SPA 



SPAAD, or Sfalt, Spatum, a word ufed in feveral dif- 

 ferent fenfes ; fometimes for a fpecies of Englifh fibrofe talc, 

 or of gypfum ; and fometimes for fpar. 



The various kinds of fpaad are found pretty frequently 

 in England and Germany, and fometimes brought from the 

 Levant : they are all foft, and eafily pulverized. 



SPACE, Spatium, a fimple idea, the medes of which 

 are diftance, capacity, extenfion, duration, &c. 



Space, confidered barely in length between any two bo- 

 dies, fuggefts the fame idea which we have of diftance. 



If it be confidered in length, breadth, and thicknefs, it 

 is properly called capacity. 



When confidered between the extremities of matter, 

 which fills the capacity of fpace with fomething folid, tan- 

 gible, and moveable, it is then called extenfion. 



So that extenfion is an idea belonging to body only ; but 

 fpace, it is plain, may be confidered without it. 



Space, therefore, in the general fignification, is the fame 

 thing with dillance confidered every way, whether there be 

 any folid matter in it or not. 



Each different diftance is a different modification of fpace ; 

 and each idea of any different fpace is a fimple mode of this 

 idea. Such are an inch, foot, yard, &c. which are the 

 ideas of certain ftated lengths, which men fettle in their 

 minds for the ufe, and by the cuftom of meafuring. When 

 thefe ideas are made familiar to men's thoughts, they can in 

 their minds repeat them as often as they will, without join- 

 ing to them the idea of body, and frame to themfelves the 

 ideas of feet, yards, and fathoms, beyond the utmoit 

 bounds of all bodies ; and by adding thefe ftill to one 

 another, they can enlarge their idea of fpace as much as 

 they pleafe. 



From this power of repeating any idea of diftance, with- 

 out being ever able to come to an end, we acquire the idea of 

 immenfity. 



Another mode, or modification, of fpace, is taken from 

 the relation of the parts of the termination of extenfion, or 

 circumfcribed fpace, amongft themfelves ; and this is what 

 we call_^^ar^. This the touch difcovers in fenfible bodies, 

 whofe extremities come within our reach ; and the eye takes, 

 both from bodies and colours whofe boundaries are within 

 its view ; where, obferving how the extremities terminate, 

 either in ftraight lines, which meet at difcernible angles, or 

 in crooked lines, in which no angles can be perceived ; by 

 confidering thefe as they relate to one another, in all 

 parts of the extremities of any body or fpace, it acquires 

 the idea we call figure, which affords to the mind infinite 

 variety. 



Another mode belonging to this head is that of place ; 

 which fee. 



Another mode of fpace is the idea which we get from the 

 fleeting, and perpetually periftiing, parts of fucceffion, which 

 we ciM duration. 



Space is ufiially divided into aljolute and relative. 

 Space, jibfohite, is that confidered in its own nature, 

 without regard to any thing external, which always remains 

 the fame, and is infinite and immoveable. 



Space, Relative, is that moveable dimenfion or meafure 

 of the former, which our fenfes define by its pofitions to 

 bodies within it ; and this the vulgar ufe for immoveable 

 fpace. 



Relative fpace, in magnitude and figure, is always the 

 fame with abfolute ; bnt it is not neceflary it (hould be fo nu- 

 merically : as if you fuppofe a (hip to be, indeed, in abfo- 

 lute reft, then the places of all things within her will be the 

 fame abfolutely and relatively, and nothing will change its 

 place ; but fuppofe the ftiip under fail, or in motion, and 



SPA 



(he will continually pafs through new parts of abfolute fpace ! 

 but all things on board, confidered relatively, in refpeft to 

 the (hip, may be, notwithltanding, in the fame places, or 

 have the fame fituation and pofition, in regard to one an- 

 other. 



The Cartefians, who make extenfion the eflience of mat- 

 ter, alTert, that the fpace any body takes up, is the fame 

 thing with the body itfelf ; and that there is no fuch thing 

 as mere fpace, void of all matter, in the univerfe ; but this 

 fee difproved under Vacuum. 



The Cartefians, who do not allow of any dillinftion be« I 

 tween fpace and matter, were naturally enough led to the I 

 opinion, that fpace or extenfion was a fubllance. Others, 

 who admit a vacuum, and confequently an efTential dif- 

 ference between fpace and matter, adert alfo that fpace is a 

 fubftance. Among thefe we find s'Gravefande, Introd. ad 

 Philof. fea. 19. 



Others put fpace into the fame clafs of beings as time 

 and number ; that is, they make it to be no more than a 

 notion of the mind. Hence, according to thefe authors, 

 abfolute fpace, of which the Newtonians fpeak, is a mere 

 chimera. See the writings of the late bilhop of Cloyne, 

 paffim. 



Space and time, according to Dr. Clarke, are attributes | 

 of the Deity, and the impolTibility of annihilating thefe, | 

 even in idea, is the fame with the neceffary exiftence of the 

 Deity. See Watt's Phil. Eff. E(i. i. 



Space, in Geometry, denotes the area of any figure ; or 

 that which fills the interval or diftance between the lines 

 that terminate it. 



The parabolic fpace is that included in the whole parabola. 



The conchoidal fpace, or the cijfoidal fpace, are what are 

 included within the cavities of the conchoid and cilToid. 

 By the new methods now introduced, of applying algebra 

 to geometry, it is demonftrated, that the conchoidal and 

 ciffoidal fpaces, though infinitely extended, are yet finite 

 magnitudes. 



Space, Cycloidal. See Cycloidal. 



Space, Elliptic. See Elliptic. 



Space, in Mechanics, the line a moveable body, confidered 

 as a point, is conceived to defcribe by its motion. 



SPADA, LiONELLO, in Biography, was born at Bologna 

 in 1576, in a very low condition of life ; and when a boy he 

 became the fervant of the Caracci, and ground and prepared 

 their colours. The conllant opportunity he poffefTed, whilit 

 with thefe great men, of feeing pidlures, and hearing difcuf- 

 fions on the principles of the art, roufed a latent difpofition 

 to ftudy and defign, which his matters faw and encouraged ; 

 and at length they admitted him into their academy, where 

 they had the gratification of feeing him become one of their 

 moil eminent difciples ; though he never arrived at any very 

 great degree of grandeur or purity of invention. His 

 Ityle is a compound of the Caracci and Caravaggio's 

 manners, and is wrought with great boldnefs. His prin- 

 cipal produftions are. The Miraculous Draught of Fifhes, 

 in the refeftory of S. Procolo at Bologna, and St. Dominic 

 burning the forbidden Books, for the church of that faint, 

 in the fame city. This laft is confidered as his very 

 greateit work. The latter part of his life was pafTed at 

 Parma, in ths fervice of the duke Ranuccio. He died in 

 the 46th year of his age, in 1622. 



SpADA, in Geography, a cape of the ifland of Candia ; 24 

 miles N.W. of Canea. 



SPADE, in j'lgriculture and Gardening, a well-known 

 fort of tool, employed in digging the land. There are 

 feveral forms and kinds of them in ufe for different purpofes, 

 as thofe of common digging, draining, and making of earth 



fences. 



