Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/722

 V I P

VI P

The creeping garden panfie, with purple and yeltoW flowefs.

35. The creeping garden panfie, with plain white flowers.

36. The creeping garden panfie, with violaceous velvety flow- ers, of a deep purple and gold yellow. 37. The creeping garden panfie, with a large blackrfti purple flower. 38. The creeping garden panfie, with a pale velvety flower. 39. The creeping garden panfie, with a gold, yellow, and ftraw-co- coloured velvety flower. 40. The two coloured, or white and yellow field Violet. 41. The two coloured field Violet, with blue and yellow flowers. 42. The two coloured field Violet, with blue and white flowers. 43. The field Vielet, with wholly yellow flowers. 44. The field Violet, with wholly white flowers. 45. The long leaved (hrubby Spanifli Violet. 46. The American Violet, with paflion- flower leaves. 47. The Teucrium leav'd Pyrenean Violet, with a long tail to the flower. 48. The rock Vislei, with a thick, crenated, leaf, like that of bafil, and a large fcemlef; flower, of a blue colour with white ftreaks. 49. The purple fcentlefs Violet without a ftalk, and with leaves like the panfie, but fcarce at all ferrated. 50. The fmall hairy-branched erect two coloured Violet. 51. The finalleft alpine Violet, with leaves like nummular} a. 52. The great hairy cucumber leav'd Vir- ginian Violet, with blue flowers. 53. The great hairy cu- cumber leaved Virginian Violet, with yellow flowers. Town. Inft. p. 420.

Violet flowers, frefli gathered, are emollient, and gently pur- gative. They are greatly recommended by authors in fevers, head-achs, pleurifies, and peripneumonies. A fyrup of them made in a ftrong infufion in water, is the only preparation kept in the (hops : it is given to children as a gentle evacuant, and ferves as a teft to diftinguifh acids from alkali's, the for- mer turning it immediately red, and the latter green.

Viola, in ichthyography, a name by which fome authors have called the fmelt, from its fweet fmell, which has been fuppofed to refemble that of the Violets. WWughbfs Hi ft. Pifc. p. 202. See the article Eperlanus.

'ViohAferotina, the. late Violet, aname given by the antiens to a garden-flower, not properly of the Violet kind, hut to which we, as well as they, have connected the name Violet, though with a diftin&ive epithet, we call it Viola matronalis, or dames Violet.

Pliny is very exprefs in this diftinction, but i3 not fufficiently attended to in it ; and by this means is mifunderftood in fome other parts of his works, where he alludes to this flower in his delcription of the colour called by the Romans conchylius, or conchyliaceus color-, he fays, that the deepeft: degree, of it was that of the flower of the Viola fcrotina. The commenta- tors on his works have generally explained this into his faying, That the deepeft colour of this name was a blue purple, like that of the Violet ; but he only means that it is of a deeper red than the colour of the mallow flower, and with a propor- tionate mixture of purple, as there is in that flower. See the article Conchyliaceus color.

VIOLARIS Lapis, in natural hiftory, a foflile body, called by the Germans Violjlein, and by many authors, Lapis odore Vio- iarum, from its having a fwect fmell when rrefh broken, which has been fuppofed to refemble that of the Violet. The Germans have many ftones, which have more or lefs of a fweet fmell when frefh broken, as they have many which ftink very ftrangely ; the latter of thefe they call all by the common name of fwine-Jlone, and the former, all by that of Violet Jlone. The fubftance, however, which poffefles this quality in the higheft degree of all others, and is therefore molt pro- per to be called diftinctly by this name, is a fpecies of talc, of the genus of the bractearia, called by Dr. Hill braclearium niveum lucidijfunum bracleis undulatis, or the fnow-white ftiining braclearium, with undulated fcales. This is found in mafies of an extremely rude and irregular ftruclure, but very com- pact and firm, ufually of a roundifh, or oblong figure : thefe are of various fizes, from an inch or two, to a foot in diame- ter, and arecompofed of almoft an infinite number of thin ex- tremely beautiful and fnow-white plates, which are all broad, thin, and flaky, and of various fizes, and perfectly irregular in fhape and figure, and are naturally waved, bent, and curl- ed : its fmell, when broken, is not like that of any of the known perfumes, but is a fort of mixed one, refembling that of rofes and Violets together : it is very heavy, and will neither give fire with fteel, nor ferment with acid menftruums. It is common on the mores of rivers in Italy, and in the mountains in Germany. Hilts Hift. of FoiT. p. 83.

VIOLET, Viola, in botany. Seethe article Viola.

VIOLONCELLO. See the article Violin, Cycl.

VIOLONE. See the article Vxolin, Cycl,

VIPER, Vipera, (Cycl.) a poifonous fpecies of ferpent, well known in moft: parts of the world.

Its fize is ufually two foot and a half in length; its upper part is of a dufky colour, with an admixture of a reddifh tawney ; and in the females with a great deal of whitifh- nefs. Along the middle of the back there runs a broad dentated black line, or a long feries of conjunct rhomboidal fpots, reaching from the head to the tail. A little below this, there is on each fide a feries of fmall black fpots ; and in the lower part of each fide there runs a continued line, made by a feries of white fpots, which are very fmall ; then another of

larger black ones, and' next to this another of fmall white ones ; again, the belly is covered with long black Icalcs placed tranfverfely.

This feems the general difpofition of the colours of the Viper but it is by no means fixed and unalterable; for there are Vipers whofe buck is wholly black. The belly however feems to be black in all, and the tail does not run to more than a fifth part of the length of the body beyond the anus, and is terminated in a very lharp point. Wormius fays, the Viper feeds on herbs ; but this alTuredly is not its only diet, fince there are frequently found in its ftomach, mice, beetles, (mall birds, and the like ; many of which are often found whole : And it is furprifmg to conceive how they were fwallowed, fince they are often three times as thick as the whole neck of the ferpent.

The canine teeth of the Viper are only two, and thofe hollow from the apex to the root; and thefe are not poifonous in themfelves, but ferve to make the wound by means of which the poifon they contain is mingled with the blood. This poifon feems to be a matter fecreted like frliva, by pe- culiar glands placed in the bags at the roots of thefe dog- teeth. Ray's, Syn. Quad. & Serp. p. 285. By Mr. Boyle's experiments made upon Vipers in vacuo, it appeared, that on the withdrawing the air from the vefTel where the Viper was put, fhe began to fweli, and after fome time fhe opened her mouth very wide, and frequently ;, but on continuing two hours and a half in the receiver, fhe did not appear to be quite dead. The gaping of the jaws was attended with a lofs of the fwelling, obferved at firft in her whole body ; but after every time doling them fhe fwelled again, and thus became lank and plump reciprocally many times in an hour. During the firft moments this creature crawled about, as if in fearch of air, and afterwards foamed at the mouth.

The neck and body continued fwclled longer, in a fecond experiment with another Viper, and a blifter appeared on .the back. This creature lived an hour and a half. The mouth remained vaftly diftendej after death, and the internal parts of it were much diftorted, and thruft forwards. After the admitting the air the mouth clofed, and opened again after a time; and in fine, on pinching the tail there was fome mo- tion perceived in the body, that feemed to argue life. The common fnake bears the exhaufted receiver better than the Viper, and after many hours remaining in it, and feeming dead, will give figns of life on being warmed by bringing the glafs to the fire ; but a longer continuance in the rarified air abfolutcly kills it, as it does all other creatures. Phil. Tranf. No, 62.

The ftory of the rattle/hake's charming its prey has been laughed at by many, and by others the effects of the animal's fear have been fuppofed the refult of a previous bite;, but we have a great deal of reafon to believe,, that this fort of fafcination is jult what it is related to be, from an experiment mentioned in the Philofophical Tranfaciions, of a like thing in regard to a Viper. It is well known, that no Viper will feed while in confinement, except a female which is with young, but that fuch a one will. A Viper- catcher, who had more than fixty living Vipers in a chcit, put a living moufe . in among them ; there happened to be one female big with young among thefe, none of the others at all regarded .the moufe, but fhe raifed up her head a little, and looked fu- rioufly at it. The moufe was terrified, and flood ftill for a confiderable time, though the Viper continued rolled up in a fpiral, only raifing up its head and looking at it, and vibrat- ing its tongue ; the moufe at length recovered of its fright, and began to move, but without running away, only walk- ing in a terrified manner round and round the Viper, and of- ten fqueaking ; at length fhe came before the head of the crea- ture, which was ftill raifed, and the mouth open. The moufe, after fome time, went up to the creature, and crept into its mouth, where fhe was gradually fwallowed without the Viper's altering its pofture.

The poifon of Vipers is neither in their teeth, their tail, nor their gall, but in two.veficles or bladders which cover their teeth, and which upon compreflion when the Vipers bite, emit a certain yellowiih liquor, that runs along the teeth and infects the wound.

The poifon of the Viper is only noxious when immediately conveyed into the blood. Nor is it mortal to eat the flefh of creatures killed by Vipers, or to drink the wine in which they have been drowned, or to fuck the parts they have wounded. On the contrary, Signior Redi fays, fucking the wound is a fovereign remedy againft the bite of Vipers. This author denies, what had been affirmed by Ariftotlc and Galen, that the fpittlc of a fafting perfon kills Vipers., Phil. Tranf. N°. 9. p. 160.

Vipers are viviparous. Phil. Tranf. N°. 84. p. 138. The bite of the Viper having been fuppofed certainly curable by oil of olives alone, and a Fi/w-catcher in England having fuffered himfelf to he bitten by one of thefe creatures, and having recovered after many dangerous fymptoms ; and the cure being attributed to the oil alone, though other medicines were given him internally ; Meflkurs Geoffrey and Hunauld of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, made a number 3 of