FIG. 4.—Amphioxus lanceolatus laid open ventrally. (After Rathke, slightly altered.) m, Mouth appearing as an elongated slit when relaxed (as in the lamprey); p, perforated pharynx; e, endostyle; g, gonads; l, liver; at, level of atriopore; i, intestine; an, anus. In this species the atrium is produced as an asymmetrical blind pouch behind the atriopore as far as the anus.



is really the branchiogenital region, although the fact is not apparent in external view. The ventral side of the body in the atrial region is broad and convex, in the atrial region is broad and convex, so that the body presents the appearance of a spherical triangle in transverse section, the apex being formed by the dorsal fin and the angles bordered by two hollow folds, the metapleural folds, each of which contains a continuous longitudinal lymph-space, the metapleural canal. In the genus Branchiostoma the metapleural folds terminate symmetrically shortly behind the atriopore, but in Heteropleuron the right metapleur passes uninterruptedly into the median crest of the ventral fin (fig. 1). In this connexion it may also be mentioned that in all cases the right half of the oral hood is directly continuous with the rostral fin (fig. 2). The abdominal region comprises a short stretch of body between atriopore and anus, the termination of the alimentary canal. It is characterized by the presence of a special development of the lophioderm or median fin-system, namely, the ventral fin, which is composed of two portions, a lower keel-like portion, which underlies an upper chambered portion, each chamber containing typically a pair of gelatinous fin rays. Finally, the caudal region comprises the post-anal division of the trunk. The keel of the ventral fin is continued past the anus into the expanded caudal fin, and so it happens that the anal opening is displaced from the middle line to the left side of the fin. In Asymmetron the caudal region is remarkable for the curious elongation of the notochord, which is produced far beyond the last of the myotomes.

Alimentary, Respiratory and Excretory Systems.—Although the function of the two latter systems of organs is the purification of the blood, they are not usually considered together, and it is therefore the more remarkable that their close association in Amphioxus renders it necessary to treat them in common. The alimentary canal is a perfectly straight tube lined throughout by ciliated epithelium. As food particles pass in through the mouth they become enveloped in a slimy substance (secreted by the endostyle) and conveyed down the gut by the action of the vibratile cilia as a continuous food-rope, the peristaltic movements of the gut-wall being very feeble. The first part of the alimentary canal consists of the pharynx or branchial sac, the side walls of which are perforated by upwards of sixty pairs of elongated slits, the gill-clefts. Each primary gill-cleft becomes divided into two by a tongue-bar which grows down secondarily from the upper wall of the cleft and fuses with the ventral wall. New clefts continue to form at the posterior end of the pharynx during the adult life of the animal. The gill-clefts open directly from the cavity of the pharynx into that of the atrium, and so give egress to the respiratory current which enters the mouth with the food (fig. 4). The atrium or atrial chamber is a peripharyngeal cavity of secondary origin effecting the enclosure of the gill-clefts, which in the larva opened directly to the exterior. The atrium is thus analogous to the opercular cavity of fishes and tadpoles, and, as stated above, remains in communication with the exterior by means of the atriopore. The primary and secondary bars which separate and divide the successive gill-clefts from one another are traversed by blood-vessels which run from a simple tubular contractile ventral branchial vessel along the bars into a dorsal aorta. The ventral branchial vessel lies below the hypobranchial groove or endostyle; and is the representative of a heart. As water for respiration streams through the clefts, gaseous interchange takes place between the circulating colourless blood and the percolating water. The pharynx projects freely into the atrium; it is surrounded at the sides and below by the continuous atrial cavity, but dorsally it is held in position in two ways. First, its dorsal wall (which is grooved to form the hyperpharyngeal groove) is closely adherent to the sheath of the notochord; and secondly, the pharynx is attached through the intermediation of the primary bars. These are suspended to the muscular body- wall by a double membrane, called the ligamentum denticulatum, which forms at once the roof of the atrial chamber and the floor of a persistent portion of the original body-cavity or coelom (the dorsal coelomic canal on each side of the pharynx). The ligamentum denticulatum is thus lined on one side by the epiblastic atrial epithelium, and on the other by mesoblastic coelomic epithelium. Now this ligament is inserted into the primary bars some distance below the upper limits of the gill-clefts, and it therefore follows that, corresponding with each tongue-bar, the atrial cavity is produced upward beyond the insertion of the ligament into a series of bags or pockets, which may be called the atrial pouches. At the top of each of these pouches there is a minute orifice, the aperture of a small tubule lying above each pouch in the dorsal coelom. These tubules are the excretory tubules or nephridia. They communicate with the coelom by several openings or nephrostomes, and with the atrium by a single opening in each case, the nephridiopore. It is important to emphasize the fact that in Amphioxus the excretory tubules are co-extensive with the gill-clefts. The perforated pharynx terminates some distance in front of the atriopore. At the level of its posterior end a pair of funnelashaped pouches of the atrium are produced forwards into the dorsal coelom. These are the atrial coelomic funnels or brown funnels, so called on account of the characteristic pigmentation of their walls. There are reasons for supposing that these funnels are vestiges of an ancient excretory system, which has given way by substitution to the excretory tubules described above. In the same region of the body, namely, close behind the pharynx, a large diverticulum is given off from the ventral side of the gut. This is the hepatic caecum (fig. 2,2,q, fig. 4, l), which is quite median at its first origin, but, as it grows in length, comes to lie against the right wall of the pharynx. Although within the atrial cavity, it is separated from the latter by a narrow coelomic space, bounded towards the atrium by coelomic and atrial epithelium. No food passes into the hepatic caecum, which has been de finitely shown on embryological and physiological grounds to be the simplest persistent form of the vertebrate liver.

Nervous System.—As has already been indicated, a solid subcylindrical elastic rod, the notochord, surrounded by a sheath of laminar connective tissue, the cordal sheath, lies above the alimentary canal in contact with its dorsal wall, and extends beyond it both in front and behind to the obtusely pointed extremities of the body. This notochord represents the persistent primordial skeletal axis which, in the higher Craniata (though not so in the lower), gives way by substitution to the segmented vertebral column. Immediately above the notochord there lies another subcylindrical cord, also surrounded by a sheath of connective tissue. This cord is neither elastic nor solid, but consists of nerve tissue, fibres and ganglion cells, surrounding a small central canal. For the sake of uniformity in nomenclature this nerve-cord may be called the neurochord. It is the central nervous system, and contains within itself the elements of the brain and spinal marrow of higher forms. The neurochord tapers towards its posterior end, where it is coextensive with the notochord, but ends abruptly in front, some distance behind the tip of the snout. The neurochord attains its greatest thickness not at its anterior end but some way behind this region; but the central canal dilates at the anterior extremity to form a thin-walled cerebral vesicle, in the front wall of which there is an aggregation of dark pigment cells constituting an eyespot, visible through the transparent skin (fig. 1). There are two pairs of specialized cerebral nerves innervating the praeoral lobe, and provided with peripheral ganglia placed near the termination of the smaller branches. Corresponding with each pair of myotomes, and subject to the same alternation, two pairs of spinal nerves arise from the neurochord, namely, a right and left pair of compact dorsal sensory roots without ganglionic enlargement, and a right and left pair of ventral motor roots composed of loose fibres issuing separately from the neurochord and passing directly to their termination on the muscle-plates of the myotomes. The first dorsal spinal nerve coincides in position with the myocomma which separates the first myotome from the second on each side, and thereafter the successive dorsal roots pass through the substance of the myocommata on their way to the skin; they are therefore septal or intersegmental in position. The ventral roots, on the contrary, are myal or segmental in position. In addition to the cerebral eyespot there are large numbers of minute black pigmented bodies beside and below the central canal of the neurochord, commencing from the level of the third myotome. It has been determined that these bodies are of the nature of eyes (Becheraugen, R. Hesse), each consisting of two cells, a cup-shaped pigment cell and a triangular retinal cell. These may be called the spinal eyes, and it is said that they are disposed in such a way as to receive illumination preferentially from the right side, although this fact has no relation with the side upon which Amphioxus may lie upon the sand. When kept in captivity the animal often lies upon one side on the surface of the sand, but on either side indifferently. Over the cerebral eye there is a small orifice placed to the left of the base of the cephalic fin, leading into a pit which extends from the surface of the body to the surface of the cerebral vesicle; this is known as A. von Kolliker's olfactory pit.

Reproductive System.—The sexes are separate, and the male or female

Fig. 5.—Diagram of embryo gonads, or Amphioxus seen from above in optical section. (Adapted from Hatschek.) pc, Praechordal head-cavity of embryo; cc, collar-cavity (first somite); my, mesodermic somites (myocoelomic or archenteric pouches); ch, notochord with the neural tube (neurochord) lying upon it; np, anterior neuropore; ne, position of posterior neurenteric canal.

gonads, which are exactly similar in outward appearance, occur as a series of gonadic pouches projecting into the atrial cavity at the base of the myotomes (figs. 2, 3, 4). At the breeding season the walls of the pouches burst and the sexual elements pass into the atrium, whence they are discharged through the atriopore into the water, where fertilization takes place.

Development.—The development of Amphioxus possesses many features of interest, and cannot fail to retain its importance as an introduction to the study of embryology. The four principal phases in the development are: (1) Blastula, (2) Gastrula, (3) Flagellate Embryo, (4) Larva. The segmentation or cleavage of the ovum which follows upon fertilization terminates in the achievement of the blastula form, a minute sphere of cells surrounding a central cavity. Then follows the phenomenon of gastrulation, by which one-half of the blastula is invaginated into the other, so as to obliterate the segmentation cavity. The embryo now consists of two layers of cells, epiblast and hypoblast, surrounding a cavity, the archenteron, which opens to the exterior by the orifice of invagination or blastopore. One important fact should

FIG. 6.—Anterior region of two pelagic larvae of A. lanceolatus obtained by the tow-net in 8-10 fathoms, showing the asymmetry of the large lateral sinistral mouth with its ciliated margin cm and the dextral series of simple primary gill-slits (1ps-14ps.) The larvae swim normally like the adult or suspend themselves by their flagella (not shown in the figures) vertically in mid-water. There is nothing in their mode of life which will afford an explanation of the asymmetry which is a developmental phenomenon. Lettering of upper figure.—anp, Anterior neural pore; bc, rudiment of buccal skeleton; c, cilia; cb, ciliated band; cc, ciliated groove; cm, cilia at margin of mouth; gl, external opening of club-shaped gland; Hn, Hatschek's nephridium; lm, left metapleur; n, notochord; pp, praeoral pit; ps, primary gill-slits, 1, 5, and 13; rm, right metapleur showing through. Lettering of'lower fgure.—a, Atrium; al, alimentary canal; bp, blood-vessel; cv, cerebral vesicle; df, dorsal section of myocoel (=fin spaces); e, "eyespot''; end, endostyle; gl, club-shaped gland; lm, edge of left metapleur; m, lower edge of mouth; n, notochord; nt} pigmented nerve tube; ps, primary gill-slits, 1, 9, and 14; rc, renal cells on atrial floor; rm, edge of right metapleur; so, sense organ opening into praeoral pit; ss, thickenings, the rudiments of the row of secondary gill-slits.

be noted with regard to the gastrula, in which it seems to differ from the gastrulae of invertebrata. After invagination is completed, the embryo begins to elongate, the blastopore becomes narrower, and the dorsal wall of the gastrula loses its convexity, and becomes flattened to form the dorsal plate, the outer layer of which is the primordium of the neurochord and the inner layer the primordium of the notochord. While still within the egg-membrane the epiblastic cells become flagellated, and the gastrula rotates within the membrane. About the eighth hour after commencement of development the membrane ruptures and the oval embryo escapes, swimming by means of its flagella at the surface of the sea for another twenty-four hours, during which the principal organs are laid down, although the mouth does not open until the close of this period. The primordium of the neurochord (neural or medullary plate) referred to above becomes closed in from the surface by the overgrowth of surrounding epiblast, and its edges also bend up, meet, and finally fuse to form a tube, the medullary or neural tube. An important fact to note is that the blastopore is included in this overgrowth of epiblast, so that the neural tube remains for some time in open communication with the archenteron by means of a posterior neurenteric canal. It is still longer before the neural tube completes its closure in front, exhibiting a small orifice at the surface, the anterior neuropore. It is thus possible that the neurenteric canal is due to the conjunction of a posterior neuropore with the blastopore, i.e. it is a complex and not a simple structure. Paired archenteric pouches meanwhile appear at the sides of the axial notochordal tract, the mesoblastic somites. The first of these differs in several respects from those which succeed, and has been called the collar cavity (MacBride). In front of the latter there remains a portion of the archenteron, which becomes constricted off as the head cavity. This becomes divided into two, the right half forming the cavity of the rostrum, while the left acquires an opening to the exterior, and forms the praeoral pit of the larva, which subsequently gives rise to special ciliated tracts in the vestibule of the mouth mentioned above. The larval period commences at about the thirty-sixth hour with the perforation of the mouth, first gill-cleft and anus. The larva is curiously asymmetrical, as many as fourteen gill-clefts appearing in an unpaired series on the right side, while the mouth is a large orifice on the left side, the anus being median. The adult form is achieved by metamorphosis, which cannot be further described here. One point must not be omitted, namely, the homogeny of the endostyle of Amphioxus and the thyroid gland of Craniata.

REFERENCES.—T. Boveri, "Die Nierencanalchen des Amphioxus,'' Zool Jahrb. Anat. v. (1892), p. 429; T. Felix, "Beitrage zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Salmoniden,'' Anat. Hefte Arb. viii. 1897; Amphioxus, p. 333; T. Garbowski, "Amphioxus als Grundlage der Mesodermtheorie,'' Anat Anz. xiv. (1898), p. 473; R. Hesse, "Die Sehorgane des Amphioxus,'' Zeitschr. wiss. Zool. lxiii. (1898), p 456; J. W. Kirkaldy, "A Revision of the Genera and Species of the Branchiostomidae,'' Quart. J. Micr. Sci. xxxvii. (1895), p. 303; E. R. Lankester, "Contributions to the Knowledge of Amphioxus lanceolatus (Yarrell),'' op. cit., xxix. (1889), p. 365; Lwoff, "Die Bildung der primaren Keimblatter und die Entstehung der Chorda und des Mesoderms bei den Wirbelthieren,'' Bull. Soc. Moscow (1894); E. W. MacBride, "The early Development of Amphioxus,'' Quart. J. Micr. Sci. xl. (1897), p. 589, and xliii. (1900); T. H. Morgan and A. P. Hazen, "The Gastrulation of Amphioxus,'' J. Morphol. xvi. (1900), p. 569; P. Sammassa, "Studien uber den Einfluss des Dotters auf die Gastrulation und die Bildung der primaren Keimblatter der Wirbelthiere: iv. Amphioxus,'' Arch. f. Entwick. Mech. vii. (1898), p. 1; G. Schneider, "Einiges uber Resorption und Excretion bei Amphioxus lanceolatus,'' Anat. Anz. xvi. (1899), p. 601; J. Sobotta, "Die Reifung und Befruchtung des Eies von Amphioxus lanceolatus,'' Arch. mikr. Anat. l. (1897), p. 15; F. E. Weiss, "Excretory tubules in Amphioxus lanceolatus,'' Quart. J. Micr. Sci. xxxi. (1890), p. 489; A. Willey, Amphioxus and the ancestry of the Vertebrates (1894); "Remarks on some recent Work on the Protochorda,'' Quart. J. Micr. Sci. xliii. (1899), p. 223; pleuron of New Zealand,'' ib. (1901); E. Burchardt, "Finer Anatomy of Amphioxus,'' with bibliography, Jena Zeitschr. xxxiv. (1900), p. 719. (A. W.*)

AMPHIPOLIS (mod. Yeni Keui), an ancient city of Macedonia, on the east bank of the river Strymon, where it emerges from Lake Cercinitis, about 3 m. from the sea. Originally a Thracian town, known as 'Ennea 'Odoi ("Nine Roads''), it was colonized by Athenians with other Greeks under Hagnon in 437 B.C., previous attempts—in 497, 476 (Schol. Aesch. De fals. leg. 31) and 465—having been unsuccessful. In 424 B.C. it surrendered to the Spartan Brasidas without resistance, owing to the gross negligence of the historian Thucydides, who was with the fleet at Thasos. In 422 B.C. Cleon led an unsuccessful expedition to recover it, in which both he and Brasidas were slain. The importance of Amphipolis in ancient times was due to the fact that it commanded the bridge over the Strymon, and consequently the route from northern Greece to the Hellespont; it was important also as a depot for the gold and silver mines of the district, and for timber, which was largely used in shipbuilding. This importance is shown by the fact that, in the peace of Nicias (421 B.C.), its restoration to Athens is made the subject of a special provision, and that about 417, this provision not having been observed, at least one expedition was made by Nicias with a view to its recovery. Philip of Macedon made a special point of occupying it (357), and under the early empire it became the headquarters of the Roman propraetor, though it was recognized as independent. Many inscriptions, coins, &c., have been found here, and traces of the ancient fortifications and of a Roman aqueduct are visible.

AMPHIPROSTYLE (from the Gr. amfi, on both sides, and prostulos, a portico), the term for a temple (q.v.) with a portico both in the front and in the rear.

AMPHISBAENA (a Greek word, from amfis, both ways, and bainein, to go), a serpent in ancient mythology, beginning or ending at both head and tail alike. Its fabled existence has been utilized by the poets, such as Milton, Pope and Tennyson. In modern zoology it is the name given to the main genus of a family of worm-shaped lizards, most of which inhabit the tropical parts of America, the West Indies and Africa. The commonest species in South America and the Antilles is the sooty or dusky A. fuliginosa. The body of the amphisbaena, from 18 to 20 in. long, is of nearly the same thickness throughout. The head is small, and there can scarcely be said to be a tail, the vent being close to the extremity of the body. The animal lives mostly underground, burrowing in soft earth, and feeds on ants and other small animals. From its appearance, and the ease with which it moves backwards, has arisen the popular belief that the amphisbaena has two heads, and that when the body is cut in two the parts seek each other out and reunite. From this has arisen another popular error, which attributes extraordinary curative properties to its flesh when dried and pulverized.

AMPHITHEATRE (Gr. amfi, around, and theatron, a place for spectators), a building in which the seats for spectators surround the scene of the performance. The word was doubtless coined by the Greeks of Campania, since it was here that the gladiatorial shows for which the amphitheatre was primarily used were first organized as public spectacles. The earliest building of the kind still extant is that at Pompeii, built after 80 B.C. It is called spectacula in a contemporary inscription. The word amphitheatrum is first found in writers of the Augustan age.

In Italy, combats of gladiators at first took place in the forums, where temporary wooden scaffoldings were erected for the spectators; and Vitruvius gives this as the reason why in that country the forums were in the shape of a parallelogram instead of being squares as in Greece. Wild beasts were also hunted in the circus. But towards the end of the Roman republic, when the shows increased both in frequency and in costliness, special buildings began to be provided for them.

The first amphitheatre at Rome was that constructed, 59 B.C., by C. Scribonius Curio. Pliny tells us that Curio built two wooden theatres, which were placed back to back, and that after the dramatic representations were finished, they were turned round, with all the spectators in them, so as to make one circular theatre, in the centre of which gladiators fought; but the story is incredible, and must have arisen from the false translation of amfitheatron by "double theatre.'' It is uncertain whether Caesar, in 46 B.C., constructed a temporary amphitheatre of wood for his shows of wild beasts; at any rate, the first permanent amphitheatre was built by C. Statilius Taurus in 20 B.C. Probably the shell only was of stone. It was burnt in the great fire of A.D. 64.

We hear of an amphitheatre begun by Caligula and of a wooden structure raised in the year A.D. 57 by Nero; but these were superseded by the Amphitheatrum Flavium (known at least since the 8th century as the Colosseum, from its colossal size), which was begun by Vespasian on the site of an artificial lake included in the Golden House of Nero, and inaugurated by Titus in A.D. 80 with shows lasting one hundred days. It was several times restored by the emperors, having been twice struck by lightning in the 3rd century and twice damaged by earthquake in the 5th. Gladiatorial shows were suppressed by Honorius in A.D. 404, and wild beast shows are not recorded after the reign of Theodoric (d. A.D. 526). In the 8th century Bede wrote Quamdiu stabit Coliseus, stabit et Roma; quando cadet Coliseus, cadet et Roma. A large part of the western arcades seem to have collapsed in the earthquake of A.D. 1349, and their remains were used in the Renaissance as a quarry for building materials (e.g. for the Palazzo di Venezia, the Cancelleria and the Palazzo Farnese).

Rome possesses the remains of a second amphitheatre on the Esquiline, called by the chronologist of A.D. 354 Amphitheatrum Castrense, which probably means the "court'' or "imperial'' amphitheatre. Its fine brickwork seems to date from Trajan's reign. It was included by Aurelian in the circuit of his wall. The remains of numerous amphitheatres exist in the various provinces of the empire. The finest are—in Italy, those of Verona (probably of the Flavian period), Capua (built under Hadrian) and Pozzuoli; in France, at Nimes, Arles and Frejus; in Spain, at Italica (near Seville); in Tunisia, at Thysdrus (El-Jem); and at Pola, in Dalmatia. The builders often took advantage of natural features, such as a depression between hills; and ruder structures, mainly consisting of banked-up earth, are found, e.g. at Silchester (Calleva). The amphitheatre at Pompeii (length 444ft., breadth 342 ft., seating capacity 20,000) is formed by a huge embankment of earth supported by a retaining wall and high buttresses carrying arches. The stone seats (of which there are thirty-five rows in three divisions) were only gradually constructed as the means of the community allowed. Access to the highest seats was given by external staircases, and there was no system of underground chambers for wild beasts, combatants, &c.

In contrast to this simple structure the Colosseum represents the most elaborate type of amphitheatre created by the architects of the empire. Its external elevation consisted of four storeys. The three lowest had arcades whose piers were adorned with engaged columns of the three Greek orders. The arches numbered eighty. Those of the basement storey served as entrances; seventy-six were numbered and allotted to the general body of spectators, those at the extremities of the major axis led into the arena, and the boxes reserved for the emperor and the presiding magistrate were approached from the extremities of the minor axis. The higher arcades had a low parapet with (apparently) a statue in each arch, and gave light and air to the passages which surrounded the building. The openings of the arcades above the principal entrances were larger than the rest, and were adorned with figures of chariots. The highest stage was composed of a continuous wall of masonry, pierced by forty small square windows, and adorned with Corinthian pilasters. There was also a series of brackets to support the poles on which the awning was stretched.

The interior may be naturally divided into the arena and the cavea (see annexed plan, which shows the Colosseum at two different levels).

The arena was the portion assigned to the combatants, and derived its name from the sand with which it was strewn, to absorb the blood and prevent it from becoming slippery. Some of the emperors showed their prodigality by substituting precious powders, and even gold dust, for sand. The arena was generally of the same shape as the amphitheatre itself, and was separated from the spectators by a wall built perfectly smooth, that the wild beasts might not by any possibility climb it. At Rome it was faced inside with polished marble, but at Pompeii it was simply painted. For further security, it was surrounded by a metal railing or network, and the arena was sometimes surrounded also by a ditch (euripus), especially on account of the elephants. Below the arena were subterranean chambers and passages, from which wild beasts and gladiators were raised on movable platforms (pegmata) through trap-doors. Such chambers have been found in the amphitheatres of Capua and Pozzuoli as well as in the Colosseum. Means were also provided by which the arena could be flooded when a sea-fight (naumachia) was exhibited, as was done by Titus at the inauguration of the Colosseum.

The part assigned to the spectators was called cavea. It was divided into several galleries (maeniana) concentric with the outer walls, and therefore, like them, of an elliptical form. The place of honour was the lowest of these, nearest to the arena, and called the podium. The divisions in it were larger, so as to be able to contain movable seats. At Rome it was here that the emperor sat, his box bearing the name of suggestus, cubiculum or pulvinar. The senators, principal magistrates, vestal virgins, the provider (editor) of the show, and other persons of note, occupied the rest of the podium. At Nimes, besides the high officials of the town, the podium had places assigned to the principal gilds, whose names are still seen inscribed upon it, with the number of places reserved for each. In the Colosseum there were three maeniana above the podium, separated from each other by terraces (praecinctiones) and walls (baltei), and divided vertically into wedge-shaped blocks (cunei) by stairs. The lowest was appropriated to the equestrian order, the highest was covered in with a portico, whose roof formed a terrace on which spectators found standing room. Numerous passages (vomitoria) and small stairs gave access to them; while long covered corridors, behind and below them, served for shelter in the event of rain. At Pompeii each place was numbered, and elsewhere their extent is defined by little marks cut in the stone. The spectators were admitted by tickets (tesserae), and order preserved by a staff of officers appointed for the purpose.

The height of the Colosseum is about 160 ft.; but the fourth storey in its present form is not earlier in date than the 3rd century A.D. It seems to have been originally of wood, since an inscription of the year A.D. 80 mentions the summum maenianum in ligneis. It is stated in the Notitia Urbis Romae (4th century) that the Colosseum contained 87,000 places; but Huelsen calculates that the seats would accommodate 45,000 persons at most, besides whom 5000 could find standing room. The exaggerated estimate is due to the fact that space was allotted to corporate bodies, whose numbers were taken as data. The greatest length is about 615 ft., and the length of the shorter axis of the ellipse about 510 ft. The dimensions of the arena were 281 ft. by 177 ft.

The following table, giving the dimensions of some of the principal amphitheatres, is based mainly on the figures given by Friedlander (l.c.):—

- ENTIRE BUILDING. ARENA. - - - Greater Shorter Greater Shorter Axis. Axis. Axis. Axis. - - - Rome (Colosseum) 615 510 1/2 281 177 Capua 557 458 250 148 Julia Caesarea 551 289 459 197 Italica (Seville) 514 439 1/2 . . . . Verona 502 1/2 403 248 145 1/2 Thysdrus 488 406 308 197 Tarraco 486 390 277 181 Pozzuoli 482 383 236 1/2 137 3/4 Tours 472 406 223 98 1/2 Pola 449 1/2 367 1/2 230 144 1/2 Arles 448 352 229 129 Pompeii 444 342 218 1/2 115 Nimes 440 336 227 126 1/2 - - -

BIBLIOGRPHY.—Arts. "Amphitheatrum'' in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed., 1890), and in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des antiquites; Friedlander, Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms (6th ed., 1888-1890), vol. ii. pp. 551-620; Durm, Geschichte der Baukunst, II.2 (1905), 360 ff. Of older works, J. Lipsius, De Amphitheatris (1585): Carlo Fontana, L'Anfiteatro Flavio (1725); and Maffei, Verona Illustrata, vol. ii. (1826), are worthy of mention. For the amphitheatre at Pompeii, see Mau-Kelsey.

Pompeii, its Life and Art (2nd ed. 1904), chap. 30; for the Colosseum, Middleton, Remains of Ancient Rome, ii. pp. 78-110, and Huelsen's art. "Flavium Amphitheatrum'' in Pauly-Wossowa, Realencyclopadie. (H. S. J.)

AMPHITRITE, in ancient Greek mythology, a sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus (or Oceanus) and wife of Poseidon. She was so entirely confined in her authority to the sea and the creatures in it, that she was never associated with her husband either for purposes of worship or in works of art, except when he was to be distinctly regarded as the god who controlled the sea. She was one of the Nereids, and distinguishable from the others only by her queenly attributes. It was said that Poseidon saw her first dancing at Naxos among the other Noreids, and carried her off (Schol. on Od. iii. 91). But in another version of the myth, she then fled from him to the farthest ends of the sea, where the dolphin of Poseidon found her, and was rewarded by being placed among the stars (Eratosthenes, Catast. 31). In works of art she is represented either enthroned beside him, or driving with him in a chariot drawn by sea-horses or other fabulous creatures of the deep, and attended by Tritons and Nereids. In poetry her name is often used for the sea.

AMPHITRYON, in Greek mythology, son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis. Having accidentally killed his uncle Electryon, king of Mycenae, he was driven out by another uncle, Sthenelus. He fled with Alcmene, Electryon's daughter, to Thebes, where he was cleansed from the guilt of blood by Creon, his maternal uncle, king of Thebes. Alcmene, who had been betrothed to Amphitryon by her father, refused to marry him until he had avenged the death of her brothers, all of whom except one had fallen in battle against the Taphians. It was on his return from this expedition that Electryon had been killed. Amphitryon accordingly took the field against the Taphians, accompanied by Creon, who had agreed to assist him on condition that he slew the Teumessian fox which had been sent by Dionysus to ravage the country. The Taphians, however, remained invincible until Comaetho, the king's daughter, out of love for Amphitryon cut off her father's golden hair, the possession of which rendered him immortal. Having defeated the enemy, Amphitryon put Comaetho to death and handed over the kingdom of the Taphians to Cephalus. On his return to Thebes he married Alcmene, who gave birth to twin sons, Iphicles being the son of Amphitryon, Heracles of Zeus, who had visited her during Amphitryon's absence. He fell in battle against the Minyans, against whom he had undertaken an expedition, accompanied by the youthful Heracles, to deliver Thebes from a disgraceful tribute. According to Euripides (Hercules Furens) he survived this expedition, and was slain by his son in his madness. Amphitryon was the title of a lost tragedy of Sophocles; the episode of Zeus and Alcmene forms the subject of comedies by Plautus and Moliere. From Moliere's line "Le veritable Amphitryon est l'Amphitryon ou l'on dine'' (Amphitryon, iii. 5), the name Amphitryon has come to be used in the sense of a generous entertainer, a good host.

Apollodorus ii. 4; Herodotus v. 59; Pausanias viii. 14, ix, 10, 11, 17; Hesiod, Shield, 1-56; Pindar, Pythia, ix. 81.

AMPHORA (a Latin word from Gr. amforeus, derived from amfi, on both sides, and ferein, to bear), a large big-bellied vessel used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for preserving wine, oil, honey, and fruits; and in later times as a cinerary urn. It was so named from usually having an ear or handle on each side of the neck (diota.) It was commonly made of earthenware, but sometimes of stone, glass or even more costly materials. Amphorae either rested on a foot, or ended in a point so that they had to be fixed in the ground. The older amphorae were oval-shaped, such as the vases filled with oil for prizes at the Panathenaic festival, having on one side a figure of Athena, on the other a representation of the contest; the latter were tall and slender, with voluted handles. The first class exhibits black figures on a reddish background, the second red figures on a black ground. The amphora was a standard measure of capacity among both Greeks and Romans, the Attic containing nearly nine gallons, and the Roman about six. In modern botany it is a technical term sometimes denoting the lower part of the capsule called pyxidium, attached to the flower stalk in the form of an urn.

AMPLIATIVE (from Lat. ampliare, to enlarge), an adjective used mainly in logic, meaning "extending,' or "adding to that which is already known.'' In Norman law an "ampliation'' was a postponement of a sentence in order to obtain further evidence.

AMPLITUDE (from Lat. amplus, large), in astronomy, the angular distance of the rising or setting sun, or other heavenly body, from the east or west point of the horizon; used mostly by navigators in finding the variation of the compass by the setting sun. In algebra, if a be a real positive quantity and o a root of unity, then a is the amplitude of the product ao. In elliptic integrals, the amplitude is the limit of integration when the integral is expressed in the form $int_0^phisqrt{1-N^2sin^2phi}dphi$. The hyperbolic or Gudermannian amplitude of the quantity x is tan-1 (sinh x.) In mechanics, the amplitude of a wave is the maximum ordinate. (See WAVE.)

AMPSANCTUS, or AMSANCTUS (mod. Sorgente Mefita), a small lake in the territory of the Hirpini, IO m. S.E. of Aeclanum, close to the Via Appia. There are now two small pools which exhale carbonic acid gas and sulphuretted hydrogen. Close by was a temple of the goddess Mephitis, with a cave from which suffocating vapours rose, and for this reason the place was brought into connexion with the legends of the infernal regions. Virgil's description (Aeneid, vii. 563) is not, however, very accurate.

AMPTHILL, ODO WILLIAM LEOPOLD RUSSELL, 1ST BARON (1829-1884), British diplomatist and ambassador, was born in Florence on the 20th of February 1829. He was the son of Major- General Lord George William Russell, by Elizabeth Ann, niece of the marquess of Hastings, who was governor-general of India during the final struggle with the Mahrattas. His education, like that of his two brothers—Hastings, who became eventually 9th duke of Bedford, and Arthur, who sat for a generation in the House of Commons as member for Tavistock—was carried on entirely at home, under the general direction of his mother, whose beauty was celebrated by Byron in Beppo. Lady William Russell was as strong-willed as she was beautiful, and certainly deserved to be described as she was by Disraeli, who said in conversation, "I think she is the most fortunate woman in England, for she has the three nicest sons.'' If it had not been for her strong will it is as likely as not that all the three would have gone through the usual mill of a public school, and have lost half their very peculiar charm. In March 1849 Odo was appointed by Lord Malmesbury attache at Vienna. From 1850 to 1852 he was temporarily employed in the foreign office, whence he passed to Paris. He remained there, however, only about two months, when he was transferred to Vienna. In 1853 he became second paid attache at Paris, and in August 1854 he was transferred as first paid attache to Constantinople, where he served under Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. He had charge of the embassy during his chief's two visits to the Crimea in 1855, but left the East to work under Lord Napier at Washington in 1857. In the following year he became secretary of legation at Florence, but was detached from that place to reside in Rome, where he remained for twelve years, till August 1870. During all that period he was the real though unofficial representative of England at the Vatican, and his consummate tact enabled him to do all, and more than all, that an ordinary man could have done in a stronger position. A reference, however, to his evidence before a committee of the House of Commons in 1871 will make it clear to any unprejudiced reader that those were right who, during the early 'fifties, urged so strongly the importance of having a duly accredited agent at the papal court. The line taken by him during the Vatican council has been criticized, but no fault can justly be found with it. Abreast as he was of the best thought of his time—the brother of Arthur Russell, who, more perhaps than any other man, was its most ideal representative in London society—he sympathized strongly with the views of those who laboured to prevent the extreme partisans of papal infallibility from having everything their own way. But in his capacity of clear-headed observer, whose business it was to reflect the actual truth upon the mind of his government, he was obliged to make it quite clear that they had no chance whatever, and in conversing with those whose opinions were quite unlike his own, such as Cardinal Manning, he seems to have shown that he had no illusions about the result of the long debate. In 1868 Odo Russell married Lady Emily Theresa Villiers, the daughter of Lord Clarendon. In 1870 he was appointed assistant under-secretary at the foreign office, and in November of that year was sent on a special mission to the headquarters of the German army, where he remained till 1871.

It was in connexion with this mission that an episode occurred which at the time threw much discredit upon Gladstone's government. Russia had taken advantage of the collapse of France and her own cordial relations with Prussia to denounce the Black Sea clauses of the treaty of Paris of 1856. Russell, in an interview with Bismarck, pointed out that unless Russia withdrew from an attitude which involved the destruction of a treaty solemnly guaranteed by the powers, Great Britain would be forced to go to war "with or without allies.'' This strong attitude was effective, and the question was ultimately referred to and settled by the conference which met at London in 1871. Though the result was to score a distinct diplomatic success for the Liberal government, the bellicose method employed wounded Liberal sentiment and threatened to create trouble for the ministry in parliament. On the 16th of February 1871, accordingly, Gladstone, in answer to a question, said that "the argument used by Mr Odo Russell was not one which had been directed by her Majesty's government,'' that it was used by him "without any specific instructions or authority from the government,'' but that, at the same time, no blame was to be attached to him, as it was "perfectly well known that the duty of diplomatic agents requires them to express themselves in that mode in which they think they can best support and recommend the propositions of which they wish to procure acceptance.'' This Gladstonian explanation was widely criticized as an illegitimate attack on Russell. What is certain is that the foreign office and the country profited by Russell's firmness. (See Morley's Gladstone, ii. 534.)

A little later in the same year he received the well-deserved reward of his labours by being made ambassador at Berlin.

During the months he passed at the foreign office he was examined before the committee of the House of Commons, already alluded to, and had an opportunity of stating very distinctly in public some of his views with regard to his profession. "If you could only organize diplomacy properly,'' he said, "you would create a body of men who might influence the destinies of mankind and ensure the peace of the world.'' In these words we have the key to the thought and habitual action of one of the best and wisest public servants of the time.

Russell remained at Berlin, with only brief intervals of absence, from the 16th of October 1871 till his death at Potsdam on the 25th of August 1884. He was third plenipotentiary at the Berlin congress, and is generally credited with having prevented, by his tact and good sense, the British prime minister from making a speech in French, which he knew very imperfectly and pronounced abominably. In 1874 Odo Russell received a patent of precedence raising him to the rank of a duke's son, and after the congress of Berlin he was offered a peerage by the Conservative government. This he naturally declined, but accepted the honour in 1881 when it was offered by the Liberals, taking the title of Baron Ampthill. He became a privy councillor in 1872 and was made a G.C.B. somewhat later. At the conference about the Greek frontier, which followed the congress of Berlin, he was the only British representative. During all his long sojourn in the Prussian capital, he did everything that in him lay to bring about close and friendly relations between Great Britain and Germany. He kept on the best of terms with Bismarck, carefully avoiding everything that could give any cause of offence to that most jealous and most unscrupulous minister, whom he, however, did not hesitate to withstand when his unscrupulousness went the length of deliberately attempting to deceive.

He was succeeded as 2nd baron by his son, ARTHUR OLIVER VILLIERS RUSSELL (b. 1869), who rowed in the Oxford eight (1889, 1890, 1891) and became a prominent Unionist politician. He was private secretary to Mr Chamberlain, 1895-1897, and governor of Madras, 1899-1906. In 1904 he acted temporarily as Viceroy of India. (M. G. D.)

AMPTHILL, a market town in the northern parliamentary division of Bedfordshire, England, 44 m. N.N.W. of London by the Midland railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2177. It lies on the southern slope of a low range of hills, in a well-wooded district. The church of St Andrew ranges in date from Early English to Perpendicular. It contains a monument to Richard Nicolls (1624-1672), who, under the patronage of the duke of York, brother to Charles II., to whom the king had granted the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland, received the submission of its chief town, New Amsterdam, in 1664, and became its first English governor, the town taking the name of New York. Nicolls perished in the action between the English and Dutch fleets at Solebay, and the ball which killed him is preserved on his tomb. Houghton Park, in the vicinity, contains the ruins of Houghton House, built by Mary, countess of Pembroke, in the time of James I. To this countess Sir Philip Sidney dedicated the Arcadia. Ampthill Park became in 1818 the seat of that Lord Holland in whose time Holland House, in Kensington, London, became famous as a resort of the most distinguished intellectual society. In the park a cross marks the site of Ampthill Castle, the residence of Catherine of Aragon while her divorce from Henry VIII. was pending. A commemorative inscription on the cross was written by Horace Walpole. Brewing, straw-plaiting and lace-making are carried on in Ampthill.

AMPULLA (either a diminutive of amphora, or from Lat. ambo, both, and olla, a pot), a small, narrow-necked, round-bodied vase for holding liquids, especially oil and perfumes. It is the Latin term equivalent to the Greek lekuthos. It was used in ancient times for toilet purposes and anointing the bodies of the dead, being then buried with them. Gildas mentions the use of ampullae as established among the Britons in his time, and St Columba is said to have employed one in the coronation of King Aidan. Both the name and the function of the ampulla have survived in the Western Church, where it still signifies the vessel containing the oil consecrated by the bishop for ritual uses, especially in the sacraments of Confirmation, Orders and Extreme Unction. The word occurs repeatedly in the service of coronation of the English sovereign in connexion with the ancient ceremony of anointing by the archbishop of Canterbury, which is still observed. The ampulla of the regalia of England takes the form of a golden eagle with outspread wings. The most celebrated ampulla in history was that known as la sainte ampoule, in the abbey of St Remi at Reims, from which the kings of France were anointed. According to the legend it had been brought from heaven by a dove for the coronation of Clovis, and at one period the kings of France claimed precedence over all other sovereigns on account of it. It was destroyed at the Revolution. The word "ampulla'' is used in biology, by analogy from the shape, for a certain portion of the anatomy of a plant or animal.

AMRAM (d. 875), a famous gaon or head of the Jewish Academy of Sura (Persia) in the 9th century. He was author of many "Responsa,'' but his chief work was liturgical. He was the first to arrange a complete liturgy for the synagogue, and his Prayer-Book (Siddur Rab 'Amram) was the foundation of most of the extant rites in use among the Jews. The Siddur was published in Warsaw in two parts (1865).

AMRAOTI, or UMRAWATTEE, a town and district of India, in Berar, Central Provinces. The district was reconstituted in 1905, when that of Ellichpur was incorporated with it. The town has a station 6 m. from Badnera junction on the Great Indian Peninsula line. Pop. (1901) 34,216, showing an increase of 22% in the decade. It is the richest town of Berar, with the most numerous and substantial commercial population. It possesses a branch of the Bank of Bombay, and has the largest cotton mart, where an average of 80,593 bojas of cotton are bought and sold annually. It has also a large grain market, cotton presses, ginning factories and oil mills. Amraoti raw cotton is quoted on the Liverpool Exchange.

The district of Amraoti has an area of 4754 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 630,245, showing a decrease of 4% in the decade; on the area as now constituted it was 809,499. The district is an extensive plain, about 800 ft. above sea-level, the general flatness being only broken by a small chain of hills, running in a north-westerly direction between Amraoti and Chandor, with an average height from 400 to 500 ft. above the lowlands. The principal towns, besides Amraoti, are Karinja, Kolapur, and Badnera, which lies on the Great Indian Peninsula railway, the main line of which crosses the district. Severe drought visited Amraoti in 1899-1900.

AMRAVATI, or AMARAVATI, a ruined city of India in the Guntur district of the Madras presidency, on the south bank of the Kistna river, 62 m. from its mouth. The town is of great interest for the antiquary as one of the chief centres of the Buddhist kingdom of Vengi, and for its stupa (sepulchral monument). Amravati has been identified with Hsuan Tsang's To-na-kie-tse-kia and with the Rahmi of Arab geographers. Subsequent to the disappearance of Buddhism from this region the town became a centre of the Sivaite faith. When Hsuan Tsang visited Amravati in A.D. 639 it had already been deserted for a century, but he speaks in glowing terms of its magnificence and beauty. Very careful and artistic representations of the stupa with its daghoba and interesting rail, pillars and sculptures will be found in Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, and in his History of Indian Architecture (1876). Its elaborate carvings illustrate the life of Buddha. Some are preserved in the British Museum; others in the museum at Madras.

An account by Dr James Burgess was published in 1877 as one of the volumes of the Archaeological Survey of Southern India.

'AMR-IBN-EL-ASS, or 'AMR (strictly 'AMR B. 'AS), one of the most famous of the first race of the Saracen leaders, was of the tribe of Koreish (Qureish). In his youth he was an antagonist of Mahomet. His zeal prompted him to undertake an embassy to the king of Ethiopia, in order to stimulate him against the converts whom he had taken under his protection, but he returned a convert to the Mahommedan faith and joined the fugitive prophet at Medina. When Abu Bekr resolved to invade Syria, he entrusted 'Amr with a high command. 'Amr soon perceived that his troops were not sufficient for a serious battle. Reinforced by Khalid b. al-Walid, whom Abu Bekr sent in all haste from Irak to Syria, he defeated the imperial troops, commanded by Theodorus, the brother of Heraclius, not far from Ramleh in Palestine, on the 31st of July 634. When Omar became caliph he made Khalid chief commander of the Syrian armies, 'Amr remaining in Palestine to complete the submission of that province. It is not certain that 'Amr assisted Khalid in the siege of Damascus, but very probable that he took part in the decisive battle of Yarmuk, 20th of August 636. After this battle he laid siege to Jerusalem, in which enterprise he was seconded a year later by Abu Obeida, then chief commander. After the surrender of Jerusalem 'Amr began the siege of Caesarea, which, however, was brought to a successful end in September or October 640 by Moawiya, 'Amr having obtained Omar's sanction for an expedition against Egypt. Towards the end of 639 he led an army of 4000 Arabs into that country. During his march a messenger from Omar arrived with a letter containing directions to return if he should have received it in Syria, but if in Egypt to advance, in which case all needful assistance would be instantly sent to him. The contents of the letter were not made known to his officers until he was assured that the army was on Egyptian soil, so that the expedition might be continued under the sanction of Omar's orders. Having taken Farama (Pelusium), he advanced to Misr, north of the ancient Memphis, and besieged it and the strong fortress of Babylon for seven months. Although numerous reinforcements arrived, he would have found it very difficult to storm the place previous to the inundation of the Nile but for treachery within the citadel; the Greeks who remained there were either made prisoners or put to the sword. On the same spot 'Amr built a city named Fostat ("the encampment''), the ruins of which are known by the name of Old Cairo. The mosque which he erected and called by his own name is described in Asiatic Journal (1890), p. 759. 'Amr pursued the Greeks to Alexandria, but finding that it was impossible to take the place by storm, he contented himself with blockading it with the greater part of his army, and reducing the Delta to submission with the rest. At the end of twelve months Alexandria sued for peace, and a treaty was signed on the 8th of November 641. To 'Amr acting on Omar's command has been attributed the burning of the famous Alexandrian library. (See LIBRARIES and ALEXANDRIA.) Not only is this act of barbarism inconsistent with the characters of Omar and his general, but the earliest authority for the story is Abulfaragius (Barhebraeus), a Christian writer, who lived six centuries later. After the conquest of Egypt 'Amr carried his conquests eastward along the North African coast as far as Barca and even Tripolis. His administration of Egypt was moderate and statesmanlike, and under his rule the produce of the Nile Valley was a constant source of supply to the cities of Arabia. He even reopened a canal at least 80 m. long from the Nile to the Red Sea with the object of renewing communication by sea. Removed from his office by Othman in 647, who replaced him by Ibn abi Sarh, he sided with Moawiya in the contest for the caliphate, and was largely responsible for the deposition of Ali (q.v.) and the establishment of the Omayyad dynasty. (See CALIPHATE, section B.) In 658 he reconquered Egypt in Moawiya's interest, and governed it till his death on the 6th of January 664. In a pathetic speech to his children on his deathbed, he bitterly lamented his youthful offence in opposing the prophet, although Mahomet had forgiven him and had frequently affirmed that "there was no Mussulman more sincere and steadfast in the faith than 'Amr.''

Sir W. Muir, The Caliphate (London, 1891); E. Gibbon,s Decline and Fall; M. J. de Goeje, Memoire sur la conquete de la Syrie (Leiden, 1900); Butler, Arab Conquest of Egypt (Oxford, 1902); art. EGYPT, History, Mahommedan Period.

'AMR IBN KULTHUM, Arabian poet, author of one of the Mo'allakat. Little or nothing is known of his life save that he was a member of the tribe of Taghlib and that he is said to have died of excessive wine-drinking. Some stories of him are told in the Book of Songs (see ABULFARAJ), vol. ix. pp. 181-185.

AMRITSAR, or UMRITSAR, a city and district of British India, in the Lahore division of the Punjab. The city has a station on the North Western railway 32 m. E. of Lahore, its position on which has greatly assisted its development. Amritsar is chiefly notable as the centre of the Sikh religion and the site of the Golden Temple, the chief worshipping place of the Sikhs. Ram Das, the fourth guru, laid the foundations of the city upon a site granted by the emperor Akbar. He also excavated the holy tank from which the town derives its name of Amrita Turas, or Pool of Immortality. It is upon a small island in the middle of this tank that the Golden Temple is now situated. About two centuries afterwards, in the course of the struggle between the Sikhs and the Mahommedans, Ahmad Shah Durani routed the Sikhs at the great battle of Panipat, and on his homeward march he destroyed the town of Amritsar, blew up the temple with gunpowder, filled in the sacred tank with mud, and defiled the holy place by the slaughter of cows. But when Ahmad Shah returned to Kabul the Sikhs rose once more and re-established their religion. Finally the city and surrounding district fell under the sway of Ranjit Singh at Lahore, and passed with the rest of the Punjab into the possession of the British after the second Sikh war. The Golden Temple is so called on account of its copper dome, covered with gold foil, which shines brilliantly in the rays of the Indian sun, and is reflected back from the waters of the lake; but the building as a whole is too squat to have much architectural merit apart from its ornamentation. Marble terraces and balustrades surround the tank, and a marble causeway leads across the water to the temple, whose gilded walls, roof, dome and cupolas, with vivid touches of red curtains, are reflected in the still water. The temple was considerably enriched by the spoils taken by Ranjit Singh in his conquests. The population of Amritsar in 1901 was 162,429. A Sikh college for university education was opened in 1897. The other public buildings include two churches, a town hall and a hospital. Amritsar is famous for its carpet-weaving industry. It was the first mission station of the church of England in the Punjab.

The district is bounded on the N.W. by the river Ravi, on the S.E. by the river Beas, on the N.E. by the district of Gurdaspur, and on the S.W. by the district of Lahore. Amritsar district is a nearly level plain, with a very slight slope from east to west. The banks of the Beas are high, and on this side of the district well-water is not found except at 50 ft. below the surface; while towards the Ravi wells are less than 20 ft. in depth. The only stream passing through the district is the Kirni or Saki, which takes its rise in a marsh in the Gurdaspur district, and after traversing part of the district empties itself into the Ravi. Numerous canals intersect the district, affording ample means of irrigation. The Sind, Punjab and Delhi railway (North Western) and Grand Trunk road, which runs parallel with it, afford the principal means of land communication and traffic. The area of the district is 1601 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 1,023,828, showing an increase of 3% on the previous decade. It is the headquarters of the Sikh religion, containing 264,329 Sikhs as against 280,985 Hindus and 474,976 Mahommedans. The principal crops are wheat, pulse, maize, millet, with some cotton and sugar-cane. There are factories for ginning and pressing cotton.

AMROHA, a town of British India, in the Moradabad district of the United Provinces. It contains the tomb of a Mahommedan saint, Shaikh Saddu, and has been for many centuries a Mahommedan centre. Pop. (1901) 40,077.

AMRUM, or AMROM, a German island in the North Sea, off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein to the south of Sylt. Pop. (1900) 900. It is 6 m. long and 3 m. broad, with an area of 10 1/2 sq. m., and is reached from the mainland by a regular steamboat service to Wittdun, a favourite sea-bathing resort; or at low water by carriage from Fohr. The larger part of Amrum consists of a treeless sandy expanse, but a fringe of rich marshes affords good pasture-land. The principal place is Nebel, connected by a light railway with Wittdun. (See also FRISIAN ISLANDS.)

AMRU'-UL-QAIS, or IMRU'-UL QAIS, IBN HUJR, Arabian poet of the 6th century, the author of one of the Mo'allaat (q.v.), was regarded by Mahomet and others as the most distinguished poet of pre-Islamic times. He was of the kingly family of Kinda, and his mother was of the tribe of Taghlib. While he was still young, his father was killed by the Bani Asad. After this his life was devoted to the attempt to avenge his father's death. He wandered from tribe to tribe to gain assistance, but his attempts were always foiled by the persistent following of the messengers of Mundhir of Hira (Hira). At last he went to the Jewish Arabian prince, Samu'al, left his daughter and treasure with him, and by means of Harith of Ghassan procured an introduction to the Byzantine emperor Justinian. After a long stay in Constantinople he was named phylarch of Palestine, and received a body of troops from Justin II. With these he started on his way to Arabia. It is said that a man of Asad, who had followed him to Constantinople, charged him before the emperor with the seduction of a princess, and that Justin sent him a poisoned cloak, which caused his death at Ancyra.

His poems are contained in W. Ahlwardt's The Divans of the six ancient Arabic Poets (London, 1870), and have been published separately in M'G. de Slane's Le Diwan d'Amro'lkais (Paris, 1837); a German version with life and notes in F. Ruckert's Amrilkais der Dichter und Konig (Stuttgart, 1843). Many stories of his life are told in the Kitab ul-Aghani, vol. viii. pp. 62-77. (G. W. T.)

AMSDORF, NICOLAUS VON (1483-1565), German Protestant reformer, was born on the 3rd of December 1483 at Torgau, on the Elbe. He was educated at Leipzig, and then at Wittenberg, where he was one of the first who matriculated (1502) in the recently founded university. He soon obtained various academical honours, and became professor of theology in 1511. Like Andreas Carlstadt, he was at first a leading exponent of the older type of scholastic theology, but under the influence of Luther abandoned his Aristotelian positions for a theology based on the Augustinian doctrine of grace. Throughout his life he remained one of Luther's most determined supporters; was with him at the Leipzig conference (1519), and the diet of Worms (1521); and was in the secret of his Wartburg seclusion. He assisted the first efforts of the Reformation at Magdeburg (1524), at Goslar (1531) and at Einbeck (1534); took an active part in the debates at Schmalkalden (1537), where he defended the use of the sacrament by the unbelieving; and (1539) spoke out strongly against the bigamy of the landgrave of Hesse. After the death of the count palatine, bishop of Naumburg-Zeitz, he was installed there (January 20, 1542), though in opposition to the chapter, by the elector of Saxony and Luther. His position was a painful one, and he longed to get back to Magdeburg, but was persuaded by Luther to stay. After Luther's death (1546) and the battle of Muhlberg (1547) he had to yield to his rival, Julius von Pflug, and retire to the protection of the young duke of Weimar. Here he took part in founding Jena University (1548); opposed the "Augsburg Interim'' (1548); superintended the publication of the Jena edition of Luther's works; and debated on the freedom of the will, original sin, and, more noticeably, on the Christian value of good works, in regard to which he held that they were not only useless, but prejudicial. He urged the separation of the High Lutheran party from Melanchthon (1557), got the Saxon dukes to oppose the Frankfort Recess (1558) and continued to fight for the purity of Lutheran doctrine. He died at Eisenach on the 14th of May 1565, and was buried in the church of St George there, where his effigy shows a well-knit frame and sharp-cut features. He was a man of strong will, of great aptitude for controversy, and considerable learning, and thus exercised a decided influence on the Reformation. Many letters and other short productions of his pen are extant in MS., especially five thick volumes of Amsdorfiana, in the Weimar library. They are a valuable source for our knowledge of Luther. A small sect, which adopted his opinion on good works, was called after him; but it is now of mere historical interest.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.—Life, in Th. Pressel, Leben u. ausgewahlte Schrift. der Vater der luth. Kirche, vol. viii. (published separately Elberfeld, 1862, 8vo); J. Meier in Das Leben der Altvater der luth. Kirche, vol, iii. ed. M. Meurer (1863); art. by G. Kawerau in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyk. fur prot. Theologie (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1896).

AMSLER, SAMUEL (1791-1849), Swiss engraver, was born at Schinznach, in the canton of Aargau. He studied his art under Johan Heinrich Lips (1758-1817) and Karl Ernst Hess, at Munich, and from 1816 pursued it in Italy, and chiefly at Rome, till in 1829 he succeeded his former master Hess as professor of copper engraving in the Munich academy. The works he designed and engraved are remarkable for the grace of the figures, and for the wonderful skill with which he retains and expresses the characteristics of the original paintings and statues. He was a passionate admirer of Raphael, and had great success in reproducing his works. Amsler's principal engravings are: "The Triumphal March of Alexander the Great,'' and a full-length "Christ,'' after the sculptures of Thorwaldsen and Dannecker; the "Entombment of Christ,'' and two "Madonnas'' after Raphael; and the "Union between Religion and the Arts,'' after Overbeck, his last Work, on which he spent six years.

AMSTERDAM, the chief city of Holland, in the province of North Holland, on the south side of the Y or Ij, an arm of the Zuider Zee, in 52 deg. 22'N. and 4 deg. 53' E. Pop. (1900) 523,557. It has communication by railway and canal in every direction; steam-tramways connect it with Edam, Purmerend, Alkmaar and Hilversum, and electric railways with Haarlem and the sea-side resort of Zandvoort. Amsterdam, the "dam or dyke of the Amstel'', is so called from the Amstel, the canalized river which passes through the city to the Y. Towards the land the city is surrounded by a semicircular fosse or canal, and was at one time regularly fortified; but the ramparts have been demolished and are replaced by fine gardens and houses, and only one gateway, the Muiderpoort, is still standing. Within the city are four similar canals (grachten) with their ends resting on the Y, extending in the form of polygonal crescents nearly parallel to each other and to the outer canal. Each of these canals marks the line of the city walls and moat at different periods. Lesser canals intersect the others radially, thus virtually dividing the city into a number of islands; whence it has been compared with Venice. The nucleus of the town lies within the innermost crescent canal, and, with the large square, the Dam, in the centre, represents the area of Amsterdam about the middle of the 14th century. At one extremity of the enclosing canal is the Schreijerstoren (1482) or "Weepers' Tower,'' so called on account of its being at the head of the ancient harbour, and the scene in former days of sorrowful leave-takings. Between this and the next crescent of the Heeren Gracht sprang up, on the east, the labyrinthine quarter where for more than three centuries the large Jewish population has been located, and in the middle of which the painter Rembrandt lived (1640-1656) and the philosopher Spinoza was born (1632). Beyond the Heeren Gracht lie the Keizers Gracht and the Prinsen Gracht respectively, and these three celebrated canals, with their tree-bordered quays and plain but stately old-fashioned houses, form the principal thoroughfares of the city. West of the Prinsen Gracht lies the region called De Jordaan, a corruption of Le Jardin, the name which it acquired from the fact of its streets being called after various flowers. It was formed by the settlement of French refugees here after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. The outermost crescent canal is called the Singel Gracht (girdle canal), and marks the boundary of the city at the end of the 17th century. The streets in the oldest part of Amsterdam are often narrow and irregular, and the sky-line is picturesquely broken by fantastic gables, roofs and towers. The site of the city being originally a peat bog, the foundations of the houses have to be secured by driving long piles (4-20 yds.) into the firm clay below, the palace on the Dam being supported on nearly 14,000 piles. As late as 1822, however, an overladen corn magazine sank into the mud. Modern Amsterdam extends southward beyond the Singel Gracht, and here the houses are often very handsome, while the broad streets are planted with rows of large trees. In the middle of this new region lies the Vondel Park, named after the great national poet Joost van den Vondel (d. 1679), whose statue stands in the park. The Willems Park adjoining was added in later times. In the older part of the town the chief open space is the Zoological Gardens in the north-eastern corner. They belong to a private society called Natura Artis Magistra, and came into existence in 1838. They have, however, been much enlarged since then, and bear a high reputation. In connexion with the gardens there are an aquarium (1882), a library, and an ethnographical and natural history museum. Concerts are given here in summer as well as in the Vondel Park. Close to the Zoological Gardens are the Botanical Gardens, and a small park, also the property of a private society, in which there is a variety theatre. The public squares of the city include the Sophiaplein, with the picturesque old mint-tower; the Rembrandtplein, with a monument (1852) to the painter by Lodswyk Royer; the Thorbeckeplein, with a monument to the statesman, J. R. Thorbecke (1798-1872), and the Leidscheplein, with the large town theatre, rebuilt in 1890-1894 after a fire.

Buildings and Institutions.—The Dam is the vital centre of Amsterdam. All the tramways meet here, and some of the busiest streets, and here too are situated the Nieuwe Kerk and the palace. In the middle of the Dam stands a monument to those who fell in the Belgian revolution of 1830-1831, and called the Metal Cross after the war medals struck at that time. The palace is an imposing building in the classical style, originally built as a town-hall in 1648-1655 by the architect Jacob van Kempen. It was first given up to royalty on the occasion of the visit of the Stadtholder William V. in 1768, and forty years later was appropriated as a royal palace by Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland. But King William I. afterwards formally returned the palace to the city, and the sovereign is therefore actually the city's guest when residing in it. Beautifully decorated on the exterior with gable reliefs by Artus Quellinus (1609-1668) of Antwerp, its great external defect is the absence of a grand entrance. The architectural and ornamental sculpture of the interior is mostly by the same artist, and there are a few interesting pictures, as well as some realistic wall paintings by the 18th century artist Jacob de Wit similar to those in the Huis ten Bosch near the Hague. The great hall is one of the most splendid of its kind in Europe. Like most of the lesser apartments, it is lined with white Italian marble, and in spite of its enormous dimensions the roof is unsupported by pillars. Ancient flags captured in war decorate the walls, and in the middle of the marble floor is a representation of the firmament inlaid in copper. The Nieuwe Kerk (St Catherine's), in which the sovereigns of Holland are crowned, is a fine Gothic building dating from 1408. Internally it is remarkable for its remains of ancient stained glass, fine carvings and interesting monuments, including one to the famous Admiral de Ruyter (d. 1676). A large stained-glass window commemorates the taking of the oath by Queen Wilhelmina in 1898. The new exchange (1901) is a striking building in red brick and stone, and lies a short distance away between the Dam and the fine central station (1889). The Oude Kerk (St Nicholaas), so called, was built about the year 1300, and contains some beautiful stained glass of the 16th and 17th centuries, by Pieter Aertsen of Amsterdam (1508-1575) and others. One window contains the arms of the burgomasters of Amsterdam from 1578 to 1767. Among the monuments are those to various naval heroes, including Admirals van Heemskerk (d. 1607), Sweers (d. 1673) and van der Hulst (d. 1666). The North Church was the last work of the architect Hendrik de Keyser (1565-1621) of Utrecht. The Roman Catholic church of St Nicholaas (1886) was built to replace the accommodation previously afforded by a common dwelling-house, now the Museum Amstelkring of ecclesiastical antiquities. Among the numerous Jewish synagogues, the largest is that of the Portuguese Jews (1670), which is said to be an imitation of the temple of Solomon. Other buildings of interest are the St Antonieswaag, built as a town gate in 1488-1585, and now containing the city archives; the Trippenhuis, built as a private house in 1662, and now the home of the Royal Society of Science, Letters and Fine Arts; the Netherlands Bank (1865-1869), built by the architect W. A. Froger; the new building (1860) of the Seamen's Institute, founded in 1785; the cellular prison; and the so-called Paleis van Volksvlijt, an immense building of iron and glass with a fine garden, built by Dr Samuel Sarphati, and used for industrial exhibitions, the performance of operas, &c. The museums and picture galleries of Amsterdam are of great interest. The Ryks Museum, or state museum, is the first in Holland. It is a large, handsome and finely situated building designed by Dr P. J. H. Cuyper in the Dutch Renaissance style, and erected in 1876-1885. The exterior is decorated with sculptures and tile-work, and internally it is divided, broadly speaking, into a museum of general antiquities below, and the large gallery of pictures of the Dutch and Flemish schools above. The nucleus of this unsurpassed national collection of pictures was formed out of the collections removed hither from the Pavilion at Haarlem, consisting of modern paintings, and from the town-hall, the van der Hoop Museum and the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. The important van der Hoop collection arose out of bequests by Adrian van der Hoop and his widow in 1854 and 1880; but the most famous pictures in the Ryks Museum are perhaps the three which come from the Trippenhuis, namely, the so-called "Nightwatch'' and the "Syndics of the Cloth Hall'' by Rembrandt, andlthe "Banquet of the Civic Guard,'' by van der Helst. The Trippenhuis gallery consisted of the pictures brought from the Hague by Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland, and belonging to the collection of the Orange family dispersed during the Napoleonic period. The municipal museum contains a collection of furniture, paintings, &c., bequeathed by Sophia Lopez-Suasso (1890), a medico-pharmaceutical collection, and the National Guard Museum. The Joseph Fodor Museum (1860) contains modern French and Dutch pictures. The private collection founded by Burgomaster Jan Six (d. 1702), the friend and patron of Rembrandt, was sold to the state in 1907; the pictures, except the family Rembrandts, are in the Ryks Museum. Close to this is the Willet-Holthuysen Museum (1895) of furniture, porcelain, &c.

Education and Charities.—There are two universities in Amsterdam: the Free University (1880), and the more ancient state university of Amsterdam, originally founded in 1632, but reconstructed in 1887. In addition to the numerous science laboratories the state university possesses a very fine library of about 100,000 volumes, including the Rosenthal collection of over 8000 books on Jewish literature. Modern educational institutions include a school of engineering (1879), a school for teachers (1878) and a school of industrial art (1879). Amsterdam is also remarkable for the number and high character of its benevolent institutions, which are to a large extent supported by voluntary contributions. Among others may be mentioned hospitals for the sick, the aged, the infirm, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the insane, and homes for widows, orphans, foundlings and sailors. The costumes of the children educated at the different orphanages are varied and picturesque, those of the municipal orphanage being dressed in the city colours of red and black. In the Walloon orphanage are some interesting pictures by van der Helst and others. The Society for Public Welfare (Maatschappij tot nut van het Algemeen), founded in 1785, has for its ob)ect the promotion of the education and improvement of all classes, and has branches in every part of Holland. Among other Amsterdam societies are the Felix Meritis (1776), and the Arti et Amicitiae (1839), whose art exhibitions are of a high order.

Harbour and Commerce.—The first attempt which the city of Amsterdam made to overcome the evils wrought to its trade by the slow formation of the Pampus sandbank at the entrance to the Y from the Zuider Zee, was the construction of the North Holland canal to the Helder in 1825. But the route was too long and too intricate, and in 1876 a much larger and more direct ship canal was built across the isthmus to the North Sea at Ymuiden. The serious rivalry of Rotterdam, especially with regard to the transit trade, and the inadequacy of the Keulsche Vaart, which connected the city with the Rhine, led to the construction in 1892 of the Merwede canal to Gorinchem. Meanwhile a complete transformation took place on the Y to suit the new requirements of the city's trade. The three islands built out into the river serve to carry the railway across the front of the city, and form a long series of quays. On either side are the large East and West docks (1825-1834), and beyond these stretch the lone quays at which the American and East Indian liners are berthed. On the west of the West dock is the timber dock, and east of the East dock is another series of islands joined together so as to form basins and quays, one of which is the State Marine dock (1790-1795) with the arsenal and admiralty offices. Opening out of one of the crescent canals which penetrate the city from the Y is the State Entrepot dock (1900), the free harbour of Amsterdam, where the produce from the Dutch East Indies is stored. On the north side of the Y are the dry docks and the petroleum dock (1880-1890). The principal imports are timber, coal, grain, ore, petroleum and colonial produce. Under the last head fall tobacco, tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, Peruvian bark and other drugs. Diamond-cutting has long been practised by the Jews and forms one of the most characteristic industries of the city. Other industries include sugar refineries, soap, oil, glass, iron, dye and chemical works; distilleries, breweries, tanneries; tobacco and snuff factories; shipbuilding and the manufacture of machinery and stearine candles. Although no longer the Centre of the banking transactions of the world, the Amsterdam exchange is still of considerable importance in this respect. The celebrated Bank of Amsterdam, founded in 1609, was dissolved in 1796, and the present Bank of the Netherlands was established in 1814 on the model of the Bank of England. The money market is the headquarters of companies formed to promote the cultivation of colonial produce.

History.—In 1204, when Giesebrecht II. of Amstel built a castle there, Amstetdam was a fishing hamlet held in fee by the lords of Amstel of the bishops of Utrecht, for whom they acted as bailiffs. In 1240 Giesebrecht III., son of the builder of the castle, constructed a dam to keep out the sea. To these two, then, the origin of the city may be ascribed. The first mention of the town is in 1275, in a charter of Floris IV., count of Holland, exempting it from certain taxes.

In 1296 the place passed out of the hands of the lords of Amstel, owing to the part taken by Giesebrecht IV. in the murder of Count Floris V. of Holland. Count John (d. 1304), after coming to an understanding with the bishop of Utrecht, bestowed the fief on his brother, Guy of Hainaut. Guy gave the town its first charter in 1300. It established the usual type of government under a bailiff (schout) and judicial assessors (scabini, or schoppenen), the overlord's supremacy being guarded, and an appeal lying from the court of the scabini, in case of their disagreement, to Utrecht. In 1342 more extensive privileges were granted by Count William IV., including freedom from tolls by land and water in return for certain annual dues. In 1482 the town was surrounded with walls; and in the 16th century, during the religious troubles, it received a great increase of prosperity owing to the influx of refugees from Antwerp and Brabant. Amsterdam, influenced by its trading interests, did not join the other towns in revolt against Spain until 1578. In 1587 the earl of Leicester made an unsuccessful attempt to seize it. The great development of Amsterdam was due, however, to the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, by which its rival, Antwerp, was ruined, owing to the closing of the Scheldt. The city held out obstinately against the pretensions of the stadtholders, and in 1650 opened the dykes in order to prevent William II. from seizing it. The same device was successful against Louis XIV. in 1672; and Amsterdam, now reconciled with the stadtholder, was one of the staunchest supporters of William III. against France. After the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 it opened its gates to numerous French refugees; but this hardly compensated it for its losses during the war. In 1787 Amsterdam was occupied by the Prussians, and in 1795 by the French under Pichegru. It was now made the capital of the Batavian Republic and afterwards of the kingdom of Holland. When, in 1810, this was united with the French empire, Amsterdam was recognized officially as the third town of the empire, ranking next after Paris and Rome.

See J. ter Gouw, Geschiedeniss van Amsterdam (3 vols., Amsterdam, 1879-1881), a full history with documents.

AMSTERDAM (NEW AMSTERDAM), an uninhabited and almost inaccessible island in the Indian Ocean, in 37 deg. 47' S., and 77 deg. 34' E., about 60 m. N. of St Paul Island, and nearly midway between the Cape of Good Hope and Tasmania. It is an extinct volcano, rising 2989 ft. from the sea. It was discovered by Anthony van Diemen in 1633, and annexed by France in 1893. It may have been sighted by the companions of Magellan returning to Europe in 1522, and by a Dutch vessel, the "Zeewolf,'' in 1617. In 1871 the British frigate "Megaera'' was wrecked here, and most of the 400 persons on board had to remain upwards of three months on the island. The Memoires of a Frenchman, Captain Francois Peron (Paris, 1824), who was marooned three years on the island (1792-1795), are of much interest.

AMSTERDAM, a city of Montgomery county, New York, U.S.A., on the north bank of the Mohawk river, about 33 m. N.W. of Albany. Pop. (1890) 17,336; (1900) 20,929, of whom 5575 were foreign-born; (1910) 31,267. It is served by the New York Central & Hudson River and the West Shore railways, and by the Erie Canal. Hills on both sides of the river command fine views of the Mohawk Valley. Amsterdam has two hospitals, a free public library and St Mary's Institute (Roman Catholic). Manufacturing is the most important industry, and carpets and rugs, hosiery and knit goods are the most important products. In 1905 the city's factory products were valued at $15,007,276 (an increase of 41% over their value in 1900); carpets and rugs being valued at $5,667,742, and hosiery and knit goods (in the manufacture of which Amsterdam ranked third among the cities of the country) at $4,667,022, or 3.4% of the total product of the United States. Among the other manufactures are brushes, brooms, buttons, silk gloves, paper boxes, electrical supplies, dyeing machines, cigars, and wagon and carriage springs. Amsterdam was settled about 1775, and was called Veedersburg until 1804, when its present name was adopted. It was incorporated as a village in 1830, and was chartered as a city in 1885.

AMUCK, RUNNING (or more properly AMOK), the native term for the homicidal mania which attacks Malays. A Malay will suddenly and apparently without reason rush into the street armed with a kris or other weapon, and slash and cut at everybody he meets till he is killed. These frenzies were formerly regarded as due to sudden insanity. It is now, however, certain that the typical amok is the result of circumstances, such as domestic jealousy or gambling losses, which render a Malay desperate and weary of his life. It is, in fact, the Malay equivalent of suicide. "The act of running amuck is probably due to causes over which the culprit has some amount of control, as the custom has now died out in the British possessions in the peninsula, the offenders probably objecting to being caught and tried in cold blood'' (W. W. Skeat).