A S C 



water, and giving the decoftion in p^onorrhceas, and tlie like 

 complaints. Petiver has named it the prickly Guinea (hrub, 

 with roundifli crenated leaves, and filamentous flowers. The 

 leaves are about an inch wide, and about an inch and a half 

 long ; they (land on fhort foot-ftalks ; and at the ends of 

 the branches, there Hand clullers of ftamineous flowers. 

 The thorns on the large branches are very ftrong. Phil. 

 Tranf. N". 232. 



ASCITA, in Ichthyology, a fpecies of Silurus, that 

 differs in feveral refpefts from other creatures of the fame 

 tribe, and is fpecitically dtfcribed as havinjr the dorfal fin 

 flefhy, and eighteen rays in the anal fin. This fifh inhabits 

 the Indian feas, and is figured both by Bloch, and in Deter- 

 ville's edition of Buffon. The mode of generation, or 

 manner in which the young are produced, is fingular, for 

 it is neither oviparous, nor viviparous, byt, partaking of both, 

 forms a diftinftly conaefting link between thofe two natural 

 divifioni of filhes : the eggs are not compofed like thofe of 

 moft other creatures, but confift merely of a yolk, without 

 white, and furrounded by a thin iliin to which the embryo 

 is attached by means of an umbilical velTel on the outfide, 

 and by which it receives its proper nourilhment till it 

 is difengaged. Among other reafons it is afTcrted that 

 it cannot be viviparous, becaufe it does not receive its nou- 

 rifhment from the parent by means of a placenta, but from 

 the yolk of the egg to which it is affixed while it remains 

 in the matrix ; and that it cannot be oviparous becaufe the 

 eggs are not as ufual depofited when completely formed, 

 nor are the young contained within the egg, but only at- 

 tached to the outfide of it. 



ASCITjE, derived from ao-xoj, a bag. Or bottle, in Anti- 

 quity, a feft or branch of Montanifts, who appeared in the 

 fecond century. 



The Afcitae were fo called, becaufe they introduced a 

 kind of Bacchanals into their aflemblies, who danced round 

 a bag or Ikin blowed up ; faying, thefe were thofe new 

 bottles filled with new wine, whereof Jefus Chrift makes 

 mention. Math. ix. 17. — They are fometimes alfo called 

 Afcodrog'tl/s . 



AsciT«, in Ancient Geography, a people of Afia, placed 

 by Phny and Ptolemy in Arabia FeUx. 



ASCITES, in MeScine (from aj-xo?, uter, a faceulus or 

 bladder), denotes a fpecies of Dropsy which is feated in the 

 abdomen. This difeafe is commonly divided into two kinds : 

 viz. 1. When the water is contained within the perito- 

 na»um inverting the general cavity of the lower belly ; and 

 2. When the fluid is included within a ftag, or cyft, in 

 which cafe it is called an incyjled dropfy : but the defcrip- 

 tion of this difeafe, and its appropriate treatment, will be 

 found under the articles Dropsy, and Paracentesis 

 or Tapping. 



AscFTES, the operation far, in Surgery, is named Tap- 

 UNC, which fee. This operation is like wife' technically 

 called Paracentesis. It confiils in drawing off from the 

 abdomen, by means of a trocar, the water or other fluid 

 which is contained therein. 



ASCIUM, in Botany. Schreb. 903. Norantea, h.\^\. 220. 

 Juff. 245. C\^(s, polyandria mOTtogynra. Nat.Ord. Putam'tne<s? 

 Capparides Juff. Gen. Char. Cal. perianth five-kaved, leaf- 

 lets roundifh, concave, coriaceous, coloured on the margin. 

 Cor. petals five, ovate, acute, larger than the calyx, inferted 

 into the receptacle. Stam, filaments very many (40 or 50), 

 ftiort, three-fidcd, inferted into the receptacle ; anthers ob- 

 long. Pyi. germ ovate ; ftyle very fhort ; ftigma headed. 

 Per. berr)' ? one-celled ; containing many feeds. 



Eff. Gen. Char. Cal. five-leaved, coriaceous. Cor. five- 

 f etalled ) btrry ? one-celled, with Tcry roauy feed*. 



A S C 



Species, I. Afc'ium nerantea, Aublet Guian. t.22C. Thia 

 is a tree fumifhed with alternate entire thick leaves. The 

 flowers grow in loofe Ipikes from the ends of the branches ; 

 they are alternate, fubfeffile, and to each is a long brafte^ 

 with a claw to it, refcmbling the cowled bag of marc- 

 gravia, to which genus this feems nearly allied. It is a native 

 of Guiana. 



ASCLEPIA, in Antiquity, feafts celebrated in variou» 

 parts of Greece in honour of JEfculapius. They chiefly 

 confided of mufic, and a conteft between muficians and poets. 

 They were alfo called Mr!7aX5M^x^>l1r■.la, or the great feftivaU 

 of iEfculapius. 



ASCLEPIAD, AscLEPiADEirs, a Greek or Latin verfe 

 of four feet, containing a fpondee, a choriambus, and two 

 daftyls; or, which amounts to the fame, a fpondee, tw» 

 choriambufes, and a pyrrhichius. 



Such are the verfes, 



" Mxcenas atavis edite regibns." 

 " Sublimi feriam fidera vertice." 



ASCLEPIADA, m Entomology, a fpecies of Chr. Y so- 

 me la, difcovered by Pallas in the vicinity of the rivers 

 Volga and Irtin, in Siberia. It is of a duflvy blue, and 

 gloffy ; antenns black ; dots on the thorax fcattered ; on 

 the wing-cafes difpofed in lines. Pallas, Gmelin, &c. 



ASCLEPIADES, Artorius, in Biography, phyficiai* 

 and friend to Crefar Oftavianus, by whofe advice the empe- 

 ror left his camp the evening before the battle at Philippic 

 by which his hfe was probably preferved, that part of the 

 army being fiirpriftd and cut to pieces by Brutus. Artorius- 

 perirtied by fliip-vvreck foon after the battle at Aftium, and 

 the emperor caufed a magnificent monument to be erefted 

 to his memory- at Smyrna. He is faid to have maintained, 

 that the ftomach is the part principally affefted in the- 

 hydrophobia. Haller Bib. Med. Praft. 



AscLEPiADEs, defcendents of jEfcnlapius, fo called? 

 who were fuppofed to have preferved the tenets of their 

 progenitor, and to have founded fchools of medicine ia 

 various parts of Greece, which continued many ages. The' 

 mod famous were thole of Rhodes, Cnidos, and Cos, for- 

 med by different branches of the family. Hippocrates was 

 derived from the latter branch : fee article Hippocrates. 



AscLEPiADEs, a celebrated phyfician, born at Prufa in 

 Bithynia, flourifhed fomewhat before the time of Pompey,. 

 and formed an intimacy with Licinius Craffus the orator, 

 and other perfons of diftinguifhcd charafter. It is net 

 known whence he took his name, as he wa» not of the 

 family of ./Efculapius. After completing his education, 

 be went to Rome, where he commenced by teaching rheto- 

 ric ; but not fucceeding in that line, he applied himfelf to 

 the (ludy of medicine, in wliich he foon became famous ; for, 

 rejefting the doctrines of his predectffors in that art, he for- 

 med a new theory of difeafes, and inftituted new methods o£ 

 curing them. He avoided all hnrlh and violent drugs, 

 particularly vomhing and purging medicines, which he con. 

 tended injured the ffomach, and induced complaints niore 

 dangerous than thofe they were given to remedy, and pro- 

 feffed to care difeafcr^, " tuto, cito, et jucunde." Romae cum 

 viveret (Haller fays) ad luxum et mollitiem Romanorum 

 artem accomodavit. He was attached to the corpufcular 

 philofophy, and fuppofed that the free motion of the cor- 

 pufcles in the veffels conttituted health, and that difealc 

 enfued when they were reilricted or checked in their mo- 

 tion by the ftraitnefs of the veffels. " Thus pains, ardent 

 fevers, intermittents, &c. were occafioned (he faid) by cor- 

 pufcles imparted in the pores." A doftrine full as intelli- 

 gible, " as the lentor of the humours obftnifting the vef- 

 fels,'* the favourite theory- of one of the raoft celebrated 



teachat 



