sea-biscuit bakers, and tallow-melters; or on chymists' laboratories; mills, or any other assurances more than ordinarily hazardous, by reason of the trade, nature of the goods, narrowness of the place, by the use of kilns or stoves in the process of any manufactory, or other dangerous circumstances, are made by special agreement, at a premium proportionate to the risk.

Assurances on building and goods are deemed distinct and separate adventures, so that the premium on goods is not advanced by reason of any assurance on the building wherein the goods are kept, nor the premium on the building by reason of ány assurance on the goods; and any number of dwelling-houses and out-houses, together with the goods therein, may be assured in one policy, provided the sum to be assured on each is particularly mentioned.

In 1782 a duty of 1s. 6d. was imposed on every 100l. assured from loss by fire, which was increased in 1797 to 28. per cent., and in 1804 to 2s. 6d. per cent., the annual duty now payable. From the produce of this duty, an estimate has been formed of the total amount of property assured from fire in Great Britain, which appears to have been nearly as follows:

In 1785............£ 125,000,000

In the year last mentioned there were 11 offices for assurance against fire in London, and 21 in other parts of Great Britain.

ASSURANCE on lives, secures a sum of money to be received on the extinction of any life in consideration of an annual premium paid to the assurer during the continuance of the life. Such assurances are made for a given term of years, or during the whole continuance of the life, or the joint continuance of two lives; and as they are of great utility to persons having life incomes or life estates, and as collateral securities in many cases for money borrowed, this species of assurance, as it has become more generally understood, has likewise greatly increased. In 1790 there were only three societies in London which made assurances on lives; in 1807 there were ten offices for transacting such business. These offices all require nearly the same annual premiums, of which the following are a secimen.

These rates are computed from the probabilities of life, according to the Northampton bills of mortality; the mode of calculating them is explained by Dr. Price in his Treatise on Reversionary Payments, and by Mr. Morgan in a very useful work entitled "The Doctrine of Annuities and Assurances on Lives and Survivorships stated and explained.”

Persons who are engaged in military or naval service, or who have not had the small-pox, or are subject to the gout, are charged an additional premium, supposed to be adequate to the additional risk.

Policies of assurance on lives generally contain clauses to the following effect.

Conditions of assurance made by persons on their own lives.-The assurance to be void if the person whose life is assured shall depart beyond the limits of Europe, shall die upon the seas (except in his Majesty's packets passing between Great Britain and Ireland); or shall enter into or engage in any military or naval service whatever, without the previous consent of the assurers; or shall die by suicide, duelling, or the hand of justice; or shall not be, at the time the assurance is made, in good health.

Conditions of assurance made by persons on the lives of others.-The assurance to be void if the person whose life is assured shall depart beyond the limits of Europe, shall die upon the seas (except in his Majesty's packets passing between Great Britain and Ireland); or shall enter into or engage in any military or naval service whatever, without the previous consent of the assurers; or shall not be, at the time the assurance is made, in good health.

Any person making an assurance on the life of another, must be interested therein, agreeable to Act of 14th of George III.

chap. 48, which prohibits wagering, or spe'culative insurances.

ASTER, in botany, starwort. Class, Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua. Gen. char. cal. common, imbricate, the inner scales prominent a little at the end, lower ones spreading; cor. compound, radiate; corollules hermaphrodite, numerous in the disk; females ligulate, more than 10 in the ray; proper of the hermaphrodite, funnel-shaped, with a five-cleft spreading border of the female ligulate, lanceolate, three-toothed, at length rolling back; stam. hermaphrodite; filaments five; capillary very short; anthers cylindric, tubulous; pist. germ oblong; style filiform, the length of the stamens; stigma bifid, spreading; females, germ and style the same; stigmas two, oblong revolute; per. none; calyx scarcely changed; seeds solitary, oblong, ovate; down capillary; rec. naked, flattish. The species from the Cape, together with those not producing seeds in England, are propagated by cuttings, any time during the summer. These should be planted in small pots filled with light earth, and plunged into an old hot-bed, where, if they are shaded from the sun, and gently watered, they will put out roots in six weeks, when they may be placed in the open air; and in about a month afterwards they should be separated, each in a small pot, and filled with light sandy earth. In October they must be removed into the green house, and placed where they may enjoy as much free air as possible; but be secured from frosts or damps; so that they are much easier preserved in a glass-case, where they will have more light and air than in a green-house; but they must not be placed in a stove, for artificial heat will soon destroy the plants. The North American species, which make at least three-fifths of the genus, together with the Alpine and Italian asters, are easily propagated by parting the roots in autumn; they are most of them hardy, and will thrive in almost any soil and situation; for these reasons, and because they adorn the latter season with the abundance and variety of their specious flowers, they are valuable plants, especially among shrubs, and in large ornamental plantations, properly mixed with golden rods, and other perennial, autumnal, hardy plants. The sorts most cultivated, are the grandiflorus, linifolius, linarifolius, tenuifolius, ericoides, dumosus, serotinus, alpinus, novæ angliæ, and puniceus or altissimus. Some of the

species prefer a shady situation and moist soil. They are apt to spread very much at the roots, so as to be troublesome, and the seeds of some are blown about and come up like weeds. The Italian starwort has not been so much cultivated in England, since the great variety of American species has been introduced, though it is by no means inferior to the best of them. It is propagated by parting the roots soon after the plant is out of flower. The roots should not be removed oftener than every third year. Catesby's starwort, not multiplying fast by its roots, may be propagated in plenty by cuttings from the young shoots in May, which, if planted in light earth, and shaded from the sun, will flower the same year. When the annual starwort is once introduced, the seeds will scatter, and the plants come up without care. The China aster, being an annual plant, is propagated by seeds, which must be sown in the spring, on a warm border, or rather on a gentle hot-bed, just to bring up the plants.

ASTERIAS, in natural history, starfish, a genus of worms, of the order Mollusca. Body depressed, covered with a coriaceous crust, muricate, with tentacula, and grooved beneath; mouth central, five-rayed. There are more than 40 species, all inhabitants of the sea, and are marked with a rough, white, stony spot above: they easily renew parts which have been lost by violence, and fix themselves to the bottom by swimming on the back and bending the rays. There are three divisions; viz. A. lunate; B. stellate; and C. radiate. A. pulvillus is lubricous, with an entire simple margin, and is found in the North seas; body above convex, covered with a smooth sanguineous skin, transversely striate, beset towards the margin with soft, obtuse, white spines about the size of a millet seed, and divided into 10 arcæ; the margin not articulate, but rough in the angles, with about 10 acute papillæ ; beneath concave, smooth, whitish, with a rosy tinge, and hollowed by five grooves, each side covered with horizontal batons : it tinges warm water with a tawny colour. A. caput medusæ has five divided and subdivided rays; the disk and rays granulate; mouth depressed. This is a most curious animal, and inhabits the northern seas: the five rays dividing into two smaller ones, and each of these dividing again into two others; which mode of regular subdivision is continued to a vast extent, gradually decreasing in size, till at length the ramifica

tions amount to many thousands, forming a beautiful net-work. Its colour is sometimes pale or reddish white, sometimes brown. ASTERISM, in astronomy, the same with constellation. See CONSTELLATION. ASTEROIDS, in astronomy, a name given by Dr. Herschell to the new planets, Ceres, Juno, Pallas, and Vesta, lately discovered; and which he defines as celestial bodies, which move in orbits either of little or of considerable eccentricity round the sun, the plane of which may be inclined to the ecliptic in any angle whatsoever. This motion may be direct or retrograde; and they may or may not have considerable atmospheres, very small comas, disks, or nuclei. According to the definitions which he premises, planets are celestial bodies of a considerable size and small eccentricity of orbit, moving in planes that do not deviate many degrees from that of the earth, in a direct course, and in orbits at considerable distances from each other, with atmospheres of considerable extent; but bearing hardly any sensible proportion to their diameters, and having satellites or rings: and comets are very small celestial bodies, moving in directions wholly undetermined, and in very eccentric or apparently parabolic orbits, situated in every variety of position, and having very extensive atmospheres. Dr. Herschell having compared the newly discovered stars by the criteria introduced in the above definitions, maintains, that they differ in so many respects from both planets and comets, as to warrant his not referring them to either of these two classes.

ASTHMA, in medicine, a painful, difficult, and laborious respiration. See MEDI

CINE.

ASTRÆEA, in astronomy, the same with Virgo. See VIRGO.

ASTRAGAL, in architecture, a little round moulding, in form of a ring, serving as an ornament at the tops and bottoms of columns. See ARCHITECTURE.

ASTRAGAL, in gunnery, a round moulding encompassing a cannon, about half a foot from its mouth.

ASTRAGALUS, milk-vetch, in botany, a genus of the Diadelphia Decandria class of plants, with a papilionaceous flower, and bilocular-podded fruit, containing kidneylike seeds. There are upwards of 60 species; all of which may be raised from seeds. They are in general hardy, and require no

other care, but to draw the plants out when they come up too thick, leaving them at least eighteen inches asunder.

ASTRAGALUS, in anatomy, called also the talus, is the superior and first bone of the foot, according to its natural situation and connection with the leg, being articulated with the tibia and fibula, and with the calcaneum; having its head formed for the articulation with the os naviculare.

ASTRAL, something belonging to, or connected with the stars: thus, astral year is the same with siderial year.

ASTRANTIA, black master-wort, in botany, a genus of umbelliferous plants, belonging to the Pentandria Digynia class of Linnæus, the flower of which is rosaceous, and collected into a sort of head; and its fruit is oval, obtuse, coronated, and striated.

ASTROLABE, an instrument for taking the altitude of the sun or stars at sea, being a large brass ring, the limb of which, or a convenient part thereof, is divided into degrees and minutes, with a moveable index, which turns upon the centre, and turns two sights: at the zenith is a ring to hang it by in time of observation, when you need only turn the index to the sun, that the rays may pass freely through both sights, and the edge of the index cuts the altitude upon the divided limb. This instrument, though not much in use now, if well made, and of great weight, that it may hang the steadier, is as good as most instruments that are used at sea for taking altitudes, especially between the tropics, when the sun comes near the zenith, and in calm weather.

ASTROLOGY, a conjectural and truly absurd science, which teaches to judge of the effects and influences of the stars, and to foretel future events by the situation and different aspects of the heavenly bodies. It may be divided into two branches, natural and judiciary; the former being the prediction of natural effects, as the changes of weather, winds, storms, hurricanes, thunder, floods, earthquakes, &c. and the latter, that which pretends to foretel moral events, or such as have a dependance on the freedom of the will.

ASTRONIUM, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Pentandria class and order of plants. The essential character is, male, calyx five-leaved; corol five-petalled. Female, calyx five-leaved; corol five-petalled; styles three, and one seed. There is but one species, the A. graveolens, an upright

tree, from 12 to 30 feet in height, abound ing every where in a slightly glutinous terebinthine juice. After the fruits in the female, and the flowers in the male plant have fallen off, new branches are put forth. The flowers are small and red, the calyxes are expanded into stars, nearly an inch in diameter. It is native in the woods about Carthagena in New Spain.

ASTRONOMY is the science which treats of the motions, periods, eclipses, magnitudes, &c. of the heavenly bodies, of the laws by which these are regulated, and of the causes on which they depend. It is unquestionably the most sublime of all the sciences. No subject has been longer or more successfully studied. Although it may be interesting to take a brief sketch of the history of this science, yet there can be no comparison drawn between the wide observations of the earlier observers, and the precision and general views of modern astronomers. To ascertain the real motions of the heavenly bodies was a difficult task, and required the united observations of many ages. To ascertain the laws and causes of these motions, demanded the exertions of powers almost beyond the reach of the human faculties. This has however been accomplished, and it has been demonstrated that the most minute movements of the heavenly bodies depend upon the same general law with the rest, and to be the consequence of it. Astronomy has therefore been highly regarded, as exhibiting one of the most remarkable instances of the extent and powers of the reasoning faculties. It has moreover conferred upon mankind the greatest benefits, in many respects, as will be shewn in the course of the present work, and may be properly considered as the teacher and guide of the art of navigation.

The early history of astronomy admits of no regular elucidation. It is probable that some knowledge of the kind must have been nearly coeval with the human race, as well from motives of curiosity, as from the connection which it has with the common concerns of life. Traces of it have accordingly been found among various nations remote from each other, which shew that the most remarkable phenomena must have been observed, and a knowledge of them disseminated at a very remote period. But in what age or country the science first originated, or by whom it was in those early times methodized and improved, is not now known. Such, however, as wish

for every information that the subject ad mits of, we refer to the learned and very elaborate history of ancient and modern astronomy, by M. Bailly, a man of the highest reputation in the scientific world, and who was basely and cruelly murdered in the zenith of his celebrity, by the bloodthirsty Robespierre, whose savage ambition was to efface from the earth every thing great, virtuous, and excellent.

M. Bailly endeavours to trace the origin of astronomy among the Chaldeans, Egyptians, Persians, Indians, and Chinese, to a very early period. From the researches which he has made on this subject, he is led to conclude that the knowledge common to the whole of those nations has been derived from the same original source; namely, a most ancient and highly cultivated people of Asia, of whose memory every trace is now extinct; but who have been the parent instructors of all around them. The situation of this ancient people he conjectures to have been in Siberia about the 50th degree of north latitude. Among various other coincidences, he observes, that many of the European and Asiatic nations attribute their origin to that quarter, where the civil and religious rites, common to each, were probably first formed.

Without going farther back, we may observe, that the Egyptians were early culti vators of this science, and that among the Greeks, Thales, who travelled into Egypt, and who was the founder of the Ionian sect, appears to have been the first who taught his countrymen the globular figure of the earth, the obliquity of the ecliptic, and the causes of solar and lunar eclipses; which latter phænomena he is also said to have been able to predict. Thales had for his successors Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Anaxagoras, to the first of whom is attributed the invention of the gnomon, and geographical charts; but for which he was probably indebted to the Egyptians. He is also said to have maintained that the sun was a mass of fire as large as the earth, which, though far below the truth with respect to size, was an opinion, for those early times, that does its author much credit, though to him, as in the case of Galileo, the truths he had discovered were the cause of persecution. Both himself and his children were proscribed by the Athenians, for his attempting to subject the works of the gods to immutable laws; and his life would have paid the sacrifice of his temerity, but for the care of Pericles, his friend and dis