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306 house, Springfield, Ill. (1876), and portrait-busts of Henry Clay, Zachariah Chandler, Dr. Daniel Brainard, Bishop Charles H. Fowler, David Davis, Thomas B. Bryan, Leonard Swett, Elihu B. Wash- burne, and many others. — His son, Stephen Arnold Douglas (known as Douglas), artist, b. in Pittsfield Mass., 23 Feb., 1856, studied in Italy during 1871-'3, and was the pupil of Jean L. Ge- rome, in Paris, in 1873-'5 and again in 1876-'8. In 1875 he exhibited at the salon " In Brittany," and his " Vanity " was at the Philadelphia centennial exhibition of 1876. His other important works are " In the Studio " (1880) ; " The Puritan Maiden " (1881); "The Puritan Captives" (1882); "Accused of Witchcraft " (1884) ; and " The Bride " (1886). In 1 880 he was elected a member of the Society of American artists, and he is organizing the Minne- apolis school of fine arts, of which he is director.

VOLLMERING, Joseph, artist, b. in Anholt, Westphalia, 27 Aug., 1810; d. in New York city, 24 Sept., 1887. He was a pupil of the academy in Amsterdam in 1826-'30, after which he travelled for several years in Germany. During 1835-'44 he studied with Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, and in 1847 he removed to the United States. He opened a studio in New York and was elected an associate member of the National academy in 1853. Among his works are &ldquo;Indian Falls, near Cold Spring, N. Y.&rdquo; (1848); &ldquo;View on the Hudson&rdquo;; &ldquo;Holy Shrine at Sunset&rdquo; (1852); &ldquo;Study of Trees&rdquo; (1865); &ldquo;Sunset Landscape and Adirondack Mountains&rdquo; (1869); &ldquo;The Hudson from Garrison's&rdquo;; and &ldquo;New York from Weehawken Heights&rdquo; (1872).

VOLNEY, Constantin Francois Chassebceuf Boisgirais, Count de, French author, b. in Craon, Maine-et-Loire, 3 Feb., 1757; d. in Paris, 25 April, 1820. He was the son of Francois Chassebceuf, a barrister of Craon, and was known until the age of twenty-five by the name of Boisgirais, but in 1782 he adopted that of Volney. After receiving his education at the colleges of Ancenis and Angers he was given his inheritance at the age of seventeen. He then went to Paris, where he studied medicine, philosophy, and chronology, and became a frequenter of the philosophical salons of Baron Holbach and Madame Hel- vetius, where he made the acquaint- ance of Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alem- bert, and Benja- min Franklin, with whom he main- tained a long cor- respondence. Af- ter travelling in the East and writ- ing accounts of his journeys, he found- ed in 1788, at Ren- nes, the journal " La Sentinelle," was elected to the slates - general in 1789, and in 1792 accompanied Pozzo-di-Borgo to Corsica. Being driven away by the revolution, he returned to France and published " La loi naturelle " (Paris, 1793), in which he advocated those theories by which he is now best known. During the reign of terror he was imprisoned for ten months, and on his release in 1794 he became professor of his- tory in the Normal college at Paris. That same year he dissuaded Bonaparte from entering the Russian service, and obtained his reinstatement in the French army. In 1795 he came to the United States with the intention of settling in this coun- try, and was welcomed by George Washington. He visited Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana, engaged in a controversy with John Adams concerning the latter's work on the con- stitution of the United States, and afterward answered Dr. Joseph Priestley, who had attacked Volney's infidel theories. Volney's letter was pub- lished in English (Philadelphia, 1797). While in this country Volney predicted, day after day. the operations of Bonaparte's campaign in Italy, point- ing out the places where the Austrians were to be defeated. This astonished every one, while many looked on Volney as a French general in disguise. Washington asked Volney for an explanation, and he replied: "In 1792 I met at Marseilles and in Corsica a young lieutenant of artillery, and, being much struck by his conversation, invited him to my house. I was soon satisfied that he was a man of extraordinary genius. . . . The conversation fell on the war. Bonaparte developed a whole plan of operations to be pursued either in Italy or in Ger- many. I took down his words, and he now follows the plan of campaign that he explained to me years before." Volney showed his notes to Washington, who became also convinced of the great future of the new commander. He returned to Paris early in 1799, refused, after the coup d'etat, to be con- sul with Bonaparte or secretary of the interior, and was created senator. He was made com- mander of the Legion of honor in 1804, count of the empire in 1808, and a peer of France by Louis XVIII. in 1814. Volney, who was a member of the French institute after 1800 and of the Aca- demie Francaise after 1803, founded the Volney prize of $240 to be awarded every year by the academy to the author of the best work on the foundation of the study of language. He had in- tended to write his impressions of the United States and a work on democratic institutions as they are understood here, but he was dissuaded on political and private considerations, among them being his friendship for Franklin and his respect for Wash- ington, whom he did not care to criticise, but he wrote "Tableau du climat et du sol des Etats- Unis d'Amerique " (2 vols., Paris, 1803 ; English translation by Charles Brockden Brown, Philadel- phia, 1804). His other works include " Sur la chro- nologie d'Herodote" (Paris, 1781); "Voyage en Egypte et en Syrie" (Paris, 1787; revised ed. r 1822) ; " Considerations sur la guerre des Turcs et des Russes" (London, 1788); " Chronologie des douze siecles anterieurs au passage de Xerxes en Grece" (Paris, 1790); "Les ruines. meditations sur les revolutions des empires" (Geneva, 1791), a philosophical work that gave Volney a great reputation ; " Precis de l'etat actuel de la Corse " (1793); " Lecons d'histoire ancienne " (1799) ; "Re- cherches nouvelles sur l'histoire ancienne " (3 vols., 1814) ; " L'alphabet Europeen applique aux langues Asiatiques " (1819) : " Histoire de Samuel, inventeur du sacre des rois " (1819) ; and " Discours sur 1 'etude philosophique des langues" (1820). Adolphe Bos- sange edited " CEuvres completes de Volney," with a biography (8 vols., Paris, 1820-'6).

VON SCHRADER, Alexander, soldier, b. in Germany about 1821 ; d. in New Orleans, La., 6 Aug., 1867. He was graduated at the military academy in Berlin, and became 2d lieutenant in the army of the duke of Brunswick, in which his father was a lieutenant-general. After twenty years' service in Europe he came to this country