410 V I V 
mice. It is a cleanly animal, and has a slight musky smell. 
—It is a native of the western parts of Asia, and is said like¬ 
wise to occur in Spain, and in some parts of France. The 
French variety, however, is less elegantly and distinctly spot¬ 
ted than the Oriental genet; and Mr. Pennant '-.outsiders it as 
a distinct species, under the name of “ Pilosello.” 
23. Viverra fossa, or ash-coloured weasel.—Spotted with 
black, and with annulated tail. This is the fossane of Buffon, 
and so nearly allied to the genet, and of the same size, that it 
might be taken for a variety of the same animal. It is a na¬ 
tive of Madagascar, Guinea, Bengal, Cochinchina, and the 
Philippine islands : it is fierce, and with difficulty tamed. It 
destroys poultry like the eommon weasel: when young, it is 
said to be good food. ■ 
24. Viverra tigrina, or yellowish-grey weasel.—With brown 
variegations ; annulated tail tipped with black or brown, and 
a black stripe from head to tail; This is the chat-bizaam of 
Vosmaer, and the blotched cat of Pennant; of the size of the 
cat, and of mild manners. Mr. Pennant has referred it to the 
genus felis, but Mr. Schrader makes it a viverra.-—It is found 
at the Cape of Good Hope. Gmelin suggests that it may be 
a variety of viverra fossa. 
25. Viverra caudivolvula, or yellow weasel.—Shaded with 
dusky, with prehensile tail: the yellow macuaco and yellow 
weasel of Pennant, and le kinkajou potot of Buffon. It is 
an animal of gentle manners, active and playful, and hangs by 
its tail occasionally, like the prehensile-tailed monkeys. Sup¬ 
posed to be a native of Jamaica. The kinkajou of Buffon is 
supposed by Pennant to be a distinct species, the Mexican 
weasel.-—It was brought from New Spain ; and is described 
as fond of vegetables of various kinds, and delighted with 
sugar and different sweets; and would seize on birds, and 
suck the blood without tearing its prey. It slept much by 
day, and was lively during the night; exhibited the actions 
of a monkey, and had various cries, sometimes a kind of 
barking note, at other times hissing, or variously modified. 
26. Viverra fasciata, or grey weasel.—With six longitudinal 
black bands, beneath white ; the hairs of the tail long, black 
and reddish. This is the chat sauvage a bandes noires des 
Indes of Sonnerat, who first described and figured it.—It is a 
native of India. 
27. Viverra Malaccensis, or grey weasel.—Dotted above 
with black, with four round spots above the eyes, and three 
black bands on the neck and rump, and long tail annulated 
with black.-—It is a native of Malacca,described by Sonnerat; 
of the size of a domestic cat, and much allied to the genet and 
the fossane. It lives by chace, is nimble in climbing trees, 
and so fierce, that if it be only wounded when shot, it will 
turn back and attack the aggressor. It diffuses a powerful 
musky odour, from a receptacle like that of the civet cat. 
The Malays collect the fluid there secreted, and pretend that 
it is stimulant and stomachic. It is much esteemed for these 
qualities by the Chinese, who purchase it of the Malays. Of 
this species there are some varieties. 
For other species of weasel, we refer to Mustela. 
VI'VES, s. A distemper among horses.— Vives is much 
like the strangles; and the chief difference is, that for the 
most part the strangles happen to colts and young horses 
while they are at grass, by feeding with their heads down¬ 
wards, by which means the swelling inclines more to the 
jaws; but the vives happens to horses at any age and time, 
and is more particularly seated in the glands and kernels 
under the ears. Farrier's Diet. 
VIVES (Joannes Ludovicus), was born at Valencia, in 
Spain, in 1492, and, having laid the foundation of literature 
in his own country, went to Paris, where he studied the fa¬ 
shionable scholastic philosophy, which he afterwards con¬ 
demned. From Paris he removed to Louvain, devoting 
himself there to the study of Greek and Latin literature,^ and 
publishing a work entitled “ Contra Pseudo-Dialecticos.” In 
this university he became professor of belles-lettres, and ac¬ 
quired a degree of reputation which caused him to be chosen 
preceptor to William de Croy, afterwards cardinal. He 
also studied divinity, and wrote a commentary on St. Augus- 
y i v" 
tine’s book “ De Civitate Dei," which he dedicated, in 1522, 
to Henry VIII. king of England. In consequence of this work 
he received an invitation, in 1523, to undertake the instruction 
of the Princess Mary, which he accepted. During his resi¬ 
dence in England, he composed, for the use of his pupil, a 
tract, “ De Ratione studii puerilis,” and, by command of 
Queen Catharine, his treatise “ De Institutione Foeminse 
Christian®." At Oxford, where he spent much of his time, 
he read lectures on law and also in the classics, and was ad¬ 
mitted to the degree of LL.D. Vives forfeited the king’s re¬ 
gard by opposing, in conversation and writing, the divorce of 
Queen Catharine, and was also confined for six months in 
prison. As soon as he was set at liberty he left England, and 
settled at Bruges, where he married. He died after he had 
completed his forty-eighth year. His works in divinity were 
numerous. The principal of his grammatical and critical 
works were his “ Exercitatio Linguae Latin®;” “ De Corruptis 
Artibus;” “ De tradendis disciplinis.” Brucker by Enfield. 
VIVIANI (Vincentio), an eminent mathematician, was 
born of noble parents, at Florence, in the year 1622. Mani¬ 
festing, at an early period, his genius for mathematics, he was- 
recommended by Ferdinand II. Grand Duke of Tuscany, to 
Galileo, under whose tuition he made very rapid progress in 
geometry and the new philosophy. After his death, he was 
invited by Torricelli to assist him in his experiments on the 
barometer. But he was chiefly devoted to the study of geo¬ 
metry, and his attention was particularly directed to the an¬ 
cient geometricians. His first object, at the age of twenty- 
three years, was to supply the last work of a contemporary of 
Euclid, “ De Locis Solidis;” and he then proceeded to ac- 
complish-the same design with regard to the “ Conics of Apol¬ 
lonius.” Viviani projected the restoration of the fifth book; 
with this view he prosecuted his labour with great diligence; 
and, in the year 1659, published his divination of Apollonius. 
When this work was afterwards compared with that of the 
Greek mathematician, it was discovered that Viviani had not 
only formed new theories, but that he had discovered many 
new properties of the conic sections, so that his work may be 
considered as a supplement to the ancient theory of these 
curves. In the years 1664 and 1655 he was engaged, in con¬ 
currence with Cassini, in concerting means forpreventing the 
inundations of the Tiber, by altering the course of certain 
rivers: and in the survey of the country for this purpose, they 
were led to a variety of collateral observations on the insects 
found in the gall-nut, on marine shells, partly petrified and 
partly in their natural state, dug up in the mountains, and 
also on Etruscan vases and inscriptions. In 1666, the Grand 
Duke of T.uscany honoured Viviani with the title of his ma¬ 
thematician, which had been previously enjoyed by Galileo; 
and in 1673 he commenced printing the work of Aristeus, an 
ancient mathematician, the restoration of which he had, at an 
early period of his life, contemplated: but infirmities, and 
other engagements, prevented his proceeding with it. In the 
following year he published, in a small quarto, some works of 
Galileo, and particularly his Treatise on Proportion, for illus¬ 
trating the fifth book of Euclid. In 1676, three problems 
were proposed by M. de Comiers, provost of the collegiate 
church of Ternant, two of which related to the trisection of 
an angle, for the solution of which Viviani had discovered 
three methods, which he now determined to publish. His 
work on this subject, dedicated to the memory of his friend 
Chapelain, appeared in 1677. In 1692 he proposed, in the 
Acts of Leipsic, a problem relating to the ait of piercing an 
hemispherical arch with four equal windows, in such a man¬ 
ner that the remainder of the surface should be absolutely ' 
squareable. This problem, which he called a geometrical 
enigma, was solved by Leibnitz, J. Bernouilli at Basle, the • 
Marquis de l’Hospital in France, and by Dr. Wallis and Da¬ 
vid Gregory in England. Viviani himself published the 
problem, and his own geometrical solution of it, in a work, in 
which he treats, both as a geometer and architect, of the arches 
of the ancient Romans, and proposes a new arch to be called 
the Florentine. He, in 1701, published his divination of 
Aristeus, in three books. Part of his pension was devoted by 
him to the construction of a magnificent edifice at Florence, 
which 
