soft, flexible cloth, which was used as a shroud for dead bodies. In modern times it has been manufactured into incombustible cloth, gloves, felt, paper, &c.; is employed in gas-stoves; is much used as a covering to steam boilers and pipes; is mixed with metallic pigments, and used as a paint on wooden structures, roofs, partitions, &c., to render them fire-proof, and is employed in various other ways, the manufacture having recently greatly developed. Some varieties are compact, and take a fine polish, others are loose, like flax or silky wool. Ligniform asbestos, or mountain-wood, is a variety presenting an irregular filamentous structure, like wood. Rock-cork, mountain-leather, fossil-paper, and fossil-flax are varieties. Asbestos is found in many parts of the world, but is chiefly supplied by Italy, Canada, and Australia. Mineralogically it is distinct from chrysotile, which is used for similar purposes.
Asbjörnsen (a˙s´byeurn-sen), Peter Kristen, born 1812, died 1885, a distinguished Norwegian naturalist and collector of the popular tales and legends, fairy stories, &c., of his native country.
Asbury Park, a small town on the coast of New Jersey, United States, a great summer resort. Its population increases during the summer months from 10,000 to 100,000.
As´calon, or Ash´kelon, a ruined town of Palestine, on the sea-coast, 40 miles W.S.W. of Jerusalem. It was occupied by the Crusaders under Richard I after a great battle with Saladin (1192) and by General Allenby's troops in Nov., 1917.
Asca´nius, the son of Æneas and Creusa, and the companion of his father's wanderings from Troy to Italy.
As´caris. See Nematoda.
Ascen´sion (discovered on Ascension Day), an island of volcanic origin belonging to Britain, near the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, about lat. 7° 55' S.; long. 14° 25' W.; 700 miles north-west of St. Helena; area, about 34 sq. miles. Pop. 196 (1914). It is retained by Britain as a naval sanatorium, coaling and victualling station, and store depot. It has a steam factory, naval and victualling yards, hospitals, and a coal depot. It is celebrated for its turtle, which are the finest in the world. Wild goats are plentiful, and oxen, sheep, pheasants, guinea-fowl, and rabbits have been introduced, and thrive well. The village of Georgetown, the seat of government, stands on the west side of the island, which is governed under the admiralty by a naval officer.
Ascension, Right, of a star or other heavenly body, in astronomy, the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator which comes to the meridian at the same instant with the star.
Ascension Day, the day on which the ascension of the Saviour is commemorated, often called Holy Thursday: a movable feast, always falling on the Thursday but one before Whitsuntide.
Ascet´icism and Ascet´ics (from the Gr. askēsis, meaning practice, bodily exercise, or athletic training). The early Christians, who devoted themselves to severe exercises of piety and strove to distinguish themselves from the world by abstinence from sensual enjoyments and by voluntary penances, adopted the name to signify the practice of spiritual things. Ascetics and asceticism have played an important part in the Christian Church, but the principle of striving after a higher and more spiritual life by subduing the animal appetites and passions has no necessary connection with Christianity. Thus there were ascetics among the Jews previous to Christ, and asceticism was inculcated by the Stoics, while in its most extreme form it may still be seen among the Brahmans and Buddhists. Monasticism was but one phase of asceticism. It must also be borne in mind that in the history of asceticism, pagan, Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan, we are often dealing not only with religious but distinctly abnormal temperaments. See Monasticism.