Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/703

 VAN

leaf, {haped like a funnel, and divided into feveral fcgmentS at the edge. This ftands upon a cup, which afterwards becomes a fruit, always containing one feed only, but yet is of very various figures; one fort is like a fpear-point in fhape, being compofed of two flat pieces, containing a feed in one or the other of them ; another is of an oval fhape, umbilicated, and terminated by three points ; others have beautifully regular hollows cut in each for a fingle feed ; others are longer, fun- gofe, and lunated, containing a cylindric feed ; and finally, others terminate in three hooksi and contain a fomewhat crooked feed.

The fpecies of Valerianella, enumerated by Mr. Toumefort, are thefe : r. The low early field Valerianella, with flatted feeds. 2. The low early field Valerianella, with ferrated leaves. 3. The taller late-flowering field Valerianella, with more turgid feeds. 4. The Valerianella with naked round umbilicated feeds. 5. The Valerianella with naked umbi- licated feeds. 6. The Valerianella, with large hairy um- bilicated feeds. 7. The Valerianella, with fmall hairy um- bilicated feeds. 8. The Indian Valerianella, with a galeated, purple, or white flower. 9. The ftarry feeded Valerianella. 10. The great Portugal Valerianella, with feeds like thofe of fcabious.

The feveral fpecies of this genus may he known j when not in flower or feed, by their ftalks being always divided regu- larly into two, and their leaves being fmooth, veiny, and and placed two at each joint. T'ourn, Infr. p. 132.

VALET, (Cycl.y in the manege, a ftick armed at one end with a blunted point of iron, to prick and aid a leaping horfe.

Formerly a Valet was called AigullUn, i. e. goad, and fame of them had fpur-rowels upon them, only the points beaten down : And when a horfe was firfr. begun round a pillar, without a rider, they ufed to prick his flanks with the Valet, to make him know the fpur, and obey it, without refilling. At prcfent the Valet is not ufed for that purpofe, and the name of goad is fupprefled, as being only proper for oxen.

VALIGA, a name given by fome medical writers to an infufion or tincture of jalap in fpirit of wine, or fpint of citron, with the addition of a little faffron.

VALVUL/E Connivcntes. Mr. du Vernoi is of opinion, that the Valvule Conniventes of the inteftines are formed by the arched vefi'els and fat in the internal cellular coat, and covered by the villous or nervous coat. See Comment. Acad. Petrop. Tom. 4. p. 192.

VAN (Cyel.) — Van of a Fleet. See the article Sqjj adron*

VANDOSIA, in zoology, a name by which fome authors have called the leucifcus, the common dace, or dare. IVillughby 's Hilt. Pifc. See the article Leuciscus.

VANELLUS, in zoology, a name given by many to the lap- wing, more commonly known by the name capella. See the article Capella.

VANILLA (CycL) — This fruit is principally brought to us by the Spaniards, who traffic with the Americans for it. It grows in the warmer parts of America, and that ufually in places where there is water near. The natives diftinguifh it into three kinds, which the Spaniards call the pompona, the ley, and the Jimarona.

The pods of the pompona kind are thick and fhort ; thofe of the kind called ley, are longer and flenderer ; and thofe of the Jima- rona, which is alio called bajiard Vanilla, are the fmalleft of all the kinds.

The ley kind is the only good Vanilla, It ought to be of a good reddifh brown, neither too black nor too red, and nei- ther too dry nor too moift ; when perfect they always appear full, though dry ; and a parcel of fifty in number ought to weigh above five ounces.

There is a kind which is larger, fifty pods of which ufually weigh eight ounces ; this is called the fobre buena, and is efleemed of all others the moft excellent. The fmell of the Vanillas ought to be penerating and agree- able. And when the pods are frefh, and in good condition, they are found, when opened, to be full of a blackifh oily balfamic liquor, in which there fwim a great number of very fmall black feeds. The fmell, when the pod is frefh opened, is very lively, and in fome degree intoxicating. The pompona Vanilla has a ftronger, but lefs agreeable fmell than the former, and when taken, gives men violent head- achs, and women diforders of the womb. The liquid fub- flance in the pompona is thinner than in the ley, and the feeds much larger, being nearly of the fize of thofe of mufiard. The Jimarona, or bajiard Vanilla, has very little liquor, and has few feeds in the pod, and has fcarce any fmell. The pompona and Jimarona are no faleable commodities, nor ever brought to market, except cunningly by the Indians, who mix them among the pods of the ley, or true kind. It is not yet certainly known, however, whether thefe three kinds are the produce of different fpecies of plants, or whether they dif- fer only as to age, or the foil where the plant grows. They never put Vanilla into chocolate in any part of New Spain. There has been fent over into France Vanilla from Caracca and Maracaybo. The pods of this are fhorter than thofe of the true Vanilla, and thicker than the pompona kind. It is, however, plainly a fpecies of Vanilla, and is of a very good fmell and talk. There is alfo mention made by fome

Vai

of a fyuBfof Peru, the dried pods of which are two fingers Wide, and above a foot in length; but of a much inferior fcent to the Vanilla, and not retaining any long time even what it

The leaves of the Vanilla plant are about a foot long: and three fingers breadth wide. They are obtufe at the end, and of a very dark dufky green. The flowers are fingle, and of a whitilh colour, variegated with red and yellow. The pods appear as Toon-as thefe fall, and are green at firft, but grow of a yellowifli colour as they ripen. It is at this time that they gather them. The whole fhrub is a climber, of the mture of the vine, and mud be three or four years old before it pro- duces any fruit.

The time of gathering the pods for fale is from September to .December. They require no other management than to be gathered in a dry feafon, and laid twenty days, to dry away the fuperfluous humidity, and, at times, prefling the pods gently with the hands.

The plant climbs up the tailed trees, and its main flock, iri time, becomes woody and hard as that of the vine ; the root lends up many off-fets, which are planted by the natives, near the foot of a tree, and thrive very eafily ; and it is thus that the ihrubs are propagated ; and the time for doing this is in winter, or toward the beginning of fpring. It is remarkable that the young moot is not to be planted into the ground as with fisj but on the bark of the tree; this is however, no lingular cafe in the hot countries, for nature fhews the way; the branches of trees, broken off" by winds, often being blown againft other fpecies, and yet always taking hold on them, and growing ; this is owing to the great abun- dance of the fap in trees in thefe climates. Memoirs Acad, ocien. Par. 1722.

Vanillas arc. accounted cordial, carminative, ftemachic, and reiterative; they are alfo faid to be diuretic, and to promote tile menfes.

VANNING-o7;sto/, among miners, ah indrument ufed for waffling the ores of any metal, after being reduced to powder, thereby to difcover the richnefs and other qualities of the ore! See the article Shoad.

VAPODR (Cyd.)— Fiery Vapours, Halitus Ignei, a terrri ufed by fome to exprefs thofe exhalations from the earth, which either take fire of themfelves on the burfling forth into the air, or are readily inflammable on the bringing a candls to them.

Many of the fuppofed burning lakes are owing to thefe fumes bluffing up through the water, and not to any quality of the water itfelf; Our famous burning well at Wigan in Lan- cashire is of this kind. The common people affirm, that the water^ of this fpring burns like oil ; but there is nothing of truth in this. ' There burfls up a Vapour through the earth in this place, which keeps the water bubbling, as if boiling over the fire, though it is not warm ; and the dream of this breatli may be felt ifl'uing up in thefe places like a drong wind. This breath alone is inflammable, and takes fire at the approach of a candle, burning with confiderable violence for fome time.

There arc coal-pits in the neighbourhood, and the air is cer- tainly of the fame kind with that inflammable Vapour, often met with in thofe places, and which may alfo be prepared from iron diffolved in a proper mendruum. The water itfelf, ta- ken from the place, does not burn ; and if the bottom be made dry, the vapour which afcends from it will burn as ftrongly as if ihe water were there. The flame is not difco- loured like that of fulphureous bodies, nor has it any bad fcent ; and the fumes, as they are felt bui ding out of the earth, by the hand held over the place, are not hot. Phil. Tranf. N° 20.

VAPPA, a word ufed by the antients to exprefs dead wine, or wine deprived of all its fpirituous part. . The word is alfo metaphorically ufed to a peculiar date of the blood, when it is in a low, difpirited condition, as is the cafe even in healthy perfons, when worn out with exceflive la- bour, and in cachectic and fcorbutic perfons.

VARA, in commerce, a long meafure ufed in Spain and Portu- gal. It is of various lengths in different places. That of Se- ville is 33-rJJ,, ; that of Madrid, 394 JSu ; that of Portugal, 44vi TO inches Englilh meafure. Treat. Pratt. Geom. p. 8.

VARIA, in zoology, a name by which fome authors have cal- led the leopard, or pardalis, from the beautiful variegations it is marked with. Seethe article Pardalis.

VARIATION (Cyd.)— Variation of Curvature, in geo- metry, is ufed for [hat inequability, or change, which happens in the curvature of all curves, except the circle. And this Variation or inequability conditutes the quality of the curva- ture of any line. Newton, Meth. of Flux, and Inf. Scries.

Sir Ifaac Newton a makes the index of the inequability, or Variation of curvature, to be the ratio of the fluxion of the radius of curvature, to the fluxion of the curve ; and Mr. Maclaurin, to avoid the perplexity that different notions, con- nected with the fame terms, occafion to learners , has adopted the fame definition ; but he fuggeds b, that this ratio gives rather the Variation of the ray of curvature, and that it might have been proper to have meafured the Variation of curvature, rather by the ratio of the fluxion of the curvature

itfelf,