VANADIUM BRONZE 1053 



orange-berries (the immature fruit) and bitter orange-peal, with cloves and cinnamon, 

 in brandy. When this tincture is distilled and afterwards sweetened, it constitutes 

 White Curagoa. The compounds are frequently called Ratafias : a term derived, like 

 the word ' ratify,' from ratum and fio, ' to make firm,' ' or confirm.' By Ratafia, there- 

 fore, was originally meant a liquid drank at the ratification of an agreement. 



V 



VAAIiITE. A name recently given by Prof. Maskelyne to a variety of 

 vermiculite, occurring in the diamond-bearing rocks of South Africa. It takes its 

 name from the Vaal River. 



VACUUM PAN*. For a description of it, see SUGAB. 



VAIiONTA is a kind of acorn, imported from the Levant and the Morea, for the 

 use of tanners, as the husk or cup contains abundance of tannin. See LEATHER. 



Yalonia Imported in 1873 : 



Tons Value 



From Austrian Territories . 1,141 20,793 



Greece . . . . 3,598 58,699 



Turkey .... 24,233 443,899 



,, Other countries . f> 99 



Total .... 2S..977 524,490 



Valonia Exported in 1873 : - 



Tons Value 



To Germany 196 3.848 



Belgium 202 3,927 



Other countries . . . 208 4,034 



Total . . . .606 11,809 



VALUE. Two methods have been adopted for ascertaining the value of our 

 exports ; one by means of the official value, the other according to the declared value. 

 In Lowe's ' Present State of England ' (1822), there is a very succinct and clear account 

 of these methods, which is here extracted : 



' The official value of goods means a computation of value formed with reference, 

 not to the prices of the current year, but to a standard, fixed so long ago as 1696, the 

 time when the office of Inspector-General of the Imports and Exports was established, 

 and a Custom-house ledger opened to record the weight, dimensions, and value of the 

 merchandise that passed through the hands of the officers. One uniform rule is 

 followed, year by year, in the valuation, some goods being estimated by weight, others 

 by the dimensions, the whole without reference to the market price. This course has 

 the advantage of exhibiting, with strict accuracy, every .increase or decrease in the 

 quantity of our exports. 



Next as to the value of these exports in the market: In 1798 there was imposed 

 a duty of 2 per cent, on our exports, the value of which was taken, not by the official 

 standard, but by the declaration of the exporting merchants. Such a declaration may 

 be assumed as a representation of, or at least an approximation to, the market price 

 of merchandise, there being on the one hand no reason to apprehend that merchants 

 would pay a percentage on an amount beyond the market value, while on the other 

 the liability to seizure afforded a security against under valuation.' See IMPORTS and 

 EXPORTS. 



VANADINTTX:. A vanadate of lead, with chloride of lead, occurring at Wan- 

 lock Head, in Dumfriesshire, and in Siberia and Mexico. 



VANADIUM is a metal discovered by Sefstrom, in 1830, in a Swedish iron 

 extracted from the iron ores of Taberg, not far from Jonkoping. Its name is derived 

 from Vanadis, a Scandinavian idol. This metal has been found as vanadate of lead, 

 in the mineral Vanadinite, and it has been detected in the copper-bearing sandstone 

 of Alderley Edge, in Cheshire. Vanadium is white, and when its surface is polished 

 it resembles silver or molybdenum more than any other metal. It combines with 

 oxygen to form four oxides. The compounds of vanadium have recently been studied 

 by Prof. Roscoe. 



The vanadate of ammonia, mixed with infusion of nutgnlK foi'ms a black liquid, 

 which js a very excellent writing-ink. 



VANADIUM BRONZE. See BRONZE POWDERS. 



