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, NH₄) 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.

Amœba proteus.

Amœ´ba, a microscopic genus of rhizopodous Protozoa, of which A. difflŭens, 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 amœba.

Amœbe´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. Zinziberaceæ (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. Erōs.

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´idæ. See Chatterers.

Ampère (a˙n˙-pār), André-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 Ampère'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.

Ampère, Jean-Jacques-Joseph-Antoine, historian and professor of French literature in the College of France; the only son of André-Marie Ampère; born at Lyons 1800, died 1864; chief works: Histoire Littéraire de la France avant le 12^e siècle (1839); Introduction à l'Histoire de la Littérature française au moyen âge (1841); Littérature, Voyages et Poésies (1833); La Grèce, Rome et Dante, Études Littéraires d'après Nature; l'Histoire romaine à Rome (4 vols. 8vo, 1856-64); Promenades en Amérique (1855); César, Scènes historiques (1859), full of hostile allusions to the French Empire.

Ampere (am´pār), in electricity, the unit employed in