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LEFT AMESBURY 147 AMIENS AMESBURY, a town in Essex co., Mass.; on the Merrimac river and the Boston and Maine railroad; 27 miles N. of Salem. It has manufactories of cot- ton and woolen goods, boots and shoes, machinery, carriages, etc., and was long the residence of the poet Whittier. Pop. (1910) 9,894; (1920) 10,036. AMETABOLA, or AMETABOLIANS, a sub-class of insects, consisting of those which do not undergo metamorphosis. It includes three orders: the anoplura, or lice; the mallophaga, or bird-lice; and the thysanura, or spring-tails. All are wingless insects. AMETHYST, a variety of quartz. Its color is clear purple or bluish violet; hence it is sometimes called violet- quartz. The coloring matter is generally believed to be manganese. The beauty and hardness of the amethyst cause it to be regarded as a precious stone. It occurs in veins or geodes in trappean and other rocks. The best specimens are brought from India, Annenia, and Arabia. The Oriental amethyst is a rare pur- ple variety of sapphire. The last stone in the third row of the Jewish high-priest's breastplate was an amethyst (Exod. xxviii: 19); and the 12th foundation of the new Jerusalem, mentioned in Rev. xxi: 20, was to be an amethyst. AMHERST, a town in Hampshire co., Mass.; on the Boston and Maine and the Central Vermont railroads; 23 miles N. N. E. of Springfield. It has manufac- tories of paper, straw and palm-leaf hats, leather, and children's wagons, and is best known as the seat of Amherst College (q. v.), the State Agricultural College, and the State Experiment Sta- tion. Pop. (1910), 5,112; (1920) 5,650. AMHERST COLLEGE, an educational institution in Amherst, Mass.; founded in 1821 and incorporated in 1825. The members of the faculty in 1919 num- bered 52, and the students 503. The productive funds amounted to $3,800,000, and the income to $300,000. President, Alexander Meiklejohn, Ph. D., LL. D. AMHERST, JEFFERY, LORD, a dis- tinguished British officer, born in 1717. He entered the army at an early age, and ultimately became Major-General. Sent over to America, he captured Louis- burg, and followed it up by the reduction of Forts Duquesne, Niagara, and Ticon- deroga, which paved the way for the en- tire conquest of Canada. In 1763, Amherst was made Governor of Virginia, and created Baron Amherst of Holmesdale in 1776. He was appointed Commander-in- 11 — Vol. I — Cyo Chief of the British army in 1778, in which capacity he took a most active, but humane, part in suppressing the London riots of 1780. Upon resigning his chief command in 1795 he was mad« a Field-Marshal. Died in 1798. AMIGA, a lake of South America, in the province of Cumana, Venezuela, on a plateau between the Rupumung and Tocoto rivers. In the age of Queen Elizabeth, the vicinity of this lake was called the El Dorado, and near it was supposed to stand the wonderful im- perial city of Manoa, forming the object of the expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh and his ill-fated followers, but which they failed to discover. AMICIS, EDMONDO DE (a-me'ches), an Italian writer, born at Oneglia, in Liguria, Oct. 21, 1846. From 1865 till the occupation of Rome by the Italian army, he was in the military service of King Victor Emmanuel's Government; then he returned to civil life at Turin, devoting himself wholly to literature. Among his writings the most note- worthy are "Army Life" (1869), and "Recollections of 1870-1871." Of novels "The College Friends," "A Great Day," "The Paternal Home" (1872), and "Cuore" (Hearts), published in English as "The Heart of a Schoolboy." His works of travel — including "Spain," "Recollections of London," "Holland," " Constantinople," " Recollections of Paris," and "Morocco" — have had a very wide circulation. He has published also a volume of "Verses." He died in 1908. AMIEL, HENRI FREDERIC, a dis- tinguished Swiss essayist, philosophical critic, and poet, born at Geneva, Sept. 27, 1821. He became Professor of Phi- losophy in the Geneva Academy. He is author of several works on the history of literature, as "The Literary Movement in Romanish Switzerland" (1849); "Study on Mme. de Stael" (1878); and of several poems. But his fame rests principally on the "Journal." He died in Geneva, March 11, 1881. AMIENS (am-yan'), an old French city, the capital once of Picardy, and now of the department of Somme, on the many-channelled navigable Somme, 81 miles N. of Paris by rail. The Cathe- dral of Notre Dame is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Begun in 1220, it is 452 feet long, and has a spire (1529) 426 feet high; but its special feature is the loftiness of the nave, 141 feet. Other noteworthy buildings are the Hotel de Ville (1600-1760), in which the Peace of Amiens was signed, the large museum (1864), in Renaissance style; and the public library, which was