009 



ASPARAGIN. 



ASPECT. 



cio 



rated with the Right Hon. Holt Mackenzie and Dr. Royle. After 

 printing a volume of its proceedings, it was dissolved in 1841, when Dr. 

 Royle entered upon his office at the India House for investigating the 

 vegetable products of India an office which appears to have been 

 suggested by the proceedings of the committee now referred to. 



The parent society in London has affiliated as branches the follow- 

 ing associations : 1. The Literary Society of Bombay ; 2. The Literary 

 Society of Madras ; 3. The Asiatic Society of Ceylon ; 4. The Asiatic 

 Society of Hong Kong; 5. The Literary and Scientific Society of 

 Shanghai ; brief notices of which we shall give seriatim. 



1. The Bombay Society was instituted in 1804, under the president- 

 ship of Sir James Mackintosh. It has printed 3 vols. of ' Transactions/ 

 in 4to (1819-23); and 5 vols. of 'Journal,' in 8vo (1844-57). 



2. The Madras Society owed its origin to Sir John Newbolt. It 

 printed a thin volume of 'Transactions,' in 4to in 1827; since which 

 it has published 19 vols. of its ' Journal," in 8vo, dated from 1834 to 

 1838. 



3. The Ceylon Society was instituted in 1845, under the patronage 

 of the Governor-General of the island, Sir Colin Campbell. Between 

 1846 and 1853, it had printed two volumes of its 'Journal;' but we 

 are not aware whether it has published anything since. 



4. The China branch at Hong Kong was founded in 1847 ; and has 

 printed four parts of ' Transactions,' between 1847 and 1855. 



5. The Shanghai Society dates from 1858 only ; and has printed but 

 one portion of its ' Journal.' 



The ' Deutsche Morgenlimdische Gesellschaft ' was instituted in Leip- 

 zig, in 1846, under the auspices of Lassen, of Bonn ; Rodiger and Pott, 

 of Halle ; and Fleischer and Brockhaus, of Leipzig. Its ' Zeitechrift ' 

 commenced in 1847, and may be considered a continuation of Ewald 

 and Lassen's ' Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes,' published 

 at Gottingen and Bonn in 1837-50, in 7 vols. 8vo. Its present 

 editor is Dr. H. Brockhaus ; and such has been the industry of its 

 contributors that, up to 1858, it comprised twelve dense volumes, with 

 a copious index to the first ten. In addition to the publication of its 

 own proceedings, the society has patronised other oriental works, 

 such as the ' Indische Studien.' It has also commenced a series of 

 ' Abhandlungen,' &c., one volume of which has appeared. 



At Batavia, in Java, a society having similar objects to those already 

 noticed, was founded about 1780 ; which has published a ' Verhand- 

 lingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap,' &c., which has reached 

 many volumes; and it now prints a ' Tydschrift,' c. There was also 

 formed a few years since, at Amsterdam, a Royal Institute of Nether- 

 lands India, which publishes ' Bijdragen,' &c., besides separate works 

 on subjects connected with the Indian Archipelago. 



An oriental society originated at Boston in 1842, and during the 

 next year received from the government an Act of incorporation, under 

 the name of ' The American Oriental Society, for the purpose of the 

 cultivation of learning in the Asiatic, African, and Polynesian lan- 

 guages.' It publishes a 'Journal,' which in 1856 had reached its 

 fifth volume. The library and collections of this society have been 

 recently located in Yale College, New Haven, Conn. 



ASPARAOIX (C,H.N 1 + 2aq.). Althein, Asparamide. A sub- 

 stance obtained by concentrating the juice of asparagus until, on 

 cooling, it deposits crystals, which, on recrystallisation from water, are 

 pure asparagin. It is met with also in many other plants, as for 

 instance, in the roots of liquorice, marsh-mallow, and comfrey ; in the 

 leaves of belladonna ; in the young shoots of hops, in dahlia tubers, c. 

 Asparagin crystallises in octohedrons or rhombic prisms, which are 

 hard and brittle ; they are tolerably soluble in hot water, only slightly 

 KO in cold, and insoluble in alcohol and ether. Its solution possesses a 

 slightly acid reaction ; but the acid qualities of asparagin are not 

 well pronounced, since it is capable of combining both with acids 

 and bases. 



By heating a solution of asparagin in an acid, tupartic acid and 

 ammonia are produced. 



C,H,N,O, + 2HO = C,H,NO, + NH 3 . 



Asparagin. Aspartic acid. Ammonia. 



A similar decomposition of asparagin also takes place under the 

 influence of alkalies, and even water heated beyond its boiling point 

 under pressure can produce the same transformation. 



Treated with hyponitrous acid, asparagin is converted into malic acid, 

 with separation of nitrogen and water. 



C,H,N,O, 



2NO 3 



= C 8 H,0 10 



2HO. 



Aiparagin. Hyponitrous acid. Malic acid. 



Agparagin when pure is quite permanent in solution ; but impure 

 aqueous solution of asparagin soon begins to ferment, the asparagin 

 disappears and is entirely converted into succinate of ammonia. 



C,H,N,O, + 2HO + H, = C,H,O,, 2NH 4 O. 

 Asparagin. Succinate of ammonia. 



ASPA"RAGUS, a genus of monocotyledonous plants belonging to the 

 natural order Anphndelta. It is easily recognised by its very narrow 

 leaves, which drop off the branching stem as soon as they begin to 



ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. L 



wither, by its small greenish-white or yellowish regularly-formed 

 flowers, and by its seeds being enclosed in a pulpy fruit. 



Unlike the principal part of monocotyledonous plants, and especially 

 of those which belong to Asphodelea, the stems of the different species 

 of asparagus branch like those of dicotyledons, and even become hard 

 and woody ; some of them twine and scramble over other shrubs, and 

 certain species even hook themselves to their supporters by means of 

 their stiff and spiny branches, which are stunted and destitute of leaves. 



The species are natives of the temperate and tropical regions of the 

 old world, but they are not found wild in either North or South 

 America. The most remarkable one is the common cultivated aspa- 

 ragus which is found in sandy and maritime places in most parts of the 

 middle and south of Europe, the Crimea, and also of Siberia and 

 Japan. It is too well-known a plant to require description, and we 

 shall therefore occupy ourselves exclusively with the method of culti- 

 vating it for its succulent aud agreeable heads. 



An asparagus plant consists of a cluster of fleshy roots connected by 

 the stem, where a quantity of buds are formed, from which branches 

 are yearly emitted. The heads are those branches in a young and 

 tender state ; their quality depends wholly upon their size and rapid 

 growth. These are the simplest considerations that are involved in 

 the cultivation of asparagus ; the question is how the largest size and 

 the most rapid growth are to be attained. 



Seeing what the natural situation of the asparagus plant is when 

 wild, it will be obvious that it should have a light soil which offers 

 little resistance either to the emission of its roots or the protrusion of 

 its stems ; the soil should also be capable of both receiving and parting 

 with water readily. Accordingly gardeners take care that all stiff 

 loam, or stones, or solid masses of earth are separated from the soil of 

 their asparagus beds, and that they are completely drained by having 

 trenches 2 4 feet deep cut between the beds. 



To give vigour to the shoots, manure is added in as great a quantity 

 as the cultivator can afford to apply it ; when the seed is sown, or the 

 young plants finally placed in the situation in which they are to 

 produce a crop, an abundant supply of decayed manure, or of bones, or 

 of parings of horses' hoofs, is buried below them ; and they are also 

 annually top-dressed with finely pulverised manure, when the beds are 

 arranged in the winter. Attention being paid to these circumstances, 

 asparagus is one of the easiest vegetables of all to cultivate ; but no art 

 or skill will produce precisely the soil which is most favourable for its 

 growth. This exists naturally in some places in the fittest of all 

 possible states, and it is there only that it is to be obtained in 

 its greatest perfection ; as in the rich alluvial soil of Battersea, 

 Mortlake, and other places round London : in some of these villages it 

 is produced of such extraordinary size that 110 heads in a state fit for 

 the kitchen have been known to weigh more than 32 Ibs. There are 

 those who think that this gigantic asparagus is a peculiar variety ; but 

 it is ascertained that, on being removed into less favourable soils, it 

 gradually loses its vigour and degenerates into the common kind. 



The most convenient breadth for asparagus beds has been found by 

 experience to be 44 feet, and the least depth for the intermediate 

 trenches 2 feet. The beds are either planted with seedlings one year 

 or two years old, buried six inches beneath the surface, aud standing 

 about a foot apart, or sown at once and the seedlings afterwards 

 thinned to such a distance ; the latter method is the most simple and 

 the most effectual. 



In this country it is frequently forced, but seldom with much 

 success ; the heads being usually small and stringy, without sufficient 

 succulence. For this purpose an asparagus bed is dug up, and the 

 plants transferred to a place heated with dung, where they come up in 

 a fortnight or three weeks ; but as the roots are always much injured 

 by the operation of transplanting, the little success that attends this 

 method is easily accounted for. In many parts of the north of Europe, 

 especially about Riga, a far better mode is adopted. The forcing 

 takes place in the asparagus beds themselves without disturbing the 

 roots ; the trenches are filled with hot dung, and the beds are also 

 covered with the same material about six inches deep ; if the weather 

 is very severe, the beds are also covered with frames, but this is rarely 

 necessary in England. Treated thus, asparagus is as fine as if it 

 waited till May to make its appearance. But when this method is 

 practised the heads cannot be cut down at the natural time in the 

 same season. In order to recover from the effect of forcing, they must 

 be allowed to grow as freely as possible during all the succeeding 

 summer, so that they may form a new supply of food for the support 

 of the heads the succeeding spring. Where it is wished to have 

 exceedingly large heads of forced asparagus, pieces of bamboo, or any 

 other hollow tubes, should be put over the shoots when they first 

 make their appearance. The latter will thus acquire a length of as 

 much as eighteen inches without losing their tenderness. 



ASPARAMIDE. [AspABAOin.J 



ASPARTIC ACID. [ASPABAGIN.] 



ASPECT, an astronomical term, now entirely disused, applied to the 

 various positions of the planets with respect to one another, as seen 

 from the earth. The terms conjunction and opposition are the only two 

 out of five names of aspects which have been retained ; the remainder 

 being called sextile, quartile, and trine. At conjunction two planets 

 have the same longitude ; when 60 apart, the aspect is sextile ; 

 when 90, quartile ; when 120, trine ; when 180 apart, or opposite, 



It R 



