in Surgery, an instrument for extracting bullets out of gunshot wounds. This instrument derives its name from the inventor, Alphonso Ferri, a physician of Naples. It consists of three branches, which are closed by a ring. When closed and introduced Alphonso, into the wound, the operator draws back the ring towards the handle, upon which the branches opening take hold of the ball; and then the ring is pushed from the haft, by which means the branches grasp the ball so firmly as to extract it from the wound.

ALPHONSO I. king of Portugal, son of Henry of Burgundy, count of Portugal, grandson of Don Alonso, king of Leon and Castile, who, as the dowry of his wife Theresa, received part of the kingdom of Portugal. One Egas Munitz had the charge of his education from his father, the duties of which he executed with fidelity and success. In the year 1112 his father died, leaving him a boy only three years of age, when the reins of government and the care of the infant son fell to his mother Theresa. At the age of 18 he assumed the sovereign authority by the advice of the nobles of Portugal, who were highly offended at the growing partiality of his mother for Don Ferdinand Perez, count of Trastemara; for it was suspected that she intended to marry him. But Theresa was little disposed to resign the reins of government. Her party raised an army, which took the field to oppose the nobility who supported Alphonso; but her adherents were defeated, herself taken prisoner, and kept in confinement during the remainder of her life. Not long after his accession to the throne, his abilities both to govern and to conquer received a severe trial, in several arduous enterprises, as well against the king of Leon and Castile, as against the Moorish princes, who then possessed great part of Spain and Portugal. The Moorish emperor in Barbary having sent a strong reinforcement to the princes, they were enabled to take the field with an army far superior to that of Alphonso; yet he valiantly met them in the plains of Ourique, and totally defeated their forces. Thus Providence conferred such a signal favour on the Christian arms as procured a residence for Christianity in those parts. The ambitious king of Leon and Castile assumed the title of emperor of the Spaniards, and entered Portugal to waste and destroy; but after the emperor had received a temporary check, the matter was accommodated, and he withdrew his army. In consequence of the victory obtained on the plains of Ourique, Alphonso was instantly proclaimed king; but the form and constitution of the monarchy were not settled until the nobility, prelates, and commons had assembled at Lamago for that purpose in the year 1145. The conquest of Santarem preceded this event, and was sanctioned by the unanimous concurrence of the states. The honour of crowning the king was conferred upon the archbishop of Braga; and it was legally provided that the crown should descend with an uninterrupted succession to the heirs male of Alphonso. The prelates and nobility, with the concurrence of the people, instituted a code of laws, consisting of 18 statutes, for the government of the Kingdom. It being proposed whether it was their pleasure that the king should go to Leon and do homage to that prince or to any other, every man, drawing his sword, exclaimed, "We are free, and our king is free, and we owe our liberty to our courage; and if he shall at any time submit to such an act, he deserves death, and shall not either reign over us or among us." The year after his coronation he was married to Matilda, daughter of Amadeus, count of Maurienne and Savoy; and he recovered Lisbon from the hands of the Moors in the year 1147. A multitude of adventurers being assembled at the mouth of the Tagus in their progress to the Holy Land, greatly assisted him in this conquest. After having added six other provinces to his dominions, he wisely began with industrious activity to regulate the affairs of his kingdom. In all his great and benevolent designs he was vigorously seconded by Matilda, a princess equally celebrated for her great beauty, mental vigour, and singular piety. He was no less provident in peopling and improving, than enterprising in acquiring territories. The conjugal felicity of this prince and princess was greatly enhanced by a numerous offspring, which enabled him, by great alliances, to strengthen his interests. His second daughter was married to Don Ferdinand, king of Leon, who, notwithstanding this alliance, ungenerously made war on his father-in-law, and took him prisoner in the field of battle; but released him, on the humiliating condition of coming in person to do homage for his dominions at Leon. In the latter part of his reign, his son Don Sancho, who inherited all his father's military talents, took the lead on several occasions; and in the year 1180, Joseph, king of Morocco, and emperor of the Almohedes, advancing with an army as far as Santarem, he there gained a glorious victory over him. Such was the consternation of the infidels, in consequence of this defeat, that they left the Portuguese at liberty to improve the interior part of the country, and to fortify their frontiers during the whole of next year. Worn out with care and intense application, Alphonso retired to Coimbra for repose, where, after a reign of 57 years, and in the 76th year of his age, he died. In the church of the holy cross at Coimbra his remains were deposited with great funeral solemnity. He was no less than seven feet high; and his gigantic size and martial ardour have given occasion to many absurd and incredible stories concerning his military achievements, so that, in the annals of chivalry, as well as in the records of martial exertions, he sustains a very high rank.