Giterchan, or Ginterchan, of the middle ages), is situated in E. long. 48° 2′ 15′′, N. lat. 46°21′12′′, and is one of the most populous and important cities, ranking as the third town, perhaps, of the Russian empire. It contains nearly 70,000 inhabitants. It stands on a hill, in a long narrow island of the Volga, about thirty miles from its entrance into the Caspian, surrounded by swamps, which in spring are very unhealthy. The town itself, without including the suburbs, is from six to eight miles in circumference. The houses are built principally of brick and sand-stone. Here is an old Tatar castle, or kreml, and the BeloïGorod (white tower), built by the tzar, Michael Feodorovich, now in ruins; a cathedral, archbishop's palace, public offices, main guard, arsenal, and powder magazine. Belgorod, which adjoins the kreml, on the same hill, is 2510 feet long, 1440 feet broad, and 7110 feet in circumference. The city has four gates, and some ruined walls. The streets are ill paved, and much exposed to inundations. Between the kreml and the canal, on the Volga, is the dockyard, on the other side of which are the Tatarian and Armenian suburbs (slobods), and barracks for the troops. The exchange, where ships from the Caspian unlade and land their goods, is not far from St. Nicolas's Gate, and opposite to it is the haven for vessels coming down the river. Within the suburbs are about 100 vineyards, thirty of which belong to the crown; a school for the artillery, a bank, and court of justice, in what was formerly the Troitzkoï convent; and, in the Belograd, the Spasso-preobrashenski convent, two parish churches, two hospitals, and a bazar for the use of the Armenians and Hindoos. The variety of nations and religions in Astrakhan is manifested by the number and difference of the places of worship. The total of them is fifty-seven twenty-three Russian churches of the Greek communion; twenty-seven Tatarian mosques, churches, and temples; four Armenian, two Roman Catholic, one Lutheran, and one Hindoo temple. There is also a handsome hospital dedicated to St. Paul, and six monasteries; several dyeing-houses, brick-fields, tallow candle manufactories, one iron-foundry, and looms for weaving linen, veils, and sashes. The morocco leather manufactured here is most esteemed, next to the Turkish; especially the red. There is also an establishment here for rearing silk-worms, and a botanic garden. European goods are brought either by water from Petersburgh, or, on sledges, by land from Moscow, and are shipped across the Caspian, or conveyed to Mozdok, in Mount Caucasus. The merchants engaged in this trade employ 250 vessels of different tonnage. More than half of the whole trade carried on is in the hands of the Armenians. Many of the Russian merchants employ their vessels in trading voyages to Persia, Khiva, or Bukharà, or carrying stores to Kizliar, and salt, for the crown, to the towns on the Volga, The Hindoo merchants generally quit their native country at an early age, setting out with a small capital, which they soon increase by trade on their way through Tatary and Persia; and make enormous profits by letting the Tatars of Astra khan have their goods on credit; so that the latter are always deeply in their debt. The imports from Persia and Bukharà consist of raw silk, about 120,000 lbs. yearly, wool, dyed woollens, madder, galls, morocco leather, chintzes, dyed linens, silks, gauzes, small carpets, counterpanes, frankincense, bezoar, naphtha, rice, deerskins, lamb-skins, Circassian cloth, tulups (pelisses), mountain-honey, tobacco, cotton gowns, Persian peas, dried fruits, almonds, figs, pomegranates, olives, oil, saffron, dried peaches, and spices. The exports consist almost entirely of foreign manufactures; such as velvet, cochineal, satin, plush, linen, and other woven articles, sugar, Russia-leather, iron, dyeing substances, glass, coral, steel and iron wares, metal utensils, wrought gold and silver, wax, soap, trinkets, alum, quick-silver, vitriol, sal-ammoniac, &c. Caravans often arrive by land at Astrakhan from Bukhárà and Khiva. The Indian trade alone is from 6 to 700,000 roubles (£120 to 140,000) annually. The silk-manufactures are said to employ from 3 to 400,000 (£60 to 80,000). The supplies sent to the Caucasian lines along the Terek, from 4 to 500,000 (£100 to 120,000). The prices of all internal produce are low. Little is known concerning the origin of Astrakhan or of its condition before the thirteenth century, when William de Rubruguis found it a village without any fortifications; but, at the close of that century, it was a considerable emporium for the trade with India and China; and completely ruined by Timur. It was still a mere village when Josaphat Barbaro saw it in the fifteenth century; but Ambrosio Contareni, the Venetian ambassador, in the latter end of that century, found a considerable trade in rice and silk carried on there. The conquest of it, by the tzar Ivan Vasiliovich, in 1554, was therefore very advantageous to Russia, as it gave her the command not only of the Volga, but also of the Caspian, an advantage which she has not neglected to improve. ASTRALISH, among miners, is the ore of gold in its first state. ASTRANTIA, MASTERWORT, in botany, a genus of the digynia order, and the pentandria class of plants; ranking in the natural method under the forty-fifth order, umbellatæ. The involucrum is lanceolated, open, equal, and colored. The species are two: 1. A. major. 2. A. minor, both natives of the Alps, and possessing no remarkable properties. ASTRAPEA, in natural history, a name given by the ancients to a stone, since called, improperly, astrapia, and by some astrapias. It was of a blue, or blackish ore, with white variegations, running in the form of waves and clouds. Some specimens of the Persian lapis lazuli are of this kind, but they are rare. ASTRARII, in writers of the middle age, the same with mansionarii, those who live in the house or family, at the time when a person dies. ASTRARIUS HIERES; from astre, old French, a hearth; is used in our old writers, where the ancestor, by conveyance, hath set his heirs apparent, and his family, in a house, in his lifetime. And I the while Will sit and smile, To se you spend your time in vain. and changing solutions of iron, especially those made in the vitriolic acid, into a dark purple or black color; such as galls, tormentil root, bistort root, balaustines, terra japonica, acacia, &c. ASTROBOLISM; from asno, a star, and Baw, to strike; the same with sphacelus; though properly applied to plants which are destroyed in the dog-days, as if blasted by that star. ASTROCHITES, or ASTROITES. See As TERIA. ASTROGNOSIA; from asno, star, and yvwokw, I know; the art of knowing the fixed George Wither, in Ellis, v. i. stars, their names, ranks, situations in the constellations, and the like. See ASTRONOMY. And darkness and doubt are now flying away, ASTRICT', v. & adj. ASTRICTION, ASTRICTIVE, ASTRINGE, Beattie's Hermit. Astringo, astrictum, astringere, to contract. To make ASTROLABE, ASTROLABRE, ASTROLABY. Gr. aorno, a star, and λαμβάνω, I take. The firste partye of this treatise shall rehearse the figures, and the membres of thine astrolaby, because that thou shalt have the greater knowyng of thyne owne instrument. Chaucer. Astrolabie, f. 262. c. i. For I have ben toward the parties of Braban, and ASTRINGENT, n. & adj. close, to bind; op- beholden the astrolabre, that the sterre that is clept posed to relax. the transmontayne, is 53 degrees highe. ASTRINGENTLY, strait or narrow, to heighten or draw Tears are caused by a contraction of the spirits of the brain; which contraction, by consequence, astringeth the moisture of the brain, and thereby sendeth tears into the eyes. motion. Bacon. This virtue requireth an astriction; but such an astriction, as is not grateful to the body: for a pleasing astriction doth rather bind in the nerves, than expl them; and therefore such astriction is found in things of a harsh taste. Id. The juice is very astringent, and therefore of slow Id. Natural History. What diminisheth sensible perspiration, encreaseth the insensible; for that reason, a strengthening and astringent diet often conduceth to this purpose. Arbuthnot on Aliments. The solid parts were to be relaxed or astricted, as they let the humours pass, either in too small or too great quantities, Id. Lenitive substances are proper for dry atrabilarian constitutions; who are subject to astriction of the belly, and the piles. Id. on Diet. Acid, acrid, austere and bitter substances, by their astringency, create horrour; that is, stimulate the fibres. Id. Astringent medicines are binding, which act by the asperity of their particles; whereby they corrugate the membranes, and make them draw up closer. Quincy. ASTRICTION, in law. See THIRLAGE, ASTRICTION, in medicines, the operation of astringent medicines. ASTRICUS LAPIS, in natural history, a kind of figured stone, broken or cut from the enastros, after the same manner as the trochita, from the entrochi. Sir John Maundeville. Liv'd Tycho now, struck with this ray which shone More bright i' the morn, than others beam at noon, He'd take his astrolabe, and seek out here What new star 'twas did gild our hemisphere. Dryden. On the Death of Lord Hastings, ASTROLABE, among the ancients, was the same as our armillary sphere. ASTROLABE, among the moderns, is used for a planisphere, or a stereographic projection of the sphere, either upon the plane of the equator, the eye being supposed to be in the pole of the world, or upon the plane of the meridian, at the time the eye is supposed in the point of the intersection of the equinoctial and horizon. Not unlike that, which astrologers call a conjunction of planets, of no very benign aspect the one to the other. Wotton. Some seem a little astrological; as, when they warn us from places of malign influence. Id. No astrologick wizard honour gains, Dryden. A happy genius is the gift of nature: it depends on the influence of the stars, say the astrologers; on the organs of the body, say the naturalists; it is the particular gift of heaven, say the divines, both Christians and heathens. Id. Pope Astrologers, that future fates foreshew. I never heard a finer satire against lawyers, than that of astrologers; when they pretend, by rules of art, to tell when a suit will end, and whether to the advantage of the plaintiff or defendant. Swift. I know, the learned think of the art of astrology, that the stars do not force the actions or wills of men. Id. Arabs we owe it. At Rome the people were so infatuated with it, that the astrologers, or, as they were then called, the mathematicians, maintained their ground notwithstanding the edicts of the emperors to expel them out of the city. Domitian, in spite of his hostility to this art, trembled at its denouncements. They prophesied Astrological prayers seem to me, to be built on as the Stillingfleet. year, good reason, as the predictions. the hour, and the manner of his death; The poetical fables are more ancient than the and agreed with his father in foretelling, that he astrological influences; that were not known to the should perish, not by poison, but by the dagger. Greeks, till after Alexander the Great. Bentley. On the evening of his assassination he spoke of The twelve houses of heaven, in the form which the entrance of the moon into Aquarius on the Camden. astrologians use. morrow. Aquarius,' he said, shall no longer be a watery, but a bloody sign; for a deed shall there be done, which shall be the talk of all mankind.' The dreaded hour of eleven approached. His attendants told him it was passed, and he admitted the conspirators and fell. Suet. in Domit. 16. ASTROLOGY; from asno, a star, and λoyos, discourse; was long considered as a science, by which future events could be foretold, from the aspects and positions of the heavenly bodies. In the literal sense of the term, astrology should signify no more than the doctrine or science of the stars; which was its original acceptation, and made the ancient astrology; though, in course of time, an alteration has arisen: that which the ancients called astrology, being afterwards termed astronomy. Astrology may be divided into two branches, natural and judicial. ASTROLOGY, JUDICIAL OF JUDICIARY, is what we commonly call simple astrology, that which pretends to foretel moral events, i. e. such as have a dependence on the free will and agency of man; as if they were directed by the stars. This art, which owed its origin to the practices of knavery on credulity, is now universally exploded by the intelligent part of mankind. The professors of this kind of astrology maintain, That the heavens are one great volume or book, wherein God has written the history of the world; and in which every man may read his own fortune, and the transactions of his time.-The art, they say, had its rise with the science of astronomy. While the ancient Assyrians, whose serene unclouded sky favored their celestial observations, were intent on tracing the paths and periods of the heavenly bodies, they discovered a constant settled relation of analogy between them and things below; and hence were led to conclude these to be the parca, the destinies, so much talked of, which preside at our births, and dispose of our future fate. The laws therefore of this relation being ascertained by a series of observations, and the share each planet has therein; by knowing the precise time of any person's nativity, they were enabled, from their knowledge in astronomy, to erect a scheme or horoscope of the situations of the planets, at that point of time; and hence, by considering their degrees of power and influence, and how each was either strengthened or tempered by some other, to compute what must be the result.' Such are the arguments of the astrologers in favor of their science. The chief province now remaining to the professors of this art, is the making of calendars or Almanacks; and the prodigious sale of Moore's almanack, in this country, is no small proof of the popular belief in this subject. Judicial astrology is commonly said to have been invented in Chaldea, and thence transmitted to the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; though some will have it of Egyptian origin, and ascribe the invention to Ham. But it is to the The Brahmins, who introduced and practised this art among the Indians, have hereby made themselves the arbiters of good and evil hours, which gives them great authority; they are consulted as oracles; and have taken care never to sell their answers but at good rates. The same superstition has prevailed in more modern ages and nations. The French historians remark, that in the time of Catherine de Medicis, astrology was so much in vogue, that the most inconsiderable thing was not to be done without consulting the stars. And in the reign of king Henry III. and IV. of France, the predictions of astrologers were the common theme of the court conversation. This predominant humor in that court was well rallied by Barclay, in his Argenis, on occasion of an astrologer, who had undertaken to instruct king Henry in the event of a war then threatened by the faction of the Guises. Little is known of the early history of astrology in England. Bede and Alcuin, among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, were addicted to its study; and Roger Bacon could not escape the imputation of the art. His imprisonment was owing, it is well known, to his being supposed skilful in it. But it was the period of the Stuarts which must be considered as the acme of astrology among us. Then Lilly drank the doctrine of the magical circle, and the invocation of spirits from the Ars Notoria of Cornelius Agrippa; used the form of prayer prescribed therein to the angel Salmoneus; and entertained among his familiar acquaintance the guardian spirits of England, Saminael and Malchidael. Merlin Anglicus, 1647. The author of Waverley has made ample use of this promising character in his tales relative to this period. The signs of astrology were primarily divided thus: the six first were called northern, and commanding; the six last southern, and obeying. Next they were distributed into four triplicities, (so called because three belonged to each), fiery, earthy, airy, and watery. Of these the fiery and airy were said to be masculine, the earthy and watery, feminine. The planets by their motion made several aspects. See ASPECTS. The remaining influential parts of the heaven were two, Dragon's Head and Tail, that, is the nodes in which the ecliptic is intersected by the orbits of the planets; and the Part of For tane, that is the distance of the moon's plane from the sun, added to the degrees of the ascendant. The influences of the heavenly bodies being determined, it remained only, in each separate case, to observe their positions at some required moment; for upon this, and their aspect to each other, the resolution of any question depended. For this purpose the whole circle of the heavens was distributed into twelve parts or houses, by great circles drawn through the intersection of the horizon and meridian, and cutting the equator in so many equal parts. The first house was placed directly east, and the remainder were counted round in order proceeding to the south according to the motion of the planets. To each of these houses was assigned some peculiar government, according to the scheme below. The remainder of the art consisted in accurately filling the scheme by an observation, and then framing from it an oracular response. At the revolution astrology declined; and notwithstanding the labors of the immortal Partridge then, and those of Ebenezer Sibley, which in our own days fill two 4to. volumes, the art may now be considered as exploded. ASTROLOGY, NATURAL, is the predicting of natural effects from natural causes; as, the changes of weather, winds, storms, hurricanes, thunder, floods, earthquakes, &c. This art properly belongs to physiology, or natural philosophy; and is only to be deduced a posteriori, from phenomena and observations. ASTROLOMA, in botany; from aspov, a star, and Awua, a fringe, alluding to the five tufts of hair which form a star, near the bottom of the tube of the flower, internally. Brown Prodr. Nov. Holl. v. i. 538. Class and order, pentandria monogynia. Nat. ord. Erica Juss. Epacridea, brown. Gen. ch. CAL. perianth inferior, permanent, double: inner of five elliptic-lanceolate, acute, equal, erect leaves; outer of four or more, much shorter, concave, imbricated scales: COR. of one petal, tubular; tube twice the length of the calyx, inflated, furnished on the inside, near the base, with five tufts of soft hairs; limb in five deep, spreading, lanceolate, acute, hairy segments, shorter than the tube. Nectary a cup-shaped undivided gland, surrounding the base of the germen: STAM. filaments five, linear, inserted into the tube, and enclosed within it; anthers oblong, in the mouth of the tube: PIST. Germen superior, roundish, of five cells; style capillary, the length of the tube; stigma 'globose, densely downy :' PERIC. drupa globular, slightly juicy: SEED, nut of five cells, hard and solid, not bursting, with a pendulous oblong kernel in each cell. Ess. ch.: outer calyx of several imbricated leaves: corolla tubular: tube swelling, twice as long as the calyx, with five internal tufts of hair at the base: tube shorter, spreading, bearded: filaments linear, within the tube: drupa almost dry, of five cells. This genus is closely related to stenanthera, as well as to melichrus. We might perhaps unite them all to styphelia. Astroloma consists of shrubs, of humble stature, for the most part decumbent: leaves scattered, often ciliated: flowers axillary, erect. There are six species: 1. A. humifusum, diffuse astroloma; stem prostrate, much branched. Found in various parts of New Holland, on the south-west coast, as well as at Port Jackson and in Van Diemen's island. The remaining five species have all been found in the southern part of New Holland, by Mr. Brown, and apparently by no other botanist. We give their names from his work: 2. A. prostratum, prostrate astroloma; 3. A. denticulatum, toothed astroloma; 4. A. pallidum, pale astroloma; 5. A. compactum, compact astroloma; 6. A. tectum, upright astroloma. ASTROLUS, in natural history, a name given by authors to a white and splendid stone, small in size, and of a roundish figure, resembling the eyes of fishes. ASTROMETEOROLOGIA, the art of foretelling the weather, and its changes, from the aspects and configurations of the moon and planets. It is a species of astrology, sometimes called meteorological astrology. ASTRONIUM, in botany, a genus of the pentandria order, and the diccia class of plants. The male calyx consists of five leaves, and the corolla is quinquepetalous. Of the female the calyx and corolla are the same as in the male; the styli are three, and the seed is single. There is but one species, viz. A. graveolens, a native of Jamaica. ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR, an instrument engraved on copper plates, printed on paper, and pasted on a board, with a brass slider carrying a hair: it shows by inspection the sun's meridian altitude, right ascension, declination, rising, setting, amplitude, &c. to a greater degree of exactness than the common globes. ASTRONOMICAL PLACE of a star, or planet, is its longitude, or place in the ecliptic, reckoned from the beginning of Aries in consequentia, or according to the natural order of the signs. ASTRONOMICALS, a name used by some writers for sexagesimal fractions; on account of their use in astronomical calculations. ASTRONOMY, ASTRO NOMICK, ASTRONOMICAL, ASTRONO MICALLY, ASTRONOMER, ASTRON OMIZE. 90 ASTRONOMY. From aσrno, a star, and νομος, a law. SECT. I. ETYMOLOGY AND DEFINITION OF ASTRONOMY. 1. ASTRONOMY, a mixed mathematical science, teaching the knowledge of the celestial bodies; their magnitudes, distances, motions, revolutions, and eclipses: and it comprehends also a knowledge of the natural causes on which all celestial phenomena depend. Hence it is as much a branch of physics as of mathematics, and comprehends the theory of the universe. SECT. II. HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY. 2. As Astronomy is the most sublime of all the sciences, so it is also the most useful, the most ancient, and, we may add, the most perfect. How can it be otherwise than sublime, when its object is the study of that theatre which our merciful Creator has vouchsafed to establish as an unerring testimony of his existence and his power. Wherever we turn we perceive immensity of operation, guided by the strictest regularity. We find revolutions, intricate and complex, but resolving themselves, by laws irrevocably fixed, into paths the most simple, and the most capable of suffering an increase of numbers without confusion. In another point of view it is sublime: the contemplation of its discoveries and its usefulness would convince the dreary-minded bigot, who sneers at human reason and its efforts, of the amazing extent to which that noblest gift of God to man can be extended. Astronomy is the proudest triumph of philosophy and of human reason. Its superior usefulness when compared with the other sciences can never be opposed: by it the navigator is conducted through unknown seas with safety; and the merchant transports the produce or the surplus of one nation to increase the comforts or relieve the wants of another; in short, it affords the means of intercourse to all the inhabitants of the globe. If, from the folly of mankind, it has sometimes been compelled to effect the transportation of animosity and destruction, it has more frequently assisted the dissemination of arts, civilisation, and happiness. That it is the oldest science we shall more clearly ascertain when we trace, as we shall soon do, its history through the most ancient, and its improvements through the most modern, nations. If then astronomy is possessed of the highest antiquity, the greatest usefulness, and the utmost sublimity, it is an object of the most transcendant worth that can occupy the attention of the human mind. 3. None of the sciences appear to be of higher antiquity than astronomy. From the account given by Moses of the creation of the celestial luminaries, it appears extremely probable that our first progenitor received some knowledge of their nature and uses from his Almighty Creator himself. The Jewish rabbins have adopted this opinion: and, indeed, it is natural to think that no visible objects would worthy of the contemplation of Adam in a state more readily excite the curiosity, or appear more of innocence, than the celestial bodies. 4. Consistently with this, Josephus ascribes to Seth and his posterity a considerable degree of astronomical knowledge. He speaks of two pillars, the one of stone and the other of brick, called the pillars of Seth, upon which were engraved the principles of the science; and he says that the former was still entire in his time. But, be this as it may, it is evident that the great length of the antediluvian lives would afford such excellent opportunities for observing the heavenly bodies, that we cannot but suppose that the science of astronomy must have been considerably advanced before the flood. phus says, that longevity was bestowed upon them for the very purpose of cultivating the sciences of geometry and astronomy; observing, that the latter could not be learned in less than 600 years; for that period (he adds) is the grand year.' Jose 5. By this remarkable expression is probably meant the period in which the sun and moon come again into the same situation in which they were at the beginning of it, with regard to the nodes, apogee of the moon, &c. This period (says Cassini), of which we find no intimation in any monument of any other nation, is the finest period that ever was invented; for it brings out the solar year more exactly than that of Hipparchus and Ptolemy; and the lunar month within about one minute of what is determined by modern astronomers.' If the antediluvians had such a period of 600 years they must have known the motions of the sun and moon more exactly than their descendants knew them for many ages after the flood. That r markable expression in the book of Job, in which 1 |