ASP 



vrJ fiippofir) of bearing living chiidren, or of undergoing 

 the pains of labour, witho\it manifcll danger of their lives. 

 There have never been wanting perfons profcHing to be able 

 to procure abortion, with perfedt fafety to the women ; but 

 cither tiiefe have been the vain boafls of impudent pretenders, 

 or llie ait has been long loll, no drug or compolition now 

 known poirciTing fuch powers. See the article AbORTiON 

 in this v.-ork. It is not known who this Alpafia was, or in 

 what a;^c fhe lived. I^e Clerc Hill, de Med. 



ASPASIA, m Entomology, a Ipecies of Papilio, in the 

 fanUy Hcl'icomus. It inhabits Traiiqucbar ; the wings are 

 black, with tranfparent llreaks and fpots ; and the pollerior 

 ones yellow at the bafe. Fabricius, &c. 



AsvASiA, among Aiic'ieiit PLyJidans, a conftri£live medi- 

 cine for the pudenda mnliehi-<x. It confilled only of wool, 

 moillened with an infufion of unripe gulls. Caftell. Lex. 

 Med. 



ASPASIj^, in Ancient Geography, a people of Afia, 

 placed by Polybi'is between the Oxus and the Tanais ; pro- 

 tablv the fame with the y/Jpiifairit o{ Strabo, and the -/Ifptlfi 

 of Ptolemv. 



ASPASTICUM, in Euhf.apcal Wnters, a place or 

 apartment adjoining to the ancient churches, wherein the 

 bifliop and prtfbyters fat, to receive the falutations of the ' 

 perfuns who came to vifit them, deiire their blefiing, or con- 

 lult them on bufinefs. 



This is alio called afpat'tcum, diacomcum, rcceploriiim, mf- 

 iatorium-, or iiiefatorium, 3L{id Ja/ulatorium ; in Englilh, gicel- 

 ing-h'iuje, 



ASPATHIS, \^ Ancient Geography-, a town of India, on 

 this fide of the Ganges. Ptolemy. 



ASPE, in Gi'ography, a town of Spain, in Valencia, fi- 

 tuate on the Eida, four leagues weft of Alicant. 



AsPE, a valley of Berne, in Swiflerland, between the 

 ■Pyrenees and the town of Oleron. The river of Oleron 

 palfes through this valley, and is called the Guve of 



AsPE V'tejo, a town of Spam, in Valencia, three leagues 

 and a half well of Alicant. 



• Aspect, m Ajlrononiy, is ufed for the fituation of the 

 liars, or planets, in refpert of each other ; or, in AJlrology, 

 it denotes a certain configuration, and mutual relation be- 

 tween the planets, atifiug from their fituations in the 

 zodiac, whereby their pov.ers are fuppofed to be mutually 

 either incrcafcd or dinunifiied, as tiiev happen to agree or 

 difagree in their aftive or paffive qualities. Though fuch 

 configurations may be varied and combined a thoufand 

 ways, yet oi;ly a few of them are confidcred. Hence 

 'W'olfius more accurately defines afptdl to be the meeting 

 of luminous rays emitted from two pianet^i to the earth, either 

 Jituate in th.e fame right line, or including an angle which 

 is one or more aliquot parts of four right angles. 



The doctrine of afpeCls was introduced by the allrologers 

 as the foundation of their predictions. Hence, Kepler 

 .defines alpcdt an angle formed by the rays of tv^o planets, 

 meeting on the earth, able to excite fome natuial power or 

 influence. 



The ancients reckoned five rfpeifis, viz. eoniunSkti, when 

 ■the planets are in the fame fign aiid degree, or iiave the 

 ■fame longitude, denoted by the charadler d ; oppofition, 

 where they are in oppofite points of the circle, or at the 

 dillance from one another of i So degrees, exprelfed by §; 

 trine, when they are diilant one-third of the circle, or 120 

 degrees, denoted by A ; quadrate, or qunrlUe, when they 

 are diftant .Jth of the circle, or 90 degrees, marked bv a ; 

 and fexlile, when their diiiar.ce is the fixth part of a circle, 

 or 60 degrees, denoted by *. 



Vol. I'll. 



•ASP 



Conjun(Slion, and oppofition, are the two extremes of the 

 afpefls ; the firtl being the beginning, and the fecoud the 

 highcil or ultimate term. 



The afpetls are divided, with regard to their fuppofed 

 influences, into benign, malign, and indiifereri. 



The q'.iadrate afpecl and oppofition are reputed malign, or 

 un.*"ricndly ; trine and fextile, benign or friendly ; and con- 

 junction, an indifTerent alpedl. 



To the five ancient afpecls, the modern writers have 

 added feveial more ; as decile, containing the tenth part of 

 a circle; trlderile, three-tenths; qutnliL; a fifth part of the 

 circle; and biquintUe, four-tenths, or two iiftl.s. — Kepler 

 adds others, as he tells us, from meteorological obfcrva- 

 tions ; as the fen:i-Jex!ik, co:itaining the twelfth part of 

 the circle ; and quincunx, containing five-twelfths. — Laftly, 

 to the aftrological phyficians we owe, oHile, containing one- 

 eighth ; and triuclile, containing three-eigliths. 



The angle intercepted between two planets in the afpecl 

 of conjunction is o; in the femi-fextile alpect, 30°; in de- 

 cile, 36' ; in o6tile, 45" ; in fextile, 60" ; in quintile, 72° ; 

 in quartile, 90'; in tridecile, 108'; in triue, 120° ; in tri- 

 o£tile, 135'^; in biquintile, 144"; iu quincunx, 150''; in op- 

 pofition, 180°. 



Thefe anrrles, or intervals, are reckoned on the acondai-y 

 circles, or according to the longitudes of the planets ; fo 

 that the afpects are the fan-.e, whether a planet be in ihc 

 ecliptic, or out of it. 



'I'he afpecls are alfo divided into partV.e and plalic. 



Aspects, Partile, are when the planets are juft fo many- 

 degrees diilant, as is above exprelfed. Thefe alone are the 

 proper afpefls. 



Aspects, Plitic, are when the planets do not regard 

 each other from thefe very degrees ; but the one exceeds as 

 inuch as the other falls fnort. — .So that the one docs not tail 

 its ray.s immediately on the body of the other, but only on 

 its orb or fphere of light. 



Aspect, iJouble, is ufed in painting, where a fingle figure 

 is fo contrived, as to reprefent two or more different ob- 

 jefts either by changing the pofition of the eye, or by- 

 means of angular glaffes. — Inllances hereof, fee under 

 the articles Anamorphosis, Catoptric, Cistula, and 

 Mirror. 



Aspect, in Gardening, is ufed for what we othLrwife 

 call expnfure. 



Aspect, in Military Language, is applied to a ci untry 

 and' to an army thus ; a counliy is faid to have a military 

 (tftieff, when its general iituation prelents appropriateobflacles 

 or facihtics for an army's acting on the oft'enfive or defenfive. 

 An army is faid to hold a menacing ofpec], when by advanced 

 movements or pofitions it gives llie oppofiiig army reafon 

 for apprehending oftnfive >.peralions. An army is faid to 

 have an impojmg nfpeci, when it appears llrongerthan it really 

 is ; and this afpeCl is afl"umed for the purpofe of deceiving 

 an enemv, and fenes as a kind of feint in war. 



ASPEN-TR EE, mPlanting, afpeeicsof thepoplar,having 

 fmall roundifh leaves with an angular indenture, and fmooth 

 furfaces on both fides. According to Marfliall the leaves of 

 this tree Hand upon long, fiat, fleiider footllalks, which ren- 

 der them liable to the (haken by the leall wind ; vvhence it 

 has been called the ti-ernbling poplar or afpen-tree. This 

 tree will grow on moll kinds of foil, but may be cultivated 

 to the greatell advantage on fuch as are inclined to be moift, 

 without having much ilagnant fiu'face water. In fuch 

 fituations, they will fometimes grow to a confiderable fize. 

 Thev may be laifcd in the fame way and with equal facility 

 as the common poplar. The wood of the aipen-tree is 

 light, porous, and open ; confequcntly of little value a» 



O limber. 



