or Chasidæans**, (from the Hebrew *chasidim*, "merciful, pious") those Jews who returned to Mattathias to fight for the law of God and the liberties of their country. They were men of great valour and zeal, having voluntarily devoted themselves to a more strict observation of the law than other men. For after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, there were two sorts of men in their church; those who contented themselves with that obedience only which was prescribed by the law of Moses, and who were called *Zadikim*, i.e. the righteous; and those who, over and above the law, superadded the constitutions and traditions of the elders, and other rigorous observances; these latter were called *Chafidim*, i.e. the pious. From the former sprung the Samaritans, Sadducees, and Caraites; from the latter, the Pharisees and the Essenes.

**ASSIDENT signs**, in Medicine, are symptoms which usually attend a disease, but not always; hence differing from pathognomonic signs, which are inseparable from the disease: e.g., in the pleurisy, a pungent pain in the side; in an acute fever, difficulty of breathing, &c., collectively taken, are pathognomonic signs; but that the pain extends to the hypochondrium or clavicle, or that the patient lies with more ease on one side than on the other, are *affident* signs.