ALTIN, a lake of Siberia, which gives rise to the Bija, one of the head streams of the Obi, is situated among the Altai mountains, 320 miles south of the city of Tomsk. It is about 80 miles long, and its greatest breadth is about 50 miles; but the large quantities of melted snow which flow down from the surrounding mountains make it larger in summer than in winter. It is remarkable that in winter the northern part is frozen so hard as to be passable on sledges, while the southern is never covered with ice.

ALTING, Heinrich, a German divine, was born at Embden in 1583. His father, Menso Alting, was minister of Embden, and early destined his son to the same profession. He studied with great assiduity and success at the universities of Herborn and Gröningen. In 1608 he was appointed tutor of Frederick, afterwards elector-palatine, at Heidelberg, and in 1612 accompanied him to England. Returning in 1613 to Heidelberg after the marriage of the elector with the Princess Elizabeth of England, he was appointed professor of theology, and in 1616, director of the Collegium, Sapientiae. In 1618, along with Scultetus. he represented the university in the synod of Dort. When Count Tilly took the city of Heidelberg, and handed it over to plunder, Alting found great difficulty in escaping the fury of the soldiers. He first retired to Schorndorf; but in 1623 he removed with his family to Embden, and afterwards followed to the Hague his late pupil, the Elector Frederick, who had been compelled to flee from his new kingdom of Bohemia. Such was the regard this prince’ had for Alting that he made him preceptor to his eldest son, and prevented him from accepting the charge of the church at Embden, and likewise a professorship in the university of Franeker. In 1627, Alting, with some difficulty, obtained leave from his patron to remove to Gröningen, where he was appointed to the chair of divinity; and there he continued to lecture, with increasing reputation, until his death, which took place in 1644. Alting was a man of great ability and extensive learning. Among the productions of his pen are:— Notae in Decadem, Problematum Jacobi Behm, Heidelberg, 1618; Scripta Theologica Heidelbergensia, Amst. 1662; Exegesis Augustanae Confessionis, Amst. 1647....