of Birmingham, Eng., August 20 or 21, 1745. He obtained rudimentary education in a village school; at 18 became a local preacher; at 21 was received by Wesley into the itinerant ministry; and on October 27, 1771, landed in Philadelphia as a missionary in America. It was but three years after the building of the first Methodist church in the country, and there were only about 600 persons of the faith, chiefly in Phila- delphia and New York. When the Revolution began, Asbury sympathized with the people, and while Mr. Rankin, who was the ecclesiastical superior, returned to England, Asbury remained; though, like many other nonjurors, he was sub- jected to suspicion, and at one time to imprison- ment. After about two years of surveillance, the authorities concluded that the scruples of Asbury were not political, but religious, and he was permitted to go free. He improved his op- portunity, and when the war closed there were 83 Methodist ministers at work, and the member- ship reached 14,000. In 1784 the several societies were organized into an Episcopal Church, and Asbury and Thomas Coke were elected, by the conference in Baltimore, Md., 1784, joint superin- tendents. The title bishop was substituted later, which called out a rebuke from Wesley, who, however, approved of Asbury's superintendence. Thenceforward his life was devoted to preaching and the supervision and extension of churches. His labors were incessant, and his biography is itself a good history of the growth of Methodism 'in America. He never married, lest a wife should distract attention from his great work. He was always poor and always generous. In 1785 he laid the foundation for the first Methodist col- lege, and afterwards formed an educational plan for the whole country, by making districts with at least one classical academy in each. He was rather stout, of medium height, with a fresh countenance and a penetrating eye. Wesley alone was his superior as a practical worker and organizer, and the two were alike in zeal and spirit. During his ministry it is estimated that Asbury traveled more than 270,000 miles, visit- ing every part of the country: preached more than 16,000 sermons; ordained over 4000 minis- ters, and presided at 224 conferences. It is largely due to the labors of this indefatigable apostle that Methodism in America owes its excellent organization and wonderful growth. He died at Spottsylvania, Va., March 31, 1816. His only written works were his journals (New York, 1852), which are personally and his- torically of great value. For his biography, con- sult W. P. Strickland (New York, 1858), and Smith (Nashville, 1896).
ASBURY (azljer-i) PARK. A city in Monmouth County, N. J., on the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Ocean Grove, from which it is divided by Wesley Lake. It is 6 miles south of Long Branch, on the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey (Map: New Jersey, E 3). It is one of the most popular watering-places on the Atlantic Coast. It has a fine opera house and summer cottages. A board walk extends for a mile along a fine beach. Wesley Lake, Deal Lake, and Sunset Lake are attractive. The sale of liquor is prohibited. Asbury Park was founded in 1869, incorporated in 1874, and chartered as a city in 1897. The government is vested in a mayor, biennially elected, and a city council, the board of education being elected separately by the people. The water-works are owned and operated by the municipality. Population, in 1900, 4148.
ASCAGNE, is'kan'y'. A character in Molière's
comedy, Le depit amoureux, who is substituted
for her dead brother of the same name and
habited in his garments, but who later falls in
love with Valère and marries him secretly.
AS'CALON. A city of Palestine, See Ashkelon.
ASCALON. The sword of Saint George, mentioned in Richard Johnston's Seven Champions of Christendom, a romance printed in 1596.
ASCANIO, as-kii'ne-o. (1) In Fletcher and Massinger's The Spanish Curate, the tender son of Don Henriques. (2) In Massinger's Bashful Lover, the name assumed by Maria, Octavia's daughter, to tally with her disguise as a page. (3) In The Assignation, by Dryden, a page.
ASCA'NIUS, called also Iulus, the son of Æneas, and mythical founder of the family of the Cæsars. It is in the disguise of Ascanius that Cupid, in Vergil's Æneid, implants the flame of love for Æneas in Dido's breast.
AS'CAPART. The name of a giant, 30 feet high, often referred to by Elizabethan writers. He appears in the romance Bevis of Hampton, where he is conquered by the hero.
AS'CARIS (Gk. acKajiii;, askaris, a worm in
the intestines). A genus of intestinal nematode
worms, which are of comparatively large size.
The body is thick, and the mouth is usually surrounded with three lips or cephalic valves, one in a dorsal position and the other two in the median neutral line. Species of Ascaris are found parasitic in man, pigs, sheep, calves, horses, dogs, cats, etc. The members of the species are commonly known as stomach worms.
Their presence in the intestines of animals does
not cause pronounced symptoms of disease unless
the worms occur in large numbers. They may
then produce reflex nervous disturbances and
epileptic attacks. Since these worms are not
attached by means of hooks or otherwise to the
walls of the intestines, they may be expelled by
the administration of cathartics and vermifuges
in liberal quantities. The best-known species is
the round-worm (q.v.), the equally well-known
pin-worm (q.v.) being placed in a closely allied
genus. Another species (Ascaris megaloce-
phala), much larger than the preceding, is
found in the intestine of the horse. It is some-
times as large around as a lead pencil, and has
a noticeably large head. It is of especial interest
to biologists, because it was upon the eggs of
this species that the German scientist Boveri
made his notable observations regarding cell-
division and the behavior of the chromosomes,
-Another interesting species (Ascaris nigrorenosa)
is found in the lungs of frogs and toads, where
it is a hermaphrodite: but from its fertilized
eggs unisexual worms arise, which live in damp,
muddy earth. The females are viviparous, but
give birth to not more than four young, which
find their way into a frog or toad and there grow
into the adult hermaphroditic form, thus com-
pleting the cycle. For an account of these
worms in the human body, see Worms.
ASCEND'ANT (Lat. ad, to + scandere, to climb). In astrology, the easternmost or rising
