Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/139

* VESTRY. 105 charge and care of its proi>erty, and to collect and disburse its revenues. The vestry, acting for the parishioners, and under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese, choose and call a min- ister to be rector of the parish and make pro- vision for his support. In the absence of the rector they are bound to see that no person ministers to the congregation without sufficient evidence that he is duly qualified to do so. If the rector prove unworthy or incompetent, they, in the interests of the parishioners, make com- plaint to tile bishop of the diocese. In some dioc'cses the vesti'y, insteail of the body of parish- ioners, elect the lay deputies to represent the parish in the convention or council of the diocese. VESUVIANITE, or Idocrase. A mineral basic calcium-aluminum silicate crystallized in the tetragonal system. It has a vitreous lustre and is brown to green, sometimes light-blue, in color. It was originally found among the masses ejected from Vesuvius and Monte-Somma, Italy. But it has also been abundantly discovered in limestone, serpentine, gneiss, and other rocks. The crystallized varieties are sometimes cut as gems, especially in the form of the letters V and I. VESXJ'VIUS. A volcano situated near the eastern ^hore of the Bay of Naples, about 10 miles from the city of that name. It is a solitary moun- tain rising from the plain of Campania, with a base of about 30 miles in circumference, and surmounted by two summits. The higher of these is a nearly perfect cone known as Vesuvius proper. The other, of ridge like outline, partial- ly inclosing the central cone, is called Somma. Vp to the year a.d. 79 Vesuvius was looked upon as a truncated mountain, its volcanic origin being unsuspected. The crater formed a deep de- pression in the summit, and its sides were forest- clad. Suddenly on August 24th of that year an eruption began with the appearance of a huge black cloud which rose from the mountain, accompanied by an explosion that blew off the top and rained a mass of ashes, lapilli, and mud on the towns and cities in that region. No lava was ejected in this eruption, nor in fact during any other eruption within historic times until the year lOtiG. In the first historic eruption Pompeii was buried under a thickness of 20 feet of loose ashes, and Herculaneum was covered by a torrent of nuul. The elder Pliny, who com- manded the Roman fleet at ilisenum, sailed to help the distracted inhabitants. He landed near the base of the mountain and was himself suf- focated by the vapors emanating from the vol- cano. The yoimger Pliny gives a graphic account of the eruption in two letters to Tacitus (written long after the event), which are well known. Since the year 79 there have been a number of eruptions. One occurred in the year 203, and another in the year 472, during which the ashes were carried as far as Constantinople. Other outbursts were noted in the vears 512, 685, 9S3. and 1000. In 1031 the villages at the base of Vesuvius were covered with lava and torrents of boiling water. During an eruption of 1779 showers of ashes, scorite, and stones were thrown to a great height, and streams of lava poured down the side of the cone. In 1794 another vio- lent outburst took place wdiich destroyed much of the town of Torre del Grecco. and in the eruption of 1822 the mountain is said to have lost 800 VETANCUBT. feet of its height, but most of this los.s has been made up by subsequent eruptions. Previous to this eruption of 1822 the summit is said to have been a rough and rocky plain, covered with blocks of lava and scoriic, and rent by numerous fissures, from wdiich issued clouds of smoke; it was then altered to a vast elliptical chasm, 3 miles in circumference, and about 1000 feet deep. Another remarkable eruption took place in May, 1855, and a series of outbursts began in 1865. Jlore recent eru])tions have occurred in 1872, 1878, 1880, and 1895. The present height of Vesuvius is a little over 4000 feet, and that of Sonima 3730. The lavas of Vesuvius belong to the acid types, ;ind among the gases hydrochloric acid lias been detected in considerable quantities. Ferric chloride often forms a yellow crust on the lava, especially in the vicinity of fumaroles. A railroad has been built from the base of the cinder cone to the summit near the edge of the crater. Bibliography. Bonney, Volcanoes (New York, 1899) ; Shaler, Aspects 'of the Earth (ib., 1890) ; Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. ii. (lltli ed., ib., 1889). See Volcano ; Pompeii. VESZPRE'm, ves'pram (Ger. Veszprim). The capital of the County of Veszprem, Hungary, on the Sed, 60 miles southwest of Budapest" (Map: Hungary, E 3). It has a fine cathedral, a Piarist college, a gj'mnasium, and an institution for dis- abled priests. The vine, fruits, and tobacco are cultivated: there are coal-mines, iron-works, and large cattle-markets. Population, 1900, 14,114, mostly ilagyars. VETALAPANCAVIMSATI, va-tii'la-piin'- cha-vim'sha-te (Skt., twenty- five stories of a demon). A collection of Sanskrit novelettes. According to the framework of the tales. King Vikrama (q.v. ) is bidden by an ascetic to carry a corpse which hangs on a certain tree to a graveyard where certain magic rites are to be performed which will give the monarch super- natural powers. While bearing this corpse, com- plete silence is enjoined on the King. As Vikrama carries the body, a Vetala. or demon, which en- ters corpses, tells him a story, which ends in a problem that he asks the King to solve. Vikrama, forgetting the prohibition laid on him, answers, and the corpse returns immediately to the tree again. This takes place until the Vetala has told twenty-five stories. The tales are of much interest, and the entire Vetalapaiicaviiiisati bears a marked resemblance to the two other principal Sanskrit collections of like genre, the .Sinihusana- dcatrimsika, or Thirty-two Stories of the Lion- Throne (also called V ikramacarila. or Adven- tures of Vikrama), and the Hukasaptati (q.y.), or Screiity Stories of a Parrot. The Vetfilapau- cavimsati has been edited by Uhle (Leipzig, 1881) and translated by Burton. Vikrama and the Vampire (new ed., London, 1893). VETANCURT, vfi'tan-kcTTirt (or VETAN- COURi. ArousTiN HE (1020-1700). A ilexiean historian, born in the city of Mexico. He joined the Franciscan Order at Puebla. became a mem- ber of the provincial chapter, and when he died was commissary-general of the Indies. He was a profound Aztec scholar, and published Arte de hnijua iiiexicana (1673). and Tratro mexicano, drscripcion breve de los sucesos exemplares,