ASPHALTUM

(Gr. i, priv. and tr(poe,XXu, I slip Jrom its use as a cement in ancient building.) A black brittle bitumen, very fusible and inflammable; it is soluble in naphtha, and forms a good varnish. It is found upon the surface and banks of the Dead Sea (hence called Asphaltic Lake), and in large quantity in Trinidad and Barb a does; the ancients employed it in some of their cements, and it was used also in the art of embalming. ASPHODELEiE. {AsT^\iodie\Vi?,,the principal genus.) Subdivision of the natural order Liliaceae, comprehending the onion, the squill, the ornithogalum, anther i cum, asparagus, and similar genera. They differ from true liliaceae In little beyond their flowers being usually smaller. {See L1LIACE.E.) [s. 108]