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Dignity : The Efficient being the Phyficaily aftive Prin- ciple ; and the End only acting objectively. ,
Others of the Shoolmen define Efficient to be <Pnmi- fium perfe infiuens in aliud [me Mutatione fin —■ l he Ramifrs, after 'Plato and Cicero, define m Efficient to X*t that, a qua res ell, from which a Thing is : To which a a great Author, objecting that a Thing may alfo be from its End ; adds, that an Efficient is that, a qua res vera caufalitate proflcifcitur. r
Others define Efficient to be, qua per Mionem caiifat that which caufes by afling : For to effefl, every Body knows, is to afl ; and hence, neither a Procataraic nor an Exemplary Caufe, are properly Efficients, tho ufually rank'd among the fame.
Z#/Hj> others define an Efficient to be a Caufe, a ?»« c/ntf producatur, from which fomething is produced ; Confequently, what arifes from fuch a Caufe, is called an Effect ■ And thus God is the Efficient Caufe of the World •' and the World the EffeS of God. To which De- finition of an Efficient, all the former Definitions are reducible.
An Efficient Caufe then, is either Vhyfical, as Fire is the Efficient Caufe of Heat ; or Afore/, as an Advifer is the Caufe of a Murther : Or Univerfal, which in various Circumftances produce various Effects, as God and the Sun ; or particular, as a Horfe, which produces a Horfe : Or Univocal, which produces an Effect like it felf; as a Horfe begets a Horfe : Or Equivocal, as the Sun produ- cing a Frog : Or Natural, which acts not only without Precept, in Oppofition to Artificial, but alfo from within, and according to its own Inclination, in Oppofition to violent, as Fire afls when it warms : Or Spontaneous, as a Dog eating: Or Voluntary mi free. See Liberty.
Others confider Efficient Caufes, either as 'Principal, or as Injlrumeatal. . Others, either as next, or remote ; or Mediate or Immediate. Others, in fine, divide Efficient Caufes, among all the Kinds of Beings, natural and fuper- natural ; fpiritual and corporeal 3 fubftantial and acciden- tal ; vital and not vital, &c.
But the moft celebrated Diviiion of Efficients, is that into firfi and fecond.
A firfi Caufe is that, between which and the Effeft there is fome neceffary Connection. Of which Kind there is none but God alone.
A. fecond Caufe is that from which an Effect follows in Confequence of the Will, or Conftitution of the Creator ; and which the Cartefians call an Occafional Caufe. But thefe precarious, or Occafional Caufes are, in Reality, no Caufes at all, but only antecedent Effects.
This is eafily Ihewn : For 1. All Action, at leaft all corporeal Action, is contain'd in Motion 5 but Motion can only refult from the firft Caufe : It being an allow'd Principle, that Body of it felf is inert and inactive. The true Caufe of Motion, therefore, is a fpiritual, not a cor- poreal Nature. But neither can a finite, fpiritual Nature, be the chief Caufe of Motion ; for there is no neceffary Connection between the Will, e. gr. of an Angel, and the Motion of a Body, nor between that of any other Being except God. Thus, when an Angel wills, a Stone moves ; by Reafon God has confiituted fuch a Law between the Will of the Angel, and the Motion of the Stone : And thus we move our Hands when we pieafe. Not that the Soul is the principal Caufe of fuch Motion, but only the Occafional Caufe. See Occasional.
Others have a different Notion of firft and fecond Caufes. A firfi Caufe, fay they, is that which is independent of every other, as God alone. A fecond Caufe is that depend- ing on fome other, as every Creature.
Efficients, in Arithmetic, the Numbers given for an Operation of Multiplication, called alfo FaSors. See Factor. The Efficients are the Multiplicand and Multiplyer. See Multiplication.
EFFIGT, EFFIGIES, a Portrait, Figure, or Reprefenta- tion of a Perfon to the Life. Kings are fhewn in Effigy in their State Beds.
Effigy, is alfo ufed for the Print, or Irnpremon of a Coin, reprefenting the Prince's Head who ftruck it.
To execute or degrade in Effigy, is the Execution, or Degradation of a condemn'd, contumacious Criminal, who cannot be apprehended, or feiz'd. In Trance they hang a Picture on a Gallows, or Gibbet, wherein is reprefented the Criminal, with the Quality or Manner of the Punifh- yncnt : At Bottom is wrote the Sentence, or Condemna- tion. 'Tis only Condemnations of Death, that arc executed in Effigy.
EFFLORESCENCE, a breaking out of fome Humours in the Skin ; as in the Meafles, and the like. See Exanthema.
EFFLUVIUM, a Flux, or Exhalation of minute Par- ticles from any Body : Or an Emanation of fubtle Cor-
pufcles, from a mix'd, fenfible Body, by a Kind of Motion of ■Tranfipiration. See Transpiration.
That there are fitch Effluvia, continually emitted from all Bodies, is pretty certain : Thus, if a Body be im- merged in Water, or any other humid Matter,, there are little Bubbles continually tranfmitted therefrom to the Surface of the Water ; which are fuppofed to be nothing elfe but little Particles, detach'd from the folid Body ; and which, when they arrive at the Surface, emerge in Form of Bubbles. And thus a Body, placed in the Re- ceiver of an Air-Pump, is feen, as it were, in a Kind of Effervefcence, by Reafon of the external Particles conti- nually flowing from the fame.
Odoriferous Bodies, every Body knows, are continually emitting fubftantial Effluvia ; by Means whereof it is, that they excite in us the Senfe of Smelling. Thefe minute Effluvia are fometimes perceived by the Eye, in Fumes and Vapours. See Smelling.
The School Philofophers hold thefe Effluvia to be in- tentional Qualities, as they call them, and nothing fub- ftantial ; but the Moderns laugh at the Notion, as rinding that thefe Effluvia rcfreih and nourifh both the Animal and Vital Spirits.
Some Bodies are found to emit Effluvia for a great Number of Years, without any confiderable Lofs, either as to Bulk or Weight ; as Magnets, Electrical Bodies, Ambers, divers odorous Bodies, cf^c. The Tenuity ot whofe emanant Corpufcles is incredible : Not but that the Lofs they fuftain by the continual Emiffton of Effluvia, may be made up to them by the Reception of other iimilar Effluvia of the fame Kinds of Bodies, diffufed thro 1 the Air.
'Tis added, that thefe Effluvia ate emitted in Manner of Radii, Rays, in Orbem, and that the Circumference or Bound of the Activity of the Radiation, exhibits the fame Figure as is that of the Radiant. This the Aftronomers fufricicntly prove, from the Ratio of the Retraction of the Atmofphere. For the Law of the Emiflion of thefe Effluvia. See Quality.
That Effluvia may considerably operate upon, and have great Effects on Bodies within the Sphere of their Acti- vity, is proved by Mr. Soyle, in an exprefs Treatife on the Subtility of Effluvia 5 where he thews, x. That the Number of Corpuscles, emitted by Way of Effluvia, is immenfely great. 2. That they are of a very penetrating Nature. 3, That they move with vaft Celerity, and in all Manner of Directions. 4. That there is frequently a very wonderful Congruity, or Incongruity in the Bulk and Shape of thefe Effluvia, with the Pores of the Bodies they penetrate into and act upon. 5. That in animal and or- ganical Bcdies, particularly, thefe Effluvia may excite great Motions of one Part of the Frame upon another, and thereby produce very confiderable Changes in the Oeconomy. Laftly, That they have fometimes a Power of procuring Affiftance in their Operations by the more Catholic Agents of the Univerfe, fuch as Gravity, Li<mt, Magnetifm, the Preffure of the Atmofphere, &C.
That Effluvia are emitted to very great Diftances, we have a notable Proof in this : That our Wines grow turbid in the Hogfhead, precifely at the fame Time when the Grapes are at their Matutity in other remote Countries, whence the Wine was imported. Befide that, Odoriferous Effluvia are, in many Cafes, perceived at the Diftance of many Leagues. Again, that the Generality of Effluvia retain the proper Colour, Smell, Taft, and other Properties, and Effects of the Bodies whence they proceeded, and this even after they have pafs'd thro' the Pores of other folid Bodies we have abundant Ptoof : Thus, magnetical Effluvia pe- netrate all, even the moft folid Bodies, without any Change of their Nature, or Lofs of Force. And the fame we fee confirm'd in Sympathetic Inks, and Powders, the Sagacity of "Blood-hounds, &c. See Divisibilty.
EFFUSION, the Pouring out of any liquid Thing with fome Degree of Force.
In the antient Heathen Sacrifices, there were divers Efftl- fions of Wine, and other Liquors ; called Libations. See Libation.
When Princes conclude a Treaty of Peace, they ufually pretend 'tis to prevent the Effufion of Chriftian Blood.
Effusion, or Fusion, Aquarius, in Aftronomy, is that Part of the Sign Aquarius, reprefented on celeftial Globes and Planifpheres, by the Water iffuing out of the Urn of the Water-Bearer. See Aquarius.
EGG, in Natural Hiftory, a Part form'd in the Females of certain Animals 5 which, under a Shell, or Cortex, includes an Embryo, or Fcetus, of the fame Species • the' Patts whereof are afterwards difplay'd, and dilated, either by Incubation, or by the Acceffion of a nutritious Juice.
The Species of Animals that produce Eggs, are particularly denominated Oviparous ; and the Part wherein the Egg is form'd, the Ovary. Sec Ovary and Oviparous
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