VAC 



to the regent of the planet Jupiter, whom the Hindoos call 

 Frihafpati ; which fee. 



V ACHA, in Geography, a town of Germany, in the prin- 

 cipality of Upper Hefle, on the Werra ; 20 miles N.E. of 

 Fulda. — Alfo, a town of Germany, in the mnrggravate of 

 Anfpach, on the Rednitz ; 25 miles N.E. of Anfpach. — 

 Alfo, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of La Paz ; 8 miles 

 S.W. of La Paz. 



VACHE, or Coiv's IJIand, an ifland about twelve miles 

 from the fouth coall of Hifpaniola, about twenty-four miles 

 in circumference. It was formerly a place of rendezvous 

 for pirates and freebooters, and is provided with three ports, 

 one of which can receive vefTelsof 300 tons. N. lat. 18^5'. 

 W. long. 74° 25'. 



Vache ft le Torreau, or Co-w and Btil! Rods, rocks on 

 the fouth coafl. of Newfoundland, a little to the eaft of 

 Placentia bay. 



VACHELUSE, one of the Lipari iflands ; 3 miles S. 

 of Stromboli. 



VACHIER, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Upper Loire ; 9 mdes S. of Le Puy en Velay. 



VACHON, Pierre, in 5(ojrr7/>Z>ji, an eminent performer 

 on the violin, was born in Provence, 1730. After performing 

 at the concert fpirituel with great applaufe, he was placed 

 at the head of the prince of Conti's feleft band. In 1784 

 he was appointed concert-mafter to the king of Pruflia at 

 Berlin, after refiding fome time in London, and leading at 

 the Opera. He was one of the mod certain and agreeable 

 performers on the violin of his time, particularly in trios and 

 quartets. He was likewife a compofer of confiderable merit, 

 having furni(hed the different theatres of Paris with fix or 

 eiglit fuccefsful mufical dramas, and the performers on his 

 inftrument with feveral books of folos, quartets, and con- 

 certos, which were prafticable and in a pleafing ftyle. He 

 had an extreme melancholy expreflion of countenance, of 

 which he was not infenfible, and ufed to fay, in pleafantry, 

 " Ma trifte contenance m'a fait bcaucoup de mal aupr^s les 

 dames." 



VACIA, or Vacz, in Geography. See Waitzen. 

 VACIAN, a town of Abafcia ; 15 miles S. of Alkafy. 

 VACKALEER, a town of Hindoollan, in My fore ; 

 27 miles E.N.E. of Bangalore. 



VACOMAGI, m Jiicknt Geography, a people of the ifle 

 of Albion, S. of the Caledonii, whofe towns were Banatia, 

 Tamaa, the Winged Camp, or AlataCaftra, and Tuefis. 



VACONE, in Geography, a town of the Popedom, in 

 the duchy of Spoleto ; 8 miles S.E. of Narni. 



V ACONTIUM, in Jncient Geography, a tov/n of Lower 

 Pannonia, at a diftance from the Danube. 



VACUA, Ital., in Mufic, a white open note ; in old Eng- 

 lifn, a inid; in oppofition to notes with black heads, like 

 crotchets and quavers. In the firft time-table all the notes 

 were black, till the invention of the femibreve and minim. 



VACUNA, in Mythology, a goddefs held in high venera- 

 tion among the Sabines. 



VACUNALIA, a feftival kept in honour of the goddefs 

 Vacuna, who prefided over thofe that were unemployed or 

 at reft. 



It was celebrated in December by the country labourers, 

 after the fruits were gathered in, and the land tdled. 

 Ovid fpeaks of it in his Fafti, lib. vi. 



" Nam quoque cum Sunt antique facra vacuns, 

 Ante vacunales ftantque, fedentque focos." 



The worlhip of Vacuna was very ancient in Italy, and 

 eftabUlhed among the Sabines long before Rome was found- 

 ed. Some take her for Diana, Venus, cr Ceres, and 



VAC 



others for Bellona or Viftory. Varro thinks (l:e was Mi. 

 nerva. 



VACUP, in Geography, a town of Bofnia ; 32 miles S.W. 

 of Serajo. 



VACUUM, Vacuity, in Phyfcs, a fpace empty or de- 

 void of all matter, or body. 



Whether there be any iuch thing in nature as an abfolute 

 vacuum ; or whether the univerfe be completely full, and 

 there be an abfolute plenum, is a thing that has been contro- 

 verted by the philofophers of all ages. 



The ancients, in their controverfies, diflinguifhed two 

 kinds ; a •vacuum coacervatum, and a vacuum tnicrfpcrfum, or 

 dijjeminaium. 



Vacuum coacervatum, is conceived as a place deftitute of 

 matter : fuch, e. gr. as there would be, (hould God anni- 

 hilate all the air, and other bodies within the walls of a 

 chamber. 



The exiftence of fuch a vacuum is maintained by the 

 Pythagoreans, Epicureans, and the Atomifts, or Corpufcu- 

 larians ; mod of whom aU'ert fuch a vacuum aftually toexift. 

 without the hmits of the fenfible world. But the modern 

 Corpufcularians, who hold a vacuum coacervatum, deny that 

 appellation ; as conceiving, that fuch a vacuum mull be infi- 

 nite, eternal, and uncreated. 



According, then, to the later philofophers, there is no 

 vacuum coacervatum without the bounds of the fenfible 

 world ; nor would there be any other vacuum, provided 

 God fhould annihilate divers contiguous bodies, than what 

 amounts to a mere privation, or nothing ; the dimenfions of 

 fuch a fpace, which the ancients held to be real, being by 

 thefe held to be mere negations ; that is, in fuch a place, 

 there is fo much length, breadth, and depth wanting, as a 

 body muft have to fill it. To fuppofe, that when all the 

 matter in a chamber is annihilated, there (hould 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 fliould immediately annihilate all 

 the matter, v.gr. in a chamber, and prevent the ingrefs of 

 any other matter, the confequence would be, that the walls 

 would become contiguous, and include no fpace at all. They 

 add, that if there be no matter in a chamber, the walls can 

 be conceived no otherwife than as contiguous ; thofe things 

 being faid to be contiguous, between which there is not any 

 thing intermediate : but if there be no body between, there 

 is no extenfion between : extenfion and body being the fame 

 thing : and if there be no extenfion between, then the walls 

 are contiguous, and where is the vacuum ? 



But this reafoning is founded on a miftake, vt%. that body 

 and extenfion are the fame thing. See Matter. 



Vacuum dijeiiiinatum, or interfperfum, is that fuppofed to 

 be naturally interfperfed in and among bodies, in the pores 

 of the fame body, and in the interftices between different 

 bodies. 



It is this kind, of vacuum which is chiefly difputed among 

 the modern philofophers ; the Corpufcularians ftrenuoudy 

 afferting it ; and the Peripatetics and Cartefians as tena- 

 cioufiy impugning it. See Cartesian and Leibnitzian. 

 The great argument the Peripatetics urge againft a va- 

 cuum interfperfum is, that there are divers bodies frequently 

 feen to move contrary to their own nature and mclmation ; 

 and that for no other apparent reafon, but to avoid a va- 

 cuum ; whence they conclude, that nature abhors a vacuum, 

 and gives us a new clafs of motions afcribed to thcfuga 

 vacui, or nature's flying a vacuum. Such, they fay, is the 

 rife of water in a fyringe, upon the drawing up of the pil- 

 ton ; fuch alfo is the afcent of water in pumps, and the 

 3 X 2 fwelhng 



