AMO 
very decidedly the tincture of turnsole. 
These two properties would indicate at once 
the presence of an acid and of an alkali. It 
froths considerably when agitated. On the 
application of heat it becomes opaque, and 
has then a great resemblance to milk diluted 
with a large quantity of water. At the 
same time it exhales the odour of boiled 
white of egg. Acids render it more trans- 
parent. Alkalies precipitate an animal 
matter in small flakes. Alcohol likewise 
produces a flaky precipitate, which, when 
collected and dried, becomes transparent 
and very like glue. The infusion of nut 
galls produces a very copious brown co- 
loured precipitate. Nitrate of silver occa- 
sious a white precipitate, which is insoluble 
in nitric acid, and consequently is muriate 
of silver. The liquor of the amnios of the 
cow has a viscidity similar to mucilage of 
gum arabic, a brownish red colour, an acid 
and bitter taste, and a peculiar odour, not 
unlike that of some vegetable extracts. Its 
specific gravity is 1.028. It reddens the 
sincture of turnsole, and therefore contains 
an acid. Muriate of barytes causes a very 
abundant precipitate, which renders it pro- 
bable that it contains sulphuric acid. Al- 
cohol separates from it a great quantity of 
a reddish coloured matter. The animal 
matter possesses the following properties : 
It has a reddish brown colour and a pecu- 
liar taste ; it is very soluble in water, but 
insoluble in alcohol, which has the property 
of separating it from water. When exposed 
to a strong heat, it; swells, exhales first the 
odour of burning gum, then of empyreuma- 
tic oil and of ammonia, and at last the pe- 
culiar odour of prussic acid becomes very 
conspicuous. It differs from gelatine in the 
viscidity which it communicates to water, 
in not forming a jelly when concentrated, 
and in not being precipitated by tannin. It 
must be therefore ranked among the very 
undefined and inaccurate class of animal mu- 
cilages. When burnt it leaves a large por- 
tion of coal, which is readily incinerated, and 
leaves a little white ashes, composed of phos- 
phate of magnesia, and a small proportion 
of phosphate of lime. 
AMOMUM, in botany, a genus of the 
Monandria Monogynia class and order, the 
characters of which are, that the calyx is a 
perianthium, one-leafed, cylindraceous, and 
unequally trifid ; the corolla is monopeta- 
lous and funnel-shaped, tube cylindraceous, 
border three-parted, parts oblong and 
spreading ; the nectary two-leaved or two- 
lipped, lower lip inserted under the upper 
I 
AMO 
segment of the corolla, spreading almost 
erect, entire or three -lobed ; the stamina 
have no filament, except the upper lip of 
the nectary, smaller than the lower, and op- 
posite to it, accuminate or three-lobed at 
the tip ; along the middle or at the end of 
which grows longitudinally a large oblong 
anther, germinate, or divided by a longitu- 
dinal furrow into two, which are one-valved * 
the pistillum has an inferior, oblong germ, 
style filiform, drawn through the suture of 
the anther, stigma turbinate, obtuse and ci- 
liate; the pericarpium a fleshy capsule, 
ovate, three-cornered, three-celled, and 
three-valved ; the seeds are several, covered 
with a sort of berried aril. Gmelin, in his 
edition of Linnaeus, enumerates twenty spe- 
cies. A. zinziber, narrow-leaved ginger, cul- 
tivated by Miller, and flowering in Septem- 
ber, is a native of the East Indies, and other 
countries of Asia, and is much used there 
and in the West Indies. The dried roots 
furnish a considerable article of commerce 
from our West India islands ; they are of 
great use in the kitchen and in medicine, 
and when preserved green as a sweet-meat, 
are preferable to every other sort. A. zerum- 
bet, cultivated at Hampton-conrt, in 1690, 
and flowering with us from September to 
November, when the stalks periSl like those 
of the true ginger ; a native of the East In- 
dies, Cochinchina, &c. and also in Otaheite' 
and the other Society Isles. This is used ex- 
ternally in the East, in cataplasms and fo- 
mentations ; but not internally, as spice or 
medicine ; though Garcias says, that it makes 
a better preserve with sugar than the other. 
As to tire propagation and culture of these 
plants, it may be observed that they are 
tender, and require a warm stove to pre- 
serve them in this country. They are easily 
propagated by parting their roots, which 
should be done in the spring, before they 
put out new shoots. In parting the roots, 
they must not be divided into small pieces, 
especially if they are designed to have 
flowers ; nor should they be planted in very 
large pots. They thrive best in a light rich 
eai th, such as that of the kitchen garden ; 
and with this the pots should be filled within 
two inches of the top, and the roots should 
be placed in the middle of the pots, with 
their crowns upwards, and the pots should 
then be filled with the same earth ; they 
should be plunged into a hot-bed of tan- 
ner’s bark, and sparingly watered, till their 
stalks appear above ground, when they 
will admit of more moisture, especially in 
the summer months ; but in autumn, the 
