A B.D
ABE
reckon it highly meritorious, and are efteem'd, by the ir, martyrs for their faith. V. D'Hcrbel. Bibl. Orient.
Abb-reviators is alfo a name given by fame authors to an antient litteral academy, fuppos'd to have been at Rome, in the fifteenth century, and compos'd of the chief men of letters of the age ; ; ;, Pomp. Lxtus, Platina, Pontanus, Sannaza- rlus, Sabellicus, Sec. v. ■'■ s by the rules o{ the foriety, chang'd their names at their admiffion, for thofe of fome antient Greek orRpman.
They are fuppofed to have been thus called, either in honour of Platba, one of the papal Abbreviators, who was the di- rector of tin's academy ; or becaufe they undertook to abbre- viate and reduce into a narrow compafs, what had been writ- ten diffufively on various fubjects. Watch, in Mifc. Lipf. Vol. i- p. 150.
The exiffence of fuch an academy has been much contro- verted : Stempelius firft broach'd the notion, which has been fmce defended by Walchius, and countenane'd by Struvius, and fome other learned men ; but exploded by Heumannus, as a fielion, grounded only on miflakes a . — [ a Vid. Struv. Introd. ad Not. rei. liter. C. 10. §. 5. Walch. in Mifc. Lipf. T. 1. p. 144. And Heuman. de fabula Societ. - Abbreviat. Romanae. Mifc. Lipf. T. 3. p. 2. J
ABDALS, in the Eaftern countries, a kind of faints fup- pofed to be infpir'd to a degree of madnefs. The word, comes, perhaps, from the Arabic, Abdallah, the fervant of God. — The Perfians call them devaneh khoda, agreeable to the Latins way of fpeaking of their prophets, and fibils, q. d. furentcs dec, raging with the god.
The Abdah are often carry'd by excefs of zeal, efpecially in the Indies, to run about the ftreets, and kill all they meet of a different religion ; of which travellers furniih many in- stances. The Englifti call this, running a muk, from the name of the inftrument, a fort of poignard, which they em- ploy on thofe defperate occafions. If they are kilPd, as it commonly happens, before they have done much mifchief, they vulg p. 5.
A B D £ S Ty among the Mahometans, a peculiar manner of waffling, before prayer, entering the mofquc, or reading the alcoran ; practis'd with fome difference both by Turks and Perfians.. The word is compounded of the Perfian ab, water, and deft, hand.
The Perfian Abdeft, or lotion, is perform'd by paffing the bands with water over the head, from the neck to the forehead, twice; and afterwards over the feetto the ankles. — The Turks, on the contrary, pour water on their heads, and wafh their feet thrice ; but if they have wafh'd the feet in the morn- ing, before dreffwg, they content themfelves to wet their heads,
■ and ftroke it over their ftockings, from the toe to the ankle a . Rycaut b and Pitts c defcribe the ceremony fomewhat diffe- rently. — [ a D'Hcrbel, Bibl. Orient, p. 10. b Rycaut, Pref. Stat. Ottom. Emp. 1. 2. c. 23. p. 158. c Pitts, Account of Mobamm. c. 6. p. 36. feq.]
ABDICARIA propofnio, in logic, is ufed for a negative propofition.
ABDOMEN, (Cyd. ) — Authors arc not agreed, whether the hind part be properly included in the Abdomen, which fome reftrain to the anterior, or fore part only a . Keill varies between the two, excluding in one place the back part, yet in another, making it part of the Abdomen b . Dictionary- writers arc ftill more faulty ; fome of them make the Abdo- men only part of the lower venter c ; others more exprefsly call it the external part d ; by which we fuppofe they mean the integuments of the Abdomen.- — [ a Caji. Lex. Med. p. 2. b Keil, Comp. Anat. p. 7, 8. c Danet. Diet. Lat. p. 7. Richelrt, T. 1. p. 5. Col. 1. d Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 24.]
Difeafes of the Abdomen are inflammations, abfeeffes, fchirrus's, indurations, inflations, fpafms, &c. Hence the Abdomen be- comes the feat of divers operations ; as perforations, futures, fedtions, &c.
bounds of the Abdomen, either only affect the common integuments and mufcles, or elfe they penetrate into the ca- vity of the Abdomen.
Wounds are examined as to this particular, cither by the eye, the patting the probe, or the injecting of warm water ; if the water meets no obftiuetion, you are fure the wound pene- trates ; if it returns back upon you, and the probe does not pafs in, but meets with obftruftion, the Abdomen is not entirely opened.
Thofe wounds that do not penetrate into the cavity of the Abdomen, are either only in the common integuments, or the mufcles of the Abdomen are divided as far as the perito- neum. The firft of thefe cafes requires little care, being only a common flight wound, but the laft is very dangerous, for the interlines very often fall thro' the wound. If the wound is large, great (kill is required in the furgeon, efpecially, if it is made in a tranfverfe, or oblique direction, for in this cafe the future is necefiary, to keep the gaping lips of the wound together. Having taken thefe precautions, to prefeive the inteftines and peritoneum in their natural fituation, the wound is to be drefl'ed with vulnerary balfams, and an adhefive plainer ; the patient muff alfo be enjoined abftinence, muff have reft, and his bowels muff be kept open.
In wounds of the Abdomen, that penetrate into its cavity* the furgeon is firft to examine very carefully, whether any of its contents partake of the injury. It will be found that this is not the cafe, if there is no great degree of weaknefs, hae- morrhage, pain, fever, &c. if on laying -the patient upon the wounded fide, there is no difcharge of chyle, gall, ex- crement, or urine ; if milk being injected warm, returns without any alteration in its colour; if the inflicting inftru- ment has not been very fharp ; and laftly, if there is no vomiting or difcharge of blood by the mouth, ftool, or urine, nor fwelling or hardnefsof the belly. Hefter's Surg.
?* 55 *
In the philofophical Tranfactions, we have an account of a very extraordinary fize of the Abdomen of a young woman, who was in a dropfy from the want of a kidney. The cir- cumference of the Abdomen was fix feet four inches, and from the xyphoid cartilage to the os pubis, above four feet. Phil. Tranf. N° 482. Sect. 2.
We have fome remarks on the hydropical tumors of the Ab- domen, in the medical effays of Edinburgh. Vol. 5. art. 59.
ABDUCENS labiorum, in anatomy, a name given by Spi- gelius to a mufcle, which he alfo calls the feamdus adlatera trabens. This is the levator anguli oris of Albinus, and the caninus or elevator labiorum communis of others.
ABDUCENT, in anatomy. See Abductor, Cyd.
ABDUCTION, (Cyd.) in furgery, denotes a fpecies of fracture, wherein the bone being broken near a joint, along its whole thicknefs, the two ftumps ftart to a good diftance from each other. See Fracture.
This Abduclion is the fame with what Greek writers call uvrocyfAu, or aro-oxTiafffAai ; fomctimes xa.vhnhv, q. d. Caulatim faela fraclura ; fome Latin writers call it Abruptio. Cajiellus.
ABDUCTOR, {Cyd.) — Abduclor longus pollicis, in ana- tomy, a name given by Albinus to a mufcle of the hand, called by Winflow, Cowper, and others, cxienfor primus pollicis.
Abductor Ojjis metacarpi digiti minimi, in anatomy, a name given by Albinus to a mufcle of the hand cal- led by Window, and fome others, the metacarpialis, and by the generality of writers by names but badly cx- prefling its nature or ufes. Riolanus calls it pars hypotbe- naris parvi digiti ; and Spigelius, interofjeus ultimo off me- tacarpii, parte manus externa, adherens. Cowper calls it the abduclor minimi digiti ; and Douglafs the flexor primi inter" nodii minimi digiti.
ABELMOSCH, or Abelmusk, the mufk-feed; a fmall odoriferous feed brought from Egypt ; chiefly ufed in per- fumes. See Musk-seed.
The word is Arabic ; compounded of Ab, el, and mofch ; as being the mufk of the Arabs. Blanc. Lex. Med. p. 1. feq.
ABELOITES. Iq a r 1
ABELONIANS. } s ee Abelians, Cyd.
ABEREMURDER, Aberemurdrum, in antient law books, denotes murder that has been proved, or made ap- pear by judiciary procefs. Wdk. Gloff. in voc. Abarnare. The word is Anglo-Saxon ; compound of GL-epe, bare or clear t and CPopS, 'killing, homicide. Spdm. Gloff. p. 4. In this fenfe Aberemurder, called alfo Ebercmurder, amounts to the fame with probatum murdrum, or murder which needed proof; and ftands oppofed to open murder, which was mur- der fufficiently known by the notoriety of the fact. Lambard explains Aberemurder by manifejlum murdrum ; and Spelman, and after him Du Cange, by apertum murdrum a ; which feems to be a miflake, unlefs we are to fuppofe aper- tum and manifejlum are here to be taken in that loofe figni- fication in which Spelman elfewhere ufes the latter, when he ■ interprets it, nan quod in aperto fit, fed quod aperto conjlat de perpetrato fcelere ; that is, has been fully proved b . — [ a Spelm. loc. cit. Du Gang, Gloff. Lat. T. %. p. 1 1 1 . Voc. Ebere?nurdrum. b Spelm. Gloff. p. 193. Vcc. Ebere- murder. }
Aberemurdrum was one of thofe crimes, which could not be atoned for with money ; as moft others might.
ABERRATION, in optics, is ufed to denote that error or deviation of the rays of light, when inflected by a lens or fpeculum, whereby they arc hindred from meeting or uniting in the fame point.
There are two fpecies of the aberrations of rays, diftinguimed by their different caufes, one arifmg from the figure of the glafs or fpeculum ; the other from the unequal refrangibility of the rays of light. See Lens and Speculum. The fecond fpecies of aberration is fometimes called the New- tonian, from the name of its inventor.
ABESTA, the name of one of the facred books of the Per- fian Magi ; which they attribute to their great founder Zo- roafter, or Zerduffit.
The Abe/la is a commentary or expofition of two other of their religious books, called Zend and pa%end a ; the three together include the whole fyftem of the ignicolcs, or worship- pers of fire. — [ * D'Hcrbel. Bibl. Orient, p. 11. See alio Hyde, de Rclig. Vet. Perf. c. 2. Fabrici Cod. Pfeudepig. Vet. Teft. T. 1. §. 108. p. 350,] AB E S T O N, a word us'd by fome of the writers of the middle ages as the name of a flone, to which they attribute great
