ALTON, William (1731-1793), an eminent botanist and gardener, was born near Hamilton in Scotland. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to England in the year 1754, where he became assistant to Philip Miller, then superintendent of the physic garden at Chelsea. In 1759 he was appointed director of the newly-established botanical garden at Kew, in which office he continued till his death. The garden at Kew, under the auspices of King George III., was destined to be the grand repository of all the vegetable riches which could be accumulated by regal munificence, from researches through every quarter of the globe. Alton’s care and skill in cultivation, and intelligence in arrangement, gained for him high reputation among the lovers of the science, and the particular esteem of his royal patrons. Under his superintendence many improvements took place in the plan and edifices of Kew gardens, which rendered them the principal scene of botanical culture in the kingdom. In 1783 his merit was rewarded with the lucrative office of manager of the pleasure and kitchen gardens of Kew, which he was allowed to hold along with the botanical direction. In 1789 he published his Hortus Kewensis, a catalogue of the plants cultivated in the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew, in 3 vols. 8vo, with 13 plates— a work which had been the labour of many years. The Hortus, in which the Linnaean system of arrangement, with some modification, was adopted, was very favourably received by students of science, and a second edition was issued (1810-3) by W. T. Aiton, his eldest son and successor. He was for many years honoured with the friendship of Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society, and was aided by the Swedish naturalists, Solander and Dryander, ...

ALTONA, the richest and most populous city of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, is situated on the north bank of the Elbe, so close to Hamburg that the two cities are virtually one. The rise of Altona to its present position has been rapid, at least for a continental city, and is mainly due to the fostering care of the Danish government, who established it as a rival to Hamburg. In 1640, when it became the property of Denmark, it was a small fishing village; in 1871 it contained 74,131 inhabitants. After the war of 1864 it ceased to belong to Denmark, and eventually became part of Prussia, although, with Hamburg, it is not included in the Zollverein. It carries on a large trade with Britain, France, the West Indies, and other countries; but it has by no means succeeded in depriving Hamburg of its commercial pre-eminence—great part of the business of Altona being, indeed, transacted on the Hamburg exchange. Tobacco is probably the chief manufacture, but there are also breweries, tanneries, oilworks, soap-works, and linen factories. Altona is a well-built modern town, really dating from 1713 (when the Swedes burnt it to the ground), with a higher situation than that of Hamburg, and consequently a purer and healthier atmosphere. It contains an observatory of some celebrity, several churches, two synagogues, a gymnasium, and an infirmary. It is the terminus of the Altona-Kiel Railway, which places it in connection with the principal towns of Schleswig-Holstein.