ASOPH. See AZOPII.
ASP, or ASPIC, a species of serpent belonging to the genus Coluber of LinnRus, which has attained more than ordinary celebrity, from being supposed the animal whose poison the famous Cleopatra selected to terminate her existence. It is thus defined by Linnaeus. Nose terminated by an erect wart : body tawny, with figured streaks, alternately distinct and confluent : beneath, steel-blue, dotted with yellow.
This species of serpent is very indistinctly character ised, insomuch, that we have strong doubts whether naturalists have truly condescended on the kind which is to receive the name of Asp : and what is said by one is seldom confirmed by another. The count La Cepede, describing an asp preserved in the Museum at Paris, says, it grows to the length of three feet : that it has 145 plates on the belly, and 37 pair of small scales under the tail, which is 3 inches and 8 lines in length. Lin naeus, again, ascribes 146 plates to the belly, and 46 to the tail, whence, if both these naturalists have seen the same species, it would appear that the scales vary in number in different individuals. On the upper part of the body. according to the former, arc three longitudi nal rows of red spots, with a black margin : the union of the rows under the tail produces a kind of waved band, from which, and from other particulars, the asp bears some resemblance to the viper. Several naturalists have been induced to deny that the animal now described is venomous, but we are inclined, in coincidence with La Cepede, Linnmus, and various distinguished natural ists, to consider the presence of hollow moveable fangs too certain an indication of its nature. It inhabits the southern provinces of France.
Hasselquist, during his travels in the East, particu larly investigated the nature of the dangerous serpents there known to the ancients, but without being able to gain satisfactory information. The sells and aspiv, he supposes, are the same animal : and on the island of Cyprus is a serpent called aspic by the modern Greeks, which is seldom above a foot long, though sometimes as thick as a man's arm. The poison of this serpent is more deadly than that of any other venomous creature inhabiting the East. Its bite induces slumber, which, by degrees, is converted into profound sleep. Death ensues within twenty-four hours, unattended by pain or violent symptoms : the only perceptible change being the gradual diminution of pulsation. The whole body
in a moment becomes of a blackish yellow colour, and mortification, as if from a gangrene, follows in the space of a day.
Notwithstanding the universal belief which prevails of Cleopatra having died from the bite of an asp, it has been questioned whether the ancients were acquainted with the subject of this article, as above defined. The effects of the poison of their asp were exactly similar to those of that described by Hasselquist. The strength of the victim gradually declined, and was succeeded by the insensibility of repose, which ended in death altogether free of pain. Intelligent naturalists conceive the asp of the ancients to have been the Coluber Vipera, or Egyp tian asp of the moderns. It is certain that its poison is of the most active and deleterious nature ; and except the pain occasioned by the puncture of its fangs, there is no other suffering.
Mr Bruce, an eminent author, whose opinion is enti tled to much deference, supposed that Cleopatra received her mortal wound from the eerastes, a small serpent, only twelve or fifteen inches long, which inhabits most of the eastern countries. He further maintains, that the thebanus ophites, annnodytes, torrida dipsas, and firester, are the same as the eerastes, which, if it be so, would go far ,o reconcile the different opinions of naturalists. Alexandria, he observes, being plentifully supplied with water, must have had abundance of fruit of all kinds in its gardens. The baskets of figs, where the animal lurked, must have come from thence, and the animal itself from the adjoining desari, where there are plenty to this day. Mr Bruce adds, that there is no kind of serpent to the westward of Egypt where the Nile over flows, nor any one of a venomous nature, except the cerastes in those parts of Africa adjoining to Egypt. In corroboration of his opinion respecting the activity of the poison, he cites Galen, who says he has himself wit nessed it. When a criminal in Alexandria was con demned to die, whose sufferings should be easily termi nated, the serpent was applied to his breast, and after it had crawled a short time there, he expired.
With regard to the manlier of Cleopatra's death, however, much uncertainty prevails ; and ancient au thors of credibility report that it was unknown. See La Cepede Histoire Naturelle des Serpens, tom. ii. p. 53. 72. Hasselquist's Travels, p. 221. 431. Bruce's Travels, vol. v. (c)