ABSINTH 



12 



ABSORPTION 



filled with pus, and located in the fleshy tissues 

 of the human body. No matter what cause 

 produces an abscess, the first step in its forma- 

 tion is an overcharge of blood in the capil- 

 laries, due to inflammation. The inflammation 

 soon slackens the flow of blood; the white 

 corpuscles of the blood combat the gathering 

 bacteria, and serums form (see BACTERIA; SE- 

 iu MS). The tissues gradually weaken and dis- 

 solve, and the resulting cavity becomes the 

 seat of the abscess. The pus seeks exit, and 

 attacks the weakest portion of the tissue walls, 

 usually in the direction of the skin. Abscesses 

 usually are very painful, especially just before 

 they "break." After breaking, the cavity 

 should be drained and all pus removed. Break- 

 ing may frequently be induced by poultices 

 which draw the infection nearer the surface, 

 although quite often the abscess must be 

 lanced, to allay the increasing pain. 



AB ' SINTH , or AB ' SINTHE , the most harm- 

 ful of all alcoholic liquors. People who habit- 

 ually drink absinth to excess always have 

 weak digestions and disordered nerves, and 

 they usually lessen their mental capacity, even 

 to the point of idiocy. Absinth is about 

 seventy-five per cent alcohol, as compared with 

 six to eight per cent in the strongest beer. The 

 peculiar harmfulness of absinth is due to ab~ 

 sinthol, the essential oil of wormwood (which 

 see), and to other poisonous oils of strong 

 flavors. 



Absinth is called the national drink of 

 France. It is to the Frenchman what beer is to 

 the German, vodka to the Russian, and Scotch 

 and soda to the Englishman. Not all French- 

 men drink it, but thousands of them enjoy a 

 sip or two every day. Even this sip, however, 

 was denied them in 1914, soon after the War 

 of the Nations began; the French govern- 

 ment absolutely prohibited the sale or manu- 

 facture of absinth. Its importation into the 

 United States or transportation from one state 

 to another has been forbidden since October 1, 

 1912. A heavy duty is levied on imports of 

 absinth into Canada. 



ABSOLUTION, ab so lu' shun, remission of 

 a penitent's sin, in the name of God. In gen- 

 eral, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church 

 may pronounce absolution if he believes that 

 the sinner has made a full and sincere confes- 

 sion, but there are certain sins from which 

 only a higher officer of the Church can absolve 

 the penitent. The Roman Catholic Church 

 founds its doctrine of absolution upon Christ's 

 words, as recorded in John XX, 23. 



ABSORPTION, abxorp' shun, a compound of 

 two Latin words meaning to xwallow away or 

 to drink up. Absorption, then, means the in- 

 termixture of two things in such a way that one 

 of them is taken up by the other and apparent- 

 ly vanishes. We speak of a solid absorbing a 

 liquid or a gas and of a liquid absorbing a pis. 

 Thus, a sponge absorbs water; a lampwirk, oil; 

 charcoal, ill-smelling gases; and water, am- 

 monia gas. The absorbed substance is, of 

 course, not annihilated nor is it without effect 

 upon the properties of the product. A wet 

 sponge differs in many ways from a dry one, 

 and ammonia water is obviously different from 

 pure water. But the mixed product is more 

 nearly like the absorbing than like the ab- 

 sorbed constituent. 



The quantities of the different gases which 

 a given quantity of water will absorb vary 

 greatly. At its freezing temperature (32 F.) 

 100 gallons of water will absorb only one and 

 one-half gallons of nitrogen, two volumes of 

 hydrogen or four gallons of oxygen. Of carbon 

 dioxide, however, the 100 gallons of water will 

 take up 170 gallons, of hydrochloric acid 50,500 

 gallons, of ammonia 130,000 gallons, and of 

 hydriodic acid gas no less than 157,000 gallons 

 (making a mixture which, though nine-tenths 

 gas by weight, is in the liquid state a striking 

 instance of the less swallowing the greater. 



Fishes and other animals which live under 

 the water are dependent upon the absorbed 

 oxygen for their respiratory supply. The 

 amount of any gas which any liquid will absorb 

 is always greater the lower the temperature and 

 the greater the pressure applied. Soda-water is 

 water charged with carbon dioxide under pres- 

 sure. When the cork of a soda-water bottle is 

 drawn, the pressure in the bottle is released and 

 the excess of gas, bubbling out, produces a foam 

 upon the liquid. Beer and champagne behave 

 similarly. 



Charcoal (which see) is the solid substance 

 which excels as an absorbent of gases, its use 

 as a deodorizer being due to this property. 

 Calcium chloride and zinc chloride and many 

 other substances absorb water vapor from the 

 air. In damp weather even common salt will 

 absorb enough water from the air to cake in a 

 salt-shaker. Dry wool and silk and, to a less 

 extent, dry cotton and linen, absorb moisture, 

 from the air. Caustic soda and caustic potash 

 absorb both water vapor and carbon dioxide. 

 Some solid substances when brought into con- 

 tact with a solution absorb one or more of the 

 dissolved substances from the water. Boneblack 



