V E N 



Venta Sierra, mountains of South America, in the 

 province of Venezuela. 



VENTALDA, a town of Sweden, in the province of 

 Smaland ; 34 miles S.E. of Jonkioping. 



VENTAROLI, a name given in Sicily, &c. to grottoes 

 formed under their houfes, from which iffues a conftant ex- 

 treme cold wind, and at times with impetuofity, and a noife 

 hke water dalhing upon rocks. Thefe are (hut up with 

 doors like cellars, and made ufe of as fuch, as alfo to keep 

 provifions frefh, and to cool liquors. At Cefi, in the 

 Roman ftate, there are many fuch ventaroh ; and the inha- 

 bitants of that town, by means of leaden pipes, conduft the 

 frefh air from thefe into the rooms of their houfes, fo that 

 by turning a cock they can cool them to any degree. 

 Some who have refined ftill more upon this luxury, by 

 fmaller pipes, bring cold air under the dining table, fo as to 

 cool the bottle of liquor upon it. On mount jEtna arid 

 Vefuvius, and in the ifland of Ifchia, there are many caverns 

 of this kind. Phil. Tranf. vol. Ixx. part i. p. 73. 



VENTENATIA, in Botany, was fo named by M. 

 PalifTot-Beauvois, in honour of the late M. E. P. Ventenat, 

 member of the National Inftitute, a dillinguifhed French 

 botanift, who was formerly an eccleiuftic, and, if we miftake 

 rot, of fome rehgious order ; but he took advantage of the 

 revolution to free himfelf from fuch unnatural and immoral 

 {hackles, in order to fulfil the duties of a man and a 

 Chriftian. He has diftinguifhed himfelf by the publica- 

 tion of a Tableau du Regne Vegetal, Jehn la Methode de 

 Jujjieu, in 4 vols. 8vo. ; as well as the magnificent Jardin 

 de la Malma'ifon, with coloured plates, in large folio ; and 

 the uncoloured Jardin de Cels, and Choix de Plantes ; the 

 latter having been foon cut (hort by his death. The writer 

 of this article had dedicated to the name of M. Ventenat, a 

 New Holland genus, (fee Stvlidium,) which now yields 

 to the prior right of the genus before us. — Palif. Beauv. 

 Fl. d'Oware et de Benin, fafc. 2. De Theis 479. Poiret 

 in Lamarck Dift. v. 8. 450. — Clafs and order, Polyandria 

 Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Tiliacea JufT. ? 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, in thi-ee deep, equal, 

 oblong, obtufe, concave, coriaceous, deciduous fegments. 

 Cor, Petals numerous (eleven or twelve), fpatulate, fpread- 

 ing, ftrongly veined ; rounded at the extremity ; contrafted 

 into a claw at the bafe. Stam. Filaments numerous, thread- 

 fhaped, ereft, unequal, much fliorter than the petals, in- 



ferted, like them, into the receptacle ; anthers 



Pift. Germen fuperior, oval ; ftyle thread-(haped, undi- 

 vided, longer than the ftamens ; ftigma thick, obicurely 

 five-lobed. Peric. Berry oval-oblong, of five cells, fur- 

 rowed longitudinally, terminating in a kind of mammillary 

 point. Seeds numerous in each cell. 



Eff. Ch. Petals numerous. Calyx in three deep deci- 

 duous fegments. Berry fuperior, of five cells, with many 

 feeds. 



Obf. M. PalifTot Beauvois remarks, that this genus is 

 obvioufly referrible to Juffieu's 1 3th clafs, ( Poiret by miftake 

 fays the 3d), but its order in that clafs is not fo eafily 

 determined. Difleftions of the ripe feed are wanting, to 

 afcertain this point. The fruit nearly accords with Juffieu's 

 ylurantis, but the ftrufture of the foiver, and the want of 

 pellucid dots in the leaves, exclude it from that order. The 

 want oi Jlipulas prevents its perfeft agreement with the 

 Tiliaceit, and M. Beauvois confiders this genus as probably 

 making one of a new order, confounded by Juffieu with his 

 TtUateit. 



I. V.glauca. Glaucous Ventenatia. Palif. Beauv. Fl. 

 d'Oware et de Benin, 29. t. 17. Poiret n. i. — Native of 

 elevated, airy, open fituations, near Agathon, on the coaft 

 10 



V E N 



of Africa. A.Jhrub, with alternate, round, fmooth branches. 

 Leaves alternate, ftalked, very large, elliptic-oblong, entire, 

 tipped with a long acute point ; rounded at the bafe ; 

 fmooth on both fides ; covered on the under furface with a 

 kind of glaucous vifcidity, which when drj' becomes almoft 

 powdery. Slipulas none. F/oTOcrj lateral, towards the ex- 

 tremity of each branch, folitary, ilalked, alternate, fometimes 

 oppolite to the leaves ; their Jlalks half the length of the 

 leaves, cylindrical. Ca/yj; (hort, fmooth. Corolla Izrge, o{ 

 a fine crimfon, beautifully veined. Poiret. 



VENTER, in Anatomy, the abdomen ; called alfo minus 

 venter. See Abdomen. 



Venter is alfo ufed for the womb, or uterus, of women. 

 And hence the writ de ventre infpiciendo. 



Hence, alfo, in the civil law, we fay, partus fequitur 

 ventrem, the child follows the belly ; meaning, that its 

 condition is either free or fervile, according to that of its 

 mother. 



They alfo fay, to appoint a curator for the belly, with re- 

 gard to pofthumous children, yet in the mother's womb. 

 With regard to princes, the venter, or belly, has been fome- 

 times crowned in form. 



Vexter is alfo ufed, in fpeaking of a partition of the 

 efFeifts of a father and mother, among children born, or ac- 

 cruing, from different marriages. 



This partition is fo ordered, as that a fingle child of one 

 marriage, or venter, takes as much as feveral of another 

 marriage, or venter ; in order to which, the eftate is 

 divided into fo many parts as there have been venters, or 

 marriages. 



Venter, or Belly, of a mufcle. See Belly of a 

 Mufcle. 



Venter Draconis, Dragon's Belly, in AJlronomy. See 

 Dragon's Belly. See alfo Dragon, in AJlronomy. 



Venter Equi, Horfe's Belly, among Chemijls, denotes 

 horfe-dung, or a dunghiU, on which are inclofed certain 

 veffels for particular operations, to be performed by meana 

 of the gentle heat of it. 



VENTES les Grandes, in Geography, a town of France, 

 in the department of the Lower Seine; 9 miles N.W. of 

 Neufchatel. 



VENTHIE, La, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Straits of Calais ; 9 miles N.E. of Bethune. 



VENTIA, in Ancient Geography, or Venjienjium Civitas, 

 a town fituated in the Maritime Alps. Dion Caffius, fpeak- 

 ing of an expedition,, dated in the year of Rome 693, 

 againft the AUobroges, who had revolted, mentions a town 

 under this name, at a fmall diftance from the Ifere. Ac- 

 cording to fome circumftances pertaining to this expedition, 

 there is reafon to believe that it is Vinei, between Moirene, 

 or Tulhn and St. Marcellin, at fome diftance from the right 

 bank of the Ifere. 



VENTIDUCTS, in Building, are fpiracles, or fubter- 

 raneous places, where frefh cool winds, being kept, are made 

 to communicate by means of tubes, funnels, or vaults, with 

 the chambers, or other apartments of a houfe, to cool them 

 in fultry weather. 



Thefe are much in ufe in Italy, where they are called 

 ventidctti. Among the French they are denominated prifons 

 des vents, and palais d'Eole. See Ventaroh. 



VENTILAGO, in Botany, fo called by Gaertner, be- 

 caufe the appendage to the feed-veffel was thought to bear 

 fome refemblance to a winnow or flapper, ventilabrum. It 

 does not anfwer to the common idea of a fan, being neither 

 plaited, nor much dilated upwards. — Gcertn. v. i. 223. t.49. 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. I. 1 106. Roxb. Coromand. v. 1.55. 

 Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. Poiret in Lamarck Dift. v. 8. 452. 



—Clafs 



