776 



VALMY VALUE. 



substance, as i- usual in all herbage growing under ' 

 water. From the bosom of some of these arise 

 staminiferous flowers, contained in un ovate, two- 

 parted spathe. The enclosed spadix is covered 

 with very minute flowers, each consisting of a 

 three-parted calyx with two stamens. These, when 

 mature (from the depth at which they are sub- 

 merged, and the shortness of the peduncle of the 

 spathe), have no means of attaining the surface of 

 the wuter but by breaking their connexion with the 

 parent. As soon as it arises to the surface, the 

 calyx instantly springs open, and the anthers burst; 

 by which impulse, and the accidents of the ele- 

 ment on which they are launched, they, in fact, 

 migrate accidentally to the vicinity of the fertile 

 flower, furnished with a long spiral peduncle, by 

 which it is enabled to attain the surface of the 

 water even at a variable depth. The spathe of the 

 latter is bifid and one-flowered, the calyx three- 

 parted and superior, the corolla of three petals, the 

 stigma ligulate and bifid, the capsule valveless, one- 

 celled, and the seeds numerous, attached to its sides. 

 VALMY. See Kellermann. 

 VALOIS, HOUSE OF. See France. 

 VALOMBROSA; an abbey on the Apennines, 

 belonging to the diocese of Fiesole, in the Floren- 

 tine territory, where John Gualbert, the saint, 

 founded an order of monks in 1038, subject to the 

 rule of St Benedict, and called the order of Valom- 

 brosa, from the place of its origin, or the gray 

 monks, in reference to the former habit of the mem- 

 bers. The original purpose of the institution was 

 solitude and undisturbed devotion ; but the life of 

 the hermit was soon exchanged for a monastic con- 

 stitution, and only a few hermitages were retained 

 in the neighbourhood of the monasteries. The 

 original monastery, which Gualbert, from its situa- 

 tion in a thick forest of firs on the verge of the 

 mountain, called Valombrosa, became rich by dona- 

 tions ; and, in 1637, the society erected magnificent 

 edifices. This order, however, which has always 

 been simply of a devotional character, and was the 

 first which admitted lay brethren, has never become 

 widely extended, nor attained any great importance. 

 Upon its union with the Silvestrines, 1662, a black 

 dress was adopted. Valombrosa remained undis- 

 turbed during all the storms of the revolution, and 

 was a resort of the priests during the French do- 

 minion in Italy. It is also of interest in the history 

 of art. A monk of Valombrosa, father Henry Hug- 

 ford, practised the art of painting on stone, known 

 by the name of scagliola, during his residence at the 

 beautiful hermitage II Paradisino, near Valombrosa. 

 The art was subsequently much improved in Flor- 

 ence. This monastery still exists, and is often 

 visited by devotees and travellers, who wish to en- 

 joy the lovely prospect which it affords. 



VALPARAISO; the port of Santiago, the 

 capital of Chile, on a bay of the Pacific ocean, 55 

 miles south of Santiago, and 225 north of Concep- 

 tion; Ion. 71 45' W. ; lat. 33 2' S.; population, 

 10,000. Its situation is inconvenient for purposes 

 of building, as it stands at the foot of a mountain, 

 and so near to its cliffs that many houses are 

 erected in the breaches and on the acclivities. It 

 contains a parish church and two convents, and is 

 inhabited chiefly by whites, mestizoes and mulat- 

 toes, who are engaged in the trade carried on with 

 Peru and Europe. It has an excellent harbour, every 

 where free from rocks and shoals, except to the 

 north-east, where there is a sunken rock within a 

 cable's length of the shore. 



VALTELINE ; lordship of Austrian Italy, at 

 the foot of the Alps, now forming the greater part 

 of the province of Sondria. It is bounded north 

 by the Grisons, and was subject to these till 1 7! '7. 

 Square miles, 1270; population, 81,000. This 

 country, called by the Germans Veltlin, or Veltlein, 

 and by the inhabitants Valle Tellinu, is a valley. 

 enclosed between two chains of lofty mountain:-, 

 about fifty miles in length, and from eight to 

 twenty in breadth. It is fruitful, and, through- 

 out its whole extent, watered by the Adda. 

 The whole country is divided into three districts, 

 called Sopra, Mezzo and Sotto, or Upper, Middle 

 and Lower. Tirano is the capital of the first, 

 Sondrio of the second, and Morbegno of the la-t. 



VALUE. The exchangeable value of commo- 

 dities depends, at any given period, partly on the 

 comparative facility of their production, and partly 

 on the relation of the supply and demand. If any 

 two or more commodities respectively required the 

 same outlay of capital and labour to bring them to 

 market, and if the supply of each were adjusted 

 exactly according to the effectual demand ; that is, 

 were they all in sufficient abundance, and no more, 

 to supply the wants of those able and willing to pay 

 the outlay upon them, and the ordinary rate of pro- 

 fit at the time ; they would each bring the s;ime 

 price, or be exchanged for the same quantity of any 

 other commodity. But if any single commodity 

 should happen to require less or more capital and 

 labour for its production, while the quantity re- 

 quired to produce the others continued stationary, 

 its value, as compared with them, would, in the 

 first case, fall, and in the second, rise ; and, sup- 

 posing the cost of its production not to vary, its 

 value might be increased by a falling off in the sup- 

 ply, or by an increase of demand, and conversely. 

 But it is of importance to bear in mind, that all 

 variations of price arising from any disproportion in 

 the supply and demand of such commodities as may be 

 freely produced in indefinite quantities, are temporary 

 only ; while those that are occasioned by changes in 

 the cost of their production are permanent, at least 

 as much so as the cause in which they originate. 

 A general mourning occasions a transient rise in 

 the price of black cloth ; but, supposing that the 

 fashion of wearing black were to continue, its price 

 would not permanently vary ; for those who pre- 

 viously manufactured blue and brown cloths, &c., 

 would henceforth manufacture only black cloth; 

 and, the supply being in this way increased to the 

 same extent as the demand, the price would settle 

 at its old level. When the price of a freely pro- 

 duced commodity rises or falls, such variation may 

 evidently be occasioned either by something affect- 

 ing the commodity, or by something affecting the 

 value of money. But when, instead of being con- 

 fined to one, the generality of commodities rise or 

 fall, the fair presumption is, that the change is ru>t 

 in them, but in the money with which they are com- 

 pared. Exclusive, however, of the commodities 

 now alluded to, there is a considerable class, whose 

 producers or holders enjoy either an absolute or a 

 partial monopoly of the supply. When such is the 

 case, prices depend entirely or principally on the 

 proportion between the supply and demand, and are 

 not liable to be influenced, or only in a secondary 

 degree, by changes in the cost of production. An- 

 tique statues and gems ; the pictures of the great 

 masters ; wines of a peculiar flavour, produced in 

 small quantities, in particular situations ; and a few 

 other articles, exist under what may be called abso- 



