ARZAMAS  , a

town of Russia, in the government of, and 76 m. by rail S. of the town of, Nizhniy-Novgorod, on the Tesha river, at its junction with the Arsha . It is an important centre of trade, and has tanneries, oil, flour, tallow, dye, soap and iron works; knitting is an important domestic industry . Sheep- skins and sail-cloth are articles of trade . The town has several churches . Pop . (1897) 10,591 . AS, the Roman unit of weight and measure, divided into 12 unciae (whence both " ounce " and " inch ") ; its fractions being deunx j- , dextans I, dodrans , bes I, septunx -17g, ASAFETIDA 713 semis a, quincunx- , triens a, quadrans 4f sextanss,sescuncia8i uncia 3& . As really denoted any integer or whole; whence the English word " ace." The unit or as of weight was the libra (pound: =about 11 oz. avoirdupois); of length, pes (foot: =about 11 in.); of surface, jugerum (=about acre); of measure, liquid amphora (about 51 gal.), dry modius (about 14 peck) . In the same way as signified a whole inheritance; whence heres ex asse, the heir to the whole estate, heres ex semisse, heir to half the estate . It was also used in the calculation of rates of interest . As was also the name of a Roman coin, which was of different weight and value at different periods (see NUMISMATICS, § Roman) . The first introduction of coined money is ascribed to Servius Tullius .

The old as was composed of the mixed

metal aes, an alloy of copper, tin and lead, and was called as libralis, because it nominally weighed 1 lb or 12 ounces (actually so) . Its original shape seems to have been an irregular oblong bar, which was stamped with the figure of a sheep, ox or sow . This, as well as the word petunia for money (pecus, cattle), indicates the fact of cattle having been the earliest Italian medium of exchange . The value was indicated by little points or globules, or other marks . After the round shape was introduced, the one side was always inscribed with the figure of a ship's prow, and the other with the double head of Janus . The subdivisions of the as had also the ship's prow on one side, and on the other the head of some deity . The First Punic War having exhausted the treasury, the as was reduced to 2 oz . In the Second Punic War it was again reduced to half this weight, viz. to oz . And lastly, by the Papirian law (89 s.C.) it was further reduced to the diminutive weight of half an ounce . It appears to have been still more reduced under Octavian, Lepidus and Antony, when its value was a of an ounce . Before silver coinage was introduced (269 B.C.) the value of the as was about 6d., in the time of Cicero less than a halfpenny . In the time of the emperor Severus it was again lowered to about - of an ounce .

During the

commonwealth and empire aes grave was used to denote the old as in contradistinction to the existing depreciated coin; while aes rude was applied to the original oblong coinage of primitive times .