entifying
7 for the
e resem-
53 and it
1owledge
a time,
1e of the
ction, by
mparing
1 attrac-
r in the
1duction
his view
found in
or bend
1ent for
ng as a
mpany,
* weight
inflam-
general
th high
ed this
ts light
as 1t is
r infer-
f some
1s con-
carbon,
e have
1 never
n was
atmos-
1ena of
e same
130N,
rought
10ther,
Most
contri-
OIS, Or
itions.
ASSOUAN—ASSYRIA.
The
e that
s with
causes
llacieg
er of
18 the
1ment
ender
s and
1ce of
. fact,
iarity
y the
s the
from
ntify
from
The
and
ed in
ly in
great
t our
. the
. the
that
d the
the
that
He
enumerates three different principles of mental
resuscitation—viz., Similarity, Contrariety, and Co-
adjacency. He has been followed by most other
philosophers as regards all the three principles. It
is now, however, clearly seen and generally admitted,
that contrariety is not an independent associating
force. When a thing suggests its opposite or con-
trary, it will be found that the two have been pre-
viously together in the mind, and have therefore
acquired a mutual hold by contiguity. Such, for
example, is black and white, wet and dry, health
and sickness, prosperity and adversity, &c. Con-
traries, in fact, have a natural inseparability ; they
are of the class of relatives like father and son, which
imply each other necessarily, and have no meaning
except by mutual reference. It requires no new
principle of our constitution to account for sugges-
tion in this particular case. Moreover, when things
are strongly contrasted with one another, as high
position before a fall, the mind is greatly impressed
with the shock of transition, and so retains a lively
recollection of the sequence, having by that means
a greater tendency to pass from the one to the
other. Thus, then, the enumeration of Aristotle is
reduced to the two principles that we have now
expounded.
Hobbes recognised the principle of contiguity as
the foundation of reminiscence ; but the Aristotelian
philosopher, Vives, who wrote in the 14th c., was the
first to specify in minute detail the various circum-
stances that determine the adhesive bond of recollec-
tion. Hume’s enumeration is well known to have
comprised the three principles of resemblance, con-
tiguity, and causation, which he illustrates as
follows: ¢ A picture naturally leads our thoughts to
the original, [resemblance]. The mention of one
apartment in a building naturally introduces an
inquiry or discourse concerning the others, [conti-
guity]. And if we think of a wound, we can scarce
forbear reflecting on the pain which follows it,
[causation].” Causation, however, is merely a case
of contiguity; so also we may say of Order in Place,
and Order in Time, which have been given as
distinct principles.
An attempt has been made to generalise Similarity
into Contiguity, but without success. For a full and
critical view of the history of these laws, see Sir W,
Hamilton’s edition of Reid.
ASSOUA'N, ESSUA'N, or ESWA'N, the ancient
Syene, a town of Upper Egypt, on the east bank of
the Nile, near the borders of Nubia, 110 miles south
of Thebes, in lat. 24° 5’ 30” N., and long. 32° 55’ E.
There are few remains existing of the ancient city.
Some granite columns present themselves among the
ruins, but do not seem of an early date; and part
of a temple still remains with a dilapidated portico.
Of the town-wall, that part which lies to the south
of the old town is still standing ; and beyond it is
the cemetery of A., where there are numerous tombs,
mostly cenotaphs, with Arabic inscriptions. In the
neighbourhood there are several granite quarries,
some of them remarkable for remains of “ancient
materials that had been cut from the rock, and
partially hewn, and for antique inscriptions and
tablets, announcing the removal of blocks and the
reign of the Egyptian monarch by whose orders
they had been quarried. The environs of A. are
sterile and sandy ; but the palm thrives, and the
dates, which are excellent, form the staple of the
trade. Some traffic is carried on in senna, henna,
charcoal, wicker-baskets, and slaves.
The ancient name Syene is the Coptic word souan
or suan, signifying ¢ opening;’ and the modern one
is formed by addmng the Arabic e, ‘the,” softened
into es, viz., Hs-suan, ‘the opening.” A. and its
vxcmitygzare highly interesting to geologists and
mineralogists ; that kind of granite called syenite
receives 1ts name from the town.
ASSU'MPTION, a village and river of Lower
Canada. About 8 miles below the village, the river
flows into the St Lawrence, or rather into the Ottawa,
nearly opposite to the lower extremity of the island
of Montreal.—A., or Asuncion, is also the name of
the capital of Paraguay, on the left bank of the
river of that name. It has a population of 8000,
and has a trade in hides, tobacco, timber, wax, and
Paraguay tea. The city was founded in 1535 by the
Spanish, and soon became a place of importance,
though not of beauty, being il built, dirty, and
disagreeable. The surrcunding country is rich in
pastures, and also produces crops of wheat, maize,
sugar, tobacco, honey, wax, &e.
ASSU'MPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
A festival of the Romish Church. In the 7th c., the
idea originated that the soul and body of the Virgin
had been carried up to heaven by Christ and his
angels. The Roman Catholic Church, therefore, has,
ever since that period, kept the 15th of August in
memory of Mary’s translation into glory; although,
from the 4th c. until then, it had kept the same day
in memory of her death. Liguori, in his Glory of
Mary, gives a very minute account of the circum-
stances of her Assumption.
ASSU'RANCE. See INSURANCE.
ASSURANCE, Comwmon, is described by Black-
stone as the legal evidence of the translation of
property, whereby every man’s estate is assured to
him, and all controversies, doubts, and difficulties
are either prevented or removed. For an account of
these common assurances or conveyances, as they are
generally termed, see DEED and CONVEYANCE.
A'SSYNT, a mountainous, moorish, and very
ragged district or parish, 25 miles long, and 15 broad,
in south-west Sutherlandshire. It mostly consists of
a net-work of rocky heights, interspersed with a
multitude (200) of dark, motionless tarns or pools, of
various sizes, with some larger lochs, the largest,
Loch Assynt, being 10 miles long and 1 broad.
The district consists of gneiss, Silurian rocks, and
primitive limestone. There are a dozen mountains
3000—3500 feet high. Some of the mountains are
covered with white bleached stones and protruding
rocks like patches of snow. The mountains have
frequently the form of artificial pillars and cairns,
and are the remains of an enormous denudation
of the mnearly horizontal strata of the district.
Suil Veinn is a perfect sugar-loaf, towering nearly
2000 feet above a rugged table-land of gneiss hills,
800 to 1000 feet above the sea. In Advreck Castle,
on a promontory on the east side of Loch A., the
famous Marquis of Montrose was confined in 1650.
ASSY'RIA (called Athura on Persian cuneiform
inscriptions, and Assura on the Median) was the
northernmost of the three great countries that
occupied the Mesopotamian plain. It was bounded
on the N. by the Niphates Mountains of Armenia ; on
the 8., by Susiana and Babylonia; on the E., by
Media ; and on the W., according to some, by the
Tigris, but more correctly by the water-shed of the
Euphrates, for many Assyrian ruins are found to
the west of the Tigris. It was thus about 280 miles
long from north to south, and rather more than 150
broad from east to west. This plain is diversified
by mountain-chains on the north and east, and
watered by the Tigris and its affluents, between
two of which—the Zab rivers—lay the finest part
of the country, called Adiabené. As it was the
boundary-land between the Semitic people and Iran,
it became the scene of important political events.
Its extraordinary fertility enabled it to support a
large population. The high degree of pro;};emty
