ARU 
volume under the title of “ Marmora Arun- 
deliana,” containing nearly forty inscrip- 
tions with annotations. During the civil 
wars, these marbles were defaced and much 
injured, and some of them entirely lost, or 
made use of for the ordinary purposes of 
building. In 1667, what were left of these 
curious remains were presented to the Uni- 
versity of Oxford, when a new edition of 
Selden’s work was published, with addi- 
tional notes, by the celebrated Dr. Pri- 
deaux. Mr. Mattaire in 1731, gave the 
public a more comprehensive view of these 
marbles, and in 1763, Dr. Chandler pub- 
lished a new and improved copy of them, 
in which he corrected the errors of the for- 
mer editors, and supplied' the deficiencies 
in some of the inscriptions, particularly 
those of the Parian chronicle, by many in- 
genious conjectures. These marbles, in 
their perfect state, contained a chronolo- 
gical detail of the principal events of 
Greece, from the commencement of the 
reign of Cecrops, in the year before Christ 
1582, to the close of the archonate of 
Diognetus, in the year 264, A. C. The 
chronicle of the last 90 years is lost, and 
the others are much defaced and corroded, 
of course the sense can only be discovered 
by very learned and industrious antiquaries, 
or supplied by conjectures. Almost every 
event in this table between the destruction 
of Troy and the annual magistracy of 
Athens, is dated 26 years earlier than in 
the canons of Eusebius, and those of other 
approved chronologers. These marbles 
have been applied to the elucidation of 
many parts of ancient history; but their 
inconsistency with other authentic records, 
has depreciated their value and use. Their 
authenticity has been doubted, and the 
question ably discussed by Mr. Robertson 
and Mr. Hewlett, the former being in- 
clined to give up, and the latter to vindi- 
cate the authenticity of the Parian chro- 
nicle. 
ARUNDO, common reed, in botany, a 
genus of the Triandria Digynia class of 
plants, the calyx of which is a glume formed 
of two oblong, acuminated valves, not aris- 
tated, one longer than the other. The co- 
rolla is formed of two valves of the length 
of the cup, of an oblong, acuminated 
figure, with a lanuginous matter at the base, 
of the length of the flower ; the corolla ad- 
heres to the seed, and serves as a pericar- 
pium ; tire seed is single, oblong, pointed, 
and downy at the base. There are 14 spe- 
ASA 
cies, of which we notice 1. A. bambos, 
bamboo-cane, which has a woody, hollow, 
round, straight culm,forty-feet high and up- 
wards, simple and shining ; it grows natu- 
rally almost every where within the tropi- 
cal regions. Over a great part of Asia it is 
very common. It has been long cultivated 
here. Some of the plants have been seen 
twenty feet high ; a strong shoot from the 
root has been known to grow twenty feet 
in five or six weeks. See Bamboo. 2. A. 
phragmites, the common reed, which flow- 
ers from July to September, and is com- 
mon by the sides of rivers, in ditches, and 
large standing waters. In autumn, when 
the leaves begin to fall, and the stems are 
changed brown, it is cut for making screens 
in kitchen gardens, and for many other 
uses, as thatching, for which it is more du- 
rable than straw ; for ceilings, and to lay 
across the frame of wood-work as the foun- 
dation for plaister floors. The panicles are 
used by the country people in Sweden to 
dye wool green. 
ARUSPICES, or Haruspices, an order 
of priesthood, among the Romans, that pre- 
tended to foretel future events by inspect- 
ing the entrails of victims killed in sacri- 
fice ; they were also consulted on occasion 
of portents and prodigies. It appears that 
women were admitted into this order. 
AS, in antiquity, a particular weight, 
consisting 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, divi- 
sible into twelve parts, from which last ac- 
ceptation it signified a whole inheritance. 
The 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. Bes was two thirds of the 
as, or eight ounces ; and dodrans, three- 
fourths of the as. 
ASAFQETIDA, in chemistry, a gum 
resin obtained from ferula asafcetida, a pe- 
rennial plant which is a native of Persia. 
When the plant is about four years old its 
roots are dug up and cleaned, and from 
their extremity when cut, a milky juice 
exudes, which soon hardens and consti- 
tutes asafoetida. It comes into this and 
other countries in Europe in small grams 
