VOLT 



6113 



VOLTAIRE 



once existed at the junction of the Volga and 

 the Kama, and the word Bulgar is so like 

 Volga that it probably meant a native of the 

 Volga. Nizhni-Novgorod, a city on the Volga, 

 has the oldest annual fair in the world, to which 

 merchants come from thousands of miles. 



VOLT, the electromotive force that will 

 drive a current of one ampere through a resist- 

 ance of one ohm. See VOLTMETER; OHM; 



A M I'ERE. 



VOLTA, vawl'tah, ALESSANDRO (1745-1827), 

 an Italian scientist, famed for his researches 

 and discoveries in the field of electricity. His 

 name is perpetuated in such terms as volt, the 

 unit of electromotive force, voltaic pile and 

 voltaic battery. Volta was born at Como, Italy. 

 Before he was thirty he had established a repu- 

 tation as the author of two brilliant treatises 

 describing a new electrical machine. In 1771 

 he was appointed professor of physics at the 

 gymnasium at Como, and five years later be- 

 came professor of natural philosophy in the 

 University of Pavia. Among his inventions are 

 the electroscope, the electrical condenser, the 

 voltaic pile and the voltaic (electric) battery. 

 See ELECTRIC BATTERY. 



VOLTAIC, volta'ik, CELL. See ELECTRIC 

 BATTERY. 



VOLTAIC PILE. See ELECTRIC BATTERY. 



VOLTAIRE, JEAN FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET 

 DE (1694-1778), a French philosopher, historian 

 and author, born in Paris. His father, a stern 

 man, descended from a good, middle-class fam- 

 ily ; the mother died when the boy was seven 

 years of age. From his father and the rather 

 worldly Abbe de Chateauneuf he received his 

 early education, and at the end of his coll< L r 

 days was thrown for a while into the brilliant 

 Court circles of Louis XIV. He was taken to 

 The Hague in the capacity of secretary to the 

 French ambassador to Holland, where he fell 

 into a dangerous love intrigue with Olympe 

 Dunoyer, and was soon sent back to Paris. 



Twice a Bastille Prisoner. His career as a 

 writer began with tin* production of (< 

 which v.;is at first made known only among In- 

 best friends. On account of written attacks 

 against tl Orleans, he was twice com- 



pelled to leave Paris in disgrace, and for el' 

 months, during the years 1717-1718, was im- 

 prisoned in the Bastille. After his release, the 

 <ly (Edipc was publicly performed, and Un- 

 favorable reception i he au- 

 thor fame as a dramatist and no huh 

 profit. In 1724 his great epic poem, La / 

 riadv, appeared, in which ho made an eloquent 

 383 



plea for religious toleration. Various troubles, 

 culminating in a quarrel with the Chevalier de 

 Rohan, led to a second imprisonment in the 

 Bastille, followed by his removal to England. 

 At this time (1726) he had written also the 

 plays Artemire, Mariamne and L'Indiscret. 



English Influence. His stay in England exer- 

 cised a great influence on his career, and led 

 to an acquaintance with Congreve, Pope, 



VOLTAIRE 

 From the statue by Houdon 



Young, Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, the Walpoles 

 and other prominent men. He was deeply af- 

 fected by the toleration of free thought and 

 by English manners and literature in general, 

 ainl his nnirn to Paris in 1729 revealed a 

 marked maturing of his powers. Among the 

 works he produced m the next few years are 

 thr tragedies Hrutu*, Zaire and Scmiram**; the 

 History oj Chart, .* XII, Kiny <>t and 



ih n volutionary Letters Concerning the Eng- 

 lish Nation. 



Life in France and Germany. U< lived at 

 the chateau of Cirry with Madame du Chatc- 

 l.i. a woman of Inch intellectual attainments, 

 and it was through her encouragement that he 

 worked n plays, on the translation 



into French m Principia, and on a 



,.ry of Lot;; \IV \ft.r serving as his- 

 tonourapher ,| Fninn :><!- 



