V I T 



V I T 



another name of this divine architeft, and alfo of the fun. 



See TWASHTA. 



VISWAMITRA, in Biography, is the name of a very 

 celebrated and fanttified perfonage in the theological legends 

 of the Hindoos. His age is anterior to authentic refearch, 

 fince his name occurs frequently in the Veda, the Hindoo 

 fcriptures, which is profefTed to have been written thou- 

 fands of years ago. (See Veda.) He was the Rilhi, 

 (fee RisHr,) or faint, to and by whom was revealed the 

 hymn in which is contained the holiefl verfe of the Veda, 

 called the adorable, the ineffable, Gayatri. (Of this fee 

 under O'm.) His grandfon, named Yajnyawalcya, is the 

 reputed author of a code or inftitutes of law that is Hill in 

 ufe. It is arranged in three chapters, containing 1023 

 couplets. The commentaries on it are very voluminous. The 

 name of Vifwamitra, which means univerfal friend, or friend 

 to all, occurs very frequently in Sanfcrit writings ; and in- 

 deed not unfrequently in this dictionary. His felf-inflifted 

 aufterities, and perfevering devotions, are the theme of 

 frequent praife. Under the article Menaka, the Upfara, 

 " of fafcinating fymmetry of form," as fhe is defcribed in 

 the Ramayana, it is noticed how the rigid mortifications of 

 the afcetic were interrupted ; and their reward averted by 

 the wles of that damfel employed by Indra. Under 

 Ramayana and Upsara will be found fome account of 

 the work, and of the femi-divine, faint-feducing beauties, 

 feverally fo called. See alfo Indra and Rhemba, the 

 name of the Venus Marina of the Hindoos, and queen of 

 beauty and of beauties. Vifwamitra, though not of Brahma, 

 was the guru, or fpiritual preceptor of the great Rama ; 

 and is the author of much of the moral precept fcattered 

 through that curious work tlie Ramayana ; which details 

 the exploits, among much other matter, of its divine hero. 

 (See Rama.) In the Ramayana, Vifwamitra is often called 

 " fon of Kafheka ;" and occafionally a perfon named 

 Gadhi, is called his father. The interefting Sakoontala, in- 

 troduced to the Englifh reader by fir W. Jones's tranflation 

 of the Hindoo drama of that title, is fpoken of as his 

 daughter. Though not a Brahman by birth, he is faid to 

 have become one through his devotion. 



Under our article Surabhi an anecdote is given of Vifwa- 

 mitra, which, with that alluded to above, tends to ihew that 

 he was tainted with the vice of avarice as well as luft. In 

 our article Tareka he appears as the tutor of his obedient 

 pupil Rama. 



VISWASWARA, a name of the Hindoo god Sha ; 

 which fee. It means lord of all ; and is probably given to 

 him by the fefts who exclufively, or efpecially worfhip him, 

 of whom fee under Sects of Hindoos. The name does not 

 often occur. In one of the Puranas is this verfe. " The 

 Vedas and Saitras all teftify that Vifvvafwara is the firft of 

 Devas (or gods), Kafhi (Benares) the firil of cities, Ganga 

 (the Ganges) the firil of rivers, and Charity the firft of 

 virtues." 



VITA, Life. See Life. 

 ,YnA, Cui in. See Cui. 



VlTiE, ylgua. See Aqua. 



VlT.B Arbor, in Anatomy, the appearance produced by ?. 

 particular feftion of the cerebellum. See Brain. 



ViTjE, Arbor. See TuEE of Life. 



V1T.1:, Lignum. See Guaiacum. 



Vita Longa, a name given by fome botanical authors to 

 the piper jEthiopicum, or ^Ethiopian pepper. 



VITACA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Africa, in 

 Mauritania Cxfarienfis. Ptol. 



VITAL, VlTALls, in Anatomy, fomething that minif- 



ters principally to the conftituting or maintaining of life in 

 the bodies of animak. 



Thus, the heart, lungs, and brain, are called vital parts. 

 See Vis. 



Vital Air, in Agriculture, Vegetable Economy, &c. pure 

 air or oxygen, which is one of the conftitiicnt parts of at- 

 mofpherical air, and of great ufe in the germination of grain 

 and feeds, and the vegetation and growth of plants, as well 

 as the refpiration of animals. But though it is neceffary to 

 thefe and fome other funftions of vegetables, it is remarked 

 by the writer of a late vpork on agricultural chemiftry, that 

 its great importance in nature is in its relation to the laft, or 

 the economy of animals. 



It is ftated that atmofpheric air taken into the Rings of 

 animals, or pafTed in folution in water tiirough the gills 

 of fiflies, lofi s vital r.ir or oxygen ; and that for the vital 

 air or oxygen that is loft, about an equal volume of car- 

 bonic acid appears. That the aftion of the atmofphere 

 on plants differs at different periods of their growth, 

 and varies with the various ftages of the developement 

 and decay of their organs, as is evident in the progrefs 

 of their vegetation and dechne. As if a healthy feed be 

 moiftened and expofed to the air at a temperature not below 

 45°, it foon germinates or fprouts ; and (hoots or fends 

 forth a plume which rifes upwards, and a radicle that de- 

 fcends. If the air be confined, it is found that in tliis pro- 

 cefs the vital air or oxygen of it, or a part of it, is abforbed. 

 As to the other parts, the azote remains unaltered, and no 

 carbonic acid is taken away from it ; on the contrary, fome 

 is added. Grain and feeds are incapable of germinating or 

 fprouting, except when vital air or oxygen is prefent. In 

 the exhaufted receiver of the air-pump, in pure azote, and 

 in pure carbonic acid, when moiftened they fvvell, but do 

 not vegetate ; and if kept in thefe gafes, lofe their living 

 powers, and undergo putrefaftion. If a grain or feed be 

 examined before germination, it will be found more or lefs 

 infipid, or at leaft not fweet ; but after germination, or the 

 aA of fprouting, it is always fweet. Its coagulated muci- 

 lage, or ftarch, is converted into fugar in that procefs ; a 

 fubftance difficult of folution is thus changed into one eafily 

 foluble ; and the fugar carried through the cells or vefTels of 

 the cotyledons of the grain or feeds, is the nourifhment of 

 the infant plant. 



It is noticed that the abforption of vital air or oxygen 

 by the grain or feed in germination, or the operation of 

 fprouting, has been compared to its abforption in producing 

 the evolution of foetal life in the egg ; but that this analogy 

 is only remote. All animals, from the moft complete to the 

 leaft perfeft claffes, require, it is faid, a fupply of vital air 

 or oxygen for their produdlion and evolution. From the 

 moment the heart begins to pulfate until it ceafes to beat, 

 the aeration of the blood, or the fupply of this fort of air, 

 is conftant, and the funftion of refpiration invariable ; car- 

 bonic acid is given off in the procefs, but the chemical 

 change produced in the blood is unknown ; nor is there any 

 reafon to fuppofe the formation of any fubftance fimilar to 

 fugar. In the produftion of a plant from a grain or feed, 

 fome refervoir of nourifhment is needed before the root can 

 fupply fap for it ; and this refervoir is the cotyledon, in 

 which it is ftored up in an infoluble form, and protected if 

 neceffary during the winter, and rendered foluble by agents 

 which are conftantly prefent on the furface. The change 

 of ftarch into fugar, conne6ked with the abforption of vital 

 air or oxygen, may rather, it is fuppofed, be compared to 

 a procefs of fermentation than to that of refpiration ; it is 

 a change effefted upon an organized matter, and can be ar- 

 tificially 



