Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/75

 ACT

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Actions, in France and Holland, amount to the fame with Shares, or Subfcriptions in England. See Subscription, Bubble, £S?c.

Action is alfo an Obligation or Inflrument, which the Directors of fuch Companies deliver to thofe who pay Mo- ney into their Stock. See Actionary, Bank, &c.

The Actions are always rifing, and falling ; according as the Company's Credit gains or iofes. The fmalleit Whifper of an approaching War or Peace, true or falls, fhall fre- quently occaiion a confiderable Alteration therein. In the Year 1719, the French Company of the Weft, fince called the In- dia Company, arrived at fuch an immenfe degree of Credit 5 that in fix Months time, its Anions rofe to eighteen hun- dred per Cent, a pitch no other Company ever came near.

In 1*71, the Actions of the Dutch Eajl-India Company were at fix hundred and fifty per Cent, which was the high- eft they were ever known at.— But the War with France then coming on ; they fell 150 per Cent, in a few Months. After the Peace of Nititegtieni they rofe again 5 and in 17 iS were a] moil tfoo per Cent.

The French have three Kinds of Actions. — Simple, which are entitled to a Share in all, both the Profits and LoiTes of the Company. — Rentieres, entitled only to a Profit of two per Cent, furej for which the King is Security. — And Into- refled Actions, which claim the two per Cent, fecur'd by the King ; and are alfo to ihare the Excefs of the Dividend with the fimple Actions.

There were feveral other Kinds of Actions introduced by the Brokers, in the buly Days of the Rue ghiinqucmpoix, which have fince dropt into Oblivion; as Mother Actions, ^Daughters, Grand-mothers, Grand- daughters, &c.

To Melt or Liquidate an Action, is to fell, or turn it into Money, &c.

ACTIONARY, or Actionist, a Term frequent in our News-Papers ; denoting ihe Proprietor of an Action, or Share in a Companies Stock. See Action.

ACTIVE, Activus, foraething that communicates Mo- tion, or Action to another. See Action.

In this Senfe, the Word ftands oppofed to Pajfive, See Passive.

Thus, we fay, an Active Caufe, Active Principles, &,c. See Cause.

The Quantity of Motion in the World, Sir /. Newton fhews, mult be always decreafing, in "Virtue of the Vis Iner- tice, &c. So that there is a neceffity for certain Active Prin- ciples to recruit it : Such he takes the Caufe of Gravity to be, and the Caufe of fermentation. Adding, that we fee but little Motion in the Univerfe, except what is owing to thek active Principles. See Motion, Gravitation, Fer- mentation, &c.

Active 'Principles, in Chymiftry, are thofe which are fuppofed to act of themfelves, and do not need to be put in action by others. See Principle.

Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are ufually confider'd by the Chymifts as Active Principles $ and Phlegm and Earth, as Patfive ones. See Salt, £5c.

M. Homberg, and fome late Chymifts after him, only make one Active Principle, viz. Sulphur, or Fire; which they take to be the Source or Principle of all the Motion and Action of the Univerfe. See Sulphur, and Fire.

The Term Active Principles, fays Dr. §>nincy, has been ufed to exprefs fome Divilions of Matter, that are, by fome particular Modifications, comparatively active, in refpect of others j as, Spirit, Oil, and Salt, whofe Parts are better fit- ted for Motion, than thofe of Earth and Water ; but with how much Impropriety, will eafily appear.

For, in a ftrict Senfe, all Motion in Matter is rather Paf- fion ; and there is no Active Principle, unlefs we call fo that known Property of Gravitation, on which the Newtonian Philofophy is rounded ; which is a mutual Inclination of Bo- dies towards one another, in proportion to the Quantity of Matter, in all Bodies : fo that let them exift under what Modifications foever, there can be no Alteration made of this universal Property. — Hence, the Divifion of Matter into what, for Diltinction-fake, may be called Spirit, does not give it any Properties inconfiftent with this general Law. See Matter, Motion, &c.

Active, in Grammar, is fbmewhat that has an active Signification, and ferves to explain, or denote an Action. A Verb Active, a Conjugation Active, &c. an Active Par- ticiple, &c. See Participle, Conjugation, &c.

Verbs Active, are fuch as do not only iignify Doing or Acting, but have alfo Nouns following 'em, to be the Sub- ject of the Action or Impreflton. See Verb.

Thus, to love, to teach, are Verbs Active ; becaufe we can fay, to love a thing, to teach a Man.

Verbs Neuter alfo fignify an Action ; but are diftinguifh'd from Verbs Active, in that they cannot have a Noun follow- ing 'em, — Such are, tojleep, to go, Sec. See Neuter.

Some Grammarians, however, make three Kinds of Verbs Active ; The Tranjitive, where the Action paffes into a

Subject different from the Agent ; Reflected, where the Ac- tion returns upon the Agent ; and Reciprocal, where the Action returns mutually upon the two Agents who produced it. See Transitive, &c.

ACTIVITY, the Power of Acting, or the Active Faculty. See Faculty, $$c.

The Activity of Fire exceeds all Imagination. — The Ac- tivity of an Acid, a Poifon, &c. — Bodies, according to Sir /. Ne-wton, derive their Activity from the Principle of At- traction.

The Sphere^ of Activity of a Body, is the Space which furrounds it, lo far as its Eiticacy or Virtue extends to pro- duce any fenfible Effect. See Sphere, Effluvia, &c.

ACTOR, in Dramatic Poetry, one who reprefents fome Peribn or Character upon the Theatre. See Person, and Character,

Tragedy, in its Original, only confifted of a fimple Cho- rus, who fung Hymns in honour of Sacchus. See Tragedy, and Chorus.

Thefpis was the iirft who took upon him to introduce a Perfona, or Actor $ who was to eale the Chorus, by reciting the Adventures of fome of their Heroes.

JEfchylus finding a tingle Perfon tirefome, thought to en- tertain the Audience more agreeably by the Introduction of a fecond Perfon, who mould converfe and make Dialogue with the firft. He Iikewife drefs'd his Actors a little more decently than they had been before 5 and put them on the Bullin. See Buskin.

Sophocles finding the two Perfons of JEfchylus too few for the Variety of Incidents, added a third $ and here the Greeks Itopp'd ; at leaft, we don't find in any of their Tra- gedies, above three Perfons in the fame Scene : tho in their Comedies, they took a further Liberty.

The Moderns have brought a much greater Number of Actors upon the Stage — This heightens the Trouble, and Diftrefs that mould reign there ; and makes a Diverfity, in which the Spectator is fure to be interefted.

Horace fpeaks of a kind of fecondary Actors in his Time, whofe Bufinefs was to imitate the firft ; and leffen them- felves, to become better foils to their Principals. We have little Notion how thefe fubaltern Actors behaved. See Mime, Pantomime, &c.

ACTUAL, fomething real, and effective ; or that exifts truly and absolutely. See Real, Existence, ££>£•

In Philofophy, we fay, Actual Heat, or Cold ; in opposi- tion to Virtual or Potential. See Potential, i$c.

Actual Heat, confider'd actively, is the Act of producing Heat : Paltively taken, it is the Quality whereby a Body is denominated Hot. — Virtual or Potential Heat, actively ta- ken, is the Power or Faculty of producing Heat ; paffively taken, it fhould be the Power or Faculty of being heated, or of receiving Actual Heat. See Heat, Cold, $$c.

In Theology, we fay, Actual Grace j in op £ ofition to Habitual Grace. See Habitual.

Actual Grace, is that which God gives us, to make or enable us to act, to do fome Action. — Habitual Grace is fanc- tifying Grace, a Habit of Charity, or a Habit inherent in the Soul, which renders us agreeable to God, and Objects of eternal Recompence. See Grace.

So, Actual Sin is ufed in Oppoiition to Original Sin. See Sin.

Actual Sin is that committed knowingly, by a Perfon ar- rived at Years of Difcretion. Original Sin is that we con- tract by Defcent, as being Children of Adam. See Origi- nal.

ACTUATE, to bring into Act ; or put a thing in Ac- tion. See Act, aad Action.

Thus, an Agent is laid by the Schoolmen to actuate a Power, when it produces an Act in a Subject. — And thus the Mind may be faid to actuate the Body.

ACUTE, Sharp, fomething that terminates in a Point, or an Edge; difpofed either for piercing, or cutting. See Point, Edge, £yc.

In this Senfe, the Word ufually ftands oppofed to Obtufe. See Obtuse.

Acute Angle, is that which is lefs than a right Angle ; or which does not fubtend yo Degrees. See Angle.

Such is the Angle AEC, (Tab. Geometry, Fig. 8d.)

Acute- Angle Triangle, is that whofe three Angles are ail acute, called alfo an Oxygonous "Triangle. SeeTRiANCLE.

Such is the Triangle A C B, (Tab. Geometry, Fig. tf8.)

Acute- Angular Section, of a Cone, was ufed by, the an- tient Geometricians for the Ellipfis. See Ellipsis, and Cone.

Acute, in Mufick, is underftood of a Sound, or Tone which is fharp, or uirill, or high, in refpect of fome other. See Sound.

In this Senfe, the Word ftands oppofed to Grave. See Grave.

Sounds confider'd as Acute and Grave, that is, in the Re- lation of Gravity and Acutenefs, conftitute what we call

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