Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/941

* VALLEY FORGE. 805 VALOIS. ington abandoned his cauip and reoccupied Phila- delphia, piepaiatoiy to pursuing the Biilisli across Xew Jersi-.v. In 18113 Pennsylvania ap- propriated .$^0,000 toward making Vallcj- Forge and its vicinity a State park, but the sum proved insuftk'ient anil the project was virtually aban- doned. VALLEY QUAIL. See Qcail; Partridge. VALLGREN, val'gren, ViLLf. (1855—). A Finnish sculptor, born in Borga, and long resi- dent in Paris, whither he went in 1878. after studying architecture in the Helsingfors Poly- technic. He entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, studied under Cavalier, and gained much popu- larity by his fresh and distinguislied style. His mirrors, figurines, lamp stands, urns, and cande- labra rank him as one of the foremost modern dec- orative artists. Of his statues and portraits, sever- al are in Xew York City in the Vanderbilt collec- tion, notably "Death and Resurrection" and "A Breton Girl." His works in Finland include a "Mariatta." in the Imperial Castle, and a "Head of Christ" in the National iluseum at Helsing- fors. The marble group "Maternity," in the Mu- seum of Arras, and a bronze statuette, "Youth." in the Berlin National Gallery, should also be mentioned. VAL'LISNE'RIA (Neo-Lat., named in honor of Antonio VuUisncri, an Italian botanist of the eighteenth century). A genus of small, stem- less, aquatic plants, with g r a s s - 1 i k e leaves, belonging to the natural order H y d r o c haridaceje, and found in the warm parts of both hemispheres. They generally grow in running waters. Yah lisncria spiralis is particularly e e 1 e - brated on account of its peculiar process of fecundation. The flowers of the fe- male plants rise to the surface of the water by uncoiling tiieir long spirally twisted stalks : the flowers of the male plants become de- tached, having pre- viously grown on short spikes at the bottom of the water, and expand, floating about upon the sur- face. After fecunda- tion, the female flow- ers return under the water by the re- coiling of their stalks and the fruit is ripened under water. The plant is found in ditches and bogs in Italy, Southern France, and the United States, where it is called wild celery, and is famous as the food of the canvas-back duck. VALLOMBROSA, vUl'om-bro'za, Congrega- tion OF. A branch of the Benedictine Order, EEL GRA.SS {ValHsDeria spiralis). founded in the eleventh century and taking its name from its mother-house, a celebrated abbey of Tuscany, situated among the .pcnnines in a .valley surrounded with forests, whence the name. Its founder was Saint John Giuilbert, born at Florence either in 085 or !)!I5. The con- gregation was a contemplative one. and observed strict silence. It spread into France and through Italy, but never had more than sixty houses. Its decline was hastened by the vicissitudes of the mother-house, which was pillaged in 1527 by the troops of Charles V. It was i)lundered in 1808 by the French troops. In LStHi it was apjiropri- ated by the Italian Government, and since 1870 has been used as a school for the Koyal Academy of Forestry. A few monks still rem.a'in. ])artly oc- cupied in the duties of the meteorological station founded in 11)54. Vallonil)rosa was visited by Dante, celebrated by .Vriosto in the Orlando Fiirioso. and mentioned by Milton in a famous passage of Paradise Lost. VALLON, va'lox'. Charles (185.'?— ). A French alienist, born in Limoges. He studied medicine there and in Paris, where he ttxik his degree in 1882. He then entered the Asile des Alienes of the Department of the Seine, passed to the clinic of mental diseases in the Moilieal Fac- ulty of Paris, and became in 1885 chief of the Asile Di^partmental d'Alienfe at Villejuif and ex- pert oil mental diseases for the courts. Vallon was commissioned in 1897 to investigate the treatment of the insane in Russia, the results of which investigation were embodied in the volume Les alicncs en Russie. VALLS. A town in the Province of Tarragona, Spain. 50 miles west of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Francoll (Map: Spain. F 2). It has textile factories, potteries, flour mills, and dis- tilleries. Its ancient walls give it a picturesque aspect. Population, in 1897, 12,738. VALMORE, val'niSr', Marceline. A French poet. See DESBORDES-VAX-ilORE. VALMY, val'me'. A village of France, in the Department of Marne, 3G miles southeast of Eheims. It is noted as the scene of a battle (September 20, 1792) in which the French under Kellermann (q.v.) and Dumouriez repulsed the Prussians under the Duke of Brunswick, after displaying fine bravery under a furious cannon- ade from the enemy. The battle or skirmish, frequently spoken of as the cannonade of Valniy, did not cost either army moi-e than 800 men, but, thiiugh from a military point of view an insignifi- cant atTair, it produced moral cfl'ects of the great- est importance. It was the first triumph of the republican arms, and freed the French nation from the temporary panic inspired by the for- ei^ni invasion. Napoleon made Kellermann Duke of Valmy in 1809. VALOIS, vS'Iwii'. House of. A branch of the Capetian dynasty (q.v.) which occupied the throne of France from 1328 till 1589. It origi- nated in the person of Charles, second son of King Phili)) III., who obtained in 1285 the County of Valois as an a])panage from his father. Philip IV., the elih'r brother of Charles, left three sons, who reigned one after the other and died without male issue, and the succession fell, by the Salic law, to the eldest son of Ch.irles. who accordingly ascended the throne as Philip VI. (q.v.). The