ASP
r. The larger white-flowered branched Afphodel, called the male Aj'phodel. 2. The finaller white-flowered branched Af- phodcl. 3. The fingle-ftalk'd not branched Ajphodel. 4. The purple Aj'phodel, with fpotted leaves. 5. The broad-ltalked Afphodcl, with rough flatted leaves, 6. The yellow-flowered yellow-rooted Afphodel 7. The fmaller narrow-leav'd yellow- flowered African Ajphodel. 8. The yellow Italian fpiral Afphodel, with large flowers. 9. The fmalleft white Afphodel ; and 10. The Afphodel, with fiftulous leaves. Town. Inft. p. 34-3-
The feveral forts of this plant all flourifh very well in any foil that is not too wet, which is fubject to rot the roots in winter; and the way to increafe them, is by parting their roots in Au- guft, before they (hoot up their frefh green leaves. They may alfo be raifed from feeds fown in Auguft, and the Auguft fol- lowing the plants produced from thefe may be transplanted into beds, and will produce flowers the fecond year. They muft not be planted in fmall borders, among tender flowers, for they will draw away all the noutiffament, and ftarve every thing elfe. MUler , % Gardener's Die!:.
The roots of Ajphodel are of an acrimonious tafte, and heating quality ; being drank, they promote urine, and the menfes ; and the weight of a dram taken in wine, is tried with fuccefs in pains in the fide, coughs, convulfions, and ruptures. It is good agaihft bites of ferpents, and makes a good cataplafm for foul fpreading ulcers, inflammations, C3*c. The afhes of the burnt root, rubbed on an alopecia, caufe new hair to fpring, V. Lemery, desdrog. and fames, Diet. Med. in voc.
ASPHURELATA, b natural hiftory, a term ufed by Dr. Hill, to exprefs thofe metallic foffils which are fufible by fire, and not malleable in their pureft ftate. Thefe have been ufed to be confounded with the metallic falts, and feveral other dif- ferent bodies which contain metalline particles, under the little determinate name of fenit-metals.
The Afphurelata are all, in their native ftate, penetrated by, and intimately mixed with, fulphur, and other adventitious matters, and reduced to the ftate of what is commonly cdled ore. Hill's Hiit. of Foffils, p. 622.
Of this feiies of foffils there arc only five diftinct bodies. Thefe are antimony, bifmuth, cobalt, zink, and cinnabar. Which fee under their heads.
ASPHYXIA, Ae-tpv&a, Is ufed by antient phyficians, to denote a privation, or cefiation, of the pulfe, through the whole body, and all its arteries. Caft. Lex. Med. in voc. In ftrictnefs, no fuch cefiation can ever happen, except in cafe of death ; but in fome other cafes, the pulfe is found fo reruns and languid, as not to be perceivable by the touch. Hence the Afphyxia is confidered as an attendant of deep faintings, or deliquiums ; and amounts to much the fame with what is otherwife called Llpopfych'ui or Syncope.
Asphyxia is alfo ufed by fome for a privation of pulfe in fome one part of the body, e . gr. an arm, or the like. Burggr. Lex. Med. in voc.
ASPILATES, or Asplenttes, in the writings of the antients, the name of a ftone, famous for its virtues againft the fpleen, and many other difordcrs; it was to be applied externally, and faftened on to the part with camel's hair. Thefe, and the like accounts of virtues in ftones, are, at this time very juftly laughed out of the world. It is not e?.Cy to lay what ftone, of thofe known to us at prcfent, was meant by the antients un- der this name ; all the account they have left us of it being, that it was of a flame colour, and that it was found in Arabia, fometimes in the earth, and fometimesin the nefts of certain birds. They mention alfo another kind of it, which was of a filvcry white.
ASPJS, the Afp, in zoology. See Asp.
ASPLEN1UM, Miltwaft, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The leaves are of a peculiar figure, differing from thofe of all the others of the fame clafs, in their having a fmuated margin. The flowers arenotdifcovered, but the under part of the leaf is found thick covered with fcales, from under which there emerge a fort of globular capfules, furrounded each with an elaftic ring, which, by its contracting, burfts the capfules, and difperfes the feeds. The fpecics of Afplenium, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe :
1. The common Afplenium, or ceteraeh. 2. The branched Afplenium. 3. The great branched African Afplenium, with Alining (talks. 4. The tall hairy American Afplenium, 5. The propendent curled American Afplenium. 1'ourn. Inft.
P- 544- ASPLENIUM, in the Linnaean fyftem of botany, is the name of a very large genus of capillary plants, taking in, befides the fpleenworts, ufually fo called, the lingua cervina, or hart's tongue, and the trichomanes, or Englifh maiden-hair, with all the fpecies of each. The character of this genus is, that the fructifications are difpofed in right lines, under the difk of the feveral leaves. See the articles Phyllitis and Tri-
CHOMENES.
ASPOLATHUS, in botany, a name by which fome authors
have called the Acacia, Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. See Acacia,
Cycl. and Sttppl, ASPRATITES Pifces, in middle-age writers, denote fhell-
fifh, of the ragged or cruftaceous kind. Du Cange, Gloff.
tat. T. 1. p. 358.
ASS
In which (enfe they fland oppofed to Leioftria.
Others will have the word denote thofe which refide in fton?
places of rivers, &c.
In which Cenk it amounts to the fame with Saxofi.
ASPREDG, in ichthyology, a name given by Gefner to the Cernua ftumatills, called by us, in Englifh, the Ruffe. It is a genuine fpecies of pearch, and is diuinguifhed, by Ar- tedi, by the name of the pearch with one back iinn, and with the cavernous head. See Cernua.
ASPRIS, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the bitter oak, called Cerrjus, Cerrh, and /Egilops, by other writers, J. Bauhin, Vol. r. p. 277.
ASS, a well known four-footed animal, of confiderable ufe.
Ass, in antiquity. The coronation of the Afs, was a part of the ceremony of the feaft of Vefta, wherein the bakers put bread crowns on the heads of thefe quadrupeds ; Ecce coronatis pa- nis dependet Afellis. Ovid. Faft. 1. 6. v. 311. Hence, in an antient calendar, the ides of June are thus de- noted ; Fejlum eft Vefta. Aftnus coronatur ! This honour, it feems, was done the beaft, becaufe, by its braying, it had faved Vefta from being ravifhed by the lamp- facan God. Hence the formula, Vefta delictum eft Aftnus. In the confualia, horfes, as well as affes, had the honour of a coronation ; perhaps on account of the Sabine women, whom the Romans brought home on thefe beafts. Some have afked for the affinity between the god of council, and an Aft? 'Tis anfwered, both arc grave and deliberative. Hence, among the cabbalift Jews, the Afs is the fymbol of wifdom. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 191.
Order of Asses, Aftnorum Or do, a denomination given to the Mathurins, or Trinitarians, by reafon they were antiently obliged, in travelling, to ride on Affes, not horfes. Du Cange, GlofT Lat. T. 1. p. 353. Schmid. Lex. Ecclef. p. 76. This obligation was fet ahde, by a new rule given the order by pope Clement in 1267.
ASSA Dutch and Fcetlda. See the article Asa.
ASS ABA, the name given by the people of Guinea to a fiirub which they are very fond of, for its medicinal virtue; they boil it in water, and rub it on a bubo, and it proves a cure. Phil. Tranf. N°. 232.
ASSAC, or Ass ax, in the materia medica of the antients, the name given by the Arabians to the gum ammoniac of the Greeks; but by many of the qualities attributed to this drug, it does not appear to be the fame that is now called fo.
ASSAPOORY, in natural hiftory, a name given by the people of the Eaft Indies to a peculiar fpecies of flate, which they ufe in medicine, reducing it to powder, and ftrewing this on burning coals, that the fick perfon may receive the fumes of it. It is principally ufed to children, when they are difor- dered by taking cold. The fmell of it, while burning, is very oiFenfive.
ASSARIUM, uao-agiov, denotes a fmall copper coin, being a part or diminutive of the As.
The word a<Ttra%w is ufed by Suidas indifferently with ofrx©', and vo^itr^ot, to denote a fmall piece of money ; in which he is followed by Cujacius, who defines ao-o-ctpw by Minimus JEris minimus. Cujac. Obferv. 1. 7. c. 33. We find mention of the Affarlon in the gofpel of St. Mat- thew, c. x. v. 29.
Among Greek writers of the middle age, we frequently find Ajfarium, and K^afl^ for quadrans, ufed as fynonimous. 1 hus Ajjdrium uncias quatuor ; Shtadrans uncias quatuor ". Tho' Seb. Paulus, from a pafiage in Marcellus Empiricus, concludes, that the Ajfarium was, in reality, only a fourth part of the uncia b . Gronovius, from a pafiage of St. Epi- phanius, infers, that there were two kinds of AJfaria ; one of iilver, called a<nra%wm agyugy, or Ajfarium Argenteum, equi- valent to the Attic drachm, or the fix thoufandth part of a talent j the other of copper, aac-apo* x<**xx, equivalent to the tenth part of the Obolus, or the fixtieth part of a Dena- rius c . — [ a Eufeb. ws e ; r«0fw». b V. Mantijf. ad Beverin. p. 231. c V. Paul. Add. ad Beverin. de Ponder, p. 32. feq.J
ASSARON, an antient Jewifh meafure of capacity, equal to the tenth part of the Ephah. Calm. D. Bibl. T. 1. p. 217. See Ephah.
The AJfaron is the fame with what is more frequently called Omer, or Gamer,
Jofephus calls it ^.c-c-a^w ; in the Hebrew it is alfo written Af- farith. V. Arbutb. Tabl. p. 101.
ASSATH, or^AssACH, in the antient Welch cuftoms, a kind of purgation, wherein a party accufed purged himfelf by the oath of three hundred compurgators. Spelm. Gloff. p. 46.
ASSAY- Ballance {Cycl.) — The flat pieces of glafs often placed under the fcales of an Affay-Ballance, feem, by their power of electricity, capable of attracting, and thereby making the lighter fcale preponderate, where the whole matter weighed is fo very fmall. See Phil. Tranf. N°. 480. p. 245. The electricity of a flat furface of about three inches fquare, has been known to hold down one fcale, when there were about two hundred grains weight in the other. Lib. cit.
N °- 479- P- 9 8 - ASSERAC, among the Turks. See Assis. ASSERIDA, in botany, a name given by the people of Guinea
to a kind of ihrub, the leaves of which being chewed s are a
cure
