292 



ASAUUM ASCETICS. 



have l*-en bishops of St Asnpli, including Drs Isaac 

 Harrow, William Beveridge, aiui Samuel llorsli-y. 

 The population of the town and parish is :\ I 1 1. 



ASARUM ; the root or dried leaves of the asarabacca. 

 The powder of the leaves is tin- l>asis ut' nit cepha- 

 lic snuffs. A good deal of their acrimony is lost in 

 keeping, or by exposure to heat. Asarabacca grows 

 in several parts of England, particularly Lancashire 

 and Westmoreland. 



ASBEN ; a considerable kingdom in the interior of 

 Africa, between Fezzan and Cashna. The sultan is 

 said, by Hornemann, to rank next to that of Bornou, 

 among the sovereigns of interior Africa. The inha- 

 bitants of A. are Tuaricks, of the tribe of Kulluvi. 



ASBESTOS ; a mineral substance, presenting much 

 di\rrsiiy in its structure and colour. It occurs in 

 long, parallel, extremely slender and flexible fibres 

 (lun'mnthus) ; in finely interwoven and closely-matted 

 filaments, forming flat pieces (mountain leather) ; in 

 fibres interlaced so as to form numerous cells resem- 

 bling cork (mountain cork) ; in hard, brittle, slightly- 

 curved fibres (mountain wood) ; and in compactly- 

 fibrous masses, harder and heavier than the other 

 varieties (common asbestus). Its most common 

 colours are grey, yellow, green, and blue, intermingled 

 with white. It is found in all countries more or less 

 abundantly, and exists, forming veins, in serpentine, 

 mica slate, and primitive lime-stone rocks. Amian- 

 thus, the most delicate variety, comes most plentifully 

 from Savoy and Corsica. Its fibrous texture, and the 

 little alteration it undergoes in strong heats, caused 

 it to be used by the eastern nations as an article for 

 the fabrication of cloth, which, when soiled, was pu- 

 rified by throwing it into the fire, from whence it 

 always came out clear and perfectly white ; hence it 

 obtained the name of apiatros, or undefiled. By the 

 Romans, this cloth was purchased at an exorbitant 

 price, for the purpose of wrapping up the bodies of 

 the dead, previously to their being laid upon the fune- 

 ral pile. The preparation of this cloth is effected by 

 soaking the amiantims in warm water, rubbing it with 

 the fingers, soaking the filaments in oil, when they 

 are mingled with a little cotton, and spun upon the 

 ordinary spindle. When woven into cloth, the fabric 

 is heated red hot, and the oil and cotton consumed, 

 leaving only a tissue of pure amianthus. Paper may 

 also be formed from this substance, in the way in 

 which common paper is made, except that more size 

 is requisite. A book has even been printed on such 

 paper. (See Bibliomania.) Lamp-wicks have also 

 been constructed from amianthus, but they require to 

 be cleaned occasionally from the lamp-black, which 

 accumulates upon them, and prevents the due supply 

 of oil. In Corsica, it is advantageously used in the 

 manufacture of pottery, being reduced to fine fila- 

 ments, and kneaded up with the clay ; the effect of 

 which is to render the vessels less liable to break, 

 from sudden alternations of heat and cold, than com- 

 mon pottery. 



ASCALON; a town of Palestine, on the sea coast, 

 14 miles north of Gaza, and 30 south-west of Jeru- 

 salem. It was one of the satrapies of Egypt, and 

 was noted during the crusades. It consists of long 

 streets, and innumerable red granite pillars mostly 

 fallen. 



ASCANJUS ; son of .^Eneas and Creusa, accompanied 

 his father in his flight from the burning of Troy, and 

 went with him to Italy. He was afterwards called 

 luliu. He behaved with great valour in the war 

 between his father and the Latins. He succeeded 

 2Eneas in the government of Latium, and built Alba, 

 to which he transferred the seat of his empire from 

 Lavinium. The descendants of A. reigned in Alba 

 for above 420 years, making 14 kings, till the age o f 

 Numitor. A. reigned 38 years, and was succeeded ] 



by Sylvius Posthumus, son of Aliens by Lavinia. 

 lulus, the son of A., disputed the crown with Sylvi- 

 us ; but the Latins gave it to the latter, as lie was 

 descended from the family of Latinus, and lulus was 

 invested with the office of high priest, which remain- 

 ed a long while in his family. 



A- KNIIANTS, in law, are opposed to descendants in 

 succession ; i. e., when a father succeeds his son, or 

 an uncle his nephew, &c., the inheritance is said to 

 ascend, or to go to ascendant*. See Dvscriit. 



ASCENDING, 'in astronomy, is said of such stars as 

 are rising above the horizon in any parallel of the 

 equator; and thus, likewise, jttmi&if lutilude the 

 latitude of a planet when going towards the north 

 pole. Ascending node is that point of a planet's 

 orbit, wherein it passes the ecliptic to proceed north- 

 ward. This is otherwise called the northern node. 



ASCENSION; an uninhabited island, consisting of 

 naked rocks ; a shattered volcano, of about 60 miles 

 in circumference, in the Atlantic ocean ; Ion. 13 68' 

 45" W. ; lat. 7 56' S. It has an excellent harbour, 

 frequented by the East Indiamen and wlmle-lisliers. 

 Fish, sea-fowl, and turtles abound, but there is an 

 entire want of water. The vegetation, scarcely suf- 

 ficient to support some goats, is confined to an emi- 

 nence in the south-east. In a crevice of the rock 

 there is the sea post-office, as it is called a place 

 where bottles, closely sealed, are left with letters for 

 passing vessels. This island formerly belonged to 

 the Portuguese, who discovered it in 1501 ; but, in 

 1816, some English families from St Helena settled 

 here, on account of the inconvenience which they 

 experienced from the residence of Napoleon. Ascen- 

 sion was then taken possession of by the British 

 government, as a military station, and 60 transport 

 ships provided the garrison of 200 men with supplies 

 from the cape of Good Hope. A road was laid out, 

 and a fort was built. In 1821, the government re- 

 solved to continue the occupation of tins post. 



ASCENSION, in astronomy. We understand by the 

 right ascension of a star, that degree of the equator, 

 reckoned from the beginning of Aries, which comes 

 to the meridian with the star. By the right a-cen- 

 sion and declination, the situation of stars in the 

 heavens is determined, as that of places on the earth 

 by longitude and latitude. By oblique ascension, we 

 understand that degree of the equator, counted as 

 before, which rises with the star, in an oblique sphere. 



ASCENSION DAY ; the day on which the ascension 

 of the Saviour is commemorated, often called Holy 

 Thursday. It is a movable feast, always falling 011 

 the Thursday but one before Whitsuntide. (For the 

 Ascension of the Virgin, a feast of the Roman Catho- 

 lic church, see Assumption.) Much has been written 

 on the ascension of Christ, in Germany, by Protestant 

 Biblical critics, of whom we will only mention Semm- 

 ler and Paulus. 



ASCETICS; a name given, in ancient times, to those 

 Christians who devoted themselves to severe exer- 

 cises of piety, and strove to distinguish themselves 

 from the world by abstinence from sensual enjoy- 

 ments, and by voluntary penances. Hence those 

 writings which teach the spiritual exercises of piety, 

 are termed ascetic writings. Even before Christ, and 

 in the times of the first Christian church, there were 

 similar ascetics among the Jews (see Essenes), also 

 among the philosophers of Greece, and in particular 

 among the Platonics. The expression ascetic is bor- 

 rowed from the Greek word .fx.v<rn (exercise), used 

 by the ancient Greeks to signify the spare diet of the 

 athletes, who, to prepare themselves for their com- 

 bats, abstained from many indulgences. (For the 

 character of the Christian ascetics, and the religious 

 views by which they were guided, see Gnoitki. 

 Saint*, Monks.) 



