i2i: 



€l)c €vck$uy)j at 2Satani». 



[viol 



The root of T r . officinale or Swallowwort, 

 which is the common North European 

 species, possesses drastic and emetic pro- 

 perties, and was formerly in some repute as 

 ' a medicine; being employed in scrofula 

 and skin-diseases, and also, particularly in 

 Germany, as an antidote to poisons— 

 whence it has been named Contrayerva Ger- 

 manorum and Tame-poison. When fresh 

 it has a disagreeable odour, and an acrid 

 bitter taste. [A. S.] 



VIN D'AULNEE. (Fr.) A preparation 

 of Inula Helenium. 



VINE. Yitis. — , BEAK Phaseoliis di- 

 versifolins. — , GRAPE. Yitis vim/era. — , 

 KANGURU. Cissus antarctica. -, PEP- 

 PER. Ampelopsisbipinnnta. — , POISON. 

 Rhus radicans. — , POTATO. Tpomoea 

 pandurata, called also Man of the Earth. 

 — , RED-BEAD. Abrus precatorius. — , 

 SCRUB. An Australian name for Cu-**utha. 

 — , SEVEN-YEAR. Ipmncea tubernsa. — , 

 SORREL. Cissus acida. —, SPANISH 

 ARBOUR. Ipomceatuberosa. —.STRAIN- 

 ER. Luffaacutangula. — , WATER. Phy- 

 tocrene; also Dnliocarpus Calinea. — , 

 WHITE. Clematis Yitalba. — , WILD. 

 Yitis Labrusca. —, WHITE WILD. Bry- 

 onia dioica. 



VINE. See Viticula. 



VINEALIS. Growing wild in vineyards. 



VINE-BOWER. Clematis Yiticella. 



VINEGAR. An acid liquor manufactured 

 by fermenting vegetable juices, such as an 

 infusion of malt, inferior wines, or a so- 

 lution of sugar, or from alcohol, toddy, &c. 



VINEGAR-PLANT. During the process 

 of acetous fermentation of liquids a coat of 

 greater or less thickness, consisting of 

 many layers separable the one from the 

 other, is formed on the surface. This under 

 the microscope is found to consist of in- 

 terlaced delicate branched threads, which, 

 if placed in circumstances favourable to 

 their development, give rise to a crop of Pe- 

 nicillium glaucum, a universally-distribu- 

 ted mould belonging to the mucedinous 

 order Hyphomycetes. If a portion of this 

 coat is placed in a solution of sugar and 

 water, kept in a proper temperature, the 

 whole is converted into vineuar far more 

 rapidly than it would be without the pre- 

 sence of the funeous mass. It is therefore 

 called the Vinegar-plant, and is much used 

 in the manufacture of vinegar. The exact 

 mode in which the Vinegar-plant operates 

 on the solution is not known, but it is 

 supposed that it acts in the same way as 

 the yeast-plant, though a much less sur- 

 face is presented to the decomposible 

 flu.'d. Rhustuphina also is sometimes called 

 Vinegar-plant. [M. J. B.] 



VINE MILDEW. Shortly after the first 

 observed occurrence of the potato-murrain 

 in England, a disease broke out in several 

 parts at Kent amongst the vines, charac- 

 terised by the appearanceof a white mould 

 on the leaves and young bunches of grapes, 

 and producing either complete abortion in 



the fruit, or dwarfill-shaped juiceless ber- 

 ries, cracking in every direction and ex- 

 posing their numerous seeds, or where a 

 little pulp was formed rapidly reducing the 

 whole into a state of decomposition. The 

 mould was studied at Margate, and ascer- 

 tained to belong to the genus Oidium; and 

 as Mr.Tucker, an intelligent gardener there, 

 had paid great attention to the subject' 

 and had completely conquered it by the 

 application of sulphur, it was named by 

 Mr. Berkeley Oidium Tuckeri. Subsequent 

 observations have confirmed a suspicion, 

 which was before entertained, that the 

 Oidia of this group are merely a peculiar 

 condition of different species of Erysiphe , 

 and it is generally allowed that such is the 

 case with the vine-mildew, though it has 

 never been observed to make any further 

 advance than the production of those pe- 

 culiar cysts which accompany the true 

 fruit of Erysiphe, known under the name 

 of pycnidia. The disease has since spread 

 in every direction, European vines suffer- 

 ing from it in America, though American 

 vines, both in the United States and in Eu- 

 rope, remain free from the malady. Many 

 remedies have been proposed for this evil, 

 but, while others have failed to a greater 

 or less extent, the application of sublimed 

 sulphur (on account, probably, of its being 

 always accompanied by a certain amount 

 of sulphurous acid) has been, when proper- 

 ly and perseveringly applied, almost uni- 

 | formly efficacious. In extremely hot dis- 

 j tricts, as in Spain and Portugal, possibly 

 j from the sulphur being simply ground and 

 not sublimed, more benefit has been de- 

 rived from its ignition, care being taken 

 that the consequent vapour be made to 

 I pass so rapidly through the vineyard that 

 I the leaves may not be withered by its action 

 being continued too long or in too great 

 strength. In artificial cultivation sulphur 

 is a sure remedy, but if its fumes are em- 

 ployed at all, the sulphur should merely be 

 melted, and that cautiously, without suffer- 

 ing it to ignite, the consequence of which 

 would be the substitution of sulphuric for 

 sulphurous acid. [M. J. B.] 



VINETTE DE BREBIS. (Fr.) Eumex 



Acetosella. 



VINETTIER. (Fr.) Berberis. 



VINEWORTS. A name given by Lind- 

 ley to the order Yitacece. 



VINSONIA. This is one of several un- 

 described genera of Pandanacece, named 

 and figured byGaudichaud in the botanical 

 portion of the Voyage de la. Bonite. No less 

 than ten species of this genus are indi- 

 cated by names, but none of them are 

 described. [A. SJ 



VIOLACE/E. (Yiolarieai, Yiolehvorts). 

 An order of polypetalous dicotyledons, con- 

 sisting of herbs or shrubs, with usually 

 alternate and simple leaves furnished with 

 stipules, and axillary flowers, either solita- 

 ry or in cymes racemes or panicles. They 

 have the one-celled free ovary with pa- 

 rietal placentas (usually three) of Bixaceaz 



41 



