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ASCHAFFENBURG. 13,275; in 1900, 18,091, principally Catholics. Aschaffenburg existed as early as the invasion of Germany by the Romans, who built a castle here. In 974 it came into the possession of the archbishops of Mainz, and remained with them until the dissolution of the Germanic Empire. The Concordat between the Pope and the German nation was prepared at Aschaffenburg in 1447. In 1814, along with the principality of which it is the capital, it was ceded to Bavaria by Austria.

ASCHAM, as'knm, Roger (1515-68). A dis- tinguished English writer and classical scholar, born at Kirby Wiske, in Yorkshire. He received his early education at home under the direction of his father and in the family of Sir Anthony Winglield, and in 1530 entered Saint John's Col- lege, Cambridge, where he took his degree of M.A. in 1537. The study of the classics, especially Oreek. had recently been revived at Cambridge, and Ascham's bent impelled him with ardor to these studies. His reputation as a classical scholar soon brought him numerous pupils, and there being at that time no Greek chair, he was ap- pointed by the University to read Greek lectures. At first he opposed the newly introduced method of pronunciation, which is still used in England, but afterwards adopted and defended it. His leisure was devoted to music, penmanship, in which he excelled, and archery. In defense of the latter art he published, in 1545, a treatise, entitled Toxophilus, the pure English style of which, independently of its other merits, ranks it among the classical pieces of English litera- ture. For this treatise, which was dedicated to Henry VIII., he was rewarded with an annual pension of £10, equivalent to about $500 of our present money. In 1546 he was appointed uni- versity orator; and in 1548, on the death of his former pupil, Grindal, he was called to supply his place as master of languages to the Princess Elizabeth. In this office he gave the highest satisfaction, but at the end of two years abruptly resigned it because of a quarrel with the steward of the household. That he did not lose favor at court, however, is manifest from his having soon after been appointed secretary to serve Richard Morysin, ambassador to the court of Charles V. He spent three years in Germany and in Italy, and on his return published the diary he had kept during his travels. The interest of Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, secured his appointment as Latin secretary to Queen Mary; his pension also was doubled. His prudence and moderation preserved him from offending by his Protestantism. After the death of Mary, Elizabeth retained him at court as secretary and tutor, posts which he held till his death, in 1568. His second important work, The Schoolmaster, a treatise on classical education, was published in 1570 by his widow. Consult: The Collected Works of Ascham, ed. J. A. Giles (London, 1864-65); Toxophilus, ed. Arber (London, 1868); The Schoolmaster, ed. Mayor (London, 1863); and the reprint by Arber (1870); and Katterfeld, Roger Ascham, sein Leben und seine Werke (Strassburg, 1880).

ASCHBACH, Ush'baG, (1801-82). A German historian, born at Höchst, near Frankfort-on-the-Main. He held the professorship of history at Bonn (1842-53) and at the University of Vienna (1853-72). In 1870 he was ennobled. Among his works are Geschichte der Westgoten (1827); Geschichte der Omajjaden in Spanien (2 vols., 1829-30: 2d ed. 1860); Geschichte Kaiser Sigismunds (4 vols., 1838-45); and Roswitha und Konrad Celtes (1867), in which he maintained that the panegyric of the Emperor Otho the Great, which was ascribed to the nun Roswitha, had been written by Konrad Celtes during the Sixteenth Century. This assertion was disproved by Waitz and by Köpke. Consult R. Köpke, Ottonische Studien (1869).

ASCHERSLEBEN, ii'shers-lfilien. A town in in the Prussian Province of Saxony. It is situ- ated on the river Eine, 32 miles south-southwest of Magdeburg (Map: Prussia, D 3). It has considerable manufactures of woolens, linens, earthenware, tinware, chemicals, etc., and brew- eries, iron foundries, mills, etc. There are also coal and salt mines, and extensive truck gardens. Population, in 1890, 22,893; in 1900, 27,245. Aschersleben is mentioned in the Twelfth Cen- tury, and was probably founded in the Eleventh. It became Prussian in 1813.

ASCHERSON, ii'sher-zon, Paul Friedrich August (1834- ). A German botanist, born in Berlin. He studied medicine and natural sci- ence, and in 1873 was appointed professor of botany at the university there. In 1873-74 he accompanied Rohlfs in his expedition to the Libyan desert, which he again visited alone two years later. His principal contributions are on the subject of the Hora of Europe and of Africa. His published works include: Flora der Provinz Brandenburg (Berlin, 1864), and a Synopsis der mitteleuropäischen Flora (Leipzig, 1896).

ASCIANS, ash'yonz. or Ascii, ash'i-I (Gk. d, Equator, who have the sun over their heads, and consequently have no visible shadow, twice a year.
 * )riv. + (7Kia,skia, shadow). People near the

ASCID'IAN (Gk. acKidiov. askidion, dim. of (iu/irif, askos, a skinbag, a bladder), or Tunicate (Lat. tunicatus, clothed with a tunic). One of the small marine animals, constituting the class Urochorda of the phylum Chordata, and popu- larly known as sea-squirts. They are of two kinds: (1) Fixed and individual ones, to which the name ascidian is more properly applied; and (2) compound free-swimming ones, more prop- erly designated as tunicates. Their principal in- terest is the evidence they show of affinity with the vertebrates by the presence in their larval conditions of a notochord and other fundamental characteristics of the chordata. See Plate of Ascidians and Balanoglossus.

The larva at first are free-swimming, and re- semble a tadpole. The tail is fringed with a delicate transversely striated fin ; in the axis of the tail is the notochord, and above it the central nerve-cord, which anteriorly is dilated, and still farther forward again expands into «, vesicle, which is a true sense-organ — a primitive eye. The enteric canal exhibits a mouth, a phar- ynx, oesophagus, stomach, and intestine ; and there is a heart and blood circulation After a few hours of existence in this stage, so suggestive of an embryo vertebrate, it becomes fixed by adhesive papilhe upon its 'head' ; its 'tail,' including the notochord, disappears, the nervous system diminishes to a single ganglion, the body takes the form of a dilated sac, with an ineurrent and