Al'nathan ('AXvaSrav v. r. 'EXvaSav), one of the popular chiefs at the return from Babylon (1 Esdr. viii, 1G) ; evidently the first Elnathan (q. v.) of the parallel text (Ezra viii, 44).
Aloe, Aloes, or Lign-Aloe, an Oriental tree, having a fragrant wood, but entirely different from the plant from which the bitter resin aloes is obtained, used in medicine. The Hebrew words ahalim' and ahaloth' (Q^HX, PibrtN) occur in Psa. xlv, 8, "All thj' garments smell of myrrh, and aloes (Sept. arrtfer//), and cassia ;" Prov. vii, 17, " I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with cinnamon and aloes" (Sept. omits); Cant, iv, 14, " Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes (Sept. dXioSr), with all the chief spices." From the articles which are associated with them (both names indicating the same thing), it is evident that it was some odoriferous substance probably well known in ancient times. See Aromatics.
This tree or wood was called by the Greeks dyc'iX- \o\oi', and later Zv\a\<h] (Dioscor. i, 21), and has been known to moderns by the names of aloe-wood, paradise -wood, eagle-wood, etc. Modern botanists distinguish two kinds ; the one genuine and most precious, the other more common and inferior (Ains-
ALOE
174
ALPHA
lie, Materia Indica, i, 479 sq.). The former (Cynome- tra agallocha, or the Aquilaria ovata of Linn.) grows in Cochin-China, Siam, and China, is never exported, and is of so great rarity in India itself as to be worth its weight in gold (Martius, Lekrbuch der Pharmakog- nosie, p. 83 sq.). Pieces of this wood that are resin- ous, of a dark color, heavy, and perforated as if by worms, are called calambac ; the tree itself is called by the Chinese suk-hiang. It is represented as large, with an erect trunk and lofty branches. The other or more common species is called garo in the East In- dies, and is the wood of a tree growing in the Moluc- cas, the Excacaria agallocha of Linnaeus (Oken, Lekrb. d. Naiuraesch. II, ii, 600 sq. ; Lindlej', Flora Med. p. 190 sq.). The leaves are like those of a pear-tree ; and it has a milky juice, which, as the tree grows old, hardens into a fragrant resin. The trunk is knotty, crooked, and usually hollow (see Gildemeister, De Re- bus Indicts, fasc. i, 65). The domestic name in India is aghil (Sanscrit, agani) ; whence the Europeans who first visited India gave it the name of lignum aquihe, or eagle-wood. From this the Hebrew name seems also to be derived (Gesenius, Thes. Ileb. p. 33), whieh the Vulgate, in Numb, xxiv, 6, has translated, "As tents which the Lord hath spread ;" instead of " As aloe-trees which the Lord hath planted" — in our ver- sion, " lign-aloes." Aloe-wood is said by Herodotus to have been used by the Egyptians for embalming dead bodies; and Nicodemus brought it, mingled with myrrh, to embalm the body of our Lord (John xix, 39). By others, however, the aloes («Ao»;) with which Christ's body was embalmed is thought to have been an extract from a different plant, the prickly shrub known among us by that name (Penny Cyclopcedia, s. v. Agave). Some, again, consider the lign-aloe of the Old Testament to be a different East-Indian tree from the above, namely, the Aquilaria agalloehum, but whether it be the same with the more precious
Branch of Eagle-wood.
variety .above spoken of is uncertain (Celsius, Iliero- bot. i, 135). An inferior kind of aloes is also said to be obtained from the Aquilaria Mcdaccensis (Rum- phius, Jlerbar. Amboin. ii, 29 sq.). The aloes of the ancients were procured from Arabia and India (Salma- sius, E.rerc. ad Plin. ii, 1054 sq.). It is still highly prized as an article of luxury in the East (Harmar, Observ. ii, 149; Kampfer, Amcen. p. 904; Burckhardt, Arabia, i, '216 : Hartmann, Hebr. i, 315 sq. ; Lamarck, Enc. Meth. i, 422-429 ; Roxburgh, Flora hid. ii, 423). The plant which has the reputation of producing the best aloes of modern shops is the Aloe Socotrina, a native of the Cape of Good Hope and the island of Socotra, but now commonly cultivated in the West Indies. The resin is obtained by inspissation from the juice of the leaves (Pinny Cyclopadia, s. v. Aloe). See Botany, and comp. Lion-aloe.
Alogi or Alogians (d privative, and Xoyoc, de- nying the Logos; or from dXoyoi, unreasonable), a sect of heretics in the second century, who were ardent op- ponents of the Montanists. According to Epiphanius {Hoar. 51) they denied that Jesus Christ was the Lo- gos, and did not receive either the Gospel according to John or the Apocalypse, both of which they ascribed to the Gnostic Cerinthus. Lardner doubts their ex- istence. It does appear, however, that certain op- ponents of the Montanists not only denied the pro- phetic gifts claimed by these heretics, but began also to reject from the creed all those things out of which the error of the Montanists had sprung ; hence they denied the continuance of the gifts of the Holy Ghost in the Church ; and from thus rejecting the doctrine of the Logos, so clearly taught in the earlier part of the Gospel, they acquired their name. They are said to owe their origin to Theodotus of Byzantium, a cur- rier. See Euseb. Ch. Hist, v, 28; Lardner, Works, iv, 190; viii, 627; Heinichen, De Alogis, etc. (Lips. 1829) ; Neander, Ch. Hist, i, 526, 583.