V I s
C 3 I6]
V I T
2%e Laws hereof, fee under Reflexion, and Mirror. Refratled Vision, is that perform'd by means of Rays refrailed, or turn'd out of their way, by paffing thro' Me- diums of different denfity ; chiefly thro' Glaffes andLenfes. the Laws of this, fee under the Articles Refraction, Lens, £=fc. ,
Vision, among Divines, is ufed for an Appearance which God occasionally fent his Prophets and Saints ; either by way of Dream, or in reality. See Prophecy, Revelation, Be. Such were the Vifions of Ezekiel, Amos, &c. the Vifion of St. 'Paul, lifted up to the third Heaven, &c. of Jofeph, by which he was affur'd of the Purity of the Virgin, Be.
Many among the Romifh Saints ftill pretend to Vifions : the Revelations of S. Bridget are fo many Vifions.
Hence the Word has come into difrepute, and become a common Name for all Chimeras, or Speftres, which either our own Folly or Fear poffeffes us with : And hence, a Per- fon that frames to himfelf wild romantic Notions, is called a Vifionary.
guevedo\ Vifions, are Defcriptions of what pals d in the Imagination of that Author.
The Beatific Vifion, is the A3 whereby the Angels and bleffed Spirits fee God in Paradife. See Beatific.
VISIR, or Visier, or Vizer, an Officer or Dignitary in the Ottoman Empire.
There are two Kinds of Vifirs, the firft called by the Turks, Vifir Azera, that is Grand Vifir ; firft created in 13)0, by Amurath I. in order to eafe himfelf of the chief and weightier Affairs of the Government.
The Grand or 'Prime Vifir, is the firft Minifter of State
in the whole Empire. He commands the Army in chief,
and prefides at the Di ran, or great Council. Renegado
Chrittians, have been frequently rais'd to the Vifirate : Such were Khairedain, Ulug Ali, &c.
Next to the Grand Vifir are fix other fubordinate Vifirs, call'd Vifirs of the "Bench, who officiate as Counfellors or Affeffors in the Divan. See Divan.
VISITATION, an Aft of Jurifdiflion, whereby a Su- perior, or proper Officer, mfin fome Corporation, College, Church, or other publick or private Houie, to fee that the Regulations thereof be duly obferv'd.
Among us, the Bifhop of each Diocefe is oblig'd to hold a Vifitation every three Year, and the Archdeacon every Year ; to fee that the Difcipline be well obferv'd, the People well inftructed, and take care that neither the Church, nor the Pallors thereof receive any detriment. See Bishop, Archdeacon, fifo
Antiently, the Regarder's Office was exprefs'd to be the Vifitation of Manners. See Regarder.
The Lawyers hold it a Branch of the King's Prerogative, to vifit the Univerfities ; to inquire into the Statutes, and Observation of them ; to expel Delinquents, gjc. But fome of the Colleges difallow this Privilege ; and plead them- felves, by Royal Charters, exempt from all Civil and Royal Vifitations. See University.
Among the Romanifls, the General of each Religious Order, is oblig'd to vifit the feveral Monafteries of the Order. See General, and Order.
In Abbies that are Chiefs of their Orders, there are par- ticular Officers, call'd Vifitors ; who are difpatch'd into all the Houfes and Congregations depending on them, to fee that the regular Difcipline is obferv'd.
In Spain, there is a Vifitor and Inauifitor General.
The Vifitation of the Cloifter belongs to the Ordinary.— ■ — At 'Paris, the Parliament vifit the feveral Prifons and Prifo- ners four times a Year.
In a Moral and Religious Senfe, Vifitation is alfo ufed for the Affliflions that befal Mankind ; as coming from the Hand of God, to try or prove them. — In this Senfe, the laft Plague among us is frequently call'd the Vifitation.
VISIVE, in the School Philofophy, a Term applied to the Power of Seeing. See Seeing.
Authors are exceedingly divided about the Place where the Vifive Faculty refides : Some will have it in the Retina j others in the Choroeides ; others in the Optic Nerve ; others, as Sir /. Newton, in the Place where the Optic Nerves meet, before they come to the Brain ; and others in the Brain it felf. See Sight, and Sensory.
VISNE, in Law, a neighbouring Place, or Place near at hand. See Venew.
VISUAL, fomething belonging to the Sight, or Seeing. See Sight, and Seeing.
Visual Rays, are Lines of Light, imagin'd to come from the Object to the Eye. See Ray.
All the Observations of Aftronomers and Geometers, are perform'd by means of the Vifual Rays, receiv'd in at the Sights, or 'Pinnule of Alhidades. See Observation, Sight, Quadrant, Levelling, $$c.
Visual Point, in Perfpcctive, is a Point in the horizontal Line, wherein the ocular Rays unite. See Point.
Thus, a Perfon Handing in a ftrait long Gallery, and look- ing forwards, the Sides, Floor, and Ceiling feem to meet,
and touch One another in a Point, or common Centre;
VITA, Life, is a very ambiguous Term : For both God and Man, and a Soul, and an Animal, and a Plant, are faid to live : yet there is nor any thing common to all thefc, be- fide a kind of active Exiftence, which, however, is very diffe- rent. Seo Animal, Vegetable, ££c.
Life, then, in the general, expreffes a kind of active, ope- rative Exiftence j and is therefore conceiv'd to confift in Mo- tion. But, particularly,
Vita Corporis, the Life of a Body, confifts in an unin- terrupted Motion therein. — -A Body, therefore, faid to be living, muft confift of various Parts or Members, both inter- nal and external, fo framed and put together, as to confti- tute one Whole. And thefe Members muft be moved and warm'd by fome fluid Subftance, permeating the whole Frame ; by which Heat and Motion, the vital Functions are to be perform'd. — Such are Nutrition, Generation, Local Motion, He See Blood, Circulation, £=?c.
Vita Mentis, the Life of a Mind, is held by the Car- tefians to confift in a perpetual Cogitation, or uninterrupted Courfe of Thinking; which feems likewile rohave been Ari- flotle's meaning, when he call'd the Soul kvnM^.iA j which his Interpreters call Aclus : Thinking being the only proper Aft of the Mind. See Entelecheia.
But Mr. Lock endeavours ro refute this Principle. See Thinking.
Vita Hominis, Life of a Man, confifts in a continued Communication of Body and Mind ; or in Operations to which both the Motions of the Body, and Ideas of the Mind, contribute.
Thus, e.g. the Mind now thinking of fomething, on occafion of that Thought, there arifes a certain Motion in the Body : And now, again, the Body moves firft, which Motion is follow'd by fome Thought of the Mind.
In fuch alternate or reciprocal Operation does the Life of Man confift 5 confider'd as he is a Compound of Body and Mind. See Sensation, Motion, (ge.
VITAL, in Anatomy, fomething that minifters principal- ly to the conftituting or maintaining of Life in the Bodies of Animals.
Thus, the Heart, Lungs, and Brain, are called Vital Parts. See Part.
Vital Functions, or ABions, are thofe Aftions of the Vital Parts, whereby Life is effected ; fo as that it can't fubfift without 'em. — Such are the mufculous Action of the Heart ; the fecretory Action of the Cerebellum ; the refpi- ratory A&ion of the Lungs ; the Circulation of the Blood and Spirits, thro' the Arteriesj Veins, and Nerves. See Function.
Vital Spirits, are the fined and moil volatile Parts of the Blood. See Spirits.
VITELLIANI, in Antiquity, a kind of Tablet orPocker- Book, wherein People antiently ufed to write down their in- genious, humourous, and wanton Fancies and Impertinencies : The fame as what in Englijh we may call a Trifle-Book. See Martial, Lib. XIV. Epig. viii.
Some will have them to take their Name from Vitellus, a Yolk of an Egg j by reafon, the Leaves were rubb'd there- with : Others derive it from one Vitellius their Inventor.
VITRIFICATION, or Vitrifaction, the Act, of con- verting a Body into Glafs, by Fire. See Glass.
Of all Bodies, Fern-Afties, Sand, Bricks, and Pebbles, vitrify the moft eafily. Accordingly, it is of the firft of thefe that Glafs is principally made.
Gold, held by M. Homberg near the Focus of the Duke of Orleans's large, burning, concave Mirror, at firft fmoak'd, then changed, all of it that did not go off in Fumes, into Glafs, of a deep violet Colour. — The Glafs of Gold weighs lefs than Gold. Memoirs of the French Academy, 1702. See Gold.
All Metals, and even almoft all Natural Bodies, fufficient- ly heated, vitrify : And this Vitrification is the laft Effect of the Fire ; after which the moft intenfe heat of the larg- eft Burning-Glafs, will make no further Alteration. See Burning-Glass, Mirror, and Fire.
Vitrification, fome Authors will have to be chiefly effected by the Salts uniting and incorporating with the metalline Particles. See Calcination.
But, according to M. Homherg, iXWitrification refults from the Earth, which being expofed to a violent Fire, and in- timately penetrared by fome other Diffolvent, commences Glafs. Thus, fuppofing the Principle of Gold to be Mer- cury, a metallick Sulphur, and an Earth ; the Vitrification of Gold is eafily conceived : the Mercury, being volatile, exhales in Smoke, and leaves behind it the Earth, and Sul- phur, which are fix'd ; the Sulphur diffolves the Earth and vitrifies it.
VITRIOL, in Natural Hiftory, a kind of Foflil, or mi- neral Salt, chiefly found in Copper-Mines. See Salt, and Copper.
Vitriol
