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LEFT VAN SCHAACK 165 VAB lieutenant-governoi* in 1795; and a mem- ber of the State Assembly in 1798 and 1808-1810. He became major of militia in 1786, was promoted colonel in 1788, and major-general in 1801; and in 1812 was assigned to the command of the Northern frontier, in which capacity he commanded at the battle of Queenstown Heights, Oct. 13-14, 1812. On Oct. 24, he resigned his commission because of public dissatisfaction with his conduct in that engagement. He was chosen chairman of the Erie Canal Commission ; became a regent of the University of New York; made a geological survey along the line of the Albany and Buf- falo canal in 1821-1823; founded the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y. ; and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1821, and of Congress in 1823-1829. He died in Albany, N. Y., Jan. 26, 1839. VAN SCHAACK, PETER, an Ameri- can jurist; born in Kinderhook, N. Y., in March, 1747; was gi-aduated at Colum- bia College in 1768. In 1773 he was ap- pointed a commissioner to revise the colonial statutes. During the Revolu- tionary War he sympathized with the British. In June, 1777, he was called before the Committee on Conspiracies and asked to take the oath of allegiance to the Continental Congress. Declining to do so, he was sent to Boston, where he was kept under constant surveillance, and in October, 1778, was exiled from the country. He returned to the United States in 1785, and soon became eminent in his profession. The degree of LL, D. was conferred on him by Columbia Col- lege in 1778. His publications include: "Laws of the Colony of New York" (2 vols. 1773) ; and "Conductor Generalis, or the Duty and Authority of Justices, Sheriffs, Constables, etc. Revised and Adapted to the United States." He died in Kinderhook, N. Y., Sept. 17, 1832. VAN WERT, a city and county-seat of Van Wert co., 0.; on the Pennsyl- vania and the Cincinnati Northern rail- roads; 27 miles W. N. W. of Lima. It contains a number of churches, a court house. National and other banks, and several newspapers. It has planing mills, and manufactures of stoves, wagons, etc. Pop. (1910) 7,157; (1920) 8,100. VAPEREAU, LOUIS GUSTAVE (vap- ro'), a French compiler; born in Orleans, France, April 4, 1819. He was Profes- sor of Philosophy at the College of Tours for 10 years; admitted to the bar in 1854, and about the same time made editor of the famous "Universal Diction- ary of Contemporaries" (1858; 6th ed. 1891-1893). Among his other important works are: "Literary and Dramatic Year" (11 vols. 1859-1869); "Universal Dictionary of Literatures" (1876) ; "Historical Elements of French Litera- ture" (2 vols. 1883-1885). He was In- spector-General of Public Instruction in 1877, and received the Cross of the Legion of Honor in 1878. Died in 1906. VAPOR, in physics, an aeriform fluid into which some volatile substance is changed by the action of heat. Vapor is essentially the same as gas, but the word vapor is conventionally limited to the gaseous state of a body which is liquid or solid at ordinary temperatures, while the term gas is applied to aeri- form bodies which are in that rarefied state at ordinary temperatures. Thus we speak of hydrogen gas, but of watery vapors. Vapors, like gases, have a cer- tain elastic force, by which they exert a pressure on every part of any vessel in which they are inclosed. Vapors are formed instantly in a vacuum; in the at- mosphere they are generated more slow- ly. When not saturated they exactly re- semble gases in their action; when satu- rated and in contact with the liquid by which they were generated, they can neither be compressed nor expanded, but remain constant, both in their elastic force and in their density. Vapors of different composition vary in density. Thus if atmospheric air be taken as unity, the vapor of water=0.6235, that of alcohol 1.6138, that of sulphur 6.6542, and that of mercury 6.9760. VAR, a department in the extreme S. E. of France; area, 2,349 square miles; pop. about 340,000. The depart- ment receives its name from the Var river, which formerly served as its boun- dary on the E., but which, since the arrondissement of Grasse was taken from Var and added to the Alpes Mari- times, now belongs entirely to the lat- ter. Var is well watered by a great number of streams, of which the chief are the (^apau, Argens, and Bianson. In the N. and N. E. it is mountainous, being traversed by a branch of the Alpes de Provence, called the Monts de I'Esterel. Between the mountains and the water courses are many very fertile valleys. The climate, tempered by the altitude of the surface, is pleasant. Fruits of all kinds are here cultivated with remarkable success; tobacco is grown, and much wine is produced. The department abounds in minerals, and carries on an active commerce. It is divided into the three arrondissements of Draguignan, Brignoles, and Toulon. Capital Draguignan.