218 



ASPHODELUS ASPIDOPHORUS. 



called also hepatic aloes, from its resemblance to 

 liver, and is procured from the Aloe perfo/iata. It is 

 not quite so pure as the first, and is imported from 

 the Levant and the island of Barbadoes. The third 

 variety, called caballine, or horse aloes, differs from 

 the others in being very coarse and impure, and in 

 exhaling a very fetid smell. It is said to be the 

 refuse of the process for making Barbadoes aloes, 

 and is only used in veterinary medicine. Aloes is a 

 stimulant purgative, and acts chiefly on the lower 

 part of the intestines. It is prepared either by cutting 

 the leaves of the plants and allowing the juice to flow 

 out, or by boiling them in water and afterwards 

 evaporating. The purest or Socotrine aloes is got 

 by the former method. 



Allium is another important genus of this order. 

 The leek, onion, shallot, chive, rocambolle, and gar- 

 lic are all species of the genus. In general they 

 are stimulant, and are used as condiments to promote 

 digestion and excite the appetite. Garlic, or the 

 allium sativum, besides being an ingredient in the 

 epicure's sauces, is eniployed medicinally as a power- 

 ful diffusible stimulus. It is also administered in 

 cases of retention of urine. The onion (Allium cepa] 

 was worshipped as a divinity by the Egyptians. It 

 contains a volatile oil combined with "sulphur, and 

 has been used in dropsy. Most of the alliums act as 

 rubefacients, and some of them as blisters. 



The genus Scilla possesses properties in many re- 

 spects similar to those of the allium. From the large 

 scaly root of the Scilla maritima, a plant which grows 

 on the sandy shores of the Mediterranean, a medi- 

 cinal article is procured, known by the name of 

 squills. This is a bitter stimulant substance, which 

 is very extensively used. It acts chiefly on the lungs 

 and kidneys, possessing expectorant and diuretic vir- 

 tues. It also acts in large doses as an emetic. From 

 its stimulating qualities, it cannot be employed in any 

 active inflammatory complaints. Squill root contains 

 an acrid principle, called scillitine, which is volatile ; 

 and hence it loses by keeping or too much drying. 

 The inhabitants of the Pyrenees use the bulb of the 

 Scilla lilio-hyacinlhus as a purgative. The roots of 

 the Scilla csculcnta, esculent squill, or camass, are 

 eaten by various Indians on the North-west coast of 

 America ; and a kind of cake is made from them. 



The common asparagus, which in its young state 

 is a delicate article of food, is used as a diuretic, and 

 is said to exert a peculiar sedative effect on the 

 heart's action. The shoots of most of the species, 

 even of those which afterwards become woody, may 

 be used as food in their young state. The long fleshy 

 roots of the Asparagus sarmentosiis are eaten with 

 milk by the inhabitants of Ceylon. An extract is 

 procured from the roots of many of the species of 

 asparagus, and a crystalline matter denominated 

 asparagin. 



The Draccena Draco yields a concrete juice, called 

 gum dragon, which is used as a styptic, to stop bleedings 

 and discharges. The Dracaena tcrndnalis is diapho- 

 retic, and its root is used in Java in dysentery. 7?, a 

 favorite spirit of the Sandwich islanders, is prepared 

 from this plant. Several gigantic species of Draccena 

 are found in the Canary Islands. 



Xanthorrhcea haatilis yields the yellow gum resin 

 of New South Wales. In consequence of its spiral 

 leaves hanging down on all sides, this tree is called 

 by the English inhabitants of Port Jackson, the 

 grass-tree. It is used as a styptic and anti-dysenteric. 



The thick tuberous roots of the Yucca gloriosa, 

 Adam's needle, have been used by the Indians iti 

 place of bread. 



The root of the Ornithogalum umbellatum, common 

 star of Bethlehem, which is eaten to the present day 

 in Palestine, is said to be the doves dung, mentioned 

 in the Second Book of Kings, chap, vi., v. 25. The 

 fragrant flowers of Ornithogalum corymbosum are used 

 by the Peruvian females as an article of ornament 

 for the hair. 



We might have noticed the Hyacinth and several 

 other beautiful genera, belonging to the Asphodel 

 family, were it not that those already alluded to are 

 sufficient to show the properties of the order. 



ASPHODELUS Asphodel (Linnaeus). A family 

 of ten species, herbaceous flowing perennials, natives 

 of Europe. Linnsean class and order Hexandria 

 Monogynia ; natural order Asphodelite. Generic 

 character : corolla six-petaled, spreading ; stamens, 

 filaments form a vault with the base of the petals, 

 connected, arched, awl-shaped ; anthers incumbent ; 

 style awl-shaped, bending upwards ; capsule lea- 

 thery, three-celled, full of seeds ; seeds angular. 

 These plants always find a-place in the shrubbery 

 borders, as they are of rapid growth, and flower 

 readily ; they are also easy of propagation by divi- 

 sion. 



ASPIDIUM (Swartz). One of our most nume- 

 rous and beautiful families of Ferns. It is called 

 the shield fern, from the form of the indusium of the 

 fructification. The genus consists of forty-eight spe- 

 cies, of which thirteen are natives. Generic charac- 

 ter : sori, roundish and scattered, or deposited in 

 ranks ; shields solitary, roundly peltate, or kidney- 

 shaped, fixed by the middle or the edge. Cryptoga- 

 mists have arranged the genus into five sections, 

 founded on the forms of the fronds, viz. ternate, pin- 

 nate, bipinnate, bipinnatifid, and supradecomposite. 



ASPIDOPHORUS, a genus of spinous-finned 

 fishes, belonging to Cuvier's family of Joues cuiras- 

 sees, or those which have the cheeks armed with 

 thick and strong scales, or osseous plates. The fishes 

 of this genus have not the cheeks only, but the whole 

 boSy and tail so armed. They have also the gill- 

 covers bordered with fleshy filaments. The mouth 

 opens under the muzzle. They have not teeth in the 

 vomer, and by this they are distinguished from the 

 bull-heads (cottus), with which at least some species 

 of the present genus have been confounded. The 

 scales with which the body is covered are large and 

 angular, and thick and tuberculous in the middle. 

 They have in general two dorsal fins. 



There is one species which is met with on most of 

 the coasts of Europe, the common pogge, or armed 

 bull-head. It has the head large, the plates upon it 

 also large, forming a complete armour ; four -small 

 spines on the snout ; and the fleshy fibres of the gill- 

 covers so long as to hang like a beard under the 

 throat. It is a small fish, seldom met with more 

 than four or five inches long, and in an economical 

 point of view it is of no value. 



There are other species, chiefly in the Pacific 

 Ocean, some of which differ in one respect or other 

 from the pogge ; as, some have 1 the mouth in front, 

 and the two jaws of course equally produced ; others 

 have the gill-covers smooth ; and there is an Indian 

 species with but one dorsal fin, which Lacepede has, 

 apparently without much reason, formed into another 

 genus, Axpidophnroidcs. 



