ARU 



ASA 



edition of Selden's work was published, 

 with additional notes, by the celebrated 

 Dr. Prideaux. Mr. Mattaire, in 1731, 

 gave the public a more comprehensive 

 view of these marbles, and in 1763, Dr. 

 Chandler published a new and improved 

 copy of them, in which he corrected the 

 errors of the former editors, and supplied 

 the deficiencies in some of the inscrip- 

 tions, particularly those of the Parian 

 Chronicle, by many ingenious conjectures. 

 These marbles, in their perfect state, 

 contained a chronological detail of the 

 principal events of Greece, from the com- 

 mencement of the reign of Cecrops, in the 

 year before Christ, 1582, to the close of 

 the archonate of Diognetus, in the year 

 264 A. C. The chronicle of the last 90 

 years is lost, and the others are much de- 

 faced and corroded, of course the sense 

 can only be discovered by very learned 

 and industrious antiquaries, or supplied 

 by conjectures. Almost every event in 

 this table, between the destruction of 

 Troy and the annual magistracy of Athens, 

 is dated 26 years earlier than in the canons 

 of Eusebius, and those of other approved 

 chronologers. These marbles have been 

 applied to the elucidation of many parts 

 of ancient history ; but their inconsisten- 

 cy with other authentic records has de- 

 preciated their value and use. Their 

 authenticity has been doubted, and the 

 question ably discussed by Mr. Robert- 

 son and Mr. Hewlett, the former being 

 inclined to give up, and the latter to vin- 

 dicate, the authenticity of the Parian 

 chronicle. 



ARUNDO, common reed, in botany, a 

 genus of the Triandria Digynia class of 

 plants, the calyx of which is a glume, 

 formed of two oblong, acuminated valves, 

 not aristated, one longer than the other. 

 The corolla is formed of two valves, of 

 the length of the cup, of an oblong, acu- 

 minated figure, with a lanuginous matter 

 at the base, of the length of the flower ; 

 the corolla adheres to the seed, and 

 serves as a pericarpium ; the seed is sin- 

 gle, oblong, pointed, and downy at the 

 base. There are 14 species, of which we 

 notice, 1. A. bambos, bamboo-cane, which 

 has a woody, hollow, round, straight 

 culm, forty feet high and upwards, simple 

 and shining ; it grows naturally almost 

 every where within the tropical regions. 

 Over a great part of Asia it is very com- 

 mon. It has been long cultivated here. 

 Some of the plants have been seen twen- 

 ty feet high ; a strong shoot from the 

 roQt has been known to grow twenty feet 

 in five or six weeks. See BAMBOO. 2. A. 



phragmites, the common reed, which 

 flowers from July to September, and is 

 common by the sides of rivers, in ditches, 

 and large standing waters. In autumn, 

 when the leaves begin to fall, and the 

 stems are changed brown, it is cut for 

 making screens in kitchen gardens, and 

 for many other uses, as thatching, for 

 which it is more durable than straw ; for 

 ceilings, and to lay across the frame of 

 wood-work, as the foundation for plaister 

 floors. The panicles are used by the 

 country people in Sweden to dye wool 

 green. 



ARUSPICES, or HARUSPICES, an or- 

 der of priesthood, among the Romans, 

 that pretended to foretel future events by 

 inspecting the entrails of victims killed in 

 sacrifice ; they were also consulted on 

 occasions of portents and prodigies. It 

 appears that women were admitted into 

 this order. 



AS, in antiquity, a particular weight, 

 consisting of twelve ounces ; being the 

 same with libra, or the Roman pound. 



As was also the name of a Roman coin, 

 which was of different matter and weight, 

 according to the different ages of the 

 commonwealth. 



It is also used to signify an integer, di- 

 visible into twelve parts, from which last 

 acceptation it signified a whole inherit- 

 ance. The as had several divisions, the 

 principal of which were the uncia, or 

 ounce, being the twelfth part of the as; 

 sextans, the sixth part of the as ; qua- 

 drans, the fourth part ; triens, the third 

 part; and semis, half the as, or six 

 ounces. Bes was two-thirds of the as, or 

 eight ounces ; and dodrans, three-fourths 

 of the as. 



ASAFCETIDA, in chemistry, a gum 

 resin obtained -from ferula asafoetida, a 

 perennial plant, which is a native of Per- 

 sia. When the plant is about four years 

 old, its roots are dug up and cleaned, and 

 from their extremity, when cut, a milky 

 juice exudes, which soon hardens, and 

 constitutes asafoetida. It comes into this 

 and other countries in Europe in small 

 grains, of different colours, hard and brit- 

 tle. Its taste is acrid and bitter, its smell 

 is strongly alliaceous and fetid. Alcohol 

 dissolves three-fourths of this substance, 

 and water takes up about one-fourth, if 

 applied before the spirit. It yields an oil, 

 when distilled with water and alcohol. 

 The specific gravity is 1.32. 



ASARUM, or ASARAUACCA, in botany, 

 a genus of plants without any flower- 

 leaves, and belonging to the Dodecandria 

 Monogynia class of Linnaeus. Its fruit is 



