Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/379

LEFT ASF ASIA 301 ASPHODEL cribed to the presence of a crystalline substance found also in the potato, let- tuce, etc. ASP ASIA (as-pa'ze-a), a celebrated Grecian, belonging to a family of some note in Miletus, and was early distin- guished for her graces of mind and per- son. She went to Athens after the Per- sian War, and by her beauty and ac- complishments soon attracted the atten- tion of the leading men of that city. She engaged the affections of Pericles, who is said to have divorced his former wife in order to marry her. Their union was harmonious throughout. Their house was the resort of the wisdom and ■wit of Athens. Plato says that she formed the best speakers of her time, and, chief among them, Pericles himself. The sage Socrates was a frequent visitor at her salons, drawn thither, it is in- sinuated, by the double attraction of eloquence and beauty. Anaxagoras, Phi- dias, and Alcibiades were also numbered among her admirers. The envy which assailed the administration of Pericles was unsparing in its attacks on his mis- tress. Her fearless speculation aroused their superstitious zeal. She shared the impeachment, and narrowly escaped the fate, of her friend Anaxagoras. She was accused by Hermippus of disloyalty to the gods, and of introducing freed women into her house to gratify the im- pure tastes of Pericles. He himself pleaded her cause triumphantly, and Aspasia was acquitted. She survived Pericles some years. ASPEN, a tree, the populus tremula or trembling poplar. The tremulous movement of the leaves which exists in all the poplars, but culminates in the aspen, mainly arises from the length and slender character of the petiole or leaf- stalk, and from its being much and later- ally compressed. ASPERN, a small village of Austria, on the Danube, about 2 miles from Vienna. Here, and in the neighboring village of Esslingen, were fought the tremendous battles of the 21st and 22d of May, 1809, between the French grand army, commanded by Napoleon, and the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, resulting in great losses to both sides. The French were obliged to retreat to the island of Lobau, from where they withdrew to the right bank of the Danube. ASPHALT, or ASPHALTTJM, the most common variety of bitumen; also called mineral pitch. Asphalt is a compact, glossy, brittle, black or brown mineral, which breaks with a polished fracture, melts easily with a strong pitchy odor when heated, and when pure burns with- out leaving any ashes. It is found in the earth in many parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States, and in a soft or liquid state on the surface of the Dead Sea, which, from its circumference, was called Asphaltites. It is of organic ori- gin, the asphalt of the great Pitch Lake of Trinidad being derived from bitumi- nous shales, containing vegetable remains in the process of transformation. As- phalt is produced artificially in making coal gas. What is known of asphalt rock is a limestone impregnated with bitumen, found in large quantities in Switzerland, France, Hanover, Holstein, Sicily, and other parts of Europe, and in the United States, the purest forms taking the names of elaterite, gilsonite, albertite, maltha, brea, etc. In the trade there is wide distinction between these and the sandstones, and limestones impregnated with bitumen, which are known as bitu- minous or asphaltic limestone, sand- stone, etc. The latter are usually shipped without being previously treated or re- fined, and are used principally in street paving. The production of asphalt in the United States, produced from domestic petroleum, was in 1918, 527,575 tons, valued at $7,435,204. There were pro- duced from Mexican petroleum in the same year 650,244 tons, valued at $10,- 324,200, The production of bitumines and allied substances in 1918 amounted to 60,034 tons, valued at $780,808. The crude asphalt imported into the United States in 1918 amounted to 114,686 short tons, valued at $624,967. There were exported in the same year 22,108 tons, valued at $577,654. ASPHODEL, the English name of the plants belonging to the genus asphodelus. The yellow and white species were in- troduced into this country during the 16th century — the former about the year 1596, and the latter in 1551. The aspho- dels, being sacred to Proserpine, were used in classic times in funeral cere- monies, and the souls of the departed were supposed by the poets to wander in meadows adorned with these beautiful flowers. In botany, a genus of plants belong- ing to the order liliaceai and the section atithericex. About eight species are familiar, the best known being A. hit ens, the yellow; A. albus, the white; and A. ramostis, the branched lily, or asphodel, called also king's rod. To this family belong the garlic, the hyacinth, the squill, and the Star of Bethlehem.