of Gen. xxiii. has been much exaggerated; see S. R. Driver,
Genesis, ad loc.; S. A, Cook, Laws of Moses, p. 208.
6 See H. St. J. Thackeray, Relation of St Paul to
Contemporary Jewish Thought, p. 69 seq. (1900).
7 On the other hand, the coincidences in xx. xxi.
are due to E, who is also the author of xxii. Apart
from these the narratives of Abraham are from J and P.
8 According to Breasted (Amer. Journ. of Sem. Lit.,
1904, p. 56), the ``field of Abram'' occurs among the places
mentioned in the list of the Egyptian king Shishak (No. 71-2)
in the 10th century. See also his History of Egypt, p. 530.
9 The number is precisely that of the total numerical
value of the consonants of the name ``Eliezer'' (Gen.
xv. 2); an astral signification has also been found.
10 W. R. Smith, Ency. Brit. (9th ed., 1883), art. ``Melchizedek.''
11 That the names may be those of historical personages
is no proof of historical accuracy: ``We cannot therefore
conclude that the whole account is accurate history, any more
than we can argue that Sir Walter Scott's Anne of Geirstein
is throughout a correct account of actual events because we
know that Charles the Bold and Margaret of Anjou were real
people'' (W. H. Bennett, Century Bible: Genesis, p. 186).
ABRAHAM A SANCTA CLARA (1644-1709), Austrian divine,
was born at Kreenheinstetten, near Messkirch, in July
1644. His real name was Ulrich Megerle. In 1662 he joined
the order of Barefooted Augustinians, and assumed the name
by which he is known. In this order he rose step by step
until he became prior provincialis and definitor of his
province. Having early gained a great reputation for pulpit
eloquence, he was appointed court preacher at Vienna in
1669. The people flocked to hear him, attracted by the
force and homeliness of his language, the grotesqueness of
his humour, and the impartial severity with which he lashed
the follies of all classes of society and of the court in
particular. In general he spoke as a man of the people, the
predominating quality of his style being an overflowing and
often coarse wit. There are, however, many passages in his
sermons in which he rises to loftier thought and uses more
dignified language. He died at Vienna on the 1st of December
1709. In his published writings he displayed much the same
qualities as in the pulpit. Perhaps the most favourable
specimen of his style is his didactic novel entitled
Judas der Erzschelm (4 vols., Salzburg, 1686-1695).
His works have been several times reproduced in whole or
in part though with many serious interpolations. The best
edition is that published in 21 vols. at Passau and Lindau
(1835-1854). See Th. G. von Karaiesn, Abraham a Sancta
Clara (Vienna, 1867); Wanckenburr, Studien uber die Sprache
Abrahams al S. C. (Halle, 1897); Sexto, Abraham a S. C.
(Sigmaringen, 1896); Schnell, Pater A. a S. C. (Munich,
1895); H. Mareta, Uber Judas d. Erzschelm (Vienna, 1875).
ABRAHAM IBN DAUD (c. 1110-1180), Jewish historiographer
and philosopher of Toledo. His historical work was the
Book of Tradition (Sepher Haqabala), a chronicle down
to the year 1161. This was a defence of the traditional
record, and also contains valuable information for the
medieval period. It was translated into Latin by Genebrad
(1519). His philosophy was expounded in an Arabic work
better known under its Hebrew title 'Emunah Ramah
(Sublime Faith.) This was translated into German by Well
(1882). Ibn Daud was one of the first Jewish scholastics to
adopt the Aristotelian system; his predecessors were mostly
neo-Platonists. Maimonides owed a good deal to him.
ABRAHAMITES, a sect of deists in Bohemia in the 18th
century, who professed to be followers of the pre-circumcised
Abraham. Believing in one God, they contented themselves
with the Decalogue and the Paternoster. Declining to be
classed either as Christians or Jews, they were excluded from
the edict of toleration promulgated by the emperor Joseph
II. in 1781, and deported to various parts of the country,
the men being drafted into frontier regiments. Some became
Roman Catholics, and those who retained their ``Abrahamite',
views were not able to hand them on to the next generation.
ABRAHAM-MEN, the nickname for vagrants who infested England
in Tudor times. The phrase is certainly as old as 1561, and
was due to these beggars pretending that they were patients
discharged from the Abraham ward at Bedlam. The genuine
Bedlamite was allowed to roam the country on his discharge,
soliciting alms, provided he wore a badge. This humane
privilege was grossly abused, and thus gave
rise to the slang phrase ``to sham Abraham.''
ABRANTES, a town of central Portugal, in the district of
Santarem, formerly included in the province of Estremadura;
on the right bank of the river Tagus, at the junction of
the Madrid-Badajoz--Lisbon railway with the Guarda-Abrantes
line. Pop. (1900) 7255. Abrantes, which occupies the crest
of a hill covered with olive woods, gardens and vines, is a
fortified town, with a thriving trade in fruit, olive oil and
grain. As it commands the highway down the Tagus valley to
Lisbon, it has usually been regarded as an important military
position. Originally an Iberian settlement, founded about
300 B.C., it received the name Aurantes from the Romans;
perhaps owing to the alluvial gold (aurum) found along the
Tagub. Roman mosaics, coins, the remains of an aqueduct, and
other antiquities have been discovered in the neighbourhood.
Abrantes was captured on the 24th of November 1807 by the
French under General Junot, who for this achievement was created
duke of Abrantes. By the Convention of Cintra (22nd of August
1808) the town was restored to the British and Portuguese.
ABRASION (from Lat. ab, off, and radere, to scrape), the
process of rubbing off or wearing down, as of rock by moving
ice, or of coins by wear and tear; also used of the results of
such a process as an abrasion or excoriation of the skin. In
machinery, abrasion between moving surfaces has to be prevented as
much as possible by the use of suitable materials, good fitting and
lubrication. Engineers and other craftsmen make extensive use
of abrasion, effected by the aid of such abrasives as emery and
carborundum, in shaping, finishing and polishing their work.
ABRAUM SALTS (from the German Abraum-salze, salts
to be removed), the name given to a mixed deposit of
salts, including halite, carnallite, kieserite, &c., found
in association with rocksalt at Stassfurt in Prussia.
ABRAXAS, or ABRASAX, a word engraved on certain antique
stones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used
as amulets or charms. The Basilidians, a Gnostic sect, attached
importance to the word, if, indeed, they did not bring it into
use. The letters of abraxas, in the Greek notation, make
up the number 365, and the Basilidians gave the name to the
365 orders of spirits which, as they conceived, emanated in
succession from the Supreme Being. These orders were supposed
to occupy 365 heavens, each fashioned like, but inferior
to that above it; and the lowest of the heavens was thought
to be the abode of the spirits who formed the earth and its
inhabitants, and to whom was committed the administration of
its affairs. Abraxas stones are of very little value. In
addition to the word Abraxas and other mystical characters,
they have often cabalistic figures engraved on them. The
commonest of these have the head of a fowl, and the arms and
bust of a man, and terminate in the body and tail of a serpent.
ABROGATION (Lat. abrogare, to repeal or annul a law;
rogare, literally ``to ask,'' to propose a law), the
annulling or repealing of a law by legislative action.
Abrogation, which is the total annulling of a law, is to
be distinguished from the term derogation, which is used
where a law is only partially abrogated. Abrogation may be
either express or implied. It is express either when the new
law pronounces the annulment in general terms, as when in a
concluding section it announces that all laws contrary to the
provisions of the new one are repealed, or when in particular
terms it announces specifically the preceding laws which it
repeals. It is implied when the new law contains provisions
which are positively contrary to the former laws without
expressly abrogating those laws, or when the condition of things
for which the law had provided has changed and consequently
the need for the law no longer exists. The abrogation of
any statute revives the provisions of the common law which
had been abrogated by that statute. See STATUTE; REPEAL.
ABRUZZI E MOLISE, a group of provinces (compartimento)
of Southern Italy, bounded N. by the province of Ascoli, N.W.
and W. by Perueia, S.W. by Rome and Casertz, S. by Benevento.
E. by Foggia and N.E. by the Adriatic Sea. It comprises the
provinces of Teramo (population in 1901, 307,444), Aquila
(396,620), Chieti (370,907) and Campobasso (366,571), which,
under the kingdom of Naples, respectively bore the names
Abruzzo Ulteriore I., Abruzzo Ulteriore II., Abruzzo Citeriore
(the reference being to their distance from the capital) and
Molise. The total area is 6567 sq. m. and the population
(1901) 1,441,551. The district is mainly mountainous in the
interior, including as it does the central portion of the
whole system of the Apennines and their culminating point,
the Gran Sasso d'Italia. Towards the sea the elevation
is less considerable, the hills consisting mainly of somewhat
unstable clay and sand, but the zone of level ground along
the coast is quite inconsiderable. The coast line itself,
though over 100 miles in length, has not a single harbour of
importance. The climate varies considerably with the
altitude, the highest peaks being covered with snow for the
greater part of the year, while the valleys running N.E.
towards the sea are fertile and well watered by several small
rivers, the chief of which are the Tronto, Vomano, Pescara,
Sangro, Trigno and Biferno. These are fed by less important
streams, such as the Aterno and Gizio, which water the valleys
between the main chains of the Apennines. They are liable to
be suddenly swollen by rains, and floods and landslips often
cause considerable damage. This danger has been increased,
as elsewhere in Italy, by indiscriminate timber-felling on
the higher mountains without provision for re-afforestation,
though considerable oak, beech, elm and pine forests still
exist and are the home of wolves, wild boars and even
bears. They also afford feeding-ground for large herds of
swine, and the hams and sausages of the Abruzzi enjoy a high
reputation. The rearing of cattle and sheep was at one time
the chief occupation of the inhabitants, and many of them
still drive their flocks down to the Campagna di Roma for the
winter months and back again in the summer, but more attention
is now devoted to cultivation. This flourishes especially in
the valleys and in the now drained bed of the Lago Fucino.
The industries are various, but none of them is of great
importance. Arms and cutlery are produced at Campobasso and
Agnone. At the exhibition of Abruzzese art, held at Chieti
in 1905, fine specimens of goldsmiths' work of the 15th and
16th centuries, of majolica of the 17th and 18th centuries,
and of tapestries and laces were brought together; and the
reproduction of some of these is still carried on, the small
town of Castelli being the centre of the manufacture. The river
Pescara and its tributary the Tirino form an important source
of power for generating electricity. The chief towns are (1)
