solidified juice of the _Narthex Asafetida_, a large umbelliferous plant.
It is used in medicine as an anti-spasmodic, and in cases of flatulency, in
hysteric paroxysms, and other nervous affections. Notwithstanding its very
disagreeable odour it is used as a seasoning in the East, and sometimes in
Europe. An inferior sort is the product of certain species of Ferula.
ASAGRAE'A. See _Sabadilla_.
ASA'MA, an active volcano of Japan, about 50 miles north-west of Tokio,
8260 feet high.
A'SAPH, a Levite and psalmist appointed by David as leading chorister in
the divine services. His office became hereditary in his family, or he
founded a school of poets and musicians, which were called, after him, "the
sons of Asaph". See _Psalms_.
ASAPH, ST., a small cathedral city and bishop's see in Wales, 15 miles
north-west of Flint; founded about 550 by St. Kentigern or St. Mungo,
bishop of Glasgow, and named after his disciple St. Asaph, from whom both
the diocese and town took their name. The cathedral was built about the
close of the fifteenth century; it consists of a choir, a nave, two aisles,
and a transept. Pop. 1833.
ASARABAC'CA, a small hardy European plant, nat. ord. Aristolochiaceae
(_As[)a]rum europoeum_). Its leaves are acrid, bitter, and nauseous, and
its root is extremely acrid. Both the leaves and root were formerly used as
an emetic. It entered into the composition of medicated snuffs recommended
in cases of headache.
AS'ARUM. See _Asarabacca_.
ASBEN, AIR, or AHIR, a kingdom of Africa, in the Sahara. It consists of a
succession of mountain groups and valleys, with a generally western slope,
and attains in its highest summits a height of over 5000 feet. The valleys
are very fertile, and often of picturesque appearance. The inhabitants are
Tuaregs or Berbers, with an admixture of negro blood. They live partly in
villages, partly as nomads. The country is nominally ruled over by a
sultan, who resides in the capital, Agades. Pop. about 60,000.
ASBES'TOS, or ASBESTUS, a remarkable and highly-useful mineral, a fibrous
variety of several members of the hornblende family, composed of separable
filaments, with a silky lustre. The fibres are sometimes delicate,
flexible, and elastic; at other times stiff and brittle. It is
incombustible, and anciently was wrought into a soft, flexible cloth, which
was used as a shroud for dead bodies. In modern times it has been
manufactured into incombustible cloth, gloves, felt, paper, &c.; is
employed in gas-stoves; is much used as a covering to steam boilers and
pipes; is mixed with metallic pigments, and used as a paint on wooden
structures, roofs, partitions, &c., to render them fire-proof, and is
employed in various other ways, the manufacture having recently greatly
developed. Some varieties are compact, and take a fine polish, others are
loose, like flax or silky wool. _Ligniform asbestos_, or _mountain-wood_,
is a variety presenting an irregular filamentous structure, like wood.
_Rock-cork_, _mountain-leather_, _fossil-paper_, and _fossil-flax_ are
varieties. Asbestos is found in many parts of the world, but is chiefly
supplied by Italy, Canada, and Australia. Mineralogically it is distinct
from chrysotile, which is used for similar purposes.
ASBJOERNSEN ([.a]s'byeurn-sen), Peter Kristen, born 1812, died 1885, a
distinguished Norwegian naturalist and collector of the popular tales and
legends, fairy stories, &c., of his native country.
ASBURY PARK, a small town on the coast of New Jersey, United States, a
great summer resort. Its population increases during the summer months from
10,000 to 100,000.
AS'CALON, or ASH'KELON, a ruined town of Palestine, on the sea-coast, 40
miles W.S.W. of Jerusalem. It was occupied by the Crusaders under Richard I
after a great battle with Saladin (1192) and by General Allenby's troops in
Nov., 1917.
ASCA'NIUS, the son of Aeneas and Creusa, and the companion of his father's
wanderings from Troy to Italy.
AS'CARIS. See _Nematoda_.
ASCEN'SION (discovered on Ascension Day), an island of volcanic origin
belonging to Britain, near the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, about
lat. 7deg 55' S.; long. 14deg 25' W.; 700 miles north-west of St. Helena;
area, about 34 sq. miles. Pop. 196 (1914). It is retained by Britain as a
naval sanatorium, coaling and victualling station, and store depot. It has
a steam factory, naval and victualling yards, hospitals, and a coal depot.
It is celebrated for its turtle, which are the finest in the world. Wild
goats are plentiful, and oxen, sheep, pheasants, guinea-fowl, and rabbits
have been introduced, and thrive well. The village of Georgetown, the seat
of government, stands on the west side of the island, which is governed
under the admiralty by a naval officer.
ASCENSION, RIGHT, of a star or other heavenly body, in astronomy, the arc
of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point
of the equator which comes to the meridian at the same instant with the
star.
ASCENSION DAY, the day on which the ascension of the Saviour is
commemorated, often called _Holy Thursday_: a movable feast, always falling
on the Thursday but one before Whitsuntide.
ASCET'ICISM and ASCET'ICS (from the Gr. _ask[=e]sis_, meaning practice,
bodily exercise, or athletic training). The early Christians, who devoted
themselves to severe exercises of piety and strove to distinguish
themselves from the world by abstinence from sensual enjoyments and by
voluntary penances, adopted the name to signify the practice of spiritual
things. Ascetics and asceticism have played an important part in the
Christian Church, but the principle of striving after a higher and more
spiritual life by subduing the animal appetites and passions has no
necessary connection with Christianity. Thus there were ascetics among the
Jews previous to Christ, and asceticism was inculcated by the Stoics, while
in its most extreme form it may still be seen among the Brahmans and
Buddhists. Monasticism was but one phase of asceticism. It must also be
borne in mind that in the history of asceticism, pagan, Christian, Jewish,
and Mohammedan, we are often dealing not only with religious but distinctly
abnormal temperaments. See _Monasticism_.
ASCH ([.a]sh), a town of Czecho-Slovakia, in the extreme north-western
corner of former Bohemia, with manufactures of cotton, woollen, and silk
goods, bleachfields, dyeworks, &c. Pop. 21,583.
ASCHAFFENBURG ([.a]-sh[.a]f'en-boer_h_), a town of Bavaria, on the Main and
Aschaff, 26 miles E.S.E. of Frankfort. The chief edifice is the castle of
Johannisberg, built between 1605 and 1614, and for centuries the summer
residence of the Elector. There are manufactures of coloured paper,
tobacco, liqueurs, &c. Pop. 29,891.
ASCHAM (as'kam), Roger, a learned Englishman, born in 1515 of a respectable
family in Yorkshire, died 1568. He was entered at St. John's College,
Cambridge, 1530, and was elected fellow in 1534 and tutor in 1537. He was
Latin secretary to Edward VI and also to Mary. He was tutor to Princess
Elizabeth during her girlhood, and he became her secretary after she
ascended the throne. In 1544 he wrote his _Toxophilus, or Schole of
Shooting_, in praise of his favourite amusement and exercise--archery.
Between 1563 and 1568 he wrote his _Scholemaster_, a treatise on the best
method of teaching children Latin. Some of his writings, including many
letters, were in Latin. He wrote the best English style of his time. His
life was written by Dr. Johnson to accompany an edition of his works
published in 1769.
ASCHERSLEBEN ([.a]sh'[.e]rz-l[=a]-ben), a town of Prussian Saxony, in the
district of Magdeburg, near the junction of the Eine with the Wipper.
Industries: woollens, machinery and metal goods, sugar, paper, &c. Pop.
28,968.
ASCID'IA (Gr. _askos_, a wine-skin), the name given to the 'Sea-squirts' or
main section of the Tunicata, a class of animals of low grade, resembling a
double-necked bottle, of a leathery or gristly nature, found at low-water
mark on the sea-beach, and dredged from deep water attached to stones,
shells, and fixed objects. One of the prominent openings admits the food
and the water required in respiration, the other is the excretory aperture.
A single _ganglion_ represents the nervous system, placed between the two
apertures. Male and female reproductive organs exist in each ascidian. They
pass through peculiar phases of development, the young ascidian appearing
like a tadpole-body. They may be _single_ or _simple_, _social_ or
_compound_. In _social ascidians_ the peduncles of a number of individuals
are united into a common tubular stem, with a partial common circulation of
blood. In these animals evolutionists see a link between the Mollusca and
the Vertebrata.
[Illustration: Ascidians
1, Perophora: _a_, mouth; _b_, vent; _c_, intestinal canal; _d_, stomach;
_e_, common tubular stem. 2, Ascidia echinata. 3, Ascidia virginea. 4,
Cynthia quadrangularis. 5, Botryllus violaceus.]
ASCLEPLIADA'CEAE, an order of gamopetalous Dicotyledons, the distinguishing
characteristic of which is that the anthers adhere to the five stigmatic
processes, the whole sexual apparatus forming a single mass. The
pollination arrangements are peculiar, recalling those of orchids. The
members of this order are shrubs, or sometimes herbaceous plants,
occasionally climbing, almost always with a milky juice. Many of them are
employed as purgatives, diaphoretics, tonics, and febrifuges, and others as
articles of food. Asclepias is the typical genus. See _Asclepias_,
_Calotropis_, _Stapelia_, _Stephanotis_.
ASCLE'PIADES (-d[=e]z), the name of a number of ancient Greek
writers--poets, grammarians, &c--of whom little is known, and also of
several ancient physicians, the most celebrated of whom was _Asclepiades_,
of Bithynia, who acquired considerable repute at Rome about the beginning
of the first century B.C.
ASCLE'PIAS, or SWALLOW-WORT, a genus of plants, the type and the largest
genus of the nat. ord. Asclepiadaceae. Most of the species are North
American herbs, having opposite, alternate, or verticillate leaves. Many of
them possess powerful medicinal qualities. _A. decumbens_ is diaphoretic
and sudorific, and has the singular property of exciting general
perspiration without increasing in any sensible degree the heat of the
body; _A. curassavica_ is emetic, and its roots are frequently sent to
England as ipecacuanha; the roots of _A. tuber[=o]sa_ are famed for
diaphoretic properties. Many other species are also used as medicines, and
several are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers.
ASCLEPIOS. See _Aesculapius_.
AS'COLI, or ASCOLI PICENO (ancient, ASC[)U]LUM), a province in Central
Italy.--The capital of the province, also called _Ascoli Piceno_, episcopal
see of the Marches (the ancient Asc[)u]lum), is situated 90 miles
north-east of Rome and contains, among several handsome new buildings, the
remains of temples, an ancient theatre, &c. It has also many fine
pre-Renaissance buildings, such as the Gothic Church S. Francesco and the
Palazzo del Commune. At Castel Trosino, near Ascoli, a necropolis of the
seventh century was discovered in 1895. Population of the town, 28,882; of
the province, 261,835 (1915).
AS'COLI SATRIANO (ancient, ASC[)U]LUM AP[)U]LUM), a town of S. Italy,
province Foggia. Pop. 9700.
ASCOMYCE'TES (-t[=e]z), one of the main subdivisions of the Eumycetes or
Higher Fungi, distinguished by their principal spores being produced in
organs called _asci_. Typically, an _ascus_ is a cylindrical or club-shaped
structure containing at maturity eight _ascospores_, which are usually
liberated explosively and thereafter dispersed by the wind. As a rule
numerous asci are massed together in a layer or _ascus-hymenium_, which is
variously disposed on a more or less massive fruit-body, according to the
form and structure of which the group is further subdivided into a number
of sections and families, the chief being Erysiphales, Plectascineae,
Pyrenomycetes, Discomycetes (q.v.).
ASCO'NIUS (Quintus A. Pedianus), a Roman writer of the first century A.D.,
who wrote a life of Sallust, a reply to the detractors of Virgil, and
commentaries on Cicero's orations, some of which are extant.
AS'COT, an English race-course adjacent to the S.W. extremity of the great
park of Windsor. The races, which take place in the second week in June,
constitute, for value of stakes and quality of horses, the best meeting of
the year, as it is the most fashionable.
AS'GARD (literally, gods' yard, or the abode of the gods), in Scandinavian
mythology the home of the gods or _Aesir_, rising, like the Greek Olympus,
from _midgard_, or the middle world, that is, the earth. It was here that
Odin and the rest of the gods, the twelve Aesir, dwelt--the gods in the
mansion called Gladsheim, the goddesses dwelling in Vingulf. Walhalla, in
which heroes slain in battle dwelt, was also here. Below the boughs of the
ash tree Yggdrasill the gods assembled every day in council.
ASGILL (as'gil), John, an eccentric English writer, a lawyer by profession,
born 1659, died 1738. In 1699 he published a pamphlet to prove that
Christians were not necessarily liable to death, death being the penalty
imposed for Adam's sin and Christ having satisfied the law. Having crossed
over to Ireland, he was beginning to get into a good practice, and was
elected to the Irish House of Commons, when his pamphlet was ordered to be
burned by the public hangman, and he himself was expelled the House. His
whole subsequent life was passed in pecuniary and other troubles, mostly in
the Fleet or within the rules of the King's Bench.
ASH (_Frax[)i]nus_), a genus of deciduous trees belonging to the nat. ord.
Oleaceae, having imperfect flowers and a seed-vessel prolonged into a thin
wing at the apex (called a _samara_). There are a good many species,
chiefly indigenous to North America. The common ash (_F. excelsior_), the
only species indigenous to Central and Northern Europe, has a smooth bark,
and grows tall and rather slender. The branches are flattened; the leaves
have five pairs of pinnae, terminated by an odd one, dark-green in colour;
lanceolate, with serrated edges. The flowers are produced in loose spikes
from the sides of the branches, and are succeeded by flat seeds which ripen
in autumn. It is one of the most useful of British trees on account of the
excellence of its hard tough wood and the rapidity of its growth, but often
suffers greatly from a canker caused by the fungus _Nectria ditissima_.
There are many varieties of it, as the weeping-ash, the curled-leaved ash,
the entire-leaved ash, &c. The flowering or manna ash (_F. Ornus_), by some
placed in a distinct genus (Ornus), is a native of the south of Europe and
Palestine. It yields the substance called manna, which is obtained by
making incisions in the bark, when the juice exudes and hardens. Among
American species are the white ash (_F. americana_), with lighter bark and
leaves; the red or black ash (_F. pubescens_), with a brown bark; the black
ash (_F. sambucifolia_), the blue ash, the green ash, &c. They are all
valuable trees. The mountain-ash or rowan belongs to a different order.
[Illustration: Common Ash (_Frax[)i]nus excelsior_)
1, Hermaphrodite flower. 2, Anthers of male flower.]
ASH, or ASHES, the incombustible residue of organic bodies (animal or
vegetable) remaining after combustion; in common usage, any incombustible
residue of bodies used as fuel; as a commercial term, the word generally
means the ashes of vegetable substances, from which are extracted the
alkaline matters called potash, pearl-ash, kelp, barilla, &c.
ASHAN'GO, a region in the interior of Southern Africa between lat. 1deg and
2deg S., and between the Ogowe and the Lower Congo, a mountainous country
in the French territory. The inhabitants belong to the Bantu stock, and
among them are a dwarfish people, the Obongo, said to be about 4-1/2 feet
high at most.
ASHANTI', a British territory in West Africa belonging to the Gold Coast
Colony, of which it forms a large inland portion, under a chief
commissioner; area about 20,000 sq. miles. It is in great part hilly,
well-watered, and covered with dense tropical vegetation, and rich forests
with excellent timber trees. The country round the towns, however, is
carefully cultivated. The crops are chiefly rice, maize, millet,
sugar-cane, cocoa, and yams, the last forming the staple vegetable food of
the natives. Rubber is also a product. The domestic animals are cows,
horses of small size, goats, and a species of hairy sheep. The wild animals
include the elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, lion, hippopotamus, &c. Birds
are numerous, and crocodiles and other reptiles abound. Gold is abundant,
and mining concessions are now successfully worked. The Ashantis make
excellent cotton and silk cloths, articles in gold and other metals,
earthenware, leather, &c. Ashanti used to form a kingdom ruled
despotically, human sacrifices being very common. It is now under British
administration, and attention is given to education, sanitation,
agriculture, means of communication, &c. There are Government schools at
Coomassie and Sunyani and a number of missionary schools. The chief town is
Coomassie (or Kumassi), now reached by a railway from the coast (length 168
miles); its population is 24,000. The British first came in contact with
the Ashantis in 1807, and hostilities continued off and on till 1826, when
they were driven from the sea-coast. Immediately after the transfer of the
Dutch settlements on the Gold Coast to Britain in 1872--when the entire
coast remained in British hands--the Ashantis reclaimed the sovereignty of
the tribes round the settlement of Elmina. This brought on a war, leading
to a British expedition in 1874, in which Coomassie was captured. In 1896
the country became a British protectorate. In 1901 a rebellion had to be
put down, and next year Ashanti was fully annexed. Pop. 287,814
(1911).--Cf. R. A. Freeman, _Travels and Life in Ashantee and Jaman_.
ASH'BOURNE, a town of England, in Derbyshire, 12 miles N.W. of Derby, with
manufactures of cottons and lace. Pop. 4039.
ASH'BURTON, a town in Devonshire, England, 16 miles S.W. of Exeter, a
parliamentary borough till 1868, and till 1918 giving name to a
parliamentary division. Pop. (1921), 2362.
ASH'BURTON, Alexander Baring, Lord, a British statesman and financier, born
1774, died 1848. A younger son of Sir Francis Baring, he was bred to
commercial pursuits, which for some years kept him in the United States and
Canada, and in 1810 he became head of the great firm of Baring Brothers &
Co. He sat in Parliament from 1806 to 1835, when he was raised to the
peerage, after being a member of Peel's Government (1834-5).
ASH'BURTON TREATY, a treaty concluded at Washington, 1842, by Alexander
Baring, Lord Ashburton, and the President of the United States; it defined
the boundaries between the States and Canada, &c.
ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH (ash'bi-del-a-zoech'), a town in Leicestershire, England,
on the borders of Derbyshire, with manufactures of hosiery, leather, &c.
Pop. (1921), 4983.
ASH'DOD, a place on the coast of Palestine, formerly one of the chief
cities of the Philistines, now an insignificant village.
A'SHER, one of Jacob's sons, and founder of the tribe called after him, who
occupied a fertile territory in Palestine along the coast between Carmel
and Lebanon.
ASHE'RA, an ancient Semitic goddess whose symbol was the phallus. In the
Revised Version of the Old Testament this word is used to translate what in
the Authorized Version is translated "grove", as connected with the
idolatrous practices into which the Jews were prone to fall.
ASH'FORD, a thriving town of England, in Kent, situated near the confluence
of the upper branches of the River Stour, with large locomotive and
railway-carriage works. It gives name to a parliamentary division of the
county. Pop. (1921), 14,355.
ASHINGTON, an urban district or town of England, Northumberland, north-east
of Morpeth, and about 2 miles from the sea, in a district of collieries.
Pop. (1921), 29,406.
ASHI'RA, a native race or people of Western Equatorial Africa, to the south
of the Ogowe River, in the French Congo Territory.
ASH'LAND, a city of the United States, in Wisconsin. Pop. (1920),
11,334.--Also a city of Kentucky. Pop. (1920), 14,729.
ASH'LAR, masonry consisting of stones squared and smoothed in front and
built in regular courses.
ASHLEY, LORD. See _Shaftesbury, First Earl of_.
ASHMEAD-BARTLETT, Sir Ellis, English politician, born in 1849. He entered
Parliament in 1880, and was Civil Lord of the Admiralty from 1885 to 1892.
He served in the Graeco-Turkish and South African wars, and was knighted in
1892. He died in 1902.
ASH'MOLE, Elias, English antiquary, born 1617, died 1692. He became a
chancery solicitor in London, but afterwards studied at Oxford, taking up
mathematics, physics, chemistry, and particularly astrology. He published
_Theatrum Chymicum_ in 1652. On the Restoration he received the post of
Windsor Herald, and other appointments both honourable and lucrative. In
1672 appeared his _History of the Order of the Garter_. He presented to the
University of Oxford his collection of rarities, to which he afterwards
added his books and MSS., thereby commencing the Ashmolean Museum.
ASH'TAROTH. See _Astarte_.
ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD, a town of Lancashire, England, 4 miles from Wigan,
with collieries, cotton-mills, &c. Pop. (1921), 22,489.
ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE, a municipal and parliamentary borough of Lancashire,
England, 6 miles east of Manchester, on the north bank of the River Tame, a
well-built place, with handsome streets and public buildings. The chief
employment is the cotton manufacture, but there are also collieries and
ironworks, which employ a great many persons. Pop. 51,080; (municipal
borough) (1921), 43,333.
ASHTON-UPON-MERSEY, a town or urban district of England, Cheshire, on the
south side of the Mersey, several miles south-west of Manchester. Pop.
(1921), 7780.
ASHURA'DA, a small island in the S.E. corner of the Caspian, formed by
Russia into a trading station.
ASH-WEDNESDAY, the first day of Lent, so called from a custom in the
Western Church of sprinkling ashes that day on the heads of penitents, then
admitted to penance. The period at which the fast of Ash-Wednesday was
instituted is uncertain; but it probably dates from the eighth century at
least. In the Roman Catholic Church the ashes are now strewn on the heads
of all the clergy and people present. In the Anglican Church Ash-Wednesday
is regarded as an important fast day.