=Alnwick= (Sax. _Elnwix_). On the river Alne in Northumberland, England, was given at the Conquest to Ivo de Vesco. It has belonged to the Percies since 1310. Malcolm, king of Scotland, besieged Alnwick in 1093, where he and his sons were killed. It was taken by David I. in 1136, and attacked in 1174, by William the Lion, who was defeated and taken prisoner. It was owned by King John in 1215, and by the Scots in 1448. Since 1854 the castle has been repaired and enlarged with great taste and at unsparing expense. =Alost.= A city in Belgium, captured and dismantled by Turenne in 1667, then abandoned to the allies after the battle of Ramillies, in 1706. =Alps.= European mountains. Those between France and Italy were passed by Hannibal, 218 B.C.; by the Romans, 154 B.C., and by Napoleon I., May, 1800. =Alsace.= See ELSASS. =Altenheim.= A village on the banks of the Rhine, grand duchy of Baden, where the French under Count de Lorges fought the Imperials, July 30, 1675, neither side being victorious; the French army retreated after the death of Turenne. =Altenkirchen.= A town in the Prussian Rhine province, where several battles were fought during the war of the Republic, in one of which Gen. Marceau was killed, while protecting the retreat of Gen. Jourdan, September 20, 1796. =Altiscope.= A device which enables a person to see an object in spite of intervening obstacles. In gunnery it is used to point a piece without exposing the person of the gunner. The simplest form consists of a small mirror set in the line of the sights, which reflects the sights and the object aimed at to the eye of the gunner. This form of reflecting sight is used with the Moncrieff counterpoise carriage, and has been recently proposed by Col. Laidley (U. S. Ordnance Corps) for small-arms. =Altitude.= Height, or distance from the ground, measured upwards, and may be both accessible and inaccessible. Altitude of a shot or shell, is the perpendicular height of the vortex of the curve in which it moves above the horizon. Altitude of the eye, in perspective is a right line let fall from the eye, perpendicular to the geometrical plane. =Alumbagh.= A palace with other buildings near Lucknow, Oude, India, taken from the rebels and heroically defended by the British under Sir James Outram, during the mutiny, September, 1857. He defeated an attack of 30,000 Sepoys on January 12, 1858, and of 20,000 on February 21. =Aluminium Bronze.= An alloy of copper and aluminium, having great strength and hardness. See ORDNANCE, METALS FOR. =Alure.= An old term for the gutter or drain along a battlement or parapet wall. =Alveda.= An ancient city in Spain, where a battle was fought between Ramire I., king of the Austurias, and the Moors under the famous Abdolrahman, or Abd-el-Rahm; according to Spanish history, the Moors lost 60,000 men.