AST 



AST 



held at Ancyra in Galatia, are prefei-ved by Eufebius. 

 Hift. Eccl. l.v. c.i6, 17. See Cave Hill. Lit. t.i. p. 85. 

 Lardner's Works, vol. ii. p.387. 



AsTERjus, a writer of the Arian feft, in the reign of 

 Conftantius, or about the beginning of the fourth century, 

 was a fophill of Cappadocia, and renouncing Gentilifm, 

 he embraced Chriftianity. About the year 304, during 

 the pcrfecution of Mnximian, his virtuous refolution failed 

 him, and he offered lacriliccs to the Pagan divinities, which 

 prevented his attaining the honour of being a bilhop, to 

 which he afpired. But though he was recovered by Luciau, 

 he was attached to Aiianifm ; and whenever he is men- 

 tioned by Athanafius, he is called a cunning fophift, and 

 a patron of hcrefv. Pliiloftorgius, however, reprcfents him 

 as- a moderate Ariaii, having taught, that the Son was in 

 fubflance like the Father, and a complete likenefs of the 

 Father. According to Jerom, he wrote commentaries upon 

 the epiflle to the Romans, upon the Gofpels, and upon 

 the Pfalms, and many other things, " which were much 

 read," he fays, " by the men of his party." Some paf- 

 fages of his writings are cited by Athanafius and Eulcbius, 

 in which, fays Lardner, •' there appear an air of piety, and 

 zeal for the Chriftian religion." Cave H. L. t.i. p. 201. 

 Lardner's Works, vol. iv. p. 123. 



A-STERN, denotes any didance behind a (hip; as op- 

 pofed to A-Head. 

 • ASTEROCEPHALUS, in5o/any. See Scabiosa. 



ASTEROIDES, bnjlard Jlar-iuort, \\\ Botany, See 

 Inula, Buphthalmum, and Conv7.a. 



ASTEROIDS, formed C)i a<rr,o,Jlar, and iiia:,form, and 

 denoting that they rcfemble fixed ftars, in Agronomy., a name 

 given by Dr. HerfchcU to the new planets, or two celeftial 

 bodies, Ceres and PaUas, lately difcovered ; and which he 

 delines as " celeftial bodies, which move in orbits either of 

 little or of confiderable eccentricity round the fun, the plane 

 of which may be inclined to the ecliptic in any angle what- 

 foever. This motion may be dirett or retrograde; and they 

 may or may not have confiderable atmofpheres, veiy fmall 

 comas, dilks, or nuclei. According to the definitions which 

 he premifes, planets are celeftial bodies of a confiderable 

 fize and fmall eccentricity of orbit, moving in planes that 

 do not deviate many degrees from that of the earth, in a 

 direil courfe, and in orbits at confiderable diftances from 

 each other, with atmofpheres of confiderable extent, but 

 bearing hardly any feniiljle proportion to their diameters, 

 and having fatellites or rings: and comets are very fmall 

 celeftial bodies, moving in direttions wholly undetermined 

 and in very eccentric or apparently parabolic orbits, fitu- 

 ated in every variety of pofition, and having very extenfive 

 atmofpheres. Dr. HerfchcU having compared the newly 

 difcovered ftars by the criteria introduced in the above de- 

 finitions, maintains, that they differ in fo many refpefts 

 from both planets and comets, as to warrant his not refer- 

 ring them to either of thefe two claffcs. Our aftronomical 

 readers will probably think the difference not fufficient 

 to render this kind of diftribution neceffary^ they will 

 regret, that the author has contributed to introduce, with- 

 out abfolute neceffity, a new term in the fcience of aftro- 

 nomy; and they will perhaps be of opinion, that the new 

 name of " Afteroid," is not the moft appropriate and ex- 

 preffive that could have been devifed. An afteroid is a 

 body refembling fixed ftars; but the two new planets have 

 no one circumftance in common with thofe diftant bodies. 

 If a new name muft be found, let them be called by fome 

 appellation, which ftiall, in fome degree, be defcriptive of, 

 or at leaft confiftent with, their properties. " The inven- 

 tion of a name," fays an anonymous writer, " is but a poor 



7 



atchievement in him who has difcovered whole worlds." 

 Phil. Tranf. for 1802, Part H. p. 213, &c. 



ASTEROPE, in Mythology, one of the daughters of 

 Atlas, the firft of the principal ftars' that corapofe the 

 Pleiades. Ovid. Faft. iv. 170. 



ASTEROPHYTON, in Natural Hijlory, the name 

 given to a kind of llar-fifli, which is compofcd of a great 

 number of cylindric rays, each branching out into fcveral 

 others, fo as to reprefent the branched ftalks of a very in- 

 tricate ftirub. 



ASTEROPLATYCAKPOS, in Botany. See Othon- 



NA. 



ASTEROPODIUM, in Natural H'ifory, the name 

 given by authors to a kind of extraneous foftil, of an im- 

 bricated texture, compofed of a number of fmall convex or 

 concave plates, and ferving, when entire, as a bafe or root 

 to the ajleria, or ftar-ftone. 



It is very plain, that this is the remains of fome animal 

 body, probably of the ftar-fifli kind, to which the ajlcr'ut 

 have alfo once belonged; but our imperfcft knowledge 

 in the animal hiftory, has not yet afcertaincd us of the 

 particular creiiture; the moft probable conjedlure is, that 

 it is the Magellanic ftar-fifti, the rays of which nicely 

 and exaclly reprefent fome of the moft perfedl aftero- 

 podia. 



ASTEROPTERUS, in Botany. See Inula, and 

 Leysera. 



ASTERUSIA, in Ancient Geography, a mountain to- 

 wards the fea, in the fouthern part of the ifle of Crete.—. 

 Alfo, a town fituate upon mount Caucafus, founded by a 

 Cretan colony, according to Steph. By/.. 



ASTESAN, or County of Jljl't, in Geography, a country 

 of Piedmont, in Italy, bounded on the weft by the''princi- 

 pality of Chieri and Carmagnola, on the north by the 

 Verccllois and the Alcxandrin, and on the fouth by the 

 marquifate of Gorzcgno ; about twenty-five miles long and 

 ten broad. 



ASTH^SA, or Asthala, in Ancient Geography, an 

 ifland of Afia, on the coaft of Gedrofia. Ptolemy. 



ASTHAGURA, a town of India, on this fide of the 

 Ganges. Ptolemy. 



ASTHENIA, in Medk'me, a terra employed to denote 

 bodily debility. It is derived from a privative, and o-9;v(j4-, 

 robur. In the fyftem of Sauvages, and fome other nofolo- 

 gical writers, it forms a diftinft genus, being claffed with 

 fyncope, and other fimilar difeafes ; but it is commonly ufed 

 by phyhcians in a more extended fenfe, fo as to embrace all 

 that vail variety of chronic complaints, in which there is a 

 general languor of the body, from the vital fundlions and 

 mufcular actions not being performed with that degree of 

 energy which is ncceffary to health. The general therapeu- 

 tical treatment proper in cafes of debility, confifts in the 

 employment of tonic medicines, fuch as the Peruvian bark, 

 bitters, chalybeate?, the cold bath, or tefnperate bath, fea- 

 bathing, country air, a mild nonriftiing diet, riding on horfe- 

 back, <xc. It (hould be remarked, however, that this ge- 

 neral tonic plan is not applicable, in its full extent, to all 

 afthenic difeafes, foiiK of them being complicated with vif. 

 ceral and other local obftrutlions and inflammations, which 

 require peculiarities of treatment, as will be duly noticed in 

 the courfe of our obfervations under thofe feveral heads. 



ASTHMA, a ftiortnefs of breath ; from ai;, ora,'«/ii, fp'iro, 

 anhelo, I breathe, I pant. 



The difeafe which bears this name may be defined to be a 

 ftiort and laborious refpiration, accompanied with a wheezing 

 noife, generally coming on by fits, and going off by a cough, 

 and fpitting up of phlegm. It is not ufhcred in by fever. 



In 



