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same manner as those they shoot out from. 
If any of these is planted with a piece of the 
first stalk adhering to them, they will perpe- 
tuate their species. They are armed at their 
joints with one or two sharp rigid spines, and 
furnished with oblong oval leaves, eight or 
nine inches long, seated on short footstalks. 
r i he flowers resemble those of the common 
reed. The young shoots are covered with a 
dark green bark: these when very tender are 
put in vinegar, salt, garlic, and the pods of 
capsicum, and thus afford a pickle which 
is esteemed a valuable condiment in the 
Indies, and is said greatly to promote the 
appetite and assist digestion. The stalks in 
their young state are almost solid, and con- 
tain a milky juice : this is of a sweet nature ; 
and as the stalks advance in age they become 
hollow except at the joints, where they are 
stopped by a woody membrane, upon which 
this liquor lodges, and concretes into a sub- 
stance called tabaxir, or sugar of Mombu ; 
which was held in such esteem by the antients 
in some particular disorders, that it was equal 
in value to its weight in silver. The old staiks 
grow to live or six inches diameter, and are 
then of a shining yellow colour: and, are so 
hard and durable that they are used in build- 
ings, and for making all sorts of household 
lurniture ; and when bored through the mem- 
branes at their joints, are converted into 
water-pipes. The smaller stalks are used 
for walking-sticks, and the inhabitants of Ota- 
heite make flutes of them about afoot long, 
with two holes only ; which they stop with the 
first finger, of the left hand and the middle one 
of the right, and then blow through their 
nostrils. 
2. Arundo donax, or cultivated reed, is a 
native of warm countries, but will bear the 
cold of our moderate winters in the open air. 
The stalks of this are brought from Spain and 
Portugal, and are used by the weavers, as also 
for making fishing-rods. 
3. Arundo orientalis is what the Turks use 
as writing pens ; it grows in a valley near 
mount Athos, as also on the banks ‘of the 
river Jordan, 
4. Arundo phragmitis, or the common 
marsh-reed, grows by the sides of our rivers, 
and in standing waters. 
The arundo versicolor, or Indian varie- 
gated reed, is supposed to be a variety of the 
donax, differing from it only in having varie- 
gated leaves; and the arundo picta, or striped 
grass, is a variety of the Canary grass. 
ARUSPICES, or Harusimces, an order 
•of priesthood among the Romans, that pre- 
tended to foretel future events by inspecting 
the entrails of victims killed in sacrifice. 
A R YT/EN O J D ES, in anatomy, the name 
of two cartilages, which, together with others, 
constitute the head of the larynx. It is also 
applied to some muscles of the larynx. 
AS, in antiquity, a particular weight, con- 
sisting of twelve ounces, being the same with 
libra, or the Roman pound. 
As was also the name of a Roman coin, 
which was of different matter and weight, 
according to the different ages of the com- 
monwealth. 
It is also used to signify an integer, divisi- 
ble into twelve parts, from which last accep- 
tation it signified a whole inheritance. 
'Flie as had several divisions : the principal 
of which were the uncia, or ounce, being the 
twelfth part of the as; sextans, the sixth part 
of the as; quadrans, the fourth part ; triens, 
the third part; and semis, half the as, or six 
ounces. Bis was two-thirds of the as, or 
eight ounces ; and dodrans, three-fourths of 
the as. 
ASA, in the materia medica, a name given 
to two very different vegetable productions, 
distinguished by epithets expressive of their 
smell. 
. Asa foetida is a very stinking gum, drawn, 
according to Ivempfer, from the root of an 
umbelliferous plant, which grows in the pro- 
vince of Chorasan in Persia. 
ASAPPES, or Azapes, in the Turkish 
armies, a name given to the auxiliary troops 
which they raise among the Christians under 
their dominion, and expose to the first shock 
of the enemy. 
ASA RUM, Asarabacca, a genus of the 
monogynia order, belonging to the dode- 
candria class of plants. The calyx is trifid or 
quadrifid, and rests on thegermen; there is 
no corolla; the capsule is leathery and 
crowned. There are three species, viz. 
1 . Asarum Canadense, a native of Canada. 
2. Asarum Europaeum, grows naturally in 
some parts of England. 
3. Asarum Virginicum, a native of America, 
has no remarkable properties. 
The principal use of this plant among us 
is as a sternutatory. The root of asarum is 
perhaps the strongest of ail the vegetable 
errhines, white hellebore itself not excepted. 
Snuffed up the nose, in the quantity of a 
grain or two, it occasions a large evacuation 
of mucus, and raises a plentiful spitting. The 
leaves are considerably milder, and may be 
used to the quantity of 3, 4, or 5 grains. 
G eoffery relates, that after snuffing up a dose 
of this errhine at night, he has frequently ob- 
served the discharge from the nose to con- 
tinue for 3 days together, and that he has 
known a paralysis of the mouth and tongue 
cured by one dose. 
ASBESTUS, in mineralogy. This mine- 
ral was well known to the antients. They 
even made a kind of cloth from one of the 
varieties, which was famous among them for 
its incombustibility. It is found abundantly 
in most mountainous countries, and no where 
more abundantly than in Scotland. 
It is found in amorphous masses. Its tex- 
ture is fibrous. Its fragments often long, 
splintery. Specific gravity from 2.995 to 
0.6806. Absorbs water. Colour usually 
white or green. Fusible per se by the blow- 
pipe. 
1st. Common asbestus. Specific gravity 
2.547 to 2-995. Feels somewhat greasy. Co- 
tain leek-green; sometimes olive or moun- 
lour green; sometimes greenish or yellowish 
grey. Streak grey. Powder grey. 
Flexible asbestus. — Amianthus. Composed 
of a bundle of threads slightly cohering. 
Fibres flexible. Specific gravity, before It 
absorbs water, from 0.9088 to 2.3134; after 
absorbing water, from 1.5662 to 2.3803. 
Feels greasy. Colour greyish or greenish 
white; sometimes yellowish or silvery white, 
olive or mountain green. 
Elastic asbestus. — Mountain cork. This 
variety has a strong resemblance to common 
cork. Its fibres are interwoven. Specific 
gravity, before absorbing water, from 0.6806 
to 0.9933 ; after absorbing water, from 1.2492 
to 1.3492. Feels meagre. Yields to the 
fingers like cork, and- is somewhat elastic. 
Colour white; sometimes with a shadfe of red 
or yellow; sometimes of a yellow or brown 
colour. 
Ligniform asbestus. Colour wood brown, 
which passes into yellow. Opaque. Very soft. 
Somewhat flexible, but not elastic. Adheres 
to the tongue. Feels harsh. 
A specimen of the common asbestus, ana- 
lysed by Bergman, contained 
63.9 silica 
16.0 carbonat of magnesia 
12.8 carbonat of lime 
6.0 oxide of iron 
1 . 1 alumina 
99.8 
A specimen of the flexible asbestus yielded 
to the same chemist 
64.0 silica 
1 7.2 carbonat of magnesia 
13.9 carbonat of lime 
2.7 alumina 
2.2 oxyde of iron 
100.0 
A specimen of the elastic asbestus com 
tained, according to the same analysis, 
56.2 silica 
26. 1 carbonat of magnesia 
12.7 carbonat of lime 
3.0 iron 
2.0 alumina 
100.0 
Twelve different specimens of asbestus, 
analysed by Bergman, yielded the same in- 
gredients, differing a little in their propor- 
tions. 
Sp. 2. Actinote. 
Strahlstein of Werner, except the glassy; 
Rayonante of Saussure and Brochante. 
Actinolite, asbestinite, asbestoid of Kirvvan. 
Actinote of Hauy. 
'Phis mineral occurs in the primitive rocks, 
and is usually mixed with those stones which 
contain a notable portion of magnesia. It is 
found both massive and crystallised. The 
primitive form of its crystals, according to 
Ilauy, is a four-sided prism whose bases are 
rhombs, and which he presumes to be the 
same with the primitive form of hornblende. 
It occurs in six-sided prisms, in needles, and 
in small plates. Colour most commonly 
greenish. Texture radiated, rays diverging 
from a centre. Fragments undeterminate. 
Transparency 1 ; often opaque. Difficult to 
break. Specific gravity 2.916 to 3.31. Fu- 
sible before the blow-pipe. It is divided into 
two subspecies. 
ASCARINE, a genus of the dioecia mo- 
nandri a class and order. The essential cha- 
racter is, calyx ament, filiform : corolla none : 
male, anther worm-shaped: female, style 
none: stigma three-lobed drupe. There is 
one species, a native of the Society Isles. 
ASCARIS, or Ascarides, a genus be- 
longing to the class of vermes, and the order 
of vermes intestinal. These insects are found 
in the bodies of animals ; have a round and 
elastic body, tapering towards each extremity; 
three protuberances at the head ; the tail ob- 
tuse or subulate ; and the intestines spiral, 
milky white, and pellucid: they are of the 
two sexes, and very prolific ; but their origin 
is still a matter of profound obscurity. There 
are two species, viz, 
