Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/130

ASCENDANT. star in a horoscope is in the ascendant, or 'house of life.' It was deemed to have the most influence on destiny, or to give the strongest indication of the future; so it is said when one's prospects improve, "his star is in the ascendant."

ASCEN'SION (for origin of name, see below). An isolated volcanic island in the Atlantic, in latitude 7° 55' S., and longitude 14° 23' W., about 700 miles northwest of Saint Helena (Map: Africa, C 5). It has an area of 35 square miles, about one-half of which is under cultivation, and rises to an elevation of 2870 feet in Green Mountain, on which a sanitarium for sailors has been erected. The island, which belongs to Great Britain, is under the direct control of the Admiralty, and is used as a coaling and victualing station for the British Navy. Population, mostly consisting of officers and seamen, is reported to be over 400. The island was discovered by the Portuguese in 1501 and named Conception Island. It was rediscovered on Ascension Day, 1508, when it received its present name. It was settled by the British in 1815, during Napoleon's stay on Saint Helena. Principal settlement, Georgetown.

ASCENSION, Right (Lat. ascensio, an aris- ing: Ger. gerade Aufsteigung). The name given in astronomy to one of the factors which deter- mine the position of a heavenly body in the sky, the other being the declination. The vault of the sky is to be regarded as divided into a northern and southern hemisphere by the celestial equator, just as the earth is divided by the terrestrial equator. The location of a heavenly body is then defined by means of right ascension and declina- tion, just as that of a city on the earth is fully known from its longitude and latitude. Right ascension is thus quite analogous to longitude on the earth. The initial point for measuring right ascension is one of the points of the celes- tial equator where it is intersected by the eclip- tic (q.v.). and this point is called the vernal equinox, or first point of a Aries (q.v.). The right ascension of a heavenly body is then de- fined as the angular distance measured on the celestial equator from the vernal equinox to the foot of a perpendicular circle let fall on the equator from the heavenly body. The right ascension is ascertained by means of the transit instrument and clock. The transit instrument enables us to observe its meridian passage, and the transit clock gives the time at which this takes place. This clock is set so that when the first point of Aries is in the meridian it stands at 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds, and it is so arranged as to indicate 24 sidereal hours, the time that elapses between two successive passages of that point. The reading of the clock at the passage of any heavenly body then enables us to calculate that body's right ascension. The right ascension of all the fixed stars down to about the ninth magnitude has been thus deter- mined and published in printed star catalogues.

ASCENSION DAY, or. One of the great religious festivals of the Episcopal and also of the Roman Catholic Church. It is held on the fortieth day after Easter, and is intended to commemorate the ascension of Christ into heaven. It is one of the six days occurring in the year for which the Church of England appoints special psalms, and the same Church also particularly recommends it as a fitting day for the receiving of communion. No mention of its celebration occurs before the Fourth Century, though Saint Augustine believed it to have been instituted either by the Apostles themselves, or the primitive bishops succeeding them. Connected with the religious observances of this day were certain civic ones, which in some parts of England and Scotland arc continued to this day, viz., beating the bounds, or riding the marches, though their religious connection is apparently forgotten. See ; and.

ASCET'ICISM. Among the Greeks, ἄσκησις, askēsis, denoted the exercise and discipline practiced by the athletes or wrestlers, who had to harden their bodies by exertion, and to avoid all sensual and effeminating indulgences. In the schools of the philosophers, especially of the Stoics, the same word signified the practice of mastering the desires and passions, or of severe virtue. In these senses it passed into the language of the early Christians. The essence of asceticism is to hold self-denial and suffering to be meritorious in the sight of God, as a means to perfect the moral nature and to rise to spiritual heights not otherwise attainable. It had been a common practice among both the Pagans and the Jews before the coming of Christ. It has been practiced in all ages of the Church, and during the Middle Ages it generally took the form of monasticism. But it is not characteristic of Protestantism, and even in the Roman Catholic Church ascetic practices have been modified in recent times; fastings are less rigorous, and the ancient severity of conventual life has been moderated in some degree. See.

ASCH, iish. A town of the Austrian crown- land of Bohemia. It is situated at the foot of the Hainberg, about 2000 feet above the sea-level, 13 miles northwest of Eger, and near the Bava- rian and Saxon frontiers (Map: Austria, C 1). It has manufactures of woolen and mixed silk and woolen goods, particularly stockings. There are also machine works, and bleaching and dyeing establishments. Population, in 1800, 15,557; in 1900, 18,700.

ASCHAFFENBURG, a-sha'fcn-burK. The capital of the Bavarian district of Lower Franconia, on the right bank of the Main, at its junction with the Aschaff (latitude 50° 1' N., longitude 9° 7' E.), about 23 miles east-southeast of Frankfort (Map: Germany, C 4). It is built upon an eminence, and has both a healthful and attractive situation ; but the streets are narrow, irregular, and slope steeply toward the river. The castle of Johannisburg, built between 1605-14, by Johann Schweikard, of Kronberg, elector of Mainz, contains a collection of paintings and engravings and a fine library. Besides the collegiate church, the military barracks, and the town hospitals, Aschaffenburg possesses a Roman villa, built by King Louis I., in imitation of the Castor and Pollux edifice discovered at Pompeii. Among its educational and charitable institutions are a gymnasium, a real-schule, two seminaries, a music school, and two orphan asylums. It is the burial-place of the poets W. Heinse and K. Brentano. The town is celebrated for its manufacture of colored papers, besides carrying on a considerable trade in wood, building stone, tobacco, wine, etc. Population, in 1890,