Ascalon
ASHKELON, or ASKELON, one of the five cities of the Philistines, on the Mediterranean, W. S. W. of Jerusalem, on the main road from Egypt through Gaza to central Palestine. Very often mentioned in Scripture, it rose to considerable importance in past Biblical times. Near the town were the temple and sacred lake of Derceto, the Syrian Venus. A great victory was won here by the crusaders in 1099. The position of Ascalon is naturally very strong. Near the ruins of the city stands now a village of the same name. The eschalot or shallot, a kind of onion (allium escalonicum), was first grown there.
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Ascaris
a genus of intestinal worms, the typical one of the family ascaridæ. A. lumbricoides, or round worm, is the commonest intestinal parasite of the human species, generally occupying the small intestines; it is found also in the hog and ox. In the human species it is much more common in children than in adults, and is extremely rare in aged persons. A second species, the ascaris or oxyurus vermicularis, is one of the most troublesome parasites of children, and occasionally of adults. It infests the larger intestines. ASCENSION (discovered on Ascension Day), an island of volcanic origin belonging to Great Britain, near the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, lying about lat. 7° 55′ S., long. 15° 25′ W.; 800 miles N. W. of St. Helena; area, about 36 square miles; pop. 165. It is retained by Great Britain mainly as a station at which ships may touch for stores. It is celebrated for its turtles, 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. Georgetown is the principal settlement. The island is governed by a naval officer.
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Ascension
a small island in the southern Atlantic 1,000 miles off the Guinea coast. The area is 35 square miles. Population, 120. The island is of volcanic origin. It rises to a height of about 3,000 feet. Fifteen acres are under cultivation. A small British garrison is maintained. There is a regular postal service. Telegraphic communication is carried on with St. Helena 700 miles to the southeast, with England, and with the Cape of Good Hope . The island is the resort of the sea turtle, which come in thousands to lay their eggs in the sand. In 1907, 106 were taken, from 392 to 777 pounds in weight; they are stored in ponds, and eventually killed and distributed among the people. Rabbits, wild goats, partridges, pheasants, and guinea-fowl are more or less numerous on the island, which is, besides, the breeding ground of myriads of the sooty terns or "wideawake." These birds come in vast numbers to lay their eggs about every eighth month. 2026 Editor's Note: Tiny, remote Ascension became strategically priceless in the air-and-satellite age: its airfield was a vital staging post in the Second World War and Britain's 1982 Falklands War , and it now hosts tracking stations for GPS and space missions. The sea turtles the entry notes still haul ashore to nest in globally important numbers. (Ed: BR 2026-06-29)
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Ascension
in astronomy, right asance of a body from the first point of Aries (the ram), measured upon the equator. The arc of the equinoctial included between a certain point in that circle, called the vernal equinox, and the point in the same circle to which it is referred by the circle of declination passing through it. Or the angle included between two hour-circles, one of which, called the equinoctial colure, passes through the vernal equinox, and the other through the body. It is opposed to oblique ascension. The terms, right ascension and declination, are now generally used to point out the position in the heavens of any celestial object, in preference to the old method of indicating certain prominent stars by proper names or by Greek letters. By means of the transit instrument, or by an equatorially mounted telescope, a star or planet may be readily found, when once its right ascension and declination are known. Oblique ascension is the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and the point of the equator which rises with a star or other heavenly body, reckoned according to the order of the signs.
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Ascension Day
the day on which our Saviour's ascension, is commemorated-the Thursday but one before Whitsuntide, sometimes called Holy Thursday.
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Asceticism
. See Anchorites
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Ascetics
a name given in ancient times to those 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. They, therefore, abstained from wine, flesh, matrimony, and worldly business; and, moreover, emaciated their bodies by long vigils, fasting, toil, and hunger. Both men and women embraced this austere mode of life.
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Ascham
ROGER, an English scholar and author, born at Kirby Wiske, near Northallerton, in 1515; graduated at Cambridge, and struggled with poverty until patrons came to his relief. He was famous for his general knowledge and acquirements in Greek and Latin, and is classed with Spenser, Sir Thomas More, and Sir Philip Sidney. Though he wrote Latin with ease and elegance at a time when custom favored the use of that language for important works, he urged and practiced the writing of English. In 1548-1550 he was tutor of the Princess (afterward Queen) Elizabeth. His most noted works are: "Toxophilus," a treatise on archery (1545), and "The Scholemaster," a treatise on education (1570). He died in London, Dec. 30, 1568.
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Ascham, Roger
as'kam, Roger (1515-1568), a Yorkshire scholar. He was a graduate of Cambridge. He was renowned as a student of Greek and Latin. In 1548 he became tutor to the Princess, afterward Queen, Elizabeth, with whom he read Cicero, Livy, Sophocles, and other classical writers. Ascham traveled extensively as secretary to the English ambassador to Charles V. He wrote a famous treatise on archery, called Toxophilus. His best known work, however, is The Scolemaster, expressive of his methods of teaching Latin, and giving in a general way his conception of the proper method of education. The Scolemaster will well repay careful reading. Although he lived in an age when Latin was the language of the educated, and was himself the leading Latin scholar of his day, Ascham took pride in saying of the Toxophilus, that he had "written this Englishe matter in the Englishe for Englishemen." See Elizabeth; Alcuin 2026 Editor's Note: Ascham's The Scholemaster made a strikingly modern argument for its day: that children learn better through kindness than the rod . Tutor to the future Elizabeth I, he also wrote the first English book on archery — and, unusually, in plain English rather than Latin, helping to dignify the mother tongue for learning. (Ed: BR 2026-07-19)
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