Amuck´, or Amuk, to run, a phrase applied to natives of the Eastern Archipelago, who are
occasionally seen to rush out in a frantic state of temporary mental derangement, making indiscriminate and murderous assaults on all that come in their way.
Amu-Darya. See Oxus.
Amu-Darya, district. See Turkestan.
Am´ulet, a piece of stone, metal, &c., marked with certain figures or characters, which people in some countries wear about them, superstitiously deeming them a protection against diseases, enchantments, witchcraft, &c. According to Pliny the elder, the bulla, or amulet, was first hung by Tarquinius Priscus on the neck of his son. Articles that archæologists have decided to be amulets have been found dating from prehistoric times, and they were commonly worn in ancient times by the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, as they still are by Persians, Arabs, and many other peoples. See Charms.
Amundsen, Captain Roald, Norwegian polar explorer, born at Borge, Norway, 16th July, 1872. He was first-lieutenant on the Belgica during the Belgian south polar expedition, 1897-9. He then planned an expedition to the area of the north magnetic pole and a north-west passage by water. On 17th June, 1903, he embarked from Christiania on the small sailing vessel the Gjöa, with a company of six men, and reached King William Land, where the vessel remained for two years. Here he made his headquarters, and by numerous excursions was able to prove that the north magnetic pole has no stationary position, but is in continual movement. On 11th July, 1906, his vessel reached the Behring Strait, and on 30th August entered the Pacific. After his return Amundsen began his preparations for an Antarctic expedition, and on 9th August, 1910, he sailed from Norway on Nansen's ship, the Fram, and reached the South Pole on 7th March, 1912. He published an account of his North-West Passage expedition, entitled Sydpolen. Den norske Sydpolsfaerd med Fram 1910-12. An English translation was published in 1913. Amundsen started on a North Polar Expedition in 1918.
Amur´, or Amoor´, one of the largest rivers of Eastern Asia, formed by the junction of the Rivers Shilka and Argun; flows first in a south-eastern and then in a north-eastern direction till it falls into an arm of the Sea of Okhotsk, opposite the Island of Sakhalin, after a course of 1500 miles. It forms, for a large portion of its course, part of the boundary-line between the Russian and the Chinese dominions, and is navigable throughout for four months in the year.—Amoor Territory. In 1858 Russia acquired from China the territory on the left bank of the Upper and Middle Amoor, together with that on both banks of the Lower Amoor. The western portion of the territory was organized as a separate province, with the name of the Amoor (area, 154,795 sq. miles. Pop. 261,500). The eastern portion was joined to the Maritime Province of Eastern Siberia.
Am´urath, or Murad, the name of several Ottoman sultans. See Ottoman Empire.
Amyclæ (a-mī´klē), a town of ancient Greece, the chief seat of the Achæans in Laconia, a short distance from Sparta, by which it was conquered about 800 B.C.
Amyg´daloid (Gr. amygdalē, an almond), meaning 'almond-shaped', a term used in anatomy and geology.