AMO 
waterings must not be frequent nor plenti- 
ful, and during wintei', very sparing. The 
pots must constantly remain plunged in the 
tan-bed ; for if they are. taken out and 
placed on shelves in the stove, their fibres 
often shrink, and thus their roots decay. 
By this management these plants have 
greatly multiplied, and the common ginger 
has produced roots, weighing five or six 
ounces; but the others have been nearly a 
pound weight. In the West Indies the gin- 
ger thrives best in a rich cool soil ; in a more 
clayey soil the root shrinks less in scalding. 
The land laid out for the culture of it is first 
well cleared and hoed, and then slightly 
trenched, and planted in March or April ; it 
flowers about September ; and when the 
stalks are wholly withered, the roots aie fit 
to be taken up, which is generally done in 
January and February. 
AMONTONS (William), in biography, 
an ingenious French experimental philoso- 
pher, was born in Normandy the 31st of 
August 1663. While at the grammar school, 
he by sickness contracted a deafness that 
almost excluded him from the conversation 
of mankind. In this situation he applied 
himself to the study of geometry and me- 
chanics; with which he was so delighted, 
that it is said he refused to try any remedy 
for his disorder, either because he deemed 
it incurable, or because it increased his at- 
tention to his studies. Among other objects 
of his study, were the arts of drawing, of 
land-surveying, and of building ; and shortly 
after he acquired some knowledge of those 
more sublime laws, by which the universe 
is regulated. He studied wilh great care 
the natue of barometers and thermometers; 
and wrote his treatise of “ Observations 
and Experiments concerning a new Hour- 
glass, and concerning Barometers, Thermo- 
meters, and Hygroscopes ;” as also some 
pieces in the Journal des Savans. In 1687", 
he presented a new hygrcscope to the Aca- 
demy of Sciences, which was much ap- 
proved. He found out a method of con- 
veying intelligence to a great distance in a 
short space of time: this was by making 
signals from one person to another, placed 
at as great distances from each other, as 
they could see the signals by means of teles- 
copes: this was unquestionably done upon 
the principal of modem telegraphs, which 
were brought into general use in 1794, al- 
most a century after the death of Amontons. 
Amontons was chosen a member of the 
Royal Academy in 1699, as an eleve under 
the third astronomer ; and he read there 
AMP 
his “ New Theory of Friction,” in which hs 
happily cleared up an important object in 
mechanics. He had a particular genius for 
making experiments : his notions were just 
and delicate: he knew how to prevent the 
inconveniences of his new inventions, and 
had a wonderful skill in executing them. 
He died of an inflammation in his bowels, 
the 11th of October 1705, being only 42 
years of age. His pieces are contained in 
the different volumes of the memoirs of the 
Academy of Sciences ; these are numerous, 
and upon various subjects, as the air, action 
of fire, barometers, thermometers, hygro- 
meters, friction, machines, heat, cold, rare- 
factions, pumps, &c. They may be seen in 
the volumes for the years 1696, 1699, 1702, 
1703, 1704, and 1705. The character of 
Amontons for integrity, modesty, and can- 
dour, was no less distinguished than his ta- 
lents and genius in philosophical pursuits. 
Upon his death in 1705, M. Fontenelle de- 
livered an elegant and impressive eulogium 
on his merits. See Memoirs of the Aca- 
demy for that year. 
AMORPHA, in botany, bastard indigo, 
a genus of plants, belonging to the Diadel- 
phia Decandria class of Linnaeus ; the flower 
of which consists of one petal vertically 
ovated, hollow, and erect ; and the fruit is a 
lunulated pod, of a compressed form, and 
covered with tubercles, in which are con- 
tained two seeds, of an oblong kidney-like 
shape. There are two species. 
This shrub grows naturally in Carolina, 
where formerly the inhabitants made a 
coarse sort of indigo, which occasioned its 
name of the bastard indigo. It rises with 
many irregular stems to the height of twelve 
or fourteen feet, with very long-winged 
leaves. It was observed by Thunberg in 
the island of Niphon, belonging to Japan, 
but is now become very common in the gar- 
dens and nurseries near London, where it is 
propagated as a flowering shrub. It is pro- 
pagated by seeds sent from America. 
AMPELIS, in natural history, the chat- 
terer, a genus of birds of the order Passeres : 
bill straight, convex, subincurved, each 
mandible notched: nostrils covered with 
bristles : tongue sharp, cartilagenous, bifid : 
middle toe connected at the base to the out- 
side. There are, according to Gmelin, four- 
teen species : we shall notice the following : 
A. garrulus, or waxen chatterer ; a beauti- 
ful bird about eight inches long. Its bill is 
black, and has a small notch at the end ; its 
eyes are placed in a band of black, which 
passes from the base of the bill to the hinder 
