POR


( 846 )


P O R


and Excellence of Ports; that of.7'reft is the hineft natural in
Port in the World, as that of Dunkirk  was lately the  tt
itrongeff artificial one.
PoRTs de Barre are fuch as can only be enter'd with  V
the Tide; as that of Goa. Clofe Ports are thofe within the  ci
Body of a City ; as thofe of Rhodes, of Venice, A.A'fter- ti
dam, Rochel, Bayonne, and St. Mohn de Luz.            f,
Free PORT, in Commerce, a Port open and free for a,
Merchants of all Nations to load and unload their Vel~els
in, without paying any Duties or Cufloms. See FREE     1
and DUTY.                                             I
Such is the Port of Genoa. The Emperor, fince his a
being in poifrfion of the States in Italy, formerly be- c
longing to Spain, has feem'd determined to eflablifh a v
Iree-Port in fome of the Cities he ponfTiesson the Adriatic
Sea.                                                   l
Marfeilles was-declared a Free Port by an Edi&t of o
Louis XlV. bearing Date 5 March, I669.                u
Free Port is alfo ufed for a total Exemption, and Fran- k
chife,which any Sett of Merchants enjoy, for Goods impor- r,
ted into a State, or thofe of the Growth of the Country, o
exported.                                             a
Such was the Privilege the Englijb enjoy'd for feveral t
Years after their Difcovery of the Port of Archangel X and  .1
which was taken from 'em   on account of the Regicide  I
in  £643.                                             t
PORT is alfoufed for theBurthen of a Ship. See ByR- j
THEN.
The Capacity of a Veffel is eflimated in Tuns ; each  2
whereof may contain about two thoufand Pounds Weight t
of Sea-Water. When, then, we fay a Vef&el is of the   ;
Port or Burthen of a thoufand Tuns; it is not meant, as (
fome imagine, that it bears fo many Casks full of Mer-
chandize; but that the Sea-Water, which would be con- I
tained in the Space which the Capacity of the Velfel pof-
fles in theSea, weighs a thoufand Tuns fill'd therewith,
which at the rate of zoou Pounds each, is as much as to fay,
it bears a Burthen of two Millions Weight.
PORT is alfo ufed for the Court of the Grand Seignor,
or Emperor of the l'urks.
POR T is alfo ufed for a flrong W ine brought from Oporto,
or Port-a-port in Portugali whence its Name.     See
'WIN E.
PORT of the Voice, in Mufic, the Faculty and Habi-
tude of making the Shakes, Paffages, and Diminutions;
wherein the Beauty of a Song, or piece of Mufic confitls,
and which the Italians comprehend under the Terms
'Irilli, Gioppi, Strafcini.
Bacilli calls Port of the Voice, the tranflating or paffing
of a lower to a higher Note. It confiffs in three things:
The lower Note, which is to be fuflain'd; the doubling
made on the higher Note, and the fuflaining of that fame
Note after it has been doubled. Some call it-Anticipa-
tion.
PORT, among Sailors, the Larboard, or left Side of
the Ship. See LARBOAMD.
l'o Tort the Helm, is to put the Helm on the left Side
the Ship. See HELM.
PORT- GREVE, was antiently the principal Magillrate
in feveral Maritime Towns ; thus called from the Saxon,
Port, City ; and Greve, a Colleaor of Rents in divers
Lordfhips at this day.
0'zmbden obferves,that the chief Magifirate of London was
antiently call'd Port-greve; inPcead of whom, Richard 1.
ordained two Bailiffs ; and foon afterwards King Yohn
granted them a Mayor for their yearly Magifirate. See
MAYOR.
The Charter of William the Conqueror to the City of
London run thus: " William King, grete William Bilhop,
and Godfrey Port-greve, and all the Burgeis within
" London, French and Englipj. I grant you that I will
" that ye be all your Law-worth that ye were in Edward's
" day the King. And I will that each Child be his
" Fader's Eyer, and I will not fuffer that ony Man you any
wrongs breed, and God you keepe."
PORTA, in Anatomy, or Vena PORTA, a very confi-
derable Vein, employ'd in bringing the Blood from feve-
ral Parts, by an infinite number of Branches which it is
divided into, to the Liver, thro' the whole Subflance
whereof it is diferminated. See VEIN and LIVER.
The Vena fPorta Is form'd of two large Veins i the ANe-
fenteric and Splenic; which are again form'd of feveral
other minuter Vcins coming from the Stomach, Inteflines,
Spleen, Epiploon,Wc.  SeeMEsENtER1 and SPL EN1C.
The Antients gave it the Name Porta, as imagining it
to bring the Chyle, by its Mefenteric Branch, from the In-
teilines to the Liver; but fome of the Moderns have found
another ufe for it.
It is remarkable of the Porta, that, after the manner
of the Arteries, it thoots itfelf from aTrunk into Branches,
and being at laft loft in Capillaries, it delivers the Blood


,to the Cava, by which it is immediately reconvey'd t
he Heart. See CAVA.
The Porta is formed out of the concurrence of diver
eins, which, meeting together, make one of the nio
Dnfiderable Venous Trunks of the Body, as to its Bulk
io's contrary to the Courfe of other Veins, it runs no
ir in a Trunk, but is, as before obferved, foon difiribute,
gain, by Ramifications, into the Liver.
This Vein is vulgarly divided into Branches 'without tr
liver, and Branchcs wxitbin, and a Trunk intermediate
But this Divifion is not very clear, the Branches, as the
re call'd, without the Liver, not being fo properly Brat
hes as Roots; which have, by Anatomifls, been dignify'
ith diffincl Names from the Parts whence they come.
The Veins which confnire tnwardt the Formation of Ln


rrunk, which having been deforibed in their proper Places,
or being to be described there, we Shall not here enlarge
upon; are, from the Placenta Uterina, in a oeatus, the
rena Umbilicalis; from the Gall-Bladder the Cyueise Ge-
velle ; from the upper Part of the Stomach the Pylorica,
or Gafirica dextra, which goes to the Trunk; the Gafirica
major, and minor Siniflra from the Stomach, (of which
the major is formed out of the CGronaria Fentriculi;) the
Epiplois finifira, and Poftica from the Omentum ; the
Tas, or afa brevia from the Stomach; the Splenica from
he Spleen: All which join to form the left, or Splenic
&'ranch of the Porta.
The right, or Mefenteric !Branch, confifts of the Gaftric&
and Epiploica dextra, from the Stomach and Omenturn-
he fDuodena from the Duodenum and Jejunum ; the He-
morrhoidalis interna from the Inteflinum Rcdum and
Colon; the Mefaraics from the Mefentery.
By means of all thefe Vefiels, the Porta receives the
Blood from moft of the Vifcera of the Abdomen; and,
after the coalefcence of its Branches, enters the Liver in a
rrunk i immediately under the Surface whereof, having
.jri4 form'd a kind of a Sinus, it is divided into two princi
pal Branches, and thofe again into five, which fcatter in.
numerable Ramifications thro' the whole Subflance of the
Liver.
The true Ufe of this Vein, hitherto unknown, Dr. Keil
thinks he has difcover'd. And 'tis this: The Bile, fays
he, being to be mix'd with the Chyle, as it comes out of
the Stomach into the Duodenurn, could no where be fo
conveniently fecerned from the Blood as where the Liver is
placed. But if all the Branches of the Ccrliac Artery car-
ried all the Blood to the Liver from which the Gall was to
be feparated; 'tis evident, confidering the Nearnefs of the
Liver to the Heart, and the intefline Motion of the Blood,
that fo vifcid a Secretion as the Gall is, could never have
beenformed. See GALL.
Nature, therefore, is forced to alter her conflant Method
of fending the Blood to all Parts of the Body by Arteries:
She here forms a Vein, by which She fends the Blood fioni
the Branches of the Mefenteric and Corliac Arteries to the
Liver.
By this means the Blood is brought a great way about
e 'er it arrive at the Liver; fo that its Celerity being dimi-
niffied, all the Corpufcles that are to form, may have time
to attra& one another, and unite e'er they come to their fe-
cerning Velfel.  KeIl's i1nim- Secret. p. 36, &c.  See
SECRETION .
PORTABLE, fomethingeafyof Carriage.
Books in I2Q are valued for their being Portable; eafily
put in the Pocket. This Machine is the better, as being
Portable. Armies carry with 'em Portable Bridges, Por-
table Mills, Boats, Ovens, Forges, Uec.
PORTABLE Barometer, a Barometer fo contrived as
that it may be carried from Place to Place without being
difordered. See BAROMETER.
A Portable Barometer was an extraordinary thing a little
while ago: At prefent the common Barometers are
Portable; being fo made as that the Mercury may be
fcrew'd quite up to the feal'd end of the Tube; by which
means it is fecured from fwagging, and fo endangering
the breaking of the Tube. A Contrivance for which we
are indebted to Mr. Patrick.
PORTAL, in Architeature, a Term ufed for a little
fquare Corner of a Room, cut off from the rea of the
Room,by the Wainfcot; frequent in the antient Buildings,
but now difufed.                 I
The Word feems a Diminutive of the French, Prtr,
Door, Gate; it being thro' this that they cnter'd into the
Room.
PORTAL is fometimes alfo ufed for a little Gate, SPor"
tella; where there are two Gates of a different bignef.. See
GATE.
The Word fometimes alfo Hands for a kind of Arch Of
Joiner's Work, before a Door.
PORTAIL, in Architeffure, the Face or Frontifpiece of
a Church, view'd on the fide wherein is the great Door.


XPPH


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