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 Berár; 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 archæologists 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 Gjöa, 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