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epTftles of Ignatius are the genuine work of that martyr, and the longer a parapbrafe on them, made by a later hand, who has intermixed his own tenets r : Mr. Whifron maintains the contrary, that the longer are the original, and the fhorter an Abridgment of them *.— [ x JVhiJl. St. Clement. &c. Vindic. of Apoft. Conff. p. 5. y DUT. de Epift. Ignat. in Cleric. Patr. Apoft. P. 2. 6. z Lc Cterc, Bibl. Anc. Mod. T. 22. p. 312.] The ufe of Abridgments- is either for relieving the memory, or faving time, and fhortning the courfe of ftudy : fomething alfo is gained in the price and handinefs of fmall books, com- pared with bulky volumes. It has been alledged, that Abridg- ments are chiefly of ufe to the makers J at leaft to thofe who have read the originals. A late author adds, that they are chiefly prejudicial to thofe for whom they are intended, viz. young ftudents ; properly fpeaking, fays he, they are only of ufe to thofe who have no occafion for them, i. e. to profi- cients. BailL Jug, des Scav. T. 1. P. 2. c. 11. p. 470. But there are alfo inconveniences attending Abridgments y as, their tendency to diminilh application and ftudy, by facili- tating the acquifition of knowledge ; their conveying only fuperficial notions,, and thus making fmatterers in fcience j their maiming good authors, by fupprefling material circum- ftances, and thus making them obfeure ; and frequently mif- reprefenting them, and thus propagating errors : laftly, their occafioning the originals to be overlooked, and in confequence thereof at length loft. Thus the lofs of 2000 Roman lawyers is attributed to the digeft : the lofs of many Greek fathers to the catena; : that of a number of antient writers on husbandry, farrying, hiftory, &c. to the Abridgments of Conftant. Por- phyrogenitus j the lofs of Tragus Pompeius to Juftin ; of Dion to Xiphilin ; of much of Livy to Fionas ; of Cafliodorus to Jornandes, &c. — On thefe grounds, Abridg?ncnis are but of ill repute in the republic of letters ; and are abfolutely con- demned by many of the feverer critics, though defended- by others. Salmafius, Huet, and Lamy* are of the number, of opponents : the fame Salmafius, and Le Clerc, with the whole body of journalifts, bibliothecarians, and epitomifts, are ftrenuous advocates of Abridgments : 'tis urged in their favour, that they excite and raife an appetite for the originals, rather than divert us from them ; that many antient books are loft that were never abridged; that many others are ftill extant of which we have Abridgments ; that of fome, the Abridgments have been loft, while the originals are ftill fafe ; that in the Cafe of Dion, part of him was abridged by Xiphilin, and part of him is loft, but the parts are not the. fame : fo that if the Jofs of the twenty laft books be attributed to that abbreviator, to whom fhull we afcribe the lofs of the other thirty-five books, which Xiphilin did not touch ? and what reafon can be al- ledged, why the twenty-five books ftill remaining of this biftorian did not periih with the reft, fince Xiphilin abridged thefe as well as the others ? There appears then no great connection between the abridging and the lofing of a book ; on the contrary, it feems owing to Abridgments^ that many excellent authors are not wholly loft ; that fome planks at leaft have efcaped the general wreck. ABRIDGING, in algebra, is the reducing, a compound pro- blem, or equation to its more fimple expreflion. See Pro- blem, Equation, and Expression. To prevent the mind's being diftracted with attending to known quantities, concerning which nothing further is re- quired ; and to keep the attention entire lor the reft ; mathe- maticians ufe to abridge their equations, by expreffing all the known quantities of the fame term, by a fmgle letter. — For an inftance : to abridge the equation
- 3 — -axx-\~abx — abc—Q
— b +ac
—c +|tf
All the known quantities ■ — a — b — c of the fecond term an fuppofed equal to one fmgle letter — n : all the known quan- tities -\-ab-\-ac-\-bc of the third term, equal to another let- ter -\-p ; and all the known quantities — abe of the fourth term to a fmgle letter — -q. By which means we have xi — nxx--px—q = o, inftcad of the equation propofed. Reyn. Anal. Dement. 1. 2. fee. 2. §. 17. p. 36. An equation thus abridged, is called a formula. SeeFoRMULA. ABROCAMENTUM, in antient law writers, b'ee Abroch-
MENT, Cyd.
ABROKUS, in botany, a name ufed by fome of the Latin writers, for the bromus, or avena Jlerilis, the wild oat j and
. by others, for the orobus, or bitter vetch. The Greeks ori- ginally ufed the word, and that not only for thefe two vege- tables, but, in a much larger ferae, understanding by it any herb refembling the plants cultivated for the ufe of the table, but not efculent. The Greeks and Romans had a way of exprefling the boiling of pulfe, or herbs, by words figaHyjng the wetting them : thus the Greeks exprefled boiled things by brocba, &&%?*, and the Romans by madida a . Virgil ufes this
. word for the peafe, and Plautus for all. efculent things that were boiled : hence thefe baftard peafe and oats were called abrecba, nan madida, not fit for boiling or eating.— [ a Ainf- wortb's Diet, in Voc. Madidus.]
ABRONO, in botany, a name given by Serapion, and others, to the heart-peas ; called alfo Abrugi. ' Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
ABROTANUM, Abrotonum. See Southernwood.
. . 2
ABRUGI* in botany, a- name given by fome to the heart-peas;
Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. ABRUS,. in the materia medica, the name of a feed produced by one of the phafeole, or kidney-beans, and commonly called Angola feeds. Dale's Pharm. p. 217. ABSCESS, {Cyd.)— See Imposthumation. Abscess in the liver. See Liver. ABSCISSION, Abfdffio, the act of cutting oft 7 a thing. Abscission,, in rhetoric, is a figure of fpeech, when beginning. to fay a thing,, we break off 'ftiort,. as fuppofing the matter fumciently fignified, by what has been already Cud. Cic. ad Herenn. 1. 4. c. 77.
For an inftance : One of her fex,. age,, and beauty, to be feen alone, at fuch an hour, with a man of his character. — I need fay no more.
AbfciJJion is a fpecics of cllipus,. or fuppreflion.— Scaligcr di- fHnguimes it from pnecifion, and fufpenfion. Seal. Poet. 1. 3. c. 76.
Aftrologers alfo fpeak of an AbfciJJion of the Light of a planet, by another planet's outftripping it, and joining a. third be- fore it. Abfciffion is held a deterioration. Vital. Lex. Math, p. 4. Abscission, in furgcry, denotes the aft of taking away fome morbid or fuperfluous part by an edged inftrument -\ In this fenfe, Abfciffion amounts to the fame with the Greek «tto*m7>!. Cowper fpeaks of the Abfciffion of a leg ; which is- more properly called amputation b . The Abfciffion of the pnepuce makes what we call circumcifion. Abfciffion of the? ears is a kind of legal punifhment, inflicted on perjury. In fome countries they alfo praclife Abfciffion of the nofc on- traitors in an army, as a punifhment reputed worfe than death c .— [ fl Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 4. * Phil. Tranf. N°. 280. p. 1195. c Beicr. Jur. Milit. §. 1285.] Abscission is mors properly ufed for the operation of cutting; away fome foft part of the body, when depraved, or grown hurtful. Blanc. Lex. Med. p. 3.
In which fenfe, Abfciffion differs from amputation, in that the latter is of a folid or bony part, the former of a flefhy or mem- branous one ; yet they are fometimes confounded. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 4.
We fay, the Abfciffion of a. nerve, rip, cheek,, or the like: Mr. Shipton gives an inftance of the Abfciffion of a portion of the inteftines not mortal. Phil. Tranf. N°. 283. ABS1NTHITES, Absinthiac, or Absinthiated, fome- thing tinged or impregnated with the virtues of abfinthium, or wormwood. Colum.X 12. c. 35. Martin. Lex. Phil. T.I- p. 4. Vojf. Etym. p. 2.
Bartholin mentions a woman whofe milk was become Abfin- tbiated, and rendered bitter as gall, by the too liberal ufe of wormwood a .
Vinum Abfinthites, or poculum Abftnibiatum^ wormwood wine, is much fpoke of among the antients, as a wholefome agreeable drink, and even an antidote againft drunken- nefs ; though fome have charged it with being ofrenfive to the head b , and liable to caufe fevers, cephalalgias, vo- mitings, uterine fluxes % he. Ray alfo makes it a hinderer of venery d . The preparation is given by many c . Accor- ding, to the common account, it is made by infufing the leaves of the plant in a quantity of wine. But Fehr {hews that it fhould rather be prepared by fermentation, in order to correct the crudities of the plant, and call forth its volatile fait.. Faulli prepares it even without abfinthium. Dr.. Bowie prefers the aqua Abfinthites, or wormwood water, taken in a fmall quan- tity after meals, to the wine ; as being lefs liable to affect the head, and fill it with vapours f . — [ a Barthol. Act. Med. T. 2. obf. 62. b Lang. Ed. Medic. 38. I. 2. c NebeL Difp.2. in Nov. Lit. Mar. Bait. Jul, 1707. p. 241. d Ray 3 Synopf. Stirp. Brit. Gen. 7. p. 94. Sinibald. Geneanthr. 1. 31. Tr. 3. c. 22. p. 371. c Diofcor. 1. 5. c, 49. Plin.. Hiit. Nat. 1. 14. c. 19. Fehr. Hier. Pier, in Ephem. Acad. N. C. dec. 2. an. 5. app, p. 170. f R- a y-> toe. cit.] ABSOLUTISM, the dogm of God's ading abfolutely in the affair of falvation, and not being guided in his willing, or nilling, by any reafon. Loefch. Parox. Abfol. Deer. Nov. Lit. Germ, 1708. p. 183.
Abfolutifm is one of thofe doctrines charged on the Calvinifts, for which the Lutherans refufe all union with them. See Calvinis-t and Calvinism. ABSORBENTS, {Cyd.) in a general fenfe, is ufed for fuch things as have the faculty of abforbing, or (wallowing up others. Afhes are an Abforbent in rcfp^cl of water, though not in the degree fuppofed by Ariftot'e, from whom we derive a vulgar error, That a pot full of afhes will ftill abforb as much water as if empty a . Cloves- are fo violent an Abforbent of moifture, that we are told, if care be not taken tn the importing, to keep all water, wine and the like at a good diftance from them, a certain quantity of cloves will, in two days time, drain a whole hogfhead of wine b . M. Homberg has a dif- courfe on the quantity of acids abforbed by terrcftrial alealis ; wherein he fhews, how much acid any known alcali will re- tain c . M. de la Hire gives an experiment for afcertaining the quantity of water abforbed by plants. — [ a Brown, Vulg. Err. '. 2. c. 5. p. 68. b O-vingt. Voy. to Surrat. Jour, des Scav.
1
T.7S
- Mem Acad, R. Scienc. an. 1700. p. 81.]
• Abforoeitts
