Bitumen Judaicum, or Jew's Pitch, is a light, solid bitumen, of a dusky colour on the outside, and a deep shining black within; of very little taste, and having scarcely any smell, unless heated, when it emits a strong pitchy odour. It is found in a soft or liquid state on the surface of the Dead Sea, and by age grows dry and hard. The same kind of bitumen is met with likewise in the earth in other places of the world—in China, America, and in some places of Europe, as the Carpathian Hills, France, Neufchâtel, &c. See BITUMEN.

ASPHODELEÆ, a natural order of plants, containing, among others, the well-known vegetable, asparagus. This plant, and the root of the marsh-mallow, yield the chemical principle asparagine. See CHEMISTRY.