ASP
among the Antients, wherewith the Walls of Babylon were kid. See Mortar, &c.
It yields an Oil which defends Ships from Water, Worms, (Sc. much better than the ordinary Compofition ; and which is alfo of good Service for the cleanfing and heal- ing of Ulcers, ci?c
ASPIC— Oil of Aspic, vulgarly called Oil of Spike, is an inflammable Oil drawn from the Leaves and Flowers of a Plant frequent in the Southern Parts of France, refem- bling Lavender, and by the Botaniils called Lavandula Mas. See Oil. ,
It is much ufed by Painters and Farriers; and fometimes alfo in Medicine. — The true Oil oiAfpic, is of a white Co- lour, and an aromatic Tafte ; and is held the only Thing capable of diffolving Sandarach : By which it is eafily di- itinguifh'd from the Counterfeit, which is only Oil of Tur- pentine mixed with a little Petrol.
ASPIRATE, AspiRATio,'or Spiritus Afper, in Gram- mar, a Character ufed to denote an Afpiration. See AsrER and Aspiration.
ASPIRATION, the Aft of afpirdtmg- i.e. of pronoun- cing any Syllable, or Word, ftrongly ; with a good deal of Breath, and Vehemence. See Aspirate and Pronunci- ation.
This we do, for inflance, in thofe Words which have the Letter H, before them ; as Harangue, Hook, Holland, Hero, &G. whereas the like Syllables are founded much fofter and eafier without the H, as in Ear, Eat, £i?c. Sec H.
The Afpirate, by the Greeks called Spiritus, and mark- ed over their Vowels, feems to be very different from the Letters; but is, neverthelefs, a true Letter, as well as the reft, and a real Confohant. — By Letters we dont mean the Cha- racters of the Alphabet, which are changeable according to the Languages and the People, and among the fame Peo- ple, according to Time and Cuttom ; and even according to the Fancy of particular Perfons. — Thus, fome, for inftance, write the ffpirates, or Letters afpirated ; which, by others, are omitted ; tho both the one and the other pronounce a- like; as in Huomo, Huomoni, an Italian Word frequently written uomo uomoni. See Alphabet.
But, by Letters, we mean articulate Sounds, form'd by the Organs of Speech, (via.) The Throat, Mouth, Tongue, Palate, Teeth, &c. See Letter, and Voice.
Thefe Sounds are of two Kinds, the one fimple, and the other compound, or modified.— Simple, are thofe pronoun- ced by a Angle Motion of the Organ ; fuch are the Vowels. See Vowel.
Compound Sounds, are thofe fame fimple Sounds modi- fied by a Motion of the Organ fuperadded to the Motion ueceffary to pronounce the fimple Sound ; of which Kind are the Confonants. See Consonant.
Now an Afpirate\s an Effect or Confequence of a Motion made by fome of the Organs of Speech ; and therefore muft either be a Vowel or a Confonant. — The former it cannot be, as not being a_ fimple Sound, or a Sound that may be pronounced by it felf. It muft therefore be a Modi- ficative, or Confonant ; and in Effect it has all the Properties of one.
For, ift, it refults from a Motion of the Organ, which, of it felf, produces no Sound. Thus the Spiritus of the Greeks, our h afpirate, as well as that of the French, and other People, has no more Sound of it felf than b, c, d, &c. and the fame Thing may be obferved of the Alepb, Hhetb, and Caph, of the Eaftern Languages.
idly, On the contrary, our h, the Spiritus of the Greeks, and the other Afpirates juft mentioned, are pronounced with all the Vowels, in the fame manner as Confonants are. — They modify thofe Vowels, and are Effecls of a Motion of the Organ fuperadded to the Motion neceffary to form the Vowel. Thus, to pronounce ba, two Motions of the Organ are required as well as for ba, or ca, &c. One for a which it felf is a Sound ; the other for h, which yields no Sound, no more than b ; but adds fomething to a which modifies it, and makes that ha is not mere a, nor ba, nor ca, &c. And this muft hold ftill more fenfibly in the ftronger Af- pirates, as thofe of the oriental Tongues !J, n, Vi t in, VT : 3, ?, Sgc. In all which, there are evidently two Motions, the one for the Vowel, and the other to modify it : Now this being the Nature and Effence of a Confonant, it fol- lows, that let them be denoted in what Manner they will, whether as our h, as the Orientals do, i. e. by proper Cha- racters in the Courle of the Words themfelves ; or, as tho Greeks do fome of theirs, by a Sign of Afpiration placed over the Vowel ; it matters not. The Afpirate is no lefs a Confonant in a'i'po, than in yju^a ; in la, than in ylu ; in S'aii, than y_n\t\ ; and fo of others.
The" third and laft Reafon is, that the Eaftern Langua- ges, which do not exprefs the Vowels, do yet exprefs the Afpirates.
Add, that the Afpirate is frequently chang'd into a Con- fonant, and exprefs'd by a Confonant. Thus, of 2J is made
( *fr )
ASS
Stxj °fl™,Septem j of W , Vefperus, &c. Of the Hebrew \V, . «.©-, and thence Vinum, &c. Nay even in th- lame Language, Hefiog, fpeaking of Heratless rfuckler u" lets HfTvi for ©;i P cfwi making no Difference between a and an Afpirate. See Consonant.
Hence it evidently follows, that Afpirates are real Confo- nants; and that it muft bean Error to rank sx ,-,r\y of the Eaftern Languages, among the Vowels; and to'ex'clude the h in ours, out of the dumber of Letters.
ASSA-Foetida, or Asa-Foetida, a Gum or Refin brought from the Hafl-lndies, ofa browni/h Colour, a (haro Tafte, and a very ftrong, oifenfive Smell; whence it is alio called Stercus 2)tabo!i, or Devil's Dirt.
'Tis not known from what Plant this Gum is procured : all that has been advanced on that Point by the BotaniHs and the Writers of Pharmacy, amounts to no more than Conjec- tures, founded on the different Relations of Travellers— They who after the Antients, fuppofe it drawn from the Lafer, or Laferpithmi , would be hard put to it to get clear of thofe many Difputes which have fo often divided the Bota- nifts on the Subjeft of the true Lafer, and the Succus Cy- renaicns, fo infinitely prized among them. Indeed there feems but little Refemblatice between the Gum defcribed by M. Furetiere, out oi.Tliny, lib. xix. c. 3. and our Ajfa- Ftetida: If they be the fame, 'tis certain we ate not ac- quainted with half its Virtues.
The modern Ajfa-Fxtida, which is little ufed but by the Farriers, is a Gum laid to diflil during the Summer's Heats, from a little Shrub, frequent in Ver/ia , Media, slffyria' and Arabia— It is at firft white, bordering on yellow, then on red, and laftly on Violet; and melts under the Finders like Wax. °
It is of known Efficacy in fome uterine Diforders ; but the Ranknefs of its Smell occafions it to be feldom ufed • yet in the Eaft-Indies it makes an Ingredient in their Ra- gouts.
ASSA-Duxcis, a Name fometimes given to Gum Ben- joyn. See Benjoyn.
ASARABACKA, or Assara-Bacara, a Plant men- tioned by 'Pliny and 'Diofcorides, under the Name of the Wild Nardus ; by us called Asarum.
Avicenna relates, that it is brought from Chind ; that its Roots referable thofe of Gramen, or Dog's-Tooth ; but that it has a pretty brisk Smell, and bites theTonguc when tailed. — Its Leaves were antiently much in Ufe, as an Emetic, and Cathartic ; and in fome Authors we find a fuperftitious' Ob- fervance in the gathering 'em : They alledge, that if the Plant be pull'd forward it becomes vomitive, but if backwards purgative. Rulandus and Fernelius frequently defcribe it as a Diuretic.
But it is chiefly ufed among us as a Sternutatory, in or- der to which, it is dried and reduced to a Powder, to be taken as a Snuff; in which Quality it drains the Head of mucous Humours.
ASSACH, or Assath, a kind of Purgation, antiently ufed in Wales, by the Oaths of ;oo Men. See Purga- tion and Oath.
ASSAILANT, one that affaults, or fets upon another. See Assault, Attack, cjfc.
ASSART, in Law, an Offence committed in the Foreft by pulling up, by the Roots, Woods which ferve as Thick- ets and Covert for the Deer, and making them plain as arable Land. See Forest.
This is the greater! Trefpafs that can be committed in the Foreft, being more than a Wafte. For whereas Watte of the Foreft is but the felling and cutting down the Coverts which may grow again ; A/fart is a total Extirpation there! of. See Waste.
What we call Affartum, is elfewhere term'd Disbofcatio.
Assart was alfo ufed for a Parcel of Land aflarted. See Assart.
AssART-i?c«M, were thofe paid to the Crown for the Foreft Lands affarted. See Rent.
ASSASSIN, a Perfon who kills another with the Advan- tage either of an Inequality in the Weapons, or by means of the Situation of the Place, or by attacking him at una- wares. See Mukther, Duel, &c.
The Word AJfaJJm is faid, by fome, to have been brought from the Levant, where it took its Rife from a certain Prince of the Family of the /rrfacides, popularly cailed Af- fafins, living in a Caftle between Antioch and DamdJSoi and bringing up a Number of young Men, ready to pay a blind Obedience to his Commands ; whom he employed in murdering the Princes with whom he was at Enmity. See Arsacides.
The Jew Benjamin, in his Itinerary, places them near Mount Libanns; and calls them in Hebrew, from the Ara- bic [ijy ipg ^ Elafifin; which fhews that the Name did not come from Arfacide, but from the Arabic wtv*»n Afis, Infidiator, a Perlbn who lies in Ambu/h. *
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