VIE 



V I E 



additions to the flock of knowledge which Iiad been amafTed 

 by his predeccfTors. In this refpetl he was not a mere la- 

 bourer, but original and ingenious in his communications. 

 His treatife on " Angular Seftions" is a performance which 

 enabled him to refolve a curious problem, propofed by 

 Adrian Romanus to mathematicians, and which amounted 

 to an equation of the 45th degree. Romanus waa fo im- 

 prcff.'d by his fagacity, that he travelled from Wirtomberg 

 in Franconia, where he reiided, as far as France, in order 

 to vifit Vieta, and cultivate friendfhip with him. His 

 " Apollonius Gallus," or relloration of Apollonius's traft 

 on Tangencies, not to mention other pieces tliat may be 

 found in his works, difplays powers of invention, eminently 

 adapted to the more fublime geometrical fpeculations. His 

 tracts on trigonometry, plane and fpherical, with the tables 

 annexed to them, were important and valuable at the time 

 when they were publillv.'d, and without doubt led the way 

 to farther modern improvements. We have no reafon for 

 believing that Vieta was irritable and querulous ; but his 

 difputes with Scaliger and Clavius, more efpecially with the 

 latter, did him no honour. Scahget pretended to quadrate 

 the circle, an operation for which he was altogether incom- 

 petent, and Vieta evinced his incapacity. With Clavius he 

 had a conteft about the emendation of the Gregorian ca- 

 lendar, charging him with ignorance and error ; whilfl; he 

 himfelf committed millakes, which Clavius detefted. The 

 lofs of Vieta's " Harmor.icon Celefte," cntrufted with 

 father Merfenne, and furreptitioufly taken from him, has 

 been much deplored. Others of his works have alfo been 

 loft, which has been probably owing to his caufing few to 

 be printed, and retaining them in his own cuftody, thofe 

 excepted which he diflributed among his friends and perfons 

 of fcience. Vieta was profoundly Ikilled in the art of de- 

 cyphering, which he employed with advantage to his 

 country. Vieta, notwithftanding the intenfenefs and affi- 

 duity of his application, paffed his grand climafteric, and 

 died at Paris in December, 1603. After his death, fome 

 of his MtSS. were publiflicd by Alexander Anderfon, an in- 

 genious Scots mathematician, a native of Aberdeen ; and 

 in 1646, Schooten gave an edition of all his works which 

 he was able to coUeft. Montucla. Hutton. 



VIETRI, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Principato 

 Citra ; 2 miles N.N.E. of Cangiano. — Alfo, a town of 

 Naples, in Principato Citra. In 1694 it was deltroyed by 

 an earthquake ; 2 miles W. of Salerno. 



VIEUSSENS, Raymond, F.R.S., in Biography, was 

 born at a village in Rovergue, and liaving commenced his 

 education at Rhodez, he purfued the lludy of phyfic at 

 Montpellier, where he graduated. In 1671 he was chofcn 

 phyfician to the hofpital of St. Eloy. The refult of his 

 anatomical refearches in this fituation was publilhed under 

 the title of " Neurology," and gained him great reputation. 

 His name became known at court, and Mad. de Mont- 

 penficr, in 1690, chofe him as her phyfician. After her 

 death he returned to Montpellier, and direfting his attention 

 to chemillry, he found an acid in the caput mortuum of 

 human blood ; and on this imagined difcovery founded a 

 theory, which he communicated to the different fc'iools of 

 medicine. In advanced life his writings were multiplied, 

 without augmenting his reputation. He died in 1726. 

 His moft valuabl* work is his " Neurologia Univerfalis," 

 Lyons, 1685, folio, which is commended by Hallcr, and 

 which exhibits a more accurate diffeftion of the brain than 

 that of any preceding writers. After his death appeared 

 " Hiiloire des Maladies internes," 4to., containing many 

 praftical obfervations. Haller. Elov. 



VIEUSSEUXIA, in Botany, was fo called by Dr. 



Daniel de la Roche, in his inaugural dilTertation, publi(hcd 

 at Leyden in 1766, in honour of his countryman and friend 

 M. Vieudeux, an excellent botanift ; of whom, however, 

 we know not that the world has heard any thing further, or 

 that he has written any thing relative to this fcience. The 

 genus in queftion was thought, by its truly intelligent and 

 ingenious author, to be intermediate between Iris and 

 Ferraria. It has not been adopted by Thunberg, Ker, or 

 any of our popular botanifts, who have declined feparating 

 it from Iris, there appearing no diftintlive charafter, except 

 the flamens being united into a tube. The learned Decan- 

 dolle, on the contrary, has adopted Vicujpuxia, in Ann. du 

 Muf. V. 2. 141. t. 42. He is followed by Redoutl, who 

 figures the fame fpecies, F. glaucopis, in his Liliacees, v. i . 

 t. 42, and mentions feven fpecies in all ; as well as by Def- 

 fontaines, in his recently-publifhed Tableau de I'Ecole de 

 Botanique du Jardin du Roi, ed. 2. 37. Moft, if not all, 

 of the plants fuppofed to conftitute the above genus, are, 

 we believe, comprehended as varieties by Thunberg under 

 his Iris tricufpis. See his differtation on Iris, p. IC; alfo 

 Willd. Sp. PI. v.i. 431. 



VIEUX Maisons, in Geography, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Aifne ; 6 miles W. of Montmirail. 



ViEUX Marche, a town of France, in the department of 

 the North Coaft ; 8 miles S. of Lannion. 



VIEVY, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Cote d'Or ; 6 miles S. of Arjiay le Due. 



VIEW, Visus, in Law, the aft of ■umrj, or •viewers. 



This is called by Braclon, " Res quafi facra, quia folam 

 perfonam regis refpicit, et introdufta pro pace, et communi 

 utilitate." 



When a real aftion is brought, and the tenant knows not 

 well what the land is, that the demandant aflcs ; he may pray 

 the view : which is, that the jury may fee the land which is 

 claimed. 



This courfe of proceeding we received from the Normans, 

 as appears by the Grand Cuftomary. It is ufcd in various 

 cafes ; as in afPize of rent-fervices, rent-cliarge, rent-fee ; in 

 a writ of nuifance; in a writ quo jure; in the writ de ra- 

 tionabilibus divifis, &c. See Jury. 



View of Frank Pledge, Vifiis Franci Plegii, is the office 

 which the flicriff in his county-court, or the bailifl in his 

 hundred, performs ; in looking to the king's peace, and 

 feeing that every man be in fome pledge. See Covwi-Leet, 

 and YRAKK-PleJge. 



View, in matters of O/to, Perfpedive, &e. See Vision. 



View, Point of. See Point. 



View, among Hunters, tiie track, or print of the feet, 

 of a fallow deer on the ground. 



View a Place, To, in the Military Art, is to ride about 

 it, before the laying of a fiege, in order to obftrve the 

 ftrcngth or weaknefs of its fituation and fortification. 



VIEWERS, or Veiors, in Law. See VeioUKS. 



VIEYRA, Antony, in Biography, a Portugiiefe writer, 

 was born at Lilbon in 160S, ami in early life accompanied 

 his father to the Bralils. His genius at the age of fourteen 

 began to difplay itfelf to a degree that excited the aftonifti- 

 ment of liis tutors. In 1623 lie entered into the fociety of 

 Jefus, and having carcfullv read the fcriptures, the works 

 of tlie fathers, and the Suninia Aquinatis, he compofcd 

 fome trafts, and gave IcAures in the college of I3ahia. At 

 this time he was tutor to the fon of the viceroy of Brafil, 

 the marquis of Montalvan ; and in 1641 accompanied him 

 to Europe. At Lilbon he diftinguilhcd himfelf in the 

 pulpit, and was appointed by John IV. preacher to the 

 court. The king, difcovcring alfo his talents for public 

 allairs, deputed him, in 164^), ou important bufincfs to 

 Y 2 England, 



