A S C 



as a clyftcr, which brought on a cofliventfs, but had no 

 good cITcft. Six grains of f.'.lt of (Iccl were difTolvcd in fix 

 ounces of water, and injiiflcd. This clyftcr in a fe\v minutes 

 occaGoned an aching in' the rcftum, and griped a little xvith- 

 cut purging, and excited a tcnefmun. Soific few afcaridcs 

 were brought off with it, but I'll of them were alive. The 

 ancafy fenfation occafiouid by this ehfler did not 

 •bate till fomc warm milk was thror^n up. Wherever the 

 tencfmusor mucus ftools were thought worth taking notice 

 of, warm milk and oil generally gave immediate relief. If 

 purging was ncceffar)', the lenient purges, fuch as manna 

 with oil, were in this cafe made ufe 01; rhubarb was found 

 too ftimulating. But, in gecer^l, the moll nfefid purge, and 

 V.'hicli therefore was molt ufually taken, was cinnabar and 

 rhubarb, of each half a drachm : this powder feldom failed to 

 bring away a mucus as tranlparent as the white of an egg, 

 -and in this many afcaridcs were moving about. The cir.na- 

 bar frequently .-idhered to this mucus, which did not come 

 cffin fuch large (juantities, when a purge was taken without 

 the cinnabar. Calomel did no more tlian any other purge, 

 which operates brifldy, v.-onhl liavc done ; that is, it brought 

 away afcarides, with a great deal of mucus. Oil, given as a 

 clyller, has fomctimes brought oft' thefe animalcules : the 

 oil fwam on the furface of t'ae. mucus, and the afcarides were 

 alive moving in the mucus, which probably hindered the oil 

 from coming in contact with them and killing them. The 

 fame mucus may reafonably be fuppofed to preferve thefe 

 worms unhurt, though futrounded with many other liquors, 

 the immediate touch of which would K- f-'jij^ jj t5,e af(.^. 

 rides be taken out of jh^ir mUCTiS, and expofed to the open 

 Vir, they become motlonlcfs, and feem to die in a very few 

 minutes. 



The general health of this patient did not feem to have at 

 all fuffered by the long continuance of his diforder, nor the 

 immediate inconveniences of the diforder itfclf to have 

 increafcd. It is perhaps univerfally true that this kind of 

 worm, though a? difficult to be cured as any, is yet the Icaft 

 dangerous of all. They have been known to accompany a 

 perfon through the whole of a long life, without any 

 reafon to fufpeCl that they have hallcned its end. As in 

 this example there was no remarkable fiekni fs, indigeftion, 

 pain of the llomaeh, giddiuefs, nor itching of the nofe, 

 poffibly thefe fymptoms, where they have happened 

 to be joined with the afcarides, did not properly belong 

 to them, but arofe from other cnufes. There is indeed no 

 one fign of worms, but what in fome patients will be want- 

 ing. From this cafe it further appears, that mucus or 

 flime is the proper ncll of the afcarides, in which they live, 

 and perhaps tlie food by which they are nourifhed. It is 

 hard to fatisfy ourfelves by what inllinft they fuid it out 

 in the human body, and by what means they get at it ; 

 but it is obfervable in many other parts of nature as well 

 as here, that where there is a fit foil for the hatching 

 and growth of animals ar.d vegetables, nat\ire has taken 

 fufficient care that their feed fliould find the way thither. 

 Worms are faid to have been found in the intellines of 

 infants who have been born dead. Purges, by leffening this 

 llime, never fail to relieve the patients ; and it is not un- 

 likely that the worms which are not forced away by this 

 quickened motion of the inteftines may, for \vant of a pro- 

 per quantity of it, languilh and at laft die. Experience 

 furnilhes no objeftions again'.l fuppofing that the kind 

 of purge is of little moment in the cure of all other kind 

 of worms as well as of the afcarides, the worms being 

 aUvavs defended from the immediate aftion of medicines ; 

 and that therefore thofe purges are the bci\ which ad 



A S C 



brin<lr, and of whicli a frequent repetition can be moil 

 eafdy borne. Purging waters arc of this kind, and jalap-, 

 efpecially for children ; two or more gnuns of which 

 mixed with fugar are calily taken, and may be daily re- 

 peated. 



A.SCAROIDEvS, a fpecies of Cucoi.l.\nus found 

 in the ilomach of the Siliirus glttiitu ; it refembles the 

 larva of the mtij'ca, is about an inch in length, of a whltilh 

 giey colour, and is gregarious, Goc/e and Gmcl. thus 

 define its fpeeific cl.araCttr : head orbicular, and hooked on 

 each fide j tail rounded, flioit, and pointed with two exferted 

 fpieules. 



ASCAUCALIS, in Jrici.-nl Geograpl-y, a toun of Ger- 

 many. Ptolemy. 



ASCELUM, a town of Venetia, noilh-weft of Tavi- 

 fium. 



ASCENDANT, in Ajlrohgy, denotes the horn/rope: 

 or the ecliptic which riles upon the horizon, at the time of 

 the birth of any one. This is fuppofi«l to have an influence 

 on the pcrfon's life and fortune, by giving him a bent and 

 propcnfitv to one thing more than another. In the celeilial 

 theme this is called the fiijl houfe, the angle of the enjt, 01' 

 onttital iitigli:, and the Jigntjicalor of life. — Such a planet 

 ruled in his afccvtlant. — Jupiter was in his nfcendavt, &c. 

 Hence the word is alio ufed in a moral fcnfe, for a certain 

 fuperiority which one man has over auother, froin fome un- 

 known caufe. 



A-SCrNDANT, in Ctneah'^^ is !lhcler!loo<3 of anccft'ors-v 

 or inch relations as have gone before us ; fuch are father, 

 grandfather, &c. — They are thus called in contradiftinftion 

 to dcfcendants, or the defcending line. It is a canon 

 in law, that inheritances never lineally afcend. See In- 

 heritance. Marriage is always forbid between the 

 afcendants and defcendants, in a diretl line. Sec Mar- 

 riage. 

 ASCENDENS olliqmis. See Obliquus. 

 ASCENDING, in yljironomy, is underftood of thofe 

 flars or degrees of the heavens, &c. which arc rifing above 

 the horizon, in any parallel of the equator. 



Ascending hitilui/c; is the latitude of a planet when 

 going towards the north pole. Set Latitude. 



Ascending riaJc, is that point of a planet's orbit, 

 wherein it palfes the ecliptic, to proceed northward. 



Ascending /igns, among yljlrologers, are thofe which 

 are upon their aicent, or rile from the nadir, or lowell part 

 of the heavens, to the zenith or higheft. 



Ascending, in yliiatomx, is applied to fuch vtfTels as 

 can7 the blood upwards; thus part ot the aorta, and the 

 inferior cava, have been tciTned the afcendiug aorta, and 

 afcending vena cava. 



Ascending, in Botany, denotes growing firll horizon- 

 tally, and then bowed upwards ; and the term in this fenle is 

 applicable to leaves, to llalks, to flems, as in fpiked fpeed- 

 well ; or to flamens, as in all the fpeedweils. 



Ascending Harmony, in Mtijic, is modulating by Jths ; 

 defcending harmony is acquired by the bafe moving by 

 4ths. 



ASCENSION, AscENSio, a rifing or moving up- 

 ward. 



Ascension, in Theology, is particularly ufed for that 

 miraeuhjus elevation of our Saviour, when he mounted to 

 heaven in the fight of his apollles. A£ts i. 14, &c. 



AscENsiON-Diy, popularly called Holy Thurfday, a fef- 

 tival of the church, held ten days before Wliitluutide, in 

 memory of our Saviour's afcenfion. The appointment of 

 this day for the fellival of the afcenfion is traced to the 



Apoftolical 



