Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/298

LEFT VOYAGEUR 258 VULGATE have been developed. A vowel differs from a consonant in that the former can be pronounced by itself, while a con- sonant requires the aid of a vowel to be sounded with it. While there are only 5 vowel characters, yet there are 14 vowel and 5 diphthongal sounds in English. VOYAGETJB, a traveler; specifically applied in Canada to a class of men em- ployed by the fur companies in trans- porting goods by the rivers and across the land to and from the remote stations of the Northwest. They are nearly all French Canadians or half-breeds. V-PUG, the Eiipithecia coronata, a pug moth. The fore wings are green with numerous black and pale markings, the most conspicuous of which is a V- shaped black mark, whence the name. The caterpillar feeds on the traveler's joy, the agrimony, the golden rod, and the wild angelica. VTJLCAN, in mythology, the Roman god of fire and the patron of all metallic handicrafts; the son of Jupiter and Juno, and identical with the Greek Hephaestus. Being extremely ugly and deformed, Juno, ashamed to own such a child, dropped him from heaven, when the infant god, falling into the sea, was rescued and adopted by Thetis, who kept him till nine years of age. He was then restored to his parents. Soon after his return to Olympus, Vulcan took his mother's part in one of the quarrels between husband and wife; Jupiter, en- raged at Vulcan's audacity, flung him from heaven. After traveling a whole day, the youth_ alighted on the island of Lemnos, breaking his ankle in the fall; here he raised forges and workshops, and became the chief of artificers; some poets, however, fix his workshop on Olympus, another on Etna, where Cy- clops were his ministers and chief as- sistants, by whose aid he fabricated all the great works attributed to him. He fashioned Pandora, and had Venus given him for his wife, by whom he was father of Cupid. Vulcan is represented bearded, covered with dust and soot, and blowing the fires of his forges, or else in the act of forging Jove's thunderbolts. VTJLCAN, in astronomy, the name given to a planet, imaginary or real, be- tween the Sun and Mercury. On March 26, 1859, M. Lescarbault, a village phy- sician of Orgeres, Eure-et-Loire, France, saw, or fancied that he saw, a small dark planet-like body pass across the sun's disk. In September the alleged discov- ery reached Leverrier, who eagerly grasped it, as he had previously come to the conclusion that the motions of Mer- cury were affected by the perturbation of a planet between it and the sun. He even went so far as hypothetically to cal- culate the elements of the new planet. M. Liais stated that he was examining the sun at the very moment of M. Les- carbault's supposed discovery, and was certain that no dark body passed across the disk. The planet was called by an- ticipation Vulcan, but its existence still remains unconfirmed though M. Porro and M. Wolf of Zurich reported seeing its transit in 1876. VULCANITE, a hard and non-elastic variety of vulcanized rubber, used for making combs, dental plates, and numer- ous other objects. It contains from 30 to 60 per cent, more sulphur, and is sub- jected to a higher and more prolonged heat in curing than ordinary viUcanized rubber. It is of a brownish-black color, is hard and tough, cuts easily, is sus- ceptible of a good polish, and is not af- fected by water or any of the other caout- chouc solvents. It evolves a considerable amount of electricity when rubbed, and is hence much used in the construction of electric machines. In petrology, a name sometimes given to pyroxene. VULCANIZATION, the act or process of vulcanizing, or of treating caoutchouc or india-rubber with some form of sul- phui*, to effect certain changes in its prop- erties; as to render it insensible to atmos- pheric changes, increase its durability, and adapt it for various purposes in the arts. This was originally effected by dip- ping the rubber in melted sulphur and heating it to nearly 300°. Several other methods have been employed. The sub- stance thus formed is elastic at all tem- peratures, cannot be dissolved by the ordi- nary solvents, and resists the effects of heat within a considerable range of tem- perature. Vulcanized india-rubber is largely used for many useful pur- poses, as for water-proofing cloth, for boots, shoes, mats, toys, belting, buffers, wheel-tires, washers, valves, pipes, fire- hose, medical and surgical appliances, etc. VULGATE, the edition of the Latin Bible which, having been sanctioned by the usage of many ages in the Roman Church, was pronounced "authentic" by the Council of Trent, The name was originally given to the "common edition" of the Septuagint used by the Greek Fa- thers, and thence transferred to the "Itala" or the "Old Latin" version of both Old and New Testaments current during the first centuries in the Western Church. It finally passed to the present composite work, which gradually took the place of the "Old Latin." The relation of the component parts of this venerable ver- sion to the original texts will be best