subordinate to one of the males as their leader. When attacked by wolves or other wild beasts, they collect into a body, and repel the attack of the enemy with their heels. The whole number of domesticated animals in the province has been estimated by a recent writer at 4,000,000 sheep, 1,000,000 horses, 500,000 camels, and 200,000 horned cattle. The population of Astrakhan is composed of a motley group of Russians, Cossacks, Tartars, Kalmucks, Armenians, Indians, and other settlers from various parts of Europe and Asia, whom the highest estimate does not state as exceeding 225,000 individuals, and the lowest, which, as it is made on native authority, is probably nearest to the fact, sets down at 80,000. Nearly one-half of this population would appear to consist of Kalmucks, who occupy large tracts to the east of the Volga; the number of their kibitkes, or tents, being computed at 13,100. Another considerable portion of the population is composed of the Cossacks of the Ural, who are esteemed the finest, the wealthiest, and the bravest Cossack corps in the Russian service, whence they have acquired the appellation of the Eye of the Army, and garrison the small forts along the line of their native river; some have estimated the number of their fightingmen at 20,000, but this would give an amount of population to this single race of Astrakhanese, which would far exceed any estimate yet formed of their numbers. Independently of these, there are a few colonies of Tartars of Kasan extraction, about 1600 yurtas or tents of Nomadic Kunduroff-Tartars, or Manguttes, descendants of the Nogay horde, who lead a wandering life in the regions of the Lower Akhtuba; and, as some writers report, 12,000 kibitkes of Bukay-Tartars, who settled in the districts between the Volga and the Lesser Uzeen about thirty years ago, and made an attempt to remove to the steppes east of the Ural in the year 1829, but were forced back by superior force. To the principal branches of industry already enumerated we may add the manufacturing of magnesia, tallow, and soap, in considerable quantities, distilleries of brandy and spirits, some large leather, and a few silk and cotton, manufactories. Astrakhan soap is in much request among the Russians on account of its firm substance and fragrant scent. The Volga, which secures a ready access to the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea, has hitherto rendered the capital of this province the principal seat of the traffic carried on between Asia and the Russian dominions. Astrakhan is politically divided into four circles: Astrakhan, Krasno-yarsk, Yenotayewsk, and Tsherno-yarsk; but there are no spots in it deserving of any distinct notice excepting the capital, from which the whole province derives its name, and Uralskoi, the chief town of the Cossacks of the Ural. Of the remainder, the short account which follows will convey a sufficient idea. At a distance of somewhat less than five miles above the city of Astrakhan, we find Kalmüzkoi-Basar, a place on the right bank of the Volga, in which all sale and barter between the townsmen and the wandering people of the steppes is carried on. In the marketplace stands the Russian, with his brandy, bread, and coarse household stuff; the Armenian with his wine and inferior stuffs for clothing; the Tartar, in quest of sheep for the Astrakhan market; and the Circassian, hard at work in making ironware and leather articles. Here the Kalmuck also resorts with his supply of domestic manufactures, cattle, and felt. These sons of the steppe are seldom a match for their customers,' says Potocki. Here you may see Tartars from Kuma, Kuban, and the Five Mountains; Truchmens, Nogays, Kiptshaks, and Cossacks from the Jaik; but, above all, it was this traveller's fortune to meet a Kirghisian embassy in the Bazar, who had but little of the air of diplomatists about them.' About nineteen miles to the north-east of Astrakhan lies 'Krasnoi-yar, the capital of the circle of that name; a small town of about 2000 inhabitants, with two churches, built on an island formed by the Algara, the Akhtuba, and Basan, three arms of the Volga, and surrounded by dilapidated walls with wooden towers, which were constructed by the Tzar Alexis Michailovitsh to protect the town against the incursions of the Cossacks and Kalmucks. The inhabitants live comfortably upon the produce of their fishery, and of their gardens, orchards, and vineyards, which are situated on each side of the hills, east of the town. It is celebrated for its asparagus, the eatable stem of which is above twenty inches in length.-Yenotayewsk, another capital of a circle, situated on the steep right bank of the Volga, is the seat of a tribunal, which has jurisdiction over the 4900 kibitkes of Kalmucks who pass the winter in its vicinity: it is a circle of houses, built round a smali fortress, and inhabited by Cossacks and traders.-Tshernoyar, also the capital of the circle in which it lies, and a well-fortified town, is likewise on the right bank of the Volga, about 150 miles north-west of Astrakhan. It consists of 300 houses, is built in the shape of a polygon, with five entire and two semi-bastions, has a stone charch embellished with two towers, having gilt cupolas, is an opulent place, and contains between 1500 and 2000 msbitants. The circle of Krasno-yarsk comprehends the tract of country which lies along the course of the Ural, and is inhabited by the Cossacks who take their name from that river. At its influx into the Caspian stands the smal but strong fortress of Guri-Gorodok, built upon an island, thirteen miles up the river and 500 south-west of Orenburg, under the government of which province it was placed in 1733. The inundations, which cover the whole face of the island in the spring, render it in the highest degree unhealthy: it is consequently inhabited by few individuals besides those composing a regiment of Cossacks and a company of infantry. A redoubt, called the Guriewskoi-Redout, lies about twelve miles farther up the river. Along the line of the Ural are numerous Watagys, or fishing villages, erected for the fishermen of the crown, containing dwellings, storehouses, workshops, rope and net yards, every convenience for boiling down oil and making caviar, and even cellars for ice, which is used for keeping the fish fresh. (Georgi, Pallas, Gamba, Potocki, Sommer, Stein, &c.) ASTRAKHAN (city). The present capital of the government of this name is about six miles higher up the Volga, as some maintain, than the Astrakhan, or rather Adshotarkhan, which was the metropolis of the antient kingdom, and, according to Forster, was demolished, together with Sarai, its neighbour (the urbs magna, sedes regia Tartarorum' of Abulfeda), by Timour in the winter of 1395. Other writers however are of opinion that the antient capital stood between the banks of the Akhtul a and the Volga, forty-six miles higher than the present city, on a spot which was occupied by a manufactory of saltpetre some years ago. Both of these conjectures rest on plausible grounds, for both sites contain the remains of extensive buildings; and each of these masses of ruins has contributed large portions of the stone with which the pubbe edifices in the modern capital are constructed. Astrakhan, which is become the principal seat of Russian intercourse with Asia and the storehouse of fish for the whole empire, stands on the island of Zaietchy Bugor, or the Hares Mound,' which lies between the small river Kutum and the Volga, about thirty miles from its mouth, and 820 miles south-east of Moscow. It has a navigable communication also with St. Petersburg, from which it is upwards of 1200 miles distant; yet its importance must always remain of a limited character. Astrakhan ranks however as the eighth town in the Russian dominions; its stationary population being about 40,000, and its whole circumference rather more than three miles. The uneven ground on which it stands, its half-decayed battlements, and a multitude of steeples, minarets, and cupolas, give it a handsome appearance at a distance; and the effert is heightened by contrast with the flat marshy ground which surrounds it. The climate of such a site cannot rank among the healthiest; and it is liable, moreover, to very sudden changes of temperature: yet, as the average population throughout the year, including the thousands who resort to the spot in the fishing seasons, cannot be under 50,000, and the average deaths do not, according to Gamla. exceed 1400, the mortality, which amounts to 1 individual in about 36, is not much greater than that for all Russ 2 which amounts to 1 in 38; or even for France, where Bickes estimates it at 1 in 39. A long canal traverses Astrakhan from east to west, the direction of its greatest length. The town is irregularly built, and the houses present a singular medley of European and Asiatic taste; they are constructed principally of wood, and are in number between 4000 and 4200. Astrakhan is the seat of an Armenian as weil as Greek archbishopric, under the former of whom there are four, and under the latter twenty-five, churches; besides these, the Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Hindoos, have each their separate place of worship, and the Mohammedans which is double the number which the town contained at the close of th In 1997 Weydemeyer stated the number of inhabitants to be TO, century, when Georgi says the official return reported it to be only 18,0 Occu have nineteen mescheds or mosques. There is a Scotch mis- a small part of the face. The Georgians of Astrakhan are sion too in the town, which, Keppel tells us, is a branch of a mostly mechanics, and the better class of them are very colony at Karass in Circassia or Cabardia, whose affairs are cleanly, and show much taste in their household arrange managed by their own laws, except in criminal cases; they ments. As temporary residents only we may include the dealare at liberty to make converts of Mohammedans or ers who visit Astrakhan from China and Bucharia; the Kalheathens; pay no taxes but about five kopecks (one half-muck, too, is accounted a stranger, although he has penny) for each acre of arable land, and are authorized to his wooden hut or felt tent permanently standing in the purchase Russian or Georgian slaves, provided they eman- outskirts of the town. Fishing is his constant cipate them at the end of five years. Independently of an pation. The Hindoo population, though on the increase, academy for marine cadets and a Greek seminary for eccle- does not exceed three or four hundred: most of this race siastics, there are a high-school, a district grammar-school, are natives of Multan and Lahore, and they bear the reand four inferior schools in the town for the education of putation of living but for the gratification of two masnative-born subjects: two printing-houses (a Russian and ter-passions-love of flowers and love of money. Their an Armenian) are sufficient to supply its present wants. stores in the Indian bazaar have, each of them, a flower-bed The chief architectural ornaments of Astrakhan are the in front; and they are never without a nosegay between Kreml or citadel, which contains the cathedral and their fingers, which goes the round of every customer's nose. barracks; the new or white town, so called from its Their business is to lend money on as usurious terms as being embellished with the principal government buildings possible, and their accumulations being seconded by the and the three factory halls, one for the use of the Russian, utmost simplicity and parsimony in their mode of living, another for the Asiatic, and a third for the Hindoo dealers; they rise quickly into affluence. We need only allude to the beautiful street inhabited by the Persian merchants, on the European residents as a motley assemblage of traders, each side of which runs an arcade, supported by handsome artizans, teachers, government officers, and artists from columns; and the cathedral, which was erected in 1696, and, north, south, east, and west. like most ecclesiastical edifices in Russia, consists of a massive parallelogram with four small cupolas on the roof, and a large one in the centre, from which the building receives its light. The interior is splendidly though not very tastefully decorated; but it is prized among the followers of the Greek faith principally on account of its holy treasures-an effigy of the Virgin Mary, whose paraphernalia are said to have cost 8007.; six valuable mitres inlaid with pearls and precious stones of extraordinary size; a baptismal font of massive silver, ninety-eight pounds in weight; and some fifty or more splendid attires for the celebration of the mass, one of which has been four centuries in use. The Jesuits' and Greek-Armenian churches are also handsome structures; but the most singular building is a beautiful mesched of free-stone, lately erected by a wealthy private individual, which differs in every respect from the usual form of Mohammedan mosques, and resembles the Christian churches of the East in shape. The Kreml is an antient Tartar fortress, surrounded by stone walls and battlements eighteen feet high. The remainder of the town comprises sixteen' slobods or suburbs, beyond which the progress of modern improvement has transformed moor and swamp into places of public resort and agreeable promenades. Warazi, a Greek of large property, has been the great reformer of Astrakhan in every thing concerning the improvements outside of the town; which are not only extensive, but judiciously planned and executed. It has been calculated that, in the fishing season, the population of Astrakhan is increased by at least 30,000 souls; a motley concourse, collected from almost every quarter of Asia and Europe, of whom nearly one-third are Russians. The latter, with the exception of a few noblemen, and the military and civilians, are exclusively traders, and many of them in affluent circumstances. You cannot form an idea,' says Gamba, who visited Astrakhan in 1820, of the throng of splendid equipages which make their appearance on festive occasions, particularly at Easter. The dress of the women is of the most sumptuous description at these seasons: they are attired in a robe of gold or silver tissue; and the head, arms, neck, and waist, are covered with pearls and precious stones.' The Russian of Astrakhan has, however, adhered in general to his old customs and predilections; he remains no less an enemy than ever to a shaven chin and the fumes of tobacco, or any other innovation: he has continued stationary in taste, and in intellect too, if it be true, as Erdmann reports, that his only resource, when in society, is eating, drinking, and cardplaying. The Tartar inhabitants of the town are stated by Gamba at 10,000; they are of three distinct races, the Ghilan (of Western Persia), Bucharian, and Agriskhan (or ⚫ mixed race,' being the issue of Hindoos settled in Astrakhan and Tartar women), each of whom occupy a separate division of the Tartar slobod. These settlers are highly commended by the same writer for their unswerving integrity. The Armenians are among the richest traders in the town: a considerable proportion of them have laid aside their robes, caftans, broad trowsers, small boots, and high fur caps, and adopted the European costume; but their wives and daughters still move about, covered from head to foot with an enormous white veil, which conceals the whole person except No. 132. The establishments for weaving silks and cottons at Astrakhan are nearly one hundred in number; it manufactures also considerable quantities of leather, particularly a superior description of morocco and shagreen, as well as tallow and soap. The numerous gardens in the town and its environs produce, by means of irrigation, several fine species of fruit, especially grapes, of which above a dozen sorts are frequently seen in a single ground: these are dried, and form a considerable article of export to the interior of Russia. In all respects, this place has long held the same station with regard to the trade of the south, which St. Petersburg, Riga, and Archangel occupy with regard to that of the north, of Russia: but its commerce is greatly on the decline, for in 1824 it employed between four and five hundred vessels of all sizes, which landed merchandise in the town to the amount of 340,0007. (7,449,615 roubles), and took on board wares in return to the value of 310,000l. (6,955,535 ro.), whereas, in 1832, the importations did not exceed 20,7007. (452,317 ro.), nor the exportations 41,800l. (913,029 ro.) in value. In the latter of these years, however, the trade of Astrakhan was much crippled by the combined effects of the cholera and the disturbances which broke out in Daghestan. The business of buying and selling, more than one-half of which has been engrossed by the Armenians, is conducted in twenty-eight khans or bazaars, which contain 1500 stores built of stone, and 560 wooden stalls. Raw silk and silk goods, cotton and cotton-yarn, drugs, dye-stuffs, carpets, oil, rice, and other eastern productions, form the chief importations: the exportations are principally woollen cloth, linens, cochineal, velvet, iron, salt, fruits, fish, wine, liquorice, soda, hides, skins, and grain. In speaking of the province itself, we mentioned the great fisheries carried on in the Caspian and along the Volga. The fisheries of the Volga centre principally at Astrakhan, or rather on the branches of the river some distance below it. Every wear has its group of huts, with a little church attached to it, in which from two to three score fishermen reside; they are divided into divers, catchers, salting-men, and makers of caviar and singlass. Each little colony is provided with spacious ice-cellars, which contain compartments for storing away the fish when salted, with intervals between the compartments which are filled with ice. The spring fishery opens with the spawning season, when the ice breaks up, and the fish enter the river from the Caspian; they are preceded by innumerable shoals of small fry, some descriptions of which, particularly the obla, are caught and used as bait for the larger species which succeed them, such as the sevrouga, sturgeon, and bidonga. The fishing season, both on the Volga and Caspian, closes about the middle of May, when the fishermen return for a time to Astrakhan, and sell their stock. The fish move out of the Volga in the autumn; and this is a signal for the men to recommence their operations, which are prolonged to the depth of winter; the fish being frozen at this season when they are brought to land, are more easily preserved. Prince Kourakhin is the proprietor of the fisheries at the mouth of the river and within the territory of the town of Astrakhan, but he has gratuitously given the right of fishing to the citizens; and this is no inconsiderable donation, for there have been years in which he has ceded his entire right for 40,000l. Many of the Astrakhan dealers also send out parties in spring and autumn to take the seals along the shores of the Caspian islands, where they are flayed and salted, and forwarded to Astrakhan for the sake of their skins and the oil extracted from the carcass. Besides the ruins of Adshotarkhan, to which we have already referred, vestiges of Tartar dominion in former ages lie scattered in various directions over the steppes which surround Astrakhan. The greater part of them are sepulchral mounds, here and there distinguished by uncouth figures, carved in stone: their features and attire obviously stamp them of Mongolian origin. There is probably no monument of this description more curious than the sepulchral mound near Prishibinskoi, a village on the Akhtuba. It is raised on a quadrangular substructure of earth, and consists of six flat vaults abutting one against another, the whole being about 900 feet in circuit and 18 feet in height. The mortar with which the walls are cemented has become as solid as the hardest stone, and resists the impression of the strongest instruments. It would seem, from the vessels and ornaments which have been found within it, that this structure was formerly a place of interment for some princely family. Astrakhan has a dockyard and arsenal, and is the port of rendezvous for the Russian ships of war which cruize in the Caspian. It is in 46° 21' N. lat., and 47° 55' E. long. ASTRINGENTS (from astringo, to constringe, or bring closer together), are agents which contract the fibres of the muscles and blood-vessels, and lessen the flow of fluids, whether it be the secretions of the glands proceeding from their natural orifices in excessive quantity, or the contents of the blood-vessels escaping by their exhalant extremities, or by an unnatural opening (or rupture). They produce this effect, generally by a vital, but sometimes by a chemical action. Their power is manifested first, and often solely, on the part to which they are applied; yet in many instances it is extended by sympathy very rapidly over the whole body, as is observed when the acerb juice of the sloe is brought in contact with the tongue. The sensation then experienced may be considered the best general test of the presence of astringency, which cannot be ascribed to any one principle, but is owing to tannin, gallic acid, and hæmatine, in vegetable astringents, and is possessed by acids, and many metallic salts among mineral agents; and is also one of the effects of the application of cold to the body. In vegetables, the astringent principles are found chiefly in the bark (as oak), the root (as rhatany and tormentil), and the wood (as logwood). As wood and bark form parts of exogenous trees only, it is only from this section of the vegetable kingdom that any astringent principles can be obtained. [See explanation of the term exogenous, under the article AGE OF TREES, vol. i. p. 202.] Sir Humphry Davy found that the inner layer of the bark possessed the greatest quantity of the astringent principle: this is the natural consequence of the mode in which the sap descends from the leaves, viz., through this inner layer of bark, whence it occasionally passes into the wood, which will then be found to possess principles similar to those of the bark. Most astringent vegetables are red, owing to the presence of an acid in excess- which is often manifest to the taste, as in rumex, or sorrel. In metallic astringents, when super-salts, the excess of acid, is also very perceptible to the taste, as in alum, which is a supersulphate of alumina and potassa. The particular principle to which any substance is indebted for its astringent power may be ascertained by appropriate tests. phate is the ordinary test. Hæmatine exists in logwood, along with tannin and extractive. It may be known by combining with oxide of lead without undergoing any change. The effect of astringents which is due to their chemical action is nearly the same in dead as in living animal matter; their long-continued application to the skin will produce a condition similar to that of a tanned hide. They are, therefore, sometimes employed to effect this, when internal parts are exposed, to change them from a secreting to a non-secreting surface-such as in irreducible prolapsed uterus. Their use in this way, however, is very limited; while their vital action is extensive and important. The chief effects of astringents are to contract the muscular and vascular tissues, to diminish secretion, and lessen irritability; and in many instances to impart strength, or increased tone, to an organ or part. Their action is always greatest on the part to which they are applied. When a drop of diluted acetic or sulphuric acid is applied to the skin, whiteness of the part is observed, which soon disappears, and the natural colour, or even a more intensely red one, follows. If this is frequently repeated, the structure of the part is changed, it ceases to secrete, is no longer pliant, but becomes stiff and inflexible. The loss of colour is owing to the diminished calibre of the blood-vessels, which no longer admit the red globules. During the absence of these, the sensibility of the part is less than natural; just as cold and torpid fingers lose their fineness of touch. Nearly similar effects may be supposed to follow the internal administration of astringents, the action of which is greatest on the intestinal canal, and less on parts remote from this: yet it deserves to be remarked, that as the intestinal canal is a mucous membrane, and possesses a muscular structure, parts of a similar structure are more influenced by astringents introduced into the stomach than other parts are; hence, increased secretion from the mucous membrane of the lungs, or from the lining membrane of the bladder, or flow of blood from arteries, is more effectually checked by astringents, than increased exhalation from serous surfaces. There is reason to believe that the astringent principle of many plants does not enter into the circulation, but passes along the whole course of the intestinal canal without being absorbed for Sir Humphry Davy found, that when tannin is present in grasses, as it is in that of aftermath crops, it is voided in the dung of the animals which feed upon it. (See Davy, Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, Appendix, p. lxi.) But that of other plants enters the system so rapidly, that the astringency of the uva ursi, or bear's whortleberry, can be detected in the urine forty-five minutes after it has been swallowed. In the case of those which do not enter into the circulation, any beneficial effect which they exert upon remote organs must be attributed to that sympathy which exists in so great and unquestionable a degree between the stomach and almost every organ of the body. That such vegetable substances, while passing along the intestinal canal, promote the fulfilment of its functions, is obvious, from the effects following the use of food in which astringent principles are absent. Plants possessing astringent powers and bitter principles, such as tormentil and the bog-bean, are very efficacious in preventing the rot in sheep, (as has been already stated under Anthelmintics,) while watery grasses, among which no astringent plants grow, favour the generation of worms. The primary sympathetic effect of several of the astringents which ultimately enter into the circulation, is the most valuable in some of the cases in which they are emWhen tannin exists in plants, its pre-ployed, such as dilute sulphuric acid, which often checks sence may be proved by an insoluble precipitate taking hæmorrhage by closing a bleeding vessel, before any of it place on the addition of a concentrated solution of gelatin. can be conceived to have been conveyed directly to the The precipitate is a compound in definite proportions of bleeding orifice: it checks the flow of blood in the same tannin and gelatin, being forty-six of tannin and fifty-four way as cold suddenly applied to the surface or skin does. of gelatin. Gelatin has therefore been proposed by Sir Hum- The tonic effect of many astringents, after their use phry Davy as a test of the quantity of tannin in different for some time, first on the digestive organs, and afterwards astringent vegetables. (See Philosophical Transactions, 1803.) upon the whole system, and more especially upon any weak But in the practical application of this test there are some organ, must be admitted, and borne in mind, in forming our sources of fallacy difficult to guard against. (See Papers by estimate of their utility in a curative point of view. WithDr. Bostock in Nicholson's Journal, vol. xxiv. 1809, and by out attempting to account for the ultimate cause of the Mr. E. B. Stephens, in Annals of Philosophy, New Series, action of astringents, to do which successfully seems im vol. x. p. 401.) Tannin rarely exists alone, though it pro- practicable in the present imperfect state of our knowledge. bably does so in catechu, but mostly along with gallic acid. it may be stated, that under their influence a tension of the Extractive is also a frequent accompaniment of tannin, and parts is produced, during which the muscular and vascular is of considerable service, assisting its action in the pro- structures acquire an increase of power, and secreting surress of tanning. Gallic acid strikes a bluish-black preci- faces and glands produce less fluid but more natural secrefe with all the salts of iron, but a solution of the persul- tions. Some, indeed, lessen the action of the heart, and sa stop the flow of blood from dilated or ruptured vessels, such as the preparations of lead, which though in some degree astringent, ought to be considered as sedatives; while others which combine with and neutralize the unhealthy or excessive secretions, as lime and its carbonate with the secreted fluids of the intestinal canal, are more properly termed absorbents than astringents. When astringents are applied directly to the bleeding vessels, such as to external wounds, or to the nostrils or gums, they are termed styptics, and in such cases they often act chemically as well as vitally. Before proceeding to consider the cases in which astringents may be advantageously used, an enumeration of the most common and valuable substances may be given. Of vegetable astringents the chief are barks, as of oak and willow, the best kind of the former of which is obtained from the quercus robur of Linnæus (the true British oak), which is synonymous with the quercus pedunculata of Willdenow, while the inferior sort is obtained from the quercus sessiflora of Salisb., which is synonymous with the quercus robur of Willdenow. The best willow-bark is procured from the salix pentandra, or sweet bay-leaved willow, though very excellent bark is yielded by the salix Russeliana, or Bedford willow. Roots, as of tormentil, from potentilla tormentilla; bistort (polygonum bistorta); common avens, from geum urbanum, which are British plants; and rhatany, Krameria triandra; rhubarb (rheum palmatum); pomegranate (punica granatum), which are exotic plants; leaves of arctostaphylos (uva ursi), petals of the rosa gallica, fruits of prunus spinosa, or sloe-thorn (punica granatum), and secreted juices of many plants, as kino, from pterocarpus Senegalensis, and several others; and catechu, from acacia catechu, and galls, from quercus infectoria; in all of which the astringent principle is tannin, with more or less of gallic acid; and lastly log-wood, (hæmatoxylon Campechianum), in which hæmatine as well as tannin possesses an astringent property. Acetic acid must also be classed among the vegetable astringents. The mineral astringents are, diluted sulphuric acid, and salts of iron, zinc, copper, silver, and the salts of lead. Cold, in whatever way applied, is also a valuable astringent. In treating of the employment of astringents as curative agents, it is necessary to distinguish between their action as local, direct, and often chemical, and their action as general, intiuencing remote organs, their effects upon which are vital rather than chemical: also between their mere astringent power and their tonic power. The beneficial effects of many of the above-named astringents in checking increased secretion, is doubtless often due to their tonic power; for as in a weak state of the system, or of any particular gland, the secretions are generally profuse in quantity, a return to the healthy proportion and quality can only be insured by increasing the power or tone of the body or gland, which astringents do by bringing the living tissues into a closer or more compact state, and which tonics do by heightening the vitality of the debilitated structures. Hence astringents are beneficially employed in diseases where a laxity of the muscular and vascular tissues exists, accompanied with imperfect discharge of the functions of the secreting organs. The stomach and intestinal canal being the channel by which is conveyed the material necessary for the nourishment and vigour of the system, and for maintaining a capacity to discharge their functions in the other organs of the body, an impaired state of the structure and functions of this canal extends to every other part. The re-establishment of its healthy condition is a primary object in endeavouring to cure many diseases. Of these, intermittent and remittent fevers may be taken as an example, since in these there is always great debility of the digestive organs and of all the parts which have the most intimate sympathy with them, such as the skin. Astringents possessed of a tonic power have therefore mostly been resorted to in order to remove this debility; cinchona-bark, willow-bark, and many others, have been used with this intention. These, however, are to be avoided whenever any acute inflammation exists, which must first be subdued by appropriate means before tonic astringents can be safely or advantageously used. In diseased states of the intestinal canal, in which greatly increased or unhealthy secretions take place, as diarrhoea, dysentery, and cholera, the most careful inquiry should be made into the cause of the disease, that if it has its origin in an inflammatory condition of the mucous membrane of the intestine, or is owing to the presence of any acrid sub stance, the former may be overcome by antiphlogistic measures, and the latter be removed by purgatives. When the increased flow from the intestines is connected with increased determination towards these parts, owing to the application of cold to the outer surface suppressing the secretion of the skin, which has the greatest sympathy with the internal surface, and which consequently is excited to double action, a preternatural quantity of secreted fluid is produced. The most effectual, as well as only safe, means of diminishing this, in the early stages of its occurrence, is the employment of diaphoretics, or such medicines as restore the action of the skin; after which, should the discharge continue, mild astringents may be used, of which logwood or tormentil is the best. A preliminary treatment is likewise required in dysentery: in the common cholera a purgative should generally be given before any astringent is administered. In the bilious cholera of autumn, after the employment of suitable purgatives, nothing seems to act more effectually as an astringent than the infusion of cusparia, or angustura bark, with dilute nitric acid; to which, in some cases, a small portion of laudanum may be added at first, but afterwards omitted. Nor in the epidemic cholera, as far as a very limited experience enables us to judge, has more marked benefit followed the use of any means than has resulted from the employment of this combination, which speedily checks the liquid discharges, and restores the circulation and animal heat. Diarrhoea, or looseness of bowels, proceeding from acid secretions, is best removed by the astringents which combine chemically with these-such as lime, or its carbonate, which are rendered more suitable by uniting them with aromatics, an excellent form of which is supplied by the potio carbonatis calcis of the Edinburgh pharmacopoeia. Sometimes, in order to increase the astringent power, as it is supposed, carbonate of lime is prescribed along with the vegetable astringents; but nothing is more erroneous than this proceeding, by which a decomposition is occasioned, which destroys the virtues of both the ingredients. Nor is the combination of opium with chalk less objectionable. The next most important class of diseases in which astringents may be employed are termed hæmorrhages, or a discharge of blood, either from the exhalant extremities of the arteries, when they are gorged or when they are too much relaxed, or from the wounded or ruptured coats of any blood-vessel. The above distinction refers to the differences between active and passive hæmorrhage, or that which takes place when the system is too full of blood and the vessels propel it with great force; the other, which takes place when the power of the vessel is greatly below the natural standard. In the former, astringents cannot safely be employed at the commencement of the flow of blood, "but time should be allowed for the vessels to unload themselves; or a vein should be opened, cooling saline medicines administered, cold air admitted freely to the surface of the body, and, under competent medical attendance, opium or laudanum may be given; after which, astringents will either not be required, or if so, may be safely used. In passive hæmorrhage they may be employed from the commencement; and perhaps, in most cases, a saturated solution of alum in the infusion of roses is to be preferred, though the tincture of the muriate of iron is very eligible when the kidney is the source of the bloody discharge, as acetate of lead is when the lungs are the organs whence the blood flows. So long as lead is kept in the state of an acetate, its administration is perfectly safe: it should therefore always be accompanied with dilute acetic acid. Bleeding from the nostrils or gums may be checked by the direct application of styptics; such as preparations of zinc or copper. Nitrate of silver will frequently stop the flow of blood from a leech bite. Cold should, in most cases, be employed along with the other means; even alone it is often successful, especially in the form of water poured from a height in uterine hæmorrhage. Ruspini's styptic, which is said to be a solution of gallic acid in alcohol, is sometimes useful, where other means have failed. The application of astringents to more limited examples of loss of tone or increased flow of secreted fluids, need not be extensively noticed here. After acute inflammation of the eye, proper antiphlogistic means having been used, astringent applications are very serviceable, especially those of zinc and nitrate of silver, either in solution or made into an ointment. Scrofulous inflammation of the eye is often benefited by them, if internal means be also used. Saliva tion, or excessive flow of saliva, occurring either spontaneously or from the use of mercury or other means, is often effectually checked by nitrate of silver, or decoction of the rhus glabrum, or by iodine. Nitrate of silver, by lessening the inflammation which gives rise to them, also frequently removes morbid discharges from other mucous surfaces besides those we have specially noticed; an effect which also often follows the use of diluted chloride of soda. The colliquative sweats of hectic fever are best checked by giving internally dilute sulphuric acid, and sponging the skin with vinegar and water. Astringent substances are decomposed by, or decompose, many others, which therefore should not be given at the same time with them; such, for example, as ipecacuanha with most of the vegetable astringents which contain tannin, by which an insoluble tannate of emetina is formed: when kino is united with calumba, a purgative action follows. All astringent vegetables containing tannin, except oak-bark, decompose tartrite of antimony, and are therefore the best antidotes to it. The antient Egyptians would appear to have been acquainted with the power of astringents in preserving vegetable as well as animal substances, and they seem to have dipped the coarse cloths in which the mummies were enveloped in some astringent liquid, which tanned the skin, and rendered it less subject to change, as well as excluded the air from the interior of the body. The article employed by them with this view is supposed to have been some sort of kino. The same substance is used by the Chinese to dye cotton for their nankeens. This property of astringents may be usefully applied for the preservation of all kinds of cordage, fishing-lines, and nets, which last much longer if steeped in an infusion of oak-bark. Though inferior in preserving power to the plan of Mr. Kyan, it may be applicable in some cases where his is inadmissible. [See ANTISEPTICS.] For further information on astringents, see Dr. A. T. Thomson's Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, vol. ii., in which much recent valuable matter is brought together. [For the employment of astringents in the arts, see DYEING AND TANNING; and also Library of Entertaining Knowledge-Vegetable Substances; Materials of Manufactures, p. 178.] ASTROCA RYUM, a genus of palms found in small groups, or in single specimens, in the tropical parts of Ame rica, of middling stature, and of a very singular appearance on account of the spines with which they are armed. Their stems are covered all over, except at the places where the leaves are set on, with stiff and very numerous prickles. The leaves are pinnated. The fruit resembles cocoa-nuts. These plants are found exclusively in South America, where several species were collected by Dr. Von Martius, the great illustrator of the palm tribe. Among the more remarkable are, Astrocaryum murimuri, a common inhabitant of swampy places in the neighbourhood of Para, where it is called murumurú; the flesh of the fruit resembles the melon in flavour and the musk in odour, and is considered a great delicacy by the Americans. We give a figure of it, but so much reduced, that the armature of the stem cannot be shown. Its leaves are found to be an excellent thatch. Another species, A. airi, has very hard wood, which is much used for bows, and similar purposes, where hardness and toughness are required. The fibres of the leaves of A. tucuma are much valued for fishing-nets. (See Martius, Palms, p. 69, &c.) ASTROLABE, from two Greek, words signifying to take the stars. It has an earlier and a later meaning. As used by Ptolemy, it may stand for any circular instrument used for observations of the stars; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it signified a projection of the sphere upon a plane, being used in the same sense as the word Planisphere. To this small projection, which had a graduated rim, sights were added, for the purpose of taking altitudes; and in this state it was the constant companion and badge of office of the astrologer. In later times, before the invention of Hadley's quadrant, a graduated circular rim with sights attached, called an astrolabe, was used for taking altitudes at sea, as further described in Bion, Traité des Instrumens de Mathématique. Hague, 1723. In the older sense of the word every one of our modern astronomical instruments is a part of the astrolabe, the principle of which we proceed to describe. If a solid circle be fixed in any one position, and a tube be fixed upon its centre, round which it may be allowed to move, as in the adjoining diagram; and if the line C D be drawn upon the circle, pointing towards any object Q in the N B [Astrocaryum murimuri.] heavens which lies in the plane of the circle, it is obvious that, by turning the tube A B towards any other object P in the plane of the circle, the angle BOD will be the angle subtended by the two objects P and Q at the eye, or their angular distance upon a common globe. This angle may be measured, if the circumference of the circle be graduated. Thus, suppose the plane of the circle to pass through the poles N and S, and C D to point towards the equator; then when the tube points towards the star, NO B its north polar distance, or B O D its declination, may be measured. Or if the circle be fixed in the plane of the equator, and CD be made to point towards the vernal equinox at the same moment at which the tube points towards the star, then the angie DOB will be the right ascension of the star. A collection of circles, such as the Armillary Sphere, might therefore, by furnishing each circle with tubes, be made a complete astrolabe. The practical difficulty consists in keeping so many circles exactly in their proper relative positions. The distinction between the astrolabe of the antients and the circular instruments of the moderns, is as follows: First, the antients endeavoured to form an astrolabe of two circles, so as to measure both latitude and longtude, or both right ascension and declination, by the same instrument; while the moderns, in most cases, measure only one of the two. Secondly, the antient instruments were made to revolve, to find the star, or were furnished with at least one revolving circle, moving round the pole of |