Read Ebook: Will Rossiter's Original Talkalogues by American Jokers by Rossiter Will Editor
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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.
Transcriber's note: In the pronunciation guides signifies "e macron"; "e breve"; "a with diaeresis below"; "a with dot above"; "n with dot below"; and so forth.
THE
NEW . GRESHAM
ENCYCLOPEDIA
VOLUME . I . PART . 2
LIST OF PLATES AND MAPS
VOLUME I PART 2
PLATES
Page
ANATOMY 153
ARCHAEOLOGY 220
ARCHITECTURE 224
MAPS IN COLOUR
ASIA 274
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION
The method of marking pronunciations here employed is either by marking the syllable on which the accent falls, or by a simple system of transliteration, to which the following is the Key:--
VOWELS
CONSONANTS
AMIRANTE ISLANDS , a group of eleven small islands in the Indian Ocean, lying south-west of the Seychelles, and forming a dependency of Mauritius.
AMLWCH , a seaport in North Wales, Island of Anglesey. Pop. , 2694 .
AMMERGAU , a district in Upper Bavaria, having its centre in the villages of Ober and Unter Ammergau. The former village is famous on account of the Passion Play which is performed there, at intervals usually of ten years.
The "soft-iron" ammeter can be used for both direct and alternating currents, is inexpensive, and is sufficiently accurate for commercial use.
For direct-current measurements where a high degree of accuracy is of first importance, a "moving-coil" ammeter is invariably used.
In alternating-current circuits its place is taken by the dynamometer type, which reads both direct and alternating currents.
In cases where absence of inductance in the instrument is important, e.g. in the measurements in wireless-telegraph and telephone circuits, the "hot-wire" ammeter is used. It measures both direct and alternating currents, and, when properly used, has a high degree of accuracy.
The "induction" type cannot be used for direct currents, and has the limitation that with alternating currents it will read correctly only at the frequency for which it is calibrated.
AMMIA?NUS MARCELLI?NUS, a Roman historian, born at Antioch in Syria about 320, died about 390. He wrote in 31 books a history of the Caesars, from Nerva to Valens, which was highly thought of by Gibbon for its fidelity. His MS. was printed for the first time at Rome in 1474.
AM?MON , an ancient Egyptian deity, one of the chief gods of the country, identified by the Greeks with their supreme god Zeus, while the Romans regarded him as the representative of Jupiter; represented as a ram, as a human being with a ram's head, ornamented with the solar disc, or simply with the horns of a ram. There was a celebrated temple of Ammon in the Oasis of Siwah in the Libyan desert.
AMMO?NIAPHONE, an instrument, consisting of a metallic tube containing some substance saturated with ammonia, peroxide of hydrogen, and a few flavouring compounds, fitted with a mouthpiece to breathe through, which is said to render the voice strong, clear, rich, and ringing by the inhalation of the ammoniacal vapour. It was invented by Dr. Carter Moffat, and was suggested by the presence of ammonia in some quantity in the atmosphere of Italy--the country of fine singers.
AM?MONITES, a group of fossil cephalopods, now divided into a large number of genera, ranging from the Coal Measures to the uppermost cretaceous strata. The ammonites differ from the nautili in having the tube connecting the chambers placed on the outer margin of the coiled shell, while the calcareous neck where it passes through the partitions is directed forwards. The partitions are much folded, producing markings like the fronds of ferns where they meet the inner wall of the shell. The name arises from confusion with a coiled gastropod, which was held to resemble the horns of the Egyptian deity Jupiter Ammon.
AM?MONITES, a Semitic race frequently mentioned in Scripture, descended from Ben-Ammi, the son of Lot , often spoken of in conjunction with the Moabites. A predatory and Bedouin race, they inhabited the desert country east of Gad, their chief city being Rabbath-Ammon . Wars between the Israelites and the Ammonites were frequent; they were overcome by Jephthah, Saul, David, Uzziah, Jotham, &c. They appear to have existed as a distinct people in the time of Justin Martyr, but have subsequently become merged in the aggregate of nameless Arab tribes.
AMMO?NIUM, the name given to the hypothetical radicle of ammonium salts. It functionates as a metal, has not been isolated, but it is believed to exist in an amalgam with mercury.
AMMUNI?TION, another form of the word munition, with a more restricted meaning. It is now taken to include cartridges of all sorts for guns, howitzers, rifles, and all fire-arms. Ammunition comprises both cartridges in which explosive and missiles are combined to form one compact article, and also other forms of projectiles of which the explosive agent forms one portion and the actual missile the other. Bombs, grenades, shells, powder, and bullets are all included in the generic term ammunition. As a qualifying word used adjectivally it is found in ammunition-wagon, ammunition-carrier, ammunition-mules, ammunition-column, &c. In the British service the Royal Army Ordnance Corps is entrusted with the provision of supplies of ammunition generally, while the actual distribution in the field is the duty of the ammunition-column, a Royal Artillery organization.
AM?NESTY , the releasing of a number of persons who have been guilty of political offences from the consequence of these offences. The earliest recorded amnesty in history is that of Thrasybulus at Athens, and the last act of amnesty passed in Britain was that of 1747, after the second Jacobite rebellion.
AM?NION, the innermost membrane surrounding the fetus of mammals, birds, and reptiles.--In botany, a gelatinous fluid in which the embryo of a seed is suspended, and by which it is supposed to be nourished.
AMO?AFUL, village near Kumassi, West Africa, at which the Ashanti were defeated by British troops under Wolseley, 31st Jan., 1874.
AMOL?, a town of Northern Persia, 76 miles N.E. of Teheran. Extensive ruins tell of former greatness, the most prominent being the mausoleum of Seyed Quam-u-deen, who died in 1378. Pop. in winter estimated at about 40,000.
AMO?MUM, a genus of plants of the nat. ord. Zinziberaceae , natives of warm climates, and remarkable for the pungency and aromatic properties of their seeds. Some of the species yield Cardamoms, others Grains of Paradise.
AMONTILLA?DO, a dry kind of sherry wine of a light colour, highly esteemed.
AMOR?GO , an island in the Grecian Archipelago, one of the Eastern Cyclades, 22 miles long, 5 miles broad; area, 106 sq. miles; it has a town of the same name, with a castle and a large harbour. Pop. 3561.
AM?ORITES, a powerful Canaanitish tribe at the time of the occupation of the country by the Israelites; occupied the whole of Gilead and Bashan, and formed two powerful kingdoms--a northern, under Og, who is called King of Bashan; and a southern, under Sihon, called King of the Amorites; first attacked and overthrown by Joshua; subsequently subdued, and made tributary or driven to mingle with the Philistines and other remnants of the Canaanitish nations.
AMORPHOUS ROCKS or MINERALS, those having no regular structure, or without crystallization, even in the minutest particles.
AMORPHOZO?A, a term applied to some of the lower groups of animals, as the sponges and their allies, which have no regular symmetrical structure.
AMORTIZA?TION, in law, the alienation of real property to corporations , prohibited by several English statutes.
A?MOS, one of the minor prophets; flourished under the Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel . Though engaged in the occupations of a peasant he must have had a considerable amount of culture, and his book of prophecies has high literary merits. It contains denunciations of Israel and the surrounding nations, with promises of the Messiah.
AMOY?, an important Chinese trading port, on a small island off the south-east coast opposite Formosa; has a safe and commodious harbour, and its merchants are among the wealthiest and most enterprising in China; one of the five ports opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of Nanking in 1842. The privilege was confirmed and extended by the treaty of Tien-tsin in 1858, and the port is now open to all countries. Pop. 114,000.
AMPHIBOL?OGY, in logic, an equivocal phrase or sentence, not from the double sense of any of the words, but from its admitting a double construction, as 'The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose'.
AMPHIC?TYONIC LEAGUE , in ancient Greece, a confederation of tribes for the protection of religious worship, but which also discussed questions of international law, and matters affecting their political union. The most important was that of the twelve northern tribes which met alternately at Delphi and Thermopylae. The tribes sent two deputies each, who assembled with great solemnity; composed the public dissensions, and the quarrels of individual cities, by force or persuasion; punished civil and criminal offences, and particularly transgressions of the law of nations, and violations of the temple of Delphi. Its calling on the States to punish the Phocians for plundering Delphi caused the Sacred Wars, 595-586, 448-447, 357-346 B.C.
AMPHIP?ODA, an order of sessile-eyed malacostracan crustaceans, with feet directed partly forward and partly backward. Many species are found in springs and rivulets, others in salt water. The sand-hopper and shore-jumper are examples.
AMPHIP?ROSTYLE, in architecture, said of a structure having the form of an ancient Greek or Roman oblong rectangular temple, with a prostyle or portico on each of its ends or fronts, but with no columns on its sides or flanks.
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