ASTHMA is a disease characterized by the breathing, previously natural, becoming difficult, and accompanied by wheezing and a distressing sense of tightness in the chest. A. generally appears at first after some inflammatory affection of the respiratory mucus membrane, and more especially in those who have led dissipated lives. In others, it is clearly hereditary, and frequently affects several members of the same family. A. may be habitual, or may occur in spasms, generally preceded by some premopitory symp toms, as in some by great drowsiness; others, says Dr. Hyde Salter, " know by extreme wakefulness and unu'sual mental activity and buoyancy of spirits; and I knew one case in which an attack of ophthalmia occurred." The spasms may occur at any hour; but in nineteen out of twenty cases they awaken the patient from sleep between three and four in the morning. The horizontal position facilitating the flow of blood to the right side of the heart, and therefore to the lungs, the disadvantage at which the muscles of respiration are placed, and the greater readiness with which sources of irritation act during sleep, explain this fact.
Persons subject to A. scarcely dare fall asleep after any imprudence in diet; if they continue awake till their supper is fairly digested, and the stomach empty, they may go to sleep fearlessly, and have a good night's rest. The asthmatic paroxysm is thus described by Dr. Salter, the latest authority on this common but terrible disease: "The patient goes to bed and sleeps two or three hours, becomes distressed in his breathing, and begins to wheeze, so as to waken those in adjoining rooms. He awakes, changes his position, hgaiu and ugain,. and the raiserahlafight ;between A. and sleep may go on, till the increased suffering does not allow the patient longer to forget him self for a moment; he becomes wide awake, sits up in bed, throws himself forward, plants his elbows on his knees, and with fixed head and elevated shoulders, labors for breath like a dying man." If the spasm is protracted, the oxygenation of his blood is imperfectly performed, owing to the scanty supply of air, and his extremities get cold and blue, but at the same time the violent muscular efforts at respiration cover him with sweat. The pulse is
always small. The muscles of the back and neck attached to the ribs, act as extra ordinary muscles of respiration. The chest enlarges during the paroxysm, but in it there is almost perfect stagnation of air. The respiratory tubes affected are very small, and the parts at which they are so constricted are constantly shifting.
The remedies for A. are numerous, but not to be depended on. They consist in paying attention to the digestive system, and in antispasmodics, either taken internally or by inhalation. • ASTI (Asta Pompeia), a city of Piedmont, in the government of Alessandria, lies on the left bank of the Tanaro, on the railway from Turin to Genoa, 261 m. e.s.e. of Turin. Pop. '71, 19,466. It is a large town, with walls considerably dilapidated, and the streets generally very narrow and irregular. It is the seat of a bishop, and has a court i of justice and a royal college. There is carried on a considerable trade in silk and woolen fabrics, leather, and hats, as well as in wines and agricultural produce. A. is a town of high antiquity, having been fainous for its pottery before its capture by the Gauls iu 400 me. On the occasion of its being again taken and destroyed in an irruption of the Gauls, it was rebuilt by Pompey, and received the name of Asta Pompeia. In the middle ages, A. was one of the most powerful republics of upper Italy. It was cap tured and burnt by the Emperor Frederick I. in 1135; and after a series of vicissitudes, it came into the possession of the Visconti of Naples, by whom it was ceded to the French, in whose hands it remained till the middle of the 16th c., when it came into the possession of the dukes of Savoy, as it still remains. Alfieri was born here, 1749.—The district of Asti, one of the six subdivisions of the government of Alessandria, is bounded on the w. and n. by the province of Turin, s. by Alba, s.e. by Alessandria proper, and n.e. by the province of Casale. The surface is hilly and picturesque. The soil rests upon limestone abounding in fossils, and is fertile, producing corn, fruit, and wine. It is celebrated for a fine white wine resembling champagne, called vino d' Asti. Silk is one of its most important products.
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