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ASTOB 314 ASTRINGENTS to Other Worlds"; "A Romance of the Future" (1894). Died in the wreck of the "Titanic," April 15, 1912. ASTOR, LADY NANCY, the second woman to be elected to the British Par- liament and the first woman to take ac- tually her seat. She stood as the Con- servative candidate for Plymouth in 1919 and was elected by a considerable margin over Liberal and Labor candi- dates. Her campaign was notable for the wit and spirit of her speeches. She is an American by birth and is the wife of Lord Waldorf Astor. She is the mother of six children. She has spoken briefly several times in Parliament on pending questions. ASTOR, WILLIAM BACKHOUSE, an American capitalist, born in New York City, Sept. 19, 1792; eldest son of John Jacob Astor; was associated with his father in business; increased the family fortune to $45,000,000; and gave $550,- 000 to the Astor Library. He died in New York, Nov. 24, 1875. ASTOR, WILLIAM WALDORF, capi- talist, born in New York City, March 31, 1848; received a private education; was admitted to the bar in 1875. He was elected to the New York Assembly in 1871, and to the Senate in 1879; was defeated for Congress in 1881, and was United States Minister to Italy in 1882- 1885. On the death of his father, John Jacob Astor, in 1890, he became the head of the Astor family, and inherited a fortune said to aggregate $100,000,000. He removed to England in 1890; became the owner of the "Pall Mall Gazette" and "Pall Mall Magazine"; and was naturalized a British subject on July 1, 1899. He published "Valentino" (1885) and "Sforza" (1889), both romances. He gave considerable sums to English charities and colleges and was made a peer in 1916. Died in London, Oct. 18, 1919. ASTOR PLACE RIOT, a fatal affray Which took place in New York City, May 10, 1849, in which the participants were the partisans of the actors, Edwin Forrest and William C. Macready. Twenty-two were killed and 36 wounded. ASTORIA, a city of Oregon, the county- seat of Clatsop CO., on the Columbia river, about 100 miles N. W. of Port- land, and on the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle railroad. It is connected with foreign and domestic ports by several steamship lines. The city has an excel- lent water front, about five miles in length. It is the center of an important salmon canning industry, and has iron works, lumber mills, can factories, and other industrial establishments. A large export trade in lumber and flour is carried on. There is a custom house, postoffice, parks, library, hospitals, and other handsome public buildings. Lewis and Clarke established a fort here, and it was later the site of the fur trading station built in 1811 by John Jacob As- tor. It was the first settlement in the valley of the Columbia river. Pop. (1910) 9,599; (1920) 14,027. ASTR.fflID.aE, in zoology, a family of radiated animals belonging to the class polypi and the order helianthoMa. It is especially to this family that the formation of coral reefs is to be attrib- uted. It contains the genera astrxa, meandrina, etc. ASTRAGAL, in architecture, a small semi-circular molding, with a fillet be- neath it, which surrounds a column in the form of a ring, separating the shaft from the capital. ASTRAGALUS, the upper bone of the foot supporting the tibia; the huckle, ankle, or sling bone. It is a strong, irregularly-shaped bone, and is con- nected with the others by powerful ligaments. ASTRAGALUS, a genus of papiliona- ceous plants, herbaceous or shrubby, and often spiny. A. gummifer yields gum tragacanth. ASTRAKHAN (as-tra-kan'), a Rus- sian city, capital of the government of the same name, on an elevated island in the Volga. It is the seat of a Greek archbishop and has a large cathedral, as well as places of worship for Moham- medans, Armenians, etc. The manu- factures are large and increasing, and the fisheries (sturgeon, etc.) very im- portant. It is the chief port of the Cas- pian, and has regular steam communi- cation with the principal towns on its shores. Pop. about 150,000, composed of various races. The government has an area of 91,327 square miles. It consists almost entirely of two vast steppes, sep- arated from each other by the Volga, and forming for the most part arid, sterile deserts. Pop. about 1,350,000. ASTRAKHAN, a name given to sheep- skins with a curled woolly surface ob- tained from a variety of sheep found in Bokhara, Persia, and Syria; also a rough fabric with a pile in imitation of this. ASTRINGENTS, substances which produce contraction and condensation of the muscular fiber : for instance, when