| XXX | (132) | XXX |
A M B ( 132 ) A M 6 AbyfTinia, ov higher Ethiopia, fituated on the fide0 of Amberg, a fortified town of Bavaria, fituated on0 the Ils, about a lake, out of which the river Nile ifl’ues-; 35 E. river 0 30 / miles "N. of Ratidron, in 12 E. long, and 49 25 N. lat., long, and 13° S. lat. AMBARVALIA, in antiquity, a ceremony among the AMBERGREASE, or Ambergrise, in natural hiRomans, when, in order to procure from the godg dory, is a folid, opaque, affi-coloured, fat, inflammaan happy harveft, they conduced the victims thrice ble fubdance, variegated like marble, remarkably round the corn-fields in proceflion, before facrificing light, rugged and uneven in its furface, and has a frathem. Ambarvalia were either of a private or pu- grant odour when heated. It does not effervefce with blic nature : the private were performed by the mafter acids; melts freely over a fire, into a kind of yellow of a family; and the public by the prielts who offici- rofin, and is hardly foluble in fpirit of wine. Amberated at the folemnity, called fratres arvales. The grife is greatly ufed by perfumers on account of its prayer preferred on this occafion, the formula of which fweet fmell. In medicine it is ufed for nervous comwe have in Cato, de Re Ruft. cap. cxlii. was called plaints. It is found in great quantities in the Indian ocean, near the Molucca dies, as alfo near Africarmen ambarvale. At thefe fealls they facrificed to Ceres a fow, a ca, and fometimes near the northern parts of England, Iheep, and a bull, or heifer, whence, they take the Scotland, and Norway. There has been many different hypothefes concerning the origin of ambergreafe, name oifuovetauriiia'. The method of celebrating them, was to lead a but the mod probable is that which fuppofes it to be a viclim round the fields, while the peafants accompa- foffile bitumen, or naphtha, exfuding out of the bownied it, and one .of their number, crowned with oak, els of the earth, in a fluid form, and diddling into hymned forth the praifes of Ceres, in verfes compo- the fea, where it hardens, and floats on the furface. AMBERING, a term ufed by fome wiiters for giving fed on purpofe. This feftival was celebrated twice a-year, at the end the fcent of amber to any thing. of January, according to fome, or in April, according AMBER F, a city of France, in the lower Auvergne, for its manufa&ures in paper and camto others; and for the fecond time in the month of remarkable blets. July. AMBARVALIS, in botany, an obfolete name of the AMBETTUWAY, in botany, a barbarous name of a tree, the leaves of which, when boiled in wine, are polygala. See Polygala. to create an appetite, and is u&d by the people AMBE, in furgery, an inftrument for reducing dif- faid in Guinea with that intention. located bones. a kingdom of Ethiopia, fituated betweeri Am be, in anatomy, a term for the fuperficial jutting AMBIAM, the Nile, and a river which rifes out of the lake out of a bone. AMBER, fuccinitm,' or elettrum, in natural-hiflory, a Zaffan. hard bituminous inflammable fubftance, brittle, fome- AMBIDEXTER, a perfon who can ufe both hands the fame facility and for the fame purpofes that what tranfparent, generally of a yellowilh colour, and with when warm fends forth a fragrant bituminous odour. the generality of people do their right hands. over, in the heathen lacrifices, an appelAmber is likewife endowed with an electrical virtue; AMBIEGN/E to fuch ewes as, having brought forth when rubbed, it'attracts draws or other light bodies. lation given were facrificed together with their two lambs, The tafte of amber is acrid, bituminous, and fome- twins, on each fide. We find them mentioned among what adringent. It does not effervefce with acids, one to Juno.and is foluble in fpirit of wine and effential oils. other facrifices a term ufed for fuch bodies, efpecially When fubjedted to a chemical analyfis, it firfl yields a AMBIENT, as encompafs others on all fides: thus, the air fubacid water, afterwards .a yellow fetid oil, and a vo- fluids, is frequently called an ambient fluid, becaufe it is diflatile fait; w-hat remains in the retort, is a black, fufed round the earth. light, friable matter, refembling the bitumen Judai- AMBIERLE, a city of France, three leagues from cum. Amber is chiefly found in Pruflia, and in the Bal- Rouanne, and 15 from Lyons, on the borders of the tic fea, near the ffiore of Sudavia, where it is found Lionnois, fwimming on the furface of the water, and is taken in AMBIGENAL hyperbola, a name given by Sir Ifaac nets. It is edeemed a pov/erful medicine in hyderic Newton to one of the triple hyperbolas of the fecond and hypochondriac cafes.—Naturalids are much divi- order, having one of its infinite legs falling within an angle formed by the aflymptytes, and the other ded about the origin of amber : Some maintaining it without. to be an animal fubdance, others, a refinous juice oozing from poplars and firs near the flrore, and run- AMBIGUITY, in rhetoric and grammar, a defied! of ning into the fea. But it has lately been found to be language, whereby words are rendered ambiguous; a true bitumen ; the veins of which were difcovered, See the next article. by the Pruflians, in the bowels of the earth, in the AMBIGUOUS, a term applied to a word or expreflion which maybe taken in different fenfts. marffi near Eudrin. Amber, in geography, a river, which rifing in the S. AMBILLON, a village of France, in Touraine, where W. part, of Bavaris, runs N. E. by Lanfperg and there is a great quarry for mill-ftones. Dachan, and falls into ifer, aiittk above Landfhut. AMBIT, in geometry, is the fame with what is ether-
