Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/179

AMANA riage (1758), by her judicious rule as guardian of her infant son, she enabled the country to recover from the effects of the Seven Years' War. She attracted to Weimar such men as Herder, Goethe, Musæus, Schiller. The battle of Jena is said to have broken her heart; she died (1807) six months after that event.

AMANA and AMANUS, a chain of lofty mountains separating Cilicia from Syria. This name was given by the Greek and Roman geographers, and is also sometimes applied by modern geographers to the branch of Mount Taurus, which, beginning at the mountain of Cape Hynzyr, on the Gulf of Scanderoon, runs in a N. E. direction into the interior.

AMANITA, a genus of hymenomycete fungi, nearly allied to the mushrooms agaricus. Several of the species are edible, notably the delicious orange (A. cæsarea), but the majority are poisonous. A. muscaria, which is quite common in woods, especially of fir and beech, in Great Britain, is one of the most dangerous fungi. It is sometimes called fly agaric, being used in Sweden and other countries to kill flies and bugs, for which purpose it is steeped in milk. The pileus or cap is of an orange-red color, with white warts, the gills white, and the stem bulbous. It is used by the Kamchadales to produce intoxication.

AMARANTACEÆ, or AMARANTHACÆ, a natural order of plants, consisting of "chenopodal exogens, with separate sepals opposite the stamens, usually one-celled anthers, a single ovary often containing several seeds, and scarious flowers buried in imbricated bracts." The order is divided into three sub-orders—gomphreneæ, achyrantheæ, and celoseæ. About 500 species are known. They occur chiefly in the tropics of America and Asia; a number also are Australian. The cockscomb, the globe amaranth, the prince's feather, and love-lies-bleeding are found in gardens. Many amaranthaceæ are used as pot herbs.

AMARANTUS, or AMARANTHUS, a genus of plants, the typical one of the order amarantaceæ. It is placed under the sub-order achyrantheæ. It has green, purplish or crimson flowers in large spiked clusters, which are very ornamental. A. melancholicus and tri-color are tender annuals, and A. sanguineus and caudatus common border flowers. The leaves of A. viridis are employed externally as an emollient poultice. A. obtusifolius is said to be diuretic. A. debilis is used in Madagascar as a cure for syphilis. The seeds of A. frumentaceus and A. anardana are used as corn in India.

AMARILLO, a city of Texas, in Potter CO. It is on the Fort Worth and Denver City, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, the Chicago, Rock Island, and Gulf, the Pecos and Northern Texas, and the Southern Kansas and Texas railroads. It has important agricultural and manufacturing interests. Pop. (1910) 9,957; (1920) 15,494.

AMARNA LETTERS, a series of letters written on clay tablets discovered in 1887 in the village of Telel-Amarna in Egypt. The letters when deciphered were found to include the correspondence carried on between the Egyptian sovereign and his officers in other countries, about 1400 B. C. With three exceptions they are written in the cuneiform character. The letters throw invaluable light on conditions in Babylon, Egypt, Palestine, and other countries at that time.

AMARYLLIDACEÆ, an order of plants in the narcissal alliance of the class endogens. The representatives of the order in the English flora are narcissus, gelanthus, and leucojum. Beautiful as they are, most of them have poisonous bulbs. The Hottentots are said to dip the heads of their arrows in the viscid juice of the bulbs of hæmianthus toxicarius and some allied species. Several are emetic, having a principle in their composition like that of the squill. Oporanthus luteus is purgative, alströmeria salsilla diaphoretic and diuretic, and amaryllis ornata astringent. A kind of arrowroot is prepared in Chile from alströmeria pallida and other species. A liquor called pulque is made from the wild agave of Mexico.

AMATI (am-ät´ē), a family of Cremona, in the 16th and 17th centuries, famous for their violins, which are at the present time valued very highly on account of their tone. The founder of the violin works at Cremona was ANDREA AMATI, who died 1577. His sons, ANTONIO, born about 1555, and GIROLAMO (1556-1630), brought to the business still greater fame. In 1595, the famous violin which was designed for Henry IV. and is still in existence, was made by them. Girolamo's son, NICCOLO, born in 1596, brought the brilliancy of the Cremona violin to the highest perfection. He was the teacher of Stradivarius and Andrea Guarnerius. He died April 12, 1684.

AMATO, PASQUALE, an Italian baritone singer, born in Naples in 1878. He studied music in Naples Conservatory and made his first appearance at the Bellini Theater. He made an instant success and within a few years had be-