ALABASTER

A white semitransparent variety of gypsum or sulphate of lime. It is a mineral of common occurrence, and is manufactured into ornamental vases, and occasionally into small statues. The ancients used it for ointment and perfume boxes. Perhaps the term is derived from i, privative, and X«S«v, a handle, as opposed to ve els with handles. This stone is not slipperjs and therefore the derivation is incorrectly referred to » and kx/^SatvM, as if it were difficult to grasp. ALANGIACEiE. (Alangi, tke Malabar navie of one species.) A natural order of plants closely akin to myrtaceae. It consists of Indian species, with aromatic roots and eatable fruit. Their long strap-shaped petals afford one of the principal distinctions between them and myrtaceae. ALA'iNTINE. An amylaceous substance extracted from the root of the Angelica archangelic a. [s. 40]