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neceiTary, effects \Thich .'.re produced in the mod extenfive 

 manner, under the drill praAice of culture ; but the labour, 

 trouble, and expenditure attending its ufe, in feme cafes, 

 may not be adequate to its benefits. Thus, the former and 

 all the dry and lefs moift forts of land are commonly well 

 fuited for the purpofes of tillage and thofe of fheep-paiture ; 

 while the latter and thofe of the more wet and retentive 

 kinds are more fitted to the raifing broad-leaved crops, and 

 thofe of the artificial and natural grafs forts. Stiff clayey 

 or aluminous lands are moftly bell fuited for wheat crops, 

 and thofe of the lime-ftone or calcareous defcriptions for 

 producing faintfoin and closer crops. The varieties of 

 land, too, are confiderable, as they relate to different prac- 

 tices, fuch as thofe of draining, watering, and many others. 

 See Soil, Spring and SuKFACE-Draining, Tillage, and 

 Watering of Land. 



VARIGNON, Peter, in Biography, was born at Caen, 

 in France, in 1564, and originally intended for the church ; 

 but imbibing an early tafte for the mathematics, this kind 

 of fcience became the objeft of his attention, in the profecu- 

 tion of which he was difcouraged by his relations, W|ho 

 obliged him to devote fome part of his time to theology. 

 With the abbe St. Pierre, who ftudied philofophy in the 

 fame college, he formed an intimacy ; and they mutually 

 encouraged and aided each other in their favourite ftudies. 

 The abbe took him to his houfe, and in order to render him 

 more independent, bellowed upon Varignon out of his own 

 income, whicTi was only 1800 livres a-year, 300. In 1686 

 the abbe took him to Paris, where he wholly employed 

 himfelf in the ftudy of mathematics, and where he formed 

 an intimacy with Du Hamel, Du Verney, and De la Hire. 

 From Du Verney he acquired a confiderable knowledge of 

 anatomy, whilft in return he taught him the application of 

 mathematical reafoning to that fubjeft. In 1687 Varignon 

 became known by his " Projet d'une nouvelle Mechanique," 

 dedicated to the Academy of Sciences. This treatife was 

 much admired, and ferved to introduce him to two con- 

 fiderable places, w'z. that of geometrician to the Academy 

 of Sciences, and that of profeuor in the college of Mazarine. 

 In 1690 he pubhfhed " Nouvtlles Conjeftures fur la Pe- 

 fanteur ;" and he became one of the moft early cultivators 

 of the fcience of infinitefimals. Of his application and in- 

 duftry we have ample evidence in the volumes of the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences ; his papers are numerous, and contain 

 complete theories on the laws of motion, central forces, and 

 the refiftance of different media. In 1703 he fuffered much 

 from his intenfe application, which impaired his naturally 

 llroiig conftitution, and reduced him for three years to a 

 very languifhing ftate. His phyficians prohibited ftudy, 

 from which, however, he could not totally abftain. Having 

 cenfured Dr. Wallis for afferting that there are certain 

 fpaces more than infinite, afcribed by this celebrated geo- 

 metrician to hyperbolas, whilft Varignon maintained that 

 they were finite, his criticifm was ftievvn to M. Carre, and 

 by him caufed to be printed in the Memoirs of the Aca- 

 demy, without his knowledge. After his recovery, he 

 refumed his application, by republiftiing his " Projet d'une 

 nouvelle Mechanique" in a new and enlarged form, by an 

 extenfive correfpondence, and by reading leftures to his 

 fcholars in the college of Mazarine, as well as in the royal 

 college, in each of which he occupied a profeffor's chair. 

 In the latter part of his life, much as he valued peace, he 

 was engaged in a fcientific difpute with an Italian monk on 

 the fubjeft of tangents, and the angle of contaft in curves. 

 In the two laft years of his life he laboured under an 

 ifthmatJc complaint, which baffled all remedies. At lengtli, 



having finifhed his lefture at the Mazarine college, on the 

 22d of December 1722, he died iuddenly on the following 

 night. His character, fays Fontenelle, was as fimple as 

 his fuperior underftanding could require. He had no 

 jealoufy of the fame of others ; for, indeed, he was at the 

 head of the French mathematicians, and one of the firft in 

 Europe. In the difcharge of every perfonal and focial duty 

 he was confcientioully ftrift. On the theory of the mathe- 

 matics few mathematicians have laboured more fuccefsfully 

 than Varignon ; introducing into this fcience that mode of 

 generalization which charafteriles it, Amplifying many of 

 its principles, and refolving many queftions that had not be- 

 fore been confidered ; fuch, efpecially, as relate to the doc- 

 trine of motion. His works, pubhftied feparately, were 

 " Projet d'une nouvelle Mechanique," 4to. Paris, 1687 ; 

 " Des nouvelles Conjeftures fur la Pefanteur," i2mo. 

 1692; "Nouvelle Mechanique," 2 ttom. 410. 1725; and 

 his papers in the different volumes of the Academy of 

 Sciences are very numerous. Montucla Hitt. des Mathem. 

 Fontenelle's Eloges des Academicicns. 



VARILHES, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Arriege ; 10 miles W.S.W. of Mire- 

 poix. 



VARILLAS, Antony, in Biography, was born in 

 1624 at Gueret, in the Upper La Marche, and upon his 

 fettlement at Paris, Gafton, duke of Orleans, made him 

 his hiftoriographer ; and in 1655 he obtained a place in tlie 

 royal library, very favourable for the profecution of his 

 hiftorical ftudies. Huet fays of him, that no man ever 

 brought to the illuftr.ition of French affairs fo rich a provifion 

 of valuable obfervations, or fo copious a ftore of domeftic 

 narrative. But he adds, that his excellent qualifications were 

 difparaged by his immoderate affurance, which led him to 

 confide in his own conjeftures and fufpicions, and to relate 

 with as bold affeveratioii things for which he had no autho- 

 rity, and which were altogether fiftitious, as if he had been an 

 eye-witnefs of them. In faft, Varillas was Jellitute of the 

 moft effential and eftimable quality of an hiftorian, a love of 

 truth ; and this has rendered his voluminous labours of in- 

 ferior value. His leading objeft feems to have been the 

 gratification and amufement of his readers. In the profe- 

 cution of this objeft he at firft fucceeded ; his books were 

 much read, and Colbert gave him a penfion, which was 

 afterwards withdrawn. In lieu of this, he contented him- 

 felf with a penfion which the French clergy granted him, as 

 the reward of his fervices to the Catholic caufe, obtained 

 for his " Hiftoire des Revolutions arrivees en Europe en 

 Matiere de Religion," a mere party performance, concern- 

 ing which Menage faid to the author, " You have given a 

 hiftory of herefy full of herefies." Bilhop Burnet pubhfhed 

 a critique on part of it, which is faid to have prevented 

 Dryden from tranilating it ; a tafli which was propofed to 

 him, after his converfion to Popery, by James II. Bayle, 

 and many others, have detefted the errors and falfifications 

 of Varillas. As his writings, which chiefly relate to French 

 and Spanifh hiftory, are fcarcely ever read or cited, it is 

 needlefs to copy their titles. Varillas died in 1696, in eafy 

 circumftances, fo that he left feveral legacies for pious pur- 

 pofes. Moreri. Huet. Nouv. Dift. Hift. Gen. Biog. 



VARINAS, in Geography, a province and city of South 

 America, which in the year 17S7 was detached from the 

 government of Maracaibo, and made a feparate government, 

 conftituted at the expence of thofe of Venezuela and Mara- 

 caibo. The chief has only the title of poHtical governor, 

 although his funftions, in the diftrift afligned to him, are the 

 fame as thofe of other governors, in the civil, mihtary, and 



4 religious 



