Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Abstraction

ABSTRACTION, the act of dragging or drawing away or separating. In distillation, it is the operation of separating the volatile parts in distillation from those which do not pass into vapor at the temperature to which the vessel has been raised.

In mental philosophy, it is the act of withdrawing the consciousness from a number of objects with a view to concentrate it on some particular one.

Source: Collier's New Encyclopedia 1. (1921) New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company. 12.