482 AMO 
during the warm fumme.r months ; but in autumn the 
waterings muft not be often, nor in great plenty ; and, 
during the winter, when the roots are inactive, very lit¬ 
tle water (hould be given them. The pots with thefe 
roots fhould conftantly remain plunged in a tan-bed ; for 
if they are taken out, and placed on (helves in the (love, 
their fibres frequently (brink, which occafions their roots 
to decay. With this management thefe plants have mul¬ 
tiplied greatly, and the common ginger has produced roots 
weighing five or fix ounces, hut the others have been near 
a pound weight. In the Weft Indies the ginger thrives 
bed in a rich cool foil ; in a more clayey foil the root 
(brinks lefs in (raiding. ‘The find laid out for the cul¬ 
ture of it is firft well cleared and hoed, then (lightly 
trenched,'and planted in March or-April ; it flowers a- 
bout September. When the (talks are wholly withered, 
the roots arc fit to take up, which is generally done in 
January and February. See Alfinia, Costus, and 
SlSON. 
Amomum Curcuma. See Curcuma. 
Amomum Plinii, or Amoris Pomum. See Sola- 
hum. 
AMO'NG, or Amo'ngst, prep, \amang, gemang, Sax.] 
Mingled with; plated witli other perfons or things on 
every fide .—Amongjl ftrawberries fow here and there fome 
borage-feed, and you (hall find the ftrawberries under thofe 
leaves far more large than their fellows. Bacon. —Con¬ 
joined with others, fo as to make part of the number.— 
I have then, as you fee, obferved the failings of many 
great wits amongjl the moderns, who have attempted to 
write an epic poem. Dryden. 
AMON'TONS (William), an ingenious French expe¬ 
rimental philofopher, was born in Normandy, the 31ft of 
Auguft, 1663. While at the grammar-fchctd, he by fick- 
nefs contracted a deafnefs that almoft excluded him from 
the converfation of mankind. In this fituation, he applied 
himfelf to the ftudy of geometry and mechanics; with 
which he was fo delighted, that it is faid he refufed to try 
any remedy for his diforder, either becaufe he deemed it 
incurable, or becaufe it increafed his attention to his ftu- 
dies. Among other objects of his ftudy, were the arts of 
drawing, of land-furveying, and of building; and, (hortly 
after, lie acquired fome knowledge of thole more fublime 
laws by which the univerfe is regulated. He ftudied with 
great care the nature of barometers and thermometers ; 
and wrote his treatife of “ Obfervations and Experiments 
concerning a new Hour-glafs, and concerning Barometers, 
Thermometers, and Hygrofcopes ;” and alfo fome pieces 
in the Journal des Savans. In 1687, he prefented a new 
hygrofeope to the Academy of Sciences, which was much 
approved. He found out a method of conveying intelli¬ 
gence to a great diftance in a ftiort fpace of time : this was 
by making fignals from one perfon to another, placed at 
as great diftances from each other as they could fee the 
fignals by means of telefcopes, and which is the founda¬ 
tion and origin of our prefent telegraphs. When the 
Royal Academy was new regulated, in 1699, Amontons 
was chofen a member of it, as an eleve under the third 
aftronomer; and he read there his “ New Theory of 
FriCtion,” in which he happily cleared up an important 
objeCt in mechanics. In fait, he had a particular genius 
for making experiments ; his notions were juft and deli¬ 
cate ; and he knew how to prevent the inconveniencies of 
his new inventions, and had a wonderful (kill in executing 
them. He died the nth of Oitober, 1705, being only 
forty-two years of age. 
AMORiE'ANS, a feet or order of gemaric doitors, or 
commentators on the Jerufalem Talmud. The Amorseans 
fucceeded the Mifchnic doCtors. They fubfifted 230 years, 
and were fucceeded by the Seburasans. 
AMOR'GOS, or Amurgus, now Morgo, not far from 
Naxus to the eaft, one of the European. Sporades; the 
country of Simonides, the Iambic poet. To this ifiand 
criminals were baniftied. It was famous for a fine flax, 
tailed anor'gis. 
AMO 
AM'ORIST, f. An inamorato; a gallant; a man pro- 
feffing love.—Female beauties are as fickle in their faces 
as their minds ; though cafualties fhould (pare, them, age? 
brings in a neceflity of decay; leaving doaters' upon red 
and white perplexed by incertainty both of the continu¬ 
ance of their miftrelfes’s kindnefs, and her-beauty, both 
Of which are neceflary to the amorif' s joys and quiet. Boyle. 
AM'ORITES, a people defeended from AmorrhSeus; 
according to the Septtiagint and Vulgate; Emoracus, ac¬ 
cording to other expolitors; Haemori, according to the 
Hebrew; or Emorite, according to our verfion of the bt- 
ble ; who was tlie fourth fon of Canaan, Gen. x. 16. The 
Amorites firft of all peopled the mountains lying to the 
weft of the Dead Sea. They had likewife eftablifhments 
to the eaft of the fame fea, between the brooks of Jabbok 
and Arnon. Mofes made a conqueft of this country from 
their kings Sihon and Og, in the year of the world 25^3. 
The prophet Amos (ii. 9.), fpeaking of the gigantic fta- 
ture and valour of the Amorites, compares their height 
with that of cedars, and their ftrength with that of an oak. 
The name Amorite is often taken in Scripture for all 
Canaanites in general. The lands which the Amorites pof- 
fefteil on this fide Jordan, were given to the tribe of Judah ; 
and thofe which they had enjoyed beyond this river, were 
diftributed between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. 
AMO'RIUM, a town of Phrygia Major, near the river 
Sangarius, on the borders of Galatia. It was taken from 
the Romans by the Saracens in 668, but foon after reta¬ 
ken by the Romans. A war breaking out again between 
thefe two nations in 837,.the Roman emperor Theophylus 
deftroyed Sozopetra, the birth-place of the khalif Al’ 
Motafem, notvvithftanding his earned entreaties to him to 
fpare it. This fo enraged he. khalif, that he ordered 
every foldier in his army to engrave upon his (hield the 
word Amorium, the birth-place of Theophylus, which he 
refolved at all events to deftrov. After a fiege of fifty- 
five days, it was betrayed into his hands by one of the in¬ 
habitants, who had abjured the C'hriftian religion. The 
khalif, exafperated at the lofs he had fuftair.ed during the 
fiege, put mod of the men to the fword, carried the wo- 
men and children into captivity, and levelled the city with 
the ground. His forces being diftrefled for want of water 
on their return home, the Chriftian prifoners role upon 
fome of them, and murdered them; upon which the kha¬ 
lif put 6000 of the prifoners to death. According to the 
eaftern hiftorians, 30,000 of the inhabitants of Amorium 
were (lain, and as many carried into captivity. 
AMORO'SO, f. [Ital.] A man enamoured. 
A'MOROUS, ad]. [amorofo , Ital.] In love; enamour¬ 
ed; with the particle o/ before the thing loved ; in Shake - 
fpeare , on. —Sure my brother is amorous on Hero, and hath 
withdrawn her father to break with him about it.—Natu¬ 
rally inclined to love; difpofed to fondnefs; fond.—Apes, 
as foon as they have brought forth their young, keep their 
eyes faftened on them, and are never weary of admiring 
their beauty ; fo amorous is nature of vvhatfoever (Ire pro¬ 
duces. Dryden. —Relating or belonging to love : 
And into all things from her air infpir’d 
The fpirit of love, and amorous delight. Milton. 
A'MOROUSLY, adv. Fondly; lovingly. 
A'MOROUSNESS, J. The quality of being amorous 5 
fondnefs; lovingnefs ; love.—Lindamor has wit, and amo- 
roufnefs enough to make him find it more eafy to defend 
fair ladies than to defend himfelf againft them. Boyle. 
AMOR'PHA, f. [from a. priv. and y.o((pri, forma.] 
In botany, a genus of the diadelphia decandria clafs, of 
the natural order of papilionacte, or leguminofeae. The 
generic characters are—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, 
tubtilous,cylindrical, turbinate; mouth ereCt, five-toothed, 
obtufe, the two upper teeth larger than the others ; per¬ 
manent. Corolla: cf one ovate concave petal, fcarcely 
larger than the calyx, ereft, inferted into the calyx, be¬ 
tween the two larger and upper teeth, and placed at the 
upper fide of it. Stamina : filaments very (lightly united 
at 
