Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/32

8]  as may strengthen and support the system. Bark, wine, and, if considerable pain or irritation prevail, opiates judiciously administered, will be highly beneficial.

After an abscess has been opened, it will require to be kept clean, and drest, either with dry lint, or some mild digestive ointment, once or twice a day, assisted by a compress and linen bandage.

Dr., an ingenious physician at Erfurt, in Germany, has lately proposed a plan for the treatment of abscesses; which, for its simplicity and novelty, is worthy of attention. In their incipient stage, he recommends the frequent application of compresses moistened with simple warm water, and after the suppuration has entirely ceased, the same fluid applied in a cold state, in order to strengthen the surrounding parts.

Abscesses, which are formed on any of the more important organs of life, such as the brain, the lungs, liver, &c. are particularly to be dreaded; as, by bursting, and discharging their contents into the contiguous cavities, they frequently occasion instantaneous death. From neglect, or mismanagement, abscesses sometimes terminate in mortification, or Gangrene; which subject will be farther discussed under the head of.  Absinthium vulgare. See Artemisia Absinthium, L. or.  ABSTINENCE may be defined, the habit of refraining from what is either useful, agreeable, or pernicious; and may he divided into general and particular. In the former sense, it may signify a certain privation, whereby the senses are mortified, and the passions restrained. In the latter, it is confined to the exclusion of certain substances, at stated times and seasons, in compliance either with the customs of particular countries, or with religious precepts. There is, also, another sense, in which the term abstinence denotes the limitation of any usual indulgence, for the purpose of preserving health, and removing the consequences of excess.

In the religious institutions of all countries, we find many regulations on this subject. The Mosaic Law forbids the eating of animals that were strangled, the use of swine's flesh, the exercise of daily labour on the Sabbath, &c. The Christian system more particularly enjoins the discipline of the, and an abstinence from those pleasures which have a tendency to degrade our nature. In England, particular days have been appointed, called vigils and, in which flesh is prohibited, and fish enjoined: this, however, being more a political restriction than a religious obligation, was first enacted in the reign of Queen , with a view to encourage our fisheries.

The effects of abstinence in the preservation of health, and the cure of diseases, are, by many physicians, stated to be remarkable. Dr. E., of New-York, in his Original Observations, relates that, in a district of the United States, which is particularly obnoxious to epidemic diseases, the febrile attack is often obviated and diminished by a rigid abstinence from food; and the celebrated declares, that he has often cured the synocha, or inflammatory fever, and other fevers, by prescribing diluent drinks, and prohibiting every kind of aliment, even, to use their own words, "for two or three days." The method, in this respect, adopted by Dr., was to commence his plan