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for neglecting it, because the uncircumcised person was thought to be a breaker of the covenant and a despiser of its Author, seems a harsh measure on the part of Abram; yet it can hardly be counted an arbitrary transference of the later Levitical severities to the progenitor of the race, since it is in the Elohist.

Accompanied by two angels, Jehovah appeared again to Abram at the oak of Mamre, accepted his proposed hospitality, and promised him a son by Sarai within a year. Though she laughed incredulously, the promise was definitely repeated. When the angels left, Jehovah communicated to Abram the divine purpose of destroying the dwellers in Siddim because of their wickedness, but acceded to the patriarch's intercession, that the cities of the plain should be spared if ten righteous men could be found in them. The two angels, who had gone before, arrived at Sodom in the evening, and were entertained by Lot, but threatened with shameful treatment by the depraved inhabitants. Seeing that the vengeance of Heaven was deserved, they proceeded to execute it, saving Lot with his wife and two daughters, and sparing Zoar as a place of refuge for them. Jehovah rained down fire and brimstone from heaven, turning all the Jordan district to desolation, so that when Abram looked next morning from the spot where Jehovah and himself had parted, he saw a thick smoke ascend from the ruins.

Abram then journeyed from Hebron to the Negeb, settled between Kadesh and Shur in Gerar, where Sarai is said to have been treated as a prior account makes her to have been in Egypt. At the patriarch's prayer the plague inflicted on the king and his wives was removed. This is a duplicate of the other story. Whatever historical truth the present narrative has belongs to an earlier period of Abram's life. His second removal to Gerar originated in the former journeying through it into Egypt. He must have remained in the neighbourhood of Hebron, his first settlement, where Isaac was born according to the Elohistic account. After the birth of the legitimate heir, succeeding events were the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from the paternal home, and the making of a covenant between Abimelech and Abram at Beersheba. Here Abram "called on the name of the Lord," and is said to have planted a noted tamarisk in commemoration of the event.

Abram was now commanded by God to offer up Isaac in the land of Moriah. Proceeding to obey, he was prevented by an angel just as he was about to slay his son, and sacrificed a ram that presented itself at the time. In reward of his obedience he received the promise of a numerous seed and abundant prosperity. Thence he returned to Beersheba.

Sarai died and was buried in the cave of Machpelah near Hebron, which Abram purchased, with the adjoining field, from Ephron the Hittite. The measures taken by the patriarch for the marriage of Isaac are circumstantially described. His steward Eliezer was sent to the country and kindred of Abram to find a suitable bride, which he did in Haran, whither he was divinely conducted. Rebekah appeared as the intended one; she parted from Bethuel and her family with their full approbation, was brought to Isaac, and became a maternal ancestor of the chosen people.

It is curious that, after Sarah's death, Abram should have contracted a second marriage with Keturah, and begotten six sons. The Chronicles, however, make her his concubine (1 Chron. i. 32), so that these children may have been born earlier. Probably the narrative intends to account for the diffusion of Abram's posterity in Arabia. Keturah's sons were sent away with gifts from their home into Arabia, and all the father's substance was given to Isaac. The patriarch died at the age of 175 years,

and was buried by Isaac and Ishmael beside Sarai in Machpelah. The book of Genesis gives two lists of Arab tribes, descended partly from Abram and Keturah, partly from him and Hagar or Ishmael. These dwelt in Arabia Deserta and Petræa, as also in the northern half of Arabia Felix.

1. We cannot adopt the opinion of Von Bohlen and Dozy that Abram is a mythical person. He must be regarded as a historical character, though the accounts of his life have mythical elements intermingled with much that is traditional or legendary. The difficulty of separating the historic from the merely traditional, hinders the presentation of a natural portrait. Later legends have invested him with extraordinary excellence. They have made him a worshipper of Jehovah, a prophet, the friend of God, favoured with visible manifestations of His presence, and receiving repeated promises of the most far-reaching character. He is the typical ancestor of the chosen race, living under the constant guidance of God, prospering in worldly goods, delivered from imminent perils. A superhuman halo surrounds him. It is the Jehovist in particular who invests him with the marvellous and improbable, connecting him with altars and sacrifices-a cultus posterior to both his time and mental development-making him the subject of theophanies, talking familiarly to Jehovah himself, and feeding angels with flesh. The Elohist's descriptions are simpler. His patriarchs are usually colourless men, upright and plain. They have neither characteristic features nor distinct outline. Abram stands out an honest, peaceable, generous, high-minded patriarch; a prince, rich, powerful, and honoured, fitted for rule, and exercising it with prudence. We need not expect a full history of the man from writers long posterior, the representatives of popular traditions. Only fragments of the life are given, designed to show his greatness. Legend assigned ideal lineaments to the progenitor whom a remote antiquity shrouded with its hoary mantle, and thus he became a model worthy of imitation.

2. The biblical sources of his biography are three at least; and sometimes all appear in a single chapter, as in Gen. xxii., which describes the severest trial of faith. The oldest or Elohim-document is seen in verses 20-24, which link on to chap. xxi. 2-5, from the same. The rest of the chapter belongs to the junior Elohist, except verses 14–18, added by the Jehovist to connect Abram's sacrifice with Jerusalem. These different documents, out of which the general narrative was finally put together by a redactor, create diversities and contradictions. Thus the Elohist makes Abram laugh at the announcement of a son by Sarai (xvii. 17); the Jehovist, jealous for the patriarch's honour, assigns the laughter to the woman as a sign of incredulity (xviii. 12).

3. The account of the change of names given to Abram and Sarai when circumcision was instituted, cannot be regarded as historical. The Elohist says that Abram became Abraham, the latter meaning father of much people. But the Hebrew tongue has no word rahâm, and no root with the three letters . Hence the Jews found the etymology a puzzle. The old reading was undoubtedly Abram and Sarai, though the later Jews expressly forbade Abram either in speaking or writing. The difference is one of mere orthography. The forms on and on are cognate ones, as are and The etymologising propensity

of the Elohist is well known. The names signify father of height and princess respectively.

4. The religion of Abram was not pure Jehovism. According to Exodus vi. 3, the name Jehovah was unknown before Moses. Pure Jehovism was a growth not reached

1 See Beer's Leben Abraham's, pp. 150, 151.

before the prophets. It was a late development, the creed of the most spiritual teachers, not of the people generally. Abram was a distinguished Oriental sheikh, who laid aside the grossness of idolatry, and rose by degrees, through contact with many peoples and his own reflection, to the conception of a Being higher than the visible world, the God of the light and the sun. He was a civilised nomad, having wider and more spiritual aspirations than the peoples with whom he lived. As a worshipper of God, his faith was magnified by later ages throwing back their more advanced ideas into his time, because he was the founder of a favoured race, the type of Israel as they were or should be.

5. The leading idea forming the essence of the story respecting Abram's sacrifice of Isaac, presents some difficulty of explanation. The chapter did not proceed from the earliest writer, but from one acquainted with the institution of animal sacrifices. That the patriarch was familiar with human sacrifices among the peoples round about is beyond a doubt. Was he tempted from within to comply, on one occasion, with the prevailing custom; or did the disaffected Canaanites call upon him to give such proof of devotion to his God? Perhaps there was a struggle in his mind between the better ideas which led to the habitual renunciation of the barbarous rite, and scruples of the universal impropriety attaching to it. The persuasion that it could never be allowed may have been shaken at times. The general purport of the narrative is to place in a strong light the faith of one prepared to make the most costly sacrifice in obedience to the divine command, as well as God's aversion to human offerings.

| Abram-"Is it a sacrifice I shall offer, Lord? Where is the priest to prepare it?" "Be thou invested with that dignity as Shem was formerly." Abram-" But that land counts several mountains, which shall I ascend?" "The top of the mountain where thou shalt see my glory veiled in the clouds," &c. (Beer, pp. 59, 60.)

The Arabic legends about Ibrahim are mostly taken from the Jewish fountain, very few being independent and preIslamite. Mohammed collected all that were current, and presented them in forms best suited to his purpose. His sources were the biblical accounts and later Jewish legends. Those about the patriarch building the Kaaba along with Ishmael, his giving this son the house and all the country in which it was, his going as a pilgrim to Mecca every year, seeing Ishmael, and then returning to his own land, Syria, his foot-print on the black stone of the temple, and similar stories, are of genuine Arabic origin. The rest are Jewish, with certain alterations. The collected narratives of the Arabic historians are given by Tabari, constituting a confused mass of legends drawn from the Old Testament, the Koran, and the Rabbins. (See Ewald's Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. i. pp. 440–484, third edition; Bertheau's Zur Geschichte der Israeliten, p. 206, et seq.; Tuch's Kommentar ueber die Genesis, 1838; Knobel's Die Genesis, 1852; Dozy's Die Israeliten zu Mekka, p. 16, et seq.; B. Beer's Leben Abraham's nach Auffassung der jüdischen Sage, 1859; Chronique d'Abou Djafar Mohammed Tabari, par L. Dubeux, tome premier, chapters 47-60; Chwolson's Ssabier und der Ssabismus, vol. ii.) (s. D.)

ABRAHAM-A-SANCTA-CLARA, was born at Krähen6. It is impossible to get chronological exactness in heimstetten, a village in Suabia, on the 4th of June 1642. Abram's biography, because it is composed of different tra- His family name was Ulrich Megerle. In 1662 he joined ditions incorporated with one another, the product of dif- the order of Barefooted Augustinians, and assumed the ferent times, and all passing through the hands of a later name by which alone he is now known. In this order he redactor for whom the true succession of events was not rose step by step until he became prior provincialis and of primary importance. The writers themselves did not definitor of his province. Having early gained a great know the accurate chronology, having to do with legends reputation for pulpit eloquence, he was appointed court as well as facts impregnated with the legendary, which the preacher at Vienna in 1669. There the people flocked in redactor afterwards altered or adapted. The Elohist is crowds to hear him, attracted by the force and homeliness much more chronological than the other writers. It is of his language, the grotesqueness of his humour, and the even impossible to tell the time when Abram lived. Ac- impartial severity with which he lashed the follies of all cording to Lepsius, he entered Palestine 1700-1730 B.C.; classes of society. The vices of courtiers and court-life according to Bunsen, 2886; while Schenkel gives 2130-2140 in particular were exposed with an admirable intrepidity. B.C. In Beer's Leben Abraham's his birth is given 1948 In general he spoke as a man of the people in the lanA.M., i.e., 2040 B.C. guage of the people, the predominating quality of his style, which was altogether unique, being an overflowing and often coarse wit. There are, however, many passages in his sermons in which he rises to loftier thought, and uses more refined and dignified language. He died at Vienna on the 1st December 1709. In his published writings Abraham-a-Sancta-Clara displayed much the same qualities as in the pulpit. Perhaps the most favourable specimen of his style is furnished in Judas der Erzschelm. His works have been several times reproduced in whole or part, though with many spurious interpolations, within the last thirty years, and have been very extensively read by both Protestants and Catholics. A selection was issued at Heilbronn in 1845, and a complete edition in 21 vols. appeared at Passau and Lindau, in 1835-54.

7. The Midrashim contain a good deal about Abram which is either founded on biblical accounts or spun out of the fancy. Nimrod was king of Babylon at the time. The patriarch's early announcement of the doctrine of one God, his zeal in destroying idols, including those worshipped by his father, his miraculous escape from Nimrod's wrath, his persuading Terah to leave the king's service and go with him to Canaan, are minutely told. During his life he had no fewer than ten temptations. Satan tried to ruin him, after the fiend had appeared at the great feast given when Isaac was weaned, in the form of a poor bent old man, who had been neglected. We can only refer to one specimen of rabbinic dialogue-making. God appeared to Abram by night, saying to him, "Take thy son"-(Abram interrupting), "Which? I have two of them." The voice of God" Him who is esteemed by you as your only son." Abram-"Each of them is the only son of his mother." God's voice" Him whom thou lovest." Abram-"I love both." God's voice-" Him whom thou especially lovest." Abram-"I cherish my children with like love." God's voice-"Now, then, take Isaac." Abram-" And what shall I begin with in him?" God's voice-"Go to the land where at my call mountains will rise up out of valleys

ABRANTES, a town of Portugal, Estremadura province, on the Tagus, about 70 miles N.E. of Lisbon, delightfully situated on the brow of a hill, of which the slopes are covered with olive trees, gardens, and vineyards. It has considerable trade with Lisbon, particularly in fruit, corn, and oil, The town is strongly fortified, and is an important military position. At the convention of Cintra it was surrendered to the British. Junot derived from it his title of Duke of Abrantes. Population about

to Moriah, and offer thy son Isaac as a holocaust." | 6000.

ABRANTES, DUKE AND DUCHESS OF. See JUNOT. ABRAXAS, or ABRASAX, a word engraved on certain antique stones, which were called on that account Abraxas stones, and were used as amulets or charms. The Basilidians, a Gnostic sect, attached importance to the word, if, indeed, they did not bring it into use. The letters of åßpagás, in the Greek notation, make up the number 365, and the Basilidians gave the name to the 365 orders of spirits, which, as they conceived, emanated in succession from the Supreme Being. These orders were supposed to occupy as many heavens, each fashioned like, but inferior to that above it; and the lowest of the heavens was thought to be the abode of the spirits who formed the earth and its inhabitants, and to whom was committed the administration of its affairs. The Abraxas stones, which are frequently to be met with in the cabinets of the curious, are of very little value. In addition to the word Abraxas and other mystical characters, they have often engraved on them cabalistic figures. The commonest of these have the head of a fowl, and the arms and bust of a man, and terminate in the body and tail of a serpent.

ABRUZZO, originally one of the four provinces of the continental part of the kingdom of the two Sicilies, afterward subdivided into Abruzzo Ulteriore I., Abruzzo Ulteriore II., and Abruzzo Citeriore, which were so named from their position relative to Naples, and now form three of the provinces of the kingdom of Italy. The district, which was the most northerly part of the kingdom of the two Sicilies, is bounded by the Adriatic on the E., and by the provinces of Ascoli Piceno on the N., Umbria and Rome on the W., and Terra di Lavoro, Molise, and Capitanata on the S. The Abruzzi provinces have an area of nearly 4900 English square miles, and extend from N. lat. 41°40' to 42°55'. Though presenting to the Adriatic a coast of about 80 miles in length, they have not a single good port. This territory is mostly rugged, mountainous, and covered with extensive forests, but contains also many fertile and well-watered valleys. The Apennines traverse its whole extent, running generally from N.W. to S. E., and here attaining their greatest elevation. Near Aquila is Monte Corno, the loftiest peak of that chain, called Il gran Sasso d'Italia, or the great rock of Italy, which rises to the height of 9813 feet. Monte Majella and Monte Velino attain the height of 9500 and 8792 feet respectively. from the main range of the Apennines a number of smaller branches run off towards the west. The country is watered by numerous small rivers, most of which fall into the Adriatic. They are often suddenly swollen by the rains, especially in the spring, and thus cause considerable damage to the lands through which they pass. The principal rivers are the Tronto, Trentino, Pescara, and Sangro. In Abruzzo Ulteriore II. is lake Celano or Lago di Fucino, the Lacus Fucinus of the Romans, now reduced to about one-third of its former extent. The climate varies with the elevation, but, generally speaking, is temperate and healthy. Agriculture is but little understood or attended to, although in many of the lower parts of the country the land is fertile. The rivers are not embanked, nor is irrigation practised; so that the best of the land is frequently flooded during the rainy season, and parched in the heat of summer. The principal productions are corn, hemp, flax, almonds, olives, figs, grapes, and chestnuts. In the neighbourhood of Aquila saffron is extensively cultivated, although not to such an extent as formerly. The rearing and tending of sheep is the chief occupation of the inhabitants of the highlands; and the wool, which is of a superior quality, is an important article of commerce, while the skins are sent in large quantities to the Levant. Bears, wolves, and wild boars inhabit the moun

tain fastnesses; and in the extensive oak forests numerous herds of swine are fed, the hams of which are in high repute. The manufactures are very inconsiderable, being chiefly woollen, linen, and silk stuffs, and earthen and wood wares. Abruzzo was of great importance to the kingdom of Naples, being its chief defence to the north, and presenting almost insurmountable difficulties to the advance of an enemy. The country is now free of the daring brigands by whom it was long infested. The inhabitants are a stout, well-built, brave, and industrious Their houses are generally miserable huts; their food principally maize, and their drink bad wine. The railway from Ancona to Brindisi passes through Abruzzo Ulteriore I. and Abruzzo Citeriore, skirting the coast; and a line has been projected from Pescara, by Popoli, the Lago di Fucino, and the valley of the Liris, to join the railway from Rome to Naples, and thus open up the interior of the country. The line is open for traffic between Pescara and Popoli.

race.

ABRUZZO ULTERIORE I. is the most northerly of the three provinces, and has an area of 1283 square miles, with a population in 1871 of 245,684. The western part of the province is very mountainous, the highest crest of the Apennines dividing it from Abruzzo Ulteriore II. The valleys possess a rich soil, well watered by rivulets and brooks in the winter and spring, but these are generally dried up in the summer months. The streams run mostly into the Pescara, which bounds the province towards Abruzzo Citeriore, or into the Tronto, which is the northern boundary. The city of Teramo is the capital of the province.

ABRUZZO ULTERIORE II. is an inland district, nearly covered with mountains of various heights, one of which is the Gran Sasso. There are no plains; but among the mountains are some beautiful and fruitful valleys, watered by the various streams that run through them. None of the rivers are navigable. The province has an area of 2510 square miles, and in 1871 contained 332,782 inhabitants. Its chief town is Aquila.

ABRUZZO CITERIORE lies to the south and east of the other two provinces. It is the least hilly of the three, but the Apennines extend through the south-west part. They, however, gradually decline in height, and stretch away into plains of sand and pebbles. The rivers all run to the Adriatic, and are very low during the summer months. The soil is not very productive, and agriculture is in a very backward state; the inhabitants prefer the chase and fishing. The province contains 1104 square miles, with a population of 340,299 in 1871. Its chief town is Chieti.

ABSALOM (s, father of peace), the third son of David, king of Israel. He was deemed the handsomest man in the kingdom. His sister Tamar having been violated by Amnon, David's eldest son, Absalom caused his servants to murder Amnon at a feast, to which he had invited all the king's sons. After this deed he fled to the kingdom of his maternal grandfather, where he remained three years; and it was not till two years after his return that he was fully reinstated in his father's favour. Absalom seems to have been by this time the eldest surviving son of David, but he was not the destined heir of his father's throne. The suspicion of this excited the impulsive Absalom to rebellion. For a time the tide of public opinion ran so strong in his favour, that David found it expedient to retire beyond the Jordan. But, instead of adopting the prompt measures which his sagacious counsellor Ahithophel advised, Absalom loitered at Jerusalem till a large force was raised against him, and when he took the field his army was completely routed. The battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim; and Absalom, caught in

the boughs of a tree by the superb hair in which he gloried, was run through the body by Joab. The king's grief for his worthless son vented itself in the touching lamentation "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" ABSALON, Archbishop of Lund, in Denmark, was born in 1128, near Soroe in Zealand, his family name being Axel. In 1148 he went to study at Paris, where a college for Danes had been established. He afterwards travelled extensively in different countries; and returning to Denmark in 1157, was the year after chosen Bishop of Roeskilde or Rothschild. Eloquent, learned, endowed with Eloquent, learned, endowed with uncommon physical strength, and possessing the confidence of the king, Waldemar I., known as the Great, Absalon held a position of great influence both in the church and state. In that age warlike pursuits were not deemed inconsistent with the clerical office, and Absalon was a renowned warrior by sea and land, as well as a zealous ecclesiastic, his avowed principle being that "both swords, the spiritual and the temporal, were entrusted to the clergy." To his exertions as statesman and soldier Waldemar was largely indebted for the independence and consolidation of his kingdom. In 1177 he was chosen by the chapter Archbishop of Lund and Primate of the church, but he declared himself unwilling to accept the appointment; and when an attempt was made to install him by force, he resisted, and appealed to Rome. The Pope decided that the choice of the chapter must be respected, and commanded Absalon to accept the Primacy on pain of excommunication. He was consecrated accordingly by the papal legate Galandius in 1178. He set the Cistercian monks of Soroe the task of preparing a history of the country, the most valuable result being the Danish Chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus, who was secretary to Absalon and his companion in an expedition against the Wendish pirates. A tower or castle which the archbishop caused to be built as a defence against these pirates, was the commencement of the present capital, Copenhagen, which from this circumstance is sometimes known in history as Axelstadt. The archbishop died in 1201, in the monastery at Soroe, and was buried in the parish church, where his grave may still be seen.

ABSCESS, in Surgery (from abscedo, to separate), a collection of pus among the tissues of the body, the result of inflammation. Abscesses are divided into acute and chronic. See SURGERY.

ABSINTHE, a liqueur or aromatised spirit, prepared by pounding the leaves and flowering tops of various species of wormwood, chiefly Artemisia Absinthium, along with angelica root (Archangelica officinalis), sweet flag root (Acorus Calamus), the leaves of dittany of Crete (Origanum Dictamnus), star-anise fruit (Illicium anisatum), and other aromatics, and macerating these in alcohol. After soaking for about eight days the compound is distilled, yielding an emerald-coloured liquor, to which a proportion of an essential-oil, usually that of anise, is added. The liqueur thus prepared constitutes the genuine Extrait d'Absinthe of the French; but much of an inferior quality is made with other herbs and essential oils, while the adulterations practised in the manufacture of absinthe are very numerous and deleterious. In the adulterated liqueur the green colour is usually produced by turmeric and indigo, but the presence of even cupric sulphate (blue vitriol) as a colouring ingredient has been frequently detected. In commerce two varieties of absinthe are recognised-common and Swiss absinthe-the latter of which is prepared with highly concentrated spirit; and when really of Swiss manufacture, is of most trustworthy quality as regards the herbs used in its preparation. The chief seat of the manufacture is in the canton of Neufchâtel in Switzerland, although

absinthe distilleries are scattered generally throughout Switzerland and France. The liqueur is chiefly consumed in France, but there is also a considerable export trade to the United States of America. In addition to the quantity distilled for home consumption in France, the amount imported from Switzerland in recent years has not been less than 2,000,000 gallons yearly. The introduction of this beverage into general use in France is curious. During the Algerian war (1844-47) the soldiers were advised to mix absinthe with their wine as a febrifuge. On their return they brought with them the habit of drinking it, which is now so widely disseminated in French society, and with such disastrous consequences, that the custom is justly esteemed a grave national evil. A French physician, M. Legrand, who has studied the physiological effects of absinthe drinking, distinguishes two trains of results according as the victim indulges in violent excesses of drinking or only in continuous steady tippling. In the case of excessive drinkers there is first the feeling of exaltation peculiar to a state of intoxication. The increasing dose necessary to produce this state quickly deranges the digestive organs, and destroys the appetite. An unappeasable thirst takes possession of the victim, with giddiness, tingling in the ears, and hallucinations of sight and hearing, followed by a constant mental oppression and anxiety, loss of brain power, and, eventually, idiocy. The symptoms in the case of the tippler commence with muscular quiverings and decrease of physical strength; the hair begins to drop off, the face assumes a melancholy aspect, and he becomes emaciated, wrinkled, and sallow. Lesion of the brain follows, horrible dreams and delusions haunt the victim, and gradually paralysis overtakes him and lands him in his grave. It has been denied by a French authority, M. Moreau, that these symptoms are due to wormwood or any of the essential oils contained in absinthe, and he maintains that the strong spirit and such adulterations as salts of copper are sufficient to account for the effects of the liqueur. There is, however, no doubt that proportionately the consumption of absinthe is much more deleterious to the human frame than the drinking of brandy or other strong spirits. The use of absinthe has been prohibited in both the army and navy of France.

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ABSOLUTE (from the Latin absolvere), having the general meaning of loosened from, or unrestricted, in which sense it is popularly used to qualify such words as monarchy" or "power," has been variously employed in philosophy. Logicians use it to mark certain classes of names. Thus a term has been called absolute in opposition to attri butive, when it signifies something that has or is viewed as having independent existence; most commonly, however, the opposition conveyed is to relative. A relative name being taken as one which, over and above the object which it denotes, implies in its signification the existence of another object, also deriving a denomination from the same fact, which is the ground of the first name (Mill), as, e.g., father and son, the non-relative or absolute name is one that has its meaning for and in itself, as man. This distinction is a convenient one, although, as has been observed, it can hardly in perfect strictness be maintained. The so-called absolute name, if used with a meaning, does always stand in some relation, however variable or indefinitę, and the meaning varies with the relation. Thus man, which is a word of very different meanings, as, e.g., not woman, not boy, not master, not brute, and so forth, may be said to have them according to the different relations in which it admits of being viewed, or, as it has been otherwise expressed, according to the different notions whose "universe" it composes, along with its different correlatives. From this point of view there is always one relation in which a real thing must stand, namely, the

relation to its contradictory (as not man) within the universe of being; the correlatives, under less general notions, being then generally expressed positively as contraries (woman, boy, master, brute, and so forth, for man). If there is thus no name or notion that can strictly be called absolute, all knowledge may be said to be relative, or of the relative. But the knowledge of an absolute has also been held impossible, on the ground that knowing is itself a relation between a subject and an object; what is known only in relation to a mind cannot be known as absolute. This doctrine, now commonly spoken of under the name of the Relativity of Knowledge, may, indeed, be brought under the former view, in which subject-object marks the relation of highest philosophical significance within the whole universe of things. Keeping, however, the two views apart, we may say with double force that of the absolute there is no knowledge,-(1), because, to be known, a thing must be consciously discriminated from other things; and (2), because it can be known only in relation with a knowing mind. Notwithstanding, there have been thinkers from the earliest times, who, in different ways, and more or less explicitly, allow of no such restriction upon knowledge, or at least consciousness, but, on the contrary, starting from a notion, by the latter among them called the absolute, which includes within it the opposition of subject and object, pass therefrom to the explanation of all the phenomena of nature and of mind. In earlier days the Eleatics, Plato, and Plotinus, in modern times Spinoza, Leibnitz, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Cousin, all have joined, under whatever different forms, in maintaining this view. Kant, while denying the absolute or unconditioned as an object of knowledge, leaves it conceivable, as an idea regulative of the mind's intellectual experience. It is against any such absolute, whether as real or conceivable, that Hamilton and Mansel have taken ground, the former in his famous review of Cousin's philosophy, reprinted in his Discussions, the latter in his Bampton Lectures on The Limits of Religious Thought, basing their arguments indifferently on the positions as to the Relativity of Knowledge indicated above. For absolute in its more strictly metaphysical use, see METAPHYSICS. (G. C. R.)

ABSOLUTION, a term used in civil and ecclesiastical law, denotes the act of setting free or acquitting. In a criminal process it signifies the acquittal of an accused person on the ground that the evidence has either disproved or failed to prove the charge brought against him. It is now little used except in Scotch law, in the forms assoilzie and absolvitor. The ecclesiastical usage of the word is essentially different from the civil. It refers to sin actually committed, and denotes the setting of a person free from its guilt, or from its penal consequences, or from both. It is invariably connected with penitence, and some form of confession, the Scripture authority, to which the Roman Catholics, the Greek Church, and Protestants equally appeal, being found in John xx. 23, James v. 16, &c. In the primitive church the injunction of James was literally obeyed, and confession was made before the whole congregation, whose presence and concurrence were reckoned necessary to the validity of the absolution pronounced by the presbyter. In the 4th century the bishops began to exercise the power of absolution in their own right, without recognising the congregations. In consequence of this the practice of private confession (confessio auricularis) was established, and became more and more common, until it was rendered imperative once a year by a decree of the fourth Lateran Council (1215). A distinction, indeed, was made for a time between peccata venialia, which might be confessed to a layman, and peccata mortalia, which could only be confessed to a priest;

but this was ultimately abolished, and the Roman Canon Law now stands, Nec venialia nec mortalia possumus confiteri sacramentaliter, nisi sacerdoti. A change in the form of absolution was almost a logical sequence of the change in the nature of the confession. At first the priest acted ministerially as an intercessory, using the formula absolutionis precativa or deprecativa, which consisted of the words: Dominus absolvat te-Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus et dimittat tibi omnia peccata tua. This is still the only form in the Greek Church, and it finds a place in the Roman Catholic service, though it is no longer used in the act of absolution. The Romish form was altered in the 13th century, and the Council of Trent decreed the use of the formula absolutionis indicativa, where the priest acts judicially, as himself possessed of the power of binding and loosing, and says, Ego absolvo te. Where a form of absolution is used in Protestant Churches, it is simply declarative, the state being only indicated, and in no sense or degree assumed to be caused by the declaration. ABSORPTION, in the animal economy, the function possessed by the absorbent system of vessels of taking up nutritive and other fluids. See PHYSIOLOGY.

ABSTEMII, a name formerly given to such persons as could not partake of the cup of the eucharist on account of their natural aversion to wine. Calvinists allowed these to communicate in the species of bread only, touching the cup with their lip; which was by the Lutherans deemed a profanation. Among several Protestant sects, both in Great Britain and America, abstemii on a somewhat different principle have recently appeared. These are total abstainers, who maintain that the use of stimulants is essentially sinful, and allege that the wine used by Christ and his disciples at the supper was unfermented. They accordingly communicate in the unfermented "juice of the grape.' The difference of opinion on this point has led to a good deal of controversy in many congregations, the solution generally arrived at being to allow both wine and the pure juice of the grape to be served at the communion table.

ABSTRACTION, in Psychology and Logic, is a word used in several distinguishable but closely allied senses. First, in a comprehensive sense, it is often applied to that process by which we fix the attention upon one part of what is present to the mind, to the exclusion of another part; abstraction thus conceived being merely the negative of ATTENTION (q. v.) In this sense we are able in thought to abstract one object from another, or an attribute from an object, or an attribute perceived by one sense from those perceived by other senses. Even in cases when thoughts or images have become inseparably associated, we possess something of this power of abstracting or turning the attention upon one rather than another. Secondly, the word is used, with a more special signification, to describe that concentration of attention upon the resemblances of a number of objects, which constitutes classification. And thirdly, not to mention other less important changes of meaning, the whole process of generalisation, by which the mind forms the notions expressed by common terms, is frequently, through a curious transposition of names, spoken of as abstraction. Especially when understood in its less comprehensive connection, the process of abstraction possesses a peculiar interest. To the psychologist it is interesting, because there is nothing he is more desirous to understand than the mode of formation and true nature of what are called general notions. And fortunately, with regard to the abstractive process by which these are formed, at least in its initial stages, there is little disagreement; since every one describes it as a process of comparison, by which the mind is enabled to consider the objects confusedly pre

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