Amadou. Inflammable substance prepared in Germany from the fungus Polyporus fomentarius, which is beaten into a felt-like mass and mixed with saltpetre; German tinder. Amalaric. King of Visigoths 507-531.

Amalek. Nomadic Arab tribe of the Sinaitic peninsula, hostile to the Israelites; defeated by Ehud, Gideon and Saul, and at last destroyed by David. Supposed to be, in part at least, descended from Esau.

Amalfi. City of s. Italy, plundered by the Pisans 1135, partly buried by the sea 1343.

Amalgam. (1) Metallic alloys of which mercury or quicksilver is constituent. This property of mercury of combining readily with certain other metals finds extensive application in the metallurgical treatment of gold and silver ores," silvering" of mirrors, covering zinc plates in a battery, etc. (2) A natural alloy of silver and mercury found at Moschellandsberg, Bavaria. AgHg and Ag,Hg,.

Amalgamation. Process for preventing local action, first applied to voltaic batteries by Kemp. It consists in covering the zinc plate with a layer of mercury. By this means a layer of pure zinc is brought on the surface, and this is not attacked by the acid solution unless the battery is in action. Thus local currents due to the impurities in the zinc are obviated. Amalric, or AMANRY, 1135-1173. Latin King of Jerusalem 1162, involved in contests with the Templars.

Amalric of Bema, d. 1209. Schoolman, condemned by the Pope and the Univ. of Paris in 1207; his bones were exhumed and burned with his writings in 1210. His followers endured much persecution for their pantheistic tenets, which were revived by the Brethren of the Free Spirit (q. v.). Their worst heresy placed believers beyond the reach (or the imputation) of sin.

Amalthea. Nurse of the infant Jupiter, or, as others say, the goat which suckled him. One of her horns being broken off, the god filled it with whatever the possessor might desire; hence the Cornucopia.

Amapatolli. "Paper game." Old Mexican name for playing cards, introduced into America by the Spaniards at the time of the Conquest. Two sheets of cards made in Mexico 1583 are preserved in the Archives of the Indies at Seville.

Love-lies-bleeding

Amaranth. Plants of genus Amaranthus, bearing large clusters of minute flowers subtended by green or purple bracts. They are mostly natives of tropical America, but widely distributed as weeds. The Globe A., Gomphrena globosa, is an herb sometimes planted for ornament.

Amaranthaceæ. Natural family of flowering plants, of the class Angiospermae and sub-class Dicotyledones,comprising 50 genera and about 450 species, distributed throughout the world except the colder regions; commonly called the Amaranth Family.

Amara-Sinha, ab. 56 B.C._Sanscrit grammarian and poet. Being a Buddhist the Brahmans attempted to destroy his works. We have, however, the Amara-Kosha, a vocabulary of ab. 10,000 Sanscrit

(Amaranthus caudatus).

45

words, arranged according to the roots in three books, whence called the Trikandra.

Amaravati. Site in Southern India on the river Kistnah, famous for a Buddhist tope from which many important relief sculptures were excavated in 1845 and brought to England. These are now an ornament of the main stairway of the British Museum. Their date is probably 3d century B. C. See Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship.

Amari, MICHELE, 1806-1889. Italian historian, associate of Garibaldi and Cavour. War of the Sicilian Vespers, 1842; Sicily and the Bourbons, 1849; Mussulmans in Sicily, 1854-68.

the class Angiospermae, sub-class Monocotyledones, comprising Amaryllidaceæ. Natural family of flowering plants of 65 genera and ab. 600 species, widely distributed through the temperate and warmer regions of the earth; commonly called the Amaryllis Family.

Amaryllis. Pastoral belle in Theocritus and Virgil.

Amasa. Son of Abigail, half sister of David; made generalin-chief by the rebellious Absalom, after whose death David made him commander-in-chief in place of his cousin Joab, who thereupon treacherously assassinated him.

Amasta. Monotremes, which are mammals without teats. Amat, FELIX DE TORRES, 1772-1840. Bp. of Astorga, and official translator of the Bible into Spanish, 1823; author of a Dictionary of Catalan Writers, 1836.

Amaterasu. The Sun Goddess of Japanese Shinto mythol0g, and the reputed ancestress of the first Mikado and founder of the present imperial dynasty of Japan.

Amati. Family of Cremona, famous in the annals of violin making. Their best instruments were produced between 1590 and 1620.

brain.

Amaurosis. Impairment or loss of vision, due to injury or disease of the deeper portions of the eye, optic nerve, or Amaziah. Eighth king of Judah, ab. 837-809 B.C. He defeated Edom, became an idolater, was overthrown by Jehoash of Israel ab. 824, and killed at Lachish.

Amazon. Largest river of South America, and in volume of water, drainage area, length and navigability of tributaries, largest in the world. It heads in the Andes, draining their east front from lat. 20° s. to 3° n. The descent from the mountains is very abrupt, and at their base the country is but a few hundred feet above sea level. The river enters the Atlantic through an immense delta. Its principal branches are the Negro, Japura, Ucayali, Purus, Madeira, Tapajos and Tocantins. Its length is between 3500 and 4000 miles, and its drainage area nearly 3,000,000 sq. m. Upon the main stream and its tributaries there are fully 10,000 m. of navigable water. Its average discharge at its mouth is 2,458,000 cubic ft. per second. The effect of tides is felt 400 m. above its mouth.

settled about the river Thermadon in Asia Minor. Toward the Amazons. Mythical race of female warriors, said to have end of the Trojan war they came to assist Priam.

Amazon-stone. K,Al, Si,O Bright green variety of potassium feldspar, microcline, closely resembling orthoclase. Color is due to organic compound of iron. Named from the Amazon R. Handsome specimens have been found in the granite of Pike's Peak, Col.

Ambarvalia, or AMBARVALE SACRUM. Ancient Roman festival, in May, lasting three days. Besides private rites, the Arval Brothers conducted a sacrifice in the name of the state, the "Suovetaurilia," so named because a sow, a sheep, and a bull were led around the fields and then offered with prayers to Ceres, goddess of crops.

Ambassador. Minister accredited by one sovereign to the court of another. The representatives of the U. S. in foreign lands received this title 1893 in some cases.

Amber. Fossil resin of tertiary age, found in small, translucent, or sometimes transparent, masses of irregular shape in the soil, or in slightly consolidated recent geological formations, near the surface, in various parts of the earth. It is yellowish, brownish, or reddish in color, and frequently incloses remains of insects which became imbedded in it as it oozed from the trees. Its association with fragments of wood or lignite proves its vegetable origin. The regions about the Baltic Sea supply the greater part of the amber of commerce. It is not found in the U. S. in paying quantities. The world's yield of amber at present is about 150 tons a year. On treatment with nitric acid it furnishes succinic acid.

Amberger, CRISTOPH, 1490-1561. German portrait painter, mainly active in Augsburg; after Holbein, one of the best artists of his time. His pictures are in Augsburg, Stuttgart, Gotha, Berlin, Vienna, and Florence.

Ambergris. Grayish fatty substance, found in the bowels

46

of the spermaceti whale, and upon certain seashores. Contains Ambrein and is very valuable. It is used in the manufacture of perfumes.

Ambiens Muscle. In the homalogonatous birds. Originating from the prepubic process of the pelvis, it passes on the inside of the thigh, over the patella or knee as a thin tendon, and is inserted into the outer side of the leg, joining the superficial flexor of the toes.

Amblygonite. 2A1,P,O,+3Li(Na)F. Aluminium and lithium phosphate, containing also several per cent of fluorine; good crystals have been found in Maine.

Amblyopia. Diminution of the vision, due to the same causes as amaurosis.

Amblyopsis. Genus of fishes of which the blind fish of

Amblyopsis spelæus.

the Mammoth Cave, Ky., is the best example. The eyes are rudimentary only, and covered by the skin. See HAPLOMI.

Amblypoda. Order of Sub-Ungulates, including the two sub-orders Dinocerata and Pautodonta, placental mammals of the Eocene period. The Dinocerata include gigantic forms with five-toed feet, elephantine limbs, no upper incisors, but the upper canines developed into downwardly-directed tusks. The nasals, maxillaries, and frontal bones bear each a pair of horn-cores, so that possibly the animal possessed three pairs of horns. There was no proboscis, and the brain was the smallest proportionally possessed by any mammal. The characters of Pautodonta are given under CORYPHODONTIDÆ.

Amblypterus. Lepidoganoid fish resembling Palæoniscus, but with shorter and deeper tail and larger body-fins devoid of anterior spines; found in the Coal Measures.

Amblystoma. Genus of SALAMANDRINA (q. v.), widely distributed in N. America, and remarkable for the fact that its larval development can be delayed indefinitely by subjecting

Ambulacral Ossicles. Plates through or between which the ambulacra of Echinoderms project. Also, the sub-ambulacral ossicles in star-fishes, which are exposed and the only ossicles corresponding in position to the true ambulacral ossicles. See AURICULA. Ambulacral Plates. True ambulacral ossicles of sea

urchins.

Ambry.

Ambulacral Pores. Zigzag line of openings between ambulacral ossicles through which the ambulacral feet project.

ambulacral zones when they radiate from the aboral pole only, Ambulacral Rosette. Petaloid figure formed by the as in certain Echinoids.

Ambulacral Shields (OF OPHINROIDS). Plates that cover the ambulacral grooves ventrally; also known as super-ambulacral shields.

Ambulacral Surface. See ACTINAL SURFACE. Ambulacral Suture. Line of junction of the two rows of ossicles which constitute each ambulacral ray.

Ambulacral System (OF ECHINODERMS). The oval or actinal surface of star-fishes, sea urchins, etc., traversed by five double rows of locomotor suckers radiating from the mouth. The suckers pass out between a double series of calcareous plates, which are set vertically and transversely to the axis of the ray, and in star-fishes are sometimes called vertebral ossicles. In the star-fish each row of suckers is really a zigzag, which gives each ray the appearance of having four rows of these ambulacral feet. Each sucker has at its inner end a sac (ampulla), and is connected with a water-tube which lies in a groove in the vertebral ossicles, and radiates from a circular tube about the mouth, on which are ten polian vesicles and nine racemose vesicles and a stone-canal, ending on the aboral surface by the madreporite, sieve-plate, which admits water to the whole system.

Ambulance. Vehicle in which the wounded are removed from battlefields, or the sick and injured conveyed to hospi

the menobranchus-like young to a continuance of its aquatic environment. See AXOLOTL.

Amboise. Town of Central France, where a Huguenot conspiracy was suppressed Jan. 1560, and an edict granting toleration to the Huguenots issued March 19, 1563.

Amboyna. One of the Moluccas or Spice islands, held by the Portuguese with intervals since 1580. Area, 264 sq. m. Pop., ab. 30,000.

Ambros, AUGUST WILHELM, 1816-1876. Composer, and ablest of modern musical historians. Prof. Univ. Prague 1869. Poetry and Music, 1856; History of Music, 4 v., 1862-78.

Ambrose, ST., ab. 340-397. Bp. of Milan 374, and one of the four great Latin fathers; eminent for devoutness, benevolence, firmness, eloquence, power of government, and all the virtues. He baptized St. Augustine, excommunicated Theodosius, reformed church music, and wrote hymns that are still used.

Ambrosia. Food of the Olympian gods.

Ambulance.

tals. The service attending the former was developed in the Crimean war.

Ambulatorii. Birds having walking legs with three toes forward, the middle and outer being united at their roots, and the inner directed backward.

Ambulatory. In architecture, part or appendage of a building arranged for the passage of processions; often the passage around the choir of a Gothic church, which is a continuation of the outer aisle of the nave.

Ambuscade, or AMBUSH. Cover concealing a body of troops, intended to surprise an approaching enemy and by a sudden and unexpected attack to overwhelm him.

Amen. Hebrew word meaning truth, certainty. In Rev. iii. 14, a name of Christ. In St. John, beginning sentences, it is translated "verily." From Apostolic times it has been used as a response at the end of a prayer.

Amendment. Correction of an error in legal process; change in a motion or bill; alteration of a constitution (q. v.). Ament. See CATKIN.

Amentaceæ. Orders of plants which bear their flowers in aments or catkins, as in Betulaceae, Salicaceae and Myricaceae. Amenthes. Mythological Hades of Egyptians.

America. Name derived from Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian who in 1499 visited the western continent. The Northmen are believed to have coasted from Labrador to Rhode Island ab. 1003. Columbus reached the West Indies 1492, and on his third voyage discovered S. America near the mouth of the Orinoco 1498, and Honduras on his fourth voyage 1502. John Cabot probably touched N. America 1497. Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Darien 1513. The coast of Brazil was explored by Pinzon and Diego de Lepe 1500, and soon after reached by the Portuguese Pedro Alvarez de Cabral, who was on his way to India around Good Hope. Magellan sailed to the west side of S. America 1520.

Cortez conquered Mexico 1519-21; Pizarro conquered Peru 1532-3. First settlement in Nova Scotia (Acadie) 1604; at Quebec 1608; at Jamestown, Va., 1607; in Newfoundland and on the Hudson 1611; at Plymouth, Mass., 1620. The oldest settlements in the U. S. are St. Augustine 1565, and Santa Fe 1582. See NORTH, CENTRAL, and SOUTH AMERICA. (See Map on next page.)

America, BRITISH. Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, Br. Honduras, Br. W. Indies, Bermudas, and Falkland Is. America, CENTRAL. See CENTRAL AMERICA.

47

America, SOUTH. See SOUTH AMERICA.

America, SPANISH. Formerly most of the continent s. of the U. S.; now merely Cuba and Porto Rico.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At Boston; founded 1780. An association of scientists, holding meetings for the reading of papers and discussion. It publishes Proceedings and Memoirs.

American Architecture. Evidences have been discovered, in both N. and S. America, that some part of each continent had been occupied, at some time before the discovery of the country by Europeans, by races more highly civilized than those which possessed it at the time of the discovery. These evidences consist in remains of buildings in Peru, Mexico, and Central America, especially in Yucatan. The Peruvian remains, which are supposed to be the work of a race anterior to the Incas, whom the Spaniards found in possession, are extensive and

Palace at Palenque.

massive, but of a rude and primitive character. They consist of circles of stones, like those in Europe, of which Stonehenge is the most familiar example, of walls of vast stones, accurately fitted, and evidently intended as fortifications, and of square and round towers of masonry, increasing in size from the bottom to the top, and in some cases covered with domical roofs of overlapping stones. The remains in Yucatan and Mexico are more interesting as showing a much greater skill, and also in consequence of their striking resemblance to the ancient architecture of Central Asia, especially in the erection of temples upon the summit of a series of receding terraces. The most extensive building of the ruins which remain in Yucatan, that at Palenque, is thus arranged. By some it is supposed to have been a palace, and by some a temple. The extent of the pyramidal substructure at the base is 310 ft. by 260, and it is 40 ft.

American Literature. During the colonial period it was nearly confined to theology, and was produced chiefly in New preeminently that of Thomas Paine, and minor poets like Barlow and Freneau. The first fiction of any note came from C. B. Brown. The first poem of real value was Bryant's Thanatopsis-but here we are within the 19th century.

The main beginners of a national literature were Irving, whose great successes were largely won abroad, and Cooper, whose Leatherstocking Tales, though built in spirit and style on Scott's foundation, were in subject matter purely native. W. G. Simms and others followed in his wake. Our greatest geniuses were Hawthorne, master of subtle and introspective character, but reckoned abroad our foremost literary figure. romance, and Poe, doomed to misfortune by his deficiencies of In history Bancroft, Prescott, Widley and Parkman lead a roll of worthy names. Poetry, beginning with Bryant, was long most successfully cultivated in eastern Mass., where Longfellow hearts. Emerson, most inspiring of essayists, was at his best in his rare best verse. These were joined somewhat later by Dr. Holmes, most witty and versatile of writers, and Lowell, whose scholarship and critical aptitude too often obscured from public view his deep and splendid originative powers: his Harvard Commemoration Ode and Emerson's Problem show the high-water mark of American verse poetry. The fame of Thoreau, a prose poet, is mainly posthumous.

won the love of nations, and Whittier stirred or soothed men's

Of late, fiction has taken the place of poetry. Howells, with all his realistic theories, is at the head of our novelists; after him come Marion Crawford and Henry James, who live mostly in Europe; Mrs. Burnett, Miss Woolson, Miss Wilkins, Stockton, and Cable. Bret Harte is best in California themes, and Page is almost the laureate of Virginia, R. H. Davis is a master of the short story. Stevenson and Kipling, though now or lately residents of the U. S., are properly claimed by Britain. Mark Twain is the foremost living humorist.

In science America has Agassiz and other names that bring her abreast of Europe. In religion, Bushnell, in the past, and Dr. Briggs, to-day, represent the reforming and innovating spirit, while Beecher and Brooks made the pulpit illustrious.

American literature, though a plant of recent growth, now holds its own in every field, as is shown by the names of many hundreds of authors throughout this work.

American Party. See KNOW NOTHING.

American Philosophical Society. In Philadelphia, founded 1744. An association of scientists holding meetings for the reading of papers and discussion. It publishes Proceedings and Transactions.

copper-red skin, stiff black hair, deep-set eyes, projecting American Race. Characterized by brown-yellow, or cheek-bones and broad face. The forehead is narrow, short but projecting. See INDIANS.

the nose

American University. At Washington, D. C., chartered May 28, 1891; is designed for post-graduate instruction, and controlled by the M. E. Ch.

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