Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/457

AMICI AMITE 425 unnecessary as a neckcloth, it was retained for the significance which it had acquired as an emblem of the cloth wherewith the Saviour was blindfolded by the Jews the night before his crucifixion. AMICI, Giovanni Battista, an Italian optician and astronomer, born in Modena, March 25, 1784, died in Florence, April 10, 1863. He became em- inent at an early age for his mathematical and general scientific attainments, and directed for upward of 30 years the Florence observatory. He also lectured on astronomy, and was a member of almost all the learned academies of Europe. Science is especially indebted to him for his improvement of the telescope, of several microscopes, and of the camera lucida, invented by Hooke and Wollaston. In 1827 he made di- optric microscopes, which are sold with his name attached, and, notwithstanding the im- proved microscopes of Oberhauser, are still in great favor. He was assisted in his labors by his son VINCENZO, who is professor of mathe- matics at the university of Pisa. AMIDAS, Philip, an English discoverer, born in Hull in 1550, of a Breton family, members of which had been for nearly a generation do- mesticated in England, died about 1618. He commanded one of the two ships composing the first expedition sent by Queen Elizabeth under Arthur Barlow to North America. They touched at the Canaries, the West Indies, and Florida, and then made their way north- ward along the coast. On July 13, 1584, they entered Ocracoke inlet, and landed on Woco- ken island. Barren and desolate as this part of North Carolina now is, the mariner thought it beautiful, and gave gorgeous descriptions of it. The people of the country were kind and gentle, and the scenery was lovely and luxuriant. On the return of Amidas and Barlow to Eng- land they reported their discoveries to Raleigh, who does not appear ever to have been on the North American continent, and from him the matter was imparted to Queen Elizabeth, who called the new land " Virginia." Amidas was long after in the English maritime service, and went in charge of an expedition to Newfound- land a few years later. He died in England a few months before Raleigh's execution. AMIENS, a town of France, capital of the de- partment of Somme, 70 m. N. of Paris, on the Somme, which is navigable for small craft; pop. in 1866, 61,063. The old ramparts have been converted into fine boulevards and prom- enades. The citadel is the only remnant of the former fortifications. Of the ancient castle nothing remains but the crypt, which is asso- ciated with the tradition of St. Firmin's mar- tyrdom. The cathedral, one of the largest and finest Gothic edifices in Europe, is remarkable for the splendor of its interior. Amiens has an academy, a lyceum, and a public library. In the place St. Michel is a statue of Peter the Hermit, who was born here. Amiens has been the centre of the French cotton industry since the last century. The cotton velvet fac- tories employ 400 looms, and the other manu- factories over 3,000. The annual consumption of wool is estimated at 100,000,000 Ibs. Amiens was the Samarobriva of the Romans, the pres- ent name being traced to the Ambiani, the early Gallic inhabitants. In the middle ages it was the centre of a district then called the Aminois, and ruled by bishops of the town. At the end of the 12th century it was united to the French crown. Subsequently it was ruled by the dukes of Burgundy, but it reverted to the crown under Louis XL The Spaniards, who captured Amiens in 1597, were speedily dislodged by Henry IV. with the aid of Eng- lish troops. The treaty of Amiens, establishing peace between England, France, Spain, and the Batavian republic, was signed in 1802. During the Franco-German war the town was occupied for some time by the Germans, after a decisive victory won over the French in the vicinity, Nov. 27, 1870. AMIOT, or Amyot, Joseph, a French Jesuit and missionary to China, born in Toulon in 1718, died in Peking in 1794. He was early distinguished for great scientific attainments and indefatigable industry. In 1750 he was sent to China, and after some stay at Macao was called by the emperor Kien-lung to Peking, which he reached Aug. 22, 1751, and never afterward left. Devoting himself to the study of the antiquities, history, languages, and arts of the Chinese and Mantchus, he annually sent to France memoirs, treatises, and transla- tions which greatly extended European knowl- edge on these subjects. Among his works published separately were : Moge de la mile de Moukden, a translation of a poem by the em- peror Kien-lung, with numerous notes (1770) ; Art militairedes Chinois (translation, 1772); and Dictionnaire tatar-mantchou-francaia (3 vols. 4to, 1789), which was edited by Lan- gles, and the types for which were cut and cast at the expense of the minister Bertin. But the greater part of his writings were included in the Memoir es concernant Vhistoire, les sciences et les arts des Chinois (15 vols. 4to). The list of his contributions to the first 10 volumes of this work occupies 14 columns of the table of contents. His treatise on Chinese music fills most of vol. iv., and his life of Confucius nearly all of vol. xii. In vol. xiii. there is a brief Mantchoo grammar by him. AMITE, a river rising in S. W. Mississippi, passes into Louisiana, and reaches Ascension parish by a southerly course ; it then turns and flows S. E. and E. to Lake Maurepas. It is navigable by small steamboats for a distance of 60 miles. AMITE, a S. W. county of Mississippi, border- ing on Louisiana, named from the Amite river, which flows through its centre, and bounded on the N. W. corner by the river Homochito ; pop. in 1870, 10,973, of whom 6,777 were colored. The area was 700 sq. m., but a portion of its territory was taken in 1870 to form the new- county of Lincoln. The county is mainly oo-