JASMINE JAUNDICE. 



and the princes of tire blood. See the articles Eurl, 

 and Alderman. 



JASMINE; a beautiful genus of plants belonging 

 to the diandria monogynia of Linnaeus. The corolla 

 is funnel-shaped, and tlie fruit a two-seeded berry. 

 Thirty species are known, which are shrubs, often 

 with long, twining branches, bearing simple or com- 

 pound leaves, and beautiful and delightfully fragrant 

 flowers. Two species are natives of the south of 

 Europe. 



JASON ; son of ^Eson, king of lolchos, in Thes- 

 saly, and of Polymeda (according to some writers, of 

 Polymete, Alcimede, Polypheme, &c.) j a hero of an- 

 cient Greece, celebrated for his share in the Argo- 

 nautic expedition, before which he had distinguished 

 himself in the Caledonian hunt. His instructor was 

 the Centaur Chiron, who educated most of the heroes 

 of that time. His father abdicated the government 

 of lolchos before Jason was of full age ; on which 

 account his uncle Pelias administered the govern- 

 ment as his guardian. The causes of Jason's expedi- 

 tion to Colchis are commonly related thus : Pelias, 

 Jason's uncle, sent an invitation to all his relations, 

 and, among the rest, to Jason, to attend a solemn 

 sacrifice to Neptune. When Jason, on his way to 

 lolchos, came to the river Evenus (Enipeus, Anaurus), 

 he found Juno there, in the form of an old woman, 

 who requested him to carry her over. He complied 

 with her request, but lost one of his shoes in the 

 mud. Pelias, who had been warned by an oracle, 

 that he should be deprived of his kingdom and life by 

 the man who should come to the sacrifice without 

 shoes, was alarmed at the sight of Jason in this con- 

 dition, and asked him what he would do to the man 

 designated by the oracle as his murderer. Jason, at 

 the instigation of Juno, replied, that he should send 

 him to Colchis, after the golden fleece ; and he was 

 accordingly sent. Another account relates that 

 Pelias had deprived his brother of his throne, and 

 that Jason, when twenty years old, having asked the 

 oracle how he could get possession of his lawful in- 

 heritance, was directed to go to the court of Pelias, 

 at lolchos, in the dress of a Magnesian, with a leo- 

 pard's skin on his shoulders, and armed with two 

 lances. On the way, Jason lost his shoe in the mao- 

 ner above related. All were surprised at his appear- 

 ance, and Pelias, who did not recognise him, de- 

 manded who he was. Jason answered boldly that 

 he was the son of JEson, caused himself to be shown 

 the dwelling of his father, and spent five days there 

 with his relations, Pheres, Neleus, Admetus, Amy- 

 thron, Acastus, and Melampus, in celebrating his re- 

 turn. They then went together to Pelias, and demand- 

 ed of him his abdication. Pelias dared not refuse, but 

 answered that he would resign, after Jason had per- 

 formed a glorious achievement by bringing back the 

 golden fleece to Thessaly, as the oracle and the 

 shade of Phryxus had commanded, since his age 

 would not permit him to go himself. On the voyage 

 (see Argonauts), Jason had two children by Hypsipyle 

 of Lernnos Euneus and Nebrophonus (Deipylus). 

 By the assistance of Medea he successfully accom- 

 plished the object of his voyage, and returned, carry- 

 ing home Medea as his wife, after long wanderings. 

 Here he avenged the murder of his parents and his 

 brother, by putting Pelias to death. But he was 

 unable to retain possession of the throne, and was 

 obliged to resign it to Acastus, son of Pelias, and 

 flee, with his wife, to Corinth. Here they passed ten 

 happy years, till Jason, wearied of Medea, fell in love 

 with Clauce (Creusa, according to some accounts), 

 daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, married her, 

 and put away Medea and her children. Medea, 

 having revenged herself on her hated rival, fled from 

 the wrath of Jason, in her car drawn by dragons, to 



jEgeus, king of Athene, after she had put to death 

 Mermerus and Pheretus, her sons by Jason. Ac- 

 cording to some, Jason killed himself in despair ; but 

 others relate that, after passing a miserable wander- 

 ing life, he came to his death by the following acci- 

 dent : As he was sleeping one day, overcome by 

 weariness, on the sea-shore, in the shade of the vessel 

 which had borne him to Colchis, a beam fell upon 

 him and crushed him. Others say that he was after- 

 wards reconciled to Medea, and returned with her to 

 Colchis, where, after the death-of his father-in-law, he 

 ruled many years in peace. 



JASPER. See Quartz. 



JASSY (Jash), capital of Moldavia, about 18 

 miles distant from the Pruth, 200 miles east of 

 Oczakow, 370 north of Constantinople, has a citadel, 

 and is the residence of the hospodar, and seat of the 

 Greek metropolitan of Moldavia, with 25,000 inhab- 

 itants. The Roman Catholics are allowed the free 

 exercise of their religion, and there are some Jews 

 here. The city is an open place, and was almost 

 destroyed by the janizaries, August 10, 1822 : it now 

 contains hardly 2000 houses. The streets are paved 

 with logs. The excellent canvass made here, and 

 the wine of Catanapou, in the neighbourhood, are 

 exported from Jassy to Constantinople. This city 

 was taken by the Russians, in 17b9 and 1769, but 

 each time restored to the Turks on the conclusion of 

 peace. In 1788, it fell'into the power of the Ans- 

 trians ; and, January 9, 1792, the peace between 

 Russia and Turkey was signed here. (See Russia.) 

 In 1821, the unfortunate Alexander Ypsilanti here 

 raised the standard of the Greek Hetseria against 

 the Turks. See Hetceria, and Greece, Revolution of. 



JAUCOURT, Louis, chevalier de, one of the 

 contributors to the French Encyclopedic, born 1704, 

 at Paris, received the rudiments of his education in 

 Geneva, passed three years at Cambridge, and studied 

 medicine in Holland, under Boerhaave and Tron- 

 chin, but determined to practise it only for the bene- 

 fit of the poor. On his return home, he devoted 

 himself entirely to letters, and, at the instance of 

 D'Alembert, he prepared the articles relating to 

 medicine and natural philosophy for the Encyclope- 

 dic. He also contributed other articles, which are 

 among the best in the work. Feeling his strength 

 decline, he retired to Compiegne, where he died, 

 1779. Besides his treatises in the Encyclopedic, he 

 published various works, some original and some 

 translated, on medical subjects. The manuscript of 

 a universal medical dictionary, which he had pre- 

 pared, in six volumes, folio, was lost on its way to the 

 publisher in Amsterdam, in a vessel that was ship- 

 wrecked on the coast of North Holland. 



JAUNDICE is a disease of which the distinguish- 

 ing peculiarity is, that the whole skin becomes yel- 

 low. It proceeds from some disease about the liver, 

 or its communication with the bowels. The internal 

 symptoms are those of all disorders of the digestive 

 organs, except that the water is dark and loaded 

 with bile, while the bowels appear to be deprived of 

 it. The yellow colour is first perceptible in the 

 whiter parts of the body, as the white of the eye, &c., 

 and soon overspreads the whole body. There is 

 often an extreme itching and prickling over the 

 whole skin. After the disease has continued long, 

 the colour of the skin becomes gradually deeper and 

 darker, till the disease becomes, at last, what is vul- 

 garly called the black jaundice. This appearance 

 arises from the bile being retained, from various 

 causes, in the liver and gall-bladder, and thus being 

 absorbed and circulated with the blood. It may be 

 produced by obstacles to the passage of the bile of 

 various kinds, and is often suddenly induced by a 

 violent fit of passion, or more slowly by long con- 



