONS); also a division of land into small portions for cultivation by a labourer or artisan at a small rent (see ALLOTMENTS AND SMALL HOLDINOS). In company law, "allotment'' is the appropriation to an applicant by a resolution of the directors of a certain number of shares in response to an application. The document sent to such an applicant, which announces the number of shares assigned and concludes the contract, is called a letter of allotment or allotment certificate. A letter of allotment in England requires a sixpenny stamp if the value of the shares amounts to L. 5 or over, and a penny stamp if less than L. 5. (See COMPANY.)

Allotment note is a writing by a seaman authorising his employers to make an allotment of part of his wages, while he is on a voyage, in favour either of a "near'' relative (wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, child, grandchild, brother or sister of the seaman), or of a savings bank. Every allotment note must be in a form sanctioned by the Board of Trade.

ALLOTMENTS AND SMALL HOLDINGS. As the meaning of these terms in agricultural tenure varies in different localities, it may be as well to say at once that for the present purpose they are definable as pieces of land detached from cottages, and hired or owned by labouring men to supplement their main income. We do not include any farm, however small, from which the occupier derives his entire support by dairying, market-gardening, or other form of la petite culture. So, also, no account is taken of the tiny garden plot, used for growing vegetables for the table and simple flowers, which is properly an appurtenance of the cottage. Clearing away what is extraneous, the essential point round which much controversy has raged is the labourer's share in the land. The claim advanced depends upon tradition. In agriculture, the oldest of all industries, a cash payment is not even now regarded as discharging the obligations between master and servant. Mr Wilson Fox, in reporting to the Board of Trade on the earnings of agricultural labourers in Great Britain, gives, as a typical survival of an old custom, the case of a shepherd whose total income was calculated at L. 60 a year, but who got only L. 16 in money, the rest being made up by rights of grazing live-stock, growing crops on his master's land, and kindred privileges. That is exactly in the spirit that used to pervade agriculture, and doubtless had its origin in the manorial system. If we turn back to the 13th century, from Walter of Henley's Husbandry it will be seen that practically there were only two classes engaged in agriculture, and corresponding with them were two kinds of land. There were, on the one hand, the employer, the lord, and his demesne land; on the other, the villeins and the land held in villenage. Putting aside for the moment any discussion of the exact degree of servitude, it will be seen that the essence of the bargain was that the villein should be permitted to cultivate a virgate of land for his own use in return for service rendered on the home farm. This is not altered by the fact that the conditions approached those of slavery, that the villeins were adscripti glebae, that in some cases their wives and sons were bequeathed by deed to the service of religious houses, and that in many other respects their freedom was limited. Out of this, in the course of centuries, was developed the system prevailing to-day. Lammas lands are indeed a survival from it. There are in the valley of the Lea, and close to London, to take one example, lands allotted annually in little strips till the crops are carried, when, the day being fixed by a reeve, the land becomes a common pasture till the spring closing takes place once more. Perhaps the feature of this old system that bears most directly on the question of allotments was the treatment of the waste of the manor. The lord, like his tenants, was limited by custom as regards the number of beasts he could graze on it. After the havoc of the Black Death in 1349, many changes were necessitated by the scarcity and dearness of labour. It became less unusual for land to be let and for money payment to be accepted instead of services. There was a great demand for wool, and to conduct sheep-farming on a large scale necessitated a re-arrangement of the manor and the enclosure of many common fields under the statute of Merton and the statute of Westminster the Second. Nevertheless, up to the 18th century, a vast proportion of agricultural land was technically waste, on which rights of common were exercised by yeomen, some of whom had acquired holdings by the ordinary methods of purchase or inheritance, while others had merely squatted and built a house on the waste. It is to this period that belongs a certain injustice to which the peasantry were subject. No reasonable doubt can be entertained of the necessity of enclosure. Husbandry, after long stagnation, was making great advance; and among others, Arthur Young raised his voice against the clumsy inconvenient common fields that were the first to be enclosed. Between 1709 and 1797 no fewer than 3110 acts, affecting, as far as can be calculated, about 3,000,000 acres, were put into operation. They seem mostly to have been directed to the common fields. In the first half of the 19th century the movement went on apace. In a single year, 1801, no fewer than 119 acts were passed; and between 1801 and 1842 close on 2000 acts were passed—-many of them expressly directed to the enclosure of wastes and commons. The same thing continued till 1860. It touched the peasant directly and indirectly. The enclosure of the common fields proved most hurtful to the small farmer; the enclosure of the waste injured the labourer by depriving him, without adequate compensation, of such useful privileges as the right to graze a cow, a pig, geese or other small animals. It also discouraged him by tending to the extinction of small tenancies and freeholds that were no longer workable at a profit when common rights ceased to go with them. The industrious labourer could previously nourish a hope of bettering his condition by obtaining a small holding. Yet though the labourer suffered, impartial study does not show any intentional injustice. He held a very weak position when those interested in a common affixed to the church door a notice that they intended to petition. As Mr Cowper (afterwards Lord Mount Temple) said in the House of Commons on the 13th of March 1844, "the course adopted had been to compensate the owner of the cottage to whom the common right belonged, forgetting the claims of the occupier by whom they were enjoyed''; and in the same debate Sir Robert Peel pointed out that not only the rights of the tenant, but those of his successors ought to have been studied. The course adopted divorced the labourer from the soil.

Parliament, as a matter of fact, had from a very early period recognized the wisdom of contenting the peasant. In the 14th century the labourer lived in rude abundance. Next century a rural exodus began, owing to the practice of enclosing the holdings and turning them into sheep walks. In 1487 an act was passed enjoining landlords to "keep up houses of husbandry,'' and attach convenient land to them. Within the next hundred years a number of similar attempts were made to control what we may call the sheep fever of the time. Then we arrive at the reign of Elizabeth and the famous Small Holdings Act passed in 1597—an anticipation of the three-acres-and-a-cow policy advocated towards the end of the 19th century. It required that no person shall "build, convert or ordain any cottage for habitation or dwelling for persons engaged in husbandry'' unless the owner "do assign and lay to the same cottage or building four acres of ground at the least.'' It also provided against any "inmate or under-sitter'' being admitted to what was sacred to one family. This measure was not conceived in the spirit of modern political economy, but it had the effect of staying the rural exodus. It was repealed in 1775 on the ground that it restricted the building of cottages. By that time the modern feeling in favour of allotments had begun to ripen, and it was contended that some compensation should be made to the labourers for depriving them of the advantages of the waste. Up to then the English labouring rustic had been very well off. Food was abundant and cheap, so were clothes and boots; he could graze his cow or pig on the common, and also obtain fuel from it. Now he fell on evil days. Prices rose, wages fell, privileges were lost, and in many cases he had to sell the patch of land whose possession made all the difference between hardship and comfort. All this was seen plainly enough both by statesmen and private philanthropists. One of the first experiments was described by Sir John Sinclair in a note to the report of a select committee of the House of Commons on waste lands in 1795. About 1772 the lord of the manor of some commonable lands near Tewkesbury had with great success set out 25 acres in allotments for the use of some of the poor. Sir John was very much struck with the result, and so heartily applauded the idea that the committee recommended that any general enclosure bill should have a clause in it providing for "the accommodation of land.'' Sir Thomas Bernard and W. Wilberforce took an active part in advocating the principle of allotments, on the ground, to summarize their argument in language employed later by a witness before the House of Commons, that "it keeps the cottagers buoyant and makes them industrious.'' In 1806, at the suggestion of the rector, a clause assigning an allotment of half an acre to every cottage was inserted in an enclosure bill Wiltshire. This was done, "and the example was followed by nearly every adjoining parish in that part of Wiltshire. Passing over several praiseworthy establishments of allotments by private persons, we come to 1819, when parliament passed an act akin in spirit to several that came into existence during the later portion of the Victorian era. It empowered the churchwardens and overseers of any parish, with the consent of the vestry, to purchase or hire land not exceeding 25 acres, and to let it in portions to "any poor and industrious inhabitant of the parish.'' This was amended in 1831 by an act extending the quantity of land enable the same authorities to enclose from any waste or common, land not exceeding 50 acres to be devoted to the same purpose. This was followed next year by an act relating to fuel, and in 1834 the Poor Law Commissioners reported favourably on the principle of granting allotments. In 1843 an important inquiry into the subject was made by a committee of the House of Commons, which produced a number of valuable suggestions. One consequence was the bill of 1845, brought into parliament by Mr Cowper. It passed the House of Commons; and there Mr Bright made a remark that probably summarized a general opinion, since it never came to a third reading in the House of Lords. He said that "the voluntary system of arrangement would do all the good that was expected to accrue from the allotment system.''

At this point in the history of the movement it may be as well to cause and ask what was the net result of so much legislation and benevolent action. Messrs Tremenheere and Tufnall, who prefixed an admirable epitome of what had been done to the report of the commission "appointed to inquire into the employment of women, young persons and children in agriculture'' (1867), expressed considerable disappointment. Between 1710 and 1867, 7,660,413 statute acres were added to the cultivated area of England and Wales, or about one-third of the area in cultivation at the latter date; and of this total, 484,893 acres were enclosed between 1845 and 1867. Of the latter, only 2119 acres were assigned as public allotments for gardens to the labouring poor. It was found to be the case, as it is now, that land was taken up more readily when offered privately and voluntarily than when it came through offcial sources. Meanwhile competent and thoughtful men saw well that the sullen discontent of the peasantry continued, in Lord Bacon's phrase, to threaten "the might and manhood of the kingdom.'' It had existed since the beginning of the Napoleonic wars, and had become more articulate with the spread of education. We shall see a consciousness of its presence rehected in the minds of statesmen and politicians as we briefly examine the later phase of the movement. This found expression in the clauses against enclosure introduced by Lord Beaconsheld in 1876, and gave force to the three-acres-and-a-cow agitation, of which the more prominent leaders were Joseph Arch and Jesse Collings. In 1882 the Allotments Extension Act was passed, the object of which was to let the parishioners have charity land in allotments, provided it or the revenue from it was not used for apprenticeshio, ecclesiastical or educational purposes. A committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1885 to inquire into the housing of the working classes, reported strongly in favour of allotments, and this was followed in 1887 by the Allotments Act—-the first measure in which the principle of compulsory acquisition was admitted in regard to other than charity lands. Its administration was first given to the sanitary authority, but passed to the district councils when these bodies were established in 1894. the local body is empowered to hire or purchase suitable land, and if they do not find any in the market they are to petition the county council, which after due inquiry may issue a provisional order compeihng owners to sell land, and the Local Government Board may introduce a bill into parliament to confirm the order. It was found that the sanitary authority did not carry out the scheme, and in 1890 another act was passed for the purpose of allowing applicants for allotments, when the sanitary authority failed to provide land, to appeal to the county council. Judging from the evidence laid before the commission on agricultural depression (1894), the act of 1887 was not a conspicuous success. Most of the witnesses reported in such terms as these—-"the Allotments Act has been quite inoperative in Cornwall''; "the act has been a dead letter in the district (Wigtownshire)''; "the Allotments Act has not been in operation in Flintshire''; "nothing has been done in the district of Pembrokeshire under the act.'' No evidence whatever was adduced to show that in a single district a different state of things had to be recorded. From a return presented by the Local Government Board to parliament in 1896 we learn that eighty-three rural sanitary authorities had acquired land for allotment prior to the 28th of December 1894, the date at which these authorities ceased to exist under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1894. Land was acquired by compulsory purchase in only one parish; by purchase or agreement in eighteen parishes; by hire by agreement in 132 parishes. The total acreage dealt with was 1836 acres 1 rood 34 poles, and the total number of tenants 4711. The number of county councils that up to the same date had acquired land was twelve, and they had done so by compulsory purchase in one parish, by purchase or agreement in five parishes, by hire by agreement in twenty-four parishes. The total area dealt with was only 413 acres 1 rood 5 poles, and the total number of tenants 825.The complete totals affected at the date of the return (August 21, 1895) by the acts, therefore, were 2249 acres 2 roods 29 poles, and 5536 tenants. A considerable extension has taken place since.

The Small Holdings Act introduced by Mr Henry Chaplin, and passed by parliament in 1892 was an attempt to appease the rural discontent that had been seething for some time past and was silently but most eloquently expressed in a steady migration from the villages. The object of this measure was to help the deserving labouring man to acquire a small holding, that is to say, a portion of land not less than one acre or more than fifty acres in extent and of an annual value not exceeding L. 50. It is not necessary here to describe the legal steps by which this was to be accomplished. The essence of the bargain was that a fifth of the purchase money should be paid down, and the remainder in half-yearly instalments spread over a period not exceeding fifty years. But if the local authority thought fit a portion of the purchase money, not exceeding one-fourth. might remain unpaid, and be secured by a perpetual rent charge upon the holding. It cannot be said that this act has attained the object for which it was drawn up. From a return made to the House of Commons in 1895 it was shown that eight county councils had acquired land under the Small Holdings Act, which amounted in the aggregate to 483 acres. A further return was made in 1903, which showed that the total quantity of land acquired from the commencement of the act up to the end of 1902 was only 652 acres.

It is, however, an English characteristic to prefer private to public arrangements, and probably a very great majority of the allotments and small holdings cultivated in 1907 were due to individual initiative. There are no means of arriving at the exact figures, but data exist whereby it is at least possible to form some rough idea of them. It is not the custom to give in the annual agricultural returns any statement of the manner in which land is held, and the information is to be found in the returns presented to parliament from time to time. From the following table, which includes both the holdings owned and tenanted, it will be seen that between 1895 and 1904 the tendency was for the holdings to decrease in number; while the holdings of from 50 to 300 acres slightly increased, those from 5 to 50 acres were almost stationary, and there was a decrease in those between 1 and 5 acres.

1895. 1904. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. 1 to 5 acres 117,968 22.68 110,974 21.69 5 to 50 '' 235,481 45.28 232,470 45.44 50 to 300 '' 147,870 28.43 150,050 29.33 Above 300 '' 18,787 3.61 18,084 3.54

These figures become doubly instructive when considered in connexion with the decline of the strictly rural population. It will, therefore, be useful to place beside them a summary published in a report on the decline of rural population in Great Britain issued by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1906.

Class. 1881. 1891. 1901. Increase (+) or Decrease (-) 1881-1891. 1891-1901. No. No. No. No. No. Farmers and Graziers 279,126 277,943 277,694 -1,183 -249 Farm Bailiffs and Foremen 22,895 21,453 27,317 -1,442 +5,864 Shepherds 33,125 31,686 35,022 -1,439 +3,336 Agricultural Labourers 983,919 866,543 689,292 -117,376 -177,251

These figures must of course be approximate. The effect of recent development in methods of travelling and the growing custom for townsmen either to live wholly in the country or to take week-end cottages, has made it impossible to draw a strict line of demarcation between rural and urban populations. Still they are near enough for practical purposes, and they amply justify the efforts of those who are trying to stay the rural exodus.

While legislation had not, up to 1908, achieved any noteworthy result in the creation of small holdings, and still left doubts as to the practicability of re-creating the English yeoman by act of parliament, many successful efforts have been made by individuals. One of the most interesting is that of the earl of Carrington at Sleaford in Lincolnshire. In this case the most noteworthy feature is that between the landlord and the tenants there is a body called the South Lincolnshire Small Holdings Association, which took 650 acres from Lord Carrington on a twenty years' lease. These acres used to be let to four or five tenants. They were in 1905 divided among one hundred and seventy tenants. The Small Holders' Association guaranteed the rent, which works out at about 33s. per acre, to Lord Carrington. They let the men on yearly tenancy have it at about 40s. an acre, the difference being used to meet the expenses of dividing the lands into small holdings, maintaining drains, fences and roads connected with them, and other unavoidable outlays. In this way the landlord is assured of his rent, and the association has lost nothing, as the men were very punctual in their payments. But very great care was bestowed in choosing the men for the holdings. They were in a sense picked men, but men must be picked to work the business satisfactorily. Lincolnshire is pre-eminently a county of small holdings, and the labouring residents in it have been accustomed to the management of them from their infancy onwards. Here as elsewhere the provision of suitable houses formed a difficulty, some of the tenants having to walk several miles to their holdings. Lord Carrington availed himself as much as possible of the buildings that existed, dividing the old farm houses so as to make them suitable for the small tenants. At Cowbit farm, many of the ordinary labourers' cottages, which were put up at a cost of about L. 300 a pair, have by the addition of little dairies and other alterations been made suitable for the tenants. From facts collected on the spot we have come to the conclusion that on the small holdings a good tenant makes an average profit of about L. 4 an acre, but on an allotment cultivated by means of the spade it would probably be at the rate of over L. 6 an acre. Lord Carrington was also successful in establishing small holdings on the Humberston estate in North Lincolnshire and on his Buckinghamshire estate, near Aylesbury. At Newport Pagnell the attempt failed because the demand was artificial, the ground arable, and the men not capable of dealing with it.

Other examples of the establishment of small holdings can only receive brief reference. The Norfolk Small Holdings Association acquired three farms at Whissonsett, Watton and Swaffham, which are broken up into small lots and let mostly to the village tradespeople. Sir Pearce Edgecumbe established small holdings at Rew, some of which have been purchased by the occupiers, and Mr A. B. Markham created similar ownerships at Twyford (Leicestershire) . At Cudworth in Surrey a group was formed, but the owners were actuated more by the desire to lead a simple life than to prove the remunerative value of small holdings. Mr W. J. Harris created small holdings in Devon, each of which is let on a life tenancy. There the rural exodus has been more than arrested. Mr James Tomkinson established in Cheshire a number of graduated holdings, so contrived as to offer the successful holders a chance of stepping upwards.

The earl of Harrowby made an interesting experiment on his Sandon estate in Staffordshire in the midst of a pretty, broken and undulating country. The estate consists of about 6000 acres, one-third of which is laid out in small holdings. These fall naturally into three divisions. First, there are those which belong to men who have regular employment, and would therefore find it impossible to cultivate any great quantity of land. Many of that class are anxious to have a holding of some sort, as it lends a certain elasticity to their incomes and provides them with a never-failing interest. One who may be taken as typical hired six acres with a good cottage and a large garden, paying a rent of L. 20 a year. When this holding was created it had already a suitable cottage, but L. 100 was needed to provide outbuildings, and Lord Harrowby's custom is to charge 5% on outlay of this kind. This L. 5, however, is included in the total rent of L. 20 paid for cottage, land and garden. The man was not only content, but wished to get some more land. The next class consists of those who have not enough land to live on but eke out their livelihood by casual labour. Usually a man of this sort requires from 35 to 50 acres of land mostly pasture. He can attend to it and yet give a certain number of days to estate work. The third class is that of the small farmer who gains his entire livelihood from the land. The obstacle to breaking up large farms into small lies of course in the expense of providing the necessary equipment. It has been found here that a cottage suitable for a small farmer costs about L. 400 to build in a substantial manner, and the outbuildings about L. 200. This makes an addition therefore of about L. 30 to the rent of the land. The ardour with which these tenancies were sought when vacant formed the best testimony to the soundness of the principle applied by Lord Harrowby.

A nest of small holdings was created at Winterslow, near Salisbury, by Major R. M. Poore. The holders completed the purchase by 1906, and the work may be pronounced a complete success. Major Poore originally conceived the idea when land was cheap in 1892, owing to the depression in agriculture. He purchased an estate that came into the market at the time. The price came to an average of L. 10 an acre, and the men themselves made the average for selling it out again L. 15 on a principle of instalments. His object was not to make any profit from the transaction, and he formed what is termed a Landholders' Court, formed of the men themselves, every ten choosing one to represent them. This court was found to act well. It collected the instalments, which are paid in advance; and of course the members of it, down to the minutest detail, knew not only the circumstances but the character of every applicant for land. The result speaks for itself. The owners are, in the true sense of the word, peasants. They do not depend on the land for a living, but work in various callings—-many being woodmen—-for wages that average about 15s. a week. The holdings vary in size from less than an acre to ten acres, and are technically held on a lease of 1999 years, practically freehold, though by the adoption of a leasehold form a saving was effected in the cost of transfer. On the holdings most of the men have erected houses, using for the purpose chalk dug up from their gardens, it lying only a few inches below the surface. It is not rock, but soft chalk, so that they are practically mud walls; but being as a rule at least 18 inches thick, the houses are very cool in summer and warm in winter. Major Poore calculated that in seven years these poor people—there are not thirty of them altogether—managed to produce for their houses and land a gross sum of not less than L. 5000. This he attributed to the loyal manner in which even distant members of the family have helped.

The class of holding which owes its existence to the act of 1802 may be illustrated by the history of the Worcestershire small holdings. The inception of the scheme was due to the decline of the nail-making business, which caused a number of the inhabitants to be without occupation. Two candidates for election to the county council looking out for a popular cry found it in the demand for land. They promised to do their best in this direction, and thanks to the energetic action of Mr Willis Bund, the chairman, the act was put in force. Woodrow Farm, adjoining the village of Catshill in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, was purchased on terms that enabled the land to be sold to the peasant cultivator at L. 40 an acre. They were paying this back at the rate of 4% on the purchase money, a rate that included both interest and sinking fund, so that at the end of forty years they would own the small estates free from encumbrance. The huge population of Birmingham is close to the properties. The men turned their attention mostly to strawberries, to which many acres were devoted. Costermongers would come out from Birmingham and buy fruit on the spot, selling part of it to the villas on the way back, and part in the Birmingham market. The experience gained in working the act enabled the committee on small holdings to make a number of practical suggestions for future legislation.

It remains to note the passing in 1907 of a new English Small Holdings and Allotments Act, experience of which is too recent for its provisions to be more than indicated here. The act transferred to the Board of Agriculture the duties generally of the Local Government Board, and transferred to parish councils or parish meetings the powers and duties of rural district councils; it required county councils to ascertain the demand for land without previous representation to them, and gave power for its compulsary acquisition; and the maximum holding of an allotment was raised from one acre to five. Both compulsary purchase and compulsary hiring (for not less than 14 nor more than 35 years) were authorized, value and compensation begin decided by a single arbitrator. A coercive authority was applied to the county councils in the form of commissioners appointed by the Board of Agriculture, who were to hold inquiries independently and to take action themselves in the case of a defaulting county council. They were to ascertain the local demand for small holdings, and to report to the Board, who might then require a county council to prepare a scheme, whihc, when approved, it was to carry out, the commissioners begin empowered to do so in the alternative.

Foreign Countries.—It remains to give a brief outline of what small holdings are like outside Great Britain. From the results of the Belgian Agricultural Inquiry in 1895 the following table has been compiled, assuming that one hectare = 2 1/2 acres:—

Occupied by Owner. Occupied by Tenant. Total. Size of Holding Whole. More than Half. More than half. Whole. No. No. No. No. No. 1 1/4 acres and under 109,169 8,759 34,779 305,413 458,120 1 1/4 acres and under 5 acres 27,395 19,544 58,829 70,465 176,233 5 acres and under 10 acres 12,089 13,873 30,340 25,006 81,308 10 acres and under 50 acres 16,690 18,909 33,443 28,387 97,429 50 or 100 acres 2,021 1,497 3,315 4,517 11,350 Over 100 acres 903 470 1,417 2,395 5,185 Total 168,267 63,052 162,123 436,183 829,625

It will bbe seen from this table that Belgium is pre-eminently a country of small holdings, more than half of the total number being under 50 acres in extent. Of course it is largely a country of market gardens; but as the holdings are most numerous in Brabant, East and West Flanders and Hainault, the provinces showing the largest number of milch cows, it would seem that dairying and la petite culture go together

There is a slight tendency for the holdings to decrease in number. In Germany the number of small holdings is proportionately much larger than in Great Britain. The returns collected in 1895 showed that there were 3,235,169, or 58.22% of the total number of holdings under 5 acres in area; and of these no fewer than 11% are held by servants as part of their wages. The table below compiled for the Journal at the Board of Agriculture enables us to compare the other holdings with those of Great Britain. Great Britain, it will be seen, has over 40% of large farms of between 50 and 500 acres as compared with Germany's 12.6, while the latter has 86.8 of small holdings, compared with England's 58.6.

France also has a far larger proportion of small holdings than Great Britain; its cultivated area of 85,759,000 acres being divided into 5,618,000 separate holdings, of which the size averages a little over 15 acres as against 63 in Great Britain. Of the whole number, 4,190,795 are farmed by the owners, 934,338 are in meteyage, and 1,078,184 by tenants. The leading feature is the peasant proprietary. Half of the arable, more than half of the pasture, six-sevenths of the vineyards and two-thirds of the garden lands are farmed by their owners. Comparison with Great Britain is difficult; but it would appear that, whereas only 11% of British 520,000 agricultural holdings are farmed by the owners, the proportion in France is 75%. A further point to be noted is that the average agricultural tenancy in France is just one-fourth of what it is in Great Britain, and the average owner-farmed estate only one-sixth.

Germany. Great Britain. Size of Holdings Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. 5 to 50 acres 2,014,940 86.8 235,481 58.6 50 to 500 '' 292,982 12.6 161,438 40.1 Over 500 '' 13,809 0.6 5,219 1.3 Total 2,321,731 100 402,138 100

In France the tendency is for the very small holdings to increase in number owing to subdivision, with the consequent decrease of the size of the average holding. Between the years 1882 and 1892 there was a decrease of 138,237 in the total number of proprietors, the larger properties moving towards consolidation and those of the peasant proprietors towards subdivision.

Those interested in the formation of small holdings in Great Britain will find much to interest them in the history of Danish legislations. British policy for many generations was to preserve demesne land, and there are many devices for insuring that a spendthrift life-owner shall not be able to scatter the family inheritance; but as long ago as 1769 the Danish legislators set an exactly opposite example. They enacted that peasant land should not be incorporated or worked with estate land; it must always remain in the ownership and occupation of peasants. In this spirit all subsequent legislation was conceived, and the allotment law that came into force in October 1899 bears some resemblance to the English Small Holdings Act of 1892. It provides that labourers able to satisfy certain conditions as to character may obtain from the state a loan equal to nine-tenths of the purchase money of the land they wish to acquire. This land should be frm 5 to 7 acres in extent and of medium quality, but the limits are from 2 3/4 to 10 3/4 acres in the case of better or poorer land. The total value should not exceed 4000 kr. (L. 222). The interest payable on the loan received from the state is 3%. The load itself is repayable after the first five years by annual instalments of 4% until half is paid off; the remainder by instalments of 3 1/2%, including interest. Provision is, however, made for cases where the borrower desired to pay off the loan in larger sums. Regulations are laid down regarding the transfer of such properties and also their testamentary disposition. The Treasury was empowered to devote a sum of 2,000,000 kr.

Number and Size of Holdings in Denmark in 1901.

Groups Percentage Percentage Average size Tondeland. Acres. Number. of Number. Acreage of Area. in Acres. Under 1 Under 1.36 68,380 27.3 23,455 .3 .34 1-3 1.36-4 18,777 7.5 58,553 .7 3.12 3-27 4-36.7 93,060 37.2 1,408,549 15.8 15.14 27-108 36.7-147 60,872 24.4 4,459,077 50.1 73.25 108-216 147-294 6,502 2.6 1,272,398 14.3 195.69 Over 216 Over 294 2,392 1.0 1,674,730 18.8 700.14 Total 249,983 100.0 8,896,762 100.0 35.59

(L. 111,000) this purpose for five years; after that the land is . subject to revision.

Even before this law was passed Denmark was a country of small holdings, the peasant farms amounting to 66% of the whole, and the number is bound to increase, since the incorporation of farms is illegal, while there is no obstacle to their division. Between 1835 and 1885, the number of small holdings of less than one tondekarthorn increased from 24,800 to 92,856. What gives point to these remarks is, that Denmark seems in the way to arrest its rural exodus, and was one of the first countries to escape from the agricultural depression due to the extraordinary fall in grain prices. The distribution of land in Denmark may be gathered from a glance at the preceding table for the compilation of which we are indebted to Major Craigie.

AUTHORITIES.—-Walter of Henley's Husbandry; The English Village Community, by Frederick Seebohm; Annals of Agriculture by Arthur Young; The Agricultural Labourer, by T. E. Kebbel; Report on the Employment of Messrs Tremenheere and Tufnall); A Study of Small Holdings, by W. E. Bear; The Law and the Labourer, by C. W. Stubbs; "Agricultural Holdings in England and Abroad,'' by Major Craigie (Statistical Society's Journal, vol. i.); The Return to the Land, by Senator Jules Meline; Land Reform, by the Right Hon. Jesse Collings, M.P.; Report on the Decline in the Agricultural Population of Great Britain, issued by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries; Report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to enquire into and report upon the subject of Small Holdings in Great Britain. (P. A. G.)

ALLOTROPY (Gr. allos, other, and tropos, manner), a name applied by J. J. Berzelius to the property possessed by certain substances of existing in different modifications. Custom has to some extent restricted its use to inorganic chemistry; the corresponding property of organic compounds being generally termed isomerism (q.v..) Conspicuous examples are afforded by oxygen, carbon, boron, silicon, phosphorus, mercuric oxide and iodide.

ALLOWANCE (from "allow,'' derived through O. Fr. alouer from the two Lat. origins adlaudare, to praise, and allocare, to assign a place; so that the English word combined the general idea of "assigning with approval''), the action of allowing, or the thing allowed; particularly, a certain limited apportionment of money or food and diet (see DIETARY.)

In commercial usage "allowance'' signifies the deduction made from the gross weight of goods to make up for the weight of the box or package, waste, breakages, &c. Allowance, which is customary in most industries, varies according to the trade, district or country; e.g. in the coal trade it is customary for the merchant to receive from the pit 21 cwts. of coal for every ton purchased by him, the difference of 1 cwt. being the allowance for the purpose of making good the waste caused through transhipment, screening and cartage (see TARE AND TRET.)

ALLOXAN, or MESOXALYL UREA, C4H2N2O4

/NH-CO CO CO NH-CO/

an oxidation product of uric acid, being obtained from it by the action of cold nitric acid, C5H4N4O3 + H2O + O = C4H2N3O4 + CO(NH2)2. It crystallizes from water in colourless rhombic prisms, containing four molecules of water of crystallization, and possesses a very acid reaction. It serves as the starting-point for the preparation of many related substances. Zinc and hydrochloric acid in the cold convert it into alloxantin (q.v.), hydroxylamine gives nitroso-barbituric acid, C4H2N2O3: NOH, baryta water gives alloxanic acid, C4H4N2O5, hot dilute nitric acid oxidizes it to parabanic acid (q.v.), hot potassium hydroxide solution hydrolyses it to urea and mesoxalic acid (q.v.) and zinc and hot hydrochloric acid convert it into dialuric acid, C4H4N2O4. M. Nencki has shown that alloxan combines with thiourea in alcoholic solution, in the presence of sulphur dioxide to form pseudothiouric acid, C5H6N4SO3. Methyl and dimethylalloxans are also known, the former being obtained on oxidation of methyl uric acid, and the latter on oxidation of caffeine (q.v..)

ALLOXANTIN, C8H4N4O7.3H2O, a product obtained by the combination of alloxan and dialuric acid, probably possessing the constitution

NH CO CO NH CO C(OH) O CH CO NH CO CO NH

one of the three molecules Of water bema possibly constitutional. It forms small hard prisms which become red on exposure to air containing ammonia, owing to the formation of murexide (ammonium purpurate), C8H4(NH4)N5O6. It may also be obtained by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen on alloxan. The tetramethyl derivative, amalic acid, C8(CH3)4N4O7, has been prepared by oxidizing caffeine (q.v.) with chlorine water, and forms colourless crystals which are only slightly soluble in hot water. The formation of murexide is used as a test for the presence of uric acid, which on evaporation with dilute nitric acid gives alloxantin, and by the addition of ammonia to the residue the purple red colour of murexide becomes apparent.

ALLOYS (through the Fr. aloyer, from Lat. alligare, to combine), a term generally applied to the intimate mixtures obtained by melting together two or more metals, and allowing the mass to solidify. It may conveniently be extended to similar mixtures of sulphur and selenium or tellurium, of bismuth and sulphur, of copper and cuprous oxide, and of iron and carbon, in fact to all cases in which substances can be made to mix in varying proportions without very marked indication of chemical action. The term "alloy'' does not necessarily imply obedience to the laws of definite and multiple proportion or even uniformity throughout the material; but some alloys are homogeneous and some are chemical compounds. In what follows we shall confine our attention principally to metallic alloys.

If we melt copper and add to it about 30% of zinc, or 20% of tin, we obtain uniform liquids which when solidified are the well-known substances brass and bell-metal. These substances are for all practical purposes new metals. The difference in the appearance of brass and copper is familiar to everyone; brass is also much harder than copper and much more suitable for being turned in a lathe. Similarly, bell-metal is harder, more sonorous and more brittle than either of its components. It is almost impossible by mechanical means to detect the separate ingredients in such an alloy; we may cut or file or polish it without discovering any lack of homogeneousness. But it is not permissible to call brass a chemical compound, for we can largely alter its percentage composition without the substance losing the properties characteristic of brass; the properties change more or less continuously, the colour, for example, becoming redder with decrease in the percentage of zinc, and a paler yellow when there is more zinc. The possibility of continuously varying the percentage composition suggests analogy between an alloy and a solution, and A. Matthiessen (Phil. Trans., 1860) applied the term "solidified solutions'' to alloys. Regarded as descriptive of the genesis of an alloy from a uniform liquid containing two or more metals, the term is not incorrect, and it may have acted as a signpost towards profitable methods of research. But modern work has shown that, although alloys sometimes contain solid solutions, the solid alloy as a whole is often far more like a conglomerate rock than a uniform solution. In fact the uniformity of brass and bell-metal is only superficial; if we adopt the methods described in the article METALLOGRAPHY, and if, after polishing a plane face on a bit of gun-metal, we etch away the surface layer and examine the new surface with a lens or a microscope, we find a complex pattern of at least two materials. Fig. 1 (Plate) is from a photograph of a bronze containing 23.3% by weight of tin. The acid used to etch the surface has darkened the parts richest in copper, while those richest in tin remained white. The two ingredients revealed by this process are not pure copper and pure tin, but each material contains both metals. In this case the white tin-rich portions are themselves a complex that can be resolved into two substances by a higher magnification. The majority of alloys, when examined thus, prove to be complexes of two or more materials, and the patterns showing the distribution of these materials throughout the alloy are of a most varied character. It is certain that the structure existing in the alloy is closely connected with the mechanical properties, such as hardness, toughness, rigidity, and so on, that make particular alloys valuable in the arts, and many efforts have been made to trace this connexion. These efforts have, in some cases, been very successful; for example, in the case of steel, which is an alloy of iron and carbon, a microscopical examination gives valuable information concerning the suitability' of a sample of steel for special purposes.

Mixture by fusion is the general method of producing an alloy, but it is not the only method possible. It would seem, indeed, that any process by which the particles of two metals are intimately mingled and brought into close contact, so that diffusion of one metal into the other can take place, is likely to result in the formation, of an alloy. For example, if vapours of the volatile metals cadmium, zinc and magnesium are allowed to act on platinum or palladium, alloys are produced. The methods of manufacture of steel by cementation, case-hardening and the Harvey process are important operations which appear to depend on the diffusion of the carburetting material into the solid metal. When a solution of silver nitrate is poured on to metallic mercury, the mercury replaces the silver in the solution, forming nitrate of mercury, and the silver is precipitated; it does not, however, appear as pure metallic silver, but in the form of crystalline needles of an alloy of silver and mercury. F. B. Mylius and O. Fromm have shown that alloys may be precipitated from dilute solutions by zinc cadmium, tin, lead and copper. Thus a strip of zinc plunged into a solution of silver sulphate, containing not more than 0.03 gramme of silver in the litre, becomes covered with a flocculent precipitate which is a true alloy of silver and zinc, and in the same way, when copper is precipitated from its sulphate by zinc, the alloy formed is brass. They have also formed in this way certain alloys or definite composition, such as AuCd3, Cu2Cd, and. more interesting still, Cu2Sn. A very similar fact, that brass may be formed by electrodeposition from a solution containing zinc and copper, has long been known. W. V. Spring has shown that by compressing a finely divided mixture of 15 parts of bismuth, 8 parts of lead, 4 parts of tin and 3 parts of cadmium, an alloy is produced which melts at 100 deg. C., that is. much below the melting-point of any of the four metals. But these methods or forming alloys, although they suggest questions of great interest, cannot receive further discussion bore.

Our knowledge of the nature of solid alloys has been much enlarged by a careful study of the process of solidification. Let us suppose that a molten mixture of two substances A and B, which at a sufficiently high temperature form a uniform liquid, and which do not combine to form definite compounds, is slowly cooled until it becomes wholly solid. The phenomena which succeed each other are then very similar, whether A and B are two metals, such as lead and tin or silver and copper, or are a pair of fused salts, or are water and common salt. All these mixtures when solidified may fairly be termed alloys.1 If a mixture of A and B be melted and then allowed to cool, a thermometer immersed in the mixture will indicate a gradually falling temperature. But when solidification commences. the thermometer will cease to fall, it may even rise slightly, and the temperature will remain almost constant for a short time. This halt in the cooling, due to the heat evolved in the solidification of the first crystals that form in the liquid is called the freezing-point of the mixture; the freezing-point can generally be observed with considerable accuracy. In the case of a pure substance, and of a certain small class of mixtures, there is no further fall in temperature until the substance has become completely solid, but, in the case of most mixtures, after the freezing-point has been reached the temperature soon begins to fall again, and as the amount of solid increases the temperature becomes lower and lower. There may be other halts in the cooling, both before and after complete solidification, due to evolution of heat in the mixture. These halts in temperature that occur during the cooling of a mixture should be carefully noted, as they give valuable information concerning the physical and chemical changes that are taking place. If we determine the freezing-points of a number of mixtures varying in composition from pure A to pure B, we can plot the freezing-point curve. In such a curve the percentage composition can be plotted horizontally and the temperature of the freezing-point vertically, as in fig. 5. In such a diagram, a point P defines a particular mixture, both as to percentage, composition and temperature; a vertical line through P corresponds to the mixture at all possible temperatures, the point Q being its freezing-point. In the case of two substances which neither form compounds nor dissolve each other in the solid state, the complete freezing-point curve takes the form shown in fig. 5. It consists of two branches AC and BC, which meet in a lowest point C. It will be seen that as we increase the percentage of B from nothing up to that of the mixture C, the freezing-point becomes lower and lower, but that if we further increase the percentage of B in the mixture, the freezing-point rises. This agrees with the well-known fact that the presence of an impurity in a substance depresses its melting-point. The mixture C has a lower freezing or melting point than that of any other mixture; it is called the eutectic mixture. All the mixtures whose composition lies between that of A and C deposit crystals of pure A when they begin to solidify, while mixtures between C and B in composition deposit crystals of pure B. Let us consider a little more closely the solidification of the mixture represented by the vertical line PCRS. As it cools from P to Q the mixture remains wholly liquid, but when the temperature Q is reached there is a halt in the cooling, due to the formation of crystals of A. The cooling soon recommences and these crystals continue to form, but at lower and lower temperatures because the still liquid part is becoming richer in B. This process goes on until the state of the remaining liquid is represented by the point C. Now crystals of B begin to form, simultaneously with the A crystals, and the composition of the remaining liquid does not alter as the solidification progresses. Consequently the temoerature does not change and there is another well-marked halt in the cooling, and this halt lasts until the mixture has become wholly solid. The corresponding changes in the case of the mixture TUVW are easily understood —the first halt at U, due to the crystallization of pure B, will probably occur at a different temperature, but the second halt, due to the simultaneous crystallization of A and B, will always occur at the same temperature whatever the composition of the mixture. It is evident that every mixture except the eutectic mixture C will have two halts in its cooling, and that its solidification will take place in two stages. Moreover, the three solids S, D and W will differ in minute structure and therefore, probably, in mechanical properties. All mixtures whose temperature lies above the line ACB are wholly liquid, hence this line is often called the "liquidus''; all mixtures at temperatures below that of the horizontal line through C are wholly solid, hence this line is sometimes called the "solidus,'' but in more complex cases the solidus is often curved. At temperatures between the solidus and the liquidus a mixture is partly solid and partly liquid. This general case has been discussed at length because a careful study of it will much facilitate the comprehension or the similar but more complicated cases that occur in the examination of alloys. A great many mixtures of metals have been examined in the above-mentioned way.

Fig. 6 gives the freezing-point diagram for alloys of lead and tin. We see in it exactly the features described above. The two sloping lines cutting at the eutectic point are the freezing-point curves of alloys that, when they begin to solidify, deposit crystals of lead and tin respectively. The horizontal line through the eutectic point gives the second halt in cooling, due to the simultaneous formation of lead crystals and tin crystals. In the case of this pair of metals, or indeed of any metallic alloy, we cannot see the crystals forming, nor can we easily filter them off and examine them apart from the liquid, although this has been done in a few cases. But if we polish the solid alloys, etch them if necessary, and examine them microscopically, we shall find that alloys on the load side of the diagram consist of comparatively large crystals of lead embedded in a minute complex, which is due to the simultaneous crystallization of the two metals during the solidification at the eutectic temperature. If we examine alloys on the tin side we shall find large crystals of tin embedded in the same complex. The eutectic alloy itself, fig. 2 (Plate), shows the minute complex of the tin-lead eutectic, photographed by J. A. Ewing and W. Rosenhain, and fig. 3 (Plate), photographed by F. Osmond, shows the structure of a silver-copper alloy containing considerably more silver than the eutectic. Here, the large dark masses are the silver or silver-rich substance that crystallized above the eutectic temperature, and the more minute black and white complex represents the eutectic. It is not safe to assume that the two ingredients we see are pure silver and pure copper; on the contrary, there is reason to think that the crystals of silver contain some copper uniformly diffused through them, and vice versa. It is, however, not possible to detect the copper in the silver by means of the microscope. This uniform distribution of a solid substance throughout the mass of another, so as to form a homogeneous material, is called "solid solution,'' and we may say that solid silver can dissolve copper. Solid solutions are probably very common in alloys, so that when an alloy of two metals shows two constituents under the microscope it is never safe to infer, without further evidence, that these are the two pure metals. Sometimes the whole alloy is a uniform solid solution. This is the case with the copper-tin alloys containing less than 9% by weight of tin; a microscopic examination reveals only one material, a copper-like substance, the tin having disappeared, being in solution in the copper.

Much information as to the nature of an alloy can be obtained by placing several small ingots of the same alloy in a furnace which is above the melting-point of the alloy, and allowing the temperature to fall slowly and uniformly. We then extract one ingot after another at successively lower temperatures and chill each ingot by dropping it into water or by some other method of very rapid cooling. The chilling stereotypes the structure existing in the ingot at the moment it was withdrawn from the furnace, and we can afterwards study this structure by means of the microscope. We thus learn that the bronzes referred to above, although chemically uniform when solid, are not so when they begin to solidify, but that the liquid deposits crystals richer in copper than itself, and therefore that the residual liquid becomes richer in tin. Consequently, as the final solid is uniform, the crystals formed at first must change in composition at a later stage. We learn also that solid solutions which exist at high temperatures often break up into two materials as they cool; for example, the bronze of fig. 1, which in that figure shows two materials so plainly, if chilled at a somewhat higher temperature but when it was already solid, is found to consist of only one material; it is then a uniform solid solution. The difference between softness and hardness in ordinary steel is due to the permanence of a solid solution of carbon in iron if the steel has been chilled or very rapidly cooled, while if the steel is slowly cooled this solid solution breaks up into a minute complex of two substances which is called pearlite. The pearlite when highly magnified somewhat resembles the lead-tin eutectic of fig. 2 (Plate). In the case of steel (see IRON AND STEEL) the solid solution is very hard, while the pearlite complex is much softer. In the case of some bronzes, for example that with about 25% of tin, the solid solution is soft, and the complex into which it breaks up by slow cooling is much harder, so that the same process of heating and chilling which hardens steel will soften this bronze.

If we melt an alloy and chill it before it has wholly solidified, we often get evidence of the crystalline character of the solid matter which first forms. Fig. 4 (Plate) is the pattern found in a bronze containing 27.7% of tin when so treated. The dark, regularly oriented crystal skeletons were already solid at the moment of chilling; they are rich in copper. The lighter part surrounding them was liquid before the chill; it is rich in tin. This alloy, if allowed to solidify completely before chilling, turns into a uniform solid solution, and at still lower temperatures the solid solution breaks up into a pearlite complex. The analogy between the breaking up of a solid solution on cooling and the formation of a eutectic is obvious. Iron and phosphorus unite to form a solid solution which breaks up on cooling into a pearlite. Other cases could be quoted, but enough has been said to show the importance of solid solutions and their influence on the mechanical properties of alloys. These uniform solid solutions must not be mistaken for chemical compounds; they can, within limits, vary in composition like an ordinary liquid solution. But the occasional or indeed frequent existence of chemical compounds in alloys has now been placed beyond doubt.

We can sometimes obtain definite compounds in a pure state by the action of appropriate solvents which dissolve the rest of the alloy and do not attack the crystals of the compound. Thus, a number of copper-tin alloys when digested with hydrochloric acid leave the same crystalline residue, which on analysis proves to be the compound Cu3Sn. The bodies SbNa3, BiNa3, SnNa4, compounds of iron and molybdenum and many other substances, have also been isolated in this way. The freezing-point curve sometimes indicates the existence of chemical compounds. The simple type of curve, such as that of lead and tin, fig. 6, consisting of two downward sloping branches meeting in the eutectic point, and that of thallium and tin, the upper curve of fig. 7, certainly give no indication of chemical combination. But the curves are not always so simple as the above. The lower curve of fig. 7 gives the freezing-point curve of mercury and thallium; here A and E are the melting-points of pure mercury and pure thallium, and the branches AB and ED do not cut each other, but cut an intermediate rounded branch BCD. There are thus two eutectic alloys B and D, and the alloys with compositions between B and D have higher melting-points. The summit C of the branch BCD occurs at a percentage exactly corresponding to the formula Hg2Tl. It is probable that all the alloys of compositions between B and D, when they begin to solidify, deposit crystals of the compound; the lower eutectic B probably corresponds to a solid complex of mercury and the compound. The point B is at -60 deg. C., the lowest temperature at which any metallic substance is known to exist in the liquid state. The higher eutectic D may correspond to a complex of solid thallium and the compound; but the possible existence of solid solutions makes further investigation necessary here. The curves of fig. 7 were determined by N. S. Kurnakow and N. A. Puschin. Sometimes a freezing-point curve contains more than one intermediate summit, so that more than one compound is indicated. For example, in the curve for gold-aluminium, ignoring minor singularities, we find two intermediate summits, one at the percentage Au2Al, and another at the percentage AuAl2. Microscopic examination fully confirms the existence of these compounds. The substance AuAl2 is the most remarkable compound of two metals that has so far been discovered; although it contains so much aluminium its melting-point is as high as that of gold. It also possesses a splendid purple colour, more remarkable than that of any other metal or alloy. Many other inter-metallic compounds have been indicated by summits in freezing-point curves. For example, the system sodium-mercury has a remarkable summit at the composition NaHg2. This compound melts at 350 deg. C., a temperature far above the melting-point of either sodium or mercury. In the system potassium-mercury, the compound KHg2 is similarly indicated. In the curve for sodium-cadmium, the compound NaCd2 is plainly shown. These three examples are taken from the work of N. S. Kurnakow. Various compounds of the alkali metals with bismuth, antimony, tin and lead have been prepared in a pure state. Such are the compounds SbNa3, BiNa3, PbNa2, SuNa4. Of these, the first three are well indicated on the freezing-point curves. The intermediate summits occurring in the freezing-point curves of alloys are usually rounded; this feature is believed to be due to the partial decomposition of the compound which takes place when it melts. The formulae of the group of substances last mentioned are in harmony with the ordinary views of chemists as to valency, but the formulae NaHg2, NaCd2, NaTl2, AuAl2 are more surprising. They indicate The great gaps in our present knowledge of the subject of valency. We must not take it for granted, when the freezing-point curve gives no indication of the compound, that the compound does not exist in the solid alloy. For example, the compound Cu3Sn is not indicated in the freezing-point curve, and indeed a liquid alloy of this percentage does not begin to solidify by the formation of crystals of Cu3Sn; the liquid solidifies completely to a uniform solid solution, and only at a lower temperature does this change into crystals of the compound, the transformation being accomoanied by a considerable evolution of heat. Until recently the vast subject of inter-metallic compounds has been an unopened book to chemists. But the subject is now being vigorously studied, and, apart from its importance as a branch of descriptive chemistry, it is throwing light, and promises to throw more, on obscure parts of chemical theory.

The graphical representation of the properties of alloys can be extended so as to record all the changes, thermal and chemical, which the alloy undergoes after, as well as before, solidification, For an example of such a diagram, see the Bakerian Lecture, 1903, Phil. Trans., A. 346. The Phase Rule of Willard Gibbs, especially as developed by Bakhuis Roozeboom, is a most useful guide in such investigations.

So far we have been considering alloys containing two metals; the phenomena they present are by no means simple. But when three or more metals are present, as is often the case in useful alloys, the phenomena are much more complicated. With three component metals the complete diagram giving the variations in any property must be in three dimensions, although by the use of contour lines the essential facts can be represented in a plane diagram. The following method, depending on the constancy of the sum of the three perpendiculars from any point on to the sides of an equilateral triangle, can be adopted:—Let ABC (fig. 8) be an equilateral triangle, the angular points corresponding to the three pure metals A, B, C. Then the composition of any alloy can be represented by a point P, so chosen that the perpendicular Pa on to the side BC gives the percentage of A in the alloy, and the perpendiculars Pb and Pc give the percentages of B and C respectively. Points on the side AB will correspond to binary alloys containing only A and B, and so on. If now we wish to represent the variations in some property, such as fusibility, we determine the freezing-points of a number of alloys distributed fairly uniformly over the area of the triangle, and, at each point corresponding to an alloy, we erect an ordinate at right angles to the plane of the paper and proportional in length to the freezing temperature of that alloy. We can then draw a continuous surface through the summits of all these ordinates, and so obtain a freezing-point surface, or liquidus; points above this surface will correspond to wholly liquid alloys. The ternary alloys containing bismuth, tin and lead have been studied in this way by F. Charpy and by E. S. Shepherd. We have here a comparatively simple case, as the metals do not form compounds. The solid alloy consists of crystals of pure tin in juxtaposition with crystals of almost pure lead and bismuth. these two metals dissolving each other in solid solution to the extent of a few per cent only. If now we cut the freezing-point surface by planes parallel to the base ABC we get curves giving us all the alloys whose freezing-point is the same; theee isothermals can be projected on to the plane of the triangle and are seen as dotted lines in fig. 9. The freezing surface, in this case, consists of three sheets each starting from an angular point of the surface, that is, from the freezing-point of a pure metal. The sheets meet in pairs along three lines which themselves meet in a point. In fig. 9, due to F. Charpy, these lines are projected on to the plane of the triangle as Ee, E'e and E''e. The area of the triangle is thus divided into three regions. The region PbEeE' contains all the alloys that commence their solidification by the crystallization of lead; similarly, the other two regions correspond to the initial crystallization of bismuth and tin respectively; these areas are the projections of the three sheets of the freezing-point surface. The points E, E', E'' are the eutectics of binary alloys. Alloys represented by points on Ee, when they begin to solidify, deposit crystals of lead and bismuth simultaneously; Ee is a eutectic line, as also are E'e and E''e. The alloy of the point e is the ternary eutectic; it deposits the three metals simultaneously during the whole period of its solidfication and solidifies at a constant temperature. As the lines of the surface which correspond to Ee, &c., slope downwards to their common intersection it follows that the alloy e has the lowest freezing-point of any mixture of the three metals; this freezing-point is 96 deg. C., and the alloy e contains about 32% of lead, 15.5% of tin and 52.5% of bismuth.

It is evident that any other property can be represented by similar diagrams. For example, we can construct the curve of conductivity of alloys of two metals or the surface of conductivity of ternary alloys, and so on for any measurable property.

The electrical conductivity of a metal is often very much decreased by alloying with it even small quantities of another metal. This is so when gold and silver are alloyed with each other, and is true in the case of alloys of copper. When a pure metal is cooled to a very low temperature its electrical conductivity is greatly increased, but this is not the case with an alloy. Lord Rayleigh has pointed out that the difference may arise from the heterogeneity of alloys. When a current is passed through a solid alloy, a series of Peltier effects, proportional to the current, are set up between the particles of the different metals, and these create an opposing electromotive force which is indistinguishable experimentally from a resistance. If the alloy were a true chemical compound the counteracting electromotive force should not occur; experiments in this direction are much needed.

Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen has shown that in the case of molten alloys the conduction of electricity is apparently metallic, no transfer of matter attending the passage of the current. A group of bodies may, however, be yet discovered between alloys and electrolytes in which evidence may be found of some gradual change from wholly metallic to electrolytic conduction. A. P. Laurie has determined the electromotive force of a series of copper-zinc, copper-tin and gold-tin alloys, and as the result of his experiments he points to the existence of definite compounds. Explosive alloys have been formed by H. St Claire Deville and H. J. Debray in the case of rhodium, iridium and ruthenium, which evolve heat when they are dissolved in zinc. When the solution of the rhodium-zinc alloy is treated with hydrochloric acid, a residue is left which undergoes a change with explosive violence if it be heated in vacuo to 400 deg. . The alloy is then insoluble in "aqua regia.'' The metals have therefore passed into an insoluble form by a comparatively slight elevation of temperature.

Surfusion

Metals do not appear to have been studied from the point of view of surfusion until 1880, when A. D. van Pieinsdijk showed that gold and silver would both pass below their actual freezing-points without becoming solid. Roberts-Austen pointed out that surfusion might be easily measured in metals and in alloys by the sensitive method of recording pyrometry perfected by him. He also showed that the crossing of curves of solubility, which had already been observed by H. le Chatelier and by A. C. A. Dahms in the case of salts, could be measured in the lead-tin alloys. The investigation of the mutual relations of partially miscible liquids, due to P. Alexejew, D. P. Konovalow, snd to P. E. Duclaux, was extended to alloys by Alder Wright. The addition of a third metal will sometimes render the mixture of two other metals homogeneous. C. T. Heyccck and F. H. Neville proved that when one metal is alloyed with a small quantity of some other metal, the solidification obeys the law of F. M. Raoult. Their experiments, although not conclusive, appear to indicate that the molecule of a metal when in dilute solution often consists of one atom. There are, however, numerous exceptions to this rule. In the cases of aluminium dissolved in tin and of mercury or bismuth in lead, it is at least probable that the molecules in solution are Al2, Hg2 and Bi2 respectively, while tin in lead appears to form a molecule of the type Sn4.

Industrial applications

Since 1875 increased attention has been devoted to the applications of the rarer metals. Thus nickel, which was formerly used in the manufacture of "German silver'' as a substitute for silver, is now widely employed in naval construction and in the manufacture of steel armour-plate and projectiles. Alloyed with copper, it is used for the envelopes of bullets. A nickel steel containing 36% of nickel has the property of retaining an almost constant volume when heated or cooled through a considerable range of temperature; it is therefore useful for the construction of pendulums and for measures of length. Another steel containing 45% of nickel has, like platinum, the same coefficient of expansion as glass. It can therefore be employed, instead of that costly metal, in the construction of incandescent lamps where a wire has to be fused into the glass to establish electric connexion between the inside and the outside of the bulb. Manganese not only forms with iron several alloys of great interest, but alloyed with copper it is used for electrical purposes, as an alloy can thus be obtained with an electrical resistance that does not alter with change of temperature; this alloy, called manganin, is used in the construction of resistance-boxes. Chromium also, in comparatively small quantities, is taking its place as a constituent of steel axles and tires, and in the manufacture of tool-steel. Steels containing as much as 12% of tungsten are now used as a material for tools intended for turning and planing iron and steel. The peculiarity of these steels is that no quenching or tempering is required. They are normally hard and remain so, even at a faint red heat; much deeper cuts can therefore be taken at a high speed without blunting the tool. Vanadium, molybdenum and titanium may be expected soon to play an important part in the constitution of steel. Titanium is alloyed in small quantities with aluminium for use in naval architecture. Aluminium, when alloyed with a few per cent of magnesium, gains greatly in rigidity while remaining very light; this alloy, under the name of magnalium, is coming into use for small articles in which lightness and rigidity have to be combined. One of the most interesting amongst recent alloys is Conrad Heusler's alloy of copper, aluminium and manganese, which possesses magnetic properties far in excess of those of the constituent metals.

The importance is now widely recognized of considering the mechanical properties of alloys in connexion with the freezing-point curves to which reference has already been made. but the subject is a very complicated one, and all that need be said here, is that when considered in relation to their melting-points the pure metals are consistently weaker than alloys. The presence in an alloy of a eutectic which solidifies at a much lower temperature than the main mass, implies a great reduction in tenacity, especially if it is to be used above the ordinary temperature as in the case of pipes conveying super-heated steam. It has also been stated that alloys of metals with similar melting-points have higher tenacity when the atomic volumes of the constituent metals differ than when they are nearly the same.

RERERENCES.—-Alloys have formed a subject of reoorts to several scientific societies. Sir W. C. Roberts-Austen's six Reports (1891 to 1904) to the Alloys Research Committee of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, the last report being concluded by William Gowland; the Cantor Lectures on Alloys delivered at the Society of Arts and the Contribution a l'etude des alliages (1901), published by the Societe d'encouracement pour l'industrie nationale under the direction of the Commission des alliages (1896-1900), should be consulted. The theoretical aspect is discussed in Leon Guillet's Etude theorique des alliages metalliques (1904). W. T. Brannt's The Metallic Alloys (1896); Roberis-Austen's Introduction to the Study of Metallurgy (1902); and R. G. Thurston's Materials of Engineering, should be consulted for the more practical details. in The Iron and Steel Metallurgist, formerly The Metallographist (Boston, Mass.), and Metallurgie (Halle). Important memoirs by Ewing and Rosenhain, and by C. T. Hevcock and F. H. Neville in the Philosophical Transactions, by N. S. Kunrnakow in the Zeitschrift fur anorganische Chemie, and by E. S. Shepherd in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, may also be consulted. (W. C. R.-A.; F. lj. NE.)

1 The instructive case of the solidification of a solution of common salt in water is discussed in the article FUSION.

ALLPORT, SIR JAMES JOSEPH (1811-1892), English railway manager, born on the 27th of February 1811, was a son of William Allport, of Birmingham, and was associated with railways from an early period of his life. In 1843 he became general manager of the Birmingham and Derby railway, and in the following year, succeeded to the same position on the Newcastle and Darlington line. Six years later he assumed the charge of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire (now the Great Central) railway, and finally, in 1853, was appointed to the general managership of the Midland railway—an office which he held continuously, with the exception of a few years between 1857 and 1860, when he was managing director to Palmer's Shipbuilding Company at Jarrow, until his retirement in 1880, when he became a director. During these twenty-seven years the Midland grew to be one of the most important railway systems in England, partly by the absorption of smaller lines and partly by the construction of two main extensions—on the south to London and on the north to Carlisle —whereby it obtained an independent through-route between the metropolis and the north. In the railvay world Sir James Allport was known as a keen tactician and a vigorous fighter, and he should be remembered as the pioneer of cheap and comfortable railway travelling. He was the first to appreciate the importance of the third-class passenger as a source of revenue, and accordingly, in 1872, he inaugurated the policy—subsequently adopted more or less completely by all the railways of Great Britain of carrying third-class passengers in well-fitted carriages at the uniform rate of one penny a mile on all trains. The diminution in the receipts from second-class passengers, which was one of the results, was regarded by some authorities as a sign of the unwisdom of his action, but to him it appeared a sufficient reason for the abolition of second-class carriages, which therefore disappeared from the Midland system in 1875, the first-class fares being at the same time substantially reduced.

He was also the first to introduce the Pullman car on British railways. Allport received the honour of knighthood in 1884. He died in London on the 25th of April 1892.

ALLPORT, SAMUEL (1816-1897), English petrologist, brother of the above, was born in Birmingham on the 23rd of January 1816, and educated in that city. Although occupied in business during the greater portion of his life, his leisure was given to geological studies, and when residing for a short period in Bahia, S. America, he made observations on the geology, published by the Geological Society in 1860. His chief work was in microscopic petrology, to the studyol which he was attracted by the investigations of Dr H. C. Sorby; and he became one of the pioneers of this branch of geology, preparing his own rock-sections with remarkable skill. The basalts of S. Staffordshire, the diorites of Warwickshire, the phonolite of the Wolf Rock (to which he first directed attention), the pitchstones of Arran and the altered igneous rocks near the Land's End were investigated and described by him during the years 1869—1879 in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society and in the Geological Magazine. In 1880 he was appointed librarian in Mason College, a post which he relinquished on account of ill-health in 1887. In that year the Lyell medal was awarded to him by the Geological Society. A few years later he retired to Cheltenham, where he died on the 7th of July 1897.

ALL-ROUND ATHLETICS. Specialization in athletic sports, although always existent, is to a great extent a modern product. In ancient times athletes were encouraged to excel in several branches of sport, often quite opposite in character. Thus the athlete held in highest honour at the Olympic Games (see GAMES, CLASSICAL) was the winner of the pentathlon, which consisted of running, jumping, throwing the javelin and the discus, and wrestling. All-round championships have existed for many years both in Scotland and Ireland, and in America there are both national and sectional championships. The American national championship was instituted in 1888, the winner being the athlete who succeeds in obtaining the highest marks in the following eleven events; 100 yards run; putting 16 lb. shot; running high jump; half-mile walk; throwing 16 lb. hammer; 120 yards hurdle race; pole vault; throwing 56 lb. weight; one mile run; running broad jump; quarter-mile run. In each event 1000 points are allowed for equalling the "record,'' and an increasing number of points is taken off for performances below "record,'' down to a certain "standard,', below which the competitor scores nothing. For example, in the 100 yards run the time of 9 4/5 seconds represents 1000 points; that of 10 seconds scores 958, or 42 points less; 10 1/5 seconds scores 916, &c.; and below 14 1/5 seconds the competitor scores nothing. Should the record be broken 42 points are added for each 1/5 second. (See also ATHLETIC SPORTS.)

ALL SAINTS, FESTIVAL OF (Festum omnium sanctorum), also formerly known as ALL HALLOWS, or HALLOWMAS, a feast of the Catholic Church celebrated on the 1st of November in honour of all the saints, known or unknown. In the Roman Catholic Church it is a festival of the first rank, with a vigil and an octave. Common commemorations, by several churches, of the deaths of martyrs began to be celebrated in the 4th century. The first trace of a general celebration is in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost, and this custom is also referred to in the 74th homily of St Chrysostom (407). The origin of the festival of All Saints as celebrated in the West is, however, somewhat doubtful. In 609 or 610 Pope Boniface IV. consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, and the feast of the dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since on the 13th of May. The idea, based on the medieval liturgiologists, that this festival was the origin of that of All Saints has now been abandoned. The latter is possibly traceable to the foundation by Gregory III. (731-741) of an oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world.'' So far as the Western Church generally is concerned, though the festival was already widely celebrated in the days of Charlemagne, it was only made of obligation throughout the Frankish empire in 835 by a decree of Louis the Pious issued "at the instance of Pope Gregory IV. and with the assent of all the bishops,'' which fixed its celebration on the 1st of November. The festival was retained at the Reformation in the calendar of the Church of England, and also in that of many of the Lutheran churches. In the latter, in spite of attempts at revival, it has fallen into complete disuse.