V I R 



fupplc and relax thofe membranes from which the refiftance 

 is expefted ; and from which, in hotter countries, it might 

 more reafonably be depended on. 



What moft commonly paffes among us for the teft of vir- 

 ginity is the hymen (which fee) ; and yet the moft curious 

 among the anatomifts are greatly divided, not only about the 

 figure, fubflance, place, and perforations of this famous 

 membrane, but even about the exiftence of it, fome pofi- 

 tively affirming, and others as flatly denying it. See Gene- 

 ration'. 



As nice a point as that of virginity is among anatomifts, 

 the midwives and matrons treat it with lefs diffidence. In 

 the ftatutes of the fworn matrons, or midwives of Paris, 

 containing likewife divers formulas of reports and depofitions 

 made in court, upon their being called to vifit girls that made 

 their complaint of being deflowered, they laid down four- 

 teen marks on which to form a judgment. 



Laur. Joubart, a famous phyikian of Montpelier, has 

 tranfcribed three of thefe reports ; one made to the provoft 

 of Paris, another in Languedoc, and a third in Berne. 

 Thefe reports are very confiftent with each other, and con- 

 tain foui-teen marks of virginity, exprefled in their proper 

 terms, fuch as were received among the women in that pro- 

 feflion, and authorized in court. 



M. Joubart does not explain thofe terms, nor do we find 

 any explanation of them any where, but in another report, 

 of the 23d of Oftober, 1672, inferted in the Pifture of 

 Love of Vennette, a phyfician of Rochel. 



In Peru, and feveral other provinces in South America, 

 we are affured by Pedro de Cieca, in the hiftory of the 

 Incas, &c. that the men never marry but on condition that 

 the next relation or friend of the maid (hall undertake to en- 

 joy her before him, and take away her virginity. And our 

 countryman, Lawfon, relates the like of fome of the Indian 

 nations of Carolina. So little is thej?w -vir/mis valued in 

 fome places. 



VIRGINIUS RUFUS, L., in Biography, a diftin- 

 guiffied Roman citizen and commander, whofe merit raifed 

 him to the confulate in the reign of Nero, A.D. 63. 

 When the Gauls revolted under Vindex, A.D. 68, he 

 marched to Befangon, in order to refift his defigns. On this 

 occafion the legions proclain>ed him emperor, but he refufed 

 the title, alleging that the dlfpofal of the empire belonged 

 not to them, but to the fenate and people. After the death 

 of Nero, and the fucceffion of Galba, he was again foli- 

 cited by the army to become a candidate for the empire, and 

 he was threatened with death by one of the tribunes if he did 

 not comply with the wiflies of the foldiers. But he refo- 

 lutely refilled, and prevailed with them to acknowledge the 

 new emperor. When Otho acquired temporary dominion, 

 he endeavoured to engage the attachment of the Germanic 

 legion, by conferring a fecond confulate, A.D. 69, on Vir- 

 ginius, their old commander ; and after his death, he was a 

 third time urged by the foldiery to accept the empire, but 

 he perfifted in refufing the offer. Upon Vitellius's entrance 

 into Rome, Virginius was very unjuftly fufpeftedof a defign 

 to affaffinate him ; and though Vitellius had no doubt of his 

 innocence, it was not without great difficulty that he pre- 

 ferved his life. From this time till the reign of Nerva he 

 lived in retirement, calling the place of his retreat near 

 Alaium " the reft of his old age." To Pliny the younger 

 he was guardian, and was always regarded by him with filial 

 veneration ; and at Rome he was refpefted as one of the 

 moft excellent of its citizens. " He read," according to 

 the account given of him by Pliny, " verfes and hiftories 

 of which he was the fubjeft, and lived, as it were, with his 

 pwn pofterity ;" and Pliny relates the following inftance of 



V I R 



his love of hiftorical fidelity. Cluvius Rufus, an eminent 

 hiftorian, faid to him, " You are fenfible, Virginius, of the 

 fidelity required in a writer of hiftory ; if, therefore, you 

 meet with any thing in my work which is difpleafing to you, 

 I requeft that you will pardon it." He replied, " Are you 

 ignorant, Cluvius, that my purpofe, in doing what I have 

 done, was that you writers might freely fay what you fhould 

 think fit." In his eighty-third year Nerva honoured him 

 by advancing him to a ttiird confulate, as his own colleague 

 in that office. On this occafion he intended to deliver a dif- 

 courfe, and whilft he was preparing at home for the recita- 

 tion of it, a large book fell from his hand upon the floor ; 

 and, in ftooping for it, his foot flipped, and in the fall he 

 broke his thigh. The frafture occafioned his death, 

 A.D. 97. His remains were honoured with a public fune- 

 ral, and his eulogy was pronounced by Cornelius Tacitus. 

 The epitaph which he had written for himfelf was comprifed 

 in two lines, and merely recorded one of the principal 

 aftions of his life, with its motive : 



" Hie fitus eft Rufus, pulfo qui Vindice quondam 

 Imperium afleruit, non fibi, fed patrise." 



« Here Rufus lies, who, by the repulfe of Vindex, fecured 

 the empire, not for himfelf, but for his country." Crevier. 

 Plin. Epift. Gen. Biog. 



VIRGO, in AJlronomy, one of the figns or conftellations 

 of the zodiac, into which the fun enters in the middle of 

 Auguft. See Constellation. 



The ftars in the conftellation Virgo, in Ptolemy's cata- 

 logue, are 32 ; in Tycho's, 33 ; in Hevelius's, 50 ; and in 

 the Britannic, 1 10. 



VIRGULA, in Grammar, ?i\.exm which Latin, French, 

 and fome other authors ufe for a point in writing, ufually 

 called by us, comma. 



Virgulas, F. Simon obfeives, are an invention of the mo- 

 dern grammarians, to give the greater clearnefs Jo difcourfe. 

 The ufe of them was unknown to the ancient Greeks and 

 Romans, who wrote all without taking off the pen, fo that 

 their books lie all together, without any diftindion of pomts 

 and virgulas. 



ViRGULA, or Virgola, in Mufu, the tail or ftem to a note. 

 The firft notes in the old time-table had no tails till the minim 

 was invented, which had a tail to diftingui(h it from the femi- 

 breve, as the crotchet had a black head to diftinguifti it 

 from the minim, of which the head is white, and the quaver 

 a hook to the tail, to diftinguifti it from the crotchet, of 

 which the tail was ftraight, &c. 



ViRGULA D':vina, or Baculus divinatorius, ztorked branch 

 in form of a Y, cut off a hazle-tree, by means of which 

 people have pretended to difcover mines, fprings, &c. under 



ground. 



The method of ufing it is this : the perfon who bears it 

 walking very (lowly over the places where he fufpeds mines 

 or fprings may be,' the effluvia exhahng from the metals, or 

 vapour from tlie water, impregnating the wood, makes it 

 dip or inchne, which is a fign of a difcovery. _ 



We find no mention made of this virgula in any author 

 before the nth century ; but from that time it has been in 

 frequent ufe. Divers fine names have been invented for it, 

 fome calling it cadueeus, others Aaron's rod. Sec. 



Some difoute the matter of fad, and deny it to be pof- 

 fible ; others, convinced by the great number of experi- 

 ments alleged in its behalf, look out for the natural caufes 

 of them. The corpufcles, fay thefe authors, rifing from 

 the fprings, or minerals, entering the rod, determine it to 

 bow down, in order to render it parallel to the vertical lines 



which the effluvia defcribe in their rife. 



In 



