V A G 
V A G 
VAC 
Ihouldbe inoculators, who hare had a suffici- 
ent education, and who have particularly at- 
tended to the subject of vaccination/’ Dr. 
RVillan then goes on to enforce the propriety 
pf a strict examination, and in dubious cases 
a reinoculation, of those persons especially 
who were inoculated between the 1st of Janu- 
ary, 1799, and the 1st of January, 1S02. 
[ We are under the necessity- of statirig, 
(that in the present article we have appeal- 
ed principally to the authority of Dr. Wil- 
lan, not merely on account of the intrin- 
sic and universally acknowledged value of 
such authority ; but because this gentleman, 
being neither an inoculator nor a partisan, 
cannot fail to be acquitted even by those who 
are least disposed to liberality of sentiment, 
of being in any measure influenced by the 
motives charged upon vaccinators in the 
following sentences, which, the reader will be 
surprised to find, are the composition of a 
learned, sagacious, and most respectable 
physician: 
“The cow-pox inoculators who have been 
principals, reproach one another as not hav- 
ing the genuine matter, or skilful manage- 
ment, of vaccination ; each says his brother- 
labourers in tiie same vineyard are wrong. 
If the small pox happens after Peter’s ope- 
ration, James, Paul, and John, are not at all 
surprised ; if from James, Paul, or John, dis- 
asters happen, Peter says it is what he ex- 
pected. Each pretends to some superior 
mystery over his brother-vaccinator. Each 
leader seems to say, — Come to my shop ; 
this is the only true booth in the fair: that 
the new one— this is the only true one.” (Dr. 
Moseley.) 
It would he unjust to conclude without ad- 
mitting the only shadow of justification, which 
such language can claim ; namely, the equal 
and perhaps prior interference of medical 
writers, on the opposite side of the question. 
We cannot forget the mode in which Mr. 
Goldson’s first candid and dispassionate in- 
quiry into the merits of vaccination, was re- 
plied to by some of the vaccinators. Surely 
party rancour ought at least to be excluded 
j'rom this subject of universal interest. 
VACCIN1UM, the Whortle-berr y, 
•r Bilberry, a genus of plants of the class 
(octandria, and order monogynia ; and ar- 
ranged in the natural system under the 18th 
order, bicornes. The calyx is superior ; 
the corolla monopetalous : the filaments in- 
serted into the receptacle ; the berry quadri- 
; locular and polyspermous. There are 27 
i species, the most remarkable of which are: 
1. The myrtilus, black-whorts, whortle-ber- 
ries, or bilberries, growing in woods and on 
heaths abundantly. The flowers frequently 
vary, with five segments at the rim, and with 
ten stamina. The berries when ripe are of a 
bluish-black colour, but a singular variety, with 
white berries, was discovered by the duke of 
Athol, growing in the woods about mid-way 
between his two seats of Dunkekl and Blair. 
The berries have an astringent quality. In 
Arran and the Western Isles they are given 
in diarrhoeas and dysenteries with good effect. 
[The Highlanders frequently eat them in milk, 
which is a cooling agreeable food ; and some- 
! times they make them into tarts and jellies, 
which last they mix with whisky, to give it 
j a relish to strangers. They dye a violet- 
j. colour ; but it requires to be fixed with 
1 alum. The grouse feed upon than in the 
autumn, 2. The uliginosum, or great bil- 
berry-bush, is found in low moist grounds, 
and almost at the summits of the Highland 
mountains. 'Pile leaves are full of veins, 
smooth and glaucous, especially on the under 
side ; the berries are eatable, but not so much 
esteemed as the preceding ; as they are apt, 
if eaten in any quantity, to give the head-ache. 
3. The vitis idaea, or red whortle-berries, 
frequent in dry places, in heaths, woods, and 
on mountains. The berries have an acid 
cooling quality, useful to quench the thirst 
in fevers. The Swedes are very fond of 
them made into the form of a rob or jelly, 
which they eat with their meat as an agree- 
able acid, proper to correct the animal al- 
kali. 4. The oxycoccus, cranberries, moss- 
berries, or moor-berries, frequent on peat- 
bogs. The stalks are long, slender, woody, 
weak, and trailing; the leaves are stiff, 
acutely oval, glaucous underneath, their 
edges turned back, and growing alternate ; 
two or three flowers grow singly on long red 
footstalks out of the extremity of the branches ; 
the tlowers are red, divided deeply into four 
acute segments, which are rellexed quite 
backwards ; the filaments are downy ; the 
anther* ferruginous, and longer than the fila- 
ments; the berries red, and about the size of 
the hawthorn-berries. At Long-town, on 
the borders of Cumberland, they are made 
so considerable an article of commerce, that 
at the season when they are ripe, not less 
than 20/. or 30/.’s worth are sold by the 
poor people each market-day for five or six 
weeks together, which are afterwards dispers- 
ed over different parts of the kingdom for 
making the well-known cranberry-tarts. 
VAGINA. See Anatomy. 
VAGINALIS, a genus of birds of the 
order grail* : the generic character is, bill 
strong, thick, conic-convex, compressed ; 
| the upper mandible covered above with a 
moveable horny sheath ; nostrils small, 
placed before the sheath ; tongue above 
round, beneath flattened, pointed at the 
tip; face naked, papiilous; wings with an 
obtuse excrescence under the flexure-; legs 
strong, four-toed, naked a little above the 
knees; toes rough beneath, claws grooved. 
: There is but a single species, which inhabits 
New Zealand and the South Sea islands, 
from 15 to 18 inches long, and feeding on 
shell-fish. 
VAGRANTS are divided into three 
classes: 1st. Idle and disorderly persons. 
These, as described by the vagrant-act, con- 
sist of those who threaten to run away and 
leave their wives and children to the parish. 
All persons returning to a parish whence 
they have been legally removed, without 
bringing a certificate from the parish to which 
they belong. All who, not having wherewith 
to maintain themselves, refuse to work. All 
who beg alms from door to door, or in the 
streets and highways. Likewise those who, 
not using proper means to get employment, 
or possessing ability to work, refuse to do it ; 
or spend money in alehouses, or in any im- 
proper manner; and by not employing a 
; proper proportion of their earnings towards 
! the maintenance of their families, suffer 
them to become chargeable to the parish. 
The punishment for these offences is a com- 
mitment to the house of correction, and 
I hard labour, for any definite time not exceed- 
643 
itig a month ; the time must lie set forth in 
the warrant of commitment, which must al o 
shew the authority of the person committing* 
The commitment must be in execution, 
that is to say, for punishment ; and being so, 
the justice must make a record of the con- 
viction, and transmit the same to the ses- 
sions. Any person may apprehend and 
carry such persons before a magistrate ; and 
if they resist or escape, they shall be punish- 
ed as rogues and vagabonds : the reward for 
such apprehension is 5s., to be paid by the 
overseer of the parish. 
2. Rogues and vagabonds. No infant 
under the age of seven years can be called a 
rogue and vagabond, but shall be removed to 
its place of settlement, like other paupers. 
The following is a list of those who are 
deemed rogues and vagabonds: All persons 
gathering alms under pretended losses; per- 
sons going about as collectors for prisons or 
hospitals ; fencers ; bearwards ; common 
players not legally authorised; minstrels; 
jugglers; real or pretended gypsies; for- 
tune-tellers; any persons using any subtle 
craft to impose upon any of his majesty’s 
subjects, or playing at unlawful games, or 
any who have run away and left their wives 
and children a charge to the parish ; all 
petty chapmen and pedlars not authorised 
by law ; all persons not giving a good account 
of themselves; all beggars pretending to be 
soldiers or seamen, or pretending to" go to 
work in harvest ; or illegal dealers in lot- 
tery tickets and shares. And all other per- 
sons wandering abroad and begging, shall 
be deemed rogues and vagabonds ; the re- 
ward for apprehending such persons is 10$., 
to be paid by the high constable, on an order 
from the justice. There is a penalty of 10s. 
on a constable who refuses or neglects to 
apprehend them. 
3. Incorrigible rogues, are all end-gathet'* 
ers, offending against the stat. 13 Geo. ; which 
is collecting, buying, receiving, or carrying, 
any ends of yarn, wefts, thrums, short yarn,, 
or other refuse of cloth or woollen goods. 
All persons apprehended as rogues and 
vagabonds, and escaping, or refusing to g« 
before a justice, or refusing to be conducted' 
by the pass, or giving a false account of them- 
selves on examination, after warning. All 
rogues or vagabonds escaping from the house 
of correction before the expiration of the 
time of their commitment ; and all who have 
been punished as rogues and vagabonds, and 
repeat the offence. 
There is by 17 Geo. II. c. 25, a privy search 
appointed ; and the justices or two of them 
four times a year at least meet, and com- 
mand the constables of every ward or parish, 
properly assisted, to make a genera! search 
in one night, and cause all vagrants that shall 
be found on such search to be" brought before 
a justice; and two justices, in case such person 
is charged as a vagrant, or on suspicion of 
felony, may examine him; and if he cannot 
shew some lawful way of getting his liveli- 
hood, or procure bail for his reappearance 
may commit him for a certain time not 
exceeding six days; and if, after advertis- 
ing his person, and any thing about him sus- 
pected to be stolen, no accusation is brought, 
he shall be discharged or dealt with accord- 
ing to law. All rogues and vagabonds are 
examined upon oath as to their parish, and 
