Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/398

 374 AMALEKITES AMALGAM during the minority of her son Athalaric, to whom he bequeathed that kingdom. Assum- ing power in 526, and availing herself of the aid of Cassiodorus, she showed great adminis- trative talent; but her efforts to educate her son were thwarted by the Gothic nobles and by his own intractable disposition, and his de- baucheries destroyed him in his youth. She still endeavored to retain power, but through the influence of Justinian was imprisoned and strangled by her cousin Theodatus, whom she had married and made co-regent. AMALEKITES, a Bedouin tribe, who, accord- ing to Arabian traditions, lived in very early times near the Persian gulf, but were gradually driven westward by the Assyrians. When they were first known by the Israelites, they inhab- ited the peninsula of Sinai and its neighbor- hood to the north, thus controlling the routes across the isthmus of Suez. They are men- tioned as defeated by the four kings, and again as harassing the march of the Israelites out of Egypt. They were afterward defeated at Rephidim, but in turn vanquished the Israelites near Hormah, where they had the Canaanites as allies. They are mentioned several times after this, but no longer as powerful ; and they seem to have been almost exterminated by Saul and David. AMALFI, a city and seaport of S. Italy, in Prin- cipato Citra, on the gulf of Salerno, 24 m. S. E. of Naples ; pop. about 5,000, and with several Ainalli. - independent villages about 7,000. It is encir- cled by mountains and precipices, at the mouth of a gorge, from which a little torrent dashes into the gulf, furnishing power for numerous mills and manufactories. It has been an arch- bishop's see since 987, and besides the ancient cathedral, in the Romanesque style, there are several fine churches and a Capuchin convent. The coasting trade, fisheries, and manufactures of paper, soap, and macaroni are the principal industries. The macaroni of Amalfi is famous, and is exported to all parts of the world. Amalfi is believed to have been founded in the 4th century, but is not mentioned in history till the 6th. It early became an independent re- public, governed by doges, and the principal centre of eastern trade, with a population of 50,000, the dependent territory comprising 500,- 000. It originated a new maritime code ( Tabula Amalphitana), introduced into Europe an im- proved knowledge of the mariner's compass, and preserved the earliest known MS. of the Pandects. The inhabitants also acquired dis- tinction in the crusades as the founders of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, from which the knights of Malta derived their name. In 1075 Robert Guiscard was called to the aid of the republic against the duke of Salerno, and afterward annexed it to his dukedom of Apulia ; but it maintained a partial independence till 1131, when it capitulated to King Roger of Sicily, retaining the right of municipal self- government. Its decline in commercial impor- tance was hastened by wars with the Pisans, by the encroachments of the sea upon its har- bor from the 12th century, and the destruction of its quays and public works by a great storm in 1343. In later times the titles of duke and prince of Amalfi were held by various families, AMALGAM (Gr. d//a, together, and ya//v, to marry ; or according to some, ^d/Lay^ua, an emollient, from fialdooeiv, to soften), an alloy of two or more metals, one of which must be mercu- ry. This metal has a re- markable power of dis- solving most of the other metals and forming com- binations that may be ap- plied directly to various uses ; and, moreover, as the mercury is easily ex- pelled from them by heat, these combinations are used as a means of bring- ing other metals into a condition of convenient application to many pur- poses. Thus, gilding is sometimes effected by washing other metals with a solution of gold in mer- cury. The mercury is driven off by heat, and the gold remains coating the surface. A process is pat- ented in England for covering iron with zinc, which is based on this principle. A considerable degree of cold is produced in forming some amal- gams. Thus, in mixing at a temperature of 65 F. 1 18 parts of tin and 201 of lead, both in filings, 284 of bismuth in fine powder, and 1,616 of mercury, the temperature falls to 18. Manj of the amalgams are definite compounds, froa which the mercury in excess may be squeezed out ; but sometimes the liquid that thus escapes I-