Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/155

Rh half a pint at each time, and continued for several weeks or months, if any real benefit be expected from this simple diet.

The manner of preparing artificial asses milk, not inferior in its properties to the natural, is as follows: Take of eryngo-root, or sea-holly, and pearl barley, each half an ounce, liquorice-root three ounces, water two pounds, or one quart; boil it down over a gentle fire to one pint, then strain it, and add an equal quantity of new cow's milk.  ASSEMBLY, in general, signifies a meeting of several persons in the same place, and for a common purpose. Without entering into a history of the assemblies that were customary among the ancients, or those held by the moderns, for deliberating upon political, ecclesiastical, or civil affairs, we shall, in this place, only observe, that all public meetings, when conducted with a spirit of order and decorum, are highly conducive to polish the manners of a people. This good effect is obvious from assemblies instituted in provincial towns, for the purpose of either amusement or instruction, by which the manners of young persons, in particular, acquire a certain grace and dignity, seldom to be met with among those who spend their lives in small country towns, or solitary mansions.

But, on the other hand, it cannot be denied, that the frequent visiting of assemblies, theatres, &c. where a great number of persons, perhaps, afflicted with various chronic diseases, breathe and vitiate a common atmosphere, must be attended with pernicious effects, even to the most healthy.—See.  ASSIMILATION, in animal economy, is that hidden natural process by which living beings are enabled to convert such bodies as have a certain affinity to them, or at least after having undergone some preparation and change of their properties, into their own substance and nature. Hence every culinary process is conducted on chemical principles analogous to those on which the digestion of food appears to depend in the human stomach.—See, , ,.  Assurance. See.  ASTHMA, is a spasmodic disease of the organs of respiration, attended with cough, dirficulty of breathing, wheezing, &c.

There are two distinct species of this disorder, each of which requires a different treatment: 1. When it is attended with an accumulation and discharge of humours from the lungs, in which case it is called humid asthma; and 2. When the patient is not troubled with coughing, or at least has no expectoration, which is termed dry asthma. Yet these complaints seldom affect persons in early life, and then chiefly the male sex.

Asthma, in general, is distinguished by paroxysms, preceded by a sense of tightness in the chest, and in general, occurs during the night. The patient cannot lie in an horizontal posture, without danger of suffocation; and, when seized, is immediately obliged to sit upright. After continuing for several hours in this state, he becomes easier; his breathing is less difficult and oppressed, the cough not so frequent, and an expectoration of mucus taking place, the paroxysm abates until the next night; but the symptoms continue in a greater Rh