CANELE-coal, or CANDLE-coal, a hard, opaque, fossil, inflammable substance, of a black colour. It does not effervesce with acids. The ampetiles, though much inferior to jet in many respects, is yet a very beautiful fossil, and, for a body of so compact a structure, remarkably light. Examined by the microscope, it appears composed of innumerable very thin and small plates, laid closely and firmly on one another, and full of very small specks of a blacker and more shining matter than the rest, which is evidently a purer bitumen than the general mass. These specks are equally diffused over the different parts of the masses. There is a large quarry of it near Alençon, in France. It is dug in many parts of England, but the finest is in Lancashire and Cheshire: it lies usually at considerable depths. It makes a very brisk fire, flaming violently for a short time, and after that con- Ampheres tinging red and glowing hot a long while; and, finally, is reduced into a small portion of grey ashes, the greater part of its substance having flown off in the burning. It is capable of a very high and elegant polish; and, in the countries where it is produced, is turned into a vast number of toys, as snuff-boxes and the like, which bear all the nicety of turning, and are made to pass for jet. Husbandmen smear their vines with it, as it kills the vermin which infests them.

AMPHIERES, in Antiquity, a kind of vessels wherein the rowers plied two oars at the same time, one with the right hand and another with the left.