A S B 
tTiofe of the autumnal cyclamen. The flowers are fhaped 
like the others, but (land on longer peduncles, and are of 
a darker purple colour. Native of Virginia and Caro¬ 
lina ; alfo of leveral provinces in China. 
Propagation. Thefe plants delight in a moift fliady 
fituution, and may be increafed by parting the roots in 
autumn. Too much wet will rot tin 'Can ulian fort in 
the winter. If the third fpecies be too mfich expofed 
to the fun, it feldom thrives well; it fhould therefore be 
planted in a border where it may have only the morn¬ 
ing fun. 
Asarum HYrocis'ns. SeeCvTiNus. 
ASAWN'LLY, a town of Hindooitan, in the circar of 
©udipour, eighteen-miles fouth-weft of Oudipour. 
ASB ANIKE'I, atown of Afla, in Mawaralnaher Tranf- 
Oxana, or Zagatai. 
AS'BECK, a town of Germany, in the circle of Weft- 
phalia, four miles fouth eaft of Ahauz. 
AS.BES'T INE, ad j. Something incorr.buftible, or that 
partakes of the nature and qualities of the lapis ajbejlos. 
ASBES'TUS, f. [ot « priv. and aGivvvce, to extinguifn ; 
that cannot be extinguifhed. ] In mineralogy, a genus 
of talcofe earth, filamentous, filky, and of a greyifh co¬ 
lour ; fometimes inclined to green, or yellowifh. The 
moft obvious characters of the afbeftos tire, a greater or 
lefs degree of flexibility, and their refilling the fire. The 
amianthus is a fpecies of it. 
The induftry of mankind has found a method of work¬ 
ing this untoward mineral, and employing it in divers ma¬ 
nufactures, chiefly of cloth and paper. The cloth of 
albefuis was highly elleemed by the ancients, and held 
equally precious with the riche!! pearls. Pliny fays, he 
liimfelf had feen napkins thereof, which being taken foul 
from the table after a feaft, were thrown into the fire, and 
by that means were better fcoured than if they had been 
waffled in water. But its principal life, according to 
Pliny, was for making (brands for royal funerals, to wrap 
up the corpfe, fo that the .allies might be preferved dif- 
. thrift from thofe of the wood whereof the funeral pile was 
compofed : and the princes of Tartary, according to the 
Philofophical TranfaCtions, ufe it at this day in burning 
their dead. Some of the ancients are faid to have made 
them Cel ves clothes of it, particularly the brae lima ns among 
the Indians. The wicks for their perpetual lamps, ac¬ 
cording to Dr. Liller, were alfo made of it: becauie, the 
afbeffus not waiting, there is no occafiou for fliifting the 
wick. 
Although the cloth of albedos, when foiled, is reftored 
to its primitive vvlritenefs by heating in the fire, it is found, 
neverthelefs, by leveral authentic experiments,.' that its 
weight diminilfles by fuch treatment. A handkerchief or 
pattern of tiiis linen was long fince prefented to the Royal 
Society, a foot long and half a loot broad. This gave two 
proofs of its refilling fire; though, in both experiments, 
it loll above three drachms in its weight. When taken 
out red-hot, it did not burn a piece of white paper on 
which it was laid. The method of preparing the incom- 
buflible paper and cloth, from afbeftus, is thus delcribed 
by Ciampini : The done is laid to foak in warm water ; 
then opened and divided by the hands, that the earthy 
matter may be wadied out. The ablution being feveral 
times repeated, the flax-like filaments are collected and 
dried; and they are molt conveniently fpunwith an addi¬ 
tion of flax. Two or three filaments of the afbeftus are 
eafily twifted along with the flaxen thread, if the opera¬ 
tor’s fingers are kept oiled. The cloth alfo, when woven, 
js beft preferved by oil from breaking. On expofure to 
the fire, the flax and the oil burn out, and the cloth re¬ 
mains pure and white. For the different fpecies, countries 
where found, and peculiar properties, fee the genus As- 
bestus, in the article Mineralogy. 
ASBROIT', a town of Sweden, in South Gothland, fix 
miles north of Wardberg. 
AS'BURG, atovvnot Germany, in the circle of Weft, 
plialia, and county of Meurs, two leagues eaft of Meurs, 
and fix weft of Duifbnrg. 
A S C 251 
ASC AIN', a town of France, in the department of the 
Lower Pyrenees, four leagues from Bayonne. 
AS'CALON, an ancient city, and one of the five fatra- 
pies or principalities of the Phililtines ; fituated on the 
Mediterranean, forty-three miles fouth-weft of Jerufalem, 
between Azotits to the north and Gaza to the fouth. The 
birth-place of Herod the Great, thence fui named Afcalo- 
nita; famous for its fcallions, which take their name from 
this town. Strabo.. Now Scalona. 
ASCJA'NIUS, the fon of EEneas and Creufa, fucceeded 
his father in the kingdom of the Latins, and defeated Me. 
zentius king of the Tufcans, who had refilled to conclude 
a peace with him. At length he founded Alba Longa; 
and died about 1139 years before the Chr.iftian ;era, after 
a reign of thirty-eight years. 
■ ASCA'RA, a town of Japan, in the province of Si- 
mood ftike. 
ASCARDAMYC'T-ES,yi [of a. neg. and ay.a^ci^vrho, 
to wink.] Having the power to keep the eyes fixed with¬ 
out twinkling. 
ASC ARENA,/! [from asc-xagi;, a little worm; the un¬ 
til er?e having that lliape.] In botany, a genus of the clafs 
cioecia, order monandria. The elfentiai generic charac¬ 
ters are—-Calyx: ament filiform. Male: anthera worn.- 
Iflaped. Female: ftignia three-lobed. 
There is but one fpecies, Afcarina poly ftachia, which 
is a native of the Society Illes, in the South Seas. 
A'SCARlS,yi [front acraeu, Gr. to be in motion.] In 
helmintology,. a genus of worms belonging to the order 
of inteftina: the characters of which are: Body round, 
elaftic, and tapering towards each extremity : head with 
three veficles-: tail obtufe or fubulate : inteftines milk- 
white and pellucid. They are divided into five claffes, viz. 
1 ; Infelting the Mammalia. —Of thefe there are 
twenty-five fpecies: 1. The Lumbricoides : head (lightly 
incurved, with a tranfverfe contraction, mouth triangular : 
inhabits the fniall inteftines of children and grown per- 
fons. Fig. 1. in the annexed engraving, reprelents this 
worm greatly magnified, to (flow the inteftin.al canal ; a, 
reprefents a neft of thefe afearides in their embrio or egg 
ftate ; b, one of the young juft emerged into life; c, a 
bunch of thefe worms of the lize ufually voided by chil¬ 
dren. 2. The Vermicularis : head fubulate, or awl- 
ftiaped : fkin at the Tides of the body finely crenate or 
wrinkled : inhabits the inteftines of children and thin 
people, principally in the redhim. This is Iflown in the 
engraving at fig. 2, greatly magnified. Thele are the 
only afearides known to infeft the human body. The 
lumbricoides are often voided in great quantities. Dr. 
Hooper relates a cafe of a girl eight years old who voided 
upwards of 200 in the courle. of a week. When recently 
excluded, they are tranfparent, and appear as if they had 
been lucking water tinged with blood; this colour, how¬ 
ever, foon cifappears, and they become of a light opaque 
yellow. After being evacuated, their motion is feeble, 
and they foon die. Their motion is Terpentine, and in no 
relpedt refeiiibles the motion of the lumbricus terreftris, 
or earth-worm, which has the power of diminilhing its 
length and extending itfelf again, while tlie length ot the 
afearis lumbricoides is never diminifhed ; the head is al¬ 
ways fent forward by the worm curling itfelf into circles, 
and fuddenly extending it with an elaftic force to fome 
diftance. They propagate by fexual contact; and the 
female lumbricoides is oviparous, and very prolific. The 
afearis vermicularis, called the maw or thread worm, is 
viviparous, about half an inch in length, and in thick- 
nefs refembling a piece of thread ; the head, or obtufe 
extremity, is divided into three veficles or papillae, in 
whofe middle is an aper ure, which is the mouth. The 
body is of a rugofe, pellucid, annular fabric ; the tail ter¬ 
minating in a fine point. Thefe worms are moftly con¬ 
fined to the redtiim and colon, and that principally of 
children; but they are often found in the coecum and 
fmall inteftines, and even the ftomach, and fiequently get 
into the vagina, and even uterus, bladder, See. See, for 
many curious particulars, the article Helmintology, in 
our 
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