VAN 



V A P 



grateful to tlie flieep than that on dry moory land on 

 gravel, being often fcanty, woody, and rigid. The excefs 

 of moifture, too, in them may probably, it is thought, 

 affeft the qualities and healthinefs of the heath, as food for 

 flieep. Befides, there is in fuch moffes a greater proportion 

 of the crofs-leaved fort than is found on dry fheep-walks ; 

 and it is thought by many that fheep do not rdi(h it fo well 

 as the common kind, when the (hoots are young. 



From thefe accounts, it would feem that the true nature 

 of the complaint is not yet well underftood, but it is pro- 

 bably fome defedl in the lafteal organs, by which a due 

 fupply of nourifhment is prevented from being taken up, 

 the confequence of which is a ftate of atrophy and ema- 

 ciation in the animal. 



The remedies which have been chiefly depended upon in 

 thefe cafes by flieep-farmers, are thofe of cither removing 

 the {heep into frefh grafly lands, or the change of them 

 from the )ieaty pafture to one that is fweet and dry, during 

 the autumn and winter. The latter, it is laid, not only 

 proves a cure of the difeafe, but wholly prevents it. In 

 fome cafes, medicines of the mild ftimulatmg balfamic kind 

 might perliaps be ufed with benefit. 



VANRHEEDIA, in Botany, Plum. Gen. 45. t. i8. 

 See Rheedia. 



VANS les Dames, or Vanaut, in Geography, a town of 

 France, in the department of the Marne ; 12 miles N.E. 

 of Vitry lo Fran^ais. 



VANSIRE, in Zoology, a fpecies of weafel with fliort 

 ears ; the hair brown at the roots, barred above with black, 

 and ferruginous ; the tail of the fame colour ; the length 

 from nine to about fourteen inches, and the tail nearly ten. 

 Tliis animal inhabits Madagafcar. 



VANSOMER, Paul,, in Biography, a portrait painter, 

 born at Antwerp in 1576: he for a while refided at 

 Amfterdam, and with his brother Bernard praftifed his art 

 therewith fuccefs. About 1605 or i6o6, he vifited England, 

 and was very much employed here ; as many of his por- 

 traits are to be found in the houfes of our nobility. He 

 had the honour to be employed to paint king James I., and 

 his queen, Anne of Denmark. He died at about the age of 

 45, and was buried in St. Martin's, as appears by the re- 

 gifter, January 5, 162 1. 



V ANSTOWN, in Geography, a town of the Cherokees, 

 on the river Alabama. 



VAN-SWIETEN, in Biography. See Swieten. 

 VANT, or Vaunt. See Van. 



VANTANE A, in Botany, JufT. 434, a name of Aublet's, 

 which Schreber, according to correft rule, could not retain. 

 See Lemniscia. 



VANT-CHIN, in Geography, a city of China, of the 

 fecond rank, in Quang-fi ; 1147 miles S.S.W. of Peking. 

 N. lat. 23° i'. E. long. Io6° 51'. 



VAN-TIEN, a city of China, of the fecq,nd rank, m 

 Yun-nan ; 1295 miles S.W. of Peking. N. lat. 24° 29'. 

 E. long. 109° 14'. 



VAN-UDEN, Lucas, in Biography, a landfcape pamter, 

 born at Antwerp in 1595. He was principally his own in- 

 ftruAor, and cultivated his talents by an affiduous attention 

 to nature, and ftudying the landfcapes of Rubens, whom he 

 imitated, and who employed him to paint on the back-grounds 

 of his piftures ; which he did with fo much congeniality 

 of ftyle, that they appear to be the work of the fame hand. 

 He lived to the age of 65. He had a brother, Jacques 

 Van-Uden, alfo a landfcape painter, but inferior to him. 



VANVEY, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Cote d'Or ; 6 miles E.S.E. of ChStillon- 

 fur-Seine. 



VANZE, a town of Naples, in Bafilicata ; 10 miles 

 S.E. of Venofa. 



VAPINCUM, m Ancient Geography, Gap, a town of 

 Gallia Narbonnenfis, between Caturigas and Alabons. 



VAPORARIUM, or VAPonosuM Balneum, Vapour- 

 Bath, in Chemijlry, a term applied to a chemill's bath, or 

 heat, in which a body is placed, fo as to receive the fumes 

 of boihng water. 



The balneum •uaporojum confifts of two vefTels, difpofed 

 over one another in fuch manner, as that the vapour raifed 

 from the water contained in the lower, heats the matter en- 

 clofed in the upper. 



The vapour-bath is very commodious for the diftilling of 

 odoriferous waters, and the drawing of fpirit of wine. On 

 this fubjeft, fee Bath, in Chemijlry. 



We alfo ufe the term vapour-bath, when a fick perfon is 

 made to receive the vapours arifing from fome liquid matter 

 placed over a fire. 



Manv contrivances have been propofed for this purpofe ; 

 and their expediency and utility are bed known to thofe 

 who are converfant in this bufinefs. See Aqueous Baths. 



VAPORATION, Vaporatio, in Chemiftry, a term 

 applied to the aftion of a fume, or vapour. 



Vaporation is a kind of bathing, or rather of foment- 

 ation, by which the warmth, or humidity, 0/ a vapour is 

 made to aft on fome other body, that is to be warmed or 

 moiftened. 



VAPOROSUM Balneum. See Vaporarium. 

 VAPOUR, Vapor, in Meteorology, a thin veficle of 

 water, or other humid matter, filled or inflated with air ; 

 which, being rarefied to a certain degree by the aftion of 

 heat, afcends to a certain height in the atmofphere, where 

 it is fufpended, till it returns in form of rain, fnow, or the 

 like. An aflemblage of a number of particles, or veficles 

 of vapour, conftitutes what we call a cloud. 



Some ufe the term vapour indifferently, for all fumes 

 emitted, either from moift bodies, as fluids of any kind ; or 

 from dry bodies, as fulpliur, &c. But fir Ifaac Newton, 

 and other authors, better diftinguiflied between humid and 

 dry fumes, calhng the latter exhalations. 



For the manner in which vapours are raifed, and again 

 precipitated, fee Cloud, Dew, Rain, Barometer, and 

 particularly Evaporation and Meteorology. 



We (hall here add, with refpeft to the principles of folu- 

 tion adopted to account for evaporation, that Dr. Halley, 

 about the beginning of the laft century, feems to have been 

 acquainted with the folvent power of air on water ; for, 

 he fays, that, fuppofing the earth to be covered with water, 

 and the fun to move diurnally round it, the air would of 

 itfelf imbibe a certain quantity of aqueous vapours, and 

 retain them like falts dilfolved in water ; and that the air, 

 warmed by the fun, would fufl:ain a greater proportion 

 of vapours, as warm water will hold more diffolved falts ; 

 which would be difcharged in dews, analogous to the pre- 

 cipitation of falts on the cooling of liquors. Phil. Tranf. 

 Abr. vol.ii. p. 127. 



Mr. Eeles, in 1755, endeavoured to account for the 

 afcent of vapour and exhalation, and their fufpenfion in 

 the atmofphere, by means of the cleftric fire. The fun, 

 he acknowledges, is the great agent in detaching vapour 

 and exhalations from their maffes, whether he afts imme- 

 diately by himfelf, or by his rendering the eleftric fire 

 more aftive in its vibrations: but their fubfequent afcent 

 he attributes entirely to their being rendered fpecifically 

 lighter than the lower air, by their conjunition with elec- 

 trical fire : each particle of vapour, with the eledlrical fluid 

 that furrounds it, occupying a greater fpace than the fame 

 4G 2 weight 



