DEF
[ 177 ]
DEF
fl the Things contain'd in the Species defined. And Thirdly, That it be proper to the Thing defined. Tho • o ordinary Defecls of'fDefihitidns, are, not to agree either to the whole Thing, or the file Thing defined : \jeqae otniii, nequefili ; than which nothing is more ornmon, even among the bcfl and juflefi Authors. ' MvLord "Bacon obferves o{Ariftotle's2)efinitio!is in tt '
- J , ., .. *i — ,.„ — ~,„-l, i:l„ *!,„* ...t i__. pr-
oration, 'Death ; the Figures of the Oration beinsSiehs Tears, or Joy, worie than Tears. ° ° '
DEF1N1TOR, a Term ufed in fevcral Relioious Or- ders, for an Afieffor, or Counfellor of a General or Su- perior. See General.
In moft Orders of Religious, the Definitor takes Place after the Superior of the Convent he lives in, when in
eneral, that they are very much like that, whereby Man the Convent itfelf ; but out of the Convent, the fDet
foould be defined an Animal that tills the Ground'. Nor was his Mailer Plato leSs acceptionable. The Joke put upon him on that Account is famous : 'Plato, it feems, had defined Man, Animal Bipes, £? Implume, A two- footed Animal without Feathers. Upon which, Diogenes the Cynic, a great Derider of the Academicks, threw a Cock ftrip'd of his Feathers, and quite naked, into the jliddleofMWsSchooIj crying, Here is Pluto's Man.
tor's Place is before his own Superior.
■Definitors are alfo Subject, in the Convent they rcfide in, ■ to the immediate Superior of the Convent, as to Things relating to the MonafticDiScipline ; but in no- thing clfe.
DEFINITIVE, is applied to fomewhat that termi- nates or decides a Queffion, Or Procefs.
7* foe Houfe of Lords have pafs'd a Definitive Set>
^Definition, it mufl be obServed, has not place every tence on fitch a Caufe. T'he Church has given a Defi-
where 1 It has only to do with compound Ideas 5 as be- nitive Judgment on fuch an Article of Faith. The
ins no more than an Enumeration of the chief fim pie Ideas Word is u fed in Opposition to Provifional, and Interlo-
they are compounded of. Simple Ideas cannot be defi- cutory. See Provisional, &c.
lied, as not allowing of an Enumeration. He who knows DEFLAGRATION, in Chymiftry, the Inkindjing,
not what it is one calls Heat, will only learn it by Expe- or fetting Fire to a Salt, a Mineral, 'or other Matter,
rier.ee, or fome Synonymous Word, or fome Word of an mix'd for that Purpofe with a Sulphureous one, in order
other Language, or by Circumlocution, whereby a Thing to purify it ; As is done in the Preparing of JEthiops
is Shewn, not defined $ As if we mould fay, it was 2. Sen- Mineral, Sal Prunella, &c.
ration -which we find when we fit by the Fire, or in the The Word is form'ti of the Latin de, and flagrare,
Sun, which Shews nothing of the Nature of the Thing; to burn.
nor would a Perfon that had never felt the Senfation, uh- DEFLECTION, is the turning any Thing a-fide)
dericand any more what is meant thereby, than a Man from its former Courfe, by Some adventitious' Caufe;
born blind would know what a green Colour was, by tell- and is often apply'd to the Tendency of a Ship from
ing him it was the SenSation we have when we behold her true CourSe, by thcReaSon oSCurrents, £5c. which
the GraSs in the Field. divert her, and turn her out of her right Way.
Our 'Definitions of Substances, it mull be added, Deflection of the Rays of Light, is a Property
are very defective. And as for Individuals, we have which Dr. Hook observed i6-]f, and read an Account
no Definitions at all. The Ideas of Subitances are of before the Royal Society, March iS. the fame Year,
compounded of the various Simple Ideas joyntly He fays, he found it different both from Reflection, and
iinpreSs'd when they preSented themSelves ; And Refraction; and that it was made towards the Surface of
all we can do to define them, is only to enumerate the opacous Body perpendicularly.
thoSe Several Scnfible Ideas, as Colour, Denfity, Mallea- This is the Same Property which Sir Ifaac Newtoit
bility, Weight, ££c. Thus, Gold is defined by Such a pe- calls Inflection. See Inflection. culiar Colour, Gravity, ££r. Yet fuch definitions may DEFLORATION, or Deflowering, the Act of taking
raiSe an Idea clear enough of that SubStance in the Mind away a Woman's Virginity. Death, or Marriage, are de-
of one who has feparately receiv'd, by his Senfes, all the creed by the Civil Law in CaSe of 'Defloration. Many
Simple Ideas that arc in the Composition of the Com- Anatomiits make the Hymen a real Proof of Virginity.
rlexion defined ; Tho' the intimate Nature and Effence ofSubftance is unknown, and consequently cannot be de- fined. Thus, 'lis only the Modes, or Attributes that can be explain'd by what we properly call a Definition. See Substance, Mode, &c.
Definition, in Rhetoric, is defined by 7'ully, a Short, comprehensive Explanation of a Thing.
The Definitions of the Orator, it muff be obferv'd, differ
perSuaded that where it is not found, the Girl mult have been deflowered. See Hymen, and Virginity*
The Ancients had fo much Refpecf for Virgins, that they would not put them to Death, rill they had firft procured them, to be deflower'd. The Natives of the Coaft of Malabar pay Strangers to come and deflower their Brides.
Among the Scots, and the Northern Parts of England,
much from thofe of the Logician, and Philofopher : Thefe it was a Privilege of the Lords of the Mannar, granted
Sitter define a Thing clofely and driely by Genus, andDif- them by King Eveims, that they Should have the firll
ference, e. gr. Man is a reasonable Animal, &c. The Nights Lodging with their Tenants Wives. King Mal-
Orators take a larger Compafs, and define Things more colm allowed the Tenants to redeem this Service at a cer-
ornamentally from thcPlaces of Rhetoric ; Thus : Man is tain Rate, call'd Marchetta, consisting of a certain Num-
a curious Work of an Almighty Creator, framed after berofCows. Buchanan fays, it was redeem'd with half
his own Image, endued with Reafon, and born to Im- a Mark of Silver. The fame Cuilom had Place in Flan*
Mortality. But this Rhetorical Definition, in StrictneSs, ders, Frifeland, and Some Parts of Germany.
comes nearer to the Nature of a Defcription, thas an ac - By the Cuftom of Anjou, and Maine, a Maid after 1
curate Definition. 2 5 ^ears of Age, may Surfer herfelf to be deflowered
There are divers Kinds thereof; As, firSt, That without being disinherited for it by her Father. Da
drawn from the Parts whereof a Thing confifts : Thus, Cange quotes an Arret of the 19th of March 1409,
Oratory is an Art confifting of Invention, Difpofition, obtain'd by the Inhabitants of Abbeville againft the Bi-
Elocution, and 'Pronunciation. Secondly, FromtheEf- Shop of Amiens, for taking Money to diSpenfe with an
As, Sin is the 'Plague' of the Soul, the Sting of Conscience, the Scandal of Nature, the Ruin of the World, the Hatred of God, &c. Thirdly, From Affir- mation, and Negation, as when wefirflfay what a Thing is not, that it may be the better conceiv'd what it is. Thus Cicero, by Defining the Confulate, and Shewing, that it does not confilt in EnSigns, Lictors, &c. but in Virtue, proves that 'Pifo was not ConSul. Fourthly,
From the Adjuncts, as whenChymiitry is defined, An Art mour, &c.
Injunction he had made, not to Surfer them to get their Wives Maiden-Heads the three firif. Nights ; The In- junction being founded on a Canon of the IVth Council of Carthage, which decrees the Same, ;out of Reverence to the Matrimonial Benediction.
DEFLUXION, a Falling, or Flowing of a Humour on any Part of the Body ; as of Rheum on the Trachea, and Oefophagus in a Catarrh. See Fluxion, Hu-
mthout Senfe, whofe Beginning is Deceit ; its Middle, Labour ; and its End, Beggary. And iaftly, From Similies, and Metaphors ; as when Death is defi- ned, A Leap in the Dark, &c.
To this laft ClaSs of Metaphorical ^Definitions, are re- ducible thofe five not unelegant Definitions of a Man
Seo
Dffluxions on the Limgs are very dangerous. Phthisis.
Defltjxions 07i the Eyes produce a WeakneSs ofSight, and frequently Blindnefs. See Eye.
The Word is form'd from the Latin Defluo, I flow down, the Humors falling upon fome Part, where they
which we Shall here Subjoyn.~ The Poets feign, that the are gather'd together.
Sciences were once called together by Minerva's Com- DEFORCEMENT, in Law, a Withholding Lands,
mand, to form a Definition of Man. The firif, viz. Lo- or Tenements, by Force, from the right Owner. See Db j
gic, defined him, A (loort Enthymeme ; his Birth the An- forc eor.
tecedem, and his Death the Confequent. Aftronomy de- DEFORCEOR, or DEFORCIANT, orlc , rh ^ ovc h r ;
jW^him, A changeable Moon ; which never continues comes, and cafls out another from his Lands, Of. by
^ the fame State. Geometry defined-Um, A Spherical mere Force.
Figure-^ which ends in the Same Point where it begun. A Deforceor differs from Difeifor, hnr, m t hi? that
Laflly, Rhetoric defined Man, An Oration ; whofe Ex- a Man may dilTeife without Force. Secondly, m that a
ordiumwastobeborn; Narration, trouble 5 and Per- Man may deforce another that never was m Pofieflion,
