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 VELVET at Paris, in 1832 a member of the academy of medicine, in 1835 professor of clinical surgery, and in 1842 successor of Larrey in the insti- tute. His clinical lectures at the Charite hos- pital were among the most remarkable of his claims to distinction. His works include Traite de Vanatomie cMrurgicale (2 vols., 1825) ; Ana- tomie des regions (1825-'6 ; revised and repub- lished under the title Anatomic cMrurgicale generale et topographigue, 2 vols. 8vo, 1838 ; 2d ed., by Velpeau and Beraud, 1862); Memoire sur les positions vicieuses dufcetus (1830); Ee- cherches sur la cessation spontanee des Jiemor- rhagies traumatiques primitives et la torsion des arteres (1830) ; Nouveaux elements de mede- cine operatoire-^lSSVi), a work of the highest authority ; Embryologie ou ovologie humaine (1833); Des convulsions, pendant la' grossesse, durant le travail, ou apres V accouchement (1834) ; Lecons or ales de clinique chirurgicale, collected by Jeanselme and Pavilion (3 vols., 1840-'41) ; and Traite des maladies du sein et de la region mammaire (1853). His last work was the article Adenite in the Dictionnaire encyclopedique des sciences medicales (1865). VELVET (Lat. vellus, a fleece), a textile fabric woven wholly of silk or of silk and cotton mixed, having a loose pile or short shag of threads on the surface, which give it a fine soft nap. Cotton stuffs manufactured in the same way are commonly called velveteens. This manufacture appears to have originated about the 13th century, and was limited for a long time to the Italian cities. It thence passed into France, where it was greatly im- proved, and in 1685 was introduced into Eng- land by French refugees. Velvet is very dura- ble, from the close texture of the under side, and also from the thick nap of the upper, which opposes great resistance to external fric- tion. It is moreover very warm, and suitable for rich ornamental figured work. Its pecu- liar character is derived from the insertion of short pieces of silk thread, secured under the shoot, weft, or cross threads, their ends stand- ing upright and so closely together as to con- ceal the interlacing of the threads beneath. They are furnished in an extra set of threads, called pile threads, arranged in the loom par- allel to the warp threads, and much longer than these, which in the progress of the weav- ing are passed, after every third throw of the shuttle, over a thin, semi-cylindrical, straight brass wire, which is laid across the whole fab- ric over the warp threads. The next working of the treadle carries the pile threads down over the wire, when they are covered and fastened by the next throw of the shuttle. Another wire is placed in the same position for the next row of loops across the fabric, and these are produced, as already observed, with every third throw of the shuttle. Two wires only are used, and these are freed in turns by the same process which converts the loops into a pile. Each of them has a groove along its upper surface, and on this is run a 815 VOL. xvi. 19 VENDACE 287 sharp-edged knife, thus severing the loops and leaving two ends of each one projecting above the fabric. These are brushed up and dressed to produce the velvety nap. If some of the pile threads are left uncut, the velvet is then of the striped kind; and some is used alto- gether uncut. Fine velvets contain 40 to 50 rows of loops in an inch length of the fabric, and their production is therefore exceedingly slow and laborious. The process is moreover complicated by the use of two shuttles, a stouter thread being used after the wire than the two which succeed. Hence the produc- tion of a yard of plain velvet is considered a good day's work. Various modifications have been introduced in the manufacture of velvet, among which is that of Mr. Gratrix, who produces the pile by the weft, the cut being then made in the direction of the warp. The pile threads are woven over a series of fine longitudinal knives, over the points of which the portions of the weft intended to form the pile slide successively as the cloth is woven ; and the weft is severed in passing over the cutting portion of these knives, which are fixed. By some of the new methods the velvet is cut and embossed at the same time. Lyons is the principal seat of the manufacture of broad velvets, such as those for cloak ma- king called Ponson velvets, and St. Etienne is the principal seat of velvet ribbon manufac- ture. Trimming velvets of the finest kinds are made by hand in Rhenish Prussia. VENAISSIN. See COMTAT-VENAISSIN. VENANGO, a N. W. county of Pennsylvania, drained by the Allegheny river, French creek or Venango river, and Oil, Sugar, and Sandy creeks; area, 850 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 47,925. A large part of the county is traversed by spurs of the Alleghany mountains. The soil along the streams is fertile. Iron ore and bitumi- nous coal are very abundant, and there are traces of silver mines. Lumber and oil are ex- ported largely. This county forms the centre of the great oil basin of Pennsylvania, and there are hundreds of oil wells in the valleys. (See PETROLEUM.) It is traversed by the Oil Creek and Alleghany River, the Alleghany Valley, the Pithole Valley, and the Franklin di- visions of the Lake Shore and Michigan South- ern, and of the Atlantic and Great Western rail- roads. The chief productions in 1870 were 72,158 bushels of wheat, 28,610 of rye, 216,- 753 of Indian corn, 335,899 of oats, 63,267 of buckwheat, 75,355 of potatoes, 268,405 Ibs. of butter, 92,355 of wool, and 27,879 tons of hay. There were 5,113 horses, 6,963 milch cows, 7,412 other cattle, 32,764 sheep, and 10,379 swine ; 6 manufactories of boots and shoes, 1 6 of carriages and wagons, 25 of machinery, 24 of refined petroleum, 10 flour mills, 9 saw mills, and 5 woollen mills. Capital, Franklin. VENDACE, the name given in Great Britain to a fish of the salmon family and genus core- gonus (Cuv.). This fish, C. Willughbii (Jard.), or C. albula (Cuv. and Val.), is 7 to 8 in. long,