V A T 



four obtufe cells, the two outer cells terminated by a fmall, 

 intermediate, upright fpine, the two inner but half as long, 

 without any fpine. Pijl. Germen fuperior, conical, with 

 five angles, obtufe, hoary ; ftyle cylindrical, with five 

 angles, twKted ; ftigma bluntifh, obfcurely three-lobed. 

 Peric. unknown, but the germen has three cells, with the 

 . rudiment of a folitary feed in each. 



EfT. Ch. Petals five, undivided. Calyx five-cleft. An- 

 thers fifteen, feffile, of four cells. 



I. V. chinenfts. Chinefe Vatica. Linn. Mant. 2. 242. 

 Willd. n. I. Sm. Plant. Ic. t. 36. — Native of China, ac- 

 ciordinp- to Linnaeus, but his authority, as we have faid, 

 does not appear. Tliis feems to be a tree, very near Valeria 

 indica, from which it chiefly differs in the number and form 

 of the JIamens. As to the fruit, Juffieu's having found 

 three cells and as m?Lny feeds, in the germen of Vateria, ren- 

 ders the fuppofed diftindlion in the n^e fruit very doubtful. 

 The leaves, injlorefcence, &c. difcover no difference, and the 

 flower-flalks and calyx, as well as foolflalks, are clothed with 

 the fame fine, ihort, clofe, hoary pubefcence, in both. It 

 is much to be willied that fome Eaft Indian botanift would 

 clear up thefe doubts refpefting two very fine, and hitherto 

 little-known plants. We muft add, that if this be Vateria, 

 nothing can be more diftinft in its petals from EUocarpm ; 

 for inllead of the thin texture, and curioufly laciniated 

 margin, appropriate to the latter, their thick undivided fub- 

 ftance, and partial hoarinefs at the back, prove that thofe 

 genera ought never to be confounded together. 



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

 Turkey, in the Morea, fituated in a large bay, to which it 

 gives name ; 44 miles S.E of Mifitra. 



VATICAN, Vaticanus, is properly the name of one of 

 the feven hills on which Rome Hands : on the foot of this 

 is the famous church of St. Peter, hence called the Vatican ; 

 and a magnificent palace of the pope, which has the fame 

 denomination. Hence arife divers figurative exprefTions ; as 

 the thunderbolt of the Vatican, q. d. the pope's anathema, &c. 



The word, according to Aulus Gellius, is derived from 

 valiciiiiuiii, prophecy; by reafon of the oracles and predictions 

 which were ufed to be delivered there by the infpiration of an 

 ancient deity, called Vaticanus ; who was fuppofed to un- 

 bind the organs of fpeech in new-born children ; and whom 

 others will have to be no other than Jupiter, confidered in 

 that capacity. 



Vatican, The Library of the, is one of the moft cele- 

 brated in the world : it is particularly remarkable for its 

 manufcripts. It was firft erefted, according to Petavius 

 (Rat. Temp. lib. ix. cap. 9.) by pope Nicholas V., who 

 fucceeded to the papal chair in 1447. It was re-eflablilhed, 

 after the books had been difperfed, under the pontificate of 

 Calixtus III., by Sixtus IV. ; and after having been alnioft; 

 entirely deftroyed by the army of Charles V. it was not only 

 reftored to its former (late by Sixtus V., but greatly enriched 

 with books and manufcripts. It was finally fixed in ihe 

 Vatican, under the pontificate of Martin V. 



Towards the beginning of the 17th century, it was 

 greatly augmented by the addition of that of the eleftor 

 palatine. It is open to all the world three or four times a 

 week. In it are (hewn a Virgil, Terence, &c. above a 

 thoufand years old ; as alfo the manufcript on which the 

 edition of the Septuagint was made ; and abundance of rab- 

 binical manufcripts. 



Vatican Manufcript, is one of the mod celebrated ma- 

 nufcripts of the Greek verfion of the Bible now extant in 

 the world. It was publilhed at Rome by cardinal Carafa, 

 at the command of Sixtus Quintus, in 1587 ; and in the 

 preface, it is faid to have been written ante milkjimum ducen- 



V A V 



tejlmum annum, ;'. e. before 387 ; but Blanchini fuppofes it a 

 few years later. A Latin edition from this manufcript, 

 with notes, was printed at Rome in 1588, by Flam. Nobi- 

 lius ; and an edition, with the Greek and Latin, with the '• 

 divifion of the verfes according to the Vulgate, and No. 

 bilius's Latin notes, and the Greek fcholia of Carafa, by 

 J. Morinus, at Paris, in 1628. This manufcript is written 

 in large or text letters, and has no diftinguilhing chapters, 

 verfes, words, nor any marks of accents. It is mutilated 

 both at the beginning and end ; and wants the firft forty-fix 

 chapters of Genefis, thirty-two Pfalms, -viz. from the 105th 

 to the 137th, and the latter part of the Epiftle to the He- 

 brews, from chap. ix. ver. 14. with the other Epiftles of 

 Paul to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, and the whole 

 book of Revelation. It appears alfo, that the whol? manu- 

 fcript has been repaired, v.'ith fre(h ink laid over the letters 

 which were difappearing through age. In the edition of 

 Carafa, the mutilated paffages have been fupplied from other 

 copies. 



It has been afferted, by two eye-witneffes, that this ma- 

 nufcript has undergone fome alterations by a later hand. 

 See Le Long's Biblioth. Sacra, cap. 3. feft. 4. and Wet- 

 ftein's Prolegomena, Nov. Teft. p. 24. 



It is dilficult to eftimate the comparative value of this 

 and the Alexandrian manufcript, in which thirty Pfalms, a 

 few chapters, and a few verfes, are now lo(l, as well as parts 

 of verfes in different places ; and in which there have been 

 fome rafures and infertions, as Grabe allows. If, as Grabe 

 (lates it, that manufcript be the moft refpeftable, which 

 comes the neare(T: to the Hexaplar copy, the Alexandrian 

 manufcript feems to claim that merit in preference to its 

 rival. But if it be thought a matter of fuperior honour 

 to come nearer the old Greek verfion, unaltered by Origen, 

 that merit feems to belong to the Vatican. For farther par- 

 ticulars, fee the Prolegomena of Walton, Grabe, Wetftein, 

 Mills, and Le Long, ubi fupra. 



VATICANjE Pilule:, the name of an old form of me- 

 dicine, intended as a purge. The recipe is in the old Lou- 

 don Pharmacopeia ; but the late ones have difcarded it. 



VATICANO, Cape, in Geography, a cape on the W. 

 coaft of Calabria Ultra. N. lat. 38^40'. E. long. le^'ji'. 

 VATICINATION, Vaticinatio, the ad of prophe- 

 fying, or divining. See Divination, and Prophecy. 



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

 department of the Mofelle ; 8 miles W.N.W. of Morhange. 

 VATISA, or Fatisa, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in 

 the government of Sivas ; go miles N. of Sivas. 



VATO, a town on the W. coaft of the ifiand of Negro- 

 pont. N. lat. 38° 20'. E. long. 24^ 2'. 



VATRANDEL, a town of Hindooftan, in the Car- 

 natic ; 4 miles N. of Vellore. 



VATTIER, Peter, in Biography, an Arabic fcholar, 

 was born at Lizieux, in Normandy, and havmg been edu- 

 cated for the medical profeflion, was appointed phyfician 

 and counfellor to Gadon, duke of Orleans, brother of 

 Lewis XIII. To an extenfive acquaintance with the an- 

 cient naturahfts and phyficians, both Greek and Latin, he 

 added a peculiar attachment to Arabic writers, and tranf- 

 lated many of their works. Among thefe are " The Ma- 

 hometan Hiftory, or the Forty-nine Caliphs of Elmacin ;" 

 " The Hiftory of the Great Tamerlane, from the Arabic 

 of Acharaed, Son of Guerafpo ;" "The Egypt of Mur- 

 tadi ;" " The Elegy of Tograi, with fome Sentences from 

 the Arabian Poets," &c. He alfo wrote a work, entitled 

 " Nouvelles Perfees fur la Nature des Paffions," 1659, 4to. 

 The time of his death is not known. Moreri. 

 VAVANGA, in Botany. See Vangueria. 



VAVAO, 



