ASP, in natural hiſtory, a ſmall poſſonous kind of ſerpent, whose bite gives a ſpeedy but eaſy death. It is ſaid to be thus denominated from the Greek aspis, ſield, in regard to the manner of its lying convolved in a circle, in the centre of which is the head, which it exerts, or raifes, like the umbo or umbilicus of a bucker. This ſpecies of ſerpent is very frequently mentioned by authors; but ſo careleſly deſcribed, that it is not eaſy to determine which, if any of the ſpecies known at preſent, may properly be called by this name. It is ſaid to be common in Africa, and about the banks of the Nile; and Bellonius mentions a ſmall ſpecies of ſerpent which he had met with in Italy, and which had a ſort of callous excereſcence on the forehead, which he takes to have been the aſpis of the ancients. It is with the aſp that Cleopatra is ſaid to have diſpatched herſelf, and prevented the deſigns of Auguſtus, who intended to have carried her captive to adorn his triumphal entry into Rome. But the fact is conteſted: Brown places it among his vulgar errors. The indications of that queen's having uſed the miſtry of the aſp, were only two almoſt inſenſible pricks found in her arm. In reality, Plutarch ſays, it is unknown what death ſhe died of.
Lord Bacon makes the aſp the leaſt painful of all the instruments of death: he ſuppoſes it to have an affinity to opium, but to be leſs diſagreeable in its operation: Which, however, does not ſo well agree with
the deſcription of the ſymptoms given by Dioſcorides and others; who inform us, that the bite is followed by a ſtupor of the whole body, paleneſs, coldneſs of the forehead, continual yawning, nictitation of the eyelids, inclination of the neck, heavineſs of the head, ſinking into a profound ſleep, and laſtly convulſions.
The ancients had a plaſter called di Aſpides, made of this terrible animal, of great efficacy as a diſcutient of ſtruma, and other indurations, and uſed likewiſe againſt pains of the gout. The fleſh and ſkin, or exuviae, of the creature, had alſo their ſhare in the ancient materia medica.