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AMMONIUS SACCAS—AMNESTY. 
  
  
  
contained an image of the god, composed of smarag- 
dus and other gems, A. was remarkable for the 
palace of its ancient kings, surrounded by a triple 
wall, in the very heart of the oasis, and for its 
¢Well of the Sun,” of which the waters were coldest 
at noonday, and warmest at midnight. Here the 
Emperor Justinian built a Christian church. The 
length of the oasis is 15 miles, by 12 broad; it is 
about 150 miles distant from the Mediterranean, 
-~ 
and is situated in lat. 29° N., and in long. 26° E. 
AMMO'NIUS SACCAS, a Greek philosopher, 
founder of the Neoplatonic School, is said to have 
been in his earlier days a porter in Alexandria. His 
parents were Christian, but he himself is said to 
have abandoned his early religion, in which he had 
been instructed by Clemens Alexandrinus, and to 
have devoted himself to the study of heathen phil- 
osophy under Athenagoras; although both Eusebius 
and St Jerome deny that he ever formally aposta- 
tised from the Christian faith. His great endeav- 
our was to harmonise, through a comprehensive 
eclecticism, the various philosophical theories which 
prevailed in the Roman world, especially those of 
Aristotle and Plato. He also laboured to amalgam- 
ate with these the doctrines of the Magi and 
Brahmans; but instead of boldly announcing the 
result as his own, he claimed for his system the 
highest antiquity. His most distinguished pupils 
were Longinus, Herennius, Origen, and Plotinus, the 
last of whom, by far the most subtle and profound 
of the Neoplatonists, always expressed the highest 
respect for his master. A. died at Alexandria, 241 
A.D. He left no writings behind him. 
A. is the name of several learned men in the later 
periods of Greek history; such as A., the master of 
Plutarch, who lived during the reign of the Emperor 
Adrian, and, like A. Saccas, taught a species of eclec- 
ticism in philosophy; A., the Christian philosopher 
of the 3d c., who wrote a Harmony of the Gospels ; 
A., son of Hermeas, a Peripatetic philosopher of 
the 5th c., and disciple of Proclus; A., the famous 
surgeon of Alexandria, who lived in the time of 
Ptolemy Philadelphus; and A., the Grammarian, 
who was at first high-priest in an Egyptian temple, 
sacred to the god Apis, and afterwards (389 A.D.) 
became teacher at Constantinople, where he had the 
church historian Socrates for his pupil. 
AMMO'PHILA, a genus of Grasses, closely allied 
to Arundo (see REED), and distinguished by a spike- 
like panicle, and by the glumes being nearly equal, 
keeled, longer than the palee of the single floret, 
and surrounded at the base by a tuft of hairs.—A4. 
arundinacea, formerly called Arundo arenaria—a 
grass about 2—3 feet high, with rigid bluish leaves, 
the edges of which are rolled in, and very creeping 
roots—is frequent on the sandy sea-shores of Britain 
and the continent of Europe. It is sometimes called 
SEA REED or SAND REED, and sometimes MAT GRASS, 
the culms being wrought into foot-mats, coverings 
for stairs, &c., in the manufacture of which many 
families residing along the coast of Ireland are 
employed most of the year. It is also called Marum, 
Marrum, or Marram, by which name it is designated 
in laws both English and Scottish, by which the 
destruction of it was prohibited under severe penal- 
ties, because of its great utility in fixing the shifting 
sand. In Holland, and in Norfolk, it is extensively 
employed—along with the Sea LymE GRASS (q. v.)— 
in preserving the banks of sand which prevent the 
inroads of the sea. It is of little value as food for 
cattle, although they eat the very young leaves. 
'_[;fle tfibre has been used instead of flax, but is too 
short. 
AMMUNI'TION. Sometimes this name is given 
to cannon and mortars, as well as to the projectiles 
  
and explosive substances employed with them ; but | 
more usually A. is considered to apply to the latter 
—such as shot, shell, gunpowder, cartridges, fuses, 
wads, grenades. Muskets, swords, bayonets, and 
other small-arms are sometimes, but improperly, 
included under this term. The Royal Laboratory at 
Woolwich is the place where A. is chiefly prepared 
for the British army and navy. The cannon-balls 
may be cast at some of the great iron-foundries in 
the north; the shells may be cast or forged in the 
shell-factory at Woolwich; the muskets may be 
made at Birmingham, and the rifles at Enfield ; the 
bullets at the shot-factories; the gunpowder at 
Waltham-Abbey—and so on ; but the ‘making up’ 
of the A.is mostly conducted at the establishment 
above mentioned. Bags of serge, in enormous 
number, are cut out and made, and filled to form 
the cartridges for large ordnance. Bags or tubes 
of paper are made and filled to constitute cartridges 
for small-arms. The tubes and combustibles for war- 
rockets and fuses are also manufactured. The cart- 
ridges for small-arms (rifles, muskets, carbines, and 
pistols) are made in millions ; since it is on those that 
the main offensive operations of an army depend. It 
has been calculated by the Woolwich authorities, 
that a British army of 60,000 men, comprising a fair 
average of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers, 
ought. to be provided with no less than 18,000,000 
ball-cartridges for small-arms, for six months’ 
operations. These would require 1000 A. wagons, 
and 3600 horses, to convey them all at once. I# 
is therefore deemed better that, under any such 
circumstances, there should be established entrepéts 
for supplying the troops from time to time. The 
wagons constructed for this kind of service will 
carry 20,000 rounds of small-arm A. each; the 
cartridges are packed in boxes, and the wagons are 
drawn by four horses each. Several wagons are 
organised into an ‘equipment,” under the charge of 
a detachment of artillery; and there are several 
such equipments for an army of the magnitude 
above mentioned—one for each division of infantry, 
a small portion for the cavalry, and the rest in 
reserve. It has been laid down that an army of 
60,000 men ought to have 2,680,000 cartridges with 
them, besides those in reserve ; and that the convey- 
ance of such a quantity, with a few forges and 
stores, would require 150 A. wagons, 830 men, and 
704 horses. The equipment would return to the 
entrepdt for a new supply when needed. In the 
Peninsular War, and at Waterloo, the English used 
two-horse carts, carrying about 10,000 rounds of 
small-arm A. each; but a superior kind of wagon 
has been since introduced. In the field, an infantry 
soldier usually carries about 60 rounds, put in 
compartments in his pouch; the pouch having a 
separate receptacle for percussion-caps. When the 
word A. isused in connection with artillery matters, 
the ¢ fixed’ A. comprises the loaded shells, cartridges, 
and carcasses; whereas the ‘unfixed’ are the unfilled 
case-shot, grape-shot, and shell. During peace, the 
Woolwich Laboratory serves out little less than a 
million lbs. of gunpowder annually, in A. for the 
army and navy, for purposes of exercising, saluting, 
&c.: the quantity in war is of course indeterminable. 
The chief kinds of A. will be found briefly described 
under their proper headings. 
A’MNESTY signifies an act of pardon or oblivion, 
and the effect of 1t is, that the crimes and offences 
against the state, specified in the act, are so 
obliterated that they can never again be charged 
against the guilty parties. The A. may be either 
absolute, or qualified with exceptions. Instances 
of the latter are to be found in ancient and modern 
history : thus, Thrasybulus, when he overthrew 
the oligarchy in Athens, caused an A. 2}:;) be 
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