Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Keith Edkins and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note: In the pronunciation guides [=e] signifies "e macron";
[)e] "e breve"; [a:] "a with diaeresis below"; [.a] "a with dot above";
[n.] "n with dot below"; [:a] "a with diaeresis"; and so forth.
THE
NEW . GRESHAM
ENCYCLOPEDIA
VOLUME . I . PART . 2
[Illustration]
_The_ GRESHAM . PUBLISHING
COMPANY . _Limited_
66 CHANDOS STREET . STRAND
LONDON W.C.2.
1922
* * * * *
LIST OF PLATES AND MAPS
* * * * *
VOLUME I PART 2
* * * * *
PLATES
Page
ANATOMY (Human Skeleton and Muscles) 153
ARCHAEOLOGY (Antiquities of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages) 220
ARCHITECTURE 224
MAPS IN COLOUR
ASIA 274
* * * * *
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION
* * * * *
The method of marking pronunciations here employed is either (1) by marking
the syllable on which the accent falls, or (2) by a simple system of
transliteration, to which the following is the Key:--
VOWELS
[=a], as in f_a_te, or in b_a_re.
[:a], as in _a_lms, Fr. _a_me, Ger. B_a_hn = a of Indian names.
[.a], the same sound short or medium, as in Fr. b_a_l, Ger. M_a_nn.
a, as in f_a_t.
[a:], as in f_a_ll.
_a_, obscure, as in rur_a_l, similar to _u_ in b_u_t, [.e] in h_e_r: common
in Indian names.
[=e], as in m_e_ = _i_ in mach_i_ne.
e, as in m_e_t.
[.e], as in h_e_r.
[=i], as in p_i_ne, or as _ei_ in Ger. m_ei_n.
i, as in p_i_n, also used for the short sound corresponding to [=e], as in
French and Italian words.
_eu_, a long sound as in Fr. j_eu_ne = Ger. long _oe_, as in S_oe_hne,
G_oe_the (Goethe).
eu, corresponding sound short or medium, as in Fr. p_eu_ = Ger. _oe_ short.
[=o], as in n_o_te, m_oa_n.
o, as in n_o_t, s_o_ft--that is, short or medium.
[:o], as in m_o_ve, tw_o_.
[=u] as in t_u_be.
u, as in t_u_b: similar to [.e] and also to a.
[u:], as in b_u_ll.
[:u], as in Sc. ab_u_ne = Fr. _u_ as in d_u_, Ger. _[:u]_ long as in
gr_ue_n, B_ue_hne.
[.u], the corresponding short or medium sound, as in Fr. b_u_t, Ger.
M_ue_ller.
oi, as in _oi_l.
ou, as in p_ou_nd; or as _au_ in Ger. H_au_s.
CONSONANTS
Of the _consonants_, B, D, F, H, J, K, L, M, N, NG, P, SH, T, V, Z, always
have their common English sounds, when used to transliterate foreign words.
The letter C is not used by itself in re-writing for pronunciation, S or K
being used instead. The only consonantal symbols, therefore, that require
explanation are the following:--
ch is always as in ri_ch_.
_d_, nearly as _th_ in _th_is = Sp. _d_ in Ma_d_ri_d_, &c.
g is always hard, as in _g_o.
_h_ represents the guttural in Scotch lo_ch_, Ger. na_ch_, also other
similar gutturals.
[n.], Fr. nasal _n_ as in bo_n_.
r represents both English _r_, and _r_ in foreign words, which is generally
much more strongly trilled.
s, always as in _s_o.
th, as _th_ in _th_in.
_th_, as _th_ in _th_is.
w always consonantal, as in _w_e.
x = ks, which are used instead.
y always consonantal, as in _y_ea (Fr. _ligne_ would be re-written
l[=e]ny).
zh, as _s_ in plea_s_ure = Fr. _j_.
* * * * *
AMIEL', Henri Frederic, French-Swiss philosophical writer and poet, born at
Geneva, 1821, died there 1881. Educated at Geneva, he resided a
considerable time abroad, especially in Germany, and was much influenced by
German thought and science. On his return he first held the chair of
aesthetics, and then that of philosophy. He published several volumes of
poetry as well as other works, but he is best known by his _Journal
Intime_, published after his death, and translated into English (1885),
with a critical study by Mrs. Humphry Ward. It shows great critical and
philosophical power, but is pessimistic.
AMIENS ([.a]-m[=e]-a[n.]), a town of France, capital of the department of
Somme, on the railway from Boulogne to Paris. It has a citadel, wide and
regular streets, and several large open areas; a cathedral, one of the
largest and finest Gothic buildings in Europe, founded in 1220 by Bishop
Evrard, after designs made by the architect Robert de Luzarches. Having
water communication with the sea by the Somme, which is navigable for small
vessels, it has a large trade and numerous important manufactures,
especially cotton and woollen goods. It was taken by the Germans in 1870,
and again in 1914, by General von Kluck. Pop. (1911) 93,207.--The _Peace of
Amiens_, concluded between Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Batavian
Republic, 27th March, 1802, put an end for a time to the great war which
had lasted since 1793.
AMIR. See _Emir_.
AMIRANTE ISLANDS ([.a]-m[=e]-r[.a]n't[=a]), a group of eleven small islands
in the Indian Ocean, lying south-west of the Seychelles, and forming a
dependency of Mauritius.
AMLWCH (am'loe_h_), a seaport in North Wales, Island of Anglesey. Pop.
(1921), 2694 (urb. dist.).
AMMANA'TI, Bartolomeo, a sculptor and architect, born at Florence in 1511,
died 1592; executed the _Leda_ at Florence, a gigantic _Neptune_ for St.
Mark's Place at Venice, a colossal _Hercules_ at Padua, and after the
inundation in 1557, which destroyed all the bridges of the Arno, built the
celebrated Trinity Bridge at Florence, finished in 1570. He was an imitator
of Michael Angelo without his inspiration and genius.
AMMERGAU ([.a]m'er-gou), a district in Upper Bavaria, having its centre in
the villages of Ober and Unter Ammergau. The former village is famous on
account of the Passion Play which is performed there, at intervals usually
of ten years.
[Illustration: Ammeter.--Front removed to show details.
A. Large magnet. B. Soft-iron keeper magnetized by magnet and acting as
resistance. D. Cylinder turning within B, and actuated by current entering
at C1, and flowing through spiral wire (not shown) at base of D, and
through coil on cylinder to terminal C2. E. Hair-spring regulating pointer.
F. Pointer stops.]
AM'METER (short for ampere-meter), an instrument used for the measurement
of electric currents. For commercial use the scale is marked so as to read
amperes directly, but for experimental purposes it is usual to have a scale
with divisions numbered in tens, in which case the reading multiplied by a
suitable constant gives the value of the current in amperes. By employing
suitable shunts this admits of the one instrument being used for a number
of ranges.
The types of ammeter and the principles upon which they work are as
follows: (_a_) _Soft-iron type_, the action of a magnetic field on a piece
of soft iron; (_b_) _moving-coil type_ and _dynamometer type_, the action
of a magnetic field on a current-carrying coil; (_c_) _hot-wire type_, the
expansion of a conductor due to the heating produced by the current; (_d_)
_induction type_, the action of a magnetic field on the eddy currents
produced in a metal disc.
The "soft-iron" ammeter can be used for both direct and alternating
currents, is inexpensive, and is sufficiently accurate for commercial use.
For direct-current measurements where a high degree of accuracy is of first
importance, a "moving-coil" ammeter is invariably used.
In alternating-current circuits its place is taken by the dynamometer type,
which reads both direct and alternating currents.
In cases where absence of inductance in the instrument is important, e.g.
in the measurements in wireless-telegraph and telephone circuits, the
"hot-wire" ammeter is used. It measures both direct and alternating
currents, and, when properly used, has a high degree of accuracy.
The "induction" type cannot be used for direct currents, and has the
limitation that with alternating currents it will read correctly only at
the frequency for which it is calibrated.
Almost invariably an ammeter gives its full-scale reading when a small
current, say of the order of one-tenth of an ampere, is passing through the
instrument itself. In order to read larger currents a device is employed
whereby a definite fraction of the current to be measured passes through
the instrument.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. A. Fleming, _A Handbook for the
Electrical Laboratory and Testing Room_ (2 vols.); G. D. Aspinall Parr,
_Electrical Measuring Instruments_.
AMMIA'NUS MARCELLI'NUS, a Roman historian, born at Antioch in Syria about
320, died about 390. He wrote in 31 books (of which the first 13 are lost)
a history of the Caesars, from Nerva to Valens, which was highly thought of
by Gibbon for its fidelity. His MS. was printed for the first time at Rome
in 1474.
[Illustration: Ammon.]
AM'MON (often called AMMON-RA, i.e. Ammon-Sun), an ancient Egyptian deity,
one of the chief gods of the country, identified by the Greeks with their
supreme god Zeus, while the Romans regarded him as the representative of
Jupiter; represented as a ram, as a human being with a ram's head,
ornamented with the solar disc, or simply with the horns of a ram. There
was a celebrated temple of Ammon in the Oasis of Siwah in the Libyan
desert.
AMMON, Oasis of. See _Siwah_.
AMMO'NIA, an alkaline substance, which differs from the other alkalies by
being gaseous, and is hence sometimes called the _volatile alkali_. It is a
colourless pungent gas, composed of nitrogen and hydrogen; formula, NH_3.
It was first prepared by Priestley, who termed it _alkaline air_. He
obtained it from sal-ammoniac by the action of lime, by which method it is
yet generally prepared. It is used for many purposes, both in medicine and
scientific chemistry; not, however, in the gaseous state, but frequently in
solution in water, under the names of _liquid ammonia_, _aqueous ammonia_,
or _spirits of hartshorn_. It is generally prepared from the ammoniacal
liquor obtained as a by-product on distilling coal. Combined with acids,
ammonia forms salts which are of immense value to agriculture. The
well-known odour of farmyard manure is very largely due to the formation of
ammonia during the rotting of the dung. Many animal substances, such as
bones, clippings and shavings of horn, hoof, &c., and certain vegetable
matters yield ammonia when heated. Sal-ammoniac is ammonium chloride.
AMMONI'[)A]CUM, a gum-resinous exudation from an umbelliferous plant, the
_Dor[=e]ma ammoni[)a]cum_. It has a fetid smell, is inflammable, soluble in
water and spirit of wine; used as an antispasmodic, stimulant, and
expectorant in chronic catarrh, bronchitic affections, and asthma; also
used for plasters.
AMMO'NIAPHONE, an instrument, consisting of a metallic tube containing some
substance saturated with ammonia, peroxide of hydrogen, and a few
flavouring compounds, fitted with a mouthpiece to breathe through, which is
said to render the voice strong, clear, rich, and ringing by the inhalation
of the ammoniacal vapour. It was invented by Dr. Carter Moffat, and was
suggested by the presence of ammonia in some quantity in the atmosphere of
Italy--the country of fine singers.
[Illustration: Ammonites obtusus. Ammonites varians]
AM'MONITES, a group of fossil cephalopods, now divided into a large number
of genera, ranging from the Coal Measures (Texas) to the uppermost
cretaceous strata. The ammonites differ from the nautili in having the tube
connecting the chambers placed on the outer margin of the coiled shell,
while the calcareous neck where it passes through the partitions is
directed forwards. The partitions are much folded, producing markings like
the fronds of ferns where they meet the inner wall of the shell. The name
arises from confusion with a coiled gastropod, which was held to resemble
the horns of the Egyptian deity Jupiter Ammon.
AM'MONITES, a Semitic race frequently mentioned in Scripture, descended
from Ben-Ammi, the son of Lot (_Gen._ xix, 38), often spoken of in
conjunction with the Moabites. A predatory and Bedouin race, they inhabited
the desert country east of Gad, their chief city being Rabbath-Ammon
(Philadelphia). Wars between the Israelites and the Ammonites were
frequent; they were overcome by Jephthah, Saul, David, Uzziah, Jotham, &c.
They appear to have existed as a distinct people in the time of Justin
Martyr, but have subsequently become merged in the aggregate of nameless
Arab tribes.
AMMO'NIUM, the name given to the hypothetical radicle (formula, NH_4) of
ammonium salts. It functionates as a metal, has not been isolated, but it
is believed to exist in an amalgam with mercury.
AMMO'NIUS SAC'CAS, a Greek philosopher who lived about A.D. 175-240.
Originally a porter in Alexandria, he derived his epithet from the carrying
of _sacks_ of corn. The son of Christian parents, he abandoned their faith
for the polytheistic philosophy of Greece. His teaching was historically a
transition stage between Platonism and Neo-Platonism. Among his disciples
were Plotinus, Longinus, Origen, &c. The books often attributed to him are
by a Christian philosopher of the same name.
AMMUNI'TION, another form of the word munition, with a more restricted
meaning. It is now taken to include cartridges of all sorts for guns,
howitzers, rifles, and all fire-arms. Ammunition comprises both cartridges
in which explosive and missiles are combined to form one compact article,
and also other forms of projectiles of which the explosive agent forms one
portion and the actual missile the other. Bombs, grenades, shells, powder,
and bullets are all included in the generic term ammunition. As a
qualifying word used adjectivally it is found in ammunition-wagon,
ammunition-carrier, ammunition-mules, ammunition-column, &c. In the British
service the Royal Army Ordnance Corps is entrusted with the provision of
supplies of ammunition generally, while the actual distribution in the
field is the duty of the ammunition-column, a Royal Artillery organization.
AM'NESTY (Gr. _amnestia_, forgetfulness), the releasing of a number of
persons who have been guilty of political offences from the consequence of
these offences. The earliest recorded amnesty in history is that of
Thrasybulus at Athens, and the last act of amnesty passed in Britain was
that of 1747, after the second Jacobite rebellion.
AM'NION, the innermost membrane surrounding the fetus of mammals, birds,
and reptiles.--In botany, a gelatinous fluid in which the embryo of a seed
is suspended, and by which it is supposed to be nourished.
AMO'AFUL, village near Kumassi, West Africa, at which the Ashanti were
defeated by British troops under Wolseley, 31st Jan., 1874.
[Illustration: Amoeba proteus.]
AMOE'BA, a microscopic genus of rhizopodous Protozoa, of which _A.
diffl[)u]ens_, common in freshwater ponds and ditches, is the type. It
exists as a mass of protoplasm, and pushes its body out into finger-like
processes or pseudopodia, and by means of these moves about or grasps
particles of food. There is no distinct mouth, and food is engulfed within
any portion of the soft sarcode body. Reproduction takes place by fission,
or by a single pseudopodium detaching itself from the parent body and
developing into a separate amoeba.
AMOEBE'AN POETRY, poetry in which persons are represented as speaking
alternately, as in some of Virgil's _Eclogues_.
AMOL', a town of Northern Persia, 76 miles N.E. of Teheran. Extensive ruins
tell of former greatness, the most prominent being the mausoleum of Seyed
Quam-u-deen, who died in 1378. Pop. in winter estimated at about 40,000.
AMO'MUM, a genus of plants of the nat. ord. Zinziberaceae (ginger, &c.),
natives of warm climates, and remarkable for the pungency and aromatic
properties of their seeds. Some of the species yield Cardamoms, others
Grains of Paradise.
AMONTILLA'DO, a dry kind of sherry wine of a light colour, highly esteemed.
AMOOR. See _Amur_.
A'MOR, the god of love among the Romans, equivalent to the Gr. _Er[=o]s_.
AMOR'GO (ancient AMORGOS), an island in the Grecian Archipelago, one of the
Eastern Cyclades, 22 miles long, 5 miles broad; area, 106 sq. miles; it has
a town of the same name, with a castle and a large harbour. Pop. 3561.
AM'ORITES, a powerful Canaanitish tribe at the time of the occupation of
the country by the Israelites; occupied the whole of Gilead and Bashan, and
formed two powerful kingdoms--a northern, under Og, who is called King of
Bashan; and a southern, under Sihon, called King of the Amorites; first
attacked and overthrown by Joshua; subsequently subdued, and made tributary
or driven to mingle with the Philistines and other remnants of the
Canaanitish nations.
AMORPHOUS ROCKS or MINERALS, those having no regular structure, or without
crystallization, even in the minutest particles.
AMORPHOZO'A, a term applied to some of the lower groups of animals, as the
sponges and their allies, which have no regular symmetrical structure.
AMORTIZA'TION, in law, the alienation of real property to corporations
(that is, in _mortmain_), prohibited by several English statutes.
A'MOS, one of the minor prophets; flourished under the Kings Uzziah of
Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel (810 to 784 B.C. by the common chronology).
Though engaged in the occupations of a peasant he must have had a
considerable amount of culture, and his book of prophecies has high
literary merits. It contains denunciations of Israel and the surrounding
nations, with promises of the Messiah.
AMOY', an important Chinese trading port, on a small island off the
south-east coast opposite Formosa; has a safe and commodious harbour, and
its merchants are among the wealthiest and most enterprising in China; one
of the five ports opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of Nanking in
1842. The privilege was confirmed and extended by the treaty of Tien-tsin
in 1858, and the port is now open to all countries. Pop. 114,000.
AMPEL'IDAE. See _Chatterers_.
AMPERE ([.a][n.]-p[=a]r), Andre-Marie, a celebrated French mathematician
and philosopher, founder of the science of electro-dynamics, born at Lyons
in 1775, died at Marseilles in 1836; professor of mathematical analysis at
the Polytechnic School, Paris, and of physics at the College of France.
What is known as _Ampere's Theory_ is that magnetism consists in the
existence of electric currents circulating round the particles of magnetic
bodies, being in different directions round different particles when the
bodies are unmagnetized, but all in the same direction when they are
magnetized.
AMPERE, Jean-Jacques-Joseph-Antoine, historian and professor of French
literature in the College of France; the only son of Andre-Marie Ampere;
born at Lyons 1800, died 1864; chief works: _Histoire Litteraire de la
France avant le 12^{_e_} siecle_ (1839); _Introduction a l'Histoire de la
Litterature francaise au moyen age_ (1841); _Litterature, Voyages et
Poesies_ (1833); _La Grece, Rome et Dante, Etudes Litteraires d'apres
Nature; l'Histoire romaine a Rome_ (4 vols. 8vo, 1856-64); _Promenades en
Amerique_ (1855); _Cesar, Scenes historiques_ (1859), full of hostile
allusions to the French Empire.
AMPERE (am'p[=a]r), in electricity, the unit employed in measuring the
strength or intensity of an electric current, being equivalent to the
current produced by the electro-motive force of one volt in a wire having
the resistance of one ohm. The name (cf. _Farad_, _Coulomb_, _Watt_, &c.)
is derived from that of the well-known physicist, Ampere. An _ampere-meter_
or _ammeter_ is an instrument by which the strength of an electric current
is given in amperes.
AMPHIB'IA, a class of vertebrate animals, which in their early life breathe
by gills or branchiae, and afterwards partly or entirely by lungs. The
Frog, breathing in its tadpole state by gills and afterwards throwing off
these organs and breathing entirely by lungs in its adult state, is an
example of the latter phase of amphibian existence. The Proteus of the
underground caves of Central Europe exemplifies forms in which the gills of
early life are retained throughout life, and in which lungs are developed
in addition to the gills. A second character of this group consists in the
presence of two occipital 'condyles', or processes by means of which the
skull articulates with the spine or vertebral column; Reptiles possessing
one condyle only. The class is divided into four orders: the Ophiomorpha
(or serpentiform), represented by the Blindworms, in which limbs are
wanting and the body is snake-like; the Urodela or 'Tailed' Amphibians,
including the Newts, Proteus, Siren, &c.; the Anoura, or Tailless Amphibia,
represented by the Frogs and Toads; and the Labyrinthodontia, which
includes the extinct forms known as Labyrinthodons. The term Amphibia was
originally employed by Linnaeus in his _Systema Naturae_, and adopted by
Cuvier in his _Tableau Elementaire_. See _Batrachia_.
AMPHIBOL'OGY, in logic, an equivocal phrase or sentence, not from the
double sense of any of the words, but from its admitting a double
construction, as 'The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose'.
AMPHIC'TYONIC LEAGUE (or COUNCIL), in ancient Greece, a confederation of
tribes for the protection of religious worship, but which also discussed
questions of international law, and matters affecting their political
union. The most important was that of the twelve northern tribes which met
alternately at Delphi and Thermopylae. The tribes sent two deputies each,
who assembled with great solemnity; composed the public dissensions, and
the quarrels of individual cities, by force or persuasion; punished civil
and criminal offences, and particularly transgressions of the law of
nations, and violations of the temple of Delphi. Its calling on the States
to punish the Phocians for plundering Delphi caused the Sacred Wars,
595-586, 448-447, 357-346 B.C.
AMPHI'ON, in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and Anti[)o]p[=e], and husband of
Ni[)o]b[=e]. He had miraculous skill in music, being taught by Mercury, or,
according to others, by Apollo. In poetic legend he is said to have availed
himself of his skill when building the walls of Thebes--the stones moving
and arranging themselves in proper position at the sound of his lyre. See
_Zethus_.
AMPHIOXUS. See _Lancelet_.
[Illustration: Amphipoda
1. Shore-jumper (_Orchestia littoralis_), 2. Portion showing the
respiratory organs _a a a_.]
AMPHIP'ODA, an order of sessile-eyed malacostracan crustaceans, with feet
directed partly forward and partly backward. Many species are found in
springs and rivulets, others in salt water. The sand-hopper and
shore-jumper are examples.
AMPHIP'ROSTYLE, in architecture, said of a structure having the form of an
ancient Greek or Roman oblong rectangular temple, with a prostyle or
portico on each of its ends or fronts, but with no columns on its sides or
flanks.
AMPHISBAE'NA (Gr., from _amphis_, both ways, and _bainein_, to go), a genus
of serpentiform, limbless, lacertilian reptiles; body cylindrical,
destitute of scales, and divided into numerous annular segments; the tail
obtuse, and scarcely to be distinguished from the head, whence the belief
that it moved equally well with either end foremost. There are several
species, found in tropical America. They feed on ants and earthworms, and
were formerly, but erroneously, deemed poisonous. In Greek mythology the
amphisbaena was a serpent believed to possess two heads.
AMPHIS'CII (Gr. _amphi_, on both sides, and _skia_, shadow), a term
sometimes applied to the inhabitants of the intertropical regions, whose
shadows at noon in one part of the year are cast to the north and in the
other to the south, according as the sun is in the southern or northern
signs.
[Illustration: Amphitheatre at Pompeii]
AMPHITHE'ATRE, an ancient Roman building of an oval form without a roof,
having a central area (the _arena_) encompassed with rows of seats, rising
higher as they receded from the centre, on which people used to sit to view
the combats of gladiators and of wild beasts, and other sports. The first
amphitheatre at Rome was that constructed by C. Scribonius Curio, 59 B.C.
The Colosseum at Rome is the largest of all the ancient amphitheatres,
being capable of containing 100,000 persons, 87,000 of whom occupied
numbered and reserved seats. That at Verona is one of the best examples
remaining. Its dimensions are 502 feet by 401, and it is 98 feet high. The
name means 'both-ways theatre', or 'theatre all round', the theatre forming
only a semicircular building.
AMPHITRI'T[=E], in Greek mythology, daughter of Oce[)a]nus and Tethys, or
of Nereus and Doris, and wife of Poseidon (or Neptune), represented as
drawn in a chariot of shells by Tritons, with a trident in her hand. In the
Homeric poems she is the personification of the Sea, and her marriage to
Poseidon is alluded to in a number of scenes depicted on ancient monuments.
Such are a bas-relief in the glyptothek at Munich and a mosaic in the
museum at Naples.
AMPHIT'RYON, in Greek legend, King of Thebes, son of Alcaeus, and husband
of Alcmena. Plautus, and after him Moliere, have made an amour of Jupiter
with Alcmena the subject of amusing comedies.
AMPHIU'MA, a genus of amphibians which frequent the lakes and stagnant
waters of North America. The adults retain the clefts at which the gills of
the tadpole projected.
[Illustration: Amphora
From a Roman specimen in the British Museum]
AM'PH[)O]RA, a vessel used by the Greeks and Romans for holding liquids;
commonly tall and narrow, with two handles and a pointed end which fitted
into a stand or was stuck in the ground to enable it to stand upright; used
also as a cinerary urn, and as a liquid measure--Greek = 9 gallons; Roman =
6 gallons.
AMPLEX'ICAUL, in botany, said of a leaf that embraces and nearly surrounds
the stem.
AM'PLITUDE, in astronomy, the distance of any celestial body (when referred
by a secondary circle to the horizon) from the east or west points.
AMPTHILL, a market-town of England, Bedfordshire, about 7 miles south-west
of Bedford. Pop. (1921), 2269.
AMPUL'LA, the Latin name for a vessel bellying out like a jug, which
contained unguents for the bath; also a vessel for drinking at table. The
ampulla has also been employed for ceremonial purposes, such as holding the
oil or chrism used in various Church rites and for anointing monarchs at
their coronation. The ampulla of the English sovereigns now in use is an
eagle, weighing about 10 oz., of the purest chased gold, which passed
through various hands to the Black Prince. The ampulla of the French kings,
kept at Rheims in the tomb of St. Remy, was destroyed in 1793.
AMPUTA'TION, in surgery, that operation by which a member is separated from
the body.
AMRA'OTI, a town of British India in Berar; it is celebrated for its
cotton, and is a place of good trade. Pop. 35,000. The district has an area
of 4733 sq. miles. Pop. 876,000.
AM'RITSIR, or AMRITSAR ('the pool of immortality'), a flourishing
commercial town of India, capital of a district of the same name, in the
Punjab, the centre of the Sikh religion since the end of the sixteenth
century. It has considerable manufactures of shawls and silks; and receives
its name from the sacred pond constructed by Ram Das, the apostle of the
Sikhs, in which the Sikhs and other Hindus immerse themselves that they may
be purified from all sin. Pop. 152,756.--The district of Amritsir has an
area of 1601 sq. miles. Pop. 900,000.
AM'RU, originally an opponent, and subsequently a zealous supporter of
Mahomet, and one of the ablest of the Mahommedan warriors. He brought Egypt
under the power of the Caliph Omar in 638, and governed it wisely till his
death in 663. The burning of the famous Alexandrian Library has been
generally attributed to him, though only on the authority of a writer who
lived six centuries later.
AM'STERDAM (that is, 'the dam of the Amstel'), one of the chief commercial
cities of Europe, capital of Holland (but not the residence of the
sovereign), situated at the confluence of the Amstel with the Y or Ij, an
arm of the Zuider-Zee. On account of the lowness of the site of the city
the greater part of it is built on piles. It is divided by numerous canals
into about 90 islands, which are connected by nearly 300 bridges. Many of
the streets have a canal in the middle with broad brick-paved quays on
either side, planted with rows of trees; the houses are generally of brick,
many of them six or seven stories high, with pointed gables turned to the
streets. Among the public buildings are the old stadthouse, the work of
Jacob van Kempen, commenced in 1648 and finished in 1655, which is now a
royal palace, the interior being decorated by the Dutch painters and
sculptors of the seventeenth century with their masterpieces; the
justiciary hall, an imitation of a Greek temple; the town hall (fourteenth
century); the exchange, a handsome building, constructed in 1836 on the
site of the old bourse built in 1608; the Palace of National Industry; the
national museum; and the central railway station. The old church is a
structure of the fourteenth century with stained-glass windows painted by
Digman in the fifteenth century. The chief educational institutions of the
kingdom are here, including the city university, a free university,
gymnasiums and other secondary schools, the national picture gallery or
museum, containing many masterpieces of Dutch artists, &c. Among its
numerous industries may be mentioned as a speciality the cutting and
polishing of diamonds. It has also factories and workshops dealing with
wool, cotton, silk, tobacco, leather, machinery, and metal goods, glass,
liqueurs, cocoa, &c. The harbour, formed by the Y, lies along the whole of
the north side of the city, and is surrounded by various docks and basins.
The trade is very great, being much facilitated by the great ship-canal (15
miles long, opened 1876, admitting the largest vessels) connecting the Y
directly with the North Sea at Y-Muiden, where the entrance is between two
long piers projecting into the sea. Another canal of much less importance,
the North Holland Canal (46 miles long, 20 feet deep), connects Amsterdam
with the Helder. Between the harbour and the Zuider Zee the Y is now
crossed by a great dam in which are locks to admit vessels and regulate the
amount of water in the North Sea Canal. The oversea trade of Amsterdam has
immensely increased since the opening of the great canal, and the foreign
trade of the kingdom practically centres in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. There
is also a large trade with the interior by railway, river, and canal. In
the beginning of the thirteenth century Amsterdam was but a fishing
village. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it had attained some
importance, especially through the Baltic trade. The ruin of Antwerp
through the troubles with Spain was greatly to its advantage, and during
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Amsterdam was one of the
wealthiest and most flourishing cities in the world. Its forced alliance
with France ruined its trade, but since 1813 its commerce has revived.
Amsterdam is the birthplace of Spinoza and of the painters van de Velde and
van der Neer. Pop. (1919), 647,120.
AMSTERDAM, a town of New York State, United States, on the Mohawk River and
the Erie Canal, 33 miles N.W. of Albany; a busy manufacturing town. Pop.
(1920), 33,524.
AMSTERDAM, New, a town in British Guiana, on the east side of the River
Berbice, near the sea, with some trade as a seaport. Pop. 8903.
AMSTERDAM ISLAND, a small and almost inaccessible island in the Indian
Ocean, about halfway in a direct line between the Cape of Good Hope and
Tasmania. It is sparsely provided with vegetation, and inhabited only by
sea-birds, but it was taken possession of by France in 1893, along with the
neighbouring St. Paul. It was discovered by the Dutch in 1633.
AMSTETTEN, a town in Lower Austria, on the Ybbs, and on the railway from
Vienna to Linz. In 1805 a victory was gained here by the French under Murat
over the Russians under Bagration. Pop. 3760.
AMUCK', or AMUK, to run, a phrase applied to natives of the Eastern
Archipelago, who are occasionally seen to rush out in a frantic state of
temporary mental derangement, making indiscriminate and murderous assaults
on all that come in their way.
AMU-DARYA. See _Oxus_.
AMU-DARYA, district. See _Turkestan_.
AM'ULET, a piece of stone, metal, &c., marked with certain figures or
characters, which people in some countries wear about them, superstitiously
deeming them a protection against diseases, enchantments, witchcraft, &c.
According to Pliny the elder, the _bulla_, or amulet, was first hung by
Tarquinius Priscus on the neck of his son. Articles that archaeologists
have decided to be amulets have been found dating from prehistoric times,
and they were commonly worn in ancient times by the Jews, Greeks, and
Romans, as they still are by Persians, Arabs, and many other peoples. See
_Charms_.
AMUNDSEN, Captain Roald, Norwegian polar explorer, born at Borge, Norway,
16th July, 1872. He was first-lieutenant on the _Belgica_ during the
Belgian south polar expedition, 1897-9. He then planned an expedition to
the area of the north magnetic pole and a north-west passage by water. On
17th June, 1903, he embarked from Christiania on the small sailing vessel
the _Gjoea_, with a company of six men, and reached King William Land,
where the vessel remained for two years. Here he made his headquarters, and
by numerous excursions was able to prove that the north magnetic pole has
no stationary position, but is in continual movement. On 11th July, 1906,
his vessel reached the Behring Strait, and on 30th August entered the
Pacific. After his return Amundsen began his preparations for an Antarctic
expedition, and on 9th August, 1910, he sailed from Norway on Nansen's
ship, the _Fram_, and reached the South Pole on 7th March, 1912. He
published an account of his North-West Passage expedition, entitled
_Sydpolen. Den norske Sydpolsfaerd med_ Fram _1910-12_. An English
translation was published in 1913. Amundsen started on a North Polar
Expedition in 1918.
AMUR', or AMOOR', one of the largest rivers of Eastern Asia, formed by the
junction of the Rivers Shilka and Argun; flows first in a south-eastern and
then in a north-eastern direction till it falls into an arm of the Sea of
Okhotsk, opposite the Island of Sakhalin, after a course of 1500 miles. It
forms, for a large portion of its course, part of the boundary-line between
the Russian and the Chinese dominions, and is navigable throughout for four
months in the year.--_Amoor Territory._ In 1858 Russia acquired from China
the territory on the left bank of the Upper and Middle Amoor, together with
that on both banks of the Lower Amoor. The western portion of the territory
was organized as a separate province, with the name of the Amoor (area,
154,795 sq. miles. Pop. 261,500). The eastern portion was joined to the
Maritime Province of Eastern Siberia.
AM'URATH, or MURAD, the name of several Ottoman sultans. See _Ottoman
Empire_.
AMYCLAE (a-m[=i]'kl[=e]), a town of ancient Greece, the chief seat of the
Achaeans in Laconia, a short distance from Sparta, by which it was
conquered about 800 B.C.
AMYG'DALOID (Gr. _amygdal[=e]_, an almond), meaning 'almond-shaped', a term
used in anatomy and geology.
AMYG'DALUS, the genus to which the almond belongs.
AM'YL, in chemistry, a hypothetic radicle believed to exist in many
compounds, especially the fusel-oil series, and having the formula
C_5H_{11}.--_Amyl Nitrite_, or _Nitrite of Amyl_, an amber-coloured fluid,
smelling and tasting like essence of pears, which has been employed as an
anaesthetic and also in relieving cardiac distress, as in angina pectoris.
AM'YLENE (C_5H_{10}), an ethereal liquid with an aromatic odour, prepared
from fusel-oil. It possesses anaesthetic properties, and has been tried as
a substitute for chloroform, but is very dangerous.
AMYL'IC ALCOHOL, one of the products of the fermentation of grain, &c.,
commonly known by the name of fusel-oil (q.v.).
AMYOT (ae-mi-[=o]), Jacques, French writer and scholar, whose translations
from the Greek have themselves become classics, was born in 1513, and died
Bishop of Auxerre in 1593, having been for twelve years a professor of
classics at Bourges, and having enjoyed the patronage of Margaret of
Navarre and Henry II. His chief translations are those of Plutarch's
_Lives_ and his _Morals_, the _Aethiopica_ of Heliodorus, and the _Daphnis
and Chloe_ of Longus. Sir Thomas North's English translation of Plutarch
(1575), of which Shakespeare made much use, was derived from that of Amyot.
AMYRIDA'CEAE, a nat. ord. of plants, consisting of tropical trees or
shrubs, the leaves, bark, and fruit of which abound in fragrant resinous
and balsamic juices. Myrrh, frankincense, and the gum-elemi of commerce are
among their products. Among the chief genera of the order are _Amyris_,
_Balsamodendron_, _Boswellia_, and _Canarium_.
A'NA, the neuter plural termination of Latin adjectives in _-[=a]nus_,
often forming an affix with the names of eminent men to denote a collection
of their memorable sayings--thus _Scaligeriana_, _Johnsoniana_, the sayings
of Scaliger, of Johnson; or to denote a collection of anecdotes, or gossipy
matter, as in _boxiana_. Hence, as an independent noun, books recording
such sayings; the sayings themselves.
ANABAP'TISTS (from the Gr. _anabaptizein_, to rebaptize), a name given to a
Christian sect by their adversaries, because, as they objected to infant
baptism, they rebaptized those who joined their body. Their doctrine is
based upon the words of Christ in _St. Mark_, xvi, 16. The founder of the
sect appears to have been Nicolas Storch, a disciple of Luther's, who seems
to have aimed also at the reorganization of society based on civil and
political equality. Gathering round him a number of fiery spirits, among
whom was Thomas Muenzer, he incited the peasantry of Suabia and Franconia
to insurrection--the doctrine of a community of goods being now added to
their creed. This insurrection was quelled in 1525, when Muenzer was put to
the torture and beheaded. After the death of Muenzer the sectaries
dispersed in all directions, spreading their doctrines wherever they went.
In 1534 the town of Muenster in Westphalia became their centre of action.
Under the leadership of Bockhold and Matthias their numbers increased
daily, and being joined by the restless spirits of the adjoining towns,
they soon made themselves masters of the town and expelled their
adversaries. Matthias became their prophet, but he fell in a sally against
the Bishop of Muenster, Count Waldeck, who had laid siege to the city.
Bockhold then became leader, assuming the name of John of Leyden, King of
the New Jerusalem, and Muenster became a theatre of all the excesses of
fanaticism, lust, and cruelty. The town was eventually taken (June, 1535),
and Bockhold and a great many of his partisans suffered death. This was the
last time that the movement assumed anything like political importance. In
the meantime some of the apostles, who were sent out by Bockhold to extend
the limits of his kingdom, had been successful in various places, and many
independent teachers, who preached the same doctrines, continued active in
the work of founding a new empire of pure Christians. It is true that they
rejected the practice of polygamy, community of goods, and intolerance
towards those of different opinions which had prevailed in Muenster; but
they enjoined upon their adherents the other doctrines of the early
Anabaptists, and certain heretical opinions in regard to the humanity of
Christ, occasioned by the controversies of that day about the sacrament.
The most celebrated of those Anabaptist prophets were Melchior Hoffmann,
the founder of the Hoffmannists or Millenarians; Galenus Abrahamssohn, from
whom the sect of the Galenists were called; and Simon Menno, founder of
various sects known as Mennonites. Menno's principles are contained in his
_Principles of the True Christian Faith_ (1556), a work which is held as
authoritative on points of doctrine and worship among the Baptist
communities at the present day. The application of the term Anabaptist to
the general body of Baptists throughout the world is unwarranted, because
these sects have nothing in common with the bodies which sprung up in
various countries of Europe during the Reformation, except the practice of
adult baptism. The Baptists themselves repudiate the name Anabaptist, as
they claim to baptize according to the original institution of the rite,
and never repeat baptism in the case of those who in their opinion have
been so baptized. It is under the designation of Mennonites that they exist
to-day, principally in Holland, Germany, and the United States.
AN'ABAS. See _Climbing-perch_.
ANAB'ASIS (Gr. _anabasis_, a march up country), the title of Xenophon's
celebrated account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against his
brother Artaxerxes, King of Persia. The title is also given to Arrian's
work which records the campaigns of Alexander the Great.
AN'ABLEPS, a genus of fishes of the perch family, found in the rivers of
Guiana, consisting of but one species, remarkable for a peculiar structure
of the eyes, in which there is a division of the iris and cornea, by
transverse ligaments forming two pupils, and making the whole eye appear
double. The young are brought forth alive.
ANABOLISM (Gr. _ana_, up, and _bole_, a throw), a biological term suggested
by Michael Foster, and used by Gaskell in 1886, and meaning the building-up
of organic life, or the process by which a substance is transformed into
another which is more complex. Anabolism is the constructive phase of
metabolism (q.v.).
ANACANTHI'NI (Gr. neg. prefix _an_, and _akantha_, a spine), an order of
osseous fishes, including the cod, plaice, &c., with spineless fins,
cycloid or ctenoid scales, the ventral fins either absent or below the
pectorals, and ductless swim-bladder.
ANACARDIA'CEAE, a nat. ord. of plants, consisting of tropical trees and
shrubs which secrete an acrid resinous juice, which is often used as a
varnish. Mastic, Japan lacquer, and Martaban varnish are some of their
products. The cashoo or cashew (genus Anacardium), the pistacia, sumach,
mango, &c., are members of the order.
ANACH'ARIS, a genus of plants, nat. ord. Hydrocharidaceae, the species of
which grow in ponds and streams of fresh water; water-thyme or water-weed.
It appeared in Britain in the nineteenth century. _A. Alsinastrum_ has been
introduced from North America into European rivers, canals, and ponds, and
by its rapid growth in dense tangled masses tends to choke them so as
materially to impede navigation. The plants in our canals perfect no seed,
their spread being due to vegetative vigour only.
ANACH'RONISM, an error of chronology by which things are represented as
coexisting which did not coexist; applied also to anything foreign to or
out of keeping with a specified time. Thus it is an anachronism when
Shakespeare, in _Troilus and Cressida_, makes Hector quote Aristotle. There
are anachronisms in the _Cid_ and the _Nibelungenlied_, and also in Dante's
_Inferno_, when the poet introduces pagan mythology into the Christian
hell.
ANACOLU'THON, a want of grammatical and logical sequence in the structure
of a sentence.
[Illustration: Anaconda (_Python tigris_)]
ANACON'DA, the popular name of two of the largest species of the serpent
tribe, viz. a Ceylonese species of the genus Python (_P. tigris_), said to
have been met with 33 feet long; and _Eunectes mur[=i]nus_, a native of
tropical America, allied to the boa-constrictor, and the largest of the
serpent tribe, attaining the length of 40 feet. They frequent swamps and
rivers, are without poison fangs, and kill their victims by constriction.
ANACONDA, a town of the United States, Montana, with the largest
copper-smelting works in the world. Pop. (1920), 11,668.
ANAC'REON, an amatory lyric Greek poet of the sixth century B.C., native of
Teos, in Ionia. Only a few fragments of his works have come down to us; the
collection of odes that usually passes under the name of Anacreon is mostly
the production of a later time, the poetry of the real Anacreon being much
less frivolous.
ANADYOM'[)E]N[=E] (Gr., 'she who comes forth'), a name given to
Aphrodit[=e] (Venus) when she was represented as rising from the sea, as in
the celebrated painting by Apelles, painted for the temple of Aesculapius
at Cos, and afterwards in the temple of Julius Caesar at Rome.
ANADYR ([.a]-nae'd[=e]r), the most easterly of the larger rivers of Siberia
and of all Asia; rises in the Stanovoi Mountains, and falls into the Gulf
of Anadyr; length, 600 miles.
ANAE'MIA (Gr., 'want of blood'), a medical term applied to an unhealthy
condition of the body, in which there is a diminution of the red corpuscles
which the blood should contain. The principal symptoms are paleness and
general want of colour in the skin, languor, emaciation, want of appetite,
fainting, palpitation, &c.
ANAESTHE'SIA, or ANAESTHE'SIS, a state of insensibility to pain, produced
by inhaling chloroform, or by the application of other anaesthetic agents.
ANAESTHET'ICS are medical agents chiefly used in surgical operations for
the abolition of pain. They are divided into (1) _general anaesthetics_,
those in which complete unconsciousness is produced; (2) _local
anaesthetics_, those which act upon the nerves of a limited area alone.
The earliest record of attempts to produce anaesthesia is to be found in
the thirteenth century. Since then many agents have been tried. The first
scientific effort was in 1800, when Sir Humphry Davy experimented with
nitrous oxide, but without practical result. In 1844 Wells, an American
dentist, used nitrous oxide, also without result. In 1846 Morton, another
American dentist, used ether, and from that time it was increasingly used
in America. In the same year the first operation under ether was performed
in University College Hospital, London. In 1847 Sir James Simpson
(Edinburgh) introduced chloroform. Through his influence it was soon
largely used throughout England and Scotland, and continued to be the chief
anaesthetic till about the end of the nineteenth century, when ether again
became popular in England. To-day, in England, as always in the United
States, ether is the most widely-used anaesthetic. Much controversy exists
regarding the respective merits of ether and chloroform. The general
opinion is, that ether is on the whole safer, but more liable, in the
British climate, to be followed by bronchitis; while there are various
conditions when chloroform is still preferable. They are frequently
combined in use. _Nitrous-oxide gas_ (laughing gas) is much used in
dentistry. Lately, nitrous oxide has been used with ether; while ether and
oxygen together were much used with the British Expeditionary Force in
France during the European War (1914-8). The administration of all
anaesthetics is helped when the patient is given a hypodermic injection of
morphia shortly before. _Twilight sleep_, increasingly used in childbirth,
is the production of a partial anaesthesia by the administration of
scopolamin morphine. _Local anaesthetics_ are much used in minor surgery,
and with proper technique act effectively. Cocaine was the first of these,
and is still widely used. Of later developments, eucaine and novocaine are
best known. Spinal anaesthesia is the injection of stovaine or similar
substance into the spinal cord, producing anaesthesia of a large part of
the body, varying according to the site of the injection.
ANAGAL'LIS, a genus of the nat. ord. Primulaceae, to which belongs the
Pimpernel, the 'poor man's weather-glass'. See _Pimpernel_.
ANAGNI ([.a]-naen'y[=e]), a town of Italy, province of Rome; the seat of a
bishopric erected in 487. Pop. 10,400.
AN'AGRAM, the transposition of the letters of a word or words so as to form
a new word or phrase, a connection in meaning being frequently preserved;
thus, _evil_, _vile_; _Horatio Nelson_, _Honor est a Nilo_ (honour is from
the Nile). The seventeenth century was the golden age of the anagram, but
it was employed by the Hebrews and the Greeks.