absolutist (absolutist)

and a. [ Hence the nece ity which compelled Schelling and the absolutists to place the absolute in the indifference of subject and object, of knowledge and existence. Sir W. Hamilton. II. a. Of or pertaining to absolutism; despotic; absolutistic. Socialism would introduce, indeed, the most vexatious and all-encompa ing absolutist government ever invented. Rae , Cont. Socialism, p. 366. All these things were odious to the old governing cla es of France; their spirit was absolutist, ecclesiastical, and military. John Morley. a. Of, down anything, It is manifest, too, that there cannot be great self mobility unle the absorbed materials are efficiently distributed to the organs which transform insensible motion into sensible motion. H. Spencer , Prin. of Psychol., § 2. Every gas and every vapor absorbs exactly those kinds of rays which it emits when in the glowing condition, whilst it permits all other kinds of rays to traverse it with undiminished intensity. Lommel, Nature of Light, p. 164. 2t. To swallow up; engulf; overwhelm: as, the sea absorbed the wreck. And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all. Cowper , On Names in Biog. Brit. 3. To swallow up the identity or individuality of; draw in as a constituent part; incorporate: as, the empire absorbed all the small states. A clear stream flowing with a muddy one, Till in its onward current it absorbs The vexed eddies of its wayward brother. Tennyson, Isabel. 4. To engro or engage wholly. When a tremendous sound or an astounding spectacle absorbs the attention, it is next to impo ible to think of anything else. H. Spencer , Prin, of Psychol., § 98. The confirmed invalid is in danger of becoming ab sorbed in self. Whately, On Bacon's E , of Adversity. [ II. n. Any substance causing absorption, as of a swelling. H. C. Wood, Therap. absorbency (ab-sôr'ben-si), n . Absorptivene . absorbent (ab-sorbent), a. and n. [L. ab sorben ( t- )s, ppr. of absorbēre : see absorb .] I. a. Absorbing or capable of absorbing; imbibing; swallowing; performing the function of absorption: as, absorbent ve els; the absorbent system. "Absorption-bands" [in the spectrum]... indicate what kind of light has been stopped and extinguished by the absorbent object. A. Daniell , Prin, of Physics, p. 450. Absorbent cotton. See cotton1. - Absorbent gland. See gland. Absorbent grounds, in painting, picture grounds prepared, either on board or on canvas, so as to have the power of absorbing the redundant oil from the colors, for the sake of quickne in drying, or to increase the brilliancy of the colors. - Absorbent-strata waterpower, a hydraulic device for utilizing the power of water pa ing through an absorbing-well. See absorbing-well, under absorb. II. n. Anything which absorbs. Specifically (a) In an at , and physiol ., a ve el which imbibes or takes nutritive matters into the system; specifically, in the vertebrates, a lymphatic ve el (which see, under lym phatic). (b) In therapeutics: (1) any substance used to absorb a morbid or exce ive discharge; (2) an alkali used to neutralize acids in the stomach. (c) In chem.: (1) anything that takes up into itself a gas or liquid, as a substance which withdraws moisture from the air; (2) a substance, such as magnesia, lime, etc., which neutralizes acids. absorber (ab-sor'ber), n. One who or that which absorbs. Let us study the effect of using sodium vapour as the medium-not as a source of light, but as an absorber . J. N. Lockyer , Spect. Anal., p. 39. Schlösing has investigated the action of the ocean-water as an absorber and regulator of the carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere. Smithsonian Report , 1881, p. 266. absorbing (ab-sor'bing), p . a . 1. Soaking up; imbibing; taking up. If either light or radiant heat be absorbed, the absorb ing body is warmed. Tyndall , Light and Elect., p. 76. 2. Engro ing; enchanting: as, the spectacle was most absorbing . The total aspect of the place, its sepulchral stillne , its absorbing perfume of evanescence and decay and mortality, confounds the distinctions and blurs the details. II . James , Jr. , Trans. Sketches, p. 334. absorbingly (ab-sor'bing-li), adv. In an absorbing manner; engro ingly. absorbitiont (ab-sôr-bish'on), n. [Irreg. Circe in vain invites the feast to share, Absent I wander and absorpt in care. Pope , Ody ey, iv. absorptiometer (ab-sôrp-shi-om'e-tèr), n. [L. absorptio , absorption, + Gr. μέτρον , a measure: see meter2 .] An instrument invented by Pro- fe or Bunsen to determine the amount of gas absorbed by a unit-volume of a liquid. It is a graduated tube in which a certain quantity of the gas and liquid is agitated over mercury. The amount of absorp- tion is measured on the scale by the height to which the mercury pre es up the liquid in the tube. teristic of absolutists or absolutism. But the spirit of the Roman empire was too absolutistic to abandon the prerogative of a supervision of public wor- ship. Schaff , Hist. Christ. Church, III. § 2. magnesia absorbs acidity in the stomach.-Ab- sorbing-well, a vertical excavation or shaft sunk in the earth to enable the surface-water to reach a permeable bed which is not saturated with water, and can therefore take up or absorb and carry off the water which has acce absorbēre : see act or proce of absorbing, or the state of being absorbed, in all the senses of the verb: as ( a ) The act or proce of imbibing, swallowing, or engulfing mechanically. (b) The condition of having one's atten- absorption tion entirely occupied with something. (c) In chem, and phys., a taking in or reception by molecular or chemical action: as, absorption of gases, light, heat. See below. We know the redne of the sun at evening arises, not from absorption by the ether, but from absorption by a great thickne of our atmosphere. J. N. Lockyer , Spect. Anal., p. 30. (d) In physiol., the proce of taking up into the vascular system (venous or lymphatic) either food from the alimentary canal or inflammatory products and other substances from the various ti ues. Plants absorb moisture and nutritive juices principally by their roots, but sometimes by their general surfaces, as in seaweeds, and car bonic acid by their leaves. Absorption of organic matter by leaves takes place in several insectivorous plants.Absorption-bands, in spectrum analysis, dark bands in the spectrum more or le broad and in general not sharply defined. They are seen when the light has pa ed through a body not nece arily incandescent, and which may be a solid (as a salt of didymium), a liquid (as a solution of blood), or a vapor (as the rain-band caused by the aqueous vapor in the terrestrial atmosphere). See absorption-lines and spectrum. - Absorption of color, the phe no men on observed when certain colors are retained or pre vented from pa ing through certain transparent bodies. Thus, pieces of colored gla are almost opaque to some parts of the spectrum, while allowing other colors to pa through freely. This is merely a special case of the absorption of light.-Absorption of gases, the action of some solids and liquids in taking up or absorbing gases. Thus, a porous body like charcoal (that is, one presenting a large surface) has the ability to take in, or condense on its surface, a large quantity of some gases through the molecular attraction exerted between its surface and the mol ecules of the gas, boxwood charcoal, for example, being able to absorb 90 times its volume of ammonia-gas. On account of this property, charcoal is used as a disinfectant to absorb noxious gases. (See occlusion.) Liquids also have the power to absorb or di olve gases, the quantity absorbed varying with the nature of the liquid and the gas; it is also proportional to the pre ure, and increases temperature is lowered. For example, at the ordinary temperature and pre ure water absorbs its own volume of carbon dioxid; at a pre ure of two atmospheres, two volumes are absorbed, and so on. If this additional pre ure is relieved, the exce over one volume is liberated with effervescence, as in soda-water. - Absorption of heat, the action performed in varying degrees in different bodies solids, liquids, and gases-of stopping radiant heat, as a result of which their own temperature is more or le raised. For example, rock-salt and carbon disulphid absorb but little radiant heat, that is, are nearly diatherma nous. On the other hand, alum and water arrest a large portion of it, that is, are comparatively athermanous. The waves of ether once generated may so strike against the molecules of a body exposed to their action as to yield up their motion to the latter; and in this transfer of the motion from the ether to the molecules consists the absorption of radiant heat. Tyndall, Radiation, § 2. Absorption of light, that action of an imperfectly trans opaque body by which of parent proud topic so motion, while the rest is either transmitted through it or reflected from it. It is owing to this action that, for example, a certain thickne of pure water shows a greenish color, of gla a bluish-green color, etc. - Absorption-lines, in spectrum analysis, dark lines produced in an otherwise continuous IMG:content-0091.png:[blocks in formation] Part of Solar Spectrum, showing Absorption-lines. spectrum by the absorption of relatively cool vapors through which the light has pa ed. The absorption takes place in accordance with the principle that a body, when exposed to radiation from a source hotter than itself, ab sorbs the same rays which it emits when incandescent. Thus, the radiation from a lime light pa ed through an alcohol flame colored with sodium vapor yields a continu ous spectrum, interrupted, however, by a line in the place of the bright line afforded by the sodium vapor alone. The solar spectrum shows a multitude of dark lines, due to the absorption of the solar atmosphere, and in part also to that of the earth. - Absorption-spectrum, a spectrum with absorption-lines or-bands. - Cutaneous or external absorption, in med., the proce by which certain substances, when placed in contact with a living surface, produce the same effects upon the system as when taken into the stomach or injected into the veins, only in a le degree. Thus, arsenic, when applied to an external wound, will sometimes affect the system as rapidly as when introduced into the stomach; and mercury, applied externally, excites salivation. - Interstitial absorption. See interstitial .