various deleterious substances are added, the most important of these being antimony. As at present constituted, therefore, and especially when drunk in the disastrous excess now common in Paris, and taken, as it frequently is, on an empty stomach, absinthe forms a chronic poison of almost unequalled virulence, both as an irritant to the stomach and bowels, and also as a destroyer of the nervous system. The effect of absinthe is to produce a superabundant activity of the brain, a cerebral excitement, which at first is agreeable; intoxication comes on rapidly; the head swims, and the effect produced is nearly the same as that of poisoning by a narcotic, which certainly does not occur with an equal dose of brandy. With the absinthe-drinker, as with the opium-eater, the excitement the spirit produces diminishes daily in intensity. Each day he is obliged to augment the dose in order to bring himself up to the right pitch. The diseases brought on by the excessive drinking of ardent spirits are produced with greater rapidity by the use of absinthe.” The amount of absinthe consumed in London has during the last few years been enormously on the increase. See LIQUEURS. =ABSINTHIN.= C_{16}H_{22}O_{5}. The bitter principle of wormwood (_Artemisia absinthium_). A hard crystalline solid, having an intensely bitter taste; slightly soluble in water, very soluble in alcohol, less so in ether. Its physiological effects resemble those of extract of wormwood. _Dose._ 1/2 gr. to 2 gr., or more; in dyspepsia; as a stomachic, to promote the appetite, &c.; as a substitute for quinine in intermittents; and in worms. =ABSINTH′IUM.= [L.] See ABSINTHE. =ABSOLUTE.= _Syns._ ABSOLUTUS, L.; ABSOLU, Fr.; UNDEBINGT, G. In _chemistry_, pure, unmixed; as _absolute alcohol_, pure spirit of wine, _i.e._ free from water. =ABSORBED′= (-sorbd′). _Syn._ CHILLED; ABSORBÉ, Fr. In _painting_, a term among French connoisseurs, to represent that state of a picture in which the oil has sunk into the canvas or ground, leaving the colours ‘flat,’ and the touches indistinct. The remedy consists in rubbing the surface of the picture, previously well cleaned, with a soft sponge dipped in a little drying oil, and after some days varnishing it; when it should be kept in a warm room until perfectly dry. =ABSORB′ENT.= _Syn._ ABSORB′ENS, L.; ABSORBANT, Fr.; ABSORBIREND, Ger. Imbibing; that imbibes or sucks up; variously applied in science and art. (See _below_.) =Absorbent Ground.= In _painting_, a picture-ground prepared wholly or chiefly in distemper or water colour, in order that the redundant oil in the colours subsequently applied may be immediately ‘absorbed,’ by which expedition is permitted, and brilliancy imparted to them.