Volume I Part 60
=Artichokes, Jeru'salem.= The _helianthus tuberosus_ (Linn.), a perennial plant of the sun-flower family, and quite distinct from the preceding.
_Hab._ The Brazils. The appellation "Jerusalem" is believed to be a corruption of the Italian word _girasole_--"a sunflower," to which botanical family the plant belongs. It is cultivated in England for culinary purposes. Roots (tubers) resemble the artichoke in flavour; but are considered far from wholesome, being apt to produce flatulence and dyspepsia. They are diuretic, and impart the odour of turpentine to the urine. They are cooked by boiling (15 to 25 minutes, according to size), or frying; in the former case served with melted b.u.t.ter. They are also served mashed, like turnips. The flowers yield a volatile oil resembling that of turpentine.
Composition of the Jerusalem artichoke from an a.n.a.lysis by Payen, Poisot, and Fevry:--
Nitrogenous matter 31 Sugar 147 Inulin 19 Pectic Acid 09 Pectin 04 Cellulose 15 Fatty matter 02 Mineral matter 13 Water 760 ----- 1000
From the above it will be seen that this esculent contains no nitrogen.
=ARTIFICIAL FOODS.= See FARINA.
=ASARABAC'CA= (as-a-). _Syn._ AS'ARUM, A. EUROPae'UM: (Linn.), NAR'DUS MONTA'NA*, &c., L.; ASARET, A. D'EUROPE, CABARET, AZARUM C., NARD SAUVAGE, OREILLE D'HOMME, &c., Fr.; HAZELWURTZEL, Ger. The asa??? of Dioscorides, a small round, hard, stemless, hardy herbaceous plant, bearing chocolate-coloured flowers; and of the nat. ord. Aristolochieae (DC.). It grows freely in central France, and is found in woods and shady places in Lancashire, Westmoreland, and other parts of England. _Hab._ Europe, between 37 and 60 lat.i.tude.--Root & rhizome (AS'ARI RA'DIX) has a pepper-like odour and an acrid taste:--Leaves (A. FO'LIA) less odorous, though bitter-tasted, acrid, and aromatic; formerly officinal in the pharmacopias:--Whole plant (ASARABACCA of the shops) nauseant, emetic, and purgative. Before the introduction of ipecacuanha it was the common emetic (6 to 9 of the green leaves in whey); but, owing to the violence of its action, it has long fallen into disuse. Its common name in France (CABARET, or public-house plant) is said to have arisen from its frequent employment to relieve the stomach of those who had drunk too hard. It is now almost solely used as a sternutatory or errhine, and is probably one of the best.
According to Grager[84], asarabacca contains three volatile, oily principles, which may be obtained by distillation with water:--VOLATILE OIL (o'leum as'ari):--AS'ARITE, an odourless, tasteless, and crystalline solid; fusible and volatilisable, yielding white and very irritating fumes:--AS'ARUM-CAM'PHOR, differing chiefly from the last in being precipitated, by water, from its alcoholic solution in cubes or six-sided prisms, instead of delicate flexible needles. Also a brownish, bitter, crystallisable principle (AS'ARINE, AS'ARUM-BIT'TER), which is soluble in alcohol.
[Footnote 84: Gobel and Kemze, 'Pharm. Waarenk,' 1830-1.]
_Uses, Dose, &c._ Dried leaves, 20 to 30 gr., or root, 10 to 12 gr.; as a purge or emetic. As an errhine--leaves, 3 to 5 gr.; root, 1 to 3 gr.; in powder, snuffed up the nose every day, or every other day, at bedtime. It excites irritation and a copious watery discharge, more or less muculent, which frequently continues to flow for several days, and occasionally proves highly useful in certain affections of the brain, eyes, mouth, nose, ear, and throat, on the principle of counter-irritation. It has been found "particularly serviceable in cephalalgia (headache), obstinate headache, chronic ophthalmia (inflammation of the eyes), and some other lethargic affections." (Dr A. T. Thomson.) In dimness of sight (especially that arising from fatigue or congestion), deafness, and slight paralytic affections of the mouth, tongue, lips, or eyelids, not of a serious organic character, and particularly in chronic earache, it also sometimes affords relief after other remedies have failed. It const.i.tutes the basis of several CEPHALIC SNUFFS, ASARABACCA-SNUFF, BARON MCKINSEY'S MEDICINAL POWDER (or SNUFF), and several other like nostrums, which are much extolled by their venders, and sold at marvellously high prices. See PATENT MEDICINES, POWDERS, SNUFFS, &c. (also _below_).
=AS'ARIN= (-rin). C_{20}H_{26}O_{5}. _Syn._ ASARONE. A species of stearopten, discovered by Gortz, in asarabacca. It has an aromatic taste and an odour resembling camphor, and is said to be emetic. It is probably a mixture of asarum-camphor and some partially oxidised volatile oil. (See _above_.)
=As'arine= (of Grager). _Syn._ ASARI'NA, L. The crystallisable bitter principle of asarabacca, noticed above. It is said to greatly resemble cytisine.
=AS'ARITE= (-rite). See ASARABACCA.
=ASBES'TOS.= _Syn._ ASBES'TUS (asest??, incombustible, unconsumable, Gr.), AMIANTH'US, LA'PIS A., &c., L.; ASBESTE, AMIANTE, Fr.; ASBEST, STEINFLACHS, Ger. In _mineralogy_, a soft, fibrous substance, composed of flexible or elastic filaments which, in their most highly developed form, greatly resemble those of flax or silk, and which bear exposure to a very considerable degree of heat without suffering decomposition. It has been proposed to clothe our firemen in dresses of asbestos; but without freedom of respiration could be insured in a heated and poisonous atmosphere, this envelope would be of little service. Gloves are sometimes made of it, for holding red-hot crucibles. It is also used as a filtering medium for corrosive liquids. A kind of felt made of asbestos is now used as a subst.i.tute for wire gauze to support beakers, retorts, &c., over lamps.
_Var._ Of these there are several; as AM'IANTH or ELAS'TIC ASBESTOS, LIG'NIFORM A., MOUNTAIN-CORK, M.-LEATHER, M.-WOOD, &c.; varying from a grey, brown, or green colour, to pure white, and from extreme flexibility and softness, to rigidity and hardness, as indicated by the respective names.
=ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES.= A parasite belonging to the genus _entozoa_, commonly known as the round worm, and found in the intestines of man, the horse, the ox, the pig, and some other of the lower animals. It is of a greyish-red colour and in size and general appearance like the common earthworm.
Children are very frequently infested by them. Their usual habitat is the small intestines. But they are occasionally found in the stomach, and have been known to transport themselves into the gall-ducts, frontal sinuses, nostrils, and mouth. The males are smaller than the females and much more rare. The females produce eggs in great numbers, but it is doubtful if the young are ever developed in the intestine in which the parent worm dwells.
It is probable that the ova gain access to the intestines of the animals of which they eventually become the pests from various outer sources. They are said to be very frequent in persons who partake much of raw leaves and roots. Dr Paterson, of Leith, noticed that families who drank certain water from a well supplied from a dirty pool, which contained various vermiform animalcules, were much infested with this particular species of intestinal worm; whilst others in the same street, who had recourse to a different water supply, entirely escaped. For medicinal treatment, see WORMS.
=ASCARIS MYSTAX.= A parasitic round worm infesting the cat. It has been also occasionally found in man.
=ASH.= _Syn._ FRAX'INUS, L.; FReNE, Fr.; ESCHE, Ger. The popular name of several species of valuable hardy trees bearing apetalous flowers (except in the 'flowering ash'), belonging to the nat. ord. Oleaceae (DC.), and gen. Fraxinus; but appropriately the--
=Ash.= _Syn._ COMM'ON ASH; FRAX'INUS, F. EXCEL'SIOR (Linn.), F. APET'ALA (Lamb.), F. OR'NUS (Scop.), L.; FReNE, F. COMMUN, Fr.; GEMEINE ESCHE, Ger.
A large tree common to our woods and hedges; timber (ASH or ASH-WOOD) used by carpenters, cabinet-makers, and machinists, and much esteemed for its great toughness and elasticity; bark febrifuge, diuretic, resolvent, and tonic; has been successfully exhibited in agues; seeds acrid, bitter, and diuretic; leaves purgative, diuretic, and febrifuge; sometimes used instead of senna. In southern Europe it exudes an inferior kind of MANNA, and its medicinal properties are much greater than in our climate.--_Dose._ (Leaves) 1/4 _oz._ to 1-1/2 _oz._ (made into an infusion), as a purge; seeds, 1 dr., as a diuretic, &c.
=Ash, Flow'ering.= _Syn._ MAN'NA-ASH; FRAX'INUS OR'NUS (Linn.), L. A small tree of southern Europe. Yields MANNA. The 'round'-leaved flowering-ash'
(CALA'BRIAN-ASH; FRAX'INUS ROTUNDIFO"LIA, Lamarck) is a smaller variety of the preceding, and a native of Calabria and the Levant. Said to yield the best MANNA. The 'small'-leaved flowering-ash' (FRAX'INUS PARVIFO"LIA, Lam.) is another manna-yielding species, indigenous to Asia Minor.
=ASH.= Ashes (which _see_).
=ASH-b.a.l.l.s.= The ashes of land-plants, especially ferns, damped and made into b.a.l.l.s. Used as a subst.i.tute for soap in washing, and in cleaning paint.
=ASH'ERY.= [Amer.] A place where potash or pearlash is made or kept.
=ASH'ES.= (-iz). [Eng. pl.] _Syn._ ASH; CI'NIS, L.; CENDRES (_pl._), Fr.; ASCHE, Ger. The remains of anything burned. In _antiquity_, the remains of a body consumed on the funeral pyre; and hence, figuratively, the remains of the dead. The word, in English, has properly no singular; although 'ash' is very commonly heard; and is now almost exclusively used in composition, as in pearlash, potash, soda-ash, &c.
=Ashes.= In _commerce_, the residuum of the combustion of vegetable substances containing either carbonate of pota.s.sium ('land-plants'), or carbonate of sodium ('marine plants'), and from which the commercial alkalies are obtained. Their value depends upon their richness in 'alkali,' which is determined in the manner explained under ALKALIMETRY.
The word is also commonly employed as a general term for the crude carbonates of potash of commerce (which _see_).
=Ashes of Plants.= See following page, on which will be found a table giving the chemical composition of the ashes of a few well-known plants used as food for men and animals. See also MANURES, PLANTS, VEGETATION, &c.
A careful determination of the ash of different substances is of great use to the a.n.a.lyst, by enabling him to detect adulteration; for instance, almost every plant on being burnt yields a very constant amount of ash, and not alone the quant.i.ty is constant, but the different proportions of the various components are also, within certain limits, tolerably unvarying. Many plants have the power of extracting from the soil certain elements; for instance, the ash of the tobacco contains lithium; tea, manganese; seaweed, iodine. It seems by no means improbable that by the examination of the ashes of plants by means of the spectroscope new elements may be discovered. Appended is a short list of the amount of ash, contained in a few important substances:--
Total Ash.
Cayenne pepper, from 5 to 6 per cent.
Chicory " 5 "
Cocoa " 3 to 4 "
Coffee " 4 "
Flour " 7 to 15 "
Mustard " 3 to 45 "
Pepper " 43 to 5 "
Rice " 5 "
Tea " 56 "
Turmeric " 5 to 6 "
The ashes of plants are employed by the agriculturist according as the nature and proportion of the different salts they contain is suited to the soil and to the crops it is desired to raise. M. SOULANGE BODIN says that ashes hold the middle place between stable-dung and pasture manure. They act mechanically by dividing soils that are too compact, hygroscopically by absorbing moisture, and they appear to have an action similar to lime in accelerating the decomposition of the mould. They also probably exercise a stimulating effect on the soil. In the case of low-lying lands they are particularly suited for very damp clayey soils. In Picardy the ashes of turf are made use of; in England, the low countries and the north of France, coal ashes are employed.
-----------+------+------+-------+---------+------+------+-------+-----+--------
Red
Wheat
Turnip
Peas.
Beans.
Clover.
Sainfoin.
Grain.
Straw.
Barley.
Oats.
Root.
-----------+------+------+-------+---------+------+------+-------+-----+-------- Pota.s.sa
4243
3672
1844
3190
2976
1051
2007
1770
2370 Soda
327
014
279
...
526
103
456
384
1475 Lime
573
1206
3502
2430
288
591
148
354
1182 Magnesia
592
600
1191
503
1106
125
745
733
328 Sesquioxide
of Iron
044
065
098
061
023
007
051
049
047 Sulphuric
acid
623
428
391
328
011
214
079
110
1613 Silica
174
152
403
322
223
7357
3273
3848
269 Carbonic
acid
438
163
1292
1520
022
...
...
...
1047 Phosphoric
acid
2992
3374
582
935
4821
551
3169
2646
931 Chloride of
pota.s.sium
...
...
...
624
...
...
...
092
...
Chloride of
sodium
...
326
413
078
...
...
...
...
705 -----------+------+------+-------+---------+------+------+-------+-----+-------- Total
amount
9996
10000
9995
9996
9996
9999
9998
9996
9993 Per-centage
of dry ash
in dry
substance
260
290
787
637
205
...
250
250
600 Per-centage
of ash in
the fresh
substance
224
254
677
565
181
...
225
227
075 -----------+------+------+-------+---------+------+------+-------+-----+-------- -----------+-------+------+------+------+--------+-------+-------+------+-------
Lettuce
Leaves
Olive-
Turnip
Beet
Carrot
Pota-
and
tree
Clupea
Leaves.
Root.
Root.
toes.
Stalks.
Wood.
Hops.
Hay.
Sprouts.
[85]
[86]
[87]
[88]
[89]
[90]
-----------+-------+------+------+------+--------+-------+-------+------+------- Pota.s.sa
1156
2168
3755
2541
2237
2060
2488
1193
1723 Soda
1243
313
1263
...
1850
...
...
107
119 Lime
2849
190
976
234
1043
6302
2159
1476
2357 Magnesia
262
179
378
417
568
231
469
530
301 Sesquioxide
of Iron
302
052
674
050
282
...
175
275
028 Sulphuric
acid
1036
314
634
471
385
309
727
020
...
Silica
804
140
076
364
1186
382
1971
5343
...
Carbonic
acid
618
1523
1515
...
...
...
217
...
...
Phosphoric
acid
485
165
837
1038
938
477
1447
634
4352 Chloride of
pota.s.sium
...
...
...
1240
...
109
...
...
...
Chloride of
sodium
1241
4951
491
Trace
1509
...
342
227
1119 -----------+-------+------+------+------+--------+-------+-------+------+-------- Total
amount
9996
9996
9999
10000
9999
10000
9995
10000
10000 Per-centage
of dry ash
in dry
substance
1640
1132
512
486
...
058
595
697
...
Per-centage
of ash in
the fresh
substance
197
102
077
...
...
...
...
615
...
[Footnote 85: Griepenkerl.]
[Footnote 86: Griepenkerl.]
[Footnote 87: A. Muller.]
[Footnote 88: Way.]
[Footnote 89: Hubert.]
[Footnote 90: Way.]
Coal ashes, when mixed with excrement, besides disinfecting the latter, make an excellent manure.
