ASP 



ASS 



chief ingredient of the Greek fire. The 

 Egyptians are said to have employed this 

 bitumen in embalming, it was called, 

 mumia mineralis. The ancients inform 

 us that it was used instead of mortar in 

 building 1 the walls of Babylon. The Ara- 

 bians still use a solution of it in oil to be- 

 smear their horse harness, to preserve it 

 from insects. Buildings are said to be 

 constructed with this pitch ; and Peter 

 de Vol mentions, that he examined very 

 old buildings, the stones of which were 

 cemented by means of mineral pitch ; and 

 which were still firm and g'ood. Asphal- 

 tum is seldom absolutely pure ; for when 

 alcohol is digested on it, the colour of the 

 liquid becomes yellow, and, by gentle 

 evaporation, a portion of petroleum is se- 

 parated. Mineral tar seems to be nothing 

 else than asphaltum containing a still 

 greater proportion of petroleum. When 

 alcohol is digested on it, a considerable 

 quantity of that oil is taken up ; but there 

 remains a black fluid substance like melt- 

 ed pitch, not acted upon by alcohol, and 

 which therefore appears to possess the 

 properties of asphaltum, with the excep- 

 tion of not being solid. By exposure to 

 the air, it is said to assume gradually the 

 state of asphaltum. 



ASPHODEL, in botany, a genus of the 

 Hexandria Monogynia class of plants, the 

 flower of which is liliaceous, consisting 

 of a single petal, divided into six seg- 

 ments ; and its fruit is a globose-trilocu- 

 lar capsule, containing a number of trian- 

 gular seeds, gibbous on one side. 



According to Martyn, there are three 

 species. The yellow asphodel is a native 

 of Sicily. Of the white, there are im- 

 mense tracts of land in Apulia covered 

 with it, for the purpose of feeding sheep. 

 The onion-leaved asphodel is an annual, 

 that grows naturally in France, Spain, 

 and the island of Crete. The yellow and 

 white are pretty ornaments for a flower 

 garden, and cultivated with very little 

 trouble. They may be propagated with 

 seeds, which should be sown soon after 

 they are ripe. 



ASPHYXIA, in medicine, a term which 

 signifies want of pulsation, and is used to 

 denote apparent death. Such suspen- 

 sions of the vital actions are referred by 

 Cullen to apoplexy and syncope. See 

 MEDICINE. 



ASPJLENIUN, milt-waste, or spleen-wort, 

 in botany, agenus of Cryptogamia Filices 

 plants, the fructification of which is ar- 

 ranged in clusters, and disposed in form 

 of straight lines, under the disk of the 

 Jeaf. 



There are, according to Willdenow, 99 

 species. Martyn observes, that whoever 

 is desirous of cultivating these ferns must 

 have walls, rocks, or heaps of stones, to 

 set the hardy species in ; or pots may be 

 filled with loamy undunged earth, or sand 

 gravel, and lime rubbish, for that purpose, 

 placing them in the shade. The Ameri- 

 can species according to Muhlenberg, 

 are eight in number. 



ASS. See Eauus. 



ASSAULT, in law a violent injury of- 

 fered to a man's person, being of a higher 

 nature than battery ; for it may be com- 

 mitted by offering a blow, or a terrifying 

 speech. In case a person threatens to 

 beat another, or lies in wait to do it, if 

 the other is hindered in his business, and 

 receives loss, it will be an assault, for 

 which an action may be brought, and da- 

 mages recovered. Not only striking, but 

 thrusting, pushing, casting stones, or 

 throwing drink in the face of any person, 

 are deemed assaults. 



In all which cases a man may plead in 

 his justification, the defence of his person 

 or goods, father, mother, wife, master, &c. 



ASSAYING, is a term particularly ap- 

 plied to the separation of gold or silver 

 from other metals. In its more extended 

 meaning, it is used for the determination 

 of the quantity of any metal whatsoever 

 in composition with any other metal or 

 mineral. 



The assaying of gold or silver is divi- 

 ded into two operations; by the first they 

 are separated from the imperfect metals, 

 or those easily oxyded ; by the second 

 they are parted from the metals which 

 resist oxydation by simple exposure to 

 air, and which are therefore called the 

 perfect metals ; this second process gene- 

 rally consists in parting gold and silver 

 from each other, as the third perfect me- 

 tal, platina, is but seldom found united to 

 them. 



The basis of the 'method of separating 

 gold or silver from the imperfect metals is 

 founded on the facility with which the lat- 

 ter imbibes oxygen; and the process is cal- 

 culated to accelerate this operation as 

 much as possible; hence the oxydeof lead 

 or litharge, is generally considered as the 

 most powerful purifier of the perfect me- 

 tals, from the ease with which it parts with 

 its oxygen to the imperfect metals united 

 with them; butoflate,oxyde of manganese 

 has been found superior to it, in several 

 instances, for this purpose. In the che- 

 mical analyses of metals, the oxyde of lead 

 is generally preferred for the above pur- 

 pose ; but in the assays performed br 



