Since 1891 has held an official position in the Ecole Polytechnique at Paris.
Amal'gam, an alloy of metals, one of which is mercury. Mercury has the power of dissolving almost all other metals and mixing with them, and so is much used in separating gold and silver from their ores. (See Metallurgy.) Amalgams are very numerous, and many of them are used largely in the arts. Tin amalgam is used for silvering mirrors; gold and silver amalgam in gilding and re-silvering; cadmium and copper amalgam in dentistry; and zinc and tin amalgam for the rubbers of electrical machines. Amalgams are variously made; some by merely rubbing together the two metals, others by the aid of an electric current. Some amalgams are solid, while others are liquid. The mercury can be distilled off from most amalgams by heating them in retorts. This is the way in which gold and silver are recovered from their amalgams.
Am'aranth (meaning unfading), a class of plants of which the flowers are composed of dry, colored scales and which retain their colors for a long time after they are plucked. Because of this fact the flowers are made emblems of immortality, and are frequently so used in poetry. The cockscomb, prince's feather, love-lies-bleeding and globe amaranth are common kinds of this plant.
Amarillo (ăm' ȧ-rĭl' lṓ), a city, county seat of Potter County, Texas, 337 miles northwest of Ft. Worth and 275 miles west of Oklahoma City. It is 3600 feet above sea level, and enjoys a clear bracing air and a salubrious climate. It is the most important city of the Panhandle country, which in former years was devoted to grazing, but now wherever cultivated yields profitable crops. It has produced Indian corn, sorghum, maize, wheat, oats, rye, besides vegetables, melons, fruit and in the southern portion cotton. Amarillo has a good county courthouse and jail, a fine new city hall, two opera houses and an Elks' Lodge, besides several fine churches and good schools. It has three ice factories, marble, concrete-block, broom and candy factories, a flouring mill, grain elevator, brick works, etc. The city has three banks, water works, electric light, street cars and all adjuncts of a modern city. It is served by the Santa Fe, the Fort Worth and Denver and the Rock Island Railroad. The Santa Fe has yards and shops here; the Denver and. the Rock Island each have offices and round houses. Population, 9,957 (1910).
Am′azon, a river of South America, flowing easterly from the Andes to the Atlantic, where it empties below the equator. It is the largest river on the globe, but not the longest. Its length is estimated at from 3,000 to 4,000 miles; its width, at its mouth, is 60 miles; it is four miles wide 1,000 miles from the sea; and more than a mile wide 2,000 miles from the sea. Its depth for 750 miles is nowhere less than 175 feet. Over 350 branches and lesser tributaries form its main trunk, and the whole system drains an area of 2,500,000 square miles, or more than a third part of South America. While large vessels can sail from the sea over the main river and its branches, the volume of water is perceptible in the ocean 200 miles from the coast, and the influence of the tides is felt 400 miles from its mouth. The forests are very extensive, being so twisted and matted and interlaced with trees, vines and shrubs, as to present an almost impassable barrier. This “sea of verdure,” a traveler says, “extends in an unbroken, evergreen circle of 1,100 miles in diameter.” The mouth of the Amazon was discovered by Pinzon in 1500. It was not ascended until forty years later. It is navigable for over 2,000 miles, and with its branches it affords 16,000 miles of navigable waters.
Am'azons, in Greek legend, a war-like race of women living in Asia Minor near the shore of the Black Sea. The mythical town of Themiscyra, on the river Thermodon, was the capital of their state. Their name probably came from a Greek word, meaning breastless, and referred to their habit of cutting off the right breast to give them greater freedom in the use of the bow. The Greeks told a number of stories of their contests with these women. The heroes, Bellerophon and Hercules, defeated them, and Theseus of Athens captured their princess Antiope. In revenge they invaded Attica and were defeated. They also fought in the Trojan War against the Greeks, and Achilles engaged in single combat and slew their queen, Penthesilea. They are represented in Greek sculpture armed with a bow, spear and axe, and carrying a half-shield.
Ambas'sador, an accredited diplomat of note and eminence sent by one nation, country or state to represent his country at a foreign court, nation or capital, and be the chief medium of diplomatic intercourse between them. In this high representative capacity the ambassador has right of audience with the sovereign or chief of the nation to which he is accredited, besides possessing or being accorded certain other privileges and immunities, including precedence on ceremonial occasions and at state functions over all save princes of the blood.
In its early history, the United States withheld for long the rank and title of ambassador to its accredited representatives abroad at foreign courts; but in 1893 Congress, when acting on the diplomatic or consular appropriation bill of that year, empowered the President to raise American plenipotentiaries and ministers at foreign courts and capitals of note to the rank of ambassadors, especially where these foreign courts and nations were represented at Washington by a plenipotentiary of equal
