V O R 



V O R 



Arminians, and gave them a place for building a town, to 

 whicli Vorrtius repaired in 1622 ; but being foon taken ill, 

 he died at Tonningen, in September, at the age of 53 years, 

 with every token of pious refignatioii. His remains were 

 interred at Fridrichltadt, the new Arminian fettlement, 

 with great folemnity. He is known as the author of feveral 

 tlieological writings, chiefly relating to the controverfy be- 

 tween the Roman Catholics and his Proteftant antagonifts. 

 His fon, Wilimm Henry Vorjlius, publilhed fome works in 

 rabbinical literature. Bayle. 



VoRSTlus, John, a German theologian, was born at 

 Ditmarfh, in Holllein, and joining the Calvinift: church, 

 though a native Lutheran, became librarian to the eleftor 

 of Brandenburg, in which conneftion he died in 1676. 

 He was flciUed in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, 

 and publilhed feveral learned works. The earlieft of thefe 

 was printed at Roilock in 1641, and intitled " Quxdam 

 dc Stylo Novi Tefl;amenti excogitata." The firft part of 

 this work, on the Hebraifms of the New Teftament, was 

 printed at Leyden, in 1658, 4to. under the title of " Phi- 

 lologia Sacra;" and the fecond part at Amfterdam, in 

 l66y, 2 vols. 4to., and at Frankfort in 1705. Other 

 trafts on fcriptural topics were publidied in the " Fafciculus 

 Opufculorum Hiftoricorum et Philologicorum," Rotterd. 

 1693. Moreri. 



VORTEX, Whirlwind, in Meteorology, a fudden, 

 rapid, violent motion of the air, in gyres, or circles. See 

 WniRL-lVind. 



Vortex, Vorago, is alfo ufed for an eddy, or whirl- 

 pool, or a body of water, in certain feas and rivers, which 

 runs rapidly round, forming a fort of cavity in the middle. 



The ordinary courfe of thefe vortices is a gulf or outlet, 

 by which the water of the fea, &c. is abforbed, or pre- 

 cipitates itfelf into fome other receptacle : fometimes to 

 fome other communicant fea ; and lometimes, perhaps, into 

 the vaft abyfs of central water. 



Vortex, an Artificial, expreflive of the phenomena of 

 the natural ones, may be made with a cylindric veffel, placed 

 immoveable on an horizontal plane, and filled to a certain 

 height with water. In this water a ftick being plunged, 

 and turned round as briflcly as may be, the water is necef- 

 farily put into a pretty rapid circular motion, and rifes to 

 the very edge of the vefTel ; and, when there arrived, ceafcs 

 to be farther agitated. 



The water thus raifed forms a cavity in the middle, 

 whofe figure is that of a truncated cone ; its bafc is the fame 

 with the upper cavity of the veffel ; and its vortex in the 

 axis of the cylinder. 



What raifes the water at the fide of the veffel, which oc- 

 cafions the cavity in the middle, is its centrifugal force. 

 For the motion of the water being circular, it refpefts a 

 centre taken in the axis of the veffel ; or, which is the 

 fame, in the axis of the vortex formed by the water ; the 

 fame velocity, then, being impreffed on all the water, the 

 circumference of a fmalkr circle of water, or a circle Icfs 

 remote from the axis, has a greater centrifugal force than 

 another that is greater or more remote from the axis. The 

 fmaller circle, therefore, drives the greater towards the fide 

 of the veffel ; and from this preffion, or impulfioii, which 

 all the circles receive from the fmaller ones that precede 

 them, and convey to the greater which follow them, arifcs 

 that elevation of the water along tiie edge of the veffel to 

 the very top, where we fuppofe the motion to ccafe. 



With a vortex thus formed, Mr. Saulmon, of the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences, made divers experiments, by putting 

 feveral folid bodies therein, to acquire the fame circular 

 motion, with intent to difcovcr which of thera, in making 



their revolution round the axis of the vortex, approach to- 

 ward, or recede from it, and with what velocity. The re- 

 fult was, that the heavier the body, ftill the greater was its 

 recefs from the axis. 



Mr. Saulmon's view, in this attempt, was to (hew how 

 the laws of mechanics produce the celeftial motions, and 

 that it is probably to thofe motions that the gravity or 

 weight of bodies is owing. But, unhappily, the experi- 

 ments fhew jull the contrary of what they (hould do, to 

 confirm the Cartefian doftrine of gravity. See Whirling 

 Table. 



Vortex, in the Cartefian Philofophy, is a fyftem or col- 

 leftion of particles of matter moving the fame way, and 

 round the fame axis. 



Such vortices are the grand machines by which thefe phi- 

 lofophers folve moft of the motions, and other phenomena 

 of the heavenly bodies. Accordingly, the doftrine of thefe 

 vortices makes a great part of the Cartefian philofophy. 



The matter of the world they hold to have been divided 

 at the beginning into innumerable little equal particles, each 

 endowed with an equal degree of motion, both about its 

 own centre, and feparately, fo as to conftitute a fluid. 



Several fyftems, or coUe Aions of this matter, they farther 

 hold to have been endowed with a common motion about 

 certain points, as common centres, placed at equal diftances, 

 and that the matter, moving round thefe, compofed fo many 

 vortices. 



Then, the primitive particles of the matter they fuppofe, 

 by thefe inteftine motions, to become, as it were, ground 

 into fpherical figures, and fo to compofe globules of divers 

 magnitudes ; which they call the matter of the fecond element : 

 and the particles rubbed, or ground off them, to bring them 

 to that form, they call the matter of the frfl element. 



And lince there would be more of this firft element than 

 would fuffice to fill all the vacuities between the globules of 

 the fecond, they fuppofe the remaining part to be driven 

 towards the centre of the vortex, by the circular motion of 

 the globules ; and that being there amaffcd into a fphere, it 

 would produce a body like the fun. 



This fun being thus formed, and moving about its own 

 axis with the common matter of the vortex, would necef- 

 farily throw out fome parts of its matter, through the va- 

 cuities of the globules of the fecond element conltituting the 

 vortex ; and this efpecially at fuch places as are fartheft 

 from its poles ; receiving, at the fame time, in, by thefe 

 poles, as much as it lofes in its equatorial parts. And, by 

 this means, it would be able to carry round with it thofe 

 globules that are neareft with the greater velocity ; and the 

 remoter with lefs. And, by this means, thofe globules 

 which are neareft the centre of the fun, muft be fmaUeft ; 

 becaufe, were they greater, or equal, they would, by rea- 

 fon of their velocity, have a greater centrifugal force, and 

 recede from the centre. If it (hould happen, that any of 

 thefe fun-like bodies, in the centres of the feveral vortices, 

 ftiould be fo incruftated and weakened, as to be carried about 

 in the vortex of the true fun ; if it were of lefs folidity, or 

 had lefs motion, than the globules towards tlie extremity of 

 the yo/ar vortex, it would defcend towards the fun, till it 

 met with globules of tlie fame folidity, and fufceptible of 

 the fame degree of motions with itfelf; and thus, being 

 fixed there, it would be for ever after carried about by the 

 motion of the vortex, without either appro.iching any nearer 

 to, or receding from, tiie fun ; and fo would become a 

 planet. 



Suppofing then all this, we arc next to imagine, that our 



fyRem was at firft divided into feveral vortices, in the centre 



of each of which was a lucid fpherical body ; and that fome 



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