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 VOLGA Inseln (1825); Daubeny, "The Geology and Chemical Phenomena of Volcanoes" (1824), and "Description of Active and Extinct Vol- canoes" (1826; 2d ed., 1848); Scrope, "Con- siderations on Volcanoes " (1825 ; enlarged ed., 1862); Sir H. Davy, on the "Phenomena of Volcanoes," in the " Philosophical Transac- tions " (1828) ; Lyell, " Principles of Geology " (1830; llth ed., 1873), and on "Etna" in the " Philosophical Transactions " (1858) ; Hop- kins, " Researches in Physical Geography" (London, 1839-'42 ; also " Philosophical Trans- actions," 1839), and " On the Phenomena and Theory of Volcanoes" (report of the British association, 1847); Von Waltershausen, Atlas des JEtna (1848-'59) ; Dana, " Geology of the American Exploring Expedition " (1 849) ; Nau- mann, Geognosie (2 vols., 1850-'53) ; Phillips, "Vesuvius" (1869); Hunt, "Chemical and Geological Essays" (1875); and Humboldt's " Cosmos," " Travels," and " Treatise on Bocks." VOLGA (anc. Ehd), a river of Eussia, the longest in Europe. It rises on the plateau of Valdai, in the western part of the government of Tver, near the head waters of the Diina, in lat. 57 N., Ion. 33 E., flows a circuitous easterly, and then a southerly and southeast- erly course, passing by the towns of Tver, Yaroslav, Kostroma, Nizhni Novgorod, Kazan, Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, and Astrakhan, capitals of the governments of the same names t and near the last named town falls into the Caspian sea by a great number of mouths. Its length is about 2,300 m., and its total fall is little more than 600 ft. Its basin is estimated at upward of 500,000 sq. m. Its principal af- fluents from the right are the Oka and the Sura, and from the left the Tvertza, Mologa, Kostroma, TJnsha, Vetluga, Kama, Samara, and Irgis. Numerous canals connect it with the Baltic and White seas, making it the great artery of communication for European Russia, though its navigation is frequently interrupted by sand banks and changes of channel, and obstructed by ice during half of the year. It abounds ip fish, including salmon and stur- geon, which are largely exported. YOLIIYXIA (Pol. Wotyri), a government of "West Russia, formerly a province of Poland, bordering on the governments of Lublin, Grod- no, Minsk, Kiev, and Podolia, and on the Aus- trian province of Galicia; area, 27,738 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 1,704,018, including about 200,000 Jews. The surface in general is level or un- dulating, and diversified in some places by hills covered with pine forests, and in the north with peat moors and morasses. In the south some low offsets of the Carpathian range enter the government from Podolia. There are no large rivers; the Bug forms the "W. boun- dary, and the principal other streams are the Styr and Goryn. The soil is extremely rich, and there is no other part of the empire where agriculture is so flourishing. The chief produc- tions are grain, hemp, .flax, linseed, hempseed, VOLNEY 403 hops, tobacco, and live stock. Bog iron, salt- petre, building stone, millstone, limestone, por- celain clay, and potters' clay are the most im- portant minerals. The manufactures are in- creasing in importance, and include iron, leath- er, glass, earthenware, paper, beet sugar, cloth, potash, tar, and charcoal. The principal towns are Zhitomir, the capital, Staro-Konstantinov, Kremenetz, Ostrog, and Dubno. } ULKMA Y, Alfred WUhelm, a German physiol- ogist, born in Leipsic, July 1, 1801. He grad- uated in medicine at Leipsic in 1826, became extraordinary professor there in 1834, and in 1837 was appointed professor of physiology at Dorpat. In 1843 he received the same chair at Halle, and afterward also that of anatomy. His works include Anatomia Animalium (Leip- sic, 1831-'3); Neue Beitrage zur Physiologic des Gesichtsinnes (1836); Die Lehre torn leib- lichen Leben (1837); Die SelbstandigTceit des sympathetischen Nervensystems, written jointly with F. H. Bidder (1842) ; and Physiologische Untersuchungen im Gebiete der Optik (1863-'4). VOLNEY, Constantin Francois Chassebcenf, count de, a French author, born at Craon in Anjou, Feb. 3, 1757, died in Paris, April 25, 1820. His family name was Chassebceuf, but his fa- ther gave him that of Boisgirais, which he himself changed to Volney. A large fortune inherited from his mother was increased in 1781 by a considerable legacy, and, after study- ing medicine and oriental languages in Paris, he spent several years in Egypt and Syria, and several months in a convent of the Lebanon. After his return he was appointed director general of agriculture and commerce in Cor- sica. In 1789 he was elected to the states gen- eral for Anjou, and at the close of the constit- uent assembly in 1791 returned to Corsica, where he became acquainted with Napoleon Bonaparte. In l793-'4 he was imprisoned for ten months as a Girondist, and in 1794 was appointed professor of history in the normal school. In 1795 he'went to the United States, where he had a controversy with Priestley in regard to his work Les mines, and his answer to Priestley's pamphlet on infidelity appeared in an English translation (Philadelphia, 1797). In 1798 he returned to France. He accepted the revolution of the 18th Brumaire as an an- tidote against anarchy, and was appointed a senator, but declined the ministry of the inte- rior. On the establishment of the empire he withdrew from the senate, but his resignation was not accepted. Napoleon made him a count in 1808, and Louis XVIII. a peer in June, 1814. His works include Sur la chronologic tfHerodote (Paris, 1781) ; Voyage en Egypte et en Syrie (2 vols., 1787; English translation, London, 1787) ; Les mines, ou meditations sur les revolutions des empires (1791, often re- printed ; English translation, New York, 1796 ; London, 1827, comprising a translation of La lot natnrelle), in which he first avowed those infidel opinions for which he is now chiefly known; Lefons d'histoire (1799; new ed.,