Algw

the general name for the sea-weeds and similar plants, mostly growing in salt and fresh water, Algebra, that department of mathematics which enables one, by the aid of certain symbols, to generalize, and, therefore, to abbreviate, the methods of solving questions relating to numbers. It is now regarded as the most extensive department of mathematics, Alger, Cyrus, an American inventor, born in West Bridge water, Ma ., Nov. 11, 1781. He learned the iron foundry busine , and in 1809 established himself in South Boston, where he soon made himself widely known by the excellence of the ordnance he manufactured. He supplied the United States Government with a large quantity of cannon-balls during the war of 1812; produced the first gun ever rifled in America, as well as the first perfect bronze cannon; and supervised the casting of a mortar which was the largest gun of cast-iron that had then been made in the United States. Subsequently he made improvements in the construction of time Alger; fuses for bomb-shells and grenades; patented a method of making cast-iron chilled rolls; and was the original designer of the cylinder stove. He died in Boston, Ma ., Feb. 4, 1856.