ASB 
of different colours, hard and brittle. Its 
taste is acrid and bitter, its smell is strongly 
alliaceous and fetid. Alcohol dissolves |ths 
of this substance, and water takes up about 
jth, if applied before the spirit. It yields an 
oil when distilled with water and alcohol. 
The specific gravity is 1.32. 
ASARUM, or Asahabacca, in botany, 
a genus of plants without any flower-leaves, 
and belonging to the Dodecandria Monogy- 
nia class of Linnasus. Its fruit is a coria- 
ceous capsule, divided into six cells, and 
containing a great many oval seeds. There 
are three species. The common asarabacca 
is a native of many parts of Europe, in woods 
and shady places, flowering in April and 
May. With us it is found only in Lanca- 
shire. The root finely powdered excites 
vomiting, coarsely powdered it purges. 
Thfe powder of the leaves is the basis of 
most cephalic snulfs, which occasion a con- 
siderable discharge of mucus from the nos- 
trils without much sneezing. 
ASBESTUS, in mineralogy, a species of 
the Talc family, well known to the ancients, 
who made a kind of cloth from one of the 
varieties, which was famous for its incom- 
bustibility. It is found in primitive moun- 
tains, especially in serpentine, which it tra- 
verses in veins It is divided by Werner 
into four sub-species, viz. 1. The elastic as- 
best, or rock cork, which is of a yellowish 
grey, of various intensity: occurs some- 
times massive, sometimes in plates, and with 
impressions. At first sight it appears to be 
fine grained, uneven. Opaque very seldom ; 
translucent on the edges ; somewhat elas- 
tically flexible; cracks when handled. Spe- 
cific gravity .09 to .068. 2. The amianthus, 
of a greenish white, passing into a greenish 
grey, sometimes blood red. Massive, also 
in plates and small veins, and in capillary 
crystals. Internally its lustre is glistening, 
passing to shining: fracture parallelly fibrous, 
and sometimes a little curved. It is found 
in primitive rocks, in Sweden, Bohemia, 
Silesia, Italy, Hungary, Siberia, France, 
Spain, and Scotland. From its flexibility, 
and its resisting the effects of fire, it is said 
to have been by the ancients woven into a 
kind of cloth, in which they wrapped the 
bodies of persons of distinction before they 
were placed on the funeral pile, that their 
ashes might be collected free from admix- 
ture. It was also used for incombustible 
wicks; but is now considered only as an 
object of curiosity. To these may be added, 
3. The common asbestus , and 4. The sock- 
ASC 
wood, which differ too little from the former 
sub-species to demand particular notice. Ac- 
cording to Cheneviz, the amianthus consists 
Silica 
59.0 
Magnesia. 
25.0 
Lime 
9.25 
Alumina.. 
3.0 
Iron 
2.25 
98.5 
Loss 
1.5 
100 .— 
ASCARINA, in botany, a genus of the 
Dioecia Monandria class and order. Ament 
filiform ; no corolla. Male, anthera worm- 
shaped, four-grooved: female, stigmata three 
lobed: drupe? One species, in the Society 
Isles. 
ASCARIS, in natural history, a genus of 
worms of the order Intestiua. Body round, 
elastic, and tapering towards each extre- 
mity; head with three vesicles ; tail obtuse 
or subulate ; intestines spiral : milk white 
and pellucid. There are about 80 species; 
separated into divisions, viz. A. infesting 
mammalia; B. found in birds; C. infesting 
reptiles ; D. infesting fish ; and E. infesting 
worms. A. vermicularis : head subulate ; 
skin at the sides of the body very finely 
crenate, or wrinkled : inhabits the intestines 
of children and thin people, principally in 
the rectum. They are generally found in 
considerable numbers, and occasion many 
troublesome symptoms, creeping sometimes 
up into the stomach. They are viviparous, 
and about half an inch long. The female 
has a small punctiforih aperture a little be- 
low the head, through which the young are 
protruded. A. lumbricus, inhabits the in- 
testines of thin persons, generally about the 
ileum, but sometimes ascends into the sto- 
mach, and creeps out of the mouth and 
nostrils. They are frequently very numer- 
ous and vivacious, from twelve to fifteen 
inches long : body transparent, of a light 
yellow, and with a faint line down the side. 
They are oviparous, and distinguished from 
the earth worm, in wanting the fleshy ring 
below the head, and in having three vesicles. 
ASCENSION, in astronomy, the rising 
of the sun or a star, or any part of the equi- 
noctial with it, above the horizon : is either 
right or oblique. 
Right ascension is that degree of the 
equator, reckoned from the beginning of 
Aries, which rises. with the sun or a star, in a 
