A dictionary of terms used in medicine and the collateral sciences / by the late Richard D. Hoblyn.
- Richard Hoblyn
- Date:
- 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A dictionary of terms used in medicine and the collateral sciences / by the late Richard D. Hoblyn. Source: Wellcome Collection.
18/858 page 4
![to consist in a disturbance of the proper balance between conscious and unconscious cerebration, leav- ing the latter to perform tasks of which it is incapable. ABSINTHE. A deleterious liquor in which five drachms of the essence of ahsinthium, or worm- ^od, are added to one hundred quarts of alcohol. ABSOLUTE [absolutus, freed from, complete). A term denot- ing, in chemistry, pure and unmixed, as absolute alcohol, or alcohol entirely freed from water. ABSORBE'NTIA {absorhere, to suck up). Antacida. A class of medicines, including the alkalies, the alkaline earths, and the car- bonates of these substances, pos- sessing absorbent powers. ABSO'RBENTS [absorhere, to suck up). Vessels which absorb and convey fluids to the thoracic duct. These are the lacleals, which take up the chyle from the alimentary canal; and the hjmpha- iics, which pervade almost every tissue of the body, and absorb lymph therefrom. ABSO'RPTION {ahsorbere, to suck up). The function of the absorbents and, it is said, of the capillaries and veins ; it is the function by which the fluid and soluble portions of the food enter into the blood of the living ani- Interstitial Absorption. The function by which the particles of the tissue which fill the meshes of the capillary network are re- moved, as in the atrophy of the tail of the tadpole, and of the pupillary membrane in the fajtus, and in the development of cells m bone. J. A 2 Cutaneous Absorption. A function of the skin, by which certain preparations, rubbed into the skin, have the same action as when given internally, only in a less degree. Thus, mercury, ap- plied in this manner, cures syphi- lis, and excites salivation ; tartrate of antimony is said to occasion vomiting; and arsenic produces poisonous effects. ABSORPTION, in Chemistry (absorbere, to suck up). This term denotes the passage of a gas or vapour into a liquid or solid sub- stance ; or that of a liquid into the pores of a solid. Thus, water absorbs carbonic acid gas, lime absorbs water, &c. ABSO'RPTION BANDS. Dark vertical lines seen in the solar spectrum, and called Fraunhofer's lines, after Fraunhofer, of Munich, who first accurately described them. ABSTEMIOUSNESS [abs, from, temetum, strong drink). The habit of being abstemious or sparing in the use of food and strong drinks. The word expresses a greater de- gree of abstinence than temperance ; and it diff'ers from abstinence be- cause the latter may be temporary. See Temetum. ABSTE'RGENTS (abstcrgere, to cleanse, to wipe dry). Abstersivcs. Lotions, or other a])plications, for cleansing sores. Applied to sup- purating surfaces, they are called cictCTsivcs t ABSTINENCE (abstinere, to abstain). Cura famis. Excessive or total privation of food. See Abstemiousness. ABSTRACTION {ahstraherc, to draw from). The process of dis- tilling a liquid from any substance ; a separation of volatile parts by the process of distillation. ACAJOU. 1. The cashew nut, also called acajuba. Ac. officinalis = Anacardium occidentalc, is the cashew nut tree. 2. Mahogany.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2178047x_0018.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
