V E N 



V E N 



the government of Irkutik, on the Amur ; 8 miles E.N.E. 

 of Nertchinilc. 



VENEERING, Vaneering, or Fineering, a kind of 

 marquetry, or inlaying, by which feveral thin Hices, or leaves 

 of fine wood, of different kinds, are applied and fattened on 

 a ground of fome common wood. 



There are two kinds of inlaying ; the one, which is the 

 more ordinary, goes no farther than the making of com- 

 partiments of different woods ; the other requires much more 

 art, and reprefents flowers, birds, and the like figures. 



The firft kind is what we properly call veneering ; the 

 latter we have already defcribed under Marquetry. 



The wood intended for veneering is firfl fawed out into 

 flices, or leaver, about a line thick : in order to faw them, 

 the blocks or planks are placed upright, in a kind of fawing- 

 prefs ; the defcription of which may be feen under the 

 article Press. 



Thefe flices are afterwards cut into flips, and fafhioned 

 divers ways, according to the defign propofed ; then the 

 joints being carefully adjufled, and the pieces brought down 

 to their proper thicknefs, with feveral planes for the pur- 

 pofe, they are glued down on a ground, or block of dry 

 wood, with good flrong Englifh glue. 



The pieces thus joined and glued, the work, if fmall, is 

 put in a prefs ; if large, it is laid on the bench, covered 

 with a board, and prefied down with poles, or pieces of 

 wood ; one end of which reac'hes to the ceihng of the room, 

 and the other bears on the boards. 



When the glue is quite di-y, they take it out of the prefs 

 and finifh it, firft with little planes, then with divers fcrapers, 

 fome of which referable rafps, which take off dents, &c. left 

 by the planes. 



When fufEciently fcraped, the work is polifhed with the 

 Ikin of a fea-dog, wax, and a brufli and polifher of fhave- 

 grafs: which is the laft operation. 



VENELI, or Vexei.i.i, in Ancient Geography, a people 

 who inhabited the maritime part of Lyonnefe Gaul, and 

 whofe capital was the town of Crociatonum. Ptolemy. 



VENELLIS. See Vicis £> venellis mundandis. 



VENENUM Cocci, a term ufed by many of the an- 

 cients for the purple tinge, which the kermes berry, as it is 

 ufually called (fee Kermes), gave to linen, or other things. 



The word venenum being generally underflood to exprefs 

 poifon, it has been fuppofed by many, that the kermes 

 was efteemed poifonous, or that there were two forts of 

 this drug; the one a harmlefs medicine, the other poifonous. 

 But there is no warrant for this in any of the old writers, 

 and the whole feems indeed but a millake about the fenfe of 

 the word venenum, which we find by many paffages of the 

 bell authors, fignified a flain, as well as a poifon. 



The ancients called the veilments dyed fcarlet with the 

 kermes indifferently, by the names of jftammitie or -venenalie. 

 Servius tells us, that in certain facred ceremonies, it was 

 neceffary that the priefl (liould be clothed in a fcarlet robe ; 

 and he ufes the word "vencnalo to exprefs it in fome places, 

 ^nAflammeo in others. 



\ ENER, one of the many names by vrhich the chemifts 

 xrall mercury. 



VENERE, Cape, or Capo di Venet-e, in Geography, a cace 

 onthe coaft of Genoa. N. lat. 44° 4'. E. long. 9° 40'.' 



VENEREA Concha, in Natural Hlflory, the name of 

 a very large and elegant genus of fliells, more ufually called 

 porcellante. See Porcelain She}]. 



VENEREAL, fomcthing belonging to Venus. 



A venereal perfon is one additlcd to vener^-, or venereal 

 pleafurcs. Venereal medicines are called aphrodifiacs, pro- 

 vocatives, &c. 



Venereal Virus, in Surgery. Of all the maladies which 

 afBift human nature, none has excited greater controverfy 

 than that to which we now refer. Fortunately, however, 

 it is likely in the end to prove a means of inducino- an 

 accuracy in defcription, a clofenefs of reafoning, and legiti- 

 macy of induftion, for which we have in vain looked in the 

 healing art. A difeafed taint, as it was called, was fup- 

 pofed to be every where prefent, to remain for ever with a 

 perfon once inrefted, and to defcend to his poflerity. 

 Even Aftruc, who dctedled fome of the laws of this 

 poifon, aflimilates it to a Pandora's box, and defcribes the 

 fuppofed changes it has undergone at different periods of 

 the world, as flmilar to the revolutions of empires ; thus 

 eluding the moft important qucftion in his whole differtation 

 by a poetical image, and by an iJhiilration of the immu- 

 table laws of nature, taken from the viciffitudes of human 

 inllitutions. Yet even Aflruc was rational compared with 

 fome of his fucceffors. He at lead defcribed the primary 

 fymptoms with accuracy : in the others, he feems puzzled 

 by an attempt to reconcile contradiftory opinions, and, we 

 ought to add, by a want of confidence in his own obferva- 

 tion : this however can only be faid of primary fymptoms. 

 On fecondary fymptoms, he was as much at a lofs as every 

 honeft man before and fince his time ; and his only error was 

 in attempting to account for thefe difficulties, initead of ac- 

 knowledging his incapacity to do fo. Boerhaave did not 

 fcruple to confider himfelf a Tyro in this difeafe, after all 

 Europe had pronounced him qualified to be a teacher in the 

 whole fcience of medicine. Sydenham, with every other 

 writer of any celebrity, will be found either admitting his 

 ignorance, evading the quellion, or folving it in an unfatis- 

 faftory manner. 



After all we have already faid, (fee Morbid Poifon, and 

 Lues Venerea,) it might feem unneceffary to return to the 

 fubjeft, were it not, that even in fo fhort a time fince the pub- 

 lication of thofe articles, new fafts have occurred ; and we fhall 

 fhew in this, as in molt inquiries into nature, every new dif- 

 covery proves not only a confirmation, but in fome meafure 

 an illuftration of what Mr. Hunter taught us. We might 

 add, as a farther apology, that his manner of condufting 

 this fingle inquiry by the fafts he produced, now univerfally 

 admitted, by the caution with which he drew his inferences, 

 and the legitimate induftions which neceffarily followed, 

 affords, if not the firif, the moft pcrfeft model of this 

 mode of reafoning to be met with in the whole fcience of 

 pathology. 



The firft confideration was to eftablifh the true cha- 

 rafter of the venereal ulcer, or chancre. For want of this, 

 every ulcer found in fufpicious parts was confidered the 

 cffeft of that morbid poifon ; and from this unhappy error, 

 the firmeit conftitutions were often deftroyed by repeated 

 falivations to cure difeafes, which, if not the effetf: of, were 

 exafperated by mercury. During his life-time, Mr. Hunter 

 had the happinefs to fee fome little remiffion of this cruel 

 praftice. But unfortunately, when he could be no longer 

 confulted in perfon, another error arofe, namely, that all 

 fuch ulcers as yielded to this remedy were venereal. Hence 

 arofe a practice the moil truly empiricil, that of prefcrib- 

 ing for a difeafe by its fuppofed name, and judging of its 

 reality by the effeft of our remedy. In vain was it argued 

 from his writings, that the cure by the iame remedy was no 

 proof of the identity of difeafes, and that even this proof, 

 ii fufficient, was rarely prefent ; for that thofe ulcers which 

 had not the true venereal charafter, yielded to mercurv- with 

 a readinefs very different from that conffitutional effeA which 

 was neceffary for the cure of the true venereal chancre. 

 Dr. Adams has fince (hew;j, ( fee his Morbid Poifons, ^ that 

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