Chapter XIV: Part 14

ASSAYING, the estimation of the amount of pure metal present in an ore or an alloy. The term was originally applied to testing of gold and silver only. It is now usually applied to the determination of the quantity of valuable metal in an ore or alloy, and is also sometimes applied to the estimation of any element which may affect the value of the ore.

Assaying, therefore, means the estimation of one or more metals in an ore or alloy. Before an assay can be made, an average sample of the material must be obtained. If an ore, pieces of material are taken from different parts of the vein or, if already mined, from different parts of the dump. The pieces are crushed up finely and divided into four equal parts. Two of these parts are then mixed and divided into four again, and so on until an average sample has been obtained. In the case of metals in ingots or bars, samples are obtained by drilling and chipping corners or edges. Coins, which are never homogeneous, may be rolled out into a thin sheet and cut into small pieces. A preliminary examination is made to determine the constituents. Finally an assay of the substance is made. The methods used are determined by the metals and the proportions of these present in the ore or alloy. Originally the term assaying was applied to dry methods, i.e. the substance was heated in a special crucible with a suitable flux, and a bead of metal was obtained which was weighed. An assay now may be carried out in various ways, for example, by fusing with a reducing agent and obtaining a bead of metal, or by dissolving the substance to be assayed in suitable solvent and precipitating the metal as an insoluble salt, or volumetric methods may be used. Dry assaying is still used for gold. The assay depends on first heating the gold ore or alloy with lead in a porous crucible, that is, _cupelling_ it. Lead oxidizes on heating in a furnace; part volatilizes, and part of the oxide is absorbed by the cupel and carries with it oxides of other metals with the exception of gold and silver. The proportion of lead must be regulated, depending on the metals alloyed with gold. A bead is obtained containing gold and silver. This is beaten out into a thin plate, and then rolled out until it is thin enough to be rolled up by hand. The gold alloy is rolled up in the fingers into a cornette and treated with nitric acid. This dissolves silver, leaving a brittle cornette of gold, which is thoroughly washed, dried, and weighed. All gold alloys and silver alloys must be assayed, and their fineness stamped on them. The Goldsmith's Company of London is the statutory assay-master of England.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. and J. J. Beringer, _A Text-book of Assaying_; E. A. Wraight, _Assaying in Theory and Practice_; J. Park, _A Text-book of Practical Assaying_.

AS'SEGAI (from Ar. _as-zahayah_), a spear used as a weapon among the Kaffirs of S. Africa, made of hard wood tipped with iron, and used for throwing or thrusting.

ASSEMBLY, GENERAL, the supreme ecclesiastical court of the Established Church of Scotland, consisting of delegates from every presbytery, university, and royal burgh in Scotland. It has the countenance of a representative of the king, styled the Lord High Commissioner, who is always a nobleman. It holds its meetings annually and (according to the present practice) in the month of May, usually sitting for ten or twelve days. In its judicial capacity as a court of review, and as the court of last resort, the General Assembly has a right to determine finally every question brought from the inferior courts, by reference, complaint, or appeal. It possesses, besides, a general superintendence of the discipline of the Church, of the management of the inferior courts, of the conduct of the clergy, and of the morals of the people. In its legislative capacity it has the power of enacting statutes with regard to every subject of ecclesiastical cognizance, which are binding on the Assembly itself, on the inferior courts, and on the individual members of the Church. But by an Act of Assembly in 1697, from its substance and design named the Barrier Act, every proposition for a new law must first be considered in the form of an overture; and though it should be approved of by the Assembly it cannot be enacted as a statute till it has been first transmitted to the several presbyteries of the Church for their consideration, and has received the sanction of at least a majority of the presbyteries. The United Free Church of Scotland has also a General Assembly similar in its constitution and functions to that of the Established Church, and the same is the case with the Presbyterian Churches of Ireland and America.

ASSEMBLY, NATIONAL (France), a body set up in France on the eve of the Revolution. Upon the convocation of the States-General by Louis XVI the privileged nobles and clergy refused to deliberate in the same chamber with the commons or _tiers-etat_ (third estate). The latter, therefore, on the proposition of the Abbe Sieyes, constituted themselves an _assemblee nationale_, with legislative powers (17th June, 1789). They bound themselves by oath not to separate until they had furnished France with a constitution, and the Court was compelled to give its assent. In the 3250 decrees passed by the Assembly were laid the foundations of a new epoch, and, having accomplished this task, it dissolved itself, 30th Sept., 1791.

ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. See _Westminster Assembly_.

ASSEMBLY, THE RIGHT OF, is an essential principle of popular government, as understood by the British and American constitutions. The right of British citizens to assemble peaceably for any purpose which is not strictly prohibited by law is implied in the right of petition, as affirmed in the Bill of Rights (q.v.). Unlawful assembly, which is a criminal offence, is distinguished from the offence of riot. Whilst the latter is an actual attempt to carry an unlawful purpose into effect, the former is defined as "an assembly with intent to carry out a common purpose which may lead to a breach of the peace".

AS'SEN, chief town of the province of Drenthe, Holland. Pop. 13,000.

ASSENT', THE ROYAL, is the approbation given by the sovereign in Parliament to a Bill which has passed both Houses, after which it becomes a law. It may either be done in person, when the sovereign comes to the House of Peers and the assent (in Norman French) is declared by the Clerk of Parliament; or it may be done by letters-patent under the great seal, signed by the sovereign.

AS'SER, JOHN, a learned British ecclesiastic, originally a monk of St. David's, distinguished as the instructor, companion, and biographer of Alfred the Great, who appointed him abbot of two or three different monasteries, and finally Bishop of Sherborne, where he died in 908 or 910. His life of Alfred, written in Latin in 893 (_Annales Rerum Gestarum Aelfredi Magni_), is of very great value, though its authenticity has been questioned. There are several English translations of it.

ASSESSED TAXES, taxes charged upon persons by means of a schedule or paper sent to each, and strictly including such taxes as the income-tax, the house-tax, local rates, &c. In Britain the so-called assessed taxes include those upon servants, carriages, dogs, armorial bearings, &c., though these are really excise licence duties.

ASSES'SOR, a person appointed to ascertain and fix the amount of taxes, rates, &c.; or a person who sits along with the judges in certain courts, and assists them with his professional knowledge.

AS'SETS (Fr. _assez_, enough), property or goods available for the payment of a bankrupt or deceased person's obligations. Assets are personal or real, the former comprising all goods, chattels, &c., devolving upon the executor as saleable to discharge debts and legacies. In commerce and bankruptcy the term is often used as the antithesis of 'liabilities', to designate the stock in trade and entire property of an individual or an association.--_Intangible_ (or fictitious) assets are those not represented by any existing value, e.g. goodwill; _liquid_ assets are cash, investments, or other immediately available funds.

ASSIDE'ANS, HASIDE'ANS, or HASIDIM ('the pious'), one of the two great sects into which, after the Babylonish captivity, the Jews were divided with regard to the observance of the law--the Hasidim accepting it in its later developments, the Zadikim professing adherence only to the law as given by Moses. See _Pharisees_, _Talmudists_, _Rabbinists_.

ASSIEN'TO, the permission of the Spanish Government to a foreign nation to import negro slaves from Africa into the Spanish colonies in America, for a limited time, on payment of certain duties. It was accorded to the Netherlands about 1552, to the Genoese in 1580, and to the French Guinea Company (afterwards the Assiento Company) in 1702. In 1713 the celebrated _Assiento Treaty_ with Britain for thirty years was concluded at Utrecht. By this contract the British obtained the right to send yearly a ship of 500 tons, with all sorts of merchandise, to the Spanish colonies. This led to frequent abuses and contraband trade; acts of violence followed, and in 1739 a war broke out between the two Powers. At the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, four years more were granted to the British; but by the Treaty of Madrid, two years later, L100,000 sterling were promised for the relinquishment of the two remaining years, and the contract was annulled.

ASSIGNATS ([.a]s-[=e]-ny[.a]), the name of the national paper currency in the time of the French Revolution. Assignats to the value of 400,000,000 francs were first struck off by the Constituent Assembly, with the approbation of the king, 19th April, 1790, to be redeemed with the proceeds of the sale of the confiscated goods of the Church. On the 27th Aug. of the same year Mirabeau urged the issuing of 2,000,000,000 francs of new assignats, which caused a dispute in the Assembly. Vergasse and Dupont, who saw that the plan was an invention of Claviere for his own enrichment, particularly distinguished themselves as the opponents of the scheme. Mirabeau's exertions, however, were seconded by Pethion, and 800,000,000 francs more were issued. They were increased by degrees to 45,578,000,000, and their value rapidly declined. In the winter of 1792-3 they lost 30 per cent, and, in spite of the law to compel their acceptance at their nominal value, they continued to fall, till in the spring of 1796 they had sunk to one three hundred and forty-fourth their nominal value. This depreciation was due partly to the want of confidence in the stability of the Government, partly to the fact that the coarsely-executed and easily-counterfeited assignats were forged in great numbers. They were withdrawn by the Directory from the currency, and at length redeemed by mandats at one-thirtieth of their nominal value.

ASSIGNEE', a person appointed by another to transact some business, or exercise some particular privilege or power. Formerly the persons appointed under a commission of bankruptcy, to manage the estate of the bankrupt on behalf of the creditors, were so called, but now they are called _trustees_.

ASSIGN'MENT is a transfer by deed of any property, or right, title, or interest in property, real or personal. Assignments are usually given for leases, mortgages, and funded property.

ASSINIBOI'A, the smallest of the four districts into which that portion of the north-western territories of Canada now forming the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta was divided in 1882. It lay on the west of Manitoba, with Saskatchewan on the north and Alberta on the west, the United States on the south. The name is now given to an electoral district of the province of Saskatchewan. The region contains much good wheat land. Regina was the capital, as it now is of the new province.

ASSINIBOINE, a river of Canada, which flows through Manitoba and joins the Red River at Winnipeg, about 40 miles above the entrance of the latter into Lake Winnipeg, after a somewhat circuitous course of about 500 miles from the west and north-west. Steamers ply on it for over 300 miles.

ASSIOUT. See _Siout_.

ASSISI ([.a]s-s[=e]'s[=e]), a small town in Italy, in the province of Umbria, 20 miles north of Spoleto, the see of a bishop, and famous as the birthplace of St. Francis d'Assisi. The splendid church built over the chapel where the saint received his first impulse to devotion is one of the finest remains of mediaeval Gothic architecture.

ASSI'ZES, a term chiefly used in England to signify the sessions of the courts held at Westminster prior to Magna Charta, but thereafter appointed by successive enactments to be held annually in every county. Twelve judges, who are members of the highest courts in England, twice in every year perform a _circuit_ into all the counties into which the kingdom is divided (the counties being grouped into seven circuits), to hold these assizes, at which both civil and criminal cases are decided. Occasionally this circuit is performed a third time for the purpose of jail-delivery. In London and Middlesex, instead of circuits, courts of _nisi prius_ are held. At the assizes all the justices of the peace of the county are bound to attend. Special commissions of assize are granted for inquest into certain causes. In Scotland the term _assize_ is still applicable to the jury in criminal cases.

Among the more important historic uses of the term _assize_ are its application to any sitting or deliberative council, and its transference thence to their ordinances, decrees, or assessments. In the latter sense we have the Assizes of Jerusalem, a code of feudal laws formulated in 1099 under Godfrey of Bouillon; the Assizes of Clarendon (1166), of Northampton (1176), and of Woodstock (1184); also the _assisae venalium_ (1203), for regulating the prices of articles of common consumption; the Assize of Arms (1181), an ordinance for organizing the national militia, &c.

ASSMANSHAUSEN. See _Asmannshausen_.

ASSOCIATED COUNTIES, a term applied to Essex, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hertford, with, subsequently, Huntingdon and Lincoln. The association was formed in 1642 to raise an army for the Parliament and keep the war out of their own districts. The successive leaders were Lord Grey of Wark, the Earl of Manchester, and Cromwell.

ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS, a doctrine of both psychological and philosophical import. In psychology the term is used to comprise the conditions under which one idea is able to recall another to consciousness. It is, therefore, the doctrine which deals with the reproduction of past experience by a present object of consciousness. The phrase 'association of ideas' was first introduced by Locke, and dealt with by Berkeley and Hartley, who became the founder of the so-called _Associationist School_.

ASS'ONANCE, in poetry, a term used when the terminating words of lines have the same vowel sound but make no proper rhyme. Such verses, having what we should consider false rhymes, are regularly employed in Spanish poetry; but cases are not wanting in leading British poets. Mrs. Browning not only used them frequently, but justified the use of them.

ASSOUAN ([.a]s-s[=o]-[.a]n'), or ASWAN (_Sy[=e]n[=e]_), a town of Upper Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile, below the first cataract, opposite the Island of Elephantine. The granite quarries of the Pharaohs are here. Pop. 15,000.

ASSOUAN DAM, a great dam constructed across the Nile in Upper Egypt, near Assouan, at the foot of the first cataract. It is about a mile and a quarter long, and is provided with a large number of sluices in two tiers. It was originally built to a height of about 96 feet between 1898 and 1902, and raised to a height of 112 feet above bed-rock between 1907 and 1911. It is intended to regulate the supply of water for irrigation purposes to the country lower down, the water being stored up at the time when the river is high, and allowed to escape when it is required for the crops. When the reservoir is full it forms a lake about 130 miles long. The dam was planned by Sir William Willcocks, and the work carried out under Sir William Garstin and Sir Benjamin Baker, at a cost of L5,000,000 (Egyptian).

ASSUMP'SIT, in English law, an action to recover compensation for the non-performance of a _parole_ promise; that is, a promise not contained in a deed under seal. Assumpsits are of two kinds, _express_ and _implied_. The former are where the contracts are actually made in word or writing; the latter are such as the law implies from the justice of the case; e.g. employment to do work implies a promise to pay.

ASSUMPTION. See _Asuncion_.

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF, the ecclesiastical festival celebrating the miraculous ascent into Heaven of the Virgin Mary's body as well as her soul, kept on the 15th of August. The legend first appeared in the third or fourth century, and the festival was instituted some three centuries later.

ASSURANCE. See _Insurance_.

ASSYR'IA (the ASSHUR of the Hebrews, ATHURA of the ancient Persians), an ancient monarchy in Asia, intersected by the upper course of the Tigris, and having the Armenian Mountains on the north and Babylonia on the south; area, about 50,000 sq. miles; surface partly mountainous, hilly, or undulating, partly a portion of the fertile Mesopotamian plain. The numerous remains of ancient habitations show how thickly this vast flat must have once been peopled; now, for the most part, it is a mere wilderness. Geographically and historically, however, Assyria and Babylonia are interdependent, and the Assyrians and Babylonians are ethnographically and linguistically the same race. Whereas, however, the classical authors speak of Assyria to the exclusion of Babylonia, the decipherment of the inscriptions has proved that Babylonia was the mother-country, and that Assyria, except during a period of eight centuries, was a dependency of the former. This discovery coincides with the contents of the tenth chapter of _Genesis_. See _Babylonia_.

AST, Georg Anton Friedrich, German philosopher, 1776-1841. He wrote on aesthetics and the history of philosophy, but is best known as an editor of Plato, whose works he published with a Latin translation and commentary.

AS'TACUS. See _Crayfish_.

ASTAR'TE, a Syrian goddess, probably corresponding to the _Ashtaroth_ of the Hebrews, and representing the productive power of nature. She was a moon-goddess. Some regard her as corresponding to _Hera_ (_Juno_), and others identify her with _Aphrodit[=e]_.

ASTATIC NEEDLE, a magnetic needle having another needle of the same intensity fixed parallel to it, the poles being reversed, so that the needles neutralize one another, and are unaffected by the earth's magnetism; used in the _astatic galvanometer_.

AS'TER, a genus of plants, nat. ord. Compositae, comprehending several hundred species, scattered over Europe and Asia, but mostly natives of North America. Many are cultivated as ornamental plants. One, _A. Tripolium_, is native in Britain, and is found in salt marshes, having a pretty purple flower. Asters generally flower late in the season, and some are hence called Michaelmas or Christmas Daisies. The China Aster, not an aster proper (_Aster_ or _Callist[)e]phus chinensis_), is a very showy annual, of which there are many varieties.

ASTERABAD'. See _Astrabad_.

ASTE'RIA, a name applied to a variety of corundum, which displays an opalescent star of six rays of light when cut with certain precautions; and also to the _cat's-eye_, which consists of quartz, and is found especially in Ceylon.

ASTER'IDAE. See _Asteroidea_.

AS'TERISK, the figure of a star, thus *, used in printing and writing, as a reference to a passage or note in the margin, or to fill the space when a name, or the like, is omitted.

ASTEROI'DEA, the ord. of the Echinodermata to which the star-fishes belong. See _Star-fishes_.

AS'TEROIDS, PLANETOIDS, or MINOR PLANETS, a numerous group of very small planets revolving round the sun, in the great majority of cases at mean distances, intermediate between those of Mars and Jupiter, in orbits of large eccentricity at considerable inclination to the ecliptic. The diameter of the largest is not supposed to exceed 450 miles, while most of the others are very much smaller. Over one thousand are known, and new members are being constantly discovered. The first to be discovered was Ceres, on 1st Jan., 1801, and within seven years more Pallas, Juno, and Vesta were seen. The diminutive size of these four bodies, and resemblances in their orbits, gave rise to the opinion that they were but the fragments of a planet that had formerly existed and had been brought to an end by some catastrophe. For nearly forty years investigations were carried on, but no more planets were discovered till 8th Dec., 1845, when a fifth planet in the same region of the solar system was discovered. The rapid succession of discoveries that followed was for a time taken as a corroboration of the disruption theory, but the breadth of the zone occupied makes the hypothesis of a shattered planet more than doubtful. In recent years a few have been discovered which are at times considerably within the orbit of Mars, the nearest perihelia being less than 15 million miles beyond the earth's orbit. Another group, known as the 'Trojan Planets', has been found, whose mean distances are practically identical with that of Jupiter. The total mass of the asteroids cannot exceed one-fourth that of the earth, and is probably much less. See _Planets_.

ASTEROL'EPIS, a genus of primitive ganoid fishes, found only in a fossil state in the Old Red Sandstone. They were about 1 foot long, and the head and body were enclosed in armour of strong bony plates.

ASTHMA (ast'ma), difficulty of respiration, returning at intervals, with a sense of stricture across the chest and in the lungs, a wheezing, hard cough at first, but more free towards the close of each paroxysm, with a discharge of mucus, followed by a remission. Asthma is essentially a spasm of the muscular tissue which is contained in the smaller bronchial tubes. It generally attacks persons advanced in years, and seems, in some instances, to be hereditary. The exciting causes are various--accumulation of blood or viscid mucus in the lungs, noxious vapours, a cold and foggy atmosphere, or a close, hot air, flatulence, accumulated faeces, violent passions, organic diseases in the thoracic viscera, &c. In recent years a treatment first used by Dr. Alexander Francis has come into prominence. By far the most important part of the treatment consists in obviating or removing the several exciting causes. It seldom proves fatal except as inducing dropsy, consumption, &c.

ASTI ([.a]s't[=e]), a town of Northern Italy, province of Alessandria, 28 miles E.S.E. of Turin, the see of a bishop, with an old cathedral. In the Middle Ages it was one of the most powerful republics of Northern Italy. It was the birthplace of Alfieri, the poet, whose statue adorns the principal square. There is also an equestrian statue of King Humbert. The industries comprise silk, matches, gold, mosaic wares, &c. A favourite wine is produced in the neighbourhood. Asti, anciently _Asta_, was a place of some importance under the Roman emperors, and in the Middle Ages was an independent republic. Pop. 41,252.

ASTIG'MATISM (Gr. _a_, not, _stigma_, spot, mark), a malformation or imperfection, congenital or accidental, of the globe of the eye, in consequence of which the individual does not see objects clear and distinct, but with a blurred outline. It is due to the cornea or transparent outer coat of the eye not being regularly spherical, but having different degrees of curvature in different directions. Usually the degree of convexity is not the same horizontally as it is vertically, so that the rays from an object, instead of converging into one focus, meet in more than one. If a person with this defect is looking at vertical lines crossed by horizontal ones he will see the one set more distinctly than the other, though a slight movement will enable him to see the other distinctly also, but not at the same time. Almost all eyes are more or less astigmatic, but persons only become aware of it when it is excessive. Special lenses are required to correct it--usually lenses plane in one direction and concave or convex in the other. Short sight or long sight is often associated with astigmatism, so that suitable spectacles cannot be very easily provided.

ASTLE, Thomas, English antiquary, born 1735, died 1803. He was a trustee of the British Museum and keeper of the public records in the Tower. His chief work, _The Origin and Progress of Writing_, appeared in 1784, and the portion dealing with mediaeval handwriting is still of value. He formed a famous collection of MSS., the most valuable portion of which is now in the British Museum.

ASTOM'ATA, one of the two groups into which the Protozoa are divided with regard to the presence or absence of a mouth, of which organ the Astomata are destitute. The group comprises two classes, Gregarinida and Rhizopoda. See _Stomatoda_.

ASTON MANOR, formerly a municipal and parliamentary borough of Warwickshire, England, situated about 1-1/2 miles E.N.E. of Birmingham, and engaged in similar branches of industry. It was incorporated with Birmingham in 1911 and gives its name to one of its parliamentary divisions. Pop. 75,029.

ASTOR, John Jacob, born near Heidelberg, Germany, 1703, died at New York, 1848. In 1783 he emigrated to the United States, settled at New York, and became extensively engaged in the fur trade. In 1811 the settlement of Astoria, founded by him, near the mouth of the Columbia River, was formed to serve as a central depot for the fur trade between the lakes and the Pacific. He subsequently engaged in various speculations, and died worth L4,000,000, leaving L80,000 to found the Astor Library in New York. This institution is contained in a splendid building, enlarged in 1859 at the cost of his son, and comprises about 260,000 volumes. Since 1895 it has formed part of the New York public library.--His great-grandson, William Waldorf Astor, born in 1848, died in 1919, naturalized in England in 1899, was made a baron in 1916 and a viscount in 1917.

ASTOR, LADY. Nancy Witcher, Viscountess Astor, married the second Viscount Astor in 1906. She is a daughter of the late Colonel Chiswell Dabney Langhorne, of Virginia, United States. In Nov., 1919, she was elected member of Parliament for the Sutton division of Plymouth, and was the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons.

ASTOR'GA, a city of Spain, province of Leon; the _Asturica Augusta_ of the Romans. It figured prominently during the Peninsular War; it was taken by the French after an obstinate defence, 1810, and retaken by the Spaniards, 1812. Pop. 5682.

ASTO'RIA, a town of Oregon, United States, on the Columbia River, with numerous salmon-canning establishments. Pop. 10,595. See _Astor_.

ASTRABAD', a town of Persia, province of same name, about 24 miles E. of the Caspian. It was formerly the residence of the Kajar princes, the ancestors of the present Persian dynasty. It is very unhealthy, but is still the centre of a considerable trade. Pop. estimated at from 10,000 to 30,000. The province of Astrabad has an area of 5800 sq. miles, and a pop. of 150,000.

ASTRAE'A, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Zeus and Themis, the goddess of justice. During the golden age she dwelt on earth, but on that age passing away she withdrew from the society of men and was placed among the stars, where she forms the constellation Virgo. The name was given to one of the asteroids, discovered in 1845. It revolves round the sun in 1511.10 solar days, and is about 2-1/2 times the distance of the earth from the sun.

AS'TRAGAL, in architecture, a small semicircular moulding, with a fillet beneath it, which surrounds a column in the form of a ring, separating the shaft from the capital.

ASTRAG'ALUS, a genus of papilionaceous plants, herbaceous or shrubby, and often spiny. _A. gummifer_ yields gum tragacanth.

ASTRAG'ALUS, the upper bone of the foot supporting the tibia; the buckle, ankle, or sling bone. It is a strong irregularly-shaped bone, and is connected with the others by powerful ligaments.

ASTRAKHAN ([.a]s-tr[.a]-_h_[.a]n'), a Russian city, capital of government of same name, on an elevated island in the Volga, about 30 miles above its mouth in the Caspian, communicating with the opposite banks of the river by numerous bridges. It is the seat of a Greek archbishop and has a large cathedral, as well as places of worship for Mahommedans, Armenians, &c. The manufactures are large and increasing, and the fisheries (sturgeon, &c.) very important. It is the chief port of the Caspian, and has regular steam communication with the principal towns on its shores. In 1919 the town was made a naval base by the Bolshevist Government of Moscow. Pop. 163,800, composed of various races.--The government (or province) has an area of 91,042 sq. miles. It consists almost entirely of two vast steppes, separated from each other by the Volga, and forming for the most part arid sterile deserts. In 1918 the district of Astrakhan proclaimed its autonomy and independence of Moscow. Pop. 1,427,500.

ASTRAKHAN, a name given to sheepskins with a curled woolly surface obtained from a variety of sheep found in Bukhara, Persia, and Syria; also a rough fabric with a pile in imitation of this.

ASTRALITE. See _Explosives_.

ASTRAL SPIRITS, spirits formerly believed to people the heavenly bodies or the aerial regions. In the Middle Ages they were variously conceived as fallen angels, souls of departed men, or spirits originating in fire, and belonging neither to heaven, earth, nor hell. Paracelsus regarded them as demoniacal in character.

ASTRIN'GENT, a medicine which contracts the organic textures and canals of the body, thereby checking or diminishing excessive discharges. The chief astringents are the mineral acids, alum, lime-water, chalk, salts of copper, zinc, iron, lead, silver; and among vegetables catechu, kino, oak-bark, and galls.

ASTROCA'RYUM, a genus of tropical American palms, species of which yield oil and valuable fibre. Tucum oil and tucum thread are obtained from _A. vulg[=a]re_.

AS'TROLABE, an instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the sun or stars, now superseded by the quadrant and sextant. The name was also formerly given to an armillary sphere.--Cf. Chaucer, _Treatise on the Astrolabe_.

ASTROLABE BAY, an inlet on the N.E. coast of Australian New Guinea.

ASTROL'OGY, literally, the science or doctrine of the stars. The name was formerly used as equivalent to astronomy, but is now restricted in meaning to the pseudo-science which pretends to enable men to judge of the effects and influences of the heavenly bodies on human and other mundane affairs, and to foretell future events by their situations and conjunctions. As usually practised, the whole heavens, visible and invisible, were divided by great circles into twelve equal parts, called _houses_. As the circles were supposed to remain immovable, every heavenly body passed through each of the twelve houses every twenty-four hours. The portion of the zodiac contained in each house was the part to which chief attention was paid, and the position of any planet was settled by its distance from the boundary circle of the house, measured on the ecliptic. The houses had different names and different powers, the first being called the house of life, the second the house of riches, the third of brethren, the sixth of marriage, the eighth of death, and so on. The part of the heavens about to rise was called the _ascendant_, the planet within the house of the ascendant being _lord of the ascendant_. The different _aspects_ of the planets were of great importance. To _cast a person's nativity_ (or _draw his horoscope_) was to find the position of the heavens at the instant of his birth, which being done, the astrologer, who knew the various powers and influences possessed by the sun, the moon, and the planets, could predict what the course and termination of that person's life would be. The temperament of the individual was ascribed to the planet under which he was born, as _saturnine_ from _Saturn_, _jovial_ from _Jupiter_, _mercurial_ from _Mercury_, _&c._, words which are now used with little thought of their original meaning. The virtues of herbs, gems, and medicines were supposed to be due to their ruling planets. The history of astrology, which was the foster-sister of astronomy, goes back to the early days of the human race. Egyptians and Hindus, as well as the nations on the Euphrates and Tigris, were zealous astrologers. The Christian Church strongly opposed the teachings of astrology, but its study spread among Jews and Arabs during the Middle Ages. Francis Bacon abused the astrologers of his day, and Swift wrote against them his famous _Prediction for the Year 1708, by Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq._--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. H. Bennet, _Astrology_; G. Wilde, _Chaldean Astrology Up-to-date_; A. Maury, _La Magie et l'astrologie a l'antiquite et au moyen age_; A. J. Pearce, _Textbook of Astrology_.

ASTRON'OMY (from Gr. _astron_, a heavenly body, and _nemein_, to classify or arrange) is that science which investigates the motions, distances, magnitudes, and various phenomena of the heavenly bodies. The science may be divided into several branches. _Descriptive astronomy_ denotes merely a presentation of astronomical facts in a systematic but popular form; _practical astronomy_ treats of the instruments used in observing the celestial bodies, the methods of their employment, and the manner of deducing results from the observations; investigation of the causes of the motions of these bodies was formerly termed _physical astronomy_, but now generally _dynamical_ or _gravitational astronomy_; _physical astronomy_ or _astro-physics_ is the comparatively modern branch which deals with their physical conditions, radiation, temperature, and chemical constitution. Recent years have added two new fields of investigation which are full of promise for the advancement of astronomical science. The first of these--_celestial photography_--has furnished us with invaluable light-pictures of the sun, moon, and other bodies, and has recorded the existence of myriads of stars invisible even to the best telescopes; while the second, _spectrum analysis_, now employed by many scientists, reveals to us a knowledge of the physical constituents of the universe, telling us for instance that in the sun (or his atmosphere) there exist many of the elements familiar to us on the earth. It is also applied to the determination of the velocities with which stars are approaching, or receding from, our system; and to the measurement of movements taking place within the solar atmospheric envelopes. From analysis of some of the unresolved nebulae the inference is drawn that they are not star-swarms but simply incandescent gas; whence a second inference results favourable to the hypothesis of the gradual condensation of nebulae, and the successive evolutions of suns and systems.

The most remote period to which we can go back in tracing the history of astronomy refers us to a time about 2500 B.C., when the Chinese are said to have recorded the simultaneous conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and the moon. This remarkable phenomenon is found, by calculating backward, to have taken place 2460 B.C. Astronomy has also an undoubtedly high antiquity in India. The mean annual motion of Jupiter and Saturn was observed as early as 3062 years B.C.; tables of the sun, moon, and planets were formed, and eclipses calculated. In the time of Alexander the Great, the Chaldeans or Babylonians had carried on astronomical observations for 1900 years. They regarded comets as bodies travelling in extended orbits, and predicted their return; and there is reason to believe that they had correct ideas regarding the solar system. The priests of Egypt gave astronomy a religious character; but their knowledge of the science is testified to only by their ancient zodiacs and the position of their pyramids with relation to the cardinal points. It was among the Greeks that astronomy took a more scientific form. Thales of Miletus (born 639 B.C.) predicted a solar eclipse, and his successors held opinions which are in many respects wonderfully in accordance with modern ideas. Pythagoras (500 B.C.) and his followers formed theories of the planetary system. They taught the sphericity and revolution of the earth, but placed an imaginary 'Central Fire', not the sun itself, at the centre of the system. Great progress was made in astronomy under the Ptolemies, and we find Timochares and Aristyllus employed about 300 B.C. in making useful planetary observations. But Aristarchus of Samos (born 267 B.C.) is said, on the authority of Archimedes, to have far surpassed them, by teaching the double motion of the earth around its axis and around the sun. A hundred years later Hipparchus determined more exactly the length of the solar year, and the eccentricity of the ecliptic, discovered the precession of the equinoxes, and even undertook a catalogue of the stars. It was in the second century after Christ that Claudius Ptolemy, a famous mathematician of Pelusium in Egypt, propounded the system that bears his name, viz., that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that the sun, moon, and planets revolved around it in the following order: nearest to the earth was the sphere of the moon; then followed the spheres of Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; then came the sphere of the fixed stars; these were succeeded by two _crystalline_ spheres and an outer sphere named the _primum mobile_ or first movable, which last was again circumscribed by the _coelum empyreum_, of a cubic shape, wherein happy souls found their abode. The Arabs began to make scientific astronomical observations about the middle of the eighth century, and for 400 years they prosecuted the science with assiduity. Ibn-Yunis (A.D. 1000) made important observations of the perturbations and eccentricities of Jupiter and Saturn. In the sixteenth century Nicolaus Copernicus, born in 1473, introduced the system that bears his name, and which recognized the sun's central place in the solar system, and that all the other bodies, the earth included, revolve around it. This arrangement of the universe (see _Copernicus_) came at length to be generally received on account of the simplicity it substituted for the complexities and difficulties of the theory of Ptolemy. The observations and calculations of Tycho Brahe, a Danish astronomer, born in 1546, continued over many years, were of the highest value, and secured for him the title of regenerator of practical astronomy. His assistant and pupil, Kepler, born in 1571, was enabled, principally from the data provided by his master's labours, to arrive at those laws which have made his name famous: 1. That the planets move, not in circular, but in elliptical orbits, of which the sun occupies a focus. 2. That the radius vector, or imaginary straight line joining the sun and any planet, moves over equal spaces in equal times. 3. That the squares of the times of the revolutions of the planets are as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun. Galileo, who died in 1642, advanced the science by his observations and by the new revelations he made through his telescopes, which established the truth of the Copernican theory. Newton, born in 1642, carried physical astronomy suddenly to comparative perfection. Accepting Kepler's laws as a statement of the facts of planetary motion, he deduced from them his theory of gravitation. The science was enriched towards the close of the eighteenth century by the discovery by Herschel of the planet Uranus and its satellites, the resolution of the Milky Way into myriads of stars, and the investigation of nebulae and of double and triple stars. The splendid analytical researches of Lalande, Lagrange, Delambre, and Laplace mark the same period. The nineteenth century opened with the discovery of the first four minor planets; and the existence of another planet (Neptune), more distant from the sun than Uranus, was, in 1845, independently predicted by Leverrier and Adams. Of late years the sun has attracted a number of observers, the spectroscope and photography having been especially fruitful in this field of investigation. By various methods the sun's mean distance has been ascertained within very small limits of error, and found to be nearly 93,000,000 miles. Many additions have been made to the known secondary planets or satellites, including some with retrograde motions. A vast number of asteroids has been discovered, and the width of the zone occupied by them found to be much more extensive. Much success has been achieved in ascertaining the parallax of fixed stars.

The objects with which astronomy has chiefly to deal are the earth, the sun, the moon, the planets, the fixed stars, comets, nebulae, and meteors. The stellar universe is composed of an unknown host of stars, many millions in number. Those visible to the naked eye were in ancient times grouped into the constellations still recognized. The nebulae are cloud-like patches of light scattered all over the heavens. Some of them have been resolved into star-clusters, but many of them are masses of incandescent gas. Of the so-called fixed stars, many form binary or multiple systems, the members revolving in orbits under each other's attractions, while other more scattered groups are moving clusters, travelling in parallel paths through space like flocks of birds. Variable stars and extinct or dark stars are also known. The fixed stars preserve, at least to unaided vision, an unalterable relation to each other, because of their vast distance from the earth. Their apparent movement from east to west is the result of the earth's revolution on its axis in twenty-four hours from west to east. The planets have not only an apparent, but also a real and proper motion, since, like our earth, they revolve around the sun in their several orbits and periods. The nearest of these bodies to the sun is _Mercury_. _Venus_, the second planet from the sun, is to us the brightest and most beautiful of all the planets. The _Earth_ is the first planet accompanied by a satellite or moon. _Mars_, the next planet, has two satellites, discovered in 1877. Its surface has a variegated character, and the existence of land, water, snow, and ice has been inferred. The _Asteroids_, of which over 1000 are known, form a broad zone of small bodies, at distances from a little beyond the earth's to that of Jupiter. _Jupiter_, the largest planet, has at least nine satellites, of which the two outermost have retrograde motion. Its surface is diversified by spots, markings, and bands parallel to its equator. _Saturn_, with its nine or more satellites and broad thin rings in its equatorial plane, is, perhaps, the most striking telescopic object in the heavens. _Ur[)a]nus_--discovered by Herschel in 1781--is accompanied by four satellites. _Neptune_, the farthest removed from the sun, has one satellite, the motion of which is retrograde. Besides the planets, quite a number of comets are known to be members of the solar system. The physical constitution of these bodies is still one of the enigmas of astronomy. The observation of meteors has recently attracted much attention. They are seen in largest numbers in the autumn months. Meteor streams are supposed to represent the results of the disintegration of comets. Among the more modern astronomers we may mention: Gustav Kirchhoff, G. B. Donati, Christian Doppler, H. C. Vogel, Sir William Huggins, Simon Newcomb, and Sir David Gill. See _Earth_, _Sun_, _Moon_, _Planet_, _Comet_, _Stars_, _Asteroids_, _Celestial Photography_, _Spectrography_, &c.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sir J. N. Lockyer, _Dawn of Astronomy_; Sir G. C. Lewis, _Historical Survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients_; Sir. F. W. Dyson, _Astronomy_; Sir R. Ball, _Atlas, and Popular Guide to the Heavens_; G. P. Serviss, _Astronomy with an Opera-glass_; _The Pleasures of the Telescope_; A. M. Clerke, _History of Astronomy during the 19th Century_, H. Macpherson, _Romance of Modern Astronomy_; C. A. Young, _General Astronomy_; G. F. Chambers, _Handbook of Astronomy_ (3 vols.); E. W. Maunder, _Astronomy of the Bible_; A. C. D. Crommelin, _The Star World_; Agnes Giberne, _Sun, Moon, and Stars_ (popular).

ASTROPALIA, an island in the Aegean Sea. It was occupied during the Balkan war of 1912 by the Italians under Admiral Presbitero and General d'Ameglio.

ASTROPHYSICS. See _Spectroscopy_.

ASTUR. See _Goshawk_.

ASTU'RIA, or THE ASTURIAS, a Spanish principality, now forming the province of Oviedo, on the north coast of Spain; an alpine region, with steep and jagged mountain ridges, valuable minerals, luxuriant grazing lands, and fertile well-watered valleys. The heir apparent of Spain has borne since 1388 the title of Prince of the Asturias. See _Spain_.

ASTY'AGES (-j[=e]z), last king of the Medes, 593-558 B.C., deposed by Cyrus, an event which transferred the supremacy from the Medes to the Persians.

ASUNCION ([.a]-s[u:]n-th[=e]-on'), or NUESTRA SENORA DE LA ASUNCION (Eng. _Assumption_), the chief city of Paraguay, on the River Paraguay, picturesquely situated and with good public buildings. It was founded in 1537 on the feast of the Assumption. Its trade is mostly in the yerba tea, hides, tobacco, oranges, &c. It was taken and plundered by the Brazilians in 1869. A railway runs for a short distance into the interior. Pop. (1920), 99,836.

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AS'WAIL, the native name for the sloth-bear (_Ursus labi[=a]tus_) of the mountains of India, an uncouth, unwieldy animal, with very long black hair, inoffensive when not attacked. Its usual diet consists of roots, bees'-nests, grubs, snails, ants, &c. Its flesh is in much favour as an article of food. When captured young it is easily tamed.

ASY'LUM, a sanctuary or place of refuge, where criminals and debtors sheltered themselves from justice, and from which they could not be taken without sacrilege. Temples were anciently asylums, as were Christian churches in later times. (See _Sanctuary_.) The term is now usually applied to an institution for receiving, maintaining, and, so far as possible, ameliorating the condition of persons labouring under certain bodily defects or mental maladies; sometimes also a refuge for the unfortunate.

ASYLUM, RIGHT OF. See _Extradition_.

ASYMPTOTE (as'im-t[=o]t), in geometry, a line which is continually approaching a curve, but never meets it, however far either of them may be prolonged. This may be conceived as a tangent to a curve at an infinite distance. See _Conic Sections_.

ASYN'DETON, a figure of speech by which connecting words are omitted; as 'I came, I saw, I conquered', or Cicero's 'Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit'.

ATACAMA ([.a]-t[.a]-kae'm[.a]), a desert region on the west coast of S. America belonging to Chile, partly in the province of Atacama, partly in the territory of Antofagasta. It mainly consists of a plateau extending from Copiapo northward to the River Loa, and lies between the Andes and the sea. It forms the chief nitrate district of Chile, there being also rich silver-mines, while gold is also found, as well as argentiferous lead, copper, nickel, cobalt, and iron; with guano on the coast. The northern portion belonged to Bolivia until 1904. The Chilian province of Atacama has an area of 30,711 sq. miles, and a pop. of 63,893.

ATACA'MITE, a combination of the hydroxide and chloride of copper, occurring abundantly in some parts of South America, as at Atacama, whence it has its name. It is worked as an ore in South America, and is exported to England.

ATAHUAL'PA, the last of the Incas, succeeded his father in 1529 on the throne of Quito, whilst his brother Huascar obtained the kingdom of Peru. They soon made war against each other, when the latter was defeated, and his kingdom fell into the hands of Atahualpa. The Spaniards, taking advantage of these internal disturbances, with Pizarro at their head invaded Peru, and advanced to Atahualpa's camp. Here, while Pizarro's priest was telling the Inca how the Pope had given Peru to the Spaniards, fire was opened on the unsuspecting Peruvians, Atahualpa was captured, and, despite the payment of a vast ransom in gold, was executed (1533).

ATALAN'TA, in Greek mythology, a famous huntress of Arcadia. She was to be obtained in marriage only by him who could outstrip her in a race, the consequence of failure being death. One of her suitors obtained from Aphrod[=i]t[=e] (Venus) three golden apples, which he threw behind him, one after another, as he ran. Atalanta stopped to pick them up, and was not unwillingly defeated. There was another Atalanta belonging to Boeotia, who cannot very well be distinguished, the same stories being told about both.

ATAMAN. See _Hetman_.

AT'AVISM (Lat. _at[)a]vus_, an ancestor), in biology, the tendency to reproduce the ancestral type in animals or plants which have become considerably modified by breeding or cultivation; the reversion of a descendant to some peculiarity of a more or less remote ancestor. See _Mendelism_, _Natural Selection_, _Evolution_, _Heredity_. The term _atavism_ is also frequently used in sociological literature, in the sense of reversion to more primitive types, as explanation of criminal instincts and pathological phenomena.

ATAXY, or ATAXIA, in medicine, irregularity in the animal functions, or in the symptoms of a disease. See _Locomotor Ataxy_.

ATBA'RA, the most northerly tributary of the Nile. It rises in the Abyssinian highlands, receives several large tributaries, and enters the Nile about 18deg N. The town of Atbara is situated about 380 miles S.E. of Wadi Halfa. The battle of Atbara, between the British under Earl Kitchener (then Sir Herbert), and the followers of the Mahdi, was fought on 8th April, 1898.

ATCHAFALAY'A ('Lost Water'), a river of the United States, an outlet of the Red River which strikes off before the junction of that river with the Mississippi, flows southward, and enters the Gulf of Mexico by Atchafalaya Bay. Its length is about 225 miles.

ATCHEEN'. See _Acheen_.

ATCH'ISON, a city of Kansas, United States, on the Missouri, about 30 miles from Leavenworth, an important railway centre with an increasing trade. Pop. (1920), 12,630.

A'T[=E], among the Greeks, the goddess of hate, injustice, crime, and retribution, daughter of Zeus according to Homer, but of [)E]ris (Strife) according to Hesiod.

AT'ELES, a genus of American monkeys. See _Spider-monkey_.

ATELIERS NATIONAUX ([.a]-tl-y[=a] n[.a]-syo-n[=o]), or national workshops, were established by the French Provisional Government in 1848. They interfered much with private trade, as about 100,000 workmen threw themselves on the Government for work. The breaking up of the system led to disorders, but it was abolished in July, 1848.

ATELLA'NAE FAB'ULAE (called also OSCAN PLAYS), a kind of light interlude, in ancient Rome, performed not by the regular actors, but by freeborn young Romans; it originated from the ancient _Atella_, a city of the Oscans. They were the origin of the Italian _commedie dell'arte_. Cf. Munk, _De Fabulis Atellanis_.

ATESH'GA (the place of fire), a sacred place of the Guebres or Persian fire-worshippers, on the Peninsula of Apsheron, on the W. coast of the Caspian, visited by large numbers of pilgrims, who bow before the sacred flames which issue from the bituminous soil.

ATH (aet), a fortified town of Belgium, in the province of Hainaut, on the Dender; it carries on weaving, dyeing, and printing cottons. It was the scene of fighting in Nov., 1918. Pop. 11,108.

ATHABAS'CA, a river and lake of Canada. The river rises on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains not far from Mount Hooker, in the province of Alberta, flows N.E. and N., and falls into Lake Athabasca after a course of about 600 miles.--_Lake Athabasca_, or Lake of the Hills, is about 190 miles S.S.E. of the Great Slave Lake, to which its waters are carried by means of the Slave River. It is about 200 miles in length from east to west, and 35 miles wide where widest, but narrows to a point at either extremity.--The former district of _Athabasca_, in 1905 divided between the two new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, had British Columbia on the west, Keewatin on the east, Alberta and Saskatchewan districts on the south, the parallel of 60deg on the north, being crossed by the Athabasca and the Peace Rivers. Lake Athabasca is partly in Alberta, partly in Saskatchewan.

ATHALI'AH, daughter of Ahab, King of Israel, and wife of Joram, King of Judah. After the death of her son Ahaziah, she opened her way to the throne by the murder of forty-two princes of the royal blood. She reigned six years; in the seventh the high-priest Jehoiada placed Joash, the young son of Ahaziah, who had been secretly preserved, on the throne of his father, and Athaliah was slain. Cf. 2 _Kings_, xi. The story of Athaliah supplied Racine with the plot of one of his most famous tragedies.

ATHANA'SIAN CREED, a creed or exposition of Christian faith, supposed formerly to have been drawn up by St. Athanasius, though this opinion is now generally rejected, and the composition often ascribed to Hilary, Bishop of Arles (about 430). It is an explicit avowal of the doctrines of the Trinity (as opposed to Arianism, of which Athanasius was a great opponent) and of the incarnation, and contains what are known as the 'damnatory clauses', in which it declares that damnation must be the lot of those who do not believe the true and catholic faith. It is contained in the _Book of Common Prayer_, to be read on certain occasions.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. J. A. Hort, _Two Dissertations_; G. D. W. Ommanney, _Critical Dissertation on the Athanasian Creed_; J. A. Robinson, _The Athanasian Creed_; E. C. S. Gibson, _The Three Creeds_; R. O. P. Taylor, _Athanasian Creed in the Twentieth Century_.