Al-Ko′ran, or Qu‛ran. See Koran.
Alla breve (brā′vā), a musical direction expressing that a breve is to be played as fast as a semibreve, a semibreve as fast as a minim, and
so on. It is also called a capella, as it is employed in church music.
Al′lah, in Arabic, the name of God, a word of kindred origin with the Hebrew word Elohim. Alla Akbar (God is great) is a Mahommedan war-cry.
Allahabād′ ('city of Allah'), an ancient city of India, capital of the United Provinces, on the wedge of land formed by the Jumna and the Ganges, largely built of mud houses, though the English quarter has more of a European aspect. Among the remarkable buildings are the fort, occupying the angle between the rivers, and containing the remains of an ancient palace, and now also the barracks, &c.; the mausoleum and garden of Khosru, the tomb being a handsome domed building; the Government offices and courts; Government house; the Roman Catholic cathedral; the Central College for the United Provinces; the Mayo Memorial and town hall. Allahabad is one of the chief resorts of Hindu pilgrims, who have their sins washed away by bathing in the waters of the sacred rivers Ganges and Jumna at their junction; and is also the scene of a great fair in December and January. There are no manufactures of importance, but a large general and transit trade is carried on. The town is as old as the third century B.C. In the mutiny of 1857 it was the scene of a serious outbreak and massacre. Pop. 171,697.—The division of Allahabad contains the districts of Cawnpur, Futtehpur, Hamirpur, Banda, Jaunpur, and Allahabad; area, 17,265 sq. miles. Pop. 5,535,803.—The district contains an area of 2852 sq. miles, about five-sixths being under cultivation. Pop. 1,487,904.
Allaman′da, a genus of American tropical plants, ord. Apocynaceæ, with large yellow or violet flowers; some of them are grown in European greenhouses. A. cathartica has strong emetic and purgative properties.
Allan, David, a Scottish painter, born 1744, died 1796. He studied in Foulis's academy of painting and engraving in Glasgow, and for sixteen years in Italy; finally establishing himself at Edinburgh, where he succeeded Runciman as master of the Trustees' Academy. His illustrations of the Gentle Shepherd, The Cotter's Saturday Night, and other sketches of rustic life and manners in Scotland are his best-known works.
Allan, Sir William, a distinguished Scottish artist, born in 1782, died in 1850. He was a fellow student with Wilkie in Edinburgh, afterwards a student of the Royal Academy, London. After residing in Russia for ten years, he returned to Scotland, and publicly exhibited his pictures, one of which (Circassian Captives) made his reputation. He now turned his attention to historical painting, and produced Knox admonishing Mary Queen of Scots, Murder of Rizzio, Exiles on their way to Siberia, The Slave Market at Constantinople, &c.; and afterwards also battle scenes, as the Battle of Prestonpans, Nelson boarding the San Nicolas, and two pictures of The Battle of Waterloo, the one from the British, the other from the French position, and delineating the actual scene and the incidents therein taking place at the moment chosen for the representation. One of these Waterloo pictures was purchased by the Duke of Wellington. He travelled extensively, visiting Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Spain, and Barbary. In 1835 he became a Royal Academician, in 1838 president of the Scottish Academy, and in 1842 he was knighted.
Allan′tois, a structure appearing during the early development of vertebrate animals—Reptiles, Birds, and Mammalia. It is largely made up of blood-vessels, and, especially in Birds, attains a large size. It forms the inner lining to the shell, and may thus be viewed as the surface by means of which the respiration of the embryo is carried on. In Mammalia the allantois is not so largely developed as in Birds, and it enters largely into the formation of the placenta.
Alleghany (al-le-gā′ni), a river of Pennsylvania and New York, which unites with the Monongahela at Pittsburg to form the Ohio; navigable nearly 200 miles above Pittsburg.