Valentinian I
Valentinian I., Roman Emperor Of The West From A.d. 364 To 375, Was Born At Cibalis, In Pannonia. He Had Been An Officer Of The Guard Under Julian And Jovian, And Had Risen High In The Imperial Service. He Was Chosen Emperor In His Forty-third Year By The Officers Of ...
Valentinus
Valentinus And The Valentinians. Valen Tinus, The Most Prominent Leader Of The Gnostic Movement, Was Born, According To Epiphanius (haer. 31, 2), Near The Coast In Lower Egypt, And Was Brought Up And Educated In Alexandria. Valentinus Came To Rome (c. 135-160) During The Episcopate Of Hyginus, Flourished Under Pius ...
Valerian
Valerian, A Genus Of Herbaceous Perennial Plants Of The Natural Order Valerianaceae. Two Species—valeriana Officindis And V. Dioica—are Indigenous In Britain, While A Third, V. Pyre Naica, Is Naturalized In Some Parts. The Valerians Have Opposite Leaves And Small Flowers, Usually White Or Reddish, And Arranged In Terminal Cymes. The ...
Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus, Latin Writer, Flourished In The Reign Of Tiberius. His Family Was Poor, And He Owed Everything To Sextus Pompeius (consul A.d. Proconsul Of Asia And A Kind Of Minor Maecenas, Whom He Accompanied To The East In 27. He Intimates That His Work Is Intended As A Commonplace ...
Vallabhachars
Vallabhachars, A Numerous Sect In Western And Central India In Which The Emotional And Erotic Elements Are Al Lowed Free Scope, Aided By Vernacular Dialects In Prayers And Hymns Of Praise. Vallabha, The Son Of A Telinga Brahman, Lived At Gokula Near Mathura, And Set Up A Shrine With An ...
Valladolid
Valladolid, The Capital Of The Spanish Province Of Valladolid, 2,228 Ft. Above Sea-level, At The Confluence Of The River Pisuerga With The Esgueva. Pop. (1930) 91,089. Valladolid Is Sometimes Identified With The Ancient Pintia Of Ptolemy. Its Roman Origin Is Uncertain. The Present Name Is Undoubtedly Moorish. Valladolid Was Recovered ...
Valletta Or Valetta
Valletta Or Valetta, The Capital Of Malta (since 1570). Pop. (1931) 22,776. The Nucleus Of The City Is Built On A Ridge Of Rock (mount Sceberras) Which Runs Like A Tongue Into The Middle Of A Bay, Which It Thus Divides Into Two Harbours, The Grand Harbour To The East ...
Valley Of Ten Thousand
Valley Of Ten Thousand Smokes, A Volcanic Region In Alaska, Which Came Into Being At The Time Of The Eruption Of Mt. Katmai On The Alaskan Peninsula On June 6, 1912. An Ancient Trail Led Through The Valley, So That It Was Well-known To Have Been Rich In Plant And ...
Valmy
Valmy, A Small Village On The Main Road Between Verdun And Paris, Just West Of Ste. Menehould, Famous For The French Victory Of Sept. 20, 1792. Eastward Of Valmy Lies, Roughly North And South, The Long Barrier Of The Forest Of Argonne. Dumouriez, With The Belated Assistance Of Kellermann, Was ...
Valona
Valona (albanian, Vliona), A Seaport Of Albania. Pop. (1930) About 9,100, Of Whom 65% Are Muslims, 3o% Orthodox, And 5% Roman Catholics. Valona Occupies An Eminence Near The Gulf Of Valona And Is Almost Surrounded By Mountains. The Port Is The Best On The Albanian Coast, With Good Anchorage And ...
Valparaiso
Valparaiso, A City And Seaport Of Chile, Capital Of The Province Of Aconcagua, On A Broad Open Bay Of The Pacific In Lat. 33° O' 2" S., Long. 71° 41' 15" W., About Tom. N.w. Of Santiago. Pop. (1902), 142,282; (1930 Census) 196,025. The Almost Semicir Cular Bay Of Valparaiso ...
Valtellina
Valtellina (ger. Veltlin; The Name Comes From The Former Capital, Teglio), Properly The Name Of The Upper Valley Of Adda, In North Italy. Historically, It Also Comprises The Italian Liro Or San Giacomo Valley, Now The Province Of Sondrio. Pop. (1931) 133,758. Today The Whole Valley Belongs To The Kingdom ...
Valuation And Valuers
Valuation And Valuers. A Valuation Or Ap Praisement, Under English Law, Need Not Be Stamped Where It Is Made ( ) For, And For The Information Of, One Party Only, And Is Not Obligatory As Between Parties; (2) In Pursuance Of The Order Of A Court Of Admiralty Or On ...
Value
Value. In Economics, Use Is Made Of Three Closely Related Conceptions Of Value : Exchange Value, Subjective Value And Im Puted Price. ...
Valves Mechanical
Valves (mechanical) Are Devices For Controlling The Flow Of Air, Gases, Or Liquids. They Vary From The Small Air-valve In The Auto Mobile Tyre To Huge Valves For Controlling The Flow Of Large Volumes Of Water In Such Engineering Developments As The Locks Of The Panama Canal. One Of The ...
Valves Or Pistons
Valves Or Pistons, In Music, Are Mechanical Contriv Ances Applied To Wind Instruments In Order To Establish A Connection Between The Main Tubing And Certain Supplementary Lengths Re Quired For The Purpose Of Lowering The Pitch. Various Devices Have Been Tried From The Days Of Ancient Greece And Rome To ...
Van I
Van. (i) The Chief Town Of A Vilayet Of The Same Name In Asiatic Turkey; Altitude, 5,400 Ft. Pop. (1927) 22,549. It Is Sit Uated About A Mile From The Eastern Shore Of Lake Van, And Built Along The South Side Of The Citadel Rock, An Isolated Rocky Ridge 1,300 ...
Vanadium
Vanadium, A Metallic Chemical Element Belonging To A Family Which Also Includes Columbium (q.v.) And Tantalum (q.v.). Although One Of The Rarer Elements, Vanadium (symbol V, Atomic Number 23, Atomic Weight 51), Is Fairly Widely Distributed, And Since Its Application In The Production Of Special Steels (q.v.), Several Of Its ...
Vanadium Steel
Vanadium Steel. The Desirability Of Adding Vanadium To Certain Steels Has Been Known Since 1896, But It Was Too Rare To Be Used Until 1905 When A Rich Deposit Was Discovered In Peru. Since Then Many Minor Localities Have Been Worked, So That While Ferrovanadium Is Still Expensive, Owing To ...
Vancouver
Vancouver, British Columbia, Third City Of Canada And Its Chief Port, Situated On The South Side Of Burrard Inlet, Had A Population Of 117,217 In 1921, And Of In 1931 (in Cluding Annexations). The Growth Of The City Dates From The Coming Of The Canadian Pacific Railway In 1885, And ...
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island, The Largest Of An Archipelago Of Innumerable Islands Which Fringes The Pacific Coast Of Canada, Being At The Same Time The Largest Island On The West Coast Of North America. It Forms Part Of British Columbia. Pop. (1931), It Extends From 48° 20' To 51° N. And From ...
Vancouver_2
Vancouver, A City Of South-western Washington, U.s.a., At The Head Of Deep-water Navigation On The Columbia River (here Crossed By The Interstate Highway Bridge, 3,531 Ft. Long), 8 M. N. Of Portland; The County Seat Of Clark County. It Is On Federal Highways 99 And 830; Has A Large Airport, ...
Vandals
Vandals, A Term Used By Early Writers Only As A Collective Designation For A Group Of Teutonic Tribes Including, According To Pliny, The Burgundians And The Goths. The Vandals As A Separate People Figure In The Earliest Legends Both Of The Goths And The Lombards, And First Came Into Contact ...
Vanilla
Vanilla, A Flavouring Agent Largely Used In The Manu Facture Of Chocolate, In Confec Tionery And In Perfumery. It Con Sists Of The Fermented And Dried Pods Of Several Species Of Orchids Belonging To The Genus Vanilla. The Name Of The Genus Comes From The Spanish Vainilla, A Di Minutive ...
Vannes
Vannes, A Town Of Western France, Capital Of The Depart Ment Of Morbihan, 84 M. N.w. Of Nantes On The Railway To Brest. Pop. (1931) 16,395• Vannes (dariorigum), The Capital Of The Veneti (whence Gwened, The Breton Name Of The Town), Led The Armorican League Against Julius Caesar, Who In ...
Vaporization
Vaporization, A General Term Denoting The Change Of State Of Any Substance From Solid Or Liquid To Vapour. The Con Verse Change From Vapour To Liquid Or Solid Is Most Often Called Condensation, Though There Are Many Other Special Terms Employed In Particular Cases. The General Phenomena Of Change Of ...
Varen
Varen] (1622-165o), German Geographer, Was Born At Hitzacker On The Elbe, In The Liineburg District Of Hanover. Varenius Studied Medi Cine At Konigsberg And Leyden Universities Intending To Practise At Amsterdam. But The Recent Discoveries Of Tasman, Schouten And Other Dutch Navigators, And His Friendship For Blaeu And Other Geographers, ...
Variation In Nature
Variation In Nature The Variation Of Animals And Plants In Nature Is, So Far As Known, Subject To The Fundamental Laws Revealed By Experiment And Pedigree-breedings (see Heredity). Only By Such Experiments And Culture Is It Possible To Decide Authoritatively How A Given Variation Is Produced And Whether It Is ...
Variations
Variations, In Music, The Term Given To Groups Of Pro Gressively Developed Versions Of A Complete Self-contained Theme, Retaining The Form Of That Theme Though Not Necessarily Its Melody. This Is The Classical Sense Of The Term, But There Are Modern Developments Of The Variation Form To Which This Defini ...
Varicose Veins
Varicose Veins, A Condition Of The Veins Which Mostly Occurs In Those Parts Of The Blood-stream Which Are Farthest From The Heart, Occupy A Dependent Position And Are Relatively Unsup Ported By Surrounding Tissues. Thus They Are Found, Superficially, In The Legs And Thighs; In The Lowest Part Of The ...
Varna
Varna, A Fortress, Seaport, Departmental Capital And Episco Pal City Of Bulgaria; On The Bay Of Varna, An Inlet Of The Black Sea, In 40° 12' N. And 27° 56' E. Pop. (1934) 70,183. Varna Is Built On The Hilly North Shore Of The Bay, Overlooking The Estuary Of The ...
Varnish
Varnish. A Homogeneous Liquid, Which When Thinly Applied, Dries, On Exposure To Air, To A Hard Film Giving Decorative Effect And Protective Action To The Surface To Which It Is Applied. The Use Of Varnish Dates Back To Great Antiquity; The Ancient Egyptians Were Acquainted With The Sof Ter Resins, ...
Vascular System
Vascular System. The Unicellular Organism Receives All The Supplies Necessary For Its Growth And Maintenance Directly From Its Environment, Either By Diffusion Of Substances Held In Solution, Or By Direct Intake Of Foodstuffs, Which Undergo Chem Ical Disintegration In Vacuoles Containing Liquid Into Which The Necessary Enzymes Are Secreted. In ...
Ventilation Of Tunnels
Ventilation Of Tunnels Ventilation Of Steam Railway Tunnels.—the Simplest Method For Ventilating A Railway Tunnel Is To Have Numerous Wide Openings To Daylight At Frequent Intervals. If These Are The Full Width Of The Tunnel, At Least 20 Ft. In Length, And Not Farther Apart Than About Soo Ft., A ...
Vertomannus Varthema Barthema
Varthema (barthema, Vertomannus, Etc.), Ludo Vico Di, Of Bologna (fl. 1502-1510), Italian Traveller And Writer, Left Europe Near The End Of 1502; Early In 1503 He Reached Alexandria And Ascended The Nile To Cairo. From Egypt He Sailed To Beirut And Thence Travelled To Tripoli, Aleppo And Damascus, Where He ...
Vicomte De 1611 1675
Vicomte De (1611-1675), Marshal Of France, Second Son Of Henri, Duke Of Bouillon And Sovereign Prince Of Sedan, By His Second Wife Elizabeth, Daughter Of William The Silent, Prince Of Orange, Was Born At Sedan On Sept. 11, 1611. At The Age Of Fourteen He Went To Learn War In ...
Victor 1877 1915 Trumper
Trumper, Victor (1877-1915), Australian Cricketer, Was Born At Sydney, N.s.w., On Nov. 2, 1877, And Died There Of Bright's Disease On June 28, 1915. His First Appearance Against England Was In A Second-class Match Against Stoddart's Team In 1894-95. In 20 Seasons Of First-class Cricket, 1894-1914, He Made 17,000 Runs ...
Viscoun
Viscoun T (1855— ), Speaker Of The British House Of Mons (1905-1921), Was Born On April 1, 1855, The Son Of William Lowther, M.p. He Was Educated At Eton, Kings College, London, And At Trinity College, Cambridge. He Represented Penrith In The House Of Commons From 1886 To 1921, When ...
Wat Tyler
Tyler, Wat (or Walter) (d. 1381), English Rebel, Was A Native Either Of Kent Or Of Essex. Nothing Definite Is Known Of Him Previous To The Outbreak Of The Peasant Revolt In 1381, But Froissart Says He Had Served As A Soldier In The French War. The Name Tyler, Or ...
William Marcy Tweed
Tweed, William Marcy ("boss"), American Politi Cian And Leader Of The "tweed Ring," Was Born In New York City Apr. 3, 1823. In 1852 He Was Elected An Alderman Of The New York City Council. From 1854 To 1856 He Served As U.s. Representative In Washington. His Real Power In ...
William Tuke
William Tuke Was Born At York On March 24, 1732. His Name Is Connected With The Humane Treatment Of The Insane, For Whose Care He Projected In 1792 The Retreat At York, Under The Management Of The Society Of Friends, Which Became Famous As An Institution In Which A Bold ...