Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/314

Vigani that college by the master, much against the wish of the senior fellows.

During all these years Vigani spent part of his time regularly in Newark. He was buried there in February 1712. The vacancy in the professorship which was occasioned by his death was filled in 1713 by the appointment of J. Waller, B.D.

Vigani married, about 1682, shortly after his arrival in England, and his wife was possibly a native of Newark. A daughter Frances was baptised there in January 1683; another, Jane, in March 1684. His wife, whose name was Elizabeth, died at Newark at the close of 1711.

The treatise, ‘Medulla Chymiæ,’ by which Vigani is remembered was originally a tiny volume of twenty-nine pages (Danzig, 1682). It was considerably enlarged, and editions appeared in 1683, 1685, 1693, and 1718–19. It is not, and does not profess to be, a general treatise, but, as the author himself explains, it was intended to record his own experiments and improvements in the preparation of certain compounds. It would be therefore unfair to judge from it of the extent of Vigani's knowledge. There is abundant evidence that he knew far more than he has set down in his book, and he has been commended by no less competent a critic than Stahl for his thoroughly practical skill and avoidance of speculation unsupported by experimental proof. In fact he rather avoided theoretical discussions, referring those who felt interested in them to Boyle, while he himself pursued practical investigation. Among other things, Vigani devised a method for purifying sulphate of iron from copper; for making ammonium sulphate; and for proving that to form a given salt a metallic base takes always the same amount of acid. He also invented a furnace of such construction that it could be easily built up or taken to pieces as required.

Vigani was a man of humour and tact. In all the disputes in which Bentley was involved he acted very judiciously, steered clear of partisanship, and apparently was on good terms with both sides. He never seems to have mastered the English language, and, to judge by the specimens of his composition and spelling which remain, his prelections must have been difficult to follow. According to Abraham de la Pryme [q. v.], who attended his lectures, and who was not without a certain admiration for his talents, Vigani was a great traveller and a learned chemist, but a ‘drunken fellow.’ De la Pryme was probably exaggerating. In one of his letters Vigani emphasises the benefits of a temperate life.

[Acta Eruditorum, 1684; De la Pryme's Diary (Surtees Soc.), 1869, vol. liv.; Stahl's Ausführliche Betrachtung … von den Saltzen, 1723; Maffei's Verona illustrata, parte seconda, 1731; Georgi's Allgemeines europäisches … Bücher-Lexicon, 1742; Scheltema's Staatkundig Nederland, 1805–6; Monk's Life of Bentley, 1830; Hoefer's Histoire de la Chimie, 1842–3; Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, 1852; Willis and Clark's Architecture of the University of Cambridge, 1886; Vigani's Medulla Chymiæ, 1685.] 

VIGER, DENIS BENJAMIN (1774–1861), Canadian statesman, born at Montreal on 19 Aug. 1774, was the only son of Denis Viger by his wife Charlotte Périnne, second daughter of François Pierre Cherrier. He was educated at St. Raphael's (Roman catholic) College, Montreal, proceeding to the bar, where he soon became distinguished. He entered the assembly as member for Montreal in 1808, and, being a cousin of Louis Joseph Papineau [q. v.], espoused the popular side. In 1809 he issued a pamphlet urging in the interests of Great Britain that the manners and institutions of the French Canadians should be preserved. For this he was threatened with imprisonment, and in 1810 a warrant was issued for his arrest on account of his contributions to the French Canadian newspaper ‘Le Canadien,’ but it was not executed. From 1810 to 1814 he represented the county of Leinster in the legislature, and from 1827 to 1830 that of Kent. In 1828 he was deputed by the legislature to proceed to England as the exponent of their grievances. In 1830 he became a member of the upper house, and was again sent to England to support the cause of the legislature and to oppose Sir James Stuart [q. v.], being joined by William Lyon Mackenzie [q. v.] as representative of the assembly. On this occasion Viger extended his journey to France and Italy.

On 4 Nov. 1838, in connection with the ferment of the young Canada party [see under ], Viger was arrested for treasonable articles in ‘La Minerve,’ and, declining to go out on bail, was kept nineteen months in prison.

In 1841, when the two Canadas were united, Viger entered the new parliament as member for Richelieu County, and in 1845 was elected member for Trois Rivières. About 1842 he was nominated by his party as speaker of the legislative council, but withdrew owing to the opposition of Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe (afterwards Baron Metcalfe) [q. v.] However, when in 1843 the liberals resigned, Viger, who appreciated the statesmanship of Metcalfe's policy