ASS 



for (lamages, if Tie wilhoiit good rcafon itfufes to admit a 

 tiavelkr. i Vcntr. 333. If one cheats with falfe cnrds or 

 dice, or by falfe weights and meal'ures, or by ielling one 

 commodity for another, an adion on the ciife lies aprainft: 

 him for damages, upon tlie contract which the law always 

 implies, that every tninfadtion is fair and honeft. 10 Rep. 

 56. In conti-adts for provifioiis, it is always implied, that 

 that ihey are wholefome, and if they be r.rtt, t!ie fame 

 remedy may be had. If cloth is warranted to be of fuch a 

 length, when it is not, an aftion on the cafe lies for damages. 

 Finch L. 189. Alfo, if a horfe be warranted found, and 

 he wants the figla of an eye, it has been held that an 

 adtion on the cafe lies to recover damages for this impo- 

 fition. Salk. 611. Bl. Com. vol.iii. p. 158, &c. See Con- 

 tract, and PROMISE. 



ASSUMPTION, in Anftquily, a feaft celebrated i a the 

 Romifh church, in honour of tlie miraculous afcent of tlic 

 Holy Virgin, as they dcfcribe it, body and foul into 

 licaven. 



Assumption, was alfo, among our anceftors, iifed for 

 the day of tlie death of any faint : " quia ejus anima in 

 toclum adumitur." See Anniversary. 



Assumption, in Geography, an epifcopal city of South 

 America, in the province of Paraguay, fituate in the eattcrn 

 divifion of the province, on a river of the fame name, a 

 little above tlie pb.ce where it is joined by the river Picol- 

 jnaga. It was built by the Spaniards in 1538, and is dif- 

 tingnifhed by the fahibrity of its fituation, by the fertifity 

 of the territory in which it Hands, producing a great variety 

 cf native and exotic fruits in the highell perfcdion, and alfo 

 by the number of its inhabitants, who are partly dclcen- 

 dants of Spani(h families that fettled in the place, and 

 partly MclUzos and Mulattoes. This city lies about fifty 

 leagues above the con.lnence of the Paraguay and Paruna, 

 where the former begins to be called the river de la Plata. 

 It is the refidence of a governor appointed by the king of 

 i^pain, under the viceroy of Pern. Near tlie city is a lake, 

 remarkable for having in the middle of it a rock, which 

 rifcs to a prodigious height like an obelifli. S. lat. 25" 30'. 

 VV. long. 57" 40'. 



Assumption, or JJfonfong, one of the Marianne or 

 Ladrones iflands, fituate according to La Peroufe's chart in 

 N. lat. 19'' 45'. and W. long. 145° 35'. It is a volcanic 

 liland, about llirec leagues in circumference ; and its higheft. 

 point is about 200 toifes above the level of the fea. Its 

 form is that of a perfect cone, whofe furface, as far as forty 

 toifes above the level of the fea, is as black as coal. 

 Some cocoa-nut trees occupy nearly a fifteenth part of 

 the circumference of the ifland, for a depth of forty toifes, 

 wliich are in fome meafure flieltcred from the ealt wind ; 

 and this is the only part of the iilaiid where it is pof- 

 fible to anchor, in a depth of water of thirty fathoms 

 over a bottom of black land, extending nearly a quarter of 

 a league. The lava, (lowing from tiie ifland, has formed 

 precipices and hollows, bord;red with a few (linted cocoa- 

 nut trees, thJnly fcattered and mixed with limes and a fmall 

 number of plants; and it has covered the whole circum- 

 ference as far as a border of about forty toifes towards the 

 fea. The fumniit appeared to be vitrified, refembling black 

 glafs, and its termination was concealed by clouds. Al- 

 thouc:h no fmoke was viGblc, the fulphuieous fmell which 

 extended half a league out to fea, induced a fufpicion that 

 the fire of the volcano was not extinguilhed, and that its 

 lail eruption was not very ancient ; more efpecially as there 

 appeared no trace of decompofitlon in the lava, on the middle 

 •f the mountain. The idand exhibits no appearance of having 

 %«en tver inhabited, evcB by quadrupeds, much Icfs by 



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humaa beings. Some very large crabs were found here ; 

 and thefe, it is apprehended, have driven away the fta-birds, 

 who lay on (horc, and whofe eggs they would devoirr. 

 Some very tine fhells were found in the hollows of the 

 recks ; and three or four new fuecies of the banana-tree 

 were collected. No fiili was perceived, bcfides a red ray, 

 fome fmall fliarks, and a fea-ferpent, ,which might b; three 

 feet long and tliree inches thick. No water could be pro- 

 cured in this defoiatc illand, except foiiie fmall quantity 

 lodged in the hollows of the rocks. The fea glides along 

 the fhore and fomis, at every point, a fuif which renders 

 debarkation extremely dangerous. Voyage of La Peroufe, 

 vol.i. p. 24. Eng. Tranfl. Lond. 1798. 



Assumption, is alfo an illand lying on the foutk-wed: 

 coafl of California, forming' with a projecting point of land 

 a bay, both on its north-call and ioulh-eall lidcs. N. lat. 

 £6-^. W. long. 120". 



AssvMPTiou, a river of North America, in New York, 

 which falls in from the eaft into the lake Ontario, after a 

 N. W. and W. courfs of about 28 miles ; 5 miles S. E. 

 from PI. Gavcrfe. 



Assumption, a name fometimes given to the ifland 

 Anticosti. 



Assumption, in Logic, is the minor or fccond propofi- 

 tion, in a categorical fyllogifm. 



Assumption- is fometimes alfo ufed for a confequence 

 drawn from the propofitions whereof an argument is com- 

 pofed. Thus we fay, the premifcs are true, but tlie ajjump- 

 tion is captious. 



ASSUiVIPTIVE Arms, in Heraldry. See Arms. 



ASSUR^E, in Ancie/it Geography, an epifcopal town of 

 Africa, in the proconfular province, placed by Antoiiinc 

 (Itiner.), on the road from Carthage to Sufatuhe, 108 

 miles from the former, and 42 from the latter. 



ASSURANCE, Polity of. See Policy. 



Assurance, in Commerce. See Insurance. 



We have alfo offices of ajfurancc for 7fe, where poh'cies 

 are granted for fccuring a fum of money on the extinction 

 of any given life, in confideration of an adequate compen- 

 fation either paid down ir. one fum, or by annual inllalments 

 during the continuance of fiich life. 



Assurances on Lives. By njjuring a life is meant, ob- 

 taining ftcurity for a fum of money to be received fhould 

 the life drop, in confideration of fuch a payment made to 

 the ajfurer, as (hall be a fufficient compenfation for the lofs 

 and hazard to which he expofes himfelf. In eilimating 

 this compenfation, the amount of it will depend entiixly 

 on the rate of intereft at which money is improved, and 

 the pvobaJ)iIity of the duration of the life to be affured. 

 If the intereR be high, and alfo the probability high of 

 the duration of the life, this compenfation or premium of 

 alTurance will be proportionably low ; on the contar)', if the 

 rate of intcrcil be low, and the probabihty of living be 

 alfo low, the premium will be proportionably high. In 

 order to explain this, let lool. be hippofed to be allured on 

 a life for a year to come ; that is, let I col. be fuppofed 

 payable a year hence, provided a life of a given age falls- 

 in that time. Were the interc't cf money at 5 per cent., 

 and the life fnrc of falling, the value of the affurance 

 would be the fame with the prefcnt value of 100 1. pay- 

 able at the end of a year, reckoning intered at 5 per cent., 

 that is, it would be that fum, v. hich being now put out ^ 

 to intercit at ^percent, would produce lOol. at the end of 

 the year, or 95 I. 4 s. 8 d. See Annuities, Tab. II. 



On the contrary, if it be an even chance, or the odds 

 be equal, whether the life does or does not fail in the year, 

 the value of the ajfurance will be half the former value, or 



47^ 



