Egypt, resembling the cobra de capello or spectacle-serpent of the East
Indies, and having a very venomous bite. When approached or disturbed it
elevates its head and body, swells out its neck, and appears to stand erect
to attack the aggressor. Hence the ancient Egyptians believed that the asps
were guardians of the spots they inhabited, and the figure of this reptile
was adopted as an emblem of the protecting genius of the world. The
balancing motions made by it in the endeavour to maintain the erect
attitude have led to the employment of the asp as a dancing serpent by the
African jugglers. The "deaf adder that stoppeth her ear" of _Psalm_ lviii,
4, 5 is translated asp in the margin, and seems to have been this species.
Cleopatra is said to have committed suicide by means of an asp's bite, but
the incident is generally associated with the Cerastes or horned viper, not
with the haje. The name asp is also given to a viper (_Vipera aspis_)
common on the continent of Europe.
ASPARAGINE, or AMINOSUCCINAMIC ACID, CH_2CONH_2, CH(NH_2)COOH, is a white
crystalline substance of unpleasant acid taste found in the shoots of
asparagus, in potato and dahlia tribes, and in many other plants, from
which it may be extracted by means of water.
ASPAR'AGUS (_Aspar[)a]gus officin[=a]lis_), a plant of the order Liliaceae,
the young shoots of which, cut as they are emerging from the ground, are a
favourite culinary vegetable. In Greece, and especially in the southern
steppes of Russia and Poland, it is found in profusion; and its edible
qualities were esteemed by the ancients. Pliny states that asparagus was in
his time cultivated in gardens, particularly at Ravenna. The best asparagus
is grown in gardens near the sea, and hundreds of acres are devoted to its
cultivation in Holland and Belgium. It grows wild in Essex and
Lincolnshire, but does not attain nearly to the size of the cultivated
plant. It is usually raised from seed; and the plants should remain three
years in the ground before they are cut; after which, for several years,
they will continue to afford a regular annual supply. The beds are
protected by straw or litter in winter. Its diuretic properties are
ascribed to the presence of a crystalline substance found also in the
potato, lettuce, &c.
ASPA'SIA, a celebrated woman of ancient Greece, was born at Miletus, in
Ionia, but passed a great part of her life at Athens, where her house was
the general resort of the most distinguished men in Greece. She won the
affection of Pericles, who united himself to Aspasia as closely as was
permitted by the Athenian law, which declared marriage with a foreign woman
illegal. Her power in the State has often been exaggerated, but it is
beyond question that her genius left its mark upon the administration of
Pericles. In 432-431 B.C. she was accused of impiety, and was only saved
from condemnation by the eloquence and tears of Pericles. After his death
(429 B.C.) Aspasia is said to have attached herself to a wealthy but
obscure cattle-dealer of the name of Lysicles, whom she raised to a
position of influence in Athens. Nothing more is known of her life. She had
a son by Pericles, who was legitimated (430 B.C.) by a special decree of
the people. There is a bust bearing her name in the Pio Clementino Museum
in the Vatican.
ASPATRIA, a town (urban district) of England, Cumberland, 8 miles
north-east of Maryport, with an agricultural college. Pop. 3340.
AS'PE, a town of Southern Spain, province of Alicante. Pop. (1921), 3525.
AS'PECT, in astrology, denotes the situation of the planets with respect to
each other. There are five different major aspects: the sextile, when the
planets are 60deg distant; quartile, when they are 90deg distant; trine,
when 120deg distant; opposition, when 180deg distant; and conjunction, when
both are in the same longitude. The aspects were classed by astrologers as
_benign_, _malignant_, or _indifferent_, according to their fancied
influences upon human affairs.
ASPECT OF LAND. See _Exposure_.
AS'PEN, or trembling poplar (_P[=o]p[)u]lus trem[)u]la_), a species of
poplar indigenous to Britain and to most mountainous regions throughout
Europe and Asia. It is a beautiful tree of rapid growth and extremely
hardy, with nearly circular toothed leaves, smooth on both sides, and
attached to footstalks so long and slender as to be shaken by the slightest
wind; wood light, porous, soft, and of a white colour, useful for various
purposes.
ASPER, or ASPRE, a small Turkish coin, of which there are 120 in the
piastre, value 1/54d.
ASPERGILL'US, the brush used in Roman Catholic churches for sprinkling holy
water on the people. It is said to have been originally made of hyssop.
AS'PERN and ESSLINGEN (or ESSLING) (es'ling-en), two villages east of
Vienna, and on the opposite bank of the Danube; celebrated as the chief
contested positions in the bloody but indecisive battle fought between the
Archduke Charles and Napoleon I, 21st and 22nd May, 1809, when it was
estimated that the Austrians lost a third of their army, and the French no
less than half.
ASPER'ULA, the woodruff genus of plants.
ASPHALT, or ASPHAL'TUM, the most common variety of bitumen; also called
mineral pitch. Asphalt is a compact, glossy, brittle, black or brown
mineral, which breaks with a polished fracture, melts easily with a strong
pitchy odour when heated, and when pure burns without leaving any ashes. It
is found in the earth in many parts of Asia, Europe, and America, and in a
soft or liquid state on the surface of the Dead Sea, which, from this
circumstance, was called _Asphalt[=i]tes_. It is of organic origin, the
asphalt of the great Pitch Lake of Trinidad being derived from bituminous
shales, containing vegetable remains in the process of transformation.
Asphalt is produced artificially in making coal-gas. During the process
much tarry matter is evolved and collected in retorts. If this be
distilled, naphtha and other volatile matters escape, and asphalt is left
behind. It is sometimes called _Jew's Pitch_.
ASPHALTE (or ASPHALT) ROCK, a limestone impregnated with bitumen, found in
large quantities in various localities in Europe, as in the Val de Travers,
Neufchatel, Switzerland; in the department of Ain in France; in Alsace,
Hanover, Holstein, Sicily, &c. These rocks contain a variable quantity of
bitumen (from 7 or 8 to 20 or 30 per cent) naturally diffused through them.
The Val de Travers asphalt was discovered in 1710. In 1837 an English
patent was taken out for its application to roads, pavements, terraces,
areas, roofs, &c. Since then other asphalte-rocks, as well as artificial
preparations made by mixing bitumen, gas-tar, pitch, or other materials
with sand, chalk, &c., have been brought into competition with it.
AS'PHODEL (_Asphod[)e]lus_), a genus of plants, ord. Liliaceae, consisting
of perennials, with fasciculated fleshy roots, flowers arranged in racemes,
six stamens inserted at the base of the perianth, a sessile almost
spherical ovary with two cells, each containing two ovules; fruit a capsule
with three cells, in each of which there are, as a rule, two seeds. Two
species are cultivated in Britain as garden flowers, the yellow asphodel
(_Asphodelus lut[)e]us_) and the white asphodel (_Asphodelus albus_). The
English word 'daffodil' is a perversion of asphodel. The _Asphodelus
ram[=o]sus_, which attains a height of 5 feet, is cultivated in Algeria and
elsewhere, its tubercles yielding a very pure alcohol, and the residue,
together with the stalks and leaves, being used in making pasteboard and
paper. The asphodel was a favourite plant among the ancients, who were in
the habit of planting it round their tombs. In Greek religion it is
associated with Persephone, the dead, and the underworld.
ASPHYX'IA, literally, the state of a living animal in which no pulsation
can be perceived, but the term is more particularly applied to a suspension
of the vital functions from causes hindering respiration. The normal
accompaniments of death from asphyxia are dark fluid blood, a congested
brain and exceedingly congested lungs, the general engorgement of the
viscera, and an absence of blood from the left cavities of the heart while
the right cavities and pulmonary artery are gorged. The restoration of
asphyxiated persons has been successfully accomplished at long periods
after apparent death. The attempt should be made to maintain the heat of
the body and to secure the inflation of the lungs as in the case of the
apparently drowned. See _Respiratory System_.
ASPHYXIATING GAS. See _Poison Gas_.
ASPIC, a dish consisting of a clear savoury meat jelly, containing fowl,
game, fish, &c.
ASPIDISTRA, a genus of plants of the lily family, comprising three or four
species, natives of China and Japan, being plants with large smooth oblong
lanceolate leaves, rising from an underground rhizome, and with campanulate
flowers of a dull purplish or brownish colour. They are now very common in
Britain, being especially cultivated as indoor plants.
ASPID'IUM, a genus of ferns, nat. ord. Polypodiaceae, comprising the
shield-fern and male-fern.
AS'PINWALL. See _Colon_.
AS'PIRATE, a name given to any sound like our _h_, to the letter _h_
itself, or to any mark of aspiration, as the Greek rough breathing ([Greek:
h]). Such characters or sounds as the Sanskrit _kh_, _gh_, _bh_, and the
Greek _ch_, _th_, _ph_, are called _aspirates_.
AS'PIRATOR, an instrument used to promote the flow of a gas from one vessel
into another by means of a liquid. The simplest form of aspirator is a
cylindrical vessel containing water, with a pipe at the upper end which
communicates with the vessel containing the gas, and a pipe at the lower
end also, with a stopcock and with its extremity bent up. By allowing a
portion of the water to run off by the pipe at the lower part of the
aspirator a measured quantity of air or other gas is sucked into the upper
part.
ASPLE'NIUM, a genus of ferns, of the nat. ord. Polypodiaceae. Nine species
are found in Britain, among them the well-known Wall-rue.
ASPROMON'TE, a mountain of Italy in the south-west of Calabria, where
Garibaldi was wounded and taken prisoner with the greater part of his army,
in Aug., 1862.
ASPROPOT'AMO. See _Achelous_.
ASPULL, a town (urban district) of England, Lancashire, 2 or 3 miles
north-east of Wigan, with large collieries and other works. Pop. 7851.
ASQUITH, Herbert Henry, prominent politician of the Liberal party, born in
1852, educated at City of London School and Balliol College, Oxford, where
he graduated with high distinction. Called to the Bar in 1876, he became
Q.C. in 1890; in 1886 was elected member of Parliament for East Fife, and
held his seat for this constituency uninterruptedly until Dec., 1918, when
he was defeated. From 1892 to 1895 he was Home Secretary, being also made a
Privy Councillor in the former year. Both in regard to the South African
War and various other questions, when out of office, he spoke more in
harmony with the views of Lord Rosebery than with those of Sir H.
Campbell-Bannerman, but under the latter he accepted the post of Chancellor
of the Exchequer in the ministry formed in Dec., 1905. On the retirement of
Sir Henry in 1908 he succeeded him as Prime Minister. He at once hastened
to draw up the Liberal reform programme, the list of measures including the
Lloyd George Budget (1909), the Parliament Act (1911), the Insurance Act,
and the Irish Home Rule Bill. In May, 1915, a cabinet crisis having
resulted from disagreements, Asquith formed a Coalition Government, eight
Unionists being admitted. Towards the end of 1916 there was a feeling in
the country not only that the Coalition cabinet of twenty-three ministers
was unwieldy, but that Mr. Asquith's Government was not sufficiently
energetic and showed too much hesitation in dealing with the vital problems
of the war. Mr. Asquith therefore resigned on 5th Dec., 1916, and Mr. Lloyd
George formed a new ministry. Unseated in the General Election of 1918, Mr.
Asquith accepted the invitation to stand for Paisley in 1920. He was
returned by a majority of 2834.
AS'RAEL, the Mahommedan angel of death, who takes the soul from the body.
ASS (_Equus as[)i]nus_), a species of the horse genus, supposed by Darwin
to have sprung from the wild variety (_Asinus toeni[)o]pus_) found in
Abyssinia; by some writers to be a descendant of the _on[)a]ger_ or wild
ass, inhabiting the mountainous deserts of Tartary, &c.; and by others to
have descended from the kiang or djiggetai (_A. hemi[)o]nus_) of
South-Western Asia. The ass was used in Egypt long before the horse, and it
played an important part in Homeric Greece. According to Aristotle,
however, it was unknown in his time in Pontus, Scythia, and in the land of
the Celts. The ass seems to have been introduced into England in the days
of Ethelred, but did not become common before the end of the seventeenth
century. Both in colour and size the ass is exceedingly variable, ranging
from dark grey and reddish brown to white, and from the size of a
Newfoundland dog in North India to that of a good-sized horse. In the
south-western countries of Asia and in Egypt, in some districts of Southern
Europe, as in Spain, and in Kentucky and Peru, great attention has been
paid to selection and interbreeding, with a result no less remarkable than
in the case of the horse. Thus in Syria there appear to be four distinct
breeds: a light and graceful animal used by ladies, an Arab breed reserved
for the saddle, an ass of heavier build in use for ploughing and draft
purposes, and the large Damascus breed. The efforts made to raise the
deteriorated British breed have only been partially successful. The male
ass is mature at two years of age, the female still earlier. The she-ass
carries her young eleven months. The teeth of the young ass follow the same
order of appearance and renewal as those of the horse. The life of the ass
does not usually exceed thirty years. It is in general much healthier than
the horse, and is maintained in this condition by a smaller quantity and
coarser quality of food; it is superior to the horse in its ability to
carry heavy burdens over the most precipitous roads, and is in no respect
its inferior in intelligence, despite the reputation for stupidity which it
has borne from very ancient times. The skin is used as parchment to cover
drums, &c., and in the East is made into shagreen. The hybrid offspring of
the horse and the female ass is the hinny, that of the ass and the mare is
the mule; but the latter is by far the larger and more useful animal.
Asses' milk, long celebrated for its sanative qualities, more closely
resembles that of a woman than any other. It is very similar in taste, and
throws up an equally fluid cream, which is not convertible into butter.
ASSA. See _Piave, Battles of the_; _European War_.
ASSAB', a bay of Africa on the south-west coast of the Red Sea, belonging
to the Italian territory of Eritrea, which has been acquired since Italy
established here a colony and free port in 1881.
ASSAFOETIDA. See _Asafetida_.
ASSAI-PALM (as-[=i]; _Euterpe olerac[)e]a_), a native of tropical S.
America, only about 4 inches in diameter and 60 or 80 feet high, with a
crown of leaves, beneath which a small fruit grows on branched horizontal
spadices. The pulp of the fruit mixed with water is used as a beverage.
ASSAL', a salt lake in North-Eastern Africa, in Adal.
ASSAM', one of the fifteen provinces of British India, separated from
Eastern Bengal and reconstituted in 1912; area, 53,015 sq. miles. It forms
a series of fertile valleys watered by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries,
the valley of the Brahmaputra, which is the main one, consisting of rich
alluvial plains, either but little elevated above the river, or so low that
large extents of them are flooded for three or four days once or twice in
the year, while the course of the river often changes. The climate is
marked by great humidity, and malarious diseases are common in the low
grounds; otherwise it is not unhealthy. The whole province, except the
cultivated area, may be designated as forest, the trees including teak,
sal, sissoo, the date and sago palm, the areca palm (the betel-nut tree),
the Indian fig tree, &c. The article of most commercial importance is tea,
which was first exported in 1838, and the yield of which is now over
100,000,000 pounds annually. Other crops raised are rice, Indian corn,
pulse, oil-seeds, sugar-cane, hemp, jute, potatoes, &c. In the jungles and
forests roam herds of elephants, the rhinoceros, tiger, buffalo, leopard,
bear, wild hog, jackal, fox, goat, and various kinds of deer. Among
serpents are the python and the cobra. Pheasants, partridges, snipe, wild
peacock, and many kinds of water-fowl abound. Coal, petroleum, and
limestone are found in abundance; iron is smelted to a small extent;
gold-dust is met with; lime is exported to Bengal. There is no single
Assamese nationality, and the Assamese language is merely a modern dialect
of Bengali. Pop. 6,713,635, 3,637,828 of whom are Hindus, 1,886,528
Mahommedans, 66,430 Christians, 10,506 Buddhists, the rest being chiefly
hill tribes of aboriginal faiths. The labourers in the tea-gardens are
mostly drawn from Bengal. In 1826 Assam became a possession of Britain,
being taken from the Burmese, who had made themselves masters of it about
the end of the eighteenth century. The largest town is Sylhet (pop.
14,000).--Cf. E. A. Gait, _History of Assam_.
AS'SAPAN (_Sciuropt[)e]rus volucella_), the flying-squirrel of N. America,
a little animal with folds of skin along its sides which enable it to take
leaps of 40 or 50 yards.
ASSASS'INS (from _hashsh[=a]sh[=i]n_, drinkers of _hashish_), an Asiatic
order or society having the practice of assassination as its most
distinctive feature, founded by Hassan Ben Sabbah, the Himyarite, a _dai_
or missionary of the heterodox Mahommedan sect the Ismailites. The society
grew rapidly in numbers, and in 1090 the Persian fortress of Alamut fell
into their hands. Other territories were added, and the order became a
recognized military power. Its organization comprised seven ranks, at its
head being the Sheikh-al-Jebala or 'Old man of the mountains'. Upon a
select band fell the work of assassination, to which they were stimulated
by the intoxicating influence of _hashish_. For nearly two centuries they
maintained their power under nine sheikhs. Hassan, after a long and
prosperous reign, died in 1124. Most of his successors died violent deaths
at the hands of relatives or dependents. After proving themselves strong
enough to withstand the powerful sultans Noureddin and Saladin, and making
themselves feared by the Crusaders, the _Assassins_ were overcome by the
Tartar leader Hulaku. The last chief, Rokneddin, was killed for an act of
treachery subsequent to his capture, and his death was followed by a
general massacre of the assassins, in which 12,000 perished. Dispersed
bands led a roving life in the Syrian mountains, and it is alleged that in
the Druses and other small existing tribes their descendants are still to
be found. See _Crusades_; _Khoja_.
ASSAULT', in law, an attempt or offer, with force and violence, to do a
corporal hurt to another, as by striking at him with or without a weapon.
If a person lift up or stretch forth his arm and offer to strike another,
or menace anyone with any staff or weapon, it is an assault in law.
Assault, therefore, does not necessarily imply a hitting or blow, because
in trespass for assault and battery a man may be found guilty of the
assault and acquitted of the battery. But every battery includes an
assault.
ASSAYE, or ASSYE (as-s[=i]'), a village in Southern India, in Hyderabad,
where Wellington (then Major-General Wellesley) gained a famous victory in
1803. With only 4500 troops at his disposal he completely routed the
Mahratta force of 50,000 men and 100 guns. The victory, however, cost him
more than a third of his men.
ASSAYING, the estimation of the amount of pure metal present in an ore or
an alloy. The term was originally applied to testing of gold and silver
only. It is now usually applied to the determination of the quantity of
valuable metal in an ore or alloy, and is also sometimes applied to the
estimation of any element which may affect the value of the ore.
Assaying, therefore, means the estimation of one or more metals in an ore
or alloy. Before an assay can be made, an average sample of the material
must be obtained. If an ore, pieces of material are taken from different
parts of the vein or, if already mined, from different parts of the dump.
The pieces are crushed up finely and divided into four equal parts. Two of
these parts are then mixed and divided into four again, and so on until an
average sample has been obtained. In the case of metals in ingots or bars,
samples are obtained by drilling and chipping corners or edges. Coins,
which are never homogeneous, may be rolled out into a thin sheet and cut
into small pieces. A preliminary examination is made to determine the
constituents. Finally an assay of the substance is made. The methods used
are determined by the metals and the proportions of these present in the
ore or alloy. Originally the term assaying was applied to dry methods, i.e.
the substance was heated in a special crucible with a suitable flux, and a
bead of metal was obtained which was weighed. An assay now may be carried
out in various ways, for example, by fusing with a reducing agent and
obtaining a bead of metal, or by dissolving the substance to be assayed in
suitable solvent and precipitating the metal as an insoluble salt, or
volumetric methods may be used. Dry assaying is still used for gold. The
assay depends on first heating the gold ore or alloy with lead in a porous
crucible, that is, _cupelling_ it. Lead oxidizes on heating in a furnace;
part volatilizes, and part of the oxide is absorbed by the cupel and
carries with it oxides of other metals with the exception of gold and
silver. The proportion of lead must be regulated, depending on the metals
alloyed with gold. A bead is obtained containing gold and silver. This is
beaten out into a thin plate, and then rolled out until it is thin enough
to be rolled up by hand. The gold alloy is rolled up in the fingers into a
cornette and treated with nitric acid. This dissolves silver, leaving a
brittle cornette of gold, which is thoroughly washed, dried, and weighed.
All gold alloys and silver alloys must be assayed, and their fineness
stamped on them. The Goldsmith's Company of London is the statutory
assay-master of England.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. and J. J. Beringer, _A Text-book
of Assaying_; E. A. Wraight, _Assaying in Theory and Practice_; J. Park, _A
Text-book of Practical Assaying_.
AS'SEGAI (from Ar. _as-zahayah_), a spear used as a weapon among the
Kaffirs of S. Africa, made of hard wood tipped with iron, and used for
throwing or thrusting.