on the Kur and Phasis (Georgia and Imireta), has left no vestiges. All the forms of society are displayed in the existing Asiatic nations, from the savage state of the wandering hordes to the most effeminate luxury; but liberty, founded on law and the moral and intellectual education of man, is wanting. Priests and conquerors have long decided the political character of the East, amidst frequent revolutions and changes of dynasties, ever maintaining the principles of blind obedience. Asia has been subject, at different times, to the Assyrians, Medes, Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, Syrians, Parthians, Arabians, Mongols, Tartars, Seljooks, Turks, Afghans, &c. Ancient forms are preserved most rigidly, and the intellect is least progressive in China and Japan. Slavery still prevails in this continent. Woman yet remains degraded to a slave of man. The prevailing government is despotism, the offspring of Asia. Hence those artificial forms of a rigid etiquette, which are kept up in all the public relations, and that apathy of the people, in regard to fate, connected with cruelty, and produced partly by opium, partly by superstition, which is almost an universal characteristic of the Asiatics, notwithstanding the violence of their passions. There are, however, some tribes with a republican form of government; and relics of the patriarchal authority of the heads of families still are found. Near the colonies of the Europeans in Southern and Northern Asia, the civilization of the Christian world has been introduced. Christianity, though degenerated in many of the more ancient sects (see Maronites, Monophysites and Sects), has gained many adherents, throughout all Asia, by means of translations of the Bible, distributed by England and Russia. In Bengal and St. Petersburg, the translation of the Bible into the languages of Southern Asia has been prosecuted with a benevolent zeal. In Petersburg, similar efforts have been made for the benefit of the Mongolian Tartars. Even in China, Christians are found again, but none in Japan since 1637. The astronomy and astrology, poetry, morals, theology, laws, and the rude empirical medicine of the Asiatics, are mostly confined to the priests, and united with deeply-rooted superstition, which leads even to child-murder and self-sacrifice in the flames. The Mohammedan religion, the central point for instruction in which is at Samarcand, prevails in Western Asia. (See Wahaby.) Over all Central and the eastern part of Northern

Asia, prevails the religion of the Lama. The religion of Brama, the head-quarters of which is Benares, is confined chiefly to Hindostan, and Shamanism to the tribes in Northern Asia and to the Russian archipelago. The ancient doetrine of Zoroaster is confined to single families in India and Persia; whilst the Mosaic has numerous adherents through all Asia, except the Russian part. Physical and mechanical cultivation is carried to a higher degree of perfection than intellectual and moral; e. g., by the Indian jugglers and Chinese mechanics. Remarkable skill has been acquired by certain classes of Hindoos in the weaving of silk and cotton. The shawls of Cashmere, the leather of Persia and Syria (morocco, cordovan, shagreen), the porcelain of China and Japan, the steel of Turkish Asia, the lackered wares of China and Japan, &c. are well known. The internal commerce is still carried on by caravans, as in the most ancient times, before Abraham and Moses, when merchandise was transported from India, through Bactria, to Colchis, as at present to Makarieu, Moscow and Constantinople. The foreign commerce of China and the East Indies is wholly in the hands of the Europeans-English, Dutch and Russians-and of the North Americans. The religious, civil and social condition of the Asiatics proves, that, where the free developement of the higher powers of man is subject to the restraints of castes, and to the tyranny of priests and despots, and where the adherence to established forms has become a matter of faith, law and habit,-the character of society must degenerate, and the energies of man become palsied. Hence the Asiatic, notwithstanding the richness of his imagination, never attained the conception of ideal beauty, like the free Greek; and, for the same reason, the European, whose mental improvement and social activity have been unimpeded, has shaken off the control which the East formerly exercised over the West, and has obtained dominion over the coasts and territories of his old lord and master. Greece led the way, and, after having_transformed the obscure symbols of the East to shapes of ideal beauty, shook off the spiritual fetters of priests and oracles, and, at the same time, the temporal yoke which the Persian Darius had prepared for Athens and Sparta. After a struggle of 50 years, the triumphs of Cimon (in 449 B. C.) first enabled Europe to prescribe laws to the East. Grecian civilization then

spread over the whole of Western Asia, to India, and even the military despotism which succeeded has not been able to extinguish the light entirely. In later times, the Romans and Parthians fought for the possession of the Euphrates, and the Persians, under the Sassanides, attempted to tear the dominion of the world from the hands of Rome. Since that period, Asia has four times taken up arms against Europe. The nations of Upper Asia, driven from the frontiers of China to the Irtish, crowded upon the West. Huns, Avari, Bulgarians and Magyars successively issued from the Caucasian gates, and from the wildernesses of the Ural, to subdue Europe; besides those later hordes, which were mingled and confounded with each other in Southern Russia and on the Danube. But the rude power of Attila and of the grandsons of Arpat was broken in conflict with the Germans. Next, the Arabians attacked Constantinople, Italy and France, but their fanatical impetuosity was checked by Charles Martel, in 732, and the chivalrous valor of the Gothic Christians rescued the peninsula within the Pyrenees. The West then armed itself against the East, to recover the holy sepulchre from the sultan of the Seljooks, and Christian Europe became better acquainted with Asia; but the sword alone cannot conquer a continent. (See Crusades.) Upper Asia sent again, under the Mongol Temudschin (see Genghis-Khan), her mounted hordes over the world. Again the Germans stayed the destroying flood near Liegnitz. (See Wahlstadt.) Finally, the Tartars and Ottoman Turks invaded Europe. In 1453, they took the Bosphorus and Greece from the feeble hands of the eastern Romans. In succeeding times, Europe has been defended against Asia, on this side, by Germany. The intellectual progress of the European, since that period, has raised him above the most ancient nations of the East-Persians, Arabians, Indians and Chinese. Gunpowder, the mariner's compass and the art of printing (which the last-mentioned nation possessed, but could not apply to much use), have become powerful in his hands. Hence Russia has gained the Wolga, explored Siberia, kept watch over the seat of the ancient and modern Scythians, the mountains of the Altai, and finally conquered the tribes of the Caucasus; whilst [since Vasco da Gama (q. v.) discovered the way by sea to the East Indies, in 1498] the Portuguese, Dutch and French, and par

ticularly the English, by their universal commerce, have made the rich countries of Southern Asia acquainted with European laws, and Europe with the condition and luxury of those countries. Persia is already entangled in the European international policy, which is principally owing to the efforts of sir Harford Jones, sir Gore Ousely, Mr. James Morier, and the Russian general Yermatoff. The diplomacy of the court of China, now more than 10 centuries old, still resists European encroachments, and the celestial empire prefers the North Americans to the English and Russians. Japan, alone, yet denies all approach to Europeans; and her jealousy is as effective as the polar ice, which blocks up the passages of the Frozen seas. But the inquisitive spirit of European navigators has gradually penetrated the most secluded regions, from the time of Marco Polo, the Venetian (1272), to that of the present English and Russians, who will soon join hands, or perhaps swords, in the heart of Asia. (For further information, see Malte-Brun's Geography; Murray's work On the Progress of Discovery in Asia; Ritter's Geography, an excellent and original work, published in 1824, by Reimer, Berlin; also, Leake's Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor; also, the articles on the different countries of Asia, and those on Niebuhr and Burckhardt.)

ASIA MINOR. (See Natolia.)

ASIATIC SOCIETIES AND MUSEUMS; learned bodies instituted for the purpose of collecting valuable information, of every kind, respecting the different countries of Asia. The three great central points where this knowledge is accumulated are, London, Paris and Petersburg. The royal Asiatic society of Great Britain and Ireland contains 300 members. It was established by Mr. Colebrooke, and opened March 19, 1823. Its transactions are published in London. Similar societies have been formed in Asia itself, at Calcutta, Bombay and Bencoolen. Since the foundation of the Asiatic society in Calcutta, by sir William Jones, in 1784, the study of Asiatic literature has made great advances. The secret of the Sanscrit literature has been obtained from the Bramins, and its connexion with the Greek put beyond doubt. Works have been printed which greatly facilitate the study of the Arabian and Persian languages and literature. Asiatic philology has made great progress. Even Chinese literature has come forth from its recesses.-The société Asiatique, at Paris, was founded, in

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1822, by a number of learned men. Its honorary president is the duke of Orleans. It opened its sittings April 21, 1823, having already commenced, in July, 1822, the publication of the Journal Asiatique, ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Sciences, à la Littérature et aux Langues des Peuples Orientaux. The 2d vol. appeared in 1823. The museum connected with it was established in 1823. The principal members, who are, at the same time, editors of the journal, are Chézy, Cocquebert, de Montbret, Degérando, Fauriel, Grangeret, de Lagrange, Hase, Klaproth, Abel Remusat, SaintMartin, Silvestre de Sacy. The latter is president of the standing committee. In the Asiatic societies at Paris and London, professorships of the Oriental languages are wanting, which are connected with the society at Petersburg. London is particularly deficient in this respect, the professors being confined to Oxford and Cambridge. The newly-established professorships in Haleybury are destined exclusively for the education of young men for the service of the East India company. In Paris, lectures are given on the Arabian, Persian, Turkish, Sanscrit, Chinese and Tartar languages, in the collège royal, and in the royal library.

ASIOLI, Bonifacio; a musical composer, born at Corregio, in Modena, 1769. As early as his 8th year, he composed without instruction; in his 10th, he was instructed in composition by Morigi, in Parma; in his 12th, he gave two concerts at Vicenza. After a residence of four months in Venice, he returned to Corregio, where he was appointed master of the chapel, and composed musical pieces of every description. In his 18th year, he went to Turin, where he resided about nine years, and likewise composed much. In 1796, he again visited Venice, and, in 1799, Milan, where he remained till 1813, was made director of music to the then viceroy, and composed very assiduously. As censore of the conservatory in Milan, he wrote several books of instruction, e. g., Trattato d'Armonia, Principj Elementari, Dialogo sul Trattato, &c., Preparazione al bel Canto, contenente Molti Solfeggi d'Armonia. Since 1813, he has lived in his native place. His greater works are little known beyond Italy, but are said to be very scientific. (For a list of his works, see the Leipsic Musical Journal, 1820, No. 40.)

ASLAN, or ASLANI; in commerce, a name given to the Dutch dollar, in most

parts of the Levant. Sometimes the word is written asselani. It is of Turkish origin, signifying a lion, the figure stamped on these dollars. It is silver, but much alloyed, and is current for 115 to 120 aspers. (See Asper.)

ASMANNSHAUSEN, wine of. The plant which yields this wine grows on the Rhine, below Rüdesheim, a village on the banks of that river, on a soil formed of blue slate. The red kind, the production of a small, red, Burgundy vine, is the more valuable. Its color is peculiar. In some places, an awme (a seventh of an English tun) of the best must often costs from 120 to 160 florins. It retains its value only 3 or 4 years. After this time, it grows worse every year, and precipitates the whole of its red coloring-matter. Many delicate judges of wine prefer the red sort to the best Burgundy. It is distinguished by color and taste from all the other Rhenish wines. We know of instances in which it has borne transportation across the Atlantic.

ASMODAI; according to Hebrew mythology, an evil spirit which slew seven husbands of Sara, daughter of Raguel, at Rages. By the direction of the angel Raphael, the young Tobias drove him away, with the smell of a fish's liver burnt on the coals, into the uttermost parts of Egypt, where the angel bound him.-Asmodai signifies a desolator, a destroying angel; it is also written Abaddon.

ASOPUS; the name of several rivers in Greece. The most celebrated of this name are those in Achaia and Bootia. (See Ægina.)

ASP, ASPIC; a species of viper found in Egypt, resembling the cobra da capello, or spectacle serpent of the East Indies, except that the neck of the asp is not so capable of expansion, and its color is greenish, mingled with brown. The asp is the coluber haje, L., vipera haje, Geoff. -This venomous serpent is found in the vicinity of the Nile, and has been celebrated for ages, on account of the quick and easy death resulting from its bite. When approached or disturbed, this viper, like the cobra da capello, elevates its head and body to a considerable degree, extends the sides of its neck, and appears to stand erect to attack the aggressor. This peculiarity gave origin to the ancient Egyptian superstition, that the asps were guardians of the spots they inhabited, and led to the adoption of the figure of this reptile as an emblem of the protecting genius of the world. Hence, on the portals of Egyptian temples, it is common to

see, carved on each side of a globe, one of these serpents, in the attitude above described. The same device is also found among the paintings on the coffins of mummies, which also contain representations of the asp in various relations to other hieroglyphics.-The circumstance originating the preceding notion has led to the employment of the asp as a dancing serpent by the African jugglers, either for exhibition as a source of profit, or to impose upon vulgar credulity. The asps for this purpose are carefully deprived of their fangs, which enables their owners to handle them with impunity. When they are to be exhibited, the top of their cage, commonly a wicker-basket, is taken off, and, at the same moment, a flute or pipe is played. The asp immediately assumes the erect position, and the balancing motions, made during its protracted efforts to maintain this attitude, are what is called dancing. A really curious circumstance is stated, on good authority, relative to the asp, which is, that the jugglers know how to throw it into a sort of catalepsy, in which condition the muscles are rigidly contracted, and the whole animal becomes stiff and motionless. This is done by compressing the cervical spine between the finger and thumb. The trick is called changing the serpent into a rod or stick. In the relation given by Moses of the miracles performed before Pharaoh, to induce him to allow of the departure of the Israelites, we read, that "Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh called also the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments: for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." Exod. vii. 10, 11, 12. It is possible, that, to keep up their credit with Pharaoh, by appearing to possess equal power with Aaron, the Egyptian jugglers held asps in their hands, in the cataleptic condition above described, as rods, which only required to be thrown down to resume their activity as serpents. The superiority of the real miracle of Aaron's transformed rod over this pretended one of the jugglers, is shown by the swallowing up of the other serpents.-The asp has also acquired a great degree of notoriety in consequence of the use made of it by Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, equally famous for the brilliancy of her charms and the licentiousness of her life. In his Life of

Mark Antony, Plutarch makes the foilowing statement, which shows to what an extent a vicious course of living had corrupted a noble and talented woman:"Antony and Cleopatra had before established a society, called the inimitable livers, of which they were members; but they now instituted another, by no means inferior in splendor or luxury, called the companions in death. Their friends were admitted into this, and the time passed in mutual treats and diversions. Cleopatra, at the same time, was making a collection of poisonous drugs, and, being desirous to know which was least painful in the operation, she tried them on the capital convicts. Such poisons as were quick in their operations, she found to be attended with violent pain and convulsions; such as were milder were slow in their effects. She therefore applied herself to the examination of venomous creatures, and caused different kinds of them to be applied to different persons, under her own inspection. These experiments she repeated daily, and at length she found that the bite of the asp was the most eligible kind of death; for it brought on a gradual lethargy, in which the face was covered with a gentle sweat, and the senses sunk easily into stupefaction. Those who were thus affected showed the same uneasiness at being disturbed or awaked, that people do in the profoundest natural sleep." Langhorne's Plutarch.—It is not surprising that Cleopatra finally resorted to the asp to destroy her own life. This is stated very doubtfully by Plutarch, and is, by Brown, ranked among his popular errors; yet, as the Egyptian queen is known to have committed suicide, we cannot doubt, after what we have cited from Plutarch, that she resorted to the mode of dying which her own experiments had proved most easy. As two small punctures were found on her arm, quite adequate to produce the result, if made by an asp, we conclude, with Shakspeare, that it is

-most probable

That so she died; for her physician tells me She hath pursued conclusions infinite Of easy ways to die. Antony and Cleopatra. -Dreadful as the poison of the asp, and, indeed, of most of the vipers, is, it may be rendered entirely harmless by immediately applying forcible pressure on the side of the wound nearest the heart. In this way the cupping-glass, ligature, &c., produce their beneficial effects, and not by the removal of the poison. For a most satisfactory establishment of this