Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/782

Rh 738 A M H A M L return to England lio lived in retirement till his death in March 1857. AMHURST, NICHOLAS, an English poet and political writer of the 18th century, was born at Marden in Kent, and entered (1716) at St John s college, Oxford, from which he was expelled, ostensibly for libertinism and irregular conduct, but really, according to his own state ment, on account of the liberality of his opinions. Retain ing great resentment against the university on this account, he gave expression to his feeling in a poem published in 1724, called Oculus Britannia, and in a book entitled Terrce Filius. He published a Miscellany of Poems, sacred and profane; and The Convocation, a poem in five cantos, which was a satire on the bishop of Bangor s antagonists. But he is best known for the share he had in the political paper called The Craftsman, which he conducted for several years. It attained a circulation of 10,000 or 12,000 espies, and had very considerable influence in inflaming popular opinion against Sir Robert Walpole, and in bring ing about the political change of 1742. Amhurst s party made no provision for him, however, on their accession to power, and their neglect is supposed to have hastened his death, which occurred at Twickenham on the 27th April 1742. AMIANTHUS (unstained, from a privative, and /xiatW, to stain), the best known and most beautiful of the asbestos class of substances. See ASBESTOS. AMICI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA, a celebrated designer and constructor of optical instruments, was born at Modena in 1784. While studying mathematics at Bologna, he acquired a taste for astronomical science, and devoted himself early in life to the improvement of astronomical instruments with great ingenuity and success. For the specula of his reflecting telescopes he prepared a very hard alloy, capable of receiving and retaining a fine polish, and to prevent spherical aberration he wrought the specula into an elliptical form. About 1812 he undertook the con struction of a telescope with a five-foot speculum, and the gun-foundry at Pavia was put at his disposal for this purpose by the war minister of Italy, but the project was broken off, owing apparently to political complications. Amici is still better known from his microscopes. His reflecting microscopes, with ellipsoidal specula, were an improvement on all that had preceded them, and he attained still greater success in the construction of com pound achromatic object-glasses. His compound micro scope was the first that could be used either in a vertical or in a horizontal position. His prism, too, for the oblique illumination of objects of microscopical observation is much commended. Amici was a very diligent and skilful observer ; and his intimate acquaintance with the principles of optical science enabled him to arrange his apparatus to the very best advantage. Various papers recording the results of his observations, which he read before learned societies, were published in scientific journals. They treat of the measurement of the diameters of the sun (by means of a micrometer he invented) and other astronomical subjects, the circulation of the sap in plants, the fructifica tion of plants, infusoria, &c. After holding for some time a professorship of mathematics in Modena, he was in 1831 appointed inspector-general of studies in the duchy. A few years later he was entrusted with the charge of the observatory at Florence, where he also delivered lectures as professor of mathematics at the museum of natural history. He died in April 1863. AMIENS, an ancient city of France, capital of the department of Somme, and formerly of the old province of Picardy, situated on the Somme, about 40 miles from its mouth, and 71 miles N. of Paris. It was once a place of great strength, and still possesses a citadel, but the ramparts which surrounded it have been replaced by beautiful boule vards. The new part of the town is well built, but the streets of the old quarter are narrow and irregular, and are so cut up by the eleven canals into which the Somme is here divided, that Louis XL is said to have called the town &quot; little Venice.&quot; The most interesting object in Amiens is its magnificent cathedral, one of the finest in Europe, commenced in the year 1220 and finished in 1288, although additions to it were afterwards made. Among the other important public buildings are the Hotel de Ville, the Chateau d Eau, the theatre, the museum, the hospital, and several churches. The town is the scat of a bishop, of a prefect, and of the departmental courts of justice ; raid possesses a library containing more than 50,000 volumes, besides manuscripts, an academy of sciences, various other learned societies, a theological seminary, a lyceum, and several ordinary schools. It has many important manu factures, the chief being cotton velvets, kerseymeres, woollen and linen cloths, flax, beetroot sugar, soap, leather, and paper. Amiens occupies the site of the ancient Samarobriva, capital of the Ambiani, from whom it probably derives its name. After the dissolution of the empire of the west it repeatedly changed owners, becoming for the first time a dependency of the French crown in 1185, when Philip of Alsace ceded it to Philip Augustus; and since that date it has more than once passed out of the power of the French kings. The famous treaty between Great Britain, France, Spain, and Holland, which took its name from this city, was signed in the Hotel de Ville on March 25th, 1802. During the recent war between France and Germany Amiens fell into the hands of the Prussians on the 28th of November 1870. General Manteuffel was operating against the French army of the north, which had been formed Avith the view of helping the armies of Paris and of the Loire to effect a junction, and thus raise the siege of the capital. The French, however, were defeated in a battle in front of Amiens, which was fought on the 27th of November, along a line stretching from Saleux to Marceleane, and extending, it is &quot;said, more than four leagues. They retreated northward in the direction of Arras, and Amiens surrendered on the following day, after a very slight demonstration of force on the part of the Prussians. Peter the Hermit was born at Amiens about 1050. Population (1872), 63,747. AMIOT, PERE JOSEPH, a learned Jesuit missionary to China, was born at Toulon in 1718. In 1750 he arrived, along with two others of his order, at Macao, from which, on a favourable answer to a petition being received from the emperor Kien-Lung, he removed to Peking in the autumn of the following year. He continued to reside in the capital until his death in 1794, devoting himself almost exclusively to the study of Chinese and Manchoo- Tatar literature. The results of his labours were com municated at frequent intervals to Europe in works which did more than had ever been done before to make known to the Western world the thought and life of the farthest East. Many of his statements, however, are not trust worthy, and his works are practically superseded by those of others who entered the field later. His Dictionnaire Tatarmantchou-Francais (Paris, 1789) was a work of great value, the language having been previously quite unknown in Europe. His other writings are to be found chiefly in the Memoires concernant Fllistoire, Ics Sciences, ft les Arts de Chinois (15 vols. 4to, Paris, 1776-91). The Vie de Confucius, which occupies the twelfth volume of that collection, is very complete and accurate. AMLWCH, a town of Anglesey, North Wales, situated on a rising ground on the north coast of the island, 15 miles from Beaumaris. It owes its importance almost entirely to the copper mines of the Parys Mountain ; before