VIN 
longing (ind annexed to tlie manor whereof 
the lord was owner ; and he was propei;ly 
a pure villain, of wliora the lord took re- 
demption to many his daughter, and to 
mak^liim free ; and whom the lord might 
put out of his lands and tenements, goods 
and chattels, at his will, and beat and clias- 
tise, but not maim him. 
VINCULUM, in algebra, a mark or 
character, either drawn over, or including, 
or some other way accompanying, a factor, 
divisor, dividend, &c. when it is com- 
pounded of several letters, quantities, or 
terms, to connect them together as one 
quantity, and show that they are to be 
multiplied, or divided, &e. togetlier. Vieta 
first used the bar or line over the quanti- 
ties, for a vinculum, thus a -j- h ; and Albert 
Girard the parenthesis, thus (a-\-h)-, the 
former way being now chiefly used by the 
English, and the latter by most other Eu- 
ropeans. Thus a-\- b X c,ot (a -\-b) X c, 
denotes the product of c and the sum a 6 
considered as one quantity. Also ^a-\-b, 
or denotes the square root of 
tlie sum a-^b. Sometimes the mark : is 
set before a compound factor, as a vincu- 
lum, especially when it is very long, or an 
infinite series ; thus 3a X : 1 — Sx-j- 3*^ — 
4x^ -4* &c. 
VINE. See ViTis. 
VINCA, in botany, periwinJcle, a genus 
of the Pentandria Monogynia class and 
order. Natural order of Contort®, Apo- 
cineae, Jussieu. Essential character : con- 
torted ; follicles two, erect; seeds naked. 
There are five species. 
VINEGAR is a liquor of an agreeable 
smell, a pleasant and slrongly-acid taste, 
and of a hue varying from light-red to 
brown straw colour; and is prepared by 
fermenting any substance or compound 
which has already undergone tlie .spirituous 
fermentation. Vinegar, therefore, may be 
made immediately from any wine, malt 
liquor, cyder, &c. ; or from the juice of the 
grape and otiier fruits ; from infusion of 
malt, or any saccharine liquid, through the 
intermedium of vinous fermeiitation. Botli 
these raetliods are actually practised with 
complete success. To make vinegar out of 
a liquor containing suitable materials, it is 
only necessary, l.st, to allow some acee.ss 
of air to liie vessel in which it is kept ; and, 
2d, to keep it in a temperature rather 
higlier than that of tlie atmosphere in tliis 
climate, tliat is to say, about 75“ to 80“. 
It is also almost essential, where a liquor 
VIN 
already fermented is employed, to add a 
portion of yeast, or any other ferment; for 
though any fermented liquor, if kept in a 
moderate temperature in an open vessel, 
will spontaneously run sour, or become 
changed to vinegar; this change is too gra- 
dual to produce this acid in perfection, and 
the first acetified portion turns mouldy be- 
fore the last has become sour ; but where 
the substance employed has not yet under- 
gone fermentaj;ion, the whole process of the 
vinous and subsequent acetous fermenta- 
tion will go on uninterruptedly with the 
same ferment which at first set it in action, 
which happens, for example, in the making 
vinegar from malt, or from sugar and W'ater. 
In this country vinegar is chiefly made from 
malt. The following is the usual process 
in London : A mash of malt and hot water 
is made, which, after infusion for an hour 
and a half, is conveyed into a cooler, a few 
inches deep, and thence, when sufficiently 
cooled, into large and deep fermenting 
tuns, where it is mixed with yeast, and kept 
in fermentation for four or five days. The 
liquor (whicli is now a strong ale without 
hops) is then distributed into smaller bar- 
rels, set close together in a stoved cham- 
ber, and a moderate heat is kept np for 
about six weeks ; during which the fermen- 
tation goes on equally and uniformly till tlic 
whole is soured. Tliis is then emptied into 
common barrels, which are set in rows 
(often of many hundreds) in a field in the 
open air, the bung-hole being just covered 
with a tile, to keep off the wet but to allow 
a free admission of air. Here the liquor 
remains for four or five months, according 
to the heat of the weather, a gentle fer- 
mentation being kept up till it becomes 
perfect vinegar. This is finished in the fol- 
lowing way : Large tuns are employed, with 
a false bottom, on which is put a quantity 
of the refuse of raisins, or other fruit, left 
by the makers of raisin and other home- 
made wines, called technically rape. These 
rape-tuns are worked by pairs ; one of them 
is quite filled with tlie viuegar from the 
barrels, and the other only three-quartei-s 
full, so that the fermentation is excited 
more easily in the latter than the former ; 
and every day a portion of the vinegar is 
laded from one to the other, till the whole 
is completely finished, and fit for sale. 
Vinegar, as well as fruit-wines, is often 
made in small quantity for domestic uses,, 
and the process is by no means difficult. 
The materials may be either brown sugar 
and water alone, or sugar with raisins, cur- 
