Sentence:  The result of Attention, by concentrating the mind upon certain qualities, is thus to withdraw or abstract it from all else. In technical language, we are said to <WSD>prescind</WSD> the phenomena which we exclusively consider. To <WSD>prescind</WSD>, to attend, and to abstract, are merely different but correlative names for the same process; and the first two are nearly convertible. When we are said to <WSD>prescind</WSD> a quality, we are merely supposed to attend to that quality exclusively. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To pay exclusive attention to.