V A R 



V A R 



' fubftaiices are imperfeftly cryftallized, or are roundud, giving 

 the ilonc a fpottcd appearance. 



VARIORUM, in Matters of Literature, 3. term or phrafe 

 of abbreviation, ufed for an edition of a claffic author, 

 printed in Holland, with the notes of divers authors upon 

 it : Cum notis variorum, or cum fcledu •variorum obferva- 

 tiovihus. 



In this fenfe we fay, Plautus variorum ; a fet of Dutch 

 variorums, &c. Many of the 'variorums are valuable 

 editions. 



The word is the genitive plural of the Latin varlus, dif- 

 ferent, divers. 



VARIS, in Ancient Geography, a place of theifle of Al- 

 bion, on the route from Segontium (Caernarvon) to Deva 

 (Cheller), between Conovium (Caer-Rhyn) and Deva; 

 fuppofed to be Bodvary ; 32 miles from Deva, or Chefter. 

 ■ VARIUS, in Ichthyology, a name ufed by mott authors 

 for a fmall frerti-water fifh, common in brooks and running 

 waters, and well known in England by the name of the 

 mlnozv. 



Varius Mus, in the old authors of Zoography, a name 

 ufed for the lame creature they otherwife called mus pontlcus ; 

 which feems to have been no other than the European flying 

 fquirrel. 



VARIX, from varius, Irregidar, in Surgery, denotes an 

 uneven fwelling of a dilated vein. The tumour is foftilh, 

 generally not painful, and prefents an appearance as if 

 itudded with fevera! knobs, or tubercles, which correfpond 

 to the valves in number and fituation. The difeafed vein is 

 alfo elongated as well as dilated, and defcribes in its courfe a 

 variety of windings or convolutions. A particular account 

 of the fymptoms, caufes, and treatment of this common dif- 

 eafe, will be found under the head of Vahicose Feins. 



Varix, in Animals, a fort of puffy dilatation or enlarge- 

 ment in fome part of a vein, forming a kind of knot. It 

 moftly happens in the veins of the legs, and is of the nature 

 of fpavin. It may readily be removed, on its firft appear- 

 ance, by the ufe of cold folutions, and applications of that 

 fort, frequently applied, and fuitable bandages. 



VARLER, in Geography, a town of Germany, iii the 

 bilhopric of Munfter ; 4 niiies N.N.W. of Coesfeld. 



VARLET. See Valet. 



VARMAT, in Geography, a town of Hungary ; 12 

 miles N.N.W. of Zatmar. 



VARMO, a river of Italy, which runs into the Taja- 

 mento, 2 miles N. of Laftifana, in the country of Friuli. 



VARNA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, in the 

 interior of Media. Ptolemy. 



Varna, in Geography, a fea-port town of European 

 Turkey, in Bulgaria, fituated on a gulf or bay of the Black 

 fea, to which it gives name, at the mouth of the river 

 Vrana ; the lee of a Greek archbifliop. In the year 1444, 

 Ladiflaus, king of Hungary, was defeated and (lain by 

 Amurath I. emperor of the Turks, near this towa ; 144 

 miles N. of Conftantinople. N. lat. 43° 14'. E. long. 

 27° 10'. 



Varna. See Vrana. 



VARNAVA, a mountain of Greece, near Athens. 



VARNAVIN, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Koftrom, on the Vetluga. N. lat. 57° 16', E. long. 



45' h'- 



VARNI, in Ancient Geography, a people of Alia, in 

 Baftriana. Ptolemy. 



VARNISH, or Vernish, Fernix, a thick, vifcid, glolTy 

 liquor, ufed by painters, gilders, and various other arti- 

 ficers, to give a glofs and luftre to their works, as alfo to 

 defend them from the weather, dud, &c 



There are divers kinds of varnithes ; fome of the princi- 

 pal of whicli are as follow : 



Varnish, Amber, is prepared in the following manner : 

 Put four ounces of amber into a crucible, and melt it with a 

 fmall degree of heat, and pour it out upon an iron plate ; 

 when cold, reduce it to powder, and add to it two ounces of 

 drying oil, that is, linfeed oil thickened by boiling it up with 

 litharge, and one pint of oil of turpentine, and dilTolve the 

 whole together into a liquid varnifh. 



This fimple amber varnifh is of great ufe for many pur- 

 pofes, and is faid to be the bafis of the fine varnifhes which 

 we fee on coaches, and may be prepared without drying oil, 

 by boiling the powder of amber in linfeed oil, or in a mixture 

 of linleed oil and oil of turpentine. Drying oil is commonly 

 ufed by the workmen ; but Dr. Lewis thinks it more eligible 

 to take the oil unprepared, that the boiling requifite for 

 giving it the drying quality may be employed at the fame 

 time in making it att upon the amber. It has generally been 

 thought, that amber will not at all difTolve in oils, till it has 

 fuffered a degree of decompofition by fire. But Hoffman 

 relates an experiment, in his Obfervationes Phyfico-Chemicae, 

 which difcovers the folubility of this concrete in its natural 

 ftate. Powdered amber, with twice its quantity of oil 

 olive, was put into a wide-mouthed glafs ; and a digeflor, or 

 flrong copper veffel, being filled about one -third with water, 

 the glafs was placed in it, the cover of the digeflor fcrewed 

 down tight, and a moderate fire continued an hour or more : 

 when cold, the amber was found diffolved into a gelatinous, 

 tranfparent mafs. In Dr. Stockar's Specimen Inaugurate 

 de Succino, printed at Leyden in 1760, we have an ac- 

 count of other experiments made by himfelf, in conjunftion 

 with M. Ziegler of Winterthur ; from which we learn, that 

 by continuing a fimmering heat twelve hours, and confining 

 the vapour as much as ftone-ware velfels would bear without 

 burfting, (the danger of which was avoided by making a 

 fmall notch in the cork-ftoppers, ) powdered amber diffolved 

 perfeftly in cxprefTed oils, in turpentine, and in balfam of 

 copaiba : a flrong copper vefl'el, with a cover fcrewed on it, 

 feems moll eligible ; and for the greater fecurity, a valve 

 may be made in the cover, kept down by a fpring, that fhall 

 give way before the confined vapour is of fufiicient force to 

 endanger burfting the veffel. Moreover, by digeflion for a 

 week in clofe-ftopped glafs velfels, in which the compreffure 

 could not be very great, folutions equally perfeft were ob- 

 tained. The folution in rape-feed oil, and in oil of almonds, 

 was of a fine yellowilh colour ; in linfeed oil, gold-coloured ; 

 in oil of poppy-feeds, ycllowifh-rcd ; in oil olive, of a beau- 

 tiful red ; in oil of nuts, deeper coloured ; and in oil of 

 bays, of a purple-red. The folutions made with turpentine 

 and with balfam of copaiba, were of a deep red colour, and 

 on cooling, hardened into a brittle mafs of the fame colour. 

 All the folutions mingled perfeftly well with fpirit of 

 turpentine. Thofe made with the oils of linfeed, bays, 

 poppy-feeds, and nuts, and with balfam of copaiba and 

 turpentine, being diluted with four times their quantity of 

 fpirit of turpentine, formed hard, tenacious, glotfy varnifhes, 

 which dried fifliciently quick, and appeared greatly pre- 

 ferable to thofe made in the common manner from melted 

 amber. 



An amber varnifh may alfo be made by boiling down fome 

 colophony, or turpentine, till it becomes black and friable, 

 and melting this in a glazed earthen veffel, fprinkhng in, by 

 degrees, thrice as much amber in fine powder, with the ad- 

 dition of a little fpirit or oil of turpentine now and then. 

 W^hen the amber is melted, fprinkle in the fame quantity of 

 farcocolla, continuing to mix them, and to add more fpirit of 

 turpentine, till the whole becomes fluid ; theu llrain out tlie 



clear 



