The use of the word is, in fact, closely akin to that of the English "lord," sometimes connoting office, as in Amir ul-ahghal (minister of finance) under the Almohades (cf. "lord of the treasury"), sometimes mere dignity, as in the case of the title of honour borne by all descendants of the Prophet, or of the title Mir assumed by men of great rank in the Far East. Sometimes it implies a temporary office of dignity and command—e.g. the Amir ul-haj, "commander of the pilgrimage" (to Mecca). Sometimes again it connotes the meaning of "sovereign lord," in which sense it was early assumed by the princes of Sind and by the rulers of Afghanistan and Bokhara, the title implying a lesser dignity than that of sultan. Thus too it is very generally applied in the East to the chiefs of independent or semi-independent tribes. In the Lebanon both the Christian clans and the Druses are ruled by hereditary amirs. Finally the word (confused not unnaturally with the particle usually attached to it) was borrowed by the West, and is the origin of the English "admiral."
AMIS ET AMILES, the title of an old French romance based on a widespread legend of friendship and sacrifice. In its earlier and simpler form it is the story of two friends, one of whom, Amis, was smitten with leprosy because he had committed perjury to save his friend. A vision informed him that he could only be cured by bathing in the blood of Amiles's children. When Amiles learnt this he killed the children, who were, however, miraculously restored to life after the cure of Amis. The tale was probably of Oriental origin, and introduced to the West by way of Byzantium. It found its way into French literature through the medium of Latin, as the names Amicus and Amellus indicate, and was eventually attached to the Carolingian cycle in the 12th-century chanson de geste of Amis et Amiles. This poem is written in decasyllabic assonanced verse, each stanza being terminated by a short line. It belongs to the heroic period of French epic, containing some passages of great beauty, notably the episode of the slaying of the children, and maintains a high level of poetry throughout. Amis has married Lubras and become count of Blaives (Blaye), while Amiles has become seneschal at the court of Charlemagne, and is seduced by the emperor's daughter, Bellisant. The lovers are betrayed, and Amiles is unable to find the necessary supporters to enable him to clear himself by the ordeal of single combat, and fears, moreover, to fight in a false cause. He is granted a reprieve, and goes in search of Amis, who engages to personate him in the combat. He thus saves his friend, but in so doing perjures himself. Then follows the leprosy of Amis, and, after a lapse of years, his discovery of Amiles and cure. There are obvious reminiscences in this story of Damon and Pythias, and of the classical instances of sacrifice at the divine command. The legend of Amis and Amiles occurs in many forms with slight variations, the names and positions of the friends being sometimes reversed. The crown of martyrdom was not lacking, for Amis and Amiles were slain by Ogier the Dane at Novara on their way home from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Jourdain de Blaives, a chanson de geste which partly reproduces the story of Apollonius of Tyre, was attached to the geste of Amis by making Jourdain his grandson.
The versions of Amis and Amiles include—(a) numerous Latin recensions in prose and verse, notably that given by Vincent de Beauvais in his Speculum historiale (lib. xxiii. cap. 162-166 and 169); (b) an Anglo-Norman version in short rhymed couplets, which is not attached to the Charlemagne legend and agrees fairly closely with the English Amis and Amiloun (Midland dialect, 13th century); these with the old Norse version are printed by E. Kolbing, Altengl. Bibl. vol. ii. (1889), and the English romance also in H. Weber, Metrical Romances, vol. ii. (1810); (c) the 12th- century French chanson de geste analysed by P. Paris in Hist. litt. de la France (vol. xxii.), and edited by K. Hofmann (Erlangen, 1882) with the addition of Jourdain de Blaives; (d) the Latin Vita Sanct. Amici et Amelii (pr. by Kolbing, op. cit.) and its Old-French translation, Li amitiez de Ami et Amile, ed. L. Moland and C. d'Hericault in Nouvelles … du xiiie siecle (Paris, 1856); (e) a 14th-century drama, Un Miracle de Notre Dame d'Amis et Amile, ed. L. J. N. Monmerque and F. Michelin Theatre fr. au moyen age (1839); (f) old Norse, Icelandic, Danish versions, &c. (see K. Hofmann, op. cit.); (g) an imitation which under the name of Oliver and Artus was current in many languages and was the subject of Hans Sachs's comedy, Die treuen Gesellen (1556); (h) Engelhart und Engeltrut, by the minnesinger Conrad von Wurzburg (ed. M. Haupt, Leipzig, 1844, 2nd ed., 1900); (i) the late prose romances, with many changes and additions, Milles et Amys, printed by A. Verard (Paris, c. 1503), &c., for which see G. Brunet, Manuel du libraire, s.v. "Milles." A different version of the legend is inserted at considerable length in L'Ystoire des sept sages (ed. G. Paris, Soc. des anc. textes fr., 1876), in which the friends are called Alexandre and Louis, and Bellisant Florentine. For a further bibliography see L. Gautier, Bibl. des chansons de geste (Paris, 1897). William Morris's version of the French romance was printed at the Kelmscott Press in 1894. See also the essay by W. Pater in The Renaissance, 1893.
AMITERNUM, an ancient town of the Sabines, situated about 5 m. N. of Aquila, in the broad valley of the Aternus, from which, according to Varro, it took its name. It was stormed by the Romans in 293 B.C., and though it suffered from the wars of the Republican period, it seems to have risen to renewed prosperity under the empire. This it owed largely to its position. It lay at the point of junction of four roads—the via Caecilia, the Via Claudia Nova and two branches of the Via Salaria, which joined it at the 64th and 89th miles respectively. The fertility of its territory was also praised by ancient authors. There are considerable remains of an aqueduct, an amphitheatre and a theatre (the latter excavated in 1880—see Notizie degli scavi, 1880, 290, 350, 379), all of which belong to the imperial period, while in the hill on which the village of S. Vittorino is built are some Christian catacombs. Amiternum was the birthplace of the historian Sallust. In a gorge 1 1/2 m. east are massive remains of cyclopean walls (i.e. in rough blocks), probably intended to regulate the flow of the stream (N. Persichetti in Romische Mitteilungen, 1902, 134 seq..)
AMLWCH (llwch = "lake"), a market town of Anglesey, North Wales, situated on slightly rising ground on the N. coast of the island, 15 m. N.W. of Beaumaris and 262 m. from London, by the London & North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2994. Originally it owed its whole importance to the copper mines of the Parys (probably, Parry's) mountain, as, before ore was discovered in March 1768, it was a small hamlet of fishermen. The mines once produced 3000 tons of metal annually, copper smelting being largely carried on, but have now almost ceased working. Though apparently not mentioned by Ptolemy, they were perhaps Roman. Robert Parys, chamberlain of North Wales under Henry IV., is often given as their godfather. The poor harbour called the "port," protected by a breakwater, has been cut out of the rock (shingle). Amlwch is the terminus of the branch railway from Gaerwen to Amlwch, formerly the Anglesey Central Railway Company. Porthllechog, or Bull Bay (so called from the Bull Rock), at a mile's distance, is a small but favourite watering-place. Beyond, on the coast, some 3 m. distant, are the remains of a British fort and of the Llanllaianau monastery, opposite the Middle Mouse islet and close to Llanbadrig old church and Cemmaes. Industries include slate quarrying, shipbuilding, iron and brass foundries, alum, vitriol, manure, guano and tobacco works. At Llanllaianau was found, in 1841, a stone coffin, holding a well- preserved skeleton of 7 1/2 ft. in length. The coffin was apparently of Aberdovey (Aberdyfi) limestone, much corroded. At Llangefni, not far from Amlwch, in 1829, and at Llangristiolus, 3 m. distant from Llangefni, about 1770, were found human bones of a high antiquity, between Glan Hwfa and Fron, and at Capel, respectively. The town has an old Anglican church (St Eleth's).
AMMAN, JOHANN CONRAD (1669-c. 1730), Swiss physician, was born at Schaffhausen in 1669. After graduating at Basel in 1687 he began to practise at Amsterdam, where he gained a great reputation. He was one of the earliest writers on the instruction of the deaf and dumb, and first called attention to his method in his Surdus loquens (Amsterdam, 1692), which was often reprinted, and was reproduced by John Wallis in the Philosophical Transactions (1698). His process consisted principally in exciting the attention of his pupils to the motions of his lips and larynx while he spoke, and then inducing them to imitate these movements, till he brought them to repeat distinctly letters, syllables and words. The edition of Caelius Aurelianus, which was undertaken by the Wetsteins in 1709, was superintended by Amman. He died about 1730 at Warmoud, near Leiden.
AMMAN, JOST (1539-1591), Swiss artist, celebrated chiefly for his engravings on wood, was born at Zurich. Of his personal history little is known beyond the fact that he removed in 1560 to Nuremberg, where he continued to reside until his death in March 1591. His productiveness was very remarkable, as may be gathered from the statement of one of his pupils, that the drawings he made during a period of four years would have filled a hay wagon. A large number of his original drawings are contained in the Berlin collection of engravings. The genuineness of not a few of the specimens to be seen elsewhere is at least questionable. A series of copperplate engravings by Amman of the kings of France, with short biographies, appeared at Frankfort in 1576. He also executed many of the woodcut illustrations for the Bible published at Frankfort by Sigismund Feierabend. Another serial work, the Panoplia Omnium Liberalium Mechanicarum et Sedentariarum Artium Genera Continens, containing 115 plates, is of great value. Amman's drawing is correct and spirited, and his delineation of the details of costume, &c., is minute and accurate. He executed too much, however, to permit of his reaching the highest style of art. Paintings in oil and on glass are attributed to him, but no specimen of these is known to exist.
AMMAN, PAUL (1634-1691), German physician and botanist, was born at Breslau in 1634. In 1662 he received the degree of doctor of physic from the university of Leipzig, and in 1664 was admitted a member of the society Naturae Curiosorum, under the name of Dryander. Shortly afterwards he was chosen extraordinary professor of medicine in the above-mentioned university; and in 1674 he was promoted to the botanical chair, which he again in 1682 exchanged for the physiological. He died at Leipzig in 1691. He seems to have been a man of critical mind and extensive learning. His principal works were: Medicina Critica (1670); Paraenesis ad Docentes occupata circa Institutionum Medicarum Emendationem (1673); Irenicum Numae Pompilii cum Hippocrate (1689); Supellex Botanica (1675); and Character Naturalis Plantarum (1676).
AMMANATI, BARTOLOMEO (1511-1592), Florentine architect and sculptor. He studied under Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino, and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo. He was more distinguished in architecture than in sculpture. He designed many buildings in Rome, Lucca and Florence, an addition to the Pitti Palace in the last- named city being one of his most celebrated works. He was also employed in 1569 to build the beautiful bridge over the Arno, known as Ponte della Trinita—one of his celebrated works. The three arches are elliptic, and though very light and elegant, have resisted the fury of the river, which has swept away several other bridges at different times. Another of his most important works was the fountain for the Piazza della Signoria. In 1550 Ammanati married Laura Battiferri, an elegant poet and an accomplished woman.
AMMIANUS, MARCELLINUS, the last Roman historian of importance, was born about A.D. 325-330 at Antioch; the date of his death is unknown, but he must have lived till 391, as he mentions Aurelius Victor as the city prefect for that year. He was a Greek, and his enrolment among the protectores domestici (household guards) shows that he was of noble birth. He entered the army at an early age, when Constantius II. was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus, governor of Nisibis and magister militiae. He returned to Italy with Ursicinus, when he was recalled by Constantius, and accompanied him on the expedition against Silvanus the Frank, who had been forced by the unjust accusations of his enemies into proclaiming himself emperor in Gaul. With Ursicinus he went twice to the East, and barely escaped with his life from Amida or Amid (mod. Diarbekr), when it was taken by the Persian king Shapur (Sapor) II. When Ursicinus lost his office and the favour of Constantius, Ammianus seems to have shared his downfall; but under Julian, Constantius's successor, he regained his position. He accompanied this emperor, for whom he expresses enthusiastic admiration, in his campaigns against the Alamanni and the Persians; after his death he took part in the retreat of Jovian as far as Antioch, where he was residing when the conspiracy of Theodorus (371) was discovered and cruelly put down. Eventually he settled in Rome, where, at an advanced age, he wrote (in Latin) a history of the Roman empire from the accession of Nerva to the death of Valens (96-378), thus forming a continuation of the work of Tacitus. This history (Rerum Gestarum Libri XXXI.) was originally in thirty-one books; of these the first thirteen are lost, the eighteen which remain cover the period from 353 to 378. As a whole it is extremely valuable, being a clear, comprehensive and impartial account of events by a contemporary of soldierly honesty, independent judgment and wide reading. "Ammianus is an accurate and faithful guide, who composed the history of his own times without indulging the prejudices and passions which usually affect the mind of a contemporary" (Gibbon). Although Ammianus was no doubt a heathen, his attitude towards Christianity is that of a man of the world, free from prejudices in favour of any form of belief. If anything he himself inclined to neo-Platonism. His style is generally harsh, often pompous and extremely obscure, occasionally even journalistic in tone, but the author's foreign origin and his military life and training partially explain this. Further, the work being intended for public recitation, some rhetorical embellishment was necessary, even at the cost of simplicity. It is a striking fact that Ammianus, though a professional soldier, gives excellent pictures of social and economic problems, and in his attitude to the non-Roman peoples of the empire he is far more broad-minded than writers like Livy and Tacitus; his digressions on the various countries he had visited are peculiarly interesting. In his description of the empire—the exhaustion produced by excessive taxation, the financial ruin of the middle classes, the progressive decline in the morale of the army—we find the explanation of its fall before the Goths twenty years after his death.
The work was discovered by Poggio, who copied the original MS. Editio princeps (bks. 14-26) by Sabinus, 1474; completed by Accursius, 1533; with variorum notes, by Wagner-Erfurdt, 1808; latest edition of text, Gardthausen, 1874-1875. English translations by P. Holland, 1609; Yonge (Bohn's Classical Library), 1862; also Max Budinger, Ammianus Marcellinus und die Eigenart seines Geschichtswerkes (1895); F. Liesenberg, Die Sprache des Ammianus Marcellinus (1888-1890); T. R. Glover, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century (1901); Abbe Gimazane, Ammianus Marcellinus, sa vie et son oeuvre (Toulouse, 1889), a work containing a number of very doubtful theories. For a criticism of his views on Roman society see S. Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire (London, 1898).
AMMIRATO, SCIPIONE (1531-1601), Italian historian, born at Lecce, in the kingdom of Naples. His father, intending him for the profession of law, sent him to study at Naples, but his own decided preference for literature prevented him from fulfilling his father's wishes. Entering the church, he resided for a time at Venice, and afterwards engaged in the service of Pope Pius IV. In 1569 he went to Florence, where he was fortunate in securing the patronage and support of Duke Cosimo I., who gave him a residence at the Medici Palace and the Villa Zopaja on the understanding that he should write his Istorie Fiorentine (1600), the work by which he is best known. In 1595 he was made a canon of the cathedral of Florence. He died in 1601. Among the other works of Ammirato, some of which were first published after his death, may be mentioned discourses on Tacitus and genealogies of the families of Naples and Florence.
AMMON, the Graecized name of an Egyptian deity, in the native language Amun, connected by the priests with a root meaning "conceal." He was, to begin with, the local deity of Thebes, when it was an unimportant town on the east bank of the river, about the region now occupied by the temple of Karnak. The XIth dynasty sprang from a family in the Hermonthite nome or perhaps at Thebes itself, and adorned the temple of Karnak with statues. Amenemhe, the name of the founder of the XIIth dynasty, was compounded with that of Amun and was borne by three of his successors. Several Theban kings of the later part of the Middle Kingdom adopted the same name; and when the Theban family of the XVIIth dynasty drove out the Hyksos, Ammon, as the god of the royal city, was again prominent. It was not, however, until the rulers of the XVIIIth dynasty carried their victorious arms beyond the Egyptian frontiers in every direction that Ammon began to assume the proportions of a universal god for the Egyptians, eclipsing all their other deities and asserting his power over the gods of all foreign lands. To Ammon the Pharaohs attributed all their successful enterprises, and on his temples they lavished their wealth and captured spoil.
Ammon is figured of human form, wearing on his head a plain deep circlet from which rise two straight parallel plumes, perhaps representing the tail feathers of a hawk. Two main types are seen: in the one he is seated on a throne, in the other he is standing, ithyphallic, holding a scourge, precisely like Min, the god of Coptos and Chemmis (Akhmim). The latter may be his original form, as a god of fertility, before whom the king ceremoniously breaks up the ground for sowing or cuts the ripe corn. His consort was sometimes called Amaune (feminine of Amun), but more usually Mut, "mother": she was human-headed, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, and their son was Khons (Chon or Chons), a lunar god, represented as a youth wearing the crescent and disk of the moon. A great temple was built to Mut at Karnak not later than the XVIIIth dynasty, and another to Khons not later than the XXth dynasty.
The name of Re, the sun-god, was generally joined to Ammon, especially in his title as "king of the gods": the rule of heaven belonged to the sun-god in the Egyptian cosmos, and this identification with Re was only logical for a supreme deity. Ammon was entitled "lord of the thrones of the two lands," or, more proudly still, "king of the gods." Such indeed was his unquestioned position when suddenly he was overthrown and his worship proscribed. Not even a henotheist fervently worshipping one of many gods, Amenophis (Amenhotp) IV. of the XVIIIth dynasty became the monotheist Akhenaton; discarding all the gods of Egypt, and especially persecuting Ammon the arch-god, he devoted himself to the purer and more sublime worship of Aton, the sun. But he failed to win the permanent adhesion of the people to his reform, or to conciliate or entirely crush the enormously powerful priesthood of Ammon. A few years after the reformer's death, the old cults were re-established and the monuments of Aton studiously defaced. Hymns were then addressed to Amen-re, which are almost monotheistic in expression. The cult of the supreme god spread throughout Egypt and was carried by the Egyptian conquerors into other lands, Syria, Ethiopia and Libya, and was accepted by the natives both in Ethiopia and in the Libyan cases, where civilization was low and Egyptian influence permanent. After the XXth dynasty the centre of power was removed from Thebes, and the authority of Ammon began to wane. In the XXIst dynasty the secondary line of priest kings of Thebes upheld his dignity to the best of their power, and the XXIInd dynasty favoured Thebes: but as the sovereignty weakened the division between Upper and Lower Egypt asserted itself, and thereafter Thebes would have rapidly decayed had it not been for the piety of the kings of Ethiopia towards Ammon, whose worship had long prevailed in their country. Thebes was at first their Egyptian capital, and they honoured Ammon greatly, although their wealth and culture were not sufficient to effect much. Ammon (Zeus) continued to be the great god of Thebes in its decay, and notwithstanding that a nome-capital in the north of the Delta and many lesser temples, from El Hibeh in Middle Egypt to Canopus on the sea, acknowledged Ammon as their supreme divinity, he probably in some degree represented the national aspirations of Upper Egypt as opposed to Middle and Lower Egypt: he also remained the national god of Ethiopia, where his name was pronounced Amane. The priests of Amane at Meroe and Napata, in fact, regulated through his oracle the whole government of the country, choosing the king, directing his military expeditions (and even compelling him to commit suicide, according to Diodorus) until in the 3rd century B.C. Arkamane (Ergamenes) broke through the bondage and slew the priests. Ammon had yet another outburst of glory. There was an oracle of Ammon established for some centuries in Libya, in the distant oasis of Siwa. Such was its reputation among the Greeks that Alexander journeyed thither, after the battle of Issus, and during his occupation of Egypt, in order to be acknowledged the son of the god. The Egyptian Pharaohs of the XVIIIth dynasty had likewise been proclaimed mystically sons of this god, who, it was asserted, had impregnated the queen-mother; and on occasion wore the ram's horns of Ammon, even as Alexander is represented with them on coins.
The Egyptian goose (chenalopex) is figured in the XVIIIth dynasty as sacred to Ammon; but his most frequent and celebrated incarnation was the woolly sheep with curved ("Ammon") horns (as opposed to the oldest native breed with long horizontal twisted horns and hairy coat, sacred to Khnum or Chnumis). It is found as representing Ammon from the time of Amenophis III. onwards.
As king of the gods Ammon was identified by the Greeks with Zeus and his consort Mut with Hera. Khnum was likewise identified with Zeus probably through his similarity to Ammon; his proper animal having early become extinct, Ammon horns in course of time were attributed to this god also.
See Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion (London, 1907); Ed. Meyer, art. "Ammon" in Roscher's Lexikon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie; Pietschmann, arts. "Ammon," "Ammoneion" in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie; and works on Egyptian religion quoted under EGYPT, section Religion. (F. LL. G.)
AMMON, CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON (1766-1850), German theological writer and preacher, was born at Baireuth. He studied at Erlangen, held various professorships in the philosophical and theological faculties of Erlangen and Gottingen, succeeded Franz Reinhard (1753-1812) in 1813 as court preacher and member of the consistorial court at Dresden, retired from these offices in 1849, and died on the 21st of May 1850. Seeking to establish for himself a middle position between rationalism and supernaturalism, he declared for a "rational supernaturalism," and contended that there must be a gradual development of Christian doctrine corresponding to the advance of knowledge and science. But at the same time he sought, like other representatives of this school of thought, such as K. G. Bretschneider and Julius Wegscheider, to keep in close touch with the historical theology of the Protestant churches. He was a man of great versatility and extensive learning, a philologist and philosopher as well as a theologian, and a very voluminous author. His principal theological work was the Fortbildung des Christenthums zur Weltreligion, in 4 volumes (Leipzig, 1833-1840). Entwurf einer reinbiblischen Theologie appeared in 1792 (2nd ed., 1801), Summa Theologiae Christianae in 1803 (other editions, 1808, 1816, 1830); Das Leben Jesu in 1842, and Die wahre und falsche Orthodoxie in 1849. Von Ammon's style in preaching was terse and lively, and some of his discourses are regarded as models of pulpit treatment of political questions.
See Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie; Otto Pfleiderer, TheDevelopment of Theology in Germany since Kant, pp. 89 ff.
AMMONIA (NH3). Salts of ammonia have been known from very early times; thus the term Hammoniacus sal appears in the writings of Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxxi. 39), although it is not known whether the term is identical with the more modern sal-ammoniac (q.v.). In the form of sal-ammoniac, ammonia was known, however, to the alchemists as early as the 13th century, being mentioned by Albertus Magnus, whilst in the 15th century Basil Valentine showed that ammonia could be obtained by the action of alkalies on sal-ammoniac. At a later period when sal-ammoniac was obtained by distilling the hoofs and horns of oxen, and neutralizing the resulting carbonate with hydrochloric acid, the name spirits of hartshorn was applied to ammonia. Gaseous ammonia was first isolated by J. Priestley in 1774 and was termed by him "alkaline air." In 1777 K. W. Scheele showed that it contained nitrogen, and C. L. Berthollet, in about 1785, ascertained its composition.
Ammonia is found in small quantities as the carbonate in the atmosphere, being produced from the putrefaction of nitrogenous animal and vegetable matter; ammonium salts are also found in small quantities in rain-water, whilst ammonium chloride (sal-ammoniac) and ammonium sulphate are found in volcanic districts; and crystals of ammonium bicarbonate have been found in Patagonian guano. Ammonium salts too are found distributed through all fertile soil, in sea- water, and in most plant and animal liquids, and also in urine.
Ammonia can be synthesized by submitting a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen to the action of the silent electric discharge, the combination, however, being very imperfect. It is obtained by the dry distillation of nitrogenous vegetable and animal products; by the reduction of nitrous acid and nitrites with nascent hydrogen; and also by the decomposition of ammonium salts by alkaline hydroxides or by slaked lime, the salt most generally used being the chloride (sal- ammoniac, q.v.) thus 2NH4Cl + Ca(OH)2 = CaCl2 + 2H2O + 2NH3. It also results on decomposing magnesium nitride (Mg3N2) with water, Mg3N2 + 6H2O = 3Mg(OH)2 + 2NH3. Large quantities of ammonia and ammonium salts are now obtained from the ammoniacal liquor of gas-works.
Ammonia is a colourless gas possessing a characteristic pungent smell and a strongly alkaline reaction; it is lighter than air, its specific gravity being 0.589 (air=1). It is easily liquefied and the liquid boils at -33.7 deg. C., and solidifies at -75 deg. C. to a mass of white crystals. It is extremely soluble in water, one volume of water at 0 deg. C. and normal pressure absorbs 1148 volumes of ammonia (Roscoe and W. Dittmar). All the ammonia contained in an aqueous solution of the gas may be expelled by boiling. It does not support combustion; and it does not burn readily unless mixed with oxygen, when it burns with a pale yellowish-green flame. Ammonia gas has the power of combining with many substances, particularly with metallic halides; thus with calcium chloride it forms the compound CaCl2.8NH3, and consequently calcium chloride cannot be used for drying the gas. With silver chloride it forms two compounds (F. Isambert, Comptes rendus, 1868, lxvi. p. 1259)—one, AgCl.3NH3 at temperatures below 15 deg. C.; the other, 2AgCl.3NH3 at temperatures above 20 deg. C. On heating these substances, ammonia is liberated and the metallic chloride remains. It was by the use of silver chloride ammonia compounds that in 1823 M. Faraday was first able to liquefy ammonia. It can be shown by Isambert's results that the compound AgCl.3NH3 cannot be formed above 20 deg. C., by the action of ammonia on silver chloride at atmospheric pressure; whilst 2AgCl.3NH3, under similar conditions, cannot be formed above about 68 deg. C. Liquid ammonia is used for the artificial preparation of ice. It readily dissolves sodium and potassium, giving in each case a dark blue solution. At a red heat ammonia is easily decomposed into its constituent elements, a similar decomposition being brought about by the passage of electric sparks through the gas. Chlorine takes fire when passed into ammonia, nitrogen and hydrochloric acid being formed, and unless the ammonia be present in excess, the highly explosive nitrogen chloride NCl3 is also produced. With iodine it reacts to form nitrogen iodide. This compound was discovered in 1812 by Bernard Courtois, and was originally supposed to contain nitrogen and iodine only, but in 1840 R. F. Marchand showed that it contained hydrogen, whilst R. Bunsen showed that no oxygen was present. As regards its constitution, it has been given at different times the formulae NI3, NHI2, NH2I, N2H3I3, &c., these varying results being due to the impurities in the substance, owing to the different investigators working under unsuitable conditions, and also to the decomposing action of light. F. D. Chattaway determined its composition as N2H3I3, by the addition of excess of standard sodium sulphite solution, in the dark, and subsequent titration of the excess of the sulphite with standard iodine. The constitution has been definitely determined by O. Silberrad (Jour. of Chem. Soc., 1905, lxxxvii. p. 55) by the interaction of nitrogen iodide with zinc ethyl, the products of the reaction being triethylamine and ammonia; the ammonia liberated was absorbed in hydrochloric acid, and 95% of the theoretical amount of the ammonium chloride was obtained. On these grounds O. Silberrad assigns the formula NH3.NI3 to the compound, and explains the decomposition as taking place, 2NH3.NI3 + 6Zn(C2H5)2 = 6ZnC2H5.I + 2NH3 + 2N(C2H5)3. The hydrogen in ammonia is capable of replacement by metals, thus magnesium burns in the gas with the formation of magnesium nitride Mg3N2, and when the gas is passed over heated sodium or potassium, sodamide, NaNH2, and potassamide, KNH2, are formed.
One of the most characteristic properties of ammonia is its power of combining directly with acids to form salts; thus with hydrochloric acid it forms ammonium chloride (sal-ammoniac); with nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, &c. It is to be noted that H. B. Baker (Journal of Chem. Soc., 1894, lxv. p. 612) has shown that perfectly dry ammonia will not combine with perfectly dry hydrochloric acid, moisture being necessary to bring about the reaction. The aqueous solution of ammonia is very basic in its reactions, and since it is a weak electrolyte, one must assume the solution to contain a certain amount of ammonium hydroxide NH4OH, although it is probably chiefly composed of a solution of ammonia in water. (On the constitution of aqueous ammonia solutions see also Carl Frenzel, Zeit fur angew. Chemie, xxxii. 3, p. 319.) Ammonia finds a wide application in organic chemistry as a synthetic reagent; it reacts with alkyl iodides to form amines (q.v.), with esters to form acid amides (q.v.), with halogen fatty acids to form amino-acids; while it also combines with isocyanic esters to form alkyl ureas and with the mustard oils to form alkyl thioureas. Aldehydes also combine directly with ammonia.
Liquid ammonia possesses strong ionizing powers, and solutions of salts in liquid ammonia have been much studied. For details see E. C. Franklin and C. A. Kraus, Amer. Chem. Jour., 1899, xxi. p. 8; 1900, xxiv. p. 83; 1902, xxviii. p. 277; also Carl Frenzel, Zeits fur Elektrochemie, 1900, vi. p. 477.
The salts produced by the action of ammonia on acids are known as the ammonium salts and all contain the compound radical ammonium (NH4). Numerous attempts have been made to isolate this radical, but so far none have been successful. By the addition of sodium amalgam to a concentrated solution of ammonium chloride, the so-called ammonium amalgam is obtained as a spongy mass which floats on the surface of the liquid; it decomposes readily at ordinary temperatures into ammonia and hydrogen; it does not reduce silver and gold salts, a behaviour which distinguishes it from the amalgams of the alkali metals, and for this reason it is regarded by some chemists as being merely mercury inflated by gaseous ammonia and hydrogen. M. le Blanc has shown, however, that the effect of ammonium amalgam on the magnitude of polarization of a battery is comparable with that of the amalgams of the alkali metals.
Many of the ammonium salts are made from the ammoniacal liquor of gas- works, by heating it with milk of lime and then absorbing the gas so liberated in a suitable acid. (See GAS: Manufacture.)
Ammonium bromide, NH4Br, can be prepared by the direct action of bromine on ammonia. It crystallizes in colourless prisms, possessing a saline taste; it sublimes on heating and is easily soluble in water. On exposure to air it gradually assumes a yellow colour and becomes acid in its reaction.
Ammonium chloride, NH4Cl. (See SAL-AMMONIAC.)
Ammonium fluoride, NH4F, may be obtained by neutralizing ammonia with hydrofluoric acid. It crystallizes in small prisms, having a sharp saline taste, and is exceedingly soluble in water. It decomposes silicates on being heated with them.
Ammonium iodide, NH4I, can be prepared by the action of hydriodic acid on ammonia. It is easily soluble in water, from which it crystallizes in cubes, and also in alcohol. It gradually turns yellow on standing in moist air, owing to decomposition with liberation of iodine.
Ammonium chlorate, NH4ClO3, is obtained by neutralizing chloric acid with either ammonia or ammonium carbonate, or by precipitating barium, strontium or calcium chlorates with ammonium carbonate. It crystallizes in small needles, which are readily soluble in water, and on heating, decompose at about 102 deg. C., with liberation of nitrogen, chlorine and oxygen. It is soluble in dilute aqueous alcohol, but insoluble in strong alcohol.
Ammonium carbonates. The commercial salt is known as sal-volatile or salt of hartshorn and was formerly obtained by the dry distillation of nitrogenous organic matter such as hair, horn, decomposed urine, &c., but is now obtained by heating a mixture of sal-ammoniac, or ammonium sulphate and chalk, to redness in iron retorts, the vapours being condensed in leaden receivers. The crude product is refined by sublimation, when it is obtained as a white fibrous mass, which consists of a mixture of hydrogen ammonium carbonate, NH4.HCO3, and ammonium carbamate, NH2COONH4, in molecular proportions; on account of its possessing this constitution it is sometimes called ammonium sesquicarbonate. It possesses a strong ammoniacal smell, and on digestion with alcohol the carbamate is dissolved and a residue of ammonium bicarbonate is left; a similar decomposition taking place when the sesquicarbonate is exposed to air. Ammonia gas passed into a strong aqueous solution of the sesquicarbonate converts it into normal ammonium carbonate, (NH4)2CO3, which can be obtained in the crystalline condition from a solution prepared at about 30 deg. C. This compound on exposure to air gives off ammonia and passes back to ammonium bicarbonate.
Ammonium bicarbonate, NH4.HCO3, is formed as shown above and also by passing carbon dioxide through a solution of the normal compound, when it is deposited as a white powder, which has no smell and is only slightly soluble in water. The aqueous solution of this salt liberates carbon dioxide on exposure to air or on heating, and becomes alkaline in reaction. The aqueous solutions of all the carbonates when boiled undergo decomposition with liberation of ammonia and of carbon dioxide.
Ammonium nitrate, NH4NO3, is prepared by neutralizing nitric acid with ammonia, or ammonium carbonate, or by double decomposition between potassium nitrate and ammonium sulphate. It can be obtained in three different crystalline forms, the transition points of which are 35 deg. C., 83 deg. C. and 125 deg. C. It is easily soluble in water, a considerable lowering of temperature taking place during the operation; on this account it is sometimes used in the preparation of freezing mixtures. On gentle heating, it is decomposed into water and nitrous oxide. P. E. M. Berthelot in 1883 showed that if ammonium nitrate be rapidly heated the following reaction takes place with explosive violence:—2NH4NO3 = 4H2O + 2N2 + O2.
Ammonium nitrite, NH4NO2, is formed by oxidizing ammonia with ozone or hydrogen peroxide; by precipitating barium or lead nitrites with ammonium sulphate, or silver nitrite with ammonium chloride. The precipitate is filtered off and the solution concentrated. It forms colourless crystals which are soluble in water and decompose on heating, with the formation of nitrogen.
Ammonium phosphates. The normal phosphate, (NH4)3PO4,is obtained as a crystalline powder, on mixing concentrated solutions of ammonia and phosphoric acid, or on the addition of excess of ammonia to the acid phosphate (NH4)2HPO4. It is soluble in water, and the aqueous solution on boiling loses ammonia and the acid phosphate NH4H2PO4 is formed. Diammonium hydrogen phosphate, (NH4)2HPO4, is formed by evaporating a solution of phosphoric acid with excess of ammonia. It crystallizes in large transparent prisms, which melt on heating and decompose, leaving a residue of metaphosphoric acid, (HPO3). Ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, NH4.H2PO4, is formed when a solution of phosphoric acid is added to ammonia until the solution is distinctly acid. It crystallizes in quadratic prisms.
Ammonium sodium hydrogen phosphate,NH4.NaHPO4.4H2O. (See MICROCOSMIC SALT.)
Ammonium sulphate (NH4)2SO4 is prepared commercially from the ammoniacal liquor of gas-works (see GAS: Manufacture) and is purified by recrystallization. It forms large rhombic prisms, has a somewhat saline taste and is easily soluble in water. The aqueous solution on boiling loses some ammonia and forms an acid sulphate. It is used largely as an artificial manure, and also for the preparation of other ammonium salts.
Ammonium persulphate (NH4)2S2O8 has been prepared by H. Marshall (Jour. of Chem. Soc., 1891, lix. p. 777) by the method used for the preparation of the corresponding potassium salt (see SULPHUR). Pure specimens are difficult to obtain. It is very soluble in cold water, a large fall of temperature accompanying solution.
Ammonium sulphide, (NH4)2S, is obtained, in the form of micaceous crystals, by passing sulphuretted hydrogen mixed with a slight excess of ammonia through a well-cooled vessel; the hydrosulphide NH4.HS is formed at the same time. It dissolves readily in water, but is probably partially dissociated in solution. The hydrosulphide NH4.HS can be obtained as a white solid, by mixing well-cooled ammonia with a slight excess of sulphuretted hydrogen. According to W. P. Bloxam (Jour. of Chem. Soc., 1895, lxvii. p. 283), if sulphuretted hydrogen is passed into strong aqueous ammonia at ordinary temperature, the compound (NH4)2S.2NH4HS is obtained, which, on cooling to 0 deg. C. and passing more sulphuretted hydrogen, forms the compound (NH4)2S.12NH4HS. An ice-cold solution of this substance kept at 0 deg. C. and having sulphuretted hydrogen continually passed through it gives the hydrosulphide. Several complex polysulphides of ammonium have been isolated, for details of which see Bloxam's paper quoted above. Compounds are known which may be looked upon as derived from ammonia by the replacement of its hydrogen by the sulpho-group (HSO3); thus potassium ammon-trisulphonate, N(SO3K)3.2H2O, is obtained as a crystalline precipitate on the addition of excess of potassium sulphite to a solution of potassium nitrite, KNO2 + 3K2SO3 + 2H2O = N(SO3K)3 + 4KHO. It can be recrystallized by solution in alkalies. On boiling with water, it is converted, first into the disulphonate NH(SO3K)2 thus, N(SO3K)3 + H2O = NH(SO3K)2 + KHSO4, and ultimately into the monosulphonate NH2.SO3K. The disulphonate is more readily obtained by moistening the nitrilosulphonate with dilute sulphuric acid and letting it stand for twenty-four hours, after which it is recrystallized from dilute ammonia. It forms monosymmetric crystals which by boiling with water yield amidosulphonic acid. (See also E. Divers, Jour. of Chem. Soc., 1892, lxi. p. 943.) Amidosulphonic acid crystallizes in prisms, slightly soluble in water, and is a stable compound.
Ammonia and ammonium salts can be readily detected, in very minute traces, by the addition of Nessler's solution, which gives a distinct yellow coloration in the presence of the least trace of ammonia or ammonium salts. Larger quantities can be detected by warming the salts with a caustic alkali or with quicklime, when the characteristic smell of ammonia will be at once apparent. The amount of ammonia in ammonium salts can be estimated quantitatively by distillation of the salts with sodium or potassium hydroxide, the ammonia evolved being absorbed in a known volume of standard sulphuric acid and the excess of acid then determined volumetrically; or the ammonia may be absorbed in hydrochloric acid and the ammonium chloride so formed precipitated as ammonium chlorplatinate, (NH4)2PtCl6.
AMMONIACUM, or GUM AMMONIAC, a gum-resin exuded from the stem of a perennial herb (Dorema ammoniacum), natural order Umbelliferae. The plant grows to the height of 8 or 9 ft., and its whole stem is pervaded with a milky juice, which oozes out on an incision being made at any part. This juice quickly hardens into round tears, forming the "tear ammoniacum" of commerce. "Lump ammoniacum," the other form in which the substance is met with, consists of aggregations of tears, frequently incorporating fragments of the plant itself, as well as other foreign bodies. Ammoniacum has a faintly fetid, unpleasant odour, which becomes more distinct on heating; externally it possesses a reddish-yellow appearance, and when the tears or lumps are freshly fractured they exhibit a waxy lustre. It is chiefly collected in central Persia, and comes to the European market by way of Bombay. Ammoniacum is closely related to asafetida and galbanum (from which, however, it differs in yielding no umbelliferone) both in regard to the plant which yields it and its therapeutical effects. Internally it is used in conjunction with squills in bronchial affections; and in asthma and chronic colds it is found useful, but it has no advantages over a number of other substances of more constant and active properties (Sir Thomas Fraser). Only the "tear ammoniacum" is official.
African ammoniacum is the product of a plant said to be Ferula tingitana, which grows in North Africa; it is a dark coloured gum-resin, possessed of a very weak odour and a persistent acrid taste.
AMMONITES, or the "children of Ammon," a people of east Palestine who, like the Moabites, traced their origin to Lot, the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, and must have been regarded, therefore, as closely related to the Israelites and Edomites. Both the Ammonites and Moabites are sometimes spoken of under the common name of the children of Lot (Deut. ii. 19; Ps. lxxxiii. 8); and the whole history shows that they preserved throughout the course of their national existence a sense of the closest brotherhood. According to the traditions, the original territory of the two tribes was the country lying immediately on the east of the Dead Sea, and of the lower half of the Jordan, having the Jabbok for its northern boundary; and of this tract the Ammonites laid claim to the northern portion between the Arnon and the Jabbok, out of which they had expelled the Zamzummim (Judg. xi. 13; Deut. ii. 20 sqq.; cf. Gen. xiv. 5), though apparently it had been held, in part at least, conjointly with the Moabites, or perhaps under their supremacy (Num. xxi. 26, xxii. 1; Josh. xiii. 32). From this their original territory they had been in their turn expelled by Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was said to have been found by the Israelites, after their deliverance from Egypt, in possession of both Gilead and Bashan, that is, of the whole country on the left bank of the Jordan, lying to the north of the Arnon (Num. xxi. 13). By this invasion, as the Moabites were driven to the south of the Arnon, which formed their northern boundary from that time, so the Ammonites were driven out of Gilead across the upper waters of the Jabbok where it flows from south to north, which henceforth continued to be their western boundary (Num. xxi. 24; Deut. ii. 37, iii. 16). The other limits of the Ammonitis, or country of the Ammonites ('Lmmanitis chora, 2 Mac. iv. 26), there are no means of exactly defining. On the south it probably adjoined the land of Moab; on the north it may have met that of the king of Geshur (Josh. xii. 5); and on the east it probably melted away into the desert peopled by Amalekites and other nomadic races.
The chief city of the country, called Rabbah, or Rabbath of the children of Ammon, i.e. the metropolis of the Ammonites (Deut. iii. 11), and Rabbathammana by the later Greeks (Polyb, v. 7. 4), whose name was changed into Philadelphia by Ptolemy Philadelphus, a large and strong city with an acropolis, was situated on both sides of a branch of the Jabbok, bearing at the present day the name of Nahr `Amman, the river of Ammon, whence the designation "city of waters" (2 Sam. xii. 27); see Survey of E. Pal (Pal. Explor. Fund), pp. 19 sqq. The ruins called Amman by the natives are extensive and imposing. The country to the south and east of Amman is distinguished by its fertility; and ruined towns are scattered thickly over it, attesting that it was once occupied by a population which, however fierce, was settled and industrious, a fact indicated also by the tribute of corn paid annually to Jotham (2 Chron. xxvii. 5).
The traditional history of Ammon as related in the Old Testament is not free from obscurity, due to the uncertain date of the various references and to the doubt whether the individual details belong to the particular period to which each is ascribed. (See further MOAB.) From the Assyrian inscriptions we learn that the Ammonite king Ba'sa (Baasha) (son) of Ruhubi, with 1000 men joined Ahab and the Syrian allies against Shalmaneser II. at the battle of Karkar in 854. In 734 their king Sanip(b)u was a vassal of Tiglathpileser IV., and his successor, P(b)udu-ilu, held the same position under Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. Somewhat later, their king Amminadab was among the tributaries who suffered in the course of the great Arabian campaign of Assurbanipal. With the neighbouring tribes, the Ammonites helped the Babylonian monarch Nebuchadrezzar against Jehoiakim (2 Kings xxiv. 2); and if they joined Zedekiah's conspiracy (Jer. xxvii. 3), and were threatened by the Babylonian army (Ezek. xxi. 20 sqq.), they do not appear to have suffered punishment at that period, perhaps on account of a timely submission. When, after the destruction of Jerusalem, the fugitive Jews were again gathered together, it was at the instigation of Baalis, king of Ammon, that Gedaliah, the ruler whom Nebuchadrezzar had appointed over them, was murdered, and new calamities were incurred (Jer. xl. 14); and when Nehemiah prepared to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem an Ammonite was foremost in opposition (Neh. ii. 10, 19, iv. 1-3).1 True to their antecedents, the Ammonites, with some of the neighbouring tribes, did their utmost to resist and check the revival of the Jewish power under Judas Maccabaeus (1 Macc. v. 6; cf. Jos. Ant. Jud. xii. 8. 1.). The last notice of them is in Justin Martyr (Dial. cum Tryph. sec. 119), where it is affirmed that they were still a numerous people. The few Ammonite names that have been preserved (Nahash, Hanun, and those mentioned above, Zelek in 2 Sam. xxiii. 37 is textually uncertain) testify, in harmony with other considerations, that their language was Semitic, closely allied to Hebrew and to the language of the Moabites. Their national deity was Moloch or Milcon. (See MOLOCH.) (S. A. C.)
1 The allusions in Jer. xlix. 1-6; Zeph. ii. 8-11; Ezek. xxi. 28- 32; Judg. xi. 12-28, have been taken to refer to an Ammonite occupation of Israelite territory after the deportation of the east Jordanic Israelites in 734, but more probably belong to a later event. The name Chephar-Ammoni (in Benjamin; Josh. xviii. 24) seems to imply that the "village" became a settlement of "Ammonites." Some light is thrown upon the obscure history of the post-exile period by the references to the mixed marriages which aroused the reforming zeal of Ezra and culminated in the exclusion of Ammon and Moab from the religious community—on the ground of incidents which were ascribed to the time of the "exodus" (Deut. xxiii. 3 sqq.; Ezr. ix. 1 sqq.; Neh. xiii. 1 sqq.).
AMMONIUS GRAMMATICUS, the supposed author of a treatise entitled Peri omoion kai dialoron lfxeon (On the Differences of Synonymous Expressions), of whom nothing is known. He was formerly identified with an Egyptian priest who, after the destruction of the pagan temple at Alexandria (389), fled to Constantinople, where he became the tutor of the ecclesiastical historian Socrates. But it seems more probable that the real author was Herennius Philo of Byblus, who was born during the reign of Nero and lived till the reign of Hadrian, and that the treatise in its present form is a revision prepared by a later Byzantine editor, whose name may have been Ammonius.
Text by Valckenaer, 1739, Schafer, 1822; Kopp, DeAmmonii . . . Distinctionibus Synonymicis, 1883.
AMMONIUS HERMIAE (5th century A.D.), Greek philosopher, the son of Hermias or Hermeias, a fellow-pupil of Proclus. He taught at Alexandria, and had among his scholars Asclepius, John Philoponus, Damascius and Simplicius. His commentaries on Plato and Ptolemy are lost. Those on Aristotle are all that remain of his reputedly numerous writings. Of the commentaries we have—(1) one on the Isagoge of Porphyry (Venice, 1500 fol.); (2) one on the Categories (Venice, 1503 fol.), the authenticity of which is doubted by Brandis; (3) one on the De Interpretatione (Venice, 1503 fol.). They are printed in Brandis's scholia to Aristotle, forming the fourth volume of the Berlin Aristotle; they are also edited (1891-1899) in A. Busse's Commentaria in Aristot. Graeca. The special section on fate was published separately by J. C. Orelli, Alex. Aphrod., Ammonii, et aliorum de Fato quae supersunt (Zurich, 1824). A life of Aristotle, ascribed to Ammonius, but with more accuracy to John Philoponus, is often prefixed to editions of Aristotle. It has been printed separately, with Latin translation and scholia, at Leiden, 1621, at Helmstadt, 1666, and at Paris, 1850. Other commentaries on the Topics and the first six books of the Metaphysics still exist in manuscript. Of the value of the logical writings of Ammonius there are various opinions. K. Prantl speaks of them with great, but hardly merited, contempt.
For a list of his works see J. A. Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, v. 704-707: C. A. Brandis, Uber d. Reihenf. d. Bucher d. Aristot. Org., 283 f.; K. Prantl, Gesch. d. Logik, i. 642.
AMMONIUS SACCAS (3rd century A.D.), Greek philosopher of Alexandria, often called the founder of the neo-Platonic school. Of humble origin, he appears to have earned a livelihood as a porter; hence his nickname of "Sack-bearer" (Sakkas, for sakkoforos.) The details of his life are unknown, insomuch that he has frequently been confused with a Christian philosopher of the same name. Eusebius (Church History, vi. 19), who is followed by Jerome, asserts that he was born a Christian, remained faithful to Christianity throughout his life, and even produced two works called The Harmony of Moses and Jesus and The Diatessaron, or Harmony of the Four Gospels, which is said by some to exist in a Latin version by Victor, bishop of Capua. Porphyry, quoted by Eusebius, ib. vi. 19. 6, however, says that he apostatized in later life and left no writings behind him. There seems no reason, therefore, to doubt that Eusebius is here referring to the Christian philosopher. After long study and meditation, Ammonius opened a school of philosophy in Alexandria. His principal pupils were Herennius, the two Origens, Cassius Longinus and Plotinus. As he designedly wrote nothing, and, with the aid of his pupils, kept his views secret, after the manner of the Pythagoreans, his philosophy must be inferred mainly from the writings of Plotinus. As Zeller points out, however, there is reason to think that his doctrines were rather those of the earlier Platonists than those of Plotinus. Hierocles, writing in the 5th century A.D., states that his fundamental doctrine was an eclecticism, derived from a critical study of Plato and Aristotle. His admirers credited him with having reconciled the quarrels of the two great schools. His death is variously given between A.D. 240 and 245. See NEO-PLATONISM, ORIGEN.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—C. Rosler, De commentitiis philosophiaeAmmoniaceae fraudibus et noxis (Tubingen, 1786); L. J.Dehaut, Essai historique sur la vie et la doctrine d' AmmoniusSaccas (Brussels, 1856); E. Zeller, "Ammonius Saccas undPlotinus," Arch. f. Gesch. d. Philos. vii., 1894, pp.295-312; E. Vacherot, Hist. crit. de l'ecole d'Alexandrie(Paris, 1846); T. Whittaker, The Neo-platonists (Camb.,1901); Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., trans. A. C. M'Giffert(Oxford and New York, 1890), notes on passages quoted above.
AMMUNITION, a military term (derived, through the French, from Lat. munire, to provide), for consumable stores used in attack or defence, such as rifle cartridges, cartridges, projectiles, igniting tubes and primers for ordnance, &c.
The components of ammunition intended for rifles and ordnance may be divided into (a) explosives and propellants (see EXPLOSIVES and GUNPOWDER), (b) projectiles of all kinds, and (c) cartridges. The military classification of explosives differs somewhat from that of the Explosives Act 1875, but, broadly speaking, they are divided into two groups. The first of these comprises explosives in bulk, made-up cartridges for cannon, and filled quick- firing cartridges; Group II. contains small-arm cartridges, fuzes, primers, tubes, filled shells (fuzed or unfuzed), &c. Each group is subdivided, and arrangements are made for storing certain divisions of Group I. in a magazine in separate compartments. All the divisions of Group II. are, and the remaining divisions of Group I. (comprising wet gun-cotton, picric acid and Q.F. cartridges) may be, stored in ammunition stores.
These general conditions apply to the storage of ammunition in fortresses. Here the positions for the magazine and ammunition stores are so chosen as to afford the best means of protection from an enemy's fire. Huge earth parapets cover these buildings, which are further strengthened, where possible, by traverses protecting the entrances. For the purpose of filling, emptying and examining cannon cartridges and shell, a laboratory is generally provided at some distance from the magazine. The various stores for explosives are classified into those under magazine conditions (viz. magazines, laboratories and cartridge stores) and those with which these restrictions need not be observed (viz. ammunition and shell stores). The interior walls of a magazine are lined and the floors laid so that there may be no exposed iron or steel. At the entrance there is a lobby or barrier, inside which persons about to enter the magazine change their clothes for a special suit, and their boots for a pair made without nails. In an ammunition or shell store these precautions need not be taken except where the shell store and the adjacent cartridge store have a common entrance; persons entering may do so in their ordinary clothes. A large work may have a main magazine and several subsidiary magazines, from which the stock of cartridges is renewed in the cartridge stores attached to each group of guns or in the expense cartridge stores and cartridge recesses. The same applies to main ammunition stores which supply the shell stores, expense stores and recesses.
The supply of ammunition may be divided roughly into (a) that for guns forming the movable armament, (b) that for guns placed in permanent positions. The movable armament will consist of guns and howitzers of small and medium calibre, and it is necessary to arrange suitable expense cartridge stores and shell stores in close proximity to the available positions. They can generally be constructed to form part of the permanent work in the projected face of traverses or other strong formations, and should be arranged for a twenty-four hours' supply of ammunition. These stores are refilled from the main magazine every night under cover of darkness. Light railways join the various positions. The guns mounted in permanent emplacements are divided into groups of two or three guns each, and usually each group will require but one calibre of ammunition. A cartridge store, shell store and a general store, all well ventilated, are arranged for the especial service of such a group of guns. In the cartridge store the cylinders containing the cartridges are so placed and labelled that the required charge, whether reduced or full, can be immediately selected. In the shell store also for the same reason the common shell are separated from the armour-piercing or shrapnel. Each nature of projectile is painted in a distinctive manner to render identification easy. The fuzes, tubes, &c., are placed in the general store with the tools and accessories belonging to the guns. The gun group is distinguished by some letter and the guns of the group by numerals; thus, A/1 is No. I gun of group A. The magazine and shell stores are also indicated by the group letter, and so that mistakes, even by those unaccustomed to the fort, may be avoided, the passages are pointed out by finger posts and direction boards. For the immediate service of each gun a few cartridges and projectiles are stored in small receptacles—called cartridge and shell recesses respectively—built in the parapet as near the gun position as practicable. In some cases a limited number of projectiles may be placed close underneath the parapet if this is conveniently situated near the breech of the gun and not exposed to hostile fire.
In order to supply the ammunition sufficiently rapidly for the efficient service of modern guns, hydraulic, electric or hand-power hoists are employed to raise the cartridges and shell from the cartridge store and shell store to the gun floor, whence they are transferred to a derrick or loading tray attached to the mounting for loading the gun.
Projectiles for B.L. guns above 6-in. calibre are stored in shell stores ready filled and fuzed standing on their bases, except shrapnel and high-explosive shell, which are fuzed only when about to be used. Smaller sizes of shells are laid on their sides in layers, each layer pointing in the opposite direction to the one below to prevent injury to the driving bands. Cartridges are stored in brass corrugated cases or in zinc cylinders. The corrugated cases are stacked in layers in the magazine with the mouth of the case towards a passage between the stacks, so that it can be opened and the cartridges removed and transferred to a leather case when required for transport to the gun. Cylinders are stacked, when possible, vertically one above the other. The charges are sent to the gun in these cylinders, and provision is made for the rapid removal of the empty cylinders.
The number and nature of rounds allotted to any fortress depends on questions of policy and location, the degrees of resistance the nature of the works and personnel could reasonably be expected to give, and finally on the nature of the armament. That is to say, for guns of large calibre three hundred to four hundred rounds per gun might be sufficient, while for light Q.F. guns it might amount to one thousand or more rounds per gun. (A. G. H.)
Supply of ammunition in the field.
With every successive improvement in military arms there has necessarily been a corresponding modification in the method of supplying ammunition and in the quantity required to be supplied. When hand-to-hand weapons were the principal implements of battle, there was, of course, no such need, but even in the middle ages the archers and crossbowmen had to replenish the shafts and bolts expended in action, and during a siege stone bullets of great size, as well as heavy arrows, were freely used. The missiles of those days were, however, interchangeable, and at the battle of Towton (1461) the commander of the Yorkist archers, by inducing the enemy to waste his arrows, secured a double supply of ammunition for his own men. This interchangeability of war material was even possible for many centuries after the invention of firearms. At the battle of Liegnitz (1760) a general officer was specially commissioned by Frederick the Great to pack up and send away, for Prussian use, all the muskets and ammunition left on the field of battle by the defeated Austrians. Captured material is, of course, utilized whenever possible, at the present time, and in the Chino-Japanese War the Japanese went so far as to prepare beforehand spare parts for the Chinese guns they expected to capture (Wei-Hai-Wei, 1895), but it is rare to find a modern army trusting to captures for arms and ammunition; almost the only instance of the practice is that of the Chilean civil war of 1891, in which the army of one belligerent was almost totally dependent upon this means of replenishing stores of arms and cartridges. But what was possible with weapons of comparatively rough make is no longer to be thought of in the case of modern arms. The Lee-Metford bullet of .303 in. diameter can scarcely be used in a rifle of smaller calibre, and in general the minute accuracy of parts in modern weapons makes interchangeability almost impossible. Further, owing to the rapidity with which, in modern arms, ammunition is expended, and the fact that, as battles are fought at longer ranges than formerly, more shots have to be fired in order to inflict heavy losses, it is necessary that the reserves of ammunition should be as close as possible to the troops who have to use them. This was always the case even with the older firearms, as, owing to the great weight of the ammunition, the soldier could carry but few rounds on his person. Nevertheless it is only within the past seventy years that there has grown up the elaborate system of ammunition supply which now prevails in all regularly organized armies. That which is described in the present article is the British, as laid down in the official Combined Training (1905) and other manuals. The new system designed for stronger divisions, and others, vary only in details and nomenclature.
Infantry.—The infantry soldier generally carries, in pouches, bandoliers, &c., one hundred rounds of small-arms ammunition (S.A.A.), and it is usual to supplement this, when an action is imminent, from the regimental reserve (see below). It is to be noticed that every reduction in the calibre of the rifle means an increase in the number of rounds carried. One hundred rounds of the Martini-Henry ammunition weighed 10lb. 10 oz.; the same weight gives 155 with .303 ammunition (incl. charges), and if a .256 calibre is adopted the number of rounds will be still greater. It is, relatively, a matter of indifference that the reserves of ammunition include more rounds than formerly; it is of the highest importance that the soldier should, as far as possible, be independent of fresh supplies, because the bringing up of ammunition to troops closely engaged is laborious and costly in lives. The regimental reserves are carried in S.A.A. carts and on pack animals. Of the former each battalion has six, of the latter eight. The six carts are distributed, one as reserve to the machine gun, three as reserve to the battalion itself, and two as part of the brigade reserve, which consists therefore of eight carts. The brigade reserve communicates directly with the brigade ammunition columns of the artillery (see below). The eight pack animals follow the eight companies of their battalion. These, with two out of the three battalion carts, endeavour to keep close to the firing line, the remaining cart being with the reserve companies. Men also are employed as carriers, and this duty is so onerous that picked men only are detailed. Gallantry displayed in bringing up ammunition is considered indeed to justify special rewards. The amount of S.A.A. in regimental charge is 100 rounds in the possession of each soldier, 2000 to 2200 on each pack animal, and 16,000 to 17,600 in each of four carts, with, in addition, about 4000 rounds with the machine gun and 16,000 more in the fifth cart.
Artillery.—The many vehicles which accompany batteries (see ARTILLERY) carry a large quantity of ammunition, and with the contents of two wagons and the limber each gun may be considered as well supplied, more especially as fresh rounds can be brought up with relatively small risk, owing to the long range at which artillery fights and the use of cover. Each brigade of artillery has its own ammunition column, from which it draws its reserve in the first instance.
Ammunition Columns.—An ammunition column consists of military vehicles carrying gun and S.A. ammunition for the combatant unit to which the column belongs. Thus the ammunition columns of a division, forming part of the brigades of field artillery, carry reserve ammunition for the guns, the machine guns of the infantry and the rifles of all arms. Generally speaking, the ammunition column of each of the artillery brigades furnishes spare ammunition for its own batteries and for one of the brigades of infantry. All ammunition columns are officered and manned by the Royal Artillery. They are not reserved exclusively to their own brigades, divisions, &c., but may be called upon to furnish ammunition to any unit requiring it during an action. The officers and men of the R.A. employed with the ammunition column are, as a matter of course, immediately available to replace casualties in the batteries. Teams, wagons and materiel generally are also available for the same purpose. The horse artillery, howitzer and heavy brigades of artillery have each their own ammunition columns, organized in much the same way and performing similar duties. The ammunition column of the heavy brigade is divisible into three sections, so that the three batteries, if operating independently, have each a section at hand to replenish the ammunition expended. The horse artillery brigade ammunition columns carry, besides S.A.A. for all corps troops other than artillery, the reserve of pom-pom ammunition. In action these columns are on the battlefield itself. Some miles to the rear are the divisional and corps troops columns, which on the one hand replenish the empty wagons of the columns in front, and on the other draw fresh supplies from the depots on the line of communication. These also are in artillery charge; a divisional column is detailed to each division (i.e. to replenish each set of brigade ammunition columns), and the corps troops column supplies the columns attached to the heavy, howitzer and horse artillery brigades. The ammunition thus carried includes ordinarily seven or eight kinds at least. S.A.A., field, horse, howitzer and heavy gun shrapnel, howitzer and heavy gun lyddite shells, cartridges for the four different guns employed and pom-pom cartridges for the cavalry,—in all twelve distinct types of stores would be carried for a complete army corps. Consequently the rounds of each kind in charge of each ammunition column must vary in accordance with the work expected of the combatant unit to which it belongs. Thus pom-pom ammunition is out of place in the brigade ammunition columns of field artillery, and S.A.A. is relatively unnecessary in that attached to a heavy artillery brigade. Under these circumstances a column may be unable to meet the particular wants of troops engaged in the vicinity; for instance, a cavalry regiment would send in vain to a heavy artillery ammunition section for pom-pom cartridges. The point to be observed in this is that the fewer the natures of weapons used, the more certain is the ammunition supply. (C. F. A.)
The first projectiles fired from cannon were the darts and stone shot which had been in use with older weapons. These darts ("garros") had iron heads or were of iron wrapped with leather to fit the bore of small guns, and continued in use up to nearly the end of the 16th century. Spherical stone shot were chosen on account of cheapness; forged iron, bronze and lead balls were tried, but the expense prevented their general adoption. Further, as the heavy metal shot necessitated the use of a correspondingly large propelling charge, too great a demand was made on the strength of the feeble guns of the period. Stone shot being one-third the weight of those of iron the powder charge was reduced in proportion, and this also effected an economy. Both iron and stone shot were occasionally covered with lead, probably to preserve the interior of the bore of the gun. Cast iron, while known in the 14th century, was not sufficiently common to be much used for the manufacture of shot, although small ones were made about that time. They were used more frequently at the latter part of the following century. Towards the end of the 16th century nearly all shot were of iron, but stone shot were still used with guns called Petrieroes (hence the name) or Patararoes, for attacking weak targets like ships at short range.
Case shot are very nearly as ancient as spherical shot. They can be traced back to the early part of the 15th century, and they have practically retained their original form up to the present date. They are intended for use at close quarters when a volley of small shot is required. With field guns they are not of much use at ranges exceeding about four hundred yards; those for heavy guns are effective up to one thousand yards. In the earlier forms lead or iron shot were packed in wood casks or in canvas bags tied up with twine like the later quilted shot. In the present (fig. 2) type small shot are placed in a cylindrical case of sheet iron, with iron ends, one end being provided with handles. For small guns the bullets are made of lead and antimony—like shrapnel bullets—while for larger calibres they are of cast iron weighing from two ounces to three and a half pounds each.
Grape shot is now obsolete. It consisted generally of three tiers of cast-iron balls separated by iron plates and held in place by an iron bolt which passed through the centre of the plates.
There was also another type called quilted shot which consisted of a number of small shot in a canvas covering tied up by rope. Chain shot, in the days of sailing ships, was much in favour as a means of destroying rigging. Two spherical shot were fastened together by a short length of chain. On leaving the gun they began gyrating around each other and made a formidable missile.
Red-hot shot were invented in 1579 by Stephen Batory, king of Poland. They were used with great effect by the English during the siege of Gibraltar, especially on the 13th of September 1782, when the French floating batteries were destroyed, together with a large part of the Spanish fleet. Martin's shell was a modified form; here a cast-iron shell was filled with molten cast iron and immediately fired. On striking the side of a ship the shell broke up, freeing the still molten iron, which set fire to the vessel.
Rotation.—Projectiles intended for R.M.L. guns were at first fitted with a number of gun-metal studs arranged around them in a spiral manner corresponding to the twist of rifling. This was defective, as it allowed, as in the old smooth-bore guns, the powder gas to escape by the clearance (called "windage") between the projectile and the bore, with a consequent loss of efficiency; it also quickly eroded the bore of the larger guns. Later the rotation was effected by a cupped copper disc called a "gas check" attached to the base end of the projectile. The powder gas pressure expanded the rim of the gas check into the rifling grooves and prevented the escape of gas; it also firmly fixed the gas check to the projectile, thus causing it to rotate. A more regular and efficient action of the powder gas was thus ensured, with a corresponding greater range and an improvement in accuracy. With the earlier Armstrong (R.B.L.) guns the projectiles were coated with lead (the late Lord Armstrong's system), the lead being forced through the rifling grooves by the pressure of the exploded powder gas. The lead coating is, however, too soft with the higher velocities of modern B.L. guns. Mr Vavasseur, C.B., devised the plan of fitting by hydraulic pressure a copper "driving band" into a groove cut around the body of the projectile. This is now universal. It not only fulfils the purpose of rotating the projectile, but renders possible the use of large charges of slow- burning explosive. The copper band, on being forced through the gun, gives rise to considerable resistance, which allows the propelling charge to burn properly and thus to exert its enormous force on the projectile.
The laws which govern the designs of projectiles are not well defined. Certain formulae are used which give the thickness of the walls of the shell for a known chamber pressure in the gun, and for a particular stress on the material of the shell. The exact proportions of the shell depend, however, greatly on experimental knowledge.
Armour-piercing Shot and Shell.—On the introduction of iron ships it was found that the ordinary cast-iron projectile readily pierced the thin plating, and in order to protect the vital parts of the vessel wrought-iron armour of considerable thickness was placed on the sides. It then became necessary to produce a projectile which would pierce this armour. This was effected by Sir W. Palliser, who invented a method of hardening the head of the pointed cast-iron shot. By casting the projectile point downwards and forming the head in an iron mould, the hot metal was suddenly chilled and became intensely hard, while the remainder of the mould being formed of sand allowed the metal to cool slowly and the body of the shot to be made tough.
These shot proved very effective against wrought-iron armour, but were not serviceable against compound and steel armour. A new departure had, therefore, to be made, and forged steel shot with points hardened by water, &c., took the place of the Palliser shot. At first these forged steel shot were made of ordinary carbon steel, but as armour improved in quality the projectiles followed suit, and, for the attack of the latest type of cemented steel armour, the projectile is formed of steel—either forged or cast—containing both nickel and chromium. Tungsten steel has also been used with success.
Armour-piercing shot or shell are generally cast from a special mixture of chrome steel melted in pots; they are afterwards forged into shape. The shell is then thoroughly annealed, the core bored and the exterior turned up in the lathe. The shell is finished in a similar manner to others described below. The final or tempering treatment is very important, but details are kept strictly secret. It consists in hardening the head of the projectile and tempering it in a special manner, the rear portion being reduced in hardness so as to render it tough. The cavity of these projectiles is capable of receiving a small bursting charge of about 2% of the weight of the complete projectile, and when this is used the projectile is called an armour-piercing shell. The shell, whether fuzed or unfuzed, will burst on striking a medium thickness of armour. Armour-piercing shells, having a bursting charge of about 3% of the weight of the complete projectile, are now often fitted with a soft steel cap (fig. 3) for the perforation of hard steel armour. For the theory of the action of the cap see ARMOUR PLATES.