V I N 



V I N 



coaft ot Madagafcar. S. lat. 25" 38'. E. long. 43^= 50'.— 

 Alfo, a cape on the eafl coaft of Terra del Fuego, S. lat. 



54' iS'- 



Vincent de Conmzal, St., a town of France, in the 

 department of the Dordogne ; 14 miles W. of Perigueux. 



Vincent de Bcira, St., a town of Portugal, in the pro- 

 ▼irce of Beira ; 15 miles Vv^.N. W. of Caftel Branco. 



Vjncent de la Barquera, St., a fea-port of Spain, in 

 the province of Afturia ; 9 miles W.S. W. of SantiUana. 



Vincent de Rivedot, St., a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Dordogne ; 6 miles S. of Riberac. 



Vincent'^' Bay, St., a bay on the north coaft of Terra 

 del Fuego, a little to the eaft of Cape St. Vincent. Before 

 the anchorage ground, fays captain Cook, lie feveral rocky 

 ledges that are covered with fea-weed ; but not lefs than 

 eight and nine fathoms over all of them. It appears llrange 

 that where weeds, which grow at the bottom, appear above 

 the furface, there fhould be this depth of water ; but the 

 weeds which grow upon rocky ground in thefe countries, 

 and which always diftinguifh it from fand and ooze, are of 

 an enormo.is fize. The leaves are four feet long, and fome 

 of the ftalks, though not thicker than a man's thumb, 

 above 120. Mr. (fir Jofeph) Banks and Dr. Sohnder ex- 

 amined fome of them, over which we founded and had 

 14 fathoms, which is 84 feet ; and as they made a very acute 

 angle with the bottom, they were thought to be at leaft one 

 half longer. The footilalks were fwelled into an air-veffcl, 

 and thefe eminent naturalifts called this plant /ul-i« gigantevs. 

 They went on (horc, and in about four hours returned with 

 above a hundred different plants and flowers, all of them 

 wholly unknown to the botanifts of Europe. They found 

 the country about the bay to be in general flat, the bottom 

 of it in particular was a plain, covered with grafs, which 

 might eafily have been made into a large quantity of hay ; 

 they found alfo abundance of good wood and water, and 

 fowl in great plenty. Among other things, of which nature 

 has been liberal in this place, is Winter's bark, Winteranea 

 aromatlca ; which may eafily be known by its broad leaf, 

 fliaped like the laurel, of a light green colour without, and 

 inclining to blue within ; the bark is eafily ilripped with a 

 bone or a ilick. 



Vincent de la Pazes, St., or Onda, a town of Popayan, 

 in Ten-a Firma, about 25 miles E- of St. Sebaftian's, with 

 a port, where canoes from Carthagena and St. Martha un- 

 load their merchandize. 



Vincent, Port St., lies on the coaft of Chili, in the 

 South Pacific ocean, 6 miles N.N.E. of the month of the 

 river Bobio, with a fafe harbour, fecure againft all winds 

 but that from the weft, which blows right into it. Talca- 

 guana port is fix miles to thciiorth of it. 



Vincent'j Rocks, St., rocks on each fide of the river 

 Avon, about three miles below Briftol ; at the bottom of 

 which is the fpring from which rife what are called the 

 Briftol waters. 



Vincent IJland, a fmall ifland in the North Pacific ocean, 

 at the entrance into Portlock's harbour. N. lat. 57° 48'. 

 W. long. 136° 30'. 



VINCETOXICUM, in Botany, from I'inco, to conquer, 

 and toxicum, poifon, a name which firft occurs in Dodonoeus, 

 Pempt. 407, and which he fays had been recently given to 

 the ofRcinal yj^/^/iiaj-, (A. Vincetoxicum, Linn. Sp. PI. 314. 

 Cynanchum Vincetoxicum of Brown, in Ait. Hort. Kew. 

 T. 2. 77.) — The plant thus denominated was fuppofed dtl- 

 titute of the dangerous and acrid properties of the reft of its 

 tribe, becaufe its juice is not milky. The root, whofe 

 flavour and fcent refemble Valerian, has been ufed as a 

 counter-poifon, in the place of Contrayerva, whofe name 



has the fame meaning, and each may have its ufe as a tonic, 

 or ftimulant, however erroneous the idea may feem of a 

 fpecific, againft any poifon whatever, except by a chemical 

 alteration of its qualities. Among plants, at leaft, no fuch 

 marvellous power has hitherto been afcertained. The above 

 root is fcarcely ever ufed in this country. 



Vincetoxicum, in the Matrla Medica, As a medicine, 

 this root has been chiefly ufed in droplical diforders, but its 

 good effects are not fufficiently eftdblifhed ; which is alfo the 

 cafe with refpedl to Stahi's pulvis antihydropicus, in which 

 the vincetoxicum is an ingredient. It has been alfo re- 

 commended in malignant fevers, and even in the plague, by 

 fome German authors ; and hence called " Contrayerva Ger- 

 manorum." It is faid likewife to be ufefiil in fmall-poj:, 

 fcrophula, and uterine obftruftions. The dofe, in powder, 

 is from a fcruple to a drachm, or an infufion of three or four 

 drachms. WToodville. 



VINCI, LlONARDO DA, in Biography, the illegitimate fon 

 of Picro da Vinci, a Kotary of the fignoria of Florence, diftin- 

 guifhed himfelf during his life as a man of fcience and of liter- 

 ature, a philofopher, poet, painter, and mufician of the moft. 

 profound ftudy, and the moll exalted tafte. He was born at 

 the caftle of Vinci, in the lower vale of the Arno, in 1452. 

 From his earlieft years he teltified a more than ordinary 

 fhare of ingenuity, and particularly exhibited an ardent 

 defire for drawing. This at length became fo decided a 

 preference above all other purfuits, that it determined his 

 father to indulge and cultivate it ; and for this purpofe he 

 placed him under the tuition of Andrea Verocchio, a flcilful 

 defigner, and eminent as a fculptor, an architeft, and a 

 painter. The progrels of Lionardo equalled the fanguine 

 expectation his intelleAual abilities had excited ; and whilft 

 a youth, he furpafied his mafter in the praftice of the art he 

 had learnt of him. Verocchio had been employed by the 

 monks of S. Salvi at Valombrofo, to paint the Baptifm of 

 Chrift, as an altar-piece for their church, and having made 

 his defigns, he entrufted the preparation of the parts to his 

 difciples. Among them, the young Da Vinci was ordered 

 to paint the figure of an angel, which he did with fo much 

 tafte and fltill, and fo far furpaffing the work of his mafter, 

 that Verocchio, mortified at being excelled by a youth, 

 abandoned the art, and from that time confined himfelf to 

 fculpture. 



The career of this extraordinary man, thus begun in ho- 

 nour, was purfued with enthufiafm in all things relative to art 

 and fcience. Nature had endowed him with the beauties of 

 body and of mind, and he cultivated the ufeful exercife of 

 both. His perfon was finely proportioned, and his features 

 beautiful and exprcffive ; he was dexterous in feats of arms, 

 the management of the horfe, and all the favourite amufe- 

 ments of the time. He was admirably fkilled in mechanics, 

 was an able anatomift, and an architect ; was learned in 

 natural philofophy, optics, and geometry : in fhort, he had 

 fteadily applied himfelf to acquire a thorough knowledge 

 of the operations of nature ; and was bcfides an excellent 

 poet and mufician. 



Thus endowed, and conftituted to apply thefe endow- 

 ments with energy to every ufeful and ornamental purpofe, 

 fame crowned his portion of human felicity by fpreading 

 the renown of his uncommon talents throughout Italy. 

 His various application of them had however one evil at- 

 tending it, — a certain portion of inftability : the impetuofity 

 of his nature, leading him too rapidly to new projefts, often 

 prevented the completion of thofe already commenced. In 

 his youth, Vafari fays, he invented mills and engines to go 

 by water for various purpofes, and contemplated fchemes for 

 making the Arno navigable from Plfs to Florence he ; made 

 9 plans 



