the cutting in the ground, till up the hole gently, pressing downthe earth close about it, and raise a little hill just upon the topof the cutting, to cover the upper eye quite over, which will pre-vent it from drying.
V1TMANNIA, in botany, a genus of the octandria monogy-nia class and order. Calyx four-cleft; corolla four-petaled ; nec-tary a scale at the base of each filament ; nut semi-lunar, com-pressed, one-seeded. There is but one species, viz. V. elliptic:!, anative of the East Indies.
VIT11E, a town of France , in the department of Ille and Vi-hiine, and late province of Bretagne, 20 miles N. E. of Rennes , and32 S. E. of St. Malo . Lon. 1.13. W. Lat. 48. 14. N.
VITREOUS HUMOUR OF THE EYE, is so called fromits resemblance to glass in fusion, being very like a fine and clearjelly in appearance. See Optics.
VITRIFICATION, in chemistry, the converting of a bodyinto glass, by means of lire. See Glass-Making.
VITRIOL, NATURAL, in mineralogy, a species of fossil-salts, divided into three sub-species. 1. Iron-vitriol. 2. Copper-vitriol. 3. Zinc-vitriol. The iron-vitriol is of an emerald andverdigrease green, sometimes bordering on sky blue; sometimeson grass green. It occurs massive, tuberose, stalactitic, and crys-tallized. It occurs usually with iron-pyrites, by the decomposi-tion of which it is formed.
VITRUVIUS, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a celebrated ar-chitect, was born at Formio, in Italy . He was greatly esteemedby Julius Ciesar, and employed by Augustus in constructing pub-lic buildings and warlike machines, lie wrote a valuable Treatiseon Architecture, the best edition of which is that of Amsterdam , in1649, fol.
VITltY LE FRANCOIS, a town of France , in the depart-ment of Marne , and late province of Champagne, 15 miles S. E.of Chalons, 25 VV. of Bar, and 100 E. of Paris . Lon. 4. 38. E.Lat. 48. 44. N.
V1TTEAUX, a town of France, in the department of Coted’Or, and late duchy of Burgundy, 27 miles W. of Dijon , and 12S. E. ofSemur. Lon. 4. 27. b. Lat. 57. 20. N.
VITTOR1A, a city of Spain, capital of Alava , 32 miles S. E.of Bilboa, and 155* N. of Madrid . Lon. 2. 56. W. Lat.42 . 55. N.
VITUS’S DANCE, ST. See Medicine;.
VIVA VOCE, a Latin phrase frequently used in English wri-ters, and literally signifying “ by word of mouth.”
VI VARY, inlaw-books, a term indifferently used for a park,warren, or fishpond.
VIVERRA, the Weasel; a genus of mammalia, of the orderferae. Six fore-teeth, intermediate ones being shorter;. clawsare exserted. There are about 31 species, the principal of whichare,
V. Ichneumon, with the tail tapering to a point, and the toesdistant from each other; inhabits Egypt, Barbary, India , and itsislands. It is there a most useful animal, being an inveterate ene-my to the serpents and other noxious reptiles which infest the tor-rid zone : it attacks without dread that most fatal of serpents theNaja, or Cobra deCapello; and should it receive a wound inthe combat, instantly retires, and is said to obtain an antidote froma certain herb (according to Sparmann the ophiorrhiza) after whichit returns to the attack, and seldom fails of victory ; it is a greatdestroyer of the eggs of crocodiles, which it digs out of the sand ;and even kills multitudes of the young of those terrible reptiles.The ancient Egyptians ranked the ichneumon among their deities.This animal is at present domesticated and kept in houses in India and in Egypt , for it is more useful than a cat in destroying rats andmice; and grows very tame.
V. Vulpecula, or Stifling Weasel, has a short slendernose ; short ears and legs; black body, full of hair ; the tail long,of a black and white colour; length from nose to tail about18 inches. It inhabits Mexico, and perhaps other parts of Ame-rica . This and some other species are remarkable for the pestife-rous, suffocating, and most fetid vapour they emit from behind,when attacked, pursued, or frightened.
V. Fossa. The fossane appears to be so nearly allied to thegenet, that it might almost pass for a variety of that animal. Thisanimal is a native of Madagascar, Guinea, Bengal, Cochinchina ,3nd the Philippine islands. It is said t* be possessed of consider-
able fierceness, and to be with difficulty tamed. It destroys poul-try in the manner of the common weazel. When young, it issaid to be good food. Its size is that of the genet. See PlateCl.,XVII.
VIVIAN!, Vincent, a mathematician, was born at Florence in 1621. He was the disciple of Galileo, and became first mathe-matician to the grand duke of Tuscany . He was a member ofthe Academy of Sciences at Paris , and died in 1703. His worksare, l. A Treatise, intituled, Divination upon Aristeas , folio. 2.
De Muximis et Minimis Geometric® Divinatio, in quintum Coni-corum Apollonii Pergsci adhuc desideratum, folio. 3. EnodatioProblemalum Universis Geometris Propositorum a Claudio Comm-ries, 4to. 4. Treatise of Proportions, 4to.
VTVIFICATION. in medicine, the art of vivifying; that is,of contributing to the action that gives life, or maintains life.
I lie chemists, . also, use the word in speaking of the newforce, vigour, and lustre, which, by this art, they give tonatural bodies, by restoring them to their first state from theiroxides.
VIVIPAROUS, [ vitiiparus , Lat.] in natural history, an epi-thet applied to such animals as bring forth their young alive andperfect, in contradistinction to those that lay eggs, which are calledoviparous animals. See Generation.
VIVO, in architecture, the shaft or fust of a column. The termis also used in a more particular sense for the naked of a column,or other part.
VIVRIES, an ancient city of France , in the department ofArdeche , and late province of Dauphiny, 20 miles N. ofOrange, and 70 N. E. of Montpelier. Lon. 4. 46. E. Lat.
44. 20. N.
UKRAINE, a large country of Europe , lying on the bor-ders of European Turkey, Poland, Russia , and little Tartary.
Its name properly signifies a frontier. By the partition of Po-land it lias all become the property of Russia . The principaltown is Kiow.
VLAD1MIRSKOE, a province of Russia , bounded on the N.by those of Jaroslavl and Kostrom ; E. by Nizegrodskoe; S. by'lambovskoe and ltiazanskoe; N. W. byTverskoe; and W. byMoskovskaia ; 160 miles long from E. to W. and *0 broad from iN. to S. j
ULCER, insurgery. See Surgery. '
Ulcer, in farriery. See Farriery .
ULEX, in botany, a genus of plants of the class diadelphia,and order decandria; natural order, Papilionaceae . Calyx two-leaved; legume scarcely longer than the calyx ; filaments all con-nected. There aie three species.
UHETEA, one of the Society Islands . It is about 63 miles 1in circuit. Its productions aie plantains, cocoa-nuts, yams, hogs>and fowls. Lon. 158. 56. W. Lat. 21.0. S.
ULIGINOUS, in agriculture, an appellation given to a moist,moorish, and fenny soil.
ULLAGE, in guagin^, is so much of a cask or other vessel asit wants of being full. 1 lie ullage of a vessel whose axis is parallelto the horizon, may be found thus : let AGBH, (Plate CLXXX-tig. 11,) be the great circle in the middle of the cask, whose seg-ment GBI1 is filled with liquor, the segment GAF1 being empty-'Phe segment GBH is known, il the depth EB be known, and El>a mean proportional between the segments of the diameter Al-and EB ; all which are found by a rod or ruler put into the vessel-Let the basis of the cask, at a medium, be found ; which suppose ,to be the circle CKDL, (tig. 12,; and let the segment KCL besimilar to the segment GAII (which is either found by the rule o»three, because the circle AGBII : the circle CKDL: : the seg-ment GAH : the segment KCL ; or it may be found by the ta-bles of segments made by authors) and the product of this seg'ment, multiplied by the length of the cask, will give the liquidcontent in the cask; which being subtracted from the whole con-tent, leaves the ullage AGII.
ULM, an imperial city of Suahia, in Germany , 90 miles S. W*of Ratisbon . Lon. 10. 12. E. Lat. 48. 25. N,
ULM US, in botany, a genus of plants of the class pentan-ilria, and order digyma; natural order, Scabrid®. Calyx q uin "quelid; no corolla; fruit a dry, compressed, membranaceoo 6berry. There are seven species. .
U. Campkstris, Common Elm, has rough leaves, oval, p 0,i y