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jtbforbmts are of divers kinds ; fimple, compound, faline, cin- nabarine, marine, fixed, earthy, -acid, alcaline, &c. In the Pharmacopoeias, we meet with feveral forms of Abforbents ; Abforhent powders, electuaries, draughts, &c. Harris, de Morb. Infant, ap. Jour, dcs Scav. T. 38. p. 2;6. fcij. Mem. deTrev. 1713. p. 1248.
Abforhnts confume the humours without fufing them, and have fometimes the effe£t of ftrengtheners, fometimes of purga- tives d , oftner of calmers, to allay fermentations 6 . They are of ufe for tempering acrimonies ', and after emollients and attenuants, for healing tumours ; fome hold them neceffary for preventing the ill effects of bitters ; they are good in cardi- algias or heats of the ftomach l, and hiccups " ; are alfo civen in hedics ', and other chronical cafes, as coughs k , though with great caution and referve '. Abforbents have alfo their ill effects; efpecially if too lavifhly given, being liable to make congeftions in the vifcera •" : they are hurtful in the itch", bilious fevers", dyfentcries p, hypochondrial and hyfteric cafes?, quartans', &c. according to fome._[J Ephem. Acad. Nat. Cur. Dec. 2. an. 7. p. 242. • Jumli. Coni'p. Med. tab. 14. p. 82. f Remarq. fur Tabus des Purgatifs 1. Jour. Scav T. 87. p. 662. feq. s Dal. Encyc.Med.l. 3. p. 287.3. »Id'. ib.p. 294. a. ' jumk. Confp. tab. 58. p. 389. * Nsnt, Fun- dam. Med tab. 64. p. 44. ' Junck. ubi fupra, p 39 r » Al- bert, in Aft. Acad. N. C. T. 2. p. 316. » Junck. lib. cit. tab. 68.P.458. °Id.ib. tab. 42. p. 282. 'Id. lb. tab. 52. p. 350. 'Id. lb. tab. 29. p. 192. ' Junck. tzb. 56. p. 378. &. tab. 61. p. 402.]
Jbforbents are generally prefcribed as the only remedy for the acute difeafes of infants, tho' held by others rather hurtful to children, by loading their tender vifcera, and creating obftruc- rions in the capillaries. Kozamer, Inform, de Infant. Va- letud. tuend. Jour, dcs Scav. T. 63. p. 699. feq. Particular kinds of Akfirknts have their particular effefls ; old oifter-fhells are preferred for children ; magifieries and precipi- tates are leaft fuitable, as being already furcharged with acids. Jbforbents faturated with acid juices, as of citrons, are good in coughs, and catarrhs ; thofe prepared with cinnabar, in ifchu- rias ; with aftringents, in the diabetes ; faline, in the itch ; marine, in chronical difeafes of the breaft : in which laft cafe, the earthy are hurtful. £)uinc. difpenf. Par. 2. Sec. 2. p. 87. Abforbents'^ are fometimes applied to ulcers ; but it is to be obferved, that the infipid terreftreous Jbforbents, fuch as coral, C2V. put into an ulcer, where a bone is carious, can have lit- tle other efria than to imbibe the matter of the ulcer; if they fall into any cavemula; of the corrupted bone, they may re- main fo long there, that the matter they imbibe may become acrid. Lint is an Abforhent, which has not this difadvantage. Monro, in Med. Efl'. Edinb. Vol. 5. Art. 24. The taking an immoderate quantity of crabs eyes, and other Jbforbents for the heart-burn, has fometimes been attended with fatal confequences. See Phil. Tranf. N ° 459. Seft. 2. Van Swictcn in his comment on Boerhaave's ahporifm obferves, that thefe Abforhent powders ought not to be ground too fine, but rather left fomewhat coarfe, as they will be lefs apt to con- crete and prove dangerous. Absorbent Veffels, a minute kind of veffels, found in animal bodies, which attract, and imbibe the nutritious, and other matters brought near their mouths.
Thefe are fometimes alfo called reforbent veffels, and fometimes Abforhent pores.
Jbforbmt Veffels are found in all parts of the body, efpecially where the membranes lie open to cavities, as in the mouth, cefophagus, ftomach, inteftines, &c. A late author computes no lefs than 7,000,000,000 in one fquare foot of the furface of the ftomach': by thefe, mercury, plafters, and the like medi- cines externally applied, enter the habit of the body: to thefe are alfo owing the inftantaneous effects of fpirits, drams, water, &c. upon the body. The like veffels are alfo numerous in the fkin ; where they are fuppofed to imbibe the fluid matters floating in the ambient air, and convey them into the body b . — [' Mortimer, Exerc. Inaug. de Ingreff. Humor, in Corp. Jour, des Scav. T. 77. p. 31. h Id. ibid.J Absorbent Veffels, are more particularly ufed for thofe lafteals which open into the fides of the inteftinal tube, to imbibe the chyle in its defcent from the ftomach, and convey it into the mefenteric veins.
Naturalifts fpeak of the like Jbforbents in plants ; the fibrous or hairy roots of which are confidered as a kind of vafa Jbfar- bentia, which attract and imbibe the nutritious juices from the earth. Vid. Malpigb. Anat. Plant, par. 2. Bibl. Univ. T.'4. p. 244. Leewenhoeck. Let. 2. Bibl. Univ. T. 1. p. 474. feq. Fontanel. Hift. Acad. R. Scien. 1708. p. 81. De la Hire, Explic. Phyf. de la Dircft. Vert, des Tiges, ap. Mem. Acad. R. Scien. 1708. p. 297. ABSORBING, the act of fucking up, or imbibing another body. Sir I. Newton ftlews that black bodies abforb all the rays they receive, and that thofe rays of light which impinge againft the fohd particles of bodies are ahforbed and loft. Some naturalifts are of opinion, that the whole antediluvian earth has been ah- forbed and covered by the fea '. Rudbeck fpeaks on the au- thority of an antient poet, of a large ifland near Britain, ah- forbed by the ocean : the fame fate is Plato's Atlantis fuppofed to have undergone. Gardeners obferve, that luxuriant wood- Suppl. Vol. I.
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branches abforb and wafte the nutritious juices, which fhould feed the fruit of the trees. The Copts and Ethiopians hold that the human nature of Chrift is ahforbed, and loft in the divine nature, as a drop of wine is loft and abforhed in the
,^rr^ D ' la Fr y""< inPhil - Tra,,f - N °- 266. P . 68 3 . k q .
Walks Ep. ad Leibn. Phil. Tranf. N°. 255. p. 283. ' Poncet Voi. d'Ethiop. p. 106. Lett. Edif. & Cur. T. 4. ABSORPTION, in the animal cecononiv, is ufed for that power whereby the fmall open orifices of veffels, imbibe liquors lodged in the cavities of the animal bodies. This according to Mr. Monro is obferved to increafe or diminifh proportionally to the ftrength or weaknefs of the creature. See Medic. Efl'. Edmb. Vol. 2. p. 132. Absorptions ofthcEartb, a term ufed by Kircher and others, for the finking in of large traa s of land, by means of fub- .terrariean commotions. See Sinking. ABSt ENTUS, among civilians, is underftood of art heir withheld by his tutor from taking on him an inheritance. Calv.Lex. Jur. p. 11.
Among ecclefiaftical writers, the word is alio ufed for a per- fon excommunicated. Spclm. Gloff. p. 6. Schmid. Lex. Ec- clel. p. 11. ABSI ERGENTS, (Cycl.) — Thefe are given in confumptions in many cafes, and the moft proper 011 this occafion, are the faline ones, with the .common abforbents, faturated with acids. Stahl greatly recommends a mixture of tartarum vitriolatum and crabs eyes, faturated with lemon juice, each half an ounce, mixt with thedillilled waters of fcordium, fcabious and chervil], each three ounces. Of this the patient fhould take a fpoonful, two or three times a day, with fmall dofes of nitre at the intermediate hours, to take off the febrile heat ; and as the patient in thefe cafes is ufually tired out with the long continuance in a courfe with any medicines, this may after a time be changed for a decoction of the roots of arum and pimpernell, half an ounce of each, with fpeedwell, colts- foot, chervil], daify leaves, of each a handful, and maidenhair, and fanicle; of each half a handful : thefe are to be boiled in two quarts of Water, till a pint is confumed, and then the clear liquor fweetened with honey. Juncier's, Confp. Med. The pefloral Jbjlergents, are alfo the beft of all medicines in the decline of an haemorrhage by the mouth, in which blood has been voided clear from the lungs : in this cafe they never fail to refolve any grumes that may remain in the part ; and at the fame time, wonderfully reftore the due tone of the vif- cera. The moft proper on this occafion are decoctions of dairy- leaves, ground-ivy, fpeedwell, and the fmall nettle, with pow- ders of nitre, and dried goat's blood, and a mixture of an ounce of crabs eyes in a pint of white wine. ABSTINENCE, (Cycl.) — We have an account of extraordi- nary Abftinence in a young woman, caufed by a difficulty of fwaUowing, fo great, that on every attempt towards it, (he fell into fits. This iafted for thirty four days, about a month afterwards, the difficulty returned, and fhe' remained without meat or drink for fifty four days, without any fenfe of hunger or thirft. See. Medic. Efl'. Edinb. Vol. 5. Art. 43. See alfo the article Easting. ABSTINENTES, in ecclefiaftica] hiftory, a fort of peopk in the antient church, who carried the bufinefs of Abftinence and mortification fo far, that they have been put in the cata- logue of heretics; tho' wherein their error confifted, is little agreed on.
Some reprefent the Abjlinentes as the fame with thofe other- wife called continentes, and that they particularly enjoined Ab- Jlinence from the ufe of marriage ; others fay, from flefh ; and others, from wine". Others will have them a branch of the Gnoftics, and that their herefy confifted in holding flefh evil in itfelf, and created by the devil. Some make them the fame with the Hieracites ; others with the Encratites b . They are faid to have arifen in Spain and the Gauls in the third century.— [" Du Cang. Gloff. Lat. T. 1. p. 29. b Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 50. ABSTRACTS ABSTRACTED, is a name given to a feet, or party, in the Lutheran church, charged with hetero- doxy in the ufe of the word Abftracl, as applied to Chrift. Their leader was Hefhufius a Pruffian bifhop, or fuperintendant, who afferted againft Beza, " That Chrift was not only to be adored, in the concrete, as fon of God ; but that his very flefh in the Abftracl was an object of adoration, or that the right of being adoted was communicated to his flefh." This being un- derftood as importing, that the flefh of Chrift in its Abftracl, or effence, exclufive of its union with the divine nature, was an object of adoration ; great eontefts arofe ; and tho' Hefhu- fius explained his meaning orthodoxly, it would not be taken. Wigandus another bifhop of the fame church, tho' he allow'd they were agreed about the thing ; yet apprehended fo much danger from the phrafe, That the humanity of Chrift is to be adored in the Abftracl, as omnipotence, &c. that he ceafed not till Hefhufius was depofed : but times, turned ; the Abflracli gained the afcendant, and Wigandus himfelf was filenced. Micrxl. Hift. Eccl. 1. 3. SeS. 2. §. 72. p. 890. Budd. Ifag. Hift. Theol.l. 2. c. 7. p. 1211. ABSTRACTION, (Cycl.)—Abjtraclien, in chemiftry, denotes' the drawing oft, or exhaling away, a menftruum from the fubjea it had been put to diffolve.
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