Search the scanned history of knowledge.

ASP ( Vipera aspis), a species of venomous snake, closely allied to the common adder of Great Britain, which it represents throughout the southern parts of Europe, being specially abundant in the region of the Alps. It differs from the adder in having the head ...

ASPEN, an important section of the poplar genus (Popttlus) of which the common aspen of Europe, P. tremula, may be taken as the type, — a tall fast-growing tree with rather slender trunk, and grey bark becoming rugged when old. The roundish leaves, toothed on ...

ASPER, AEMILIUS. Latin grammarian, possibly lived in the jnd c«ntury A.D. He wrote commentaries on Terence, Sallust and Virgil. Numerous fragments of the last show that as both critic and commentator he possessed good judgment and taste. They arc printed in Kc ...

ASPIC (French, from Lat. aspis), an asp or viper found in Egypt whose bite is supposed to cause a swift and easy death, hence poetically a term for any venomous snake. From association, perhaps, with the coldness of the aspic (as in the French proverb, froid c ...

ASPARAGINE, C4H8N2O3, a naturally occurring base, found in plants belonging to the natural orders Leguminosae and ASPARAGUS— ASP ASIA Crucifcrac. It occurs in two optically active forms, namely, as laevo-osparaginc and dcxtro-asparaginc. Laevo-asparagine was i ...

ASPARAGUS, a genus of plants (nat. ord. Liliaceae) containing more than 100 species, and widely distributed in the temperate and warmer parts of the Old World; it was introduced from Europe into America with the early settlers. The name is derived from the Gre ...

ASPASIA, an Athenian courtesan of the sth century B.C., was born either at Miletus or at Megara, and settled in Athens, where her beauty and her accomplishments gained for her a great reputation. Pericles, who had divorced his wife (445), made her his mistress ...

ASPASIUS, a Greek peripatetic philosopher, and a prolific commentator on Aristotle. He flourished probably towards the close of the ist century A.D., or perhaps during the reign of Antoninus Pius. His commentaries on the Categories, De Interpretatione, De Sens ...

ASPENDUS (mod. Balkls Kale , or, more anciently in the native language, ESTVEDYS (whence the adjective Estvedijys on coins), an ancient city of Pamphylia, very strongly situated on an isolated hill on the right bank of the Eurymedon at the point where the rive ...

ASPER. HANS (1400-1571), Swiss painter, was born and died at Zurich. He wrought in a great variety of styles, but excelled chiefly in flower and fruit pieces, and in portrait-painting. Many of his pictures have perished, but his style may be judged from the il ...

ASPERGES (" thou wilt sprinkle," from the Latin verb aspergere), the ceremony of sprinkling the people with holy water before High Mass in the Roman Catholic Church, so called from the first word of the verse (Ps. iv. 9) Asperges me, Domini, hyssopo tt mundabo ...

ASPERN-ESSLING. BATTLE OF (1809), a battle fought on the list and 22nd of May 1809 between the French and their allies under Napoleon and the Austrians commanded by the archduke Charles (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS). At the time of the battle Napoleon was in poss ...

ASPHALT, or ASPHALTUM. The solid or semi-solid kinds of bitumen (q.v.) were termed &ff<t>a\TO$ by the Greeks; and by some ancient classical writers the name of pissasphaltum (iri<r<ra, pitch) was also sometimes employed. The asphalt of the Dead Sea (known as L ...

ASPHODEL (Asphodelus), a genus of the lily order (Liliaceae), containing seven species in the Mediterranean region. The plants are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow tufted radical leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white or yellow f ...

ASPHYXIA (Gr. A- priv., <r&>£it, a pulse), a term in medicine, literally signifying loss of pulsation, which is applied to describe the arrest men t of the function of respiration from some hindrance to the entrance of air into the lungs. (See RESPIRATORY SYST ...

ASPIDISTRA, a small genus of the lily order (Liliaceae), native of the Himalayas, China and Japan. Aspidistra lurida is a favourite pot-plant, bearing large green or white-striped leaves on an underground stem, and small dark purplish, cup-shaped flowers close ...

ASPIROTRICHACEAE (O. Butschli), an order of Ciliate Infusoria, characterized by an investment, general or partial, of nearly uniform cilia, without any distinct adoral wreath, and one or two adoral endoral undulating membranes. With the Gymnostomaceae it forme ...

ASPIROZ, MANUEL DE (1836-1005), Mexican statesman and diplomatist, was born at Puebla, and educated at the university of Mexico, where he took his degree in "i&sS- He took part in the war against the emperor Maximilian, and in 1867, on the establishment of the ...

ASPROMONTE, a mountain of Calabria, Italy, rising behind Reggio di Calabria, the west extremity of the Sila range. The highest point is 6420 ft. and the slopes are clad with forest. Here Garibaldi was wounded and taken prisoner by the Italian troops under Pall ...

ASAPH, the eponym of the Asaphite gild of singers, one of the hereditary choirs that superintended the musical services of the temple at Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The names occur in the titles of certain Psalms, and the writer of the Book of Chronicles m

... t Ociras (on the Lucalla affluent of the Kwanza) and in Bailundo; petroleum and asphalt in Dande and Quinzao; gold in Lombije and Cassinga; and mineral salt in Quissama. The native blacksmiths are held in great repute. Communications. — There is a regular stea ...

... convulsions may set in towards the end, and a death somewhat similar to that of asphyxia takes place. In some recent experiments on cats performed by Sutherland Simpson and Percy T. Herring, they found them unable to survive when the rectal temperature was red ...

... dealt with; almosl equally important in primitive creeds is the eschalological aspect. In many parts of the world il is held lhal Ihe human body is the seat of more than one soul; in the island of Nias four are distinguished, ihe shadow and ihe intelligence, ...

... aughter zooids FIG. 8. A, Colony of Pennatula phospkorea from the metarachidia! aspect, p. The peduncle. B, Section of the rachis bearing a single pinna, a. Axis; b, metarachiilial; c, prorachidial; d, pararachidial stem canals. round a central, much-elongated ...

... ges, and in the opposable great toe, which fits the foot to be a climbing and grasping organ. Man differs from them in the absence of a hairy coat; in the development of a large lobule to the external ear; in his fully erect attitude; in his flattened foot wit ...

... onstrations and street riots were reported. Pamphlets attacking every phase and aspect of Jewish life streamed by the hundred from the printing-press. On their side the Jews did not want for friends, and it was owing to the strong attitude adopted by the Liber ...

... gling in vain with the difficulties of dialectic. His work represents one great aspect of Socratic philosophy, and should be compared with the Cyrenaic and Megarian doctrines. BIBLIOGRAPHY. — Charjes Chappuis, Antisthene (Paris, 1854); A. Muller, De Antistheni ...

... hich is comprehensible only when the influence exercised by his unscrupulous, grasping and sinister personality is fully taken into account. He died on the 6th of November 1876.

... rresponded, at any rate in some measure, respectively to the fiercer and milder aspects of the dog-tribe. In late days the Greeks report that ttim (dogs) were the sacred animals of Anubis while those of Ophois were Xuox (wolves). The above figure 3=^ is colour ...

... xpeditions. On one occasion, when the sultan was besieging the fortress of Hazarasp, a fierce poetical conflict was maintained between Anwari and his rival Rashidi, who was within the beleaguered castle, by means of verses fastened to arrows. Anwari died at Ba ...

... ic crystals from Jumilla in Murcia in Spain have long been known under the name asparagus-stone. Lazurapatite is a sky-blue variety found as crystals with lapislazuli in Siberia; and moroxite is the name given to dull greenishblue crystals from Norway and Cana ...

... th to " tendency." But not all quarters are responsible; and in the effort to grasp scientifically, i.e. accurately, the amazing facts of Christ and primitive Christianity, every imaginable hypothesis is canvassed. Even the Roman Catholic Church produced the A ...

... en of all probability. The parable reaches heights to which the apologue cannot aspire, for the points in which brutes and inanimate nature present analogies to man are principally those of his lower nature, and the lessons taught by the apologue seldom theref ...

... indicated by some outward act, such as offering incense to a heathen deity or blaspheming the name of Christ.1 In the Roman Catholic Church the word is also applied to the renunciation of monastic vows (apostasis a monachalu), and to the abandonment of the cle ...

... f conception with which the several Apostolic writers place before us different aspects of the Gospel " (Lightfoot). While Apostolic phrases are used, the sense behind them is often different and less evangelic. They have not caught the Apostolic meaning, beca ...

... ut has other disadvantages; common iron pipes, coated internally with cement or asphalt or glazed internally, with all unions and joints cemented, have been used with more or less success. Probably best of all is common lead piping, the joints being served wit ...

... ylor in 1899. See F. C. Burkitt's article in the Jewish Encyclopaedia. AQDILA, CASPAR [KASPAR ADLER] (1488-1360), German reformer, was born at Augsburg on the 7th of August 1488, educated there and at Ulm (1502), in Italy (he met Erasmus in Rome), at Bern (150 ...

... f the results which accrued to man from reason and revelation, and a thorough grasp of all that had been done by man in relation to those two sources of human knowledge; and so, in his preliminary writings, Thomas proceeds to master the two provinces. The resu ...

... times as much water as the Lake of Geneva. Its altitude is 242$ ft. above the Caspian, i.e. about 155 ft. above the ocean. The lake is surrounded on the north by steppes; on the west by the rocky plateau of Ust-Urt, which separates it from the Caspian; on the ...

... ed belief that Latin was derived from Greek. Aram's writings show that he had grasped the right idea on the subject of the Indo-European character of the Celtic language, which was not established till J. C. Prichard published his book. Eastern Origin of the C ...