racing lines and to have a long bow and flat sails. Ever since the victory of the America, the cup has exercised a great influence upon yacht-builders. The deep, narrow knife-blade hull was popular until 1891, when the Gloriana won all her races, and showed the advantage of "overhangs." While American builders have aimed chiefly at racers, British builders have tried to combine the racer with the cruiser, but it would seem that the easy defeat of Sir Thomas Lipton's challenger Shamrock III by the Reliance, in 1903, shows that no vessel fitted for cruising is fitted for racing also.
American Indians. See INDIANS.
American Institution, an institution founded at Washington, D. C., in 1891, with the design of providing advanced instruction for graduates of other colleges, and subsequently placed under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with John F, Hurst, D. D., LL. D., as its first chancellor. Its working organization is as yet hardly planned out, though its purposed scope is large and important as a post graduate university and of coeducational character.
American Lion. See PUMA.
American Literature. See LITERATURE.
American School at Athens, The. The American School of Classical Literature, Art and Antiquities, in Athens, was founded in 1881 at the suggestion of Professor Charles Eliot Norton. It is supported partly by endowment and partly by contributions from American colleges and universities. It affords opportunities for advanced study of ancient Greek civilization, and carries on archæological investigations. It has made important excavations in Argos, Crete and other places. The results of the studies and excavations are reported in the American Journal of Archæology.
American School in Rome. This school was founded in 1895 by the Archæological Institute of America, and is supported by a number of American colleges and universities and by private gifts. In 1906, it had an endowment fund of nearly $100,000. The school is under the immediate superintendence of a resident professor, the director, who is assisted by a faculty of four specialists. The object of the school is "to promote the study of classical literature in its bearing upon antiquities and history; of classical, Etruscan and Italic art and archæology, including topography, palæography and epigraphy; and of the art and archæology of the early Christian, the mediæval, and the renaissance periods within the boundaries of Italy." The school year extends from October to July. Part of this time is usually spent in study in Greece.
American University, founded in 1893 at Harriman, Tenn., under the denominational auspices of the Christian Church. Its president is James A. Tate, M. C., and it has a teaching faculty of 12 professors, with a student attendance, in 1906 of 317. It has a small library of about 2,500 volumes.
Amer'icus Vespu'cius or Amerigo Vespucci (vĕs-pōōt'chē) (1451-1512), an Italian navigator, who in the era of Columbus, about the close of the fifteenth century, made several voyages to the northern coast of South America, and, it is alleged, made one voyage to North America, sailing along the coast of Florida as far north as Chesapeake Bay. There is doubt cast upon some of these voyages, though it is said that at least one of them was made in company with Columbus, while Vespucius wrote and published in his day narratives of all of them. What at least is certain is that the newfound continent came to bear the Florentine navigator's name, though this was not by his own seeking nor from any wish on Vespucius's part to detract from the honor due to Columbus in naming the New World America. What otherwise is known of Vespucius is that he was for a time in the commercial office of the Medici in Florence, and later on became a merchant at Seville, whose business it was to furnish supplies and to fit out vessels engaged in foreign trade. See Fiske's Discovery of America, Thatcher's Continent of America and Harrisse's Discovery of North America.
Ames (āmz), Fisher (born 1758, died 1808), an American orator, statesman and political writer. He graduated at Harvard College at the age of 16, and after a few years entered the law. At the same time his essays in the Boston newspapers under the names "Camillus" and "Brutus," made him well known. He was a member of the Massachusetts convention which ratified the Constitution in 1788, and was the first representative in Congress from his district, which then included Boston. He was especially famous for his energy and eloquence in debate.
Amesbury (āmz'bĕr ĭ), Mass., a town in Essex County, on the Merrimac River, 27 miles from Salem and 45 from Boston. It has manufactories of cotton and woolen goods, machinery, carriages, boots and shoes, hats, etc. From 1836 it was for many years the residence of the poet Whittier. Population, 9,849.
Am'ethyst (ăm'ēthĭst), a purple variety of rock crystal or quartz. Its name comes from the Greek, meaning "to prevent intoxication," and was given it because of the idea held by the ancients that liquor drunk from a cup made of amethyst would not intoxicate. It is found in Brazil, Ceylon, India and many other places, and is much worn in the form of rings, seals, etc. The oriental amethyst is a variety of the sapphire.
Amherst (ăm'ĕrst), a town of Massachusetts, about 82 miles west of Boston. It is
