A S B
This gentleman is of opinion, that the fheep, fed on this plant* would afford mutton of a much finer flavour than any that we are at prefent acquainted with. But it feems ftrange, that this fhould be the effect of thefe creatures feeding on a plant of fo ftrong a fcent, that, as the fame author obferves, one drachm of the frefh root fmells more than a hundred weight of the drug, as kept by the druggifts, and that the whole air is ftrongly and very difagreeably fcented with it, wherever it growa. Upon the whole, it feems probable, that tho' this plant, or the cyftifus, or feveral others, might be cultivated in England for the food of cattle, yet not any one would be fo eafily raifed, or make fo great an advantage to the farmer as the faintfoin. Tull's Husbandry. See Saintfoin, AS^VIS Abfolutio. See Absolutio, Cyd. ASARINA, in botany, the name of a little plant, which alone makes a diftinct genus, havingits name from the refemblanceof its leaves to thofe of Afarum. Its characters are thefe : The flower is tubular, and perfonated, fomewhat refembling that of the antirrliinum. From the cup of this there rifes a piftil which is fixed in manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower; this afterwards becomes a fruit, or capfule, divided into two cells, and containing numerous feeds, affixed to a placenta. Town. Inft. p. 171. ASAROTA, Ao-agwla, in antiquity, a kind of painted pave- ments, in ufe before the invention of Mofaic work. Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 36. c. 25.
The moft celebrated of thefe, was that at Pergamus, painted by Sefus, wherein was feen the appearance of crumbs, as if the floor had not been fwept after dinner, which, according to Pliny, gave the denomination to all the reft. The word is formed from the privative «, and cra^u, I (weep. V. Pitifc, Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 187.
-Farias ubi piEta per Artes
Gaudet bumus, fuhrantq; navh Afarota. Jiguris.
Stat. Sylv. 1. 3. 55.
M. Perrault, diflatisfied with Pliny's account, takes the Afa- rota to have rather been a black kind of pavements, which, by reafon of their fpunginefs, drank up all that was fpilt on them, fo that there was no need to fweep them. Perraul. ad Vitruv. 1. 6. c. 5. V, Danet. Diet, invoc.
ASARUM, AJfarabacca, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the ftamineous kind, being compofed of a number of ifamina which arife from a cup, divided into three fegments. The hinder part of this cup finally becomes a fruit, which is ufually of an angular figure, and is divided into fix cells, containing angular feeds.
The fpecies of Jfarwn, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe;
1. The common Afarum. 2. The great American Afarum. 3. The Virginian low broad-leav'd Afarum, Tourn. Inft. p. 501.
The common Afarum is of confiderable value as a fternuta- tory; it is alfo fometimes prefcribed as a vomit, and will ope- rate violently both that way, and by ftool. Many give it a place alfo among the diuretics, and prefcribe it, in that inten- tion only, in fmaller dofes. It is alfo a powerful emmena- gogue, and has been recommended by authors in the gout, dropfy, and many other chronic diforders.
ASASI, in botany, a name given, by the people of Guinea, to a tree, the leaves of which being boiled in water, and held in the mouth, cure the tooth-ach. This tree, in its form and manner of growing, refembles the laurel; the leaves are very hard and ftiff, and grow alternately on the ftalks -, they have lhort pedicles, and the branches areblackifh and rugged, but they are variegated with fmall reddifh fpangles, or fcaly protu- berances. Phil. Tranf. N°. 232.
ASBESTOS, [Cycl.) or Asbestus, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of foflils, of the clafs of the Fibrarise, the cha- racters of which are, that the bodies of it are flexile and ela- ftic, and compofed of fmgle and continuous filaments. There are five known fpecies of this genus, four of which have their filaments naturally collected into compact mafles, and one which has them always naturally loofe and difunited. The word Afbeftm has been ufed by naturalifts in general, as the diftinguiihing name not of a fingle fpecies, but of a whole genus of foflils, and not only comprehending all the fpecies, but all thofe alfo of the amianthus, a genus to be diftinguifhed by its ftiort and abrupt filaments. See Tab. of Foflils, Clafs 1, and the article Amianthus.
While this was the cafe, and the word Afbejius feem'd to im- ply only one fpecies of body, it feemed very difficult to recon- cile the accounts of ,one author with thofe of another, or to believe the ftories related of the manufactures of it. The antients feem to have been very early acquainted with the art of fpuming, and making the longer threaded kinds of it into cloth : The art was fuppofed, foon after, to be loft, but this for no other reafon, than the not diftinguiihing that there were feveral kinds or fpecies of the ftone; and people imagining every ftone that would bear a ftrong fire without hurt, to be A/bcJhtSy and all Afbejius to be of the fame fpecies, wonder'd they could not do what their forefathers had done, while the unc y/ork'd with the proper materials, a long-threaded genu-
A S C
i ^£ i ' J!i! S ' * eo * er ™ th "ery improper one, perhaps oM of the lhort-fibred amianthi. Thus the art feem'd loft while, in reality, it was only the true and right fpecies of the ftone that was fo, and notwithftanding the many very little fuccefsful attempts which have at times been made in later ages, the perfon who will compare the feveral foccfes now known, and feleft that which the length and foftn'efs of its threads (hews to be fitteft for fuch a work, will doubtlefs find it poffible to do more than has of late been thoueht poffi- ble with it.
In the days of Pliny there feems to have been no good fpecies known. What he defcribes under the name of AJbeJlus be- ing properly an amianthus, and that of a very poor kind,
j i'° ^/ Pun int0 cloth ' and he nat diftinguiihing that his and the AJbeJlus of earlier times were different fubftances, fays of AJbeJlus in general, that it was not to be wrought without extream difficulty. The art feems indeed, in his time, to have been wholly loft, but he gives evident proofs, that it'was once known, fpeaking of cloaths made of it, which himfelf had feen cleaned by burning.
Diofcorides, who wrote a little before the time of Pliny, de- fcribes very accuratelyanother fpecies of ajbcjlos, one veryfitfor working into cloth, and accordingly fpeaks of it as an art well known, they making it into napkins, &c. at that : me, and feeming to have had them in pretty common ufe. Since the days of thefe authors, the art has been many times loft, and in fome degree found again, according to the accounts of au- thors; but the true ftate of the cafe every way appears to be, that it was ftill not the art, but the proper fpecies only, that was loft; whenever a tolerable good kind has appeared, there have never been wanting one or other who have (hewed there was no great difficulty in making cloth and paper of it, if they could have it in fufficient quantity. It is firft neceflary to ob- ferve, that, in the fearching after this fubftance, the diftin- flion between the AJbeJlus' s and amianthus's is carefully to be obferved, the one of thefe being compofed of the long threads, and the other of very fhort and abrupt ones; this is their great diftinftion, and all the AJbeJlus' s, or long-threaded ones, are more or lefs fitted for this work, and none of the amianthi, or (hort-threaded ones, are at all fo.
The fpecies of the long-threaded incombuftible bodies, or AJbeJlus's, properly fo called, are thefe: I. A foft greenifh kind, with Mender and crooked filaments. This is found in theifland of Anglefea, and in fome parts of Wales, lodged in form of horizontal veins, in a greenifh variegated marble. 2. A whitifh brown filky kind, with very long and flat fila- ment! : . T*" s es ' 00 ^ e ' n the earth, and is found in vaft quantities in many of our American plantations, particularly Penfilvania and Virginia. 3. A grey filky kind, with long and rounded filaments. This is found near the furface of the earth, in many parts of the Highlands of Scotland. 4. A greyilh green filky kind, with long and very (lender filaments. This is found on and near the furface of the earth, and on the fea fliores in the ifland of Cyprus, and in fome parts of Italy. 5. A white, loofe, thready kind, with broad filaments, never forming themfelves into maffes, but always remaining looofe. This is found near the furface of the earth, in many parts of Scotland.
Thefe are the diftinfl fpecies of proper JJbeJius, feparated from the amianthi, and all of thefe feem capable of being worked into cloth, paper, &c. The firft kind feems leaft proper for this ufe, becaufe of its (hortnefs; and the fecond would give trouble, by the weaknefs of its filaments, all the reft feem as if they might be worked with eafe, and of thefe, the laft perhaps would be found preferable to all. As this is the producl: of our own dominions, 'tis pity fome ingenious perfon does not heartily fet about the recovering, by its means, fo curious a manufacture of the antients, fo long thought loft. i^V/'sHift. of Foffils, p. 101. feq.
ASCARIDES. See the article Worms.
ASCENDENS Obliquus, in anatomy, a name given by Fabri- cius, and others, to a mufcle called by the generality of writers, Obliquus internum abdominis.
ASCENDENT Stalk. See Stalk.
ASCENSCIONAL Force. See the article Force.
ASCESIS, A(7x«aK, properly denotes exercife of the body. It is formed from the verb Avxw, ufed by the antients in fpeaking of the (ports and combats of the athletar. V. Cafaub. Exercit. ad Baron, fee. 13. Side. Thef. T. 1. p. 549.
Ascesis is alfo ufed by philofophers, to denote an exercife con- ducive to virtue, or to the acquiring a greater degree of virtue. RudA. Anal. Hift. Philof. p. 411. feq.
This is particularly denominated, the philcfophical Jf<-ejis, be- caufe pracfifed chiefly by philofophers, who make a more pecu- liar profeffion of improving themfelves in virtue; on the mo- del whereof the antient Chriftians introduced a religious Afcefm The antient philofophers had peculiar kinds ofexereifes, ap- propriated to ftrengthen each kind of virtue, and to weaken each vice; particularly voluptuoufnefs, ambition, and co- vetoufnefs. The practices were called by the Pythagoreans Agones, Bctjani, and Afcejes. . Buddeus has a differtation ex- prefs on the philafophical Afcefls. Exerc. Hift. Mor. de adkhzei Philofophica ext. ap. ejufd. Analefl. Hift. Philof. p. 409. feq.
ASCE-
