AM! 
the protection of a green-house in this 
country. 
AMBRY, a place in which are deposited 
all utensils necessary for house-keeping. 
In the antient abbies and priories, there 
was an office under this denomination, 
wherein were laid up all charities for the 
poor. 
1 AMBUBAJ.E, in Roman antiquity, were 
immodest women who came from Syria to 
Rome, where they lived by prostitution, and 
by playing on the flute: the word is derived 
from theSyri&cabbub, which signifies a flute; 
although others make it come from am and 
Bairn, because these prostitutes often retired 
to Baiae. According to Cruquius, these wo- 
men used likewise to sell paint for ornament- 
ing the face, &c. 
AMBULANT, the name of brokers, or 
exchange-agents, who have not been sworn 
before magistrates. They transact brokerage 
business, but their testimony is not admitted 
in the courts of justice. ■ 
AMBU LA' ITON, in surgery, a term given 
to the spreading of a gangrene or mortifi- 
‘ cation. 
AMBULATORY, a term applied to such 
courts as were not fixed, but removed some- 
times to one place, sometimes to another: 
thus the court of parliament and court of 
i king’s bench were formerly ambulatory. 
Ambulatory will is such a will “as can 
be at any time revoked before the person’s 
death. 
AMBULIA, a genus of the didvnimia 
angiospermia class and order. It grows in 
Malabar, has an aromatic smell, and is ad- 
ministered in cases of fever in the form of a 
decoction. 
AMBURBIUM, in Roman antiquity, a 
procession made by the Romans round the 
city and ponumum, in which they led a 
victim, and afterwards sacrificed it, in order 
to avert some calamity that threatened the 
city. 
AMBURY, or Anbury, among farriers, 
denotes a tumour, wart, or swelling, which 
is soft to the touch and full of blood. See 
Farriery. 
AMBUSTA, a term used in surgery for a 
solution of continuity, caused by the appli- 
cation of heated substances. 
AME, a musical term used by the French 
•to denote feeling and expression. 
AMEDIANS, in church history, a con- 
gregation of religious in Italy, so called from 
their professing themselves a mantes deum, 
lovers of God; or rather, amati deo, beloved 
of God. 
AMELLUS, star wort, a genus of the 
polygamia superflua order, belonging to the 
syngenesis class of plants; and in the natural 
method ranking under the 4<Jlh order, com- 
positce-oppositit'oliae. The characters are : 
the common calyx is imbricated and roundish: 
the compound corolla is radiated ; the her- 
maphrodite corollets numerous in the disk ; 
the female numerous in the ray: proper co- 
rolla of the hermaphrodites are tubular and 
quinquefid; of the females, tongued, loose, 
and two or three toothed: the stamina in the 
hermaphrodites consist of five short capillary 
filaments; the anthene cylindric and tubular: 
the pistil him has an ovate germen, a filiform 
stylus the length of the stamina, and two 
filiform stigmata: there is no pericarpium, 
'but the calyx unchanged : the seeds are ovate 
AME 
and solitary ; the pappus is hairy ; the re- 
ceptaculmn chaffy. Of this there are two 
species, viz. Amellus lynchnitis, with one 
flower on each footstalk. This is a native of 
the Cape of Good Hope, and a perennial 
plant. The amellus umbellatus, with flowers 
growing in umbels, is a native of Jamaica, and 
is extremely tender. 
AMEN, in the scriptural language, a so- 
lemn formula, or conclusion to all prayer, 
signifying so be it. 
The term amen is hebrew, being derived 
from the verb aman, i. e. to be true, faithful, 
&c. so that, strictly speaking, it signifies truth ; 
and, used adverbially, as is frequently done 
in the gospels, truly or verily. Sometimes 
it is repeated twice together, and then it 
stands for the superlative, as Amen, ainen, 
dico vobis. 
AMEND, or Amende, in the French 
customs, a pecuniary punishment imposed 
by a judge tor any crime, false prosecution, 
or groundless appeal. 
Amende honorable, an infamous kind of 
punishment inflicted in France upon traitors, 
parricides, or sacrilegious persons, in the fol- 
lowing manner : the offender being delivered 
into the hands of the hangman, his shirt is 
stripped off, and a rope put about his neck, 
and a taper in his hand ; then he is led into' 
court, where he must beg pardon of God, 
the king, the court, and his country. Some- 
times the punishment ends here, but some- 
times it is only a prelude to death, or banish- 
ment to the galleys. 
AMENDMENT, in law, the correction 
of an error committed in a process, which 
may be amended after judgment, unless the 
error lies in giving judgment, for in that case 
it is not amendable, but the party must bring 
a writ of error. 
A bill may be amended on the file at any 
time before the plea is pleaded, but not after- 
wards, without motion and leave of the court. 
Amendment of a bill, in parliament, is 
some alteration made in the first draught of 
it. We even read of amendments of amend- 
ments. However, it is to be observed, that 
all amendments ought to be made in the 
house, whence the thing to be amended ori- 
ginally proceeded. 
Amendment, in husbandry, is used for 
the enriching land bv laying manure on it. 
AMENTACEOUS, in botany, an appel- 
lation given to such flowers as have an aggre- 
gate of summits hanging down in form of a 
rope, or cat’s-tail, which is called an amentum 
or catkin. 
AMENTUM, in Roman antiquity, a thong 
t ied about the middle of a javelin or dart, and 
fastened to the fore-linger, in order to recover 
the weapon as soon as it was discharged. The 
antients made great use of the amentum, 
thinking it helped to inforce the blow. Amen- 
tum also denotes a latchet that bound their 
sandals. 
AMERCEMENT, or Amerciament, 
in law, a pecuniary punishment imposed upon 
offenders at the mercy of the court. 
Amercements differ from fines, the latter 
being certain punishments growing expressly 
from some statute, whereas {he former are im- 
posed in proportion to the fault. Besides, 
fines are assessed by the court, but amerce- 
ments by the country. . 
A court of record only can fine, all others 
can only amerce. 
13 
A ME 67 
Sheriffs are amereiable for the faults of their 
officers, and clerks of the peace may be amerced 
in the king’s-bench tor gross faults in indict- 
ments removed to that court. 
A town is subject to amercement for the 
escape of a murderer in the day-time; and if 
the town is walled, it is subject to amercement 
whether the escape happens by day or night. 
The. statute of Magna- Charta ordains that 
a freeman is not to be amerced tor a small 
fault, but in proportion to the offence, by his 
peers and equals. 
AMERICA, one of the four grand divisions 
of the earth. See Geography. 
AMERIMNUM, a genus of the diadelphia 
decandria class and order, of the natural order 
of the papilionaceae or leguminosse. The es- 
sential character is : calyx two-lipped ; legume 
compressed, leafy, two-valved, gaping; seeds 
few and solitary. There are two species : the 
one a shrub ; and ihe other, A. ebenus, a tree 
which rises to 1 4 feet high, with a very thick 
stem. It is common in the West Indies, 
where the wood is cut and sent to England, 
under the name of ebony. 
AMETHYST, amethystus, in the history 
of precious stones, a gem of a purple co- 
lour, which seems compounded of a strong 
blue and a deep red ; and according as either 
of these prevails, affording different tinges of 
purple, sometimes approaching to violet, and 
sometimes even fading to a pale rose-colour. 
The amethyst on analysis is found, accord- 
ing to Rose, to contain 
97.50 silica 
0.25 alumina 
0.50 oxvde of iron and manganese 
98.25 
Though t he amethyst is generally of a pur- 
ple colour, it is nevertheless sometimes found 
naturally colourless, and may at any time be 
easily made so by putting it into the fire ; in 
which pellucid or colourless state, it so well 
imitates the diamond, that its want of hardness, 
seems the only way of distinguishing it. 
Some derive the name amethyst from its 
colour, which resembles wine mixed with wa- 
ter ; whilst others, with more probability, think 
it got its name from its supposed virtue of 
preventing drunkenness; an opinion which, 
however imaginary, prevailed to that degree 
among the antients, that it was usual for great 
drinkers to wear it about their necks. 
Be tins at it will, the amethyst is scarcely 
inferior to any of the gems in the beauty of its 
colour; and in its purest stale is of the same 
hardness, and at least of equal value, with the 
ruby and sapphire. It is found of various 
sizes, from that of a small vetch, to au 
inch and a half in diameter, and often to 
much more than that in length. Its shape is 
extremely various, sometimes roundish, some- 
times oblong, and at others Hatted, at least on 
one side ; but its most common appearance is 
in a crystalliform figure, consisting of a thick 
column, composed of four planes, and ter- 
minated by a Hat and short pyramid, of the 
same number of sides; or else, of a thinner 
and longer hexangular column, and sometimes 
of a long pyramid without any column. It 
makes the gayest figure in the last of these 
states, but is hardest and most valuable in the 
roundish and pebble-like form. 
The amethyst is found in the East and 
West Indies, and in several parts of Europe ; 
