404 
U I s 
mas simple. Pericarp: nut ovate, smooth, acuminate, two 
or three-celled, half-inferior, enclosed within the converging 
calyx-leaves, and for the most part covered by the one-leafed 
part of the calyx, w'hich is connate with the nut, but a third 
of the upper part of the nut within the calyx is naked. Seeds 
in each cell one.— Essential Character. Calyx five-leaved, 
inferior. Corolla five-petalled. Stigma five. Nut two or 
three-celled, half-inferior. 
Vismea mocanera.—This is a small shrub, with a round, 
somewhat warted stem. Leaves alternate, erect, on short 
petioles, elliptic, very smooth, veined, serrate, the consis¬ 
tence of the bay. Peduncles axillary, solitary, nodding, 
scarcely longer than the petiole, naked, one-flowered. 
Flowers small. Corolla yellow. When the flower is im¬ 
pregnated, the peduncle is erected, the calyx closed and 
thickened, and its three outer leaflets become brown and 
hairy —Native of the Canary islands, in mountain woods. 
VI'SNOMY, s. [corrupted from physiognomy.'] Face; 
countenance. Not in use. 
Twelve gods do sit around in royal state. 
And Jove in midst with awful majesty. 
To judge the strife between them stirred late : 
Each of the gods by his like visnomy 
Each to be known; but Jove above "them all, 
By his great looks and power imperial. Spenser. 
VISO, El, a neatly built town of Spain, in La Mancha; 
126 miles south of Madrid. Population 3800. 
VISO, Monte, a lofty mountain of the Cottian Alps, 
between Piedmont and France, 10,000 feet high, and 
remarkable for a tunnel cut through it, of 500 paces in 
length. 
VISONE, a town of Italy, in Montferrat, situated at the 
confluence of the Carmagna and the Bormida; 3 miles east 
of Acqui. Population 1300. 
VI'SOR, s. [This word is variously written, visard, 
visar, visor, vizard, vizor.] A mask used to disfigure and 
disguise. 
But that thy face is w/sor-like, unchanging, 
Made impudent with use of evil deeds, 
I wou’d essay, proud queen, to make thee blush. Shahspeare. 
A moveable part in the front of a helmet, and placed above 
the beaver in order to protect the upper part of the face; and 
being perforated with many holes, afforded the wearer an 
opportunity of discerning objects : and thence its name. 
Douce. 
Which on his helmet martelled so hard. 
That made him low incline his lofty crest. 
And bow’d his batter’d visour to his brest. Spenser. 
VPSORED, adj. Masked. 
Hence with thy brew’d enchantments, foul deceiver! 
Hast thou betray’d my credulous innocence 
With visor d falsehood and base forgery ? Milton. 
VISP, or Vjspach, a small town of Switzerland, in the 
Valais, on the Visp or Visbach, 25 miles east of Sion. 
UIST, North, an island of the Hebrides, belonging to In¬ 
verness-shire, Scotland, lying between the district of Harris 
on the north, and Benbeculaon the south, from which last it is 
separated only by a strand, dry at low water. It is of a 
very irregular shape, being 16 miles long from east to west, 
and 14 miles at its greatest breadth from south to north ; and 
with its multitudes of islets it comprehends altogether an 
area of 118 square miles, including several fresh-water lakes. 
The general aspect is cheerless and gloomy. A dark heathy 
surface, swelling into hills of no great altitude, composes by 
far a greater part of the island. The parish of North Uist 
comprehends, besides that island, the adjacent isles of Bo- 
reray, Orinsay, Valley, Heisker, Kirkbost, Ileray, Grimsay, 
and several small holms. Population 4021. 
UIST, South, also one of the Hebrides, belonging to 
Inverness-shire, Scotland, lying in the district called the Long 
Island, between the isles of Benbecula on the north, and 
Barray on the south, from which it is six- miles distant in a 
V I T 
north-easterly direction. It is 19 miles long from south to 
north, and is in some places nine miles broad; but the 
average does not exceed six, as its whole contents are only 
127 miles, including Ericksay, a considerable islet on its 
south coast. In this extent is also comprehended about 10 
square miles of fresh-water lakes. The parish of South 
Uist comprehends, besides the island of that name, the ad¬ 
jacent islands of Benbecula, Rona, Erisky, and several 
smaller islets, and pasture holms. Population 5500. 
Vl'STA, s. [Italian.] View; prospect through an avenue. 
The finish’d garden to the view 
Its vistas opens, and its alleys green. Thomson. 
VIST1DSCHA, or Vostitza, a small inland town of 
Greece, in the Morea, sandgiacat of Tripolitza. 
VISTRITZA, the Astraus of the ancients, a river of 
European Turkey, in Romania, sandgiacat of Salonica, which 
falls into the Ferina. 
VISTULA, the great river of Poland, which rises, however, 
not in that counlry, but in Austrian Silesia, at the foot of the 
Carpathians. Flowing eastward, it soon enters Poland at the 
southern frontier, passes the ancient capital Cracow; and after 
bathing the walls of Sandomir, receives, in the San, a great 
addition to its waters. Its course, now northward, brings it, 
after traversing a considerable track of country, to Warsaw ; 
at some distance from which it receives the Bug, a river almost 
equal to itself in magnitude, and bringing with it the waters 
of the south-east and north of Poland. The Vistula, now- 
become one of the great rivers of Europe, continues to hold a 
northward course, inclines to the west, passes the towns of 
Plock and Culm; and after flowing several hundred miles, 
with a wide channel, and undiminished volume, divides like 
the Rhine, into two branches, of which one, called the Nogat, 
and another the Old Vistula, flow eastwards to the Frische 
HafF, while the largest stream preserves the name of Vistula, 
and turning to the westward, falls into the Baltic at Dantzic. 
The Vistula flowing generally through a level country, is 
navigable many hundred miles, beginning so far up as Cra¬ 
cow. It is consequently the great channel for the conveyance, 
of corn and other products from the interior of Poland. 
Vl'SUAL, adj. [visual, French.] Used in sight; exer¬ 
cising the power of sight; instrumental to sight.—An eye 
thrust forth so as it hangs a pretty distance by the visual 
nerve, hath been without any power of sight; and yet, after 
being replaced, recovered sight. Bacon. 
VITAL, adj. [yitalis, Lat.] Contributing to life; ne¬ 
cessary to life. 
All nature laughs, the groves are fresh and fair; 
The sun’s mild lustre warms the vital air. Pope. 
Relating to life. 
Let not Bardolph’s vital thread be cut 
With edge of penny cord, and vile reproach. Shahspeare. 
Containing life. 
Spirits that live throughout; 
Vital in every part; not as frail man, 
In entrails, heart, or head, liver or reins. 
Cannot but by annihilating die. Milton. 
Being the seat of life.—The dart flew on, and pierc’d a 
vital part. Pope. —So disposed as to live. Little used, 
and rather Latin than English. —Pythagoras and Hippo¬ 
crates not only affirm the birth of the seventh month to be 
vital, that of the eighth mortal; but the progression thereto 
to be measured by rule. Brown. —Essential; chiefly ne¬ 
cessary. 
Know grief’s vital part 
Consists in nature, not in art. Bp. Corbet. 
VITA'LITY, s. Power of subsisting in life.—Whether 
that motion, vitality, and operation were by incubation, or 
how else, the manner is only known to God. Ralegh. 
VITALLY, adv. In such a manner as to give life.—The 
organical structure of human bodies, whereby they are fitted 
to live and move, and be vitally informed by the soul, is 
the workmanship of a most wise, powerful, and beneficent 
Maker. Bentley. 
VITALS, 
