ASAFŒTIDA, _s._ A very offensive-smelling gum. It has antispasmodic qualities; and in veterinary practice is said to be serviceable in coughs, thick wind, and lock-jaw. ASCARIDES, _s._ Little worms generally found in the rectum. ASCITES, _s._ For this disease in horses and dogs, see _White_, _Blaine_, &c.—_Vide_ ANASARCA. ASH-COLOUR, _s._ A colour between brown and gray. _Ash colour, pearl colour, or golden cinnamon._—Take some _walnut_ roots and boil till your stuff begins to strike, then add some _galls_; boil till it comes up near to what you want, and then add some copperas, but very sparingly. ANOTHER METHOD. Take a little fresh _black-thorn_ bark and a few young tops of _briar_; boil them in water, and when you think all the dye is extracted, take them out, and put in a small bit of your stuff for trial, and, if you like the colour, put in the whole when boiling, and boil till it comes to your liking. _Bush-thorn_ bark, when ground, if fresh, will, in turmeric, give a rich golden cinnamon. ASH-COLOURED FALCON, _s._ This bird is smaller than the _Hen Harrier_ or _Ringtail_, with which it is frequently confounded. It is a scarce bird, though Selby says he has taken it in Northumberland, where it breeds on the open moors. Pennant calls it a variety of the _Ringtail_. ASININE, _a._ Belonging to an ass. ASS, _s._ An animal of burden. This animal, though now so common in all parts of these islands, was entirely lost among us during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, for Hollingshed informs us, that in his time “our lande did yield no asses.” Yet we are not to suppose that so useful an animal was unknown here before that period; in fact, mention is made of them as early as the time of King Ethelred, above five hundred years preceding, and again in the reign of Henry III., so that it must have been owing to some accident that the race was extinct during the reign of Elizabeth. We are not certain as to the time it was again introduced, probably in the succeeding reign, when our intercourse with Spain was renewed, in which country this animal was greatly used. Their constitution is so hardy, that even in the depth of winter, the most wretched hovel is sufficient for them from the cold; and so temperate are they with respect to food, that they can subsist on such vegetables as almost any other animal would refuse to eat. The thistle and plantain, which generally grow in abundance on waste lands and along the sides of roads, afford them a sufficient feast after their day of toil is concluded.