494 ATT 
contributing. Swift. —In law, one that oweth a duty or 
fervice to another; or, after a fort, dependeth upon ano¬ 
ther. Cowell. That which is united with another, as a con¬ 
comitant or confequent: 
Govern well thy appetite, left fin 
Surprife thee, and her black attendant, death. Milton. 
ATTEND'ER,y. Companion; aftociate. 
AT'TENDORN, a town of Germany, in the duchy of 
Weftphalia, feven leagues fouth of Areniberg. 
AT'TENHOVE, a town of Brabant, one league north- 
eaft of Landen. 
ATTENT', adj. [ attentus , Lat.] Intent; attentive; 
heedful; regardful.—Now mine eyes fhall be open, and 
mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 
2 C/i>on. vii. 15. 
AT'TENTATES, f. \_attentata , Lat.] Proceedings in a 
court of judicature, pending fuit, and after an inhibition 
is decreed and gone out; tliofe things which are done af¬ 
ter an extrajudicial appeal may likewife be ftyled attentates. 
Ayliffe. 
ATTEN'TION,/! \_attention, Fr.] The aft of attend¬ 
ing or heeding ; the aft of bending the mind upon any 
thing.— Attention is a very neceffary thing ; truth doth not 
always ftrike the foul at firft fight. Watts. 
But him the gentle angel by the hand 
Soon rais’d, and his attention thus recall’d. Milton. 
Attention of mind is not properly an aft of the under- 
ftanding, but rather of the will; by which it calls the tin- 
derftanding from the conlideration of other objefts, and 
direfts it to the thing in hand. Neverthelefs, our atten¬ 
tion is not always voluntary: an interefting objeft feizes 
and fixes it beyond the power of controul. Attention, in 
refpeft of hearing, is the ftretching or draining of the 
membrana tympani, fo as to make it more fufceptible of 
founds, and better prepared to catch even a feeble agita¬ 
tion of the air. Or it is the adjufting the tenlion of that 
membrane to the degree of loudnefs or lownefs of the 
iound to which we are attentive. Bacon obferves, that 
“founds are meliorated by the intention of the lenfe, where 
the common lenfe is collefted molt to the particular fenfe 
of hearing, and the fight fufpended. Therefore founds 
are fweeter, as well as greater, in the night than in the 
day; and fweeter to blind men than to others; and it is 
manifeft, that between fleeping and waking, when all the 
fenfes are bound and fufpended, mufic is far fweeter than 
when one is fully waking.” And thus, according to the 
degree of attention, objefts make a ftronger or weaker 
impreflion. Attention is requilite even to the fimple aft 
of feeing: the eye can take in a conliderable field at one 
look; but no objeft in the field is feen diftinftly but that 
fingly which fixes the attention : in a profound reverie that 
totally occupies the attention, we fcarcely fee what is di- 
reftly before us. In a train of perceptions, no particular 
objeft makes fuch a figure as it would do fingly and apart; 
for, when the attention is divided among many objefts, no 
particular objeft is entitled to a large lliare. Hence, the 
tlillnefs of night contributes to terror, there being no¬ 
thing to divert the attention : 
Horror ubique animos, finnil ipfa filentia terrent. Ain. ii. 
Zara. Silence and folitude are ev’ry where! 
Through all the gloomy ways and iron doors 
That hither lead, nor human face nor voice 
Is feen or heard. A dreadful din was wont 
To grate the fenfe, wdien enter’d here, from groans 
And howls of Haves condemn’d, from clink of chains. 
And cralli of nifty bars and creaking hinges; 
And ever and anon the fight was dafli’d 
With frightful faces, and the meagre looks 
Of grim and ghaftly executioners. 
Yet more this ftillnefs terrifies my foul 
Titan did that fcene of complicated horrors. 
Mourning Bride , aft 5, fc. 3. 
ATT 
In matters of flight importance, attention is moftly di¬ 
rected by will; and, for that reafon, it is our own fault if 
trifling objefts make any d&ep impreflion. Had we power 
equally to with-hold our attention from matters of impor¬ 
tance, we might be proof againft any deep impreflion. But 
our power fails us here; an interefting objeft feizes and 
fixes the attention beyond the poflibility of controul; and, 
while our attention is thus forcibly attached to one ob¬ 
jeft, others may folicit for admittance ; but in vain, for 
they will not be regarded. Thus a fmall misfortune is 
fcarcely felt in prefence of a greater: 
Lear. Thou think’ft ’tis much, that this contentious ftorm 
Invades us to the (kin : fo ’tis to thee: 
But, where the greater malady is fix’d, 
The leirer is fcarce felt. Thou’dft ftiun a bear; 
But, if thy flight lay tow’rd the roaring fea, 
Thou’dft meet the beari’ th’ mouth. When the mind’s free, 
The body’s delicate : the tempeft in my mind 
Doth from my fenfes take all feeling elfe, 
Save what beats there. King Lear, aft 3, fc. 5. 
ATTEN'TIVE, adj. Heedful; regardful; full of at¬ 
tention.—Being moved with thefe, and the like your ef- 
feftual difeourfes, whereunto we gave moft attentive ear, 
till they entered even unto our fouls. Hooker. —A critic is 
a man, who, on all occafions, is more attentive to what is 
wanting than what is prefent. Addifon. 
Mute’s force can tame the furious beaft; 
Can make the wolf or foaming boar reftrain 
His rage; the lion drop his crefted mane, 
Attentive to the fong. Prior. 
ATTEN'TIVELY, adv. Heedfully; carefully.—If a 
man look fliarply and attentively, he (hall fee Fortune; for, 
though (lie be blind, (lie is not invifible. Bacon. 
ATTEN'TIVE NESS,_/l The ftate of being attentive; 
heedfulnefs; attention.—At the relation of the queen’s 
death, bravely confefled and lamented by the king, how 
attentivenefs wounded his daughter. Shakefpeare. 
ATTEN'UANT, adj. \_attenuans, Lat.] That has the 
power of making thin, or diluting. 
ATTEN'UANTS, or Attenuating Medicines, f . 
are fuch as fubtilize and break the humours into finer 
parts; and thus difpofe them for motion, circulation, ex¬ 
cretion, &c. Attenuating and inciding medicines are of 
very extenfive ufe in phylic, and come under different de¬ 
nominations, according to the different effefts they pro¬ 
duce. Thus, when tenacious and vifeid juices not only 
ftagnate in the cavities of the veffels, but obftruft the mi¬ 
nute dufts of the vifeera and emunftories, thefe medicines, 
by the inciding and attenuating quality, difeharge the hu¬ 
mours, and remove the obftruftions; for which reafon 
they are not improperly called aperients. Attenuants pro¬ 
duce fo great a variety of effefts, that it is proper we 
fhould be well acquainted with their feveral kinds, as ap¬ 
propriated to the feveral diforders, and know which will 
prove moft ferviceable in each. According to Hoffman, 
the diffolving and attenuating of vifeid crudities in the fto- 
mach and primee vice, is well anfwered by the roots of arum, 
acorus, pepper, ginger, and the like ; as alfo by fal am¬ 
moniac, vitriolated tartar, the fixed alkaline falts, and the 
fimple or dulcified fpirit of fait. When crude and un- 
concofted humours are to be evacuated by ftool, this in¬ 
tention is very well anfwered by the neutral falts, as the 
falts of the purging waters, and the fal polycrejlum , with a 
fufficient quantity of a watery vehicle. 
When vifeid humours, occafioning diforders of the 
bread, are to be attenuated and expeftorated, the in¬ 
tention is moft effeftually anfwered by elecampane and 
orice roots: and by gum ammoniacum, myrrh, or benja¬ 
min, and balfam of Peru ; or by regenerated tartar, oxy- 
mel of fquills, a folution of crabs eyes in diftilled vine¬ 
gar, and the fyrups of tobacco, and the like. When the 
mafs of blood is tainted by thick and tenaciods fordes, and 
the emunftories are by that means obftrufted, and the hu¬ 
mours 
