Abstinence merits not; for religion consists not in the belly either full or empty. Hall's Contemplations. Religious men, who hither must be sent, As awful guides of heavenly government; To teach you penance, fasts, and abstinence, To punish bodies for the soul's offence. Dryden's Indian Emp. Because the abstinence from a present pleasure, that offers itself, is a pain; nay, oftentimes a very great one it is no wonder that, that operates after the same manner pain does; and lessens, in our thoughts, what is future; and so forces us, as it were, blindfold into its embraces. Locke. ABSTE'MIOUS, adj. from strong wines. Ab or abs: temetum, ABSTE'MIOUSLY, To be abstemious is to refrain with more than ordinary caution from the inebriating liquids. The instances of longevity are chiefly amongst the abstemious. Abstinence in extremity will prove a mortal disease; but the experiments of it are very Arbuthnot on Aliments. rare. The pearch is not only valiant to defend himself, but he is a bold biting fish; yet, he will not bite at all seasons of the year; he is very abstemious in winter. Walton's Angler. ABSTEMIOUS, properly signifies a person who refrains from all use of wine. So particular were the ancient Romans in exacting this virtue from their ladies, that they were willing, it would seem, to put some others to hazard. In the first ages of the commonwealth, it was expected that they should kiss their friends and relatives whenever they accosted them, that it might be known by their breath whether they had been indulging in wine. ABSTENSION, in law, a withholding the heir from taking possession of his estate. Among ecclesiastical writers, the word is also used for a person excommunicated. ABSTERGENTS, or abstersive medicines, are medicines of a saponaceous nature, employed for removing inward obstructions, by dissolving concretions. They are also called Detergents. ABSTERGE', Ab: :stergo, to wipe off, to ABSTERGENT, cleanse by wiping or scourABSTERSE', ing. The latter words are ABSTER'SION, not so analogical, and still ABSTER'SIVE, less in use than the preced ing. Abstersion is plainly a scouring off, or incision of the more viscous humours, and making the humours more fluid, and cutting between them and the part; as is found in nitrous water, which scoureth linen cloth speedily from the foulness. Bacon's Nat. Hist. No. 42. The seats with purple clothe in order due; And let th' abstersive sponge the board renew; Let some refresh the vasc's sullied mould, Some bid the goblets boast their native gold. Pope's Homer's Odyssey, b. xx. ABSTINENCE, from abs, from, and tinere, to hold, signifies the act or the habit of refraining from something to which there is a strong propensity. Pythagoras earnestly enforced upon his followers the necessity of abstaining from all animal food, except the remains of sacrifices, and to drink nothing but water, except in the evening, when they might take a little wine; and the ancient Athletæ abstained from all kinds of sen sual pleasure, to render themselves more hardy in the public games. The Jews were also commanded to observe various kinds of abstinence by their laws. Many of the primitive Christians denied themselves the use of particular meats, as we learn from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, (chap. xiv.) And the council assembled at Jerusalem, which the Apostles superintended, enjoined the Christian converts to abstain from things strangled, and from blood. Not that the reception of these things was, in itself a moral evil, but because the Jews were so offended by it, that it was the source of perpetual discord between the Jewish and Gentile converts. in A ritual abstinence is however still retained many communities, and is prescribed by rules and regulations of the Romish church. The church of England has also enforced abstinence from meats on certain days, and since the reformation, the practice has been enforced by statute. Injunctions of general abstinence were renewed under queen Elizabeth, not out of motives of religion, it was said, but to encourage the practice of fishing, and to increase the number of our mariners. ABSTINENCE, in medicine, is used to signify a suppression. Thus in Cœlius Aurelianus, abstinentia sudoris, signifies a suppression of sweat. Sometimes in this author it means a compression; as Spiritus ob abstinentiam clausus, means the wind shut up in the intestines by compression, thereby causing the iliac passion. ABSTINENCE in a more popular sense of the word, signifies a spare and parsimonious diet, which has been recommended medicinally, observed through superstition, or practised to impose on the credulity or benevolence of mankind. The Venetian Cornaro, after his life was despaired of, betook himself to a regular but in his grave at 40, and lived to the protracted abstinent life, revived his health, though almost Christians of the east, driven by persecution into period of nearly 100 years of age. The early the deserts of Arabia, lived on very spare food, in health and cheerfulness. St. Anthony is said to have taken only 12 ounces of bread, and water in 24 hours, and on this slender subsistence, to have lived to the age of 105 years. In like manner, James the hermit, lived 104 years; Arsenius, tutor of the emperor Arcadius, 120; St. Epiphanius, 115; Simeon the Stylite, 112; and Romauld, 120. By temperance and labour, one Laurence, mentioned by Buchanan, attained the age of 140; and Kentigern, commonly called St. Mungah or Mungo, mentioned by Spottiswood, lived to 185, by the same means. gevity appears to have been frequently connected with remarkable cases of abstinence, a consideration which led Dr. Cheyne to affirm, that most of the chronical diseases prevalent in luxurious climates, the common infirmities of old age, and the short lives of Englishmen, are the common effects of repletion; and might be prevented or cured by abstinence. Sudden and immediate abstinence is however, extremely detrimental to the constitution; and many persons who have attempted it, have never afterwards enjoyed health. Lon Some animals seem to possess extraordinary powers of abstinence. The dormouse, tortoise, bear, serpent, &c. pass four, five, or six months in the year without eating or drinking. Several species of birds, and almost the whole tribe of insects, lie throughout the winter without food. Rattle-snakes after many months' abstinence, have retained their vigour and fierceness. Two cerastes, a sort of Egyptian serpent, mentioned by Dr. Shaw, lived five years in a bottle closely corked, without any thing in the bottle, except a small quantity of sand. When he saw them, they had just cast their skins, and appeared as brisk and lively as ever. Vipers again, seem to live occasionally on those well-known nutritious substances floating in the atmosphere, and which are continually taken in by animal respiration: their young kept from every thing but air, will grow considerably in a few days. The eggs of lizards are observed to increase in bulk after they are produced, and seem to be nourished in the air in the same way as the spawn of fishes is in the water. Pliny says, a man may live seven days, and that many have been known to continue more than eleven days, without either meat or drink. Hist. Nat. lib. ii. c. 54.-Alexander Benedictus, that a person at Venice lived without food for 46 days. Pract. lib. xii. c. 2.-Clausius et Garcia ab Horto, that some rigid Banians in India, frequently abstain from food for 20 days together; and Guaguinus states, that Louis the Pious, emperor and king of France, who died 840, existed the last 40 days of his life without food or drink. Hist. Francor. lib. v.-Albertus Magnus saw a woman at Cologne, who often fasted 20, and sometimes 30 days; and a hypochondriacal man, who drank nothing but a draught of water every other day, for seven weeks. De Animalibus, lib. vii.-Democritus is said to have lived to the age of 109 years, and that in the latter part of his life he subsisted for 40 days at one time, by smelling honey and hot bread.Petrus de Abano gives an account of a woman in Normandy, who lived without food for 18 years. Exposit. Ult. prob. x.-Joubertus, of a woman that lived in good health three years; and of another, who to her tenth year, subsisted without either food or drink: and when she was of proper age, married and had children, and lived like other people. Decad. 1, paradox 2, Alburtus Krantzius says, that a hermit in the mountains of the canton of Schwitz, lived 20 years without food. Hist. Eccles. lib. xii. c. 21.— Hildanus relates the case of a girl who lived many years without food or drink. The abdomen had wasted and retracted toward the spine, and she neither voided urine nor fæces. Cent. 5, Obs. Chirurg. 33.-Sylvius says, there was a young woman in Spain, 22 years of age, who never ate any food, but lived entirely on water. And that there was a girl in Narbonne, and another in Germany, who lived three years in good health without meat or drink. We shall now subjoin a few modern cases of abstinence, which have been given more at large: "Gilbert Jackson, of Carse-Grange, Scotland, about 15 years of age, was seized in February, 1716, with a violent fever, which returned in April for three weeks, and again on the 10th of He then lost his speech, his appetite, and June. the use of his limbs, and took no food whatever. On June 30, he was seized with a fever again, and the next day recovered his speech, but without eating or drinking, or the use of his limbs. On the 11th of October, he recovered his health with the use of one of his legs, but neither eat nor drank, only sometimes washed his mouth with water. On the 18th of June, 1718, the fever returned and lasted till September. He then recovered, and continued in pretty good health, and fresh coloured, but took no kind of meat nor drink. On the 6th of June, 1719, he was again seized with a severe fever; and on the 10th, at night, his father prevailed on him to take a spoonful of milk, boiled with oatmeal; it stuck so long in his throat, that his friends feared he had been choked; but ever since that time he took food, though so little, that a halfpenny loaf lasted him eight days. All the time he fasted, he had no evacuation, and it was 14 days after he began to eat, before he had any. He still-continued in pretty good health" "In the year 1724, John Ferguson, of Killmelfoord, in Argyleshire, overheated himself in the pursuit of some cattle on the mountains, then drank largely of cold water, and fell asleep. He slept for 24 hours, and awoke in a high fever, and ever since, his stomach loathed, and could retain no kind of aliment but water. Mr. Campbell, a neighbouring gentleman, to whom his father was tenant, locked him up for 20 days, supplying him only with water, and taking care that he should have no other food; but it made no difference either in his look or strength; at the age of 36, (when the account was sent to the Philosophical Society,) he was of a fresh complexion, and as strong as any common man." Phil. Trans. 1742, vol. xlii. page 240. PENNANT says of his second visit to Barmouth, in 1770, "My curiosity was excited to examine into the truth of a surprising relation of a woman in the parish of Cylynin, who had fasted a most supernatural length of time. I took boat and had a most pleasant passage up the harbour, charmed with the beauty of the shores intermixed with woods, verdant pastures, and corn fields. I landed, and after a short walk, found in a farm called Tydden Back, the object of my excursion, Mary Thomas. She was of the age of 47, of a good countenance, very pale, thin, but not so much emaciated as might be expected from the strangeness of the circumstances I am going to relate. Her eyes were weak, her voice low, and deprived of the use of her lower extremities, and quite bed-ridden; her pulse rather strong, her intellects clear and sensible. examining her, she informed me that at the age of seven, she had some eruptions like the measles, which grew confluent and universal; and she became so sore that she could not bear the least touch: she received some ease by the application of a sheep's skin just taken from the animal, After this she was seized at the spring and fall, with swellings and inflammations, during which time she was confined to her bed; but in the intervals she could walk about. When she was about 27 years of age she was attacked with the same complaint, but in a more violent manner; and during two years and a half remained in On sensible, and took no manner of nourishment, although her friends forced open her mouth with a spoon to get something down, but the moment the spoon was taken away, her teeth met and closed with snapping violence; during that time she flung up vast quantities of blood. She well remembers the return of her senses, and her knowledge of every body about her. She thought she had slept but a night, and asked her mother whether she had given her any thing the day before, as she found herself hungry. Meat was brought to her, but so far from being able to take any thing solid, she could scarcely swallow a spoonful of thin whey. From this, she continued seven years and a half without any food or liquid, excepting sufficient of the latter to moisten her lips. At the end of this period she fancied herself again hungry, and desired an egg, of which she got down the quantity of a nut kernel. She requested to receive the sacrament, which she did, by having a crumb of bread steeped in wine. She now eats a bit of bread about two penny weights seven grains daily, and drinks a glass of water, and sometimes a spoonful of wine; but frequently abstains whole days together from foods and liquids. She sleeps very indifferently; the ordinary functions of nature are seldom performed, and are very small; her temper is even, her disposition mild; she is religious, and prays fervently; the natural effect of the state of her body unembarrassed by food, and a constant alienation of thought from all worldly affairs." Journey to Snowden, vol. ii. p. 105. A very curious instance of nearly four years' abstinence from all food and drink, is related in two numbers of Hufeland's Practical Journal, Vols. viii. and ix. No 2. And a pamphlet has been since published respecting this fact by Dr. Schmidtmann of Melle, in the bishopric of Osnabruck. "A country girl, 16 years old, in a village near Osnabruck, had enjoyed a good state of health, during her childhood; but, at about 10 years of age she was seized with epileptic fits against which a number of remedies were employed in vain; since that time she was mostly confined to her bed, particularly in winter, but in summer she found herself a little better. From February 1798, the alvine and urinary excretions began to cease; though she took now and then a little nourishment. But from the beginning of April the same year, she abstained entirely from all food and drink, falling into an uninterrupted slumber, almost senseless, from which she only awoke from time to time for a few hours. Her sensibility during this time was so great that the slightest touch on any part of her body brought on partial convulsive motions. In this state she had continued for nearly 10 months, when Dr. Schmidtmann saw her first, in 1799. Though she had not taken the least nourishment during all this time, Dr. S. found her to his great astonishment, fresh and blooming. For the last two months only the intervals of sleep began to be longer, her senses of sight and hearing were in perfect order; but her feelings, she seemed to have quite lost, as she could suffer pinching of the arms and legs without pain; her gums bled frequently, and the pulse was scarcely perceptible in the arms, but beat strong and full in the carotids, about 120 in a minute. Dr. S. attempted to make her drink a little milk, but she protested she could not swallow it. The alvine and urinary excretions had quite ceased. Although there could hardly be a suspicion of imposition, the parents being honest people, yet to remove all doubt, six sworn men were appointed from different places in the neighbourhood to watch her day and night, and instructions given them accordingly. This being continued about a fortnight, the mer. were dismissed, having given evidence upon oath that the patient had never taken any food or drink whatever during that time, nor had any excretion, alvine or urinary; she had become very ill, and nearly dying, seized with convulsions, feverish, and sometimes in a great sweat, which had the extraordinary property of turning water black. When Dr. S. saw her again, he found her quite recovered, not in the least emaciated; but, rather looking lustier; her gums however, still frequently bled, and her feeling was not yet returned; but her memory was not impaired, and she amused herself sometimes with reading and writing. No alvine or urinary excretions had taken place. times she was attacked with sudden weakness, particularly after having bled at the mouth. During the last severe winter she could not endure the heat of the stove, because she felt then faint and oppressed. Dr. Schmidtmann then enters into an enquiry by what means the patient in this case was nourished and maintained in that state in which she was found. And having discussed the matter at large, he is of opinion, that she drew by resorption such elementary particles from the atmosphere as were sufficient for the nutrition of the body, and that the excretions were likewise replaced by the skin." Some Instances of the like kind might be multiplied from Haller, in his Elementa Physiologa, tom. vi. sec. 2-6; Conf. Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences de Toulouse, tom. i. 1783. Prichter's Library devoted to Surgery, (in German,) vol. xii. p. 184. Swieten Comments in Boerhaave, Aph. tom. iii. p. 508; Histoire de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, l'an 1769; and in Hufeland's Art of Prolonging Life, 1 ed. p. 67; Halpart Van der Wiel Observat, rar Centur, Poster. In the London Magazine for August 1769, there is an account of a young woman, 24 years of age, who had fasted for two years, and whose excretions were entirely suppressed. London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. iv. p. 87. A In the Philosophical Transactions, we have an account of four colliers who were confined 24 days in a coal pit at Herstol, near Leige, with nothing to support them but water. French officer of infantry, who had retired from service, and became deranged, took it into his head to refuse food, and persisted in that determination from the 25th of December, till the 9th of February, drinking only about a pint and a half of water daily, with a few drops of aniseed liquor in each glass, till 39th day, from which time till the 38th day he remained out of bed; but weakness at length obliged him to lie down. The return to food was followed by a temporary cure of his insanity. Hist. de l'Academie des Sciences, 1769. In the Medical Commentaries, December, vol. iv. p. 360, there is a history of a girl who lost her way, and remained 18 days on a barren moor in the island of Lewis, where she could have had no other sustenance than water. Mr. Miller saw her two hours after she was found, and describes her as much emaciated. We infer, from these instances, the possibility of maintaining life for a considerable time on small quantities of water and other liquids. The feeling of hunger, if not appeased by food, often ceases entirely; but the feeling of thirst becomes increasingly urgent, and where it is attended with bodily heat, becomes aggravated and insupportable. ABSTINENTES, in ecclesiastical history, a party who appeared in France and Spain, in the third century, and who enjoined abstinence from the use of marriage, and particular foods, especially wine. Some consider them to have been a branch of the Gnostics. ABSTRACT, n. v. & adj. ABSTRACT'LY, ABSTRACT NESS, Abs: traho, tractum, to draw away from; to separate. Hence, by an easy transition, to refine, to purify. Also, to consider any thing in its essence, or simple being, independently of modes or accidents. PAL. But man, the abstract Of all perfection which the workmanship Of Heaven hath modell'd, in himself contains Ford's Lover's Melancholy, act iv. sc. 3. He whose understanding is prepossest with the doctrine of abstract general ideas, may be persuaded that extension in abstract is infinitely divisible. Berkley's Principles of Human Knowledge. Precepts of morality, besides the natural corruption of our tempers which makes us averse to them, are so abstracted from ideas of sense, that they seldom give an opportunity for those beautiful descriptions and images which are the spirit and life of poetry. Addison. To abstract the mind from all local emotions would be impossible if it were endeavoured; and would be foolish if it were possible. Dr. Johnson. Abstract terms signify the mode or quality of a being, without any regard to the subject in which it is; as whiteness, roundness, length, breadth, wisdom, mortality, life, death. Watts's Logic. He may be justly driven out from the commerce of mankind, who has so far abstracted himself from it as to neglect the endearments of his wife and the caresses of his children, to count the drops of rain, note the changes of the wind, and calculate the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter. Rambler. ABSTRACT IDEA, in metaphysics, is a partial idea of a complex object, limited to one or more of the component parts or properties, laying aside the rest. See ABSTRACTION. ABSTRACT MATHEMATICS, otherwise called Pure Mathematics, treats of magnitude or quantity, absolutely and generally considered, without regard to any species of particular magnitude, such are arithmetic and geometry. ABSTRACT NUMBERS, are assemblages of units, There was never proud man thought so absurdly well of himself, as the lover doth of the person loved and therefore it was well said, That it is impossible to love, and to be wise. Lord Bacon's Essays. The capital things of nature generally lie out of the beaten paths, so that even the absurdness of a Idem. thing sometimes proves useful. But grant, that those can conquer, these can "Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great; Pope's Essay on Man. How clear soever this idea of the infinity of number be, there is nothing more evident, than the absurdity of the actual idea of an infinite number. Locke. That satisfaction we receive from the opinion of some pre-eminence in ourselves, when we see the absurdities of another, or when we reflect on any past absurdities of our own. Addison. But man, we find the only creature ; And where his genius least inclines, Swift's Miscel. We may proceed yet further with the atheist; and convince him, that not only his principle is absurd, but his consequences also as absurdly deduced from Bentley's Sermons. it. Media, and his limbs scattered on the road, in order to stop her father's pursuit of her, when she eloped with Jason, and assisted him in carrying off the golden fleece. ABSYRTIDES, APSYRTIDES, or ABSORUS, in ancient geography, islands in the gulf of Carnero, in the Adriatic, separated by a narrow channel, and joined by a bridge; so called from Absyrtes, who was said to have been murdered there by his sister. They are now called Cherso and Osero. ABUARISCK, a town and principality of Arabia, on the Red Sea, extending from 15°, 2′. to 17°, 40'. N. Lat.; yielding little more than salt from its arid hills, although watered by several streams. The principal sea port is Gesar. ABUBEKER, the immediate successor of Mahomet, succeeded him A.D. 632, taking the title of caliph, vicar or successor, to show his inferiority, it is said, to the prophet, a title which all his successors have since adopted. ABUKESKO, or ASLANI in commerce, Turkish names given to the Dutch dollar. ABULFARAGIUS, (Gregory,) the son of Aaron, a physician and prelate of Armenia, born at Malatia, in 1226. He was elected primate of the Jacobites in 1266, an office which he held for 20 years. He wrote, an Epitome of Universal History, which was published, with a Latin translation by Dr. Pocock, in 1663. ABULFAZEL, Vizier and historiographer to Akber, the great mogul, and author of Ayeen Akberry. Few particulars are known of his life, but he bears a high character for learning and elegance as a writer; he was assassinated in 1664, on his return from a mission to the Deccan. ABULGHAZI, (Bayatur,) khan of Tartary descended from Jenghiz khan, was born in 1605 at Urgens. He endured a long series of misfortunes before his accession to the throne of Tharazn in 1645, in which he continued twenty years, having by his courage rendered himself formidable to all his enemies. In 1665, he resigned his sceptre in favour of his son, and undertook a genealogical history of the Turks, which was completed by his successor, and is considered the most authentic history extant of the Turks and Tartars. It was procured by Count Strahlenbeig when a captive in Siberia, and has been very generally translated into the European languages. ABUNDANTIA, or COPIA, a heathen goddess generally crowned with garlands of flowers, and pouring all sorts of fruit out of a horn which she holds in her right hand. On a medal of Trajan, she is represented with two cornucopiæ. ABUNDANT NOTION, in logic, that which includes more marks and characteristics, than are absolutely necessary for distinction. ABUNDANT NUMBER, in arithmetic, a number, the sum of whose aliquot parts is greater than the number itself. Thus the aliquot parts of 12, being 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6, they make, when added together, 16. It is opposed to a deficient number. ABUS, in ancient geography, a name for the confluence of the Ure, the Derwent, the Trent, &c. forming the mouth of the Humber. ABUSIR, or BUSIR, a town of Egypt, the ancient Busiris on the right bank of the Nile, 40 miles S. of Damietta; also, two fortified towns near the sea, 120 miles W. of Alexandria, and forming the first point of Egypt, seen from the West. ABU-TEMAN, called the Prince of Arabian poets, flourished from A.D. 805, to 845. No one could ever die,' it was said, 'whose name had been praised in his verses.' Sir. Wm. Jones speaks of a compilation of poems by Abu-teman, and with great commendation; professor Carlisle selects some of his most elegant specimens of Arabian poetry from this author. ABUSE', v. & n. ABU'SER, ABU'SIVE, ABU'SIVELY, ABU'SIVENESS, ABU'SAGE, ABUSE FUL, ABU'SION, Ab: utor, usus, to use from; to put to a contrary use; to use ill in any way; to insult, to take an unfair advantage of; to violate, or defile; to misapply, to mispend. I see how thine abuse hath rested so thy wittes, That all it yeldes to thy desire, and followes thee Surrey. by fittes. Was it not enough for him, to have deceived me; and, through the deceit, abused me; and, after the abuse, forsaken me: but, that he must now, of all the company, lay want of beauty to my charge. Sidney, b. ii. Ros. No: I will not cast away my physick but on those that are sick. There is a young man haunts the forests, that abuses our young plants with carving Rosalind on their barks; hangs odes upon hawthorns, and elegies on brambles; all forsooth deifying the If I could meet that fancy-monname of Rosalind. ger, I would give him some good counsel, for he seems to have the quotidian of love upon him. Shakspeare's As You like it. Happy are those persons who use the world and abuse it not, who possess a part of it, and love it for no other ends but for necessities of nature, and conveniences of persons, and discharge of all their duty and the offices of religion, and charity to Christ, and all Christ's members. Jeremy Taylor, They that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away. 1 Cor. vii. 31. He has fixed and determined the time for our re pentance, beyond which he will no longer await the perverseness of men, no longer suffer his compassion to be abused. Rogers's Sermons. The world hath been much abused by the opinion of making; the work itself I judge to be possible; but the means, hitherto propounded, are in practise full of error. Brown's Natural History, No. 126. Nor be with all these tempting words abused; These tempting words were all to Sappho us'd. Pope. ABUT', Abuttan, from Boda. The ABUTMENT, first outward extremity of any ABUTT'AL, thing; to border on the surface or edge of, to touch the boundary of any thing in juxta-position. Two mighty monarchies, Whose high, upreared, and abutting fronts The narrow perilous ocean parts asunder. Shakspeare's Henry V The Looes are two several corporations, distir. guished by the addition of east and west, abutting upon a navigable creek, and joined by a fair bridge o many arches. Carew. ABUTILON, in botany, a genus of mallows, called by Linnæus SIDA, which see. ABYDOS, in ancient geography, a town built by the Milesians in Asia, on the narrowest part of the Hellespont, opposite to Sestos on the European side. Here Xerxes constructed his |