VAC

812

VAC

Christian era. There were two cities of that name ; the onecalled Pahetyrus, situated on the continent; and the other thecity of Tyre, built on an island about half a mile from the shore.It was about 19 miles in circumference, including Palaetyrus; thetown on the island was about four miles round. The buildings ofTyre were very magnificent; the walls were 150 feet high, andbroad in proportion. This city was at one period the most famouscommercial city in the world. It resisted Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, for 13 years ; at the end of which, wearied with end-less efforts, the inhabitants resolved to place the sea between themand their enemy, and passed accordingly into the island. The newcity stood out against Alexander the Great for seven months; andbefore he could take it, he was obliged to fill up the strait whichseparated the island from the continent. (See Macedon.) Itwas repaired afterwards by Adrian, and became the metropolis ofthe province. It afterwards fell into tire hands of the Arabs ; andafter being taken by Baldwin II. king of Jerusalem , it was de-stroyed by the sultan of Egypt in 1289, and abandoned, nevermore to rise from its ruins. An excellent account of its situationand modern state may be found in Volney’s Travels, vol. ii. It•ow consists of a small village, composed of wretched huts, con-taining about 50 or 60 poor families. It is called Sour orTsourby the Orientals.

TYRNAW, a town of Upper Hungary, in the palatinate ofTrientschin ; 30 miles N. E. of Presburg . Lon. 17. 39. E. Lat.48. 13. N.

TYRONE, a county of Ireland, in the province of Ulster , 4miles long, and 37 broad ; bounded on the N. by Londonderry on the E. by Armagh ami Lough-Neagh, on the S. by Ferma-nagh , and on the W. by Donnegal. It is a rough and ruggedcountry, but tolerably fruitful. Dungannon is the capital .

TYSON, Edward, M. D. and F. R. S. a learned physician,born at Bristol, in 1650, and educated at Magdalen Flail, Oxford ,where he studied physic, and graduated. He settled in London ,and became F. R. S. He wrote many useful papers in the So-ciety’s Transactions. Fie was appointed physician to Bethlehemand Bridewell. He published Thocoena, or the Anatomy of aPorpoiss; 4to. Ephemeridis Vita, or the Natural History andAnatomy of the Ephemeris: Ourang Outang , or the Anatomy ofa Pigmy, compared with that of a monkey, an ape, and a man;4to. lie died suddenly in 1708.

TZAREVOKOKCH AISK, a town of Russia , in Kazanskoi,68 miles W. N. W. of Kazan .

TZAR1TZIN, a town of Russia, in Saratovskoi, on the Volga ,180 miles S. of Saratov, and 378 E. of Ekaterinoslav .

TZIVILSK, a town of Russia , in Kazanskoi, 56 miles W. ofKAZAN . Lon. 47. 35. E. Lat. 55. 40. N.

TZNA, a river of Russia, which rises 20 miles S. of Tambov ,and runs into the Mokscha, 20 miles N. W. of Temnikov, in Tam-bovskoi.

TZURUCFIATU, STAROI, a town of Russia , in Irkutskoi160 miles S. E. of Nertchinsk. Lon. 119. 33. E. Lat. 49. 18. N'

U, V.

U or V, the twentieth letter of our alphabet, and the fifth9 vowel. It is formed in the voice by a round configurationof the lips, and a greater extrusion of the under one than in formingthe letter o, and the tongue is more canulated. The sound isshort in crust, must, tun, tub ; but it is lengthened by a final e, as intune, tube, &c. In some words it is rather acute than long ; as inbrute, flute, lute, &c. It is mostly long in polysyllables; as inunion, curious, &c. but in some words it is obscure, as in nature,venture, &c. This letter, in the form of V, or v, is properly aconsonant, and as such is placed before all the vowels, as in va-cant, venal, vibrate, &c. Though the letters v and u had alwaystwo sounds, they had the form v till the beginning of the fourthcentury, when the other form was introduced, the inconvenienceof expressing two different sounds by the same letter having beenobserved long before. As a numeral V stands for five ; and witha dash added at top, thus V. it signifies 5000. As an abbreviationamongst the Romans, V. A. stood for veterani assignata; V. B.tiro bone; V. B. A. viri boni arbitratu ; V. B. F. vir bona:fldei;V. C. vir consularis; V. C. C. F. vale, conjux churissime,fcli-viter; V. D. D. voto dedicatur; V. G. verbi gratia; Vir. Ve.■eireo vestalis ; VL. videlicet; V. N. quinto nonarum.

VAAGEN, East, an island in the North Sea , on the coast ofNorway . Lon. 12. 20. E. Lat. 68. 40. N.

VABRES, a town of France , in the department of the Aveiron,and late province of Ptouergue, 30 miles S. E. of Rodez . Lon.2. 55. E. Lat. 43. 57. N.

VACATION, in law, is the whole time betwixt the end of oneterm and the beginning of another. This word is also applied tothe time from the death of a bishop, or other spiritual person, tillthe bishopric or dignity is supplied with another.

VACCINATION, inoculation with the vaccine virus for thepurpose of securiug against the infection of the small-pox. Oneof the most remarkable and important phenomena, in the historyof animal-nature, is the cow-pox, which was first duly inquiredinto, and publicly announced in the year 1798, by Dr. Jenner,of Berkeley, of Gloucestershire , though it had for ages been

known to dairy-men in the west of England. This malady ap-pears on the nipples of cows, in the form of irregular pustules.From the observations made by Dr. Jenner, and subsequently byDrs. Woodville, Pearson, and other medical practitioners, it fol-lows, that persons inoculated with matter taken from one of thesepustules are thereby rendered unsusceptible of small-pox-infection,and the reverse. The experiments instituted with a view to as-certain this extraordinary fact, are too numerous to be related inj this place : let it therefore suffice to mention, that they have been; repeated in different countries in Europe , and with nearly thei same success. Although many formidable objections have beenI stated, both by physicians and others, against the introduction of a| new contagious virus derived from brutes, into the human body ;

yet we have the satisfaction to say, that the arguments advancedj in favour of the new inoculation, are, in our opinion, conclusive,j Indeed, a series of facts duly authenticated, in many thousand in-| stances, where the latter has proved a milder disease than the ino-I cidated small-pox, cannot fail to convince the most determined[ sceptic; though a few rare cases should have occurred, in which,

! from accidental or unforeseen circumstances, the contrary effect| has resulted. On the other hand, we are firmly persuaded, that thoseI sanguine and noisy advocates for the cow-pox, who, from selfishnr interested motives, have thus evinced their eagerness of becom-J ing conspicuous in its defence, by writing and publishing diffusevolumes of undigested matter, have only contributed to their owni notoriety, instead of more effectually aiding a good cause. Withthe philanthropic view of extending the beneficial effects re-sulting from the new inoculation to the poor, a new dispensary,termed the Vaccine institution, has been established in the me-tropolis.

VACCINUM, Bilberry, or Whortleberry ; in botany, agenus of tiie oclandria monogynia class and order; natural orderBicornes. Calyx superior ; corolla one petaled ; filaments in*

| serted into the receptacle; berry four-celled, many-seeded. Therei are twenty-seven species.

j VACUUM, in philosophy, denotes a space empty or devoid of