A M E 
fmall quantities; and, if their leaves fhould contra# filth, 
they mu ft be waffled with a fpoiige tp clean them, othqr- 
wi!e the plants will not thrive. As thefe plants are very 
tender when young, they will not live in the open air in 
this country, even in the warmeft part, of the year; there¬ 
fore they muft be conftantly kept in the ftove, and fhould 
be kept pluged in the bark-bed, obferving in the fumiper 
feafon, when the weather is warm, to admit, a large fliare 
of frefh air to the plants; but, when they have obtained 
flrength, they may be expofed for three months in a warm 
fituation in the fummer. 
AM'ERSFORT, a confiderable town of the Nether¬ 
lands, in the province of Utrecht. It carries on a manu¬ 
facture of dimity and bombazines, and is feated in a fertile 
country, on the river Ems, twelve miles ealt of Utrecht. 
Lat-52.i4.N. Ion. 5.22. E. 
AM'ERSHAM, [ Agmundefiam, from ac in oak, mund 
a fence or mound, and ham , Sax. a village, q.d. a village 
fenced from the violence of the winds with a row of oaks; 
or from Agmundas , the builder of it.] A borough-town 
in Buckinghamfhire, twenty-fix miles from London. It 
has a market on Tuefday, and a fair on Whit-Monday for 
cattle, as alfo a ftatute-fair on the 19th of September. 
The chief manufactures are lace, which is confidera- 
bly large, chiefly black lace ; the backing manufacture, 
which is but fmall; and a manufactory for white cotton 
goods, by a machinery of the neweft conftruCtion. This 
town lies in a vale between woody hills, near the river 
Colne, and has a free-fchool, founded in the reign of queen 
Elizabeth, and four alms-houfes. Amerfham conlifts of 
a long ftreet, in the road from Uxbridge to Buckingham, 
divided about the middle by a {hotter crols-ftreet; in the 
interfeCtion of which ftands the church. The living is 
faid to be the beft in England. The town fends two mem¬ 
bers to parliament, and its town-hall, or market-houfe, is 
the handfomeft in the county. Lat.5i.47.N. lon.o.i5.W. 
A'MERY, or A'merick, \_earice, Sax. always rich.] 
A proper name of men. 
A'MES (William), a learned divine, famous for his 
controverfial writings, was born in 1576, and educated at 
Chrift’s college, in Cambridge. In the reign of James I. 
he left the kingdom, on account of his being unwilling to 
conform to the rules of the church; and retired to the 
Hague, where he was invited to accept of the divinity- 
chair in the univerfity of Franeker, in Friefland, which he 
filled with admirable abilities for above twelve years; du¬ 
ring which his fame was fo great, that many came from 
remote nations to be educated under him. His contro¬ 
verfial writings, which compofe the greateft part of his 
■works, are chiefly againft Bellarmine and the Arminians. 
He alfo wrote, A frelh Suit againft the Ceremonies; Lec- 
tiones in Pfalmos Davidis ; Medulla Theologiae ; and fe- 
veral pieces relative to the fciences. He died of an afth- 
ma at Rotterdam, in November 1633. 
AMES ACE, f. [a corruption of the word amhs ace , 
which appears, from very old authorities, to have been 
early foftened by omitting the b.~\ Two aces on two dipe : 
.But then my ftudy was to cog the dice, 
And dext’roufly to throw the lucky fice: 
To fliun ames acc, that fwept my flakes away; 
And watch the box, for fear they fhould convey 
Falfe bones, and put upon me in the play. Dryden. 
AMESS[corrupted from amice. 2 A prieft’s veftment. 
AMESTRA'TA, a town of Sicily; now Mijlretta, in 
the Val di Demona, on the river Halefus. It was a very 
ftrong fort of the Carthaginians, befieged in vain by the 
Romans for feven months with confiderable lofs; at length, 
after another fiege, taken and rafed. 
AMETHO'DICAL, adj. [from a and method. ] Out of 
method; without method; irregular. 
A'METHYST,y. [«,«e^co-©-', Gr. of apriv. and fAi§va , 
to make drunk.] A tranfparent gem of a purple colour, 
which feems compofed of a ftrong blue and a deep red ; 
and, according as either of thefe prevails, affording difie- 
A M e m 
rent tinges of purple, fometimes approaching to violet, 
and fometimes even fading tea pale rofe-colour. Though 
the amethyft is. generally of a purple colour, it is never 
thelefs fometimes found naturally colourlefs, and may at 
any time be eafilv made fo by putting it into the fire; in 
which pellucid or colourlefs (late, it fo refembks the dia¬ 
mond, that its want of hardnefs feems the only- way of 
diftingii'ifhing it. Some derive the nzme amet/iy/l from its 
colour, which refembles wine mixed with water; v/hilft 
others, with more probability, think it got its name from 
its fuppofe virtue of preventing drunkermefs ; an.opinion 
which, however imaginary, prevailed to that degree among - 
the ancients, that it was ufual for great drinkers to wear it 
about their necks. Be this as it will, the amethyft is 
fcarcely inferior to any of the gems in the beauty of its 
colour; and in its pureft ftate is of the fame hardnefs, and 
at leaft of equal value, with the ruby and fapphire. It 
is found of various fizes, from the bignefs of a fmall vetch 
to an inch and a half in diameter, and often much more 
than that in length. Its fhape is extremely various, fome- 
-times roundifli, fometimes oblong, and at others flatted, 
at leaft on one fide ; but its moll common appearance is in 
cryftalliform figure, confifting of a thick column, com¬ 
pofed of four plants, and terminated by a fiat and fhort 
pyramid, of the fame number of fides; or elfe, of a 
thinner and longer hexangular column ; and fometimes of 
a long pyramid, without any column. It makes the gay eft 
figure in the laft of thefe ftates, but is hardeft and molt 
valuable in the roundifli and pebble-like form. The anve> 
thyft is found in Perfia, Arabia, Armenia, and the Eaft 
and Weft Indies, and in feveral parts of Europe. 
Counterfeit orfaElitious Amethysts. Spars and cry flats 
tinged red and yellow, &c. are fold for amethyfts. The 
falfe ones come from Germany, are tinged by vapours in 
the mines, and contain fome lead. Amethyfts may like- 
wife be counterfeited by glafs, to which the proper co- 
lour or ftain is given. There were fine ones made in 
France about the year 1690, which may even impofe on 
connoifleurs, unlefs the ftone be taken out of the collet. 
The method of "giving this colour to glafs is directed as 
follows: Take cryftal frit, made with the moft perfect and 
fine tarfo; then prepare a mixture of manganefe in pow¬ 
der, one pound; and zaftar prepared, one ounce and a 
half. Mix thefe powders well together; and add to eve¬ 
ry pound of the frit an ounce of this powder. Let it be 
put into the pots with the frit, not into the already-made 
metal. When the w hole has flood long enough in fufion 
to be perfectly pure, work it into velfels, and they will 
referable the colour of the amethyft. 
Amethyst, in heraldry, a term for the purple colour 
in the coat of a nobleman, in ufe with thofe who blazon 
with precious (tones, inftead of metals and colours. This, 
in a gentleman’s efcutcheon, is cdMz&purpure-, and in thofe 
of fovereign princes, mercury. 
AMETHYSTE'A,yi [from the ametkyJHne colour ot the 
flowers.] In botany, a genus of the diandria monogynia 
clafs, in tire natural order of verticillatae. The generic 
characters are—Calyx: perianthium one-leafed, tube beil- 
fliaped, angular, femiquinquefid, fubequai, acuminate, 
permanent. Corolla : one-petalled, ringent, little longer 
than the calyx; border five-parted, fubequai ; upper lip 
erect, rounded, concave, two-parted, gaping ; lower three- 
parted, the Tides rounded, erett, fliorter ; the middle quite 
entire, concave, the length of the upper lip. Stamina-: 
filaments filiform, approximating, under the upper lip, and 
longer than it; antherre fimple, roundifli. Pifliilnm: 
germ quadrifid; ftyle fize of the tinmens; ftigmas two, 
acute. Pericarpium : none, bu'c the calyx becomes more 
bell-fttaped and fpreading.- Seeds: four, fhorter than the 
calyx, obtufe, angular within.— EjJ'cntial CharaElcr. Co*, 
rolla quinquefid; the lower divifion more fpreading. Sta¬ 
mina approximated. Calyx fubcampannlate. Seeds four, 
gibbous. • . j 
There is only one fpecies, called amethyftea caerulea. 
it is an annual plant witli an upright llalk, which rifes 
3 about 
