ASA
257
A SC
*
base. It has fourteen species of which the A. bambos, or the bam-boo-cane is a native of the East Indies and some parts of America ;where it frequently attains the height of sixty feet. The main rootis long, thick, jointed, spreads horizontally, and sends out manycydindrical woody fibres, of a whitish colour, and many feet long.From the joints of the main root spring several roundjointed stalksto a prodigious height, and at about ten or twelve feet from theground send out at their joints several stalks joined together attheir base : these run up in the same manner as those they shootout from. If any of these be planted with a piece of the lirst stalkadhering to them, they will perpetuate their species. The stalksin their young state are almost solid, and contain a milky juice:this is of a sweet nature; and as the stalks advance in age, theybecome hollow except at the joints, where they are stopped by awoody membrane, upon which this liquor lodges, and concretesinto a substance called tabaxir, or sugar of Mombu, which washeld in such esteem by the ancients, in some particular disorders,that it was equal in value to its weight in silver. A. debax, ormanured reed, is a native of warm'countries, but will bear the coldof our moderate winters in the open air. It dies to the surfacein autumn, but appears again in the spring, and, if kept suppliedwith water, will grow ten or twelve feet high in one summer. Thestalks of this are brought from Spain and Portugal ; and areused by the weavers, as also for making lishing-rods. A. phrag-mitis, or the common marsh-reed, grows by the sides of ourrivers, and in standing waters.
ARUSPICE, divination bv examining the entrails of animals.
AltUSPICES, or IIAROSPICES, in Roman antiquity, anorder of priests who pretended to foretel future events by inspect-ing the entrails of victims killed in sacrifice.
ARVUM, in ancient agriculture, properly denoted groundploughed but not sowed. The word is sometimes extended to allarable, or corn land, in contradistinction from pasture.
ARX, in the ancient military art, a town, fort, or castle, forthe defence of a place. -
Arx was also a consecrated place on the Palatine Mount, wherethe augurs publicly performed their office.
Arx Britannica, a citadel of Batavia, whose foundation isseen at low water, near the old mouth of the middle Rhine.
All YT.EN01D ES, [from aovream, a funnel, and «4o;, form,]in anatomy, two carriages which, with others, constitute the headof the larynx. It is also applied to some muscles of the larynx.
ARYTrENOIDEUS, in anatomy, one of the muscles servingto close the larynx.
ARYTHMUS, in medicine, the want of a just modulation inthe pidse.
ARZILLA, a very ancient maritime town of Africa , in thekingdom of Fez, about 15 miles S. S. W. of Tangiers . Lon. 5.40. W. Lat. 35. 40. N.
AS, among the ancient Romans, a weight, consisting of twelveounces; being the same with libra, or the Roman pound. Alsothe name of a Roman coin, which was of different weights, anddifferent matter, in different ages of the commonwealth.
ASA, [roh, Heb. i. e. a healer of sickness,] king of Judah, suc-ceeded his father Abijam , A. M. 2988. lie abolished idolatry,restored the worship of the true God , and, with the assistance ofBenhadad king of Syria , took several towns from the king ofIsrael , lie died B. C. 917, and was succeeded by Jehoshaphat.
Asa, among naturalists, a kind of gum. The asa of the ancientswas an odoriferous and fragrant gum ; anti the asa of the after-ageshad so little title to this epithet, that they distinguished it by anadditional one, expressing its being of an offensive smell. TheArabian w riters, according to this distinction, describe two kinds ofasa, the one stinking, the other aromatic.
Asa or Assa, in the materia medica, a name given to two verydifferent substances, called asa dulcis and asa foctida.
Asa Dui.cis. See Benzoin.
ASAFCETIDA, a gum resin obtained from the ferula asafatida,a perennial plant which is a native of Persia . When the plant isabout four years old its roots are dug up and cleaned, and fromtheir extremity when cut, a milky juice exudes, which soonhardens and constitutes asafatida.
ASAPII, St. a city - and bishopric of Flintshire, in N. Wales ,24 miles W. of Chester. Lon. 3. 36 \V\ Lat. 53. 12. N.
ASAPHEIS, [ ctc-apic , from a, negative, and rai>n;, clear,] per-sons who do not utter their words in a clear manner.
VOL. i. — no. 17.
ASAPHY, [ao-afio, Gr.] hoarseness, or lowness of voice.
ASAPPES, or AZAPES, [ saph , rank, Turkish,] an order ofsoldiers in the Turkish army, whom they always expose to thefirst shock of the enemy. The asappes are said to be held of solittle value, that they frequentlv serve as bridges for the ca-valry to pass over in bad roach, and as fascines to fill up the ditchesof places besieged ! They travel on foot, and have no pay butthe plunder they can get from the enemv.
ASAR, a gold coin current at Orinus, in the Persian gulf ,worth fis. 8d.
ASAROl'A , [airwujTO, from a and vaijiv, I sweep,] a kind ofpainted pavements in use before the invention of Mosaic work.
ASARUM, Asarabacca: A genus of the monogyuia order,and dodecandria class of plants. Calyx trifid or quadriiid, and onthe germen ; no corolla; fruit a coriaceous capsule, six-celled ;seeds oval and numerous. There are three species. The commonasarabacca is a native of many parts of Europe , in woods andshady places, flowering in April and May. With us it is foundonly in Lancashire . The root finely powdered excites vomiting;coarsely powdered it purges. The - powder of the leaves is thebasis of most cephalic snuffs, which occasion a considerable dis-charge of mucus from the nostrils without much sneezing.
ASBAMEA, in ancient geography, a fountain of Cappadocia ,near Tyana, sacred to Jupiter.
ASBESTOS, [a.z/Sir® - ,] in mineralogy, a species of the talcfamily. 1 he ancients made a kind of clolh from one of the varie-ties, which was famous for its incombustibility. It is found inprimitive mountains, especially in serp ntine, which it traverses inveins. It is divided by Weiner into four sub-species, viz. I. Theelastic asbest, or rock cork, which is of a yellowish grey, of va-rious intensity. 2: The amianthus, of a greenish white, passinginto a greenish grey, sometimes blood red. Massive, in plates andsmall veins, and in capillary crystals. 3. The common asbestns ;and 4. The rock-wood, the two last differ little from the former.According to Cheuoviz, the amianthus consists of
Silica.59.0
Magnesia.25.0
Lime. 9.25
Alumina. 3.0
Iron. 2.25
gs.s
Loss. 1.5
100 .—
ASCARINA, a genus of the monandria order, and dioecia classof plants. Amentum, filiform ; no corolla. Male, anthera four-grooved, worm-shaped : female, no stylus; stigmata three-lobed.One species, native of the Society Isles.
ASOALON, an ancient city, one of the five satrapies or prin-cipalities of the Philistines ; situated on the Mediterranean, 43miles S. W. of Jerusalem . It is now called Scalona. Lon. 34.30. E. Lat. 31. 30. N.
ASCANIA, an ancient town of Germany , now called Aschcr-leben.
ASCANIUS, the son of .Eneas and Creusa , succeeded hisfather in the kingdom of the Latins, and defeated Mczentius kingof the Tuscans, who had refused to conclude a peace with him.He founded Alba Longa ; and died about B. C. 1139, after reign-ing 38 years.
ASCARIS, in zoology, a genus of inserts belonging to theorder of vermes intestina ; chiefly round, elastic, and tapering to-wards each extremity; head with three vesicles; tail obtuse orsubulate; intestines spiral: milk-white and pellucid. There areabout 80 species; of which A. Lumbricoides is nearly the samelength with the lumbricus terrestris, or common earth-worm ; butit wants the protuberant ring towards the middle of the body, theonly mark by which they can properly be distinguished; the tailis somewhat triangular. The lumbricoides is the worm which ismost commonly tound in the human intestines. It is viviparous,and produces vast numbers. A. Vermicularis, with faint annularruga - , and the mouth transverse, is about a quarter of an inch long,and thicker at one end than the other. It is found in boggy places,in the roots of putrid plants, and very frequently in the rectum ofchildren and horses. It emaciates children greatly, and is some-3 U * times