Ammo´nium, the name given to the hypothetical radicle (formula, NH4) of ammonium salts. It functionates as a metal, has not been isolated, but it is believed to exist in an amalgam with mercury.
Ammo´nius Sac´cas, a Greek philosopher who lived about A.D. 175-240. Originally a porter in Alexandria, he derived his epithet from the carrying of sacks of corn. The son of Christian parents, he abandoned their faith for the polytheistic philosophy of Greece. His teaching was historically a transition stage between Platonism and Neo-Platonism. Among his disciples were Plotinus, Longinus, Origen, &c. The books often attributed to him are by a Christian philosopher of the same name.
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 (Gr. amnestia, forgetfulness), 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.
Amœ´ba, a microscopic genus of rhizopodous Protozoa, of which A. difflŭens, common in freshwater ponds and ditches, is the type. It exists as a mass of protoplasm, and pushes its body out into finger-like processes or pseudopodia, and by means of these moves about or grasps particles of food. There is no distinct mouth, and food is engulfed within any portion of the soft sarcode body. Reproduction takes place by fission, or by a single pseudopodium detaching itself from the parent body and developing into a separate amœba.
Amœbe´an Poetry, poetry in which persons are represented as speaking alternately, as in some of Virgil's Eclogues.