ASP 
pretended to fhew Mr. Maundrell a block or flump of 
fait, which they faid was the real remains of this monu¬ 
ment of the divine vengeance. 
■ It is to be obferved, that the name of the Dead Sea is 
not to be found in the facred writings; but hath been gi¬ 
ven to this lake becaufe no creature w ill live in it, on ac¬ 
count of its exceffive faltnefs, or rather bituminous quality. 
However, fome late travellers have found caufe to fufpeft 
the common report of its /breeding no living creature ; one 
of them having obferved on the (bore two or three fhells 
of fi Hi dike thofe pf an oifter, and which he fuppofes to 
have been thrown up by the waves, at two miles diftance 
from the mouth of the Jordan, which he there takes no¬ 
tice of, left they fhould be fufpefled to have been brought 
jnto the lake by that way. And Dr. Pococke, though he 
neither faw filh nor fhells, tells us, on the authority of a 
monk, that fome fort of fifh had been caught in it; and 
gives us his opinion, that, as fo many forts live in falt-wa- 
ter, fome kind may be fo formed as to live in a bituminous 
one. Mr. Volney, however, affirms, that it contains nei¬ 
ther animal nor vegetable life. We fee no verdure on its 
banks, nor are fifh to be found within its waters. But he 
adds, that it is not true that its exhalations are peftiferous, 
fo as to deftroy birds flying over it. “ It is very common 
(fays he) to fee (wallows fkimming its furface, and dipping 
for the water neceffary to build their nefts. The real caufe 
which deprives it of vegetables and animals is the extreme 
faltnefs of the water, which is infinitely ftronger than that 
of the fea. The foil around it, equally impregnated with 
this fait, produces no plants; and the air itfelt, which be¬ 
comes loaded with it from evaporation, and which receives 
alfo the fulphureous and bituminous vapours, cannot be 
favourable to vegetation: hence the deadly afpeft which 
reigns around this lake. In other refpedls, the ground 
about it is not marffiy ; and its waters are limpid and in¬ 
corruptible, as muft be the cafe with a diflolution of fait. 
The origin of this mineral is eafy to be difcovered; for, 
on the louth-weft fhore are mines of foflil fait, of which 
.1 have brought away feveral fpecimens. They are fitua- 
tcd-in the fide of the mountains which extend along that 
border; and, for time immemorial, have fupplied the 
neighbouring Arabs, and even the city of Jerufalem. We 
find alfo on this fhore fragments of fulphur and bitumen, 
w hich the Arabs convert into an article of commerce ; as 
alfo hot fountains, and deep crevices, which are difcover¬ 
ed at a diftance by little pyramids built bn the brink of 
them. We likewife find a fort of (tone, which, on rub¬ 
bing, emits a noxious fmell, burns like bitumen, receives 
a polifit like white alabafter, and is ufed for the paving of 
court-yards.” 
It is on account of this bitumen that it hath had the 
name of the Afphaltite Lake, it being reported to have 
thrown up great quantities of that drug, which was much 
in ufe among the Egyptians, for embalming their dead 
bodies. Jofephus allures us, that in his days it rofe in 
lumps as big as an ox, and fome even larger. But, what¬ 
ever it may have formerly done, we are allured by Mr. 
Maundrell, that it is now to be found but in (mail quan¬ 
tities along the fhore, though in much greater near the 
Tnountains°on both fides the lake. But the contrary is fince 
affirmed in Pococke’s and Shaw's Travels; the firft of which 
ftate, that it is obferved to float on the furface of the wa¬ 
ter, and to come on fhore, after windy weather, where the 
Arabians gather it, and put it to all the ufes that common 
pitch is uled for, even in the compofition of fome medi¬ 
cines : and, from the other we learn, that it was raifed at 
certain limes from thebottom, in large hemifpheres, which, 
a5 foon.as they touch the furface, and are acted upon by 
the external air, burft at once, with great noile and fmoke, 
like the pulvis fulminans of the chemifts, difperfing them¬ 
selves about in a thoufand pieces. From both thefe judi¬ 
cious authors we may conclude the reafen of Mr. Maun- 
,1 jell’s mi flake, both as to the lake’s throwing it up only 
on certain feafons (that rev ere ad gentleman might chance 
to be there at the wrong time); and likewife as to his not 
ASP 
obferving it about the fliores, feeing the Arabs are there 
ready to gather it as foon as thrown up : all of them de- 
feribe it as refembling our black pitch, fo as not to be - 
diftinguifhed from it but by its fulphureous fmoke and 
flench when fet on fire; and it hath been commonly thought 
to be the fame with that which our druggifts fell under the 
name of bitumen Judaicum, or JewiJh pitch, though we have 
reafon to think that this lafl is factitious, and that there is 
now none of the right afphaltum brought from Judea. It 
hath, moreover, been confounded with a fort of blackifh- 
combuftible, called by fome Mofcs’sJlone, which, being held 
in the flame of a candle, will burn, and caft a fmoke and 
intolerable flench : but with this extraordinary property, 
that though it lofes much of its weight and colour, by- 
becoming whiter, yet it lofes nothing of its bulk. Thefe 
Hones, Dr. Pococke tells us, are found about two or three 
leagues from the fhore ; and lie concludes, that a ftratum 
of that ftone under the lake is probably one part of the 
matter that feeds the fubterraneous fire, and caufes the 
bitumen to boil up out of it. 
ASPH AL’TUM, f [a,o-(ptz\r<&, bitumen.] This fub- 
ftance, likewife called bitumen Judaicum , or Jews pitch, is 
a fmooth, hard, brittle, black or brown fubftance, which 
breaks with a poliffi, melts eafily when heated, and when 
pure burns without leaving any allies. It is found in a 
foft or liquid ftate on the furface of the Dead Sea above- 
mentioned, but by age grows dry and hard. The fame 
kind of bitumen is likewife found in the earth in other 
parts of the world; in China, America, and fome parts of 
Europe ; as the Carpathian hills, France, Neufchatel, See. 
Its fpecific gravity, according to Boyle, is 1400. Ardent 
fpirit and ether add upon it but very (lightly and partially. 
Water does not alter it; neither is it foluble in olive oil, 
or the eflential oils of anifeed or turpentine. According 
to Neumann, the afphaltum of the fliops is a very different 
compound from the native bitumen ; and varies, of courfe, 
in its properties, according to the nature of the ingredients 
made ufe of in forming it. On this account, and proba¬ 
bly from other reafons, the ufe of afphaltum, as an article 
of the materia medica, is almoft totally laid afide. Moft 
naturalifts now confider it as amber decompofed by fire. 
By diftillation it affords an oil refembling petroleum. The 
Indians and Arabs ufe it inftead of tar, and it is a compo¬ 
nent part of the varnifh of the Chinefe. Some writers re¬ 
late, that the walls of Babylon, and the temple of Jeru- 
falem, vvere cemented with bitumen inftead of mortar. 
This much is certain, that a true natural bitumen, for in- 
ftance, fuch as is found in the diftricl of Neufchatel, proves 
an excellent cement for walls, pavements, and other pur- 
pofes, uncommonly firm, very durable in the air, and not 
penetrable by water. The watch and clock makers ufe a 
compofition of afphaltum, fine lamp black, and oil of fpike 
or turpentine, for drawing the black figures on dial-plates 
of clocks and watches. 
ASPHO'DELUS,/ [from a, and a(paJ>,a,fubplanto-, or 
cnoliihov, from o"7ro^©-', allies ; afphodel being planted with 
the mallow on graves.] In botany, a genus of the hexan- 
dria monogynia clafs, in the natural order of coronariae. 
The generic characters are—Calyx: none. Corolla: one- 
petalled, fix-parted ; divifions lanceolate, flat, fpreading ; 
nectary, fix very (mail valves, converging into a globe, 
inferted into the bafe of the corolla. Stamina : filaments 
fix, fubulate, inferted into the valves of the neftary, bow¬ 
ed, alternately fhorter; antherae oblong, incumbent, riling. 
Pillillum : germ roundifli, within the neftary; ftyle Tubu¬ 
late, in the fame lituation with the ffamens; ffigma trun¬ 
cate. Pericarpium : capfule globular, fleffiy, three-lobed, 
three-celled. Seeds : feveral, triangular, gibbous on one 
fide.— EJJential Characler. Corolla, fix-parted ; nectary, fix 
valves covering the germ. 
Species. 1. Afphodelusluteus,oryellovv afphodel or king’s 
fpear: Hem leafy, leaves three-lided ftriated. The roots 
of yellow afphodel are compofed of many thick, flelhy, 
yellow, tubers, joined into a head at the top ; whence 
arife (hong, round, Angle Hulks, near three feet high; co¬ 
vered 
