A S I 



*ery largf, with remarkable long ears ; but both kinds are 

 employed for the purpofe of can-)-ing burdens. 



The wild mule, the hcmor.hii of Pallas, has no claim to 

 confidei-ation in this place. It conlUtutcs a diltinft fpecies 

 of equus from the fpecies nftniu, in Gmehn's arrange- 

 ment, under the name alTigned to it by Pallas ; and will be 

 noticed hereafter in the article Hemonius. The com- 

 mon mule, engendered between the male afs and mare, is 

 much cultivated in Spain, and is little inferior in fize to its 

 female parent. 



The afs was one of the unclean animals under the Jewifli 

 law, as it did not chew the cud ; and it prohibited coupling 

 an afi with an ox for draught : Lev. xi. 26. The Jews were ac- 

 cufed by the Pagans of worfliipping the head of an afs. See 

 AsiNARii. Theauthorof this calumny feems to have been 

 Appion the gramn-arian ; for he affirmed (Jofeplnis, contra 

 Appion 1. ii.) that the Jews kept the head of an afs in the fanc- 

 tuary ; and that it was diicovered there wlien Antiochus Epi- 

 phanes took the temple, and entered into the mod huly 

 place. Suidas alfo fays (in Damocr'uo and in 'Juila) that 

 Daraocritus, or Democritus, the hillorian, aven-ed, that the 

 Jews adored the head of an afs, made of gold, and facriliced 

 a man to it every three or every feven years, after having 

 iirft cut him in pieces. Plutarch (Sympof. 1. iv. c. 5.) and 

 Tacitus (Hill. 1. V.) feem to have been impoftd upon by this 

 flander. They believed that the Hebrews adored an afs, 

 from gratitude for the difcovery of a fountain by one of 

 thefe animals, at a time when they were exceedingly fatigued 

 and parched with thiril in the wildernefs. The fame abfurd 

 idolatrous worllip was imputed by the heathens to the 

 Chriftians. Thus Caecilius (apad Minut.) fays, "Audio 

 Chriilianos turpifumas pecudis afmi caput confecrjtum inepta 

 nefcio quam perfuafione venerari." To the fame pu-pofe 

 Tertullian tells us (Apolog. c. 16.), that fome enemies to 

 the Chrillians expofcd to public view a picture, reprefenting 

 a perfon with a book in his hand, drefTed in a long robe, 

 with nfs's ears, and one foot like that of an afs, upon which 

 v>'as infcribed, " The God of the Chrillians has an afs's 

 hoof." Learned Chrillians have attempted to invefligate 

 the origin of this calumny. The report of the Jews wor- 

 fliipping an afs might originally have been derived from 

 Egypt ; to this country it is traced by Tanaquil Faber, 

 who deduces it from the temple in Egypt called Onion, 

 derived, as it is Uippofed, from Ovo,-, an als. To this purpofe 

 it may be added, that the Alexandrians hated the Jews, 

 and were much addicted to raillery and defamation. And 

 they might have been informed, that the temple Onion, at 

 Heliopohs, was named from Onias, the high-prieil of the 

 Jews, who built it in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor and 

 Cleopatra, A. M. 3'^54., ante Chrift. 150. Jofeph. 1. xiii. 

 c. 6. Bochart is of opinion (De Animal. Sacr. 1. ii. c. 18.), 

 that the error took its rife from a paifage of fcripture, 

 " The mouth of the Lord hath fpoken, it," in the Hebrew 

 ,~(Tn'"'3' pt-yeh'jvah, or pi-Jeo. Hence, as pieo, in the 

 Egyptian language, fignifies an afs, the Alexandrian Egyp- 

 tians, hearing the Jews often pronouncing the word p'leo, 

 might believe that they called on their god, and thence infer 

 that they adored an afs. Omitting other conjetlures, we 

 fhall add, that M. Le Moine fuppofes, that the golden urn 

 containing the manna, which was preferved in the fancluary, 

 was taken for the head of an afs, and tliat the omer, or 

 aflarion, of manna, might have been confounded with the 

 Hebrew hamor, which fignifies an afs. Calmet. 



AsiNUS Pifc'is, in Ichlh;'ology, a name given by fome old 

 writers, to the common haddock. It was alfo called onos. 

 Willughby, &c. 



ASIO, in Ornhboiogy, a fpecies of Strix or owl, defcribed 

 • 8 



ASK 



by Linnaeus, the body of which is brown abort, and white 

 beneath; and the wings marked with five white dots. This 

 is le petit due de la Caroline of BrilTon, Utile o'wl of Catefby, 

 red ow/ of Pen. Arcl. Zool. znd red-eared o-wl o[ Latham. 

 Its native place is North America. 



Catelby fays it is about the fize of a jackdaw. The bill 

 and iris are of a faffron colour; tail brown; edge of the 

 bailard wing whitilh; on the quills a few white fpots; leg» 

 covered to the toes with light brown feathers ; toes brown ; 

 claws black. Buffon feemcd to imagine this bird might be 

 only a variety of the long-eared and American owls, both, 

 of which he deemed the fame fpecies. 



Asio, is alfo a name given by Aldrovandus to the Italian 

 eared-owl, and fynonymous with otus : alio five otus. Aldr. 

 Ray applied the fame name to the long-eared owl or horn- 

 owl of \Villughbv and Albin, znd Jlrix otus of Linnxus. 



ASIONGAB'ER. See Eziosgaber. 



ASIOT^, in indent Geography, a people of Afia, in 

 Scythia, on this fide of Imaiis. Ptolemy. 



ASIREF, in Geography, a town of Perfia, on the foutli 

 of the Cafpian fea, in the province of Taberillan, eleven 

 leagues eaft of Ferabad. 



ASISARATH, in Ancient Geography, a town of Africa, 

 in Mauritania Cxfarienfis, between the rivers Gulus and 

 Ampfagus. Ptolemy. 



ASISIA, a town of Libuniia, the AfTefia or Afieria of 

 Pliny, now in ruins. The traces of ancient magnificciice 

 difcernible at Podgraje, the feat of Afifia, are numerous. 

 Among the Libumian cities which attended the congrefs or 

 diet of Scardona, Phny mentions the free Afferians, who 

 created their own magirtrates, and were governed by their 

 own municipal laws, and who were of courfe more opulent 

 and powerful than their neighbours. The walls of this 

 city appear to have meafured in circumference 3600 Romaa 

 feet, and to have been conftrufted with Dahr.atian marble» 

 fome pieces of which are of large dimenfions, and brought 

 from a conilderable dillance. 



ASISIUM, orAssi&iUM, wc'T^ AJfif, a town of Italy, 

 in Umbria, was a Roman municipium, and fituated to 

 the eaft of Arna. Pliny mentions the Afifiaates. See 

 Assisi. 



ASITCHOU AcHASHiSH, in Ornithology, the name by 

 which a fpecies of grofbeak is known in Hudfon's Cay; and 

 which Dr. Latham fuppofes to be tlie white-winged crofs- 

 bill of his General Synoplis. 



ASITIA, in Medicine, a lofs of appetite, from a, priva- 

 tive, and <ri7o,-, food. A fymptom which occurs in numerous 

 difeafes. 



ASIUS, in Entomology, a fpecies of Papilio [Eq. Tro.} 

 that inhabits South America. The wings are tailed, black, 

 with a common white band; bafe and tip of the pcllerior 

 pair beneath fpotted with red. Fabricius. 



ASK A, in Geography, a river of Japan. 



ASKER, in Zoology, a name uftd in fome parts of 

 England for the water-newt or eft. 



ASKER-MOKREM, in Geography, a town of Afia, on 

 the eailern bank of the Tigris, in the Arabic Irac ; called 

 alfo Sermenrai. 



ASKERSUND, a town of Sweden, in the province o£ 

 Nericia, on the Wetter fea, five miles from Orebro. 



ASKEYTON, a market, and, till the union, borough 

 town of the county of Limerick, in Ireland, ieated on the 

 fmall river Dee), near its. jundlion with the Shannon; famous 

 for its callle built by the earl of Defmond, and for one of 

 the moil beautiful and perfedl abbeys in Ireland. Dillance 

 from Diiblia 1105 miles. Loag. 8° 54' W. Lat. 52^ 

 34' 30' N. 



ASKRIG, 



