Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/73

Rh A B S A B S 57 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 &quot; my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom ! would God I had died for thee, Absalom, my son, my son!&quot; 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 Den mark in 1157, was the year after chosen Bishop of Roes- kilde or Rothschild. 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 in consistent 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 &quot; both swords, the spiritual and the temporal, were entrusted to the clergy.&quot; To his exertions as statesman and soldier Wal demar was largely indebted for the independence and con solidation 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 appoint ment; and when an attempt was made to install him by force, he resisted, and appealed to Rome. The Pope de cided 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 his tory 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 Dictammis), 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 colour ing ingredient has been frequently detected. In com merce 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 manu facture, is of most trustworthy quality as regards the herbs used in its preparation. The chief seat of the manufac ture is in the canton of Neufchatel 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 quan tity distilled for home consumption in France, the amount imported from Switzerland in recent years has not beei&amp;gt; less than 2,000,000 gallons yearly. The introduction of this beverage into general use in France is curious. Dur ing 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, tha.t 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 accord ing 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 diges tive 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 ema ciated, wrinkled, and sallow. Lesion of the brain follows, horrible dreams and delusions haunt the victim, and gradu ally 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 essen tial 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. 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 &quot; mon archy&quot; or &quot; power,&quot; has been variously employed in philo sophy. 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 beea observed, it can hardly in perfect strictness be maintained. The so-called r.bsolute name, if used with a meaning, does. always stand in some relation, however variable or in definite, 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 &quot;universe&quot; 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; L 8