s c 
A5SCULAPIUS, in the heathen mythology, the god 
of phylic, was the fon of Apollo and the nymph Coroiiis. 
He was educated by the centaur Chiron, who taught him 
phyfic; by which means Asfculapius cured the moftdef- 
perate difeafes. But Jupiter, enraged at his reftoring to 
life Hippolitus, who had been torn in pieces by his own 
horfes, killed him with a thunder-bolt. According to.Ci- 
cero, there were three deities of this name : the firft, the 
l'on of Apollo, worfliipped in Arcadia, who invented the 
probe, and bandages for wounds ; the fecond, the brother 
of Mercury, killed by lightning; and the third, the f° n of 
Arifippus and Arfinoe, who firft taught the art of tooth¬ 
drawing and purging. At Epidaurus, VEfcufapius’s fta- 
tue was of gold and ivory, with a long beard, his head 
furrounded with rays, holding in one hand a knotty dick, 
and the other entwined with a ferpent; he was feaited on a 
throne of the fame materials as his ftatue, and had a dog 
lying at his feet. The Romans crowned him with laurel, 
to reprefent his defcent frdm Apollo; and the Phaliafins 
reprefented him as beardlefs. The cock, the raven, and 
the goat, were facred to this deity. His chief temples 
were at Pergamus, Smyrna, Trica, a city in Ionia, and 
the ifle of Coos ; in all which votive tablets were hung up, 
{hewing the difeafes cured by his aflifance. But his molt 
famous ftirine was at Epidaurus ; where, every five years, 
games were inftituted to him, nine days after the Ifthmian 
games at Corinth. 
VESCULUS, J. [efca , food, Lat. ] In botany, a genus of 
the heptandria monogynia clafs, of the natural order of 
trihilatas. The generic characters are—Calyx : perianth 
one-leaved, ventricofe, fmall, five-toothed. Corolla: 
petals five, roundifh, plaited and waving about the edge, 
fiat, fpreading, claws narrow, inferted into the calyx*, ir¬ 
regularly coloured. Stamina: filaments fubulate, the 
length of the corolla, declining. Anther® attending. 
Piltillum: germ roundifh, ending in a fubulate ftyle. 
Stigma acuminate. Pericarpium: capfuleleathery,round- 
ifh, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds : two, fubglobu- 
lar.— EJfcntial Cha.ra8.er. Calyx, one-leaved, five-tooth¬ 
ed, ventricofe. Corolla, five-petalled, irregularly co¬ 
loured, inferted into the calyx. Capfule, three-celled. 
Species, i. Atfculus hippocaftanum, or common horfe 
cliefnut: the flowers with feven ftamens: leaves digitate 
with feven entire leaflets : capfules prickly. The com¬ 
mon horfe chefnut is fufficiently known by the beautiful 
parabolic form in which the branches are difpofed, when 
the tree Hands Angle : by its digitate leaves, compofed of 
feven leaflets, ferrate about; the edge, the middle one largeft, 
the outer ones fmalleft: and by its handfome, upright, py¬ 
ramidal thyrfes of white flowers, variegated with yellow or 
red towards the centre. Some of thefe, towards the top 
of the thyrfe, are imperfeft and abortive. The capfule, or 
nut, as it is commonly called, is divided internally into 
three cells according to Linnaeus; but into two only, as 
others affirm. This tree was in much greater efteern for 
avenues and walks formerly than at pefent. It is come in¬ 
to difrepute, becaufe the leaves decay early in the fummer, 
fo that it occafions a litter in gardens and plantations, from 
July till they are all fallen ; but, notwithftanding this in¬ 
convenience, the tree has great merit, for it affords a no¬ 
ble Ihade very early ; and, during the time of its flower¬ 
ing, no tree has more beauty, for the extremities of the 
branches are terminated by fine fpikes of flowers, fo that 
every part of the tree feems covered with them, and, be¬ 
ing intermixed with the large digitate leaves, they make 
a noble appearance. There is however another incon- 
veniency to which this beautiful tree is fubjedt, namely, 
that it does not well refill: ftorrny winds. In the old way 
of planting thefe trees in avenues, great part of their beau¬ 
ty was loft ; for, when their brandies meet, fewer flowers 
are produced, and moft of thefe are hid from fight; their 
leaves will alfo decay much foonerin clofe plantations than 
in Angle trees; the great beauty of them is to Hand fingly 
upon lawns, or in parks, where their fruit will be of ufe to 
the deer, who are very fond of them. In luch lituations, 
Vol. I. No. 12. 
7E S C ’tyf 
efpecially when they can be placed fo as to terminate a 
view, there is not a finer object than they afford during 
their feafon of flowering, which is in May ; and, when 
the weather is moderate, they will continue in beauty near 
a month. In the opinion of Mr. Gilpin, the horfe chef- 
nut is a heavy difagreeable tree. It forms its foliage ge¬ 
nerally in a round mafs, with little appearance of thofe 
breaks which contribute to give an airinefs and lightnefs, 
at leaft a richnefs and variety, to the whole mafs of foliage. 
This tree is however chiefly admired for its flower, which 
in itfelf is beautiful: but the whole tree together in flow¬ 
er is a glaring objedt, totally unharmoniotis, and unpic- 
turefque. In fome lituations indeed, and among a pro- 
fulion of other wood, a lingle horfe chefnut or two, in 
bloom, may be beautiful. As it forms an admirable {hade, 
it may be of ufe too in thickening diftant fcenery ; or in 
ftcreening an objedt near at hand : for there is no fpecies of 
foliage, however heavy, nor any fpecies of bloom, however 
glaring, w hich may not be brought, by fome proper con- 
traft, to produce a good efreft. Few trees make a greater 
progrefs than this. I have known fome raifed from nuts, 
which in twelve or fourteen years were large enough to 
fliade two or three chairs under the fpread of their branch¬ 
es, and were covered with flowers. There'are many old 
trees now Handing, which, having been planted fingly, are 
grown to a large lize, their heads forming a fine natural 
parabola. I have meafured fome of them, whole branch¬ 
es have extended more than thirty feet, and their heads 
have been fo dole as to afford a perfeCl lhade in the hot- 
teft feafons. Thefe were planted in 1679 ; fothat, although 
they are of quick growth, yet they are not of lliort dura¬ 
tion. As the wood is of little value, this tree ftioulcl not 
however be propagated in too great plenty ; but a few of 
them only placed at proper diltances in pai;ks, for orna¬ 
ment, and for the deer, who keep much about them in 
windy weather, watching the falling of the nuts, ;and 
greedily devouring them as they fall. In Turkey, "the 
nuts are ground, and mixed with the provender for their 
horfes, efpecially thofe which are troubled w ith coughs or 
are broken winded. Hanbury affirms, that fwine will fat¬ 
ten on them; while others on the contrary aftert that they 
are fo bitter, that even hogs will noteat them, either raw, 
boiled, or baked. Haller relates, that Iheep have been fed 
with the nuts whole, and have done very well with them: 
and that poultry have been kept with them boiled. He al¬ 
fo obferves, that, having a faponaceousqualiry, they may be 
ufed to fpare foap in waftiing: and that the bark of the 
tree has been given in Italy, not without fuccefs, in inter¬ 
mittent fevers. This bark has alfo been ufed with good 
fuccefs in dying feveral forts of yellow colours. The 
timber, though of inferior quality, does not merit the cha¬ 
racter that Mr. Miller gives of it, namely, that it is not 
fit even for burning, nor any other ufe that he knows of. 
Mr. Boutcher, though he affirms that the timber, except 
for fuel, anfwers no valuable purpofe ; yet allows that for 
pipes, to convey water under ground, it will laft longer 
than many harder woods. Dr. Hunter informs us, that it 
is chiefly ufed by the turner, and in the north is worth 
about lixpence a foot. And Mr. Hanbury not only ad¬ 
mits it to be ufeful for moft forts of turners’ ware, but that, 
as the tree grows to a great magnitude, it fells at fuch a 
price as to make it well worth the planting for the lake 
of the timber. ' He preferibes the felling to be performed 
in November or December. The horfe chefnut was 
brought from the northern parts of Alia into Europe 
about the year 1550, and was Lent to Vienna about the year 
1558. From Vienna it migrated into Italy and France: 
but it came to us from the Levant immediately. Ger- 
rard, in his Herbal, fpeaks of it only as a foreign tree. In 
Johnfon’s edition of the fame work* it is laid,—“ Horle 
chefnut groweth in Italy, and in fundry places of the eaft 
countries: it is now growing with Mr. Tradefcaiit at South 
Lambeth.” Parkinfon fays: “ our Chriftian world had 
firft the knowledge of it from Conftantinoyle.” The fame 
author places the horle chefnut in his orchard, as a fruit- 
Z z tree,- 
