Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/568

AMPHORA. Greek painted vases. Anipliora was also a liquid measure in Konie, equivalent to 26.20 litres, or about seven gallons. The name was also given

AMPHOR.?:. sometimes to the Attic metretes — equal to about 11 gallons. In modern times, anfora is the name of a wine-measure in Venice. See Vase.

AM'PLIFICA'TION (Lat. amplus, large + facere, to make). A term in rlietoric, meaning that an idea, an opinion, or an inference is pre- sented to the mind accompanied by accessory circumstances. Its aim is to make a powerful and vivid impression on the reader or the hearer. It is generally produced by breaking up general statements into particulars, by employing some form of repetition, by adding illustrative details, and by quotation. Consult Genung, The Working Principles of Rhetoric (Boston, 1901). AM'PLITTJDE (Lat. ainplitiido, from amplus, large). In astronomy, the angular distance of a heavenly body, at the time of its rising or setting from the eastern or the western point of the hori- zon. When the sun is in the equator (i.e., at the time of either equinox), he rises exactly east and sets exactly west, except for the small efl'eets of refraction (q.v. ) Therefore, at these times the amplitude is zero. His amplitude is at its maxi- mum at midsummer, and again at midwinter; and that maximum depends upon the latitude of the place, being 2.31A° at the equator, and in- creasing to latitude 66%°, where it becomes 90". The amplitude of a fixed star remains constant all the year round.

AMPTHILL, amt'hill. First Baeon. See RussELi,, Ono WiLLiAsr Leopold.

AMPUL'LA' (diniin. of amphora: in Greek, /l)?K!)Oof, IClcythos). Apparently a generic term among the ancient Romans for anj' little bottle of earthenware, glass, or other material, used for holding liquids or ointments. The ampulla Uemensis (the holy vessel, Fr. la sainfe. am- poule) was the name of that famous vessel in which was contained the unguent (believed to have been brought by a dove from heaven) that anointed Clovis, King of the Franks, at RheiTMS in 496 A.D., and with which every succeeding monarch of France, down to Louis X'l., was anointed at his coronation. Tliis ampulla was shattered, along with a great many more valu- able things, at the Revolution of 17S9; hut a fragment of it was preserved by some devout royalist, and handed over at the restoration to the Archbishop of Rheims. Curious to say, a little of the miraculous substance still remained, and, being mixed with oil, was used to anoint Charles X. in 1825.

AM'PUTA'TION (Lat. ampntare, to lop off, cut around). The cutting off of a part which, by its condition, endangers the safety, health or comfort of the patient. Injury, gangrene, and malignant gi'owths are the most frequent causes for amputation. The amputation of a limb was in ancient times attended with great danger of the patient dying during its performance, as sur- geons had no efficient means of restraining the bleeding. They rarely ventured to remove a large portion of a limb, and when they did so, they cut in the gangrened parts, where they knew the vessels would not bleed : the smaller limbs they chopped ofi' with a mallet and chisel ; and in both eases had hot irons at hand with which to sear the raw surfaces, boiling oil in which to dip the stump, and various resins, mosses, and fungi, supposed to possess the power of arresting hemorrhage. Some tightly bandaged the limbs they wished to remove, so that they mortified and dropped off; and others amputated with red-liot knives, or knives made of wood or horn dipped in vitriol. The desired power of con- trolling the hemorrhage was obtained by the in- vention of the ligature by Parg in the sixteenth century, and by the invention of the tourni- quet (q.v.) in 1674 by a French surgeon, Slorell. The ancient surgeons endeavored to save a covering of skin for the stump, hav- ing the skin drawn upward by an assistantj previously to using the knife. In 1679, Lowd- ham, of Exeter, suggested cutting semicircular) flajjs on one or both sides of a limb, so asl to preserve a fleshy cushion to cover the! end of the bone. Both these methods are nowf in use, and are known as the "circular" and thel "flap" operations; the latter is most frequently! used.

A "flap" amputation is performed thus: Thel patient being placed in the most convenient posi-I tion, an assistant compresses the main artery ofl the limb with an elastic band or a tourniquet. J Another assistant supports the limb. The sur- geon with one hand lifts the tissue from thel bone, and transfixing with a long narrow knife,! cuts rapidly downward and toward the surface of the skin, forming a flap ; he then repeats this on the other side of the limb. An assist-l ant now draws up these flaps, and the knifeJ is carried round the bone, dividing any fleshi still adhering to it. The surgeon now sawal the bone. He then, with a small forceps,! seizes the end of the main artery, and draw-¥ ing it slightly from the tissues, an assistant! ties it with a thread. All the vessels being se-j cured with ligatures, after removal of the toiu'ni-J quet, the flaps are stitched together with a needle and thread, or, if hea-y, with silver wire. suitable dressing is then applied.

AM'PYX (Gk. a/iTTvi, a woman's head-band, a snood). A characteristic Ordovician genu3J comprising about fifty species, restricted tol North America and Europe, of blind trilobites, in which the central portion {t/labclhi) of the head-shield is often armed with a cylindrical or angu-llar sharp spine, the length of which in nianyj species exceeds that of the entire body. LongT curved spines are also developed upon the genal angles or posterior corners of the sides of the*