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 ASYLUM ATAOAMA 49 the neighborhood are many pleasant residences. Asuncion is connected by railway with Villa Rica, about 145 in. distant, and is favorably situated for commerce with tBre interior and upon the river. The population has, like that of all Paraguay, suffered much diminution in consequence of the war of 1865-'70 with Bra- zil, the Argentine Confederation, and Uruguay, shortly before the close of which the allied forces took possession of the city. ASYLUM (Gr. aavtov), formerly, a place of refuge, from which persons who fled to it could not be taken without sacrilege. The Jew- ish cities of refuge established by Moses and Joshua are the earliest examples of the cus- tom of which we possess historical evidence. These were six in number, three on each side of the Jordan. There the involuntary homi- cide might escape the vengeance of the rela- tives of the deceased. In Greece, the temples, groves, altars, and sometimes the precincts of the temple, were asylums to men convicted or indicted for civil or criminal offences. Yet it was lawful to surround the temple, and let the fugitive die of hunger, and even in some cases to set fire to the building. In the later days of Rome, the eagles of the legions, and the stat- ues and palaces of the emperors, were also asylums. The strongest religious sanction was thrown around these places of refuge. In- solvent debtors and runaway slaves resorted to them in great numbers. As law became more powerful under the Roman government, these asylums came to be regarded as nui- sances; and at last an edict of the emperor Tiberius swept most of them away, both legal and pretended. With the barbarian incursions in the East and West, the necessity for asy- lums again arose. The new right of asylum fell to the churches. Under Constantino the Great, all Christian churches were asylums ; the younger Theodosius extended the privilege to all courts, gardens, walks, and houses belonging to the church. The Franks in France and the Visigoths in Spain permitted it. Many of the popes favored this right. All convents, and even bishops' houses, became asylums. Opposed to the right were the temporal lords, whose jurisdiction was curtailed by the asylums. Several popes, in particular Gregory XIV. and Benedict XIII., restricted the right as nar- rowly as possible. All highway robbers, vol- untary homicides, horse or sheep stealers, pro- fessional thieves, heretics under inquisition process, those who laid violent hands on nobles, forgers, false coiners, and duellists, were ex- cluded from the privilege. In Germany, where the temporal power was strong, the right of asylum was never very effective. Some- times, however, the German barons would themselves set up the right of asylum in their castles. The German emperors never regard- ed the ecclesiastical asylum, and it was entire- ly swept away by the Protestant princes. In England, in 1487, the right was for the first time restrained by a bull of Pope Innocent VIII. In 1534, after the reformation had commenced, persons accused of treason were debarred the right of sanctuary, which word is more com- monly used in English law than asylum, and hence the phrase, "to take sanctuary," is equivalent to take refuge. In the time of Queen Elizabeth the right of asylum was de- nied to all criminals, but reserved to debtors. In 1697 the right of asylum was at length taken away from insolvent debtors. To Macduff, thane of Fife, who contributed to the overthrow of Macbeth, and to his descendants, was given by Malcom Kenmore, on the recovery of the throne of his ancestors, the privilege for any one of the clan Macduff who committed unpremedi- tated homicide, to have his punishment remit- ted for a fine, payable to the injured family, if he could get safe to Macduff's cross, which stood in Fifeshire. Many similar privileges were granted by charter in Scotland. To this day, Holyrood palace, as an ancient royal residence, continues to retain this right with respect to the persons of debtors. The boundaries of this place of refuge are liberal ; the debtors find lodgings in a short street, the privileged part of which is divided from the unprivileged by a gutter running across it. This is the only existing sanctuary in the British empire. In the United States of America, no civil or eccle- siastical asylum ever existed. The right of asylum endured longest in Italy, and was first put an end to by the French occupation at the end of the last century. The houses of the clergy and graveyards became asylums in Italy in course of time ; and the houses of the car- dinals at Rome had this privilege, at least in theory, as long as the temporal power lasted. ASYMPTOTE, a line (straight or curved) tan- gent to a curve, but having its point of con- tact with the curve at an infinite distance. If a weight were hung upon a cord, the ends of which were fastened to pins at unequal heights, the weight would slide to a point nearer the lower pin. Let now the cord gradually yield to the weight, and be stretched to an indefinite length, the weight, sliding constantly toward the middle of the cord, would move in a curve ; and a vertical line midway between the pins would be an asymptote to that curve. ATACAMi. I. A S. W. department of Bolivia, bounded by Peru, the Bolivian department of Potosi, the Argentine Confederation, Chili, and the Pacific ocean ; area, about 70,000 sq. m. ; pop. about 8, 000. The greater portion of the de- partment is a dry sandy desert entirely uninhab- ited, which is supposed to have been for ages the burial place of the aboriginal Peruvians. There are a few fertile valleys in the north. Anhydrous sulphate of soda is abundant in almost every part of the department, and large masses of solid iron have also been found in different localities. Gold, silver, copper, salt, and alum are also among the mineral produc- tions. The capital is Cobija, or Puerto de la Mar, the only seaport which Bolivia pos- sesses, lit The most northern province of