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VAC
UT H E twentieth Letter in the Alphabet, and the fifth Vowel. See Letter, and a Vowel. ™ Befides the Vowel U, there is a Con- fonant of the fame Denomination, wrote V, or U. See Consonant.
The Pronunciation of the U, as now ufed among the En- glish, French, &c. is borrow'd from the antient Gaulijh 1 for all the other Weftern People, with the Romans, pro- nounce it on.
V is alfo a Numeral Letter, and fignifies five 5 accord- ing to the Verfe,
V, vero qimique dalit tifo', Jl reBe numerahis.
When a Dafh was added a-top, V, it fignified 5000. V. R. among the Romans, flood for Uti Rogas, as you defire : which was the Mark of a Vote, or Suffrage for the paffing of a Law. See Rogatio ; fee alfo A.
VACANCY, or Vacuum, in Philofophy, an empty In- terval, or Space void of Matter. See Vacuum.
Vacancy, in Law, i$c. a Poft or Benefice wanting a re- gular Officer, or Incumbent. See Officer, i£c.
The Canonitts hold, that the Kind of Vacancy is to be exprefs'd in the Impetration of a Benefice. See Benefice.
A Future Vacancy, or Voidance of a Spiritual Living, fome Writers call Vacatttra.
Devolution is a Species of Canonical Vacancy. See De- volution.
VACANT EffeBs, Prtedia Vacua, ate fuch as are aban- don'd for want of an Heir, after the Death or Flight of their former Owner. See Resignation, £5?c.
In our Law-Books, Vagantes Terrte, for Vacantes, ex- "preffes forfaken or uncultivated Lands.
A Benefice is faid to be vacant, in Curia Romana, when the Incumbent dies in Rome, or within 20 Leagues thereof 5 tho it be only by Accident that he was there.
The Pope nominates to all Benefices vacant in Curia Ro- mana ; excepting thofe of the neighbouring Biftiopricks.
VACATION, Non-Term, in Law, is all the Time, re- spectively, included between the End of every Term, and the Beginning of the next fucceeding one. See Term, and 2v"<wz-Term.
This Intermiflion was call'd by our Anceftors 'Pax "Dei, and Ecclefiee ; and fometimes the 1'imes or 'Days of the King's Peace.
Among the Romans, it was call'd Jufiitium, or Ferice, or 'Dies Nefafli. See Day ; fee alfo Fastus.
The Time from the Death of a Bifhop, or other Spiri- tual Perfon, till the Bifhoprick or other Dignity be lupplied by another, is alfo call'd Vacation. See Plenary.
Cicero, in his Orations, mentions a Law, whereby the Priefls were exempted from Service in all Wars, except only Uproars and Civil Tumults 5 which Exemptions he calls Vacationes.
VACUUM, Vacuity, in Phyficks, a Space empty, or devoid of all Matter, or Body. See Space, and Matter. Whether there be any fuch Thing in Nature as an abfo- lute Vacuum ; or whether the Univerfe be completely full, and there be an abfolute 'Plenum ; is a thing has been con- troverted by the Philofophcrs of all Ages. See Plenum.
The Antients, in their Controverfies, diftingui fit two Kinds ; a Vacuum Coacervatum, and a Vacuttm Interfperfum, or tDiffeminatum.
Vacuum Coacervatum is conceiv'd as a Place deflitute of Matter : Such, e.g. as there would be, mould God annihi- late all the Air and other Bodies within the Walls of this Chamber.
The Exiftence of fuch a Vacuum is maintain'd by the 'Pythagoreans, Epicureans, and the Atomifts, or Corpufcu- larians • molt of whom aflert fuch a Vacuum actually to exift with-out the Limits of the fenfible World. But the modern Corpufcularians, who hold a Vacuum Coacervatum, deny that Application ; as conceiving, that fuch a Vacuum muft be Infinite, Eternal, and Uncreated. See Universe. According, then, to the later Philofophers, there is no Vacuum Coacervatum with-out the Bounds of the fenfible Wotld ; nor would there be any Vacuum, provided God Jhould annihilate divers contiguous Bodies, than what a-
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VAC
mounts to a mere Privation, Ir Nothing : The Dimenfions of fuch a Space, which the Antients held to be real, being by thefe held to be mere Negations ; that is, in fuch a Place* there is To much Length, Breadth, and Depth wanting, as a Body mutt have to fill it. To fuppofe, that when all tho Matter in a Chamber is annihilated, there mould yet be real Dimenfions ; is to fuppofe Corporeal Dimenfions without Body, which is abfurd.
The Cartefians, however, deny any Vacuum Coacervatum at all ; and aflert, that if God mould immediately annihilate all the Matter, v.g. in this Chamber, and prevent thelngrefs of any other Matter, the Confequence would be, that the Walls would become contiguous, and include no Space at all* They add, that if there be no Matter in a Chamber, the Walls can be conceiv'd no otherwife than as contiguous 5 thofe Things being faid to be contiguous, between which there is not any thing intermediate : Eut, if there be no Body be- tween, there is no Extenfion between ; Extenfion and Body being the fame thing : and if there be no Extenfion be- tween, then the Walls are contiguous 5 and where's the Va- cuum ?
But the Rcafoning is built on a Miftake, viz. that Body and Extenfion ate the fame thing. See Extension, and Space.
Vacuum Diffeminatum, or Interfperfum, is that fuppos'd to be naturally interfpers'd in, and among, Bodies, in the Pores of the fame Body, and in the Interttices between dif- ferent Bodies. See Pore.
'Tis this kind of Vacuum which is chiefly difputed among the modern Philofophers : The Corpufcularians ftrenuoufly affirting it ; and the Peripateticks and Cartefians as ftiffly impugning it. See Corpuscular, Cartesian, i$c.
The great Argument the peripateticks utge againtt a Va- cuum Interfperfum, is, that there are divers Bodies frequently feen to move contrary to their own Nature and Inclination j and for no other apparent Reafon, but to avoid a Vacuum z whence they conclude, that Nature abhors a Vacuum ; and give us a new Clafs of Motions afcrib'd to the Fuga Vactli, or Nature's flying a Vacuum. See Fuga.
Such is the Rife of Water in a Syringe, upon drawing up the Piflon ; fuch alfo is the Al'cent of Water in Pumps, the Swelling of the Flefli in a Cupping-Glafs, £S?c.
But fince the Weight, Elaflicity, g?c. of the Air, have been afcertain'd by lure Experiments ; thofe Motions and Effecfs are univerfally afcrib'd to the Gravity, and Preffure of the Atmofphere. See Air j fee alfo Syringe, Pump, Cupping Glafs, &c.
The Cartefians deny not only the Aflual Exiflcnce, but even the Poffibility of a Vacuum : and that on this Prin- ciple, That Extenfion being the Eflence of Matter, or Body, wherever Extenfion is, there is Matter : But mere Space, or Vacuity, is fuppos'd to be extended 5 therefore it is ma- terial. Whoever denies an empty Space, conceives Dimen- fions in that Space, i. e. conceives an extended Subftance in it ; and therefore admits a Vacuum, at the fame time that he admits it.
On the other hand, the Corpufculaf Authors prove, not only the Poffibility, but the Adtual Exiflence of a Vacuum, from divers Considerations ; particularly, from the Conside- ration of Motion, in general ; and that of the Planets, Co- mets, &c. in particular ; from the Fall of Bodies 5 from the Vibration of Pendulums; from RarefaBion and Con- dentation ; from the different Specific Gravities of Bodies 5 and from the Divifibdity of Matter into Parts.
i Q . 'Tis argued, that Motio?i could not be effected with- out a Vacuum. See Motion.
This is what Lucretius urg'd long ago, — Principium quo* niam cedendi nulla daret res—undique materies quoniam ftipata fuijjet.
The Force of this Argument will be increas'd from the two following Confiderations, viz. firtt, that all Motion is either in a flrait Line 5 or in a Curve, which returns into it felf, as the Citcle, and Ellipfis ; or in a Cutve that does not return into it felf, as the Parabola, f$c. And, fecondly, that the moving Force muft always be greater than the Refif- tance.
For, hence it follows, that no Force, even tho infinite, can
produce Motion where the Refiftance is infinite • confe-
quently, there can be no Motion either in a flxait Line or a
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