' S. and long. 77° 37' E. It covers an area of 25 square miles, and, together with the adja- cent island of St. Paul, forms a dependency of Mauritius. Both islands lie about midway be- tween the Cape of Good Hope and Tasmania. It was discovered by Van Diemen in 1663.
AMSTERDAM. A city in Montgomery Co.,
New York, 33 miles northwest of Albany ; on the
Mohawk River, the Erie Canal, and the New
York Central and Hudson River and the West
Shore railroads (Map: New York, F 3). Among
numerous industrial establishments, it has fac-
tories producing knit goods, carpets, rugs, wagon
springs, silk, paper boxes, etc., and foundries
and machine shops. An academy, a hospital,
and a board of trade are features of the city.
First settled about 1778, and known as Veeders-
burg until 1804, Amsterdam was incorporated as
a village in 1830, and as a city in 1885. Pop.,
1890, 17,330; 1900, 20,929.
AMSTERDAM, University of. A Dutch
university founded by the city in 1632 as the
Athenanim lUustre. After a checkered existence
it was reorganized in 1867, and in 1877 was
raised to the dignity of a royal university, rank-
ing with Leyden, Groningen, and Utrecht. It
has an income of 372,000 florins, and about 1000
students. Its faculties include law, medicine,
mathematics and science, arts, and theologj'. Its
administration is in the hands of a "Curatorium"
of five members and a secretary, chosen by the
crown. The professors form the Senate, with a
Rector Magnificus as their head, and a Secretary
of the Senate. The library is large, and includes
a number of special collections, particularly in
Hebrew and in medicine.
AMU, a-moo', or AMU DARYA, a-moo'
diir'ya (ancient Oxts). A large river of Central
Asia, which has its source in the Pamirs be-
tween India and Bokhara, flowing thence north-
west into the Aral Sea. In its course through
the mountains it is joined by the Surkhab from
the region of the Alai and Trans-Alai Mountains,
by the Kafirnahan and Surkhan from the Hazrot
Sultan chain, and by numerous smaller streams,
but after emerging from the outer slopes it re-
ceives no important tributaries. The Zerafshan
on the north and the Murghab on the south,
which formerly drained into the Amu, now lose
their waters in the desert regions at some dis-
tance from its bed. It is navigable by light
draught boats for nearly one-half of its .total
length of about 1600 miles, but its chief im-
portance is as a reservoir for irrigation, rather
than as a commercial highway. A remarkable
feature of the Amu is that its course has been
frequently changed within historic times. At
the beginning of the present era it flowed into
the Caspian Sea, and records show that since
that time the course has been changed twice to
the .'ral Sea. As late as the first half of the
sixteenth century, it was a feeder of the Caspian
Sea. Consult Sir H. C. Rawlinson, "The Road
to Merv," in the Proceedings of the Royal Geo-
graphical Societif, new series 1. 161 (London,
1879) ; Krapotkin, "The Old Beds of the Amu-
Daria," OroqrapMcal Journal, Volume XII.
(London, 189S).
AMUCK', or AMOK', Running (Javanese
amonk, to kill). A practice in Java among
those in whom a ferocious madness is produced
by long use of opium. The sufi'erer rushes abroad
armed with some weapon, usually a kris, or large
dirk, striking indiscriminately at all whom he
encounters. When one is seen to start on hi»
madness, the people cry "amok," and immedi-
ately hunt the maniac to death. Probably in
many cases this is deliberate on the victim's part,
as a means of suicide.
AM'ULET (Lat. amuletum, from Ar. hama-
let, that which is suspended). Any object worn
as a charm, or sometimes placed in a building
to ward oil evil. Amulets originated at an early
date in the Orient, and regard for them is among
the earliest superstitions of the Babylonians and
Egyptians. The magical formulas connected
with them are frequent in early Babylonian
texts. Their religion included belief in a multi-
tude of spirits present everywhere and influ-
encing every act. Hence the necessity of pre-
serving the house, property, and person by images
and formulas, and these were from the beginning
connected with medicine. Even the monotheistic
Hebrews v.-ere not tree from the taint, and the
so-called pitylacterics, with passages from sacred
writ, were an adaptation of these magical be-,
liefs. The C4rceks and Romans inherited the
same beliefs in a modified degree. Perhaps the
most general evil to be guarded against by amu-
lets at all times was the Evil Eye, which is still
so firmly believed in throughout Latin countries.
There w'ere various classes of amulets. First
came certain precious or other stones supposed to
possess mysterious helpful properties: agates for
spiders' and scorpions' stings, and for protection
against thunderstorms; diamonds for melan-
choly: jasper for the tongue-tied and to bring
on rain ; amethyst against drunkenness, and, with
certain inscriptions and figures, as antidotes to
poisons, hail, and locusts, etc. One of the most
permanent of all suih beliefs is that in the bene-
ficial effects of coral. Metals, also, and plants,
were used as amulets. So were various parts of
certain animals, such as hyena teeth or marrow,
wolves' fat, rats' ears, foxes' tongues, and bats'
heads. !Most eflScacious of all are the teeth of
different animals. After these natural objects
come artificial ones. A large proportion of an-
cient jewelers' work was undoubtedly made in con-
nection with the wearing of amulets, especially
necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings, and other
pendants. Other ways of carrying anuilet material Avas in gold balls or lullw, or in sachets. The formulas carried were usually inscribed, not on paper, but on some durable substance — metal, terra eotta, ivory, precious stones. Trinkets of every variety and shape — crescents, disks, pendants" — were hung about the necks of children and adults as charms; and few went without them. Figures of gods and genii had magic virtue as well : so did verbal formula^. (See Abracadabra, and Abraxas.) Many of such tiny images are found on necklaces. Anchors and horseshoes, heads and ligiu'cs of animals, votive hands and feet, thunderbolts, vases, and many other objects, all had their specific values. The amulets not only were suspended around the neck, worn in jewelry, and sewed in the clothing, but also were affixed" to furniture and walls, painted or carved on doors and walls, and buried in the ground. They even followed the deceased to his grave. Christianity was as unable as Judaism to eradicate the practice; so it sought to mitigate it by legislation and by offering devotional substitutes in the form of sacred relics or formulas from the Bible, These substitutes were carefully distinguished from the heathen amulets
