222 



A S S A F (E T I D A A S S I M I L A T 1 O N. 



may be improved by culture, so that the domesticated 

 shall, in the qualities which are desired, be much bet- 

 ter than the wMd ; but those which, like the ass, are 

 not so plastic, cannot be improved, or even kept up 

 to their natural state if domesticated. For this reason 

 the domestic ass is in all countries inferior to the wild 

 ass ; and though the differences of those of warm and 

 cold climates be very considerable, they are only indi- 

 cations of different degrees of deterioration. 



The wild ass is a native of the arid regions of 

 central Asia, where it is still found in considerable 

 troops. These troops shift northward and southward 

 with the seasons, but they are always more southerly 

 and also nearer the desert than those places which 

 are supposed to be the native regions of the horse. 

 This might be inferred from the more arid pastures 

 and hardier plants upon which the ass can subsist, and 

 indeed from the whole character of the animal. The 

 horse is not adapted for living upon those compositae, 

 with large roots and tall and hard stems, which form 

 the last vegetation before the saline plants begin ; but 

 even at that time when we may suppose that these 

 places were unoccupied by human beings, even in 

 nomadic hordes, and as such free to the range of 

 animals, he must, as a matter of course, have kept fur- 

 ther down and more in the temperate latitudes, where 

 vegetation is more luxuriant and grasses more abun- 

 dant and kindly. There seems indeed to have 

 always been an animal of the same genus, inter- 

 mediate in its pastures between the horse and the 

 ass ; and it shows the perfection of the analogy of 

 nature, that it is intermediate also in its appearance 

 and character : this animal is the dzegguetai, or dshik- 

 ketei (Equus hermionus of Pallas). Its form and ap- 

 pearance are very much those of a mule ; and the 

 probability is that it. is the mule of the ancients ; 

 the mule of which mention is made in the Bible, as 

 being found in the desert. It is not a mule, however, 

 but a distinct species, though, like some others of the 

 genus, it appears to be too wild and untractable for 

 domestication. It is still met with in central Asia, 

 of a sort of cream colour, with black mane and tail, 

 and a black line down the back, but without the cross 

 on the shoulders which designates the ass. Its ears 

 are also short ; but in other respects the character of 

 its body is intermediate between the two species 

 whose pastures lie on the opposite sides of its range. 

 For reference to the different species of the genus, 

 which includes all the solid-hooted animals that are 

 known, see the article EQUUS. 



The pastures of the ass, in a state of nature, being 

 thus on the very margin of the sandy desert, where 

 the temperature is always warm, and seldom any rain 

 falls, and the animal being stubborn to its native 

 habits, as well as to its normal type, it is easy to see 

 that in Syria, in Egypt, in Barbary, in the isles of 

 the Mediterranean, in Spain, in all the south of 

 Europe, and even in those parts of the middle lati- 

 tudes where there are long tracts of drought in the 

 summer, the ass must be much superior to what it is 

 in England. In all cases, however, the domesticated 

 ones (they cannot be called a domestic variety) are 

 inferior to those which are wild. From a saying, 

 which must have been a current one and in accordance 

 with the truth, as it is inserted in the Proverbs of 

 Solomon, the ass must have been a spirited animal in 

 Syria. " A whip for the horse, and a bridle for the 

 ass," are the words of the proverb in so far as it 

 refers to these animals ; and the fair inference is, that 



the horse being used for warlike purposes, required 

 the application of the whip to urge him on ; whereas 

 the ass, used for the ordinary purposes of domestic- 

 life, required only the bridle to guide him in the di- 

 rection required. In the south, though not a very 

 fleet animal, it is still one upon which long journeys 

 can be performed, as it is longer in wearing out, and 

 does not so often require to stop for refreshment as 

 the horse. It is hardy and tenacious of life, even in 

 those countries where it is upon the whole the most 

 deteriorated ; for even in those places where they 

 are most abundant in the living state, it is rare to see 

 a dead ass. 



The generic characters will be mentioned in the 

 article EQUUS. The specific ones are few in number, 

 and as all are familiar with the appearance of the 

 animal, they do not require to be mentioned with any 

 minuteness of detail. The long ears, the cross on 

 the shoulders, the tuft at the end of the tail, which is 

 naked or has only short hair for the greater part of 

 its length, and the absence of warts or callous tuber- 

 cles on the hind legs, are the specific characters which 

 distinguish it from the horse. In a state of nature, 

 the hoof is also narrower in proportion, and better 

 adapted for walking upon hard surfaces : in the teeth 

 and the whole internal structure, there is much uni- 

 formity in all the genus. 



ASSAFqmDA of the druggist, and Ferula 

 assafcetida of botanists, a native of Persia. Linna-an 

 class and order Pcntandria Digynia; natural order 

 UmbellifcrcE. Generic character : involucrum varied ; 

 flowers polygamous, fruit compressed, smooth, mar- 

 gin thickened ; costa? very obtuse below. This plant 

 has alarge fusiform root, and it is cultivated for the juice 

 which it yields, and manufactured for exportation. 



ASSIMILATION, in Physiology, is that pro- 

 perty, or principle, or whatever else it may be called, 

 by means of which organised beings, whether vege- 

 table or animal, take to themselves, and convert to 

 their own substance, structure, or organisation, those 

 foreign substances which constitute their pabulum or 

 food. The subject is one of great importance, more 

 so perhaps than any other of a merely material nature, 

 which can draw the attention or exercise the industry 

 and sagacity of mankind. Upon it depends the suc- 

 cess of every method and instance of culture, and the 

 condition and value of all that can be cultivated. 

 Upon it also depend our bodily strength and health, 

 and all that can render life worthy of being enjoyed. 



But the obscurity and difficulty of the subject are 

 as great as its importance ; and thus it is one which 

 probably never can be brought within the scope of 

 demonstrative philosophy. The foundations of it lie 

 in the very elemental workings of nature, where the 

 produce of the work is yet too small for our observa- 

 tion; and even in the full-grown subject, where we 

 can trace the process a greater or less way, according 

 to its nature and our opportunities, there is always a 

 point at which we are left in the dark, and our being 

 so left reduces that which we have previously traced 

 to comparatively little value. 



The reason of this is very plain, and it is such a 

 reason as to render the success of any attempt at the 

 full elucidation of the subject doubtful, if not hopeless. 

 That reason is this : the important part of the process, 

 that in fact upon which the whole depends, does not 

 come within the province of the philosophy of matter 

 (the only demonstrative philosophy that we have) 

 in any of its forms. It cannot be accounted for 



