V, a consonant letter formerly interchangeable with U in writing and printing. In power also V is to some extent interchangeable with the vowel U, and with the consonants B, P, F, and W. V is in English a labio-dental. V has the power of English in Latin and Anglo-Saxon, from both of which we get the w of wine, wind, while the v of rine, rent, is due to Norman. V is in martyrologies an abbreviation for virgin, V V for virgins; v stands for versus, "against." V represents the numeral 5, and in chemistry is the symbol of vanadium.

Vaca, de (CABEZA). See NUÑEZ (ALVAR.) Vaccina'tion [Lat. racca, "cow"], the act of inoculating an individual with vaccinia, or cow-pox, a disease occasionally met with in milch cows. It is done for the purpose of protecting the system against small-pox, having superseded variolation or INOCULATION (which see). The subject was first systematically investigated by Edward Jenner, an English physician, who in 1798 published the results of his researches and established the practice. Cow-pox has many points in common with small-pox, and with certain varioliform diseases of several of the lower animals, particularly with horse-pox, but it differs radically from them all in that it is communicable only by actual inoculation (never by effluvium); that its cutaneous manifestations are, with very rare exceptions, confined to the point of inoculation; and that the illness to which it gives rise is ordinarily trifling in degree and of very short duration.

When a child is vaccinated, no result is observed until after the lapse of a period of incubation, generally comprising three or four days, when a pimple-like elevation of the skin forms at the point of inoculation. In two or three days more this papule has increased in size and become a flattened vesicle or "pock," with a depressed centre (umbilication). On the eighth or ninth day (inclusive) it has become still larger, is surrounded by a sharply-defined circular, bright-red disk, from one to two inches in radius, technically termed the areola; its central depression is more marked; the contained fluid, which was clear at first, has become somewhat turbid, and the central depressed portion has become converted into a brown crust; at this period there is slight fever. The pock continues to increase in size until the fourteenth or fifteenth day, when it has become wholly dried into a blackish-brown crust; there is little or nothing to be seen of the areola, which has faded from the centre toward the circumference, and there is no more fever. The crust remains attached until somewhere between the twenty-first and thirty-fifth days. On falling off it leaves a reddened surface, which gradually becomes paler than the surrounding skin, depressed, and sometimes "foveolated" (i. e. in dente 1, like the surface of a thimble), and remains as a permanent sear. In cases of revaccination (vaccination of a person who has before been vaccinate successfully) the pock usually runs an accelerated course, and is not completely developed, although the constitutional disturbance is apt to be more marked, with chilliness, nausea, headache, pain in the back, etc.

The structure of the vaccine pock is the same as that of the vesicle or pustule of SMALL-POX (which see). The contained fluid is termed lymph, and is used for transferring the disease from one person to another. For this purpose it should be taken not later than the eighth day. This lymph may be directly transferred from the subject of the pock (vaccinifer) to the person to be vaccinated, constituting arm-to-arm vaccination, or it may be preserved in a liquid state sealed up in capillary glass tubes or between plates of glass, or allowed to dry on slips of quill, ivory, whalebone, and the like. Dried lymph is the most trustworthy form of stored vaccine. The fallen crusts have been used for the purpose of propagating the disease, but they are very unsatisfactory. In whatever form vaccine virus be preserved, great care should be taken to prevent its undergoing septic decomposition, as its use in such a condition is liable to produce serious results, to say nothing of its failure to convey vaccinia. In particular, it should be kept away from the action of moisture and heat. Of late years, lymph direct from the cow or calf (bovine virus) has been much used, and with very satisfactory results, since it is found to be more successful in communicating vaccinia, to produce finer pocks, to do away altogether (when properly used) with the danger of conveying syphilis and other inoculable diseases, and to furnish an abun

dance of vaccine available at any time in case of the sudden outbreak of small-pox. Animal vaccine can now be obtained in any of the large cities of the U. S. and continental Europe. The supply is kept up by calf-to-calf vaccinations, starting from a case of natural cow-pox. Experience does not warrant positive statements in regard to the advisability of using variola vaccine (from a variolated cow), retro-vaccine (from a cow vaccinated with humanized lymph), horse-pox lymph, etc.

The best mode of vaccinating is as follows: Make one or more abrasions of the skin by scraping off the outer cuticle with a sharp lancet or some similar instrument. Each abrasion should be of about the size of a split pea, and they should not be less than one inch distant from each other. The best situation is on the left arm, at or near the insertion of the deltoid muscle. The skin should not be punctured, cut, or scratched, but simply scraped, and on no account should the true skin be wounded. When the abrasion is found to present a moist surface (no matter whether or not it shows the color of blood), it is deep enough, and the lymph may now be applied. If tube-lymph be used, it is simply to be blown on to the abrasions, but dried lymph, especially if it have been kept long, should first be moistened with a drop of cold water, and then rubbed upon the abrasions for a full minute or more. No plaster or dressing of any sort need be applied; but after the pock has formed, care should be taken that it be not scratched, rubbed, or otherwise injured.

There are facts which seem to show that the efficiency of vaccination against small-pox is in direct proportion to the amount of vaccinal efflorescence-two pocks giving more protection than one, three more than two, and so on. If energetic virus be used, two insertions will generally suffice. It is safe to vaccinate a child at any age, but, unless there have been actual exposure to small-pox, it is well to wait until it is about three months old. It is desirable that it should not be teething or ill in any way, and especially that it should be free from any cutaneous eruption. It is not well to vaccinate children in very hot weather or when erysipelas is prevailing, unless in case of necessity.

True ery

Vaccinia usually runs its course without complications, and does not call for special treatment. Excessive erythema (falsely called erysipelas) sometimes occurs, but always yields readily to simple local treatment. sipelas occasionally follows vaccination, as it does any other wound, and in infants it is very dangerous. Eczema, as well as certain other affections of the skin, sometimes arise soon after vaccination, and are perhaps, in certain cases, caused by it. Inflammation of the glands and of the cellular tissue is not very uncommon if the true skin be wounded; otherwise, it is rare. Multiple abscess is rare. It may be due to wounding the true skin, to the use of putrid lymph, or to injury of the pock, or it may have no connection with the vaccination. Ulceration of the pock (generally due to its being injured) is sometimes troublesome, but very rarely dangerous. Much fear has been felt that certain constitutional diseases might be conveyed by vaccination. In very rare instances this has occurred in the case of syphilis. It may be prevented with certainty by using animal vaccine and a perfectly clean instrument. In persons already tainted with latent scrofula or syphilis, vaccination may rouse the disease to activity.

The protection which vaccination affords against smallpox is sometimes absolute and permanent, but in most persons revaccination should be performed, as a matter of precaution, about once in five years, and in addition whenever small-pox is epidemic, when setting out on a voyage, upon undertaking military duty, etc. Modified small-pox (varioloid) frequently occurs in vaccinated persons, but severe small-pox after a recent and thorough vaccination is exceedingly rare, except in cases in which the vaccination was done after the system had already become infected with small-pox. "Suppose an unvaccinated person," says Mr. Marson, "to inhale the germ of variola on a Monday: if he be vaccinated as late as on the following Wednesday, the vaccination will be in time to prevent small-pox being developed; if it be put off until Thursday, the small-pox will appear, but will be modified; if the vaccination be delayed until Friday, it will be of no use." Vaccination has been used for other purposes than the prevention of small-pox, but experience has not proved its efficiency for such purposes. Vaccine lymph has been given internally

and injected under the skin to assist in the cure of smallpox. There is no evidence that such a practice has the slightest effect. FRANK P. FOSTER. Vac'uum [Lat.], in physics, a portion of space void of matter. Whether a perfect vacuum is possible or not was a much-debated question in the ancient philosophy between the Atomists and the Peripatetics. The Torricellian or barometric vacuum is nearly perfect, but contains the vapor of mercury. If a receiver filled with pure carbonic acid gas be exhausted by means of a good air-pump, a small vessel having been previously introduced containing moist caustic potash, and another containing concentrated sulphuric acid, a vacuum will be produced so nearly absolute that the electrie spark fails to pass through it.

Vacuum (or Geissler's) Tubes. See ELECTRICITY. Va'ga, Del Perino, whose true name was PIETRO BLONACCORSI, b. at a village near Florence in 1500: received his first instruction in painting from Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, from Perino and Vaga, from whom he derived his two surnames. Subsequently he went to Rome, where he became an intimate friend of Raphael, and was generally considered his most gifted pupil, next to Giulio Romano. After the death of Raphael he lived for some time in Genoa, where he decorated the palace of Doria, but finally returned to Rome, where he formed a great school; worked much for Paul III. D. at Rome in 1547. The best of his pictures are the Creation of Eve, in the Vatican, and the Singing-Match between the Muses and the Pierides, in the Louvre.

Vagrant and Vagrancy. See MENDICITY.

Va'gus Nerve, Par Vagum [Lat., "wandering pair," so called from its irregular course], names given-the first to either one, the second to both together-to the two pneumogastric nerves, now considered as the twelfth pair of eranial nerves, but by older anatomists reckoned a part of the ninth pair. (See PNEUMOGASTRIC NERVE.)

Vail, Crawford co., Ia. (see map of Iowa, ref. 5-D, for location of county), on Chicago and North-western R. R., 126 miles W. of Marshalltown. P. in 1880, 511; in 1885,

645.

Vail (Rt. Rev. THOMAS HUBBARD), S. T. D., LL.D., first bishop of Kansas, b. in Richmond, Va., of New England parents, Oct. 21, 1812. Upon the death of his father, his mother returned to New England. He graduated at Washington (now Trinity) College, Hartford, Conn., 1831, and at the General Theological Seminary, New York, 1835; ordained deacon in St. Mark's church, New Canaan, Conn., June 29, 1835: ordained priest in Grace church, Boston, Mass., Jan. 6, 1837. During the three months following his ordination to the diaconate he officiated in St. James' church, Philadelphia. After this he removed to Boston, and acted temporarily as assistant to Dr. Wainwright, then rector of St. Paul's church. Under Dr. Wainwright's direction he went to Worcester, Mass., and organized All Saints' church. In 1837, at Easter, he became the rector of Christ's church, Cambridge. In 1839 he removed to Connecticut, and became the rector of St. John's church, Essex. In 1844 he removed to Rhode Island, and became the rector of Christ church. Westerly, where he remained fourteen years, during which time he was a deputy to the General Convention from the diocese of Rhode Island, and also a member of the standing committee. In Dec., 1857, he returned to Massachusetts, and became the rector of St. Thomas's church, Taunton. In Nov., 1863, he removed to Iowa, and became the rector of Trinity church, Muscatine. He was consecrated bishop of Kansas in Trinity church, Muscatine, Iowa, Dec. 15, 1864. He wrote The Comprehensive Church, Life of Lyde, with an edition of his poems, Plan and Outline, with selections of books, under many heads, of a Public Library in Rhode Island, etc. President and founder of Bethany College, Topeka, Kan. The twentieth anniversary of his episcopate was celebrated at Topeka 1885. H. G. BATTERSON. See LEVAILLANT (FRANÇOIS). See HINDU PHILOSOPHY, by PROF. JOHN

Vaillant, Le.
Vaiseshika.

Dowsox.

Vaishnavas. The Vaishn'avas are a sect of Hindus, who regard as their peculiar patron, and as the most especial object of their veneration, the second person in the Indian Trimurti-namely, Vishnu. The Vaishnava sect is itself subdivided into almost innumerable sects, all of which are only bound together by the one idea-that, above all other gods of the Hindu pantheon, Vishnu stands supreme. Roughly speaking, these sects of Vaishn'avas may be classed in bulk as the "Northerners" and the "Southerners," according to the ipsissima verba of Hindu theology. But the tone of Vaishnava opinions is constantly changing, and we find the so-called Northerners constantly contending nowadays, in the Deccan and extreme S. of India, with the

231

Southerners. So, in reality, no hard and fast line can be drawn, and no grouping of the hundreds of sects comprising the Vaishn'ava sect can be satisfactorily made. The term Vaishnava is as elastic as that of Christian. Even the mark on the Vaishn'ava's forehead, which is shaped like a trident, cannot invariably be depended upon. One sect prolongs the central prong, so to speak, of the trident to the tip of the nose, and holds that it is necessary to salvation that this should be done. The opposing sect stops short at the eyebrows. Many a bloody feud between Vaishn'avas has arisen on account of this one controversy, with a fervor resembling that when the whole world of Christendom was convulsed about an iota-whether homoousion or homoi-ousion was the orthodox term to use. Then some of the sectarian marks differ in the thickness of the lines; and even that, in the watchful eye of a scrupulous Hindu, is of immense importance. So are also the necklaces and rosaries, the forms of the garments worn, and, above all, the sacred initiatory formula. The Vaishn'ava mark on the forehead is called in Sanskrit the tilaka, and in the Northern vernaculars tilak. In Tamil it is called namam, literally, "the name," or tiru-nâmam, "holy name;" and in fact it is the outward designation of the worshipper of Vishnu. Though in some form or other it is to be seen on the Vaishn'ava's forehead, yet its varieties are so peculiar in the chief six sects of the votaries of Vishnu that we must remark on these differences ere proceeding further. But in passing it should be mentioned that the differences of the sects themselves chiefly consist in the character of the supremacy which they assign to Vishnu as a member of the Trimurti, in the nature of which they believe him to be possessed, in their mode of worship and pious exclamations, and in the light in which they regard their priests and the authority they wield.

The distinctive mark of the Northerners, of which we have spoken, is formed by two white perpendicular streaks, or two streaks converging like the lines of a V from the roots of the hair, across the forehead, to the eyebrows. These streaks are of powdered sandal-wood made into an adhesive paste. From between the eyebrows another white streak is drawn, connecting the lower portion of the V to the tip of the nose, thus making the mark resemble a Y. Some of the sectaries of these sectaries make the line along the nose stop at the middle of its ridge. The streaks of sandal on the forehead are called gopichandana. The Vaishnavas using this mark are sometimes called the "Bengal Vaishn'avas," as they most abound in that province. They also sometimes have the name of Krishna impressed with paint on their foreheads and bodies, and are also to be sometimes distinguished by "a close necklace of tulasî stalk of three strings, and a rosary of 108 or 1000 beads made of the stem of the tulasi. The distinctive mark of the Southerners consists of two white lines of chalk, perpendicular and parallel, from the roots of the hair to the eyebrows, with a streak of similar color joining the base of the lines, and running at right angles to them above the nose. In the middle, between the two perpendicular white lines, is drawn, parallel with them, a line of red paste composed of turmeric and lime, or simple red chalk. The white lines are sometimes traced by means of a fine white clay, much prized by potters. This subdivision of Vaishn'avas pay peculiar regard to the lotus, and often bear on their bodies the representations of it. Like other Vaishn'avas, they hold the basil sacred to Vishnu (the tulasî-i. e. sacred basil). The Vaishn'ava adores Vishnu as the personification of everything lovable, and basil is everywhere the emblem of love. The reader, for instance, will remember

Shelley's lines:

"Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me
Sweet basil and mignonette,

Embleming love and health, which never yet
In the same wreath might be?" etc.

In the great valley of the Ganges we come to the Vaishn'ava sect of the Râmânanda, whose distinctive mark is similar to that of the sect we have just referred to, only the central red mark is made as narrow as possible. The Vaishn'ava followers of Vallabha Archâya bear on their foreheads two parallel perpendicular lines, generally of white, and joined together at the eyebrows with a semicircular line of the same color. Between the parallel lines no other line is drawn, but it is replaced by a dot of red, generally made by a paste composed of turmeric and lime. They smear themselves with black clay, which they mould on their breasts and arms in devices indicating the usual emblems of Vishnu. The Kabir Panthis are a sect of Vaishn'avas who, as a distinctive emblem, adopt the "tilaka" or distinctive mark simply as a form, and are utterly careless as to its size, shape, or color. The last sect of the principal six whose distinctive religious marks need be referred to are the Madhwâchârayas of Central India. "The marks common to them are the symbols of Vishnu upon

the shoulders and breast, and the frontal mark consisting of two perpendicular lines made of the white clay gopichandana, and joined at the root of the nose; but instead of a red line in the centre, they make a straight black charcoal line from incense offered to Nârâyana." This black line terminates at the root of the nose in a red round dot, made of lime-turmeric paste.

So much for the marks on the foreheads of Vaishn'ava Hindus. What do these marks mean? and what is meant by the Saiva marks? One latest-born of ingenious theories is that all such frontal marks, though intended to be distinctive from the first one from the other, were primarily used by the cunning Hindu to draw away any fixed gaze into his eyes from the eyes of another. These extraordinary daubs on the foreheads of men certainly do attract the eye, and at least tempt it to wander from that steady stare of blunt fearless Anglo-Saxon honesty which so few Orientals can face. Some Orientalists consider that the marks signify the weapons of Vishnu; others think that the threefold character of the marks hint at the oneness in the person of Vishnu of the trinity of the Trimûrti. These are merely vague speculations. Of the basis of many Hindu symbols the wisest know nothing. For example, what is the real raison d'être of the gopras? There they stand, those lordly towers, a necessary adjunct of every Hindu temple. But what first prompted the Brahmans to build them? To what especial use were they designed from the very first to be put? We cannot answer such questions; we can at best only offer plausible conjectures. (See Mrs. Belnos, The Sundhya.)

We must now turn our attention to the differences between various Vaishn'ava sects. Let us first take the Northerners. They number more than 45,000,000 in the India of the present day. Two out of three Vaishn'avas in Bengal are of this sect. In the course of such a brief summary as this it is impossible to trace their origin or to refer to more than their most distinctive tenets. The first conspicuous doctrine we come to in the teaching of these “Vadakalei" Vaishavites, is that of bhaghti or bhakti-i, e. “faith." They believe that faith in Vishnu will save more swiftly, surely, and effectually than ever any works can. The virtues of pious meditation and abstraction are not to be compared to the virtues of belief. Knowledge is of little account; faith is all in all. It is good to subjugate the passions, to practise the yoga, to give alms, to be of a mind filled with charity, to call on the sacred name, to wear the sacred symbols on the person, to be honorable, virtuous, and meek; but FAITH is the sole and supreme fount of salvation. And yet these mild Hindus, who worship the Preserver, and believe that by belief alone in the ninetimes-incarnate-One they shall attain heaven, coolly tell their Southern brethren of the Râmânûja sect that the latter cannot be saved unless they lengthen the middle stroke on their foreheads to the tip of their noses! The Southerners naturally reply that the performance of this lengthening of the line as a requisite for salvation is in itself a "work," so that the Northerners are inconsistent with regard to their avowed creed. In older days these theological disputes used to lead to exhibitions of physical force. Temples used to be hurled down, cities depopulated, women and innocent children butchered-all to prove

whether the distinctive central mark of a Vaishnava's forehead should stop at his eyebrows or whether it should elongate itself to the root of his nose!

But, after all, the Northerners must be considered the most liberal. To take a very apt illustration, used by an eminent Orientalist, they are the Protestants of Vaishn'ava theology. They insist on faith as the supreme requisite. They are not so ground down by usages and multitudinous, formule as are the followers of Ramanuja Acharya. The latter are more in the hands of their priests; the former own as their great high priest conscience. The Northerners adhere as much as possible to the simplest tie which can possibly bind them to the worship of Vishnu as a distinetive connecting link-that is, the repetition, the oftener the better, of the name of the god in the person of the greatest of his avatars," KRISHNA! Krishna! Krishna!" Only repeat this, and your worship is complete, and all ceremonial observances are wholly needless. A great prophet of this subdivision of Vaishnavas, Haridas, lived in a jungle-brake for many years, and uttered the holy name 300,000 times a day. But the Southerners have a far grander invocation-one that in the mouth of a Brahman is certainly as fine and pithy and suggestive as any similar adjuration in India. It is, “Om! Râmâya Namâ !” which might be freely translated, "O triple God! by the name of the Incarnate!" This, even if not verbally an accurate translation, elucidates the true inner spirit of the original. It is as an ejaculation only inferior to that marvellous one of the Lama priests of Thibet: Om! Mani Padmé ! Haun!” (See A. Wilson's Abode of Snow.) This Buddhist prayer

is not only one of the oldest, but is certainly the one above all others most frequently offered up in some fashion or other, not excepting our own Lord's Prayer. It means, "God! the jewel in the lotus. Amen!"

But the Northern Vaishn'avas are, in several of their dogmas, more degraded than any other class of their fellowworshippers of Vishnu. Their priests are worshipped by them deliberately. Nay further. They cannot approach to worship their god, Vishnu, unless they first approach and pay divine honors to his priest. They are expressly taught and enjoined to believe that "first the guru (priest) is to be worshipped; then Vishnu is to be worshipped." This servility is fortified by other texts which the Bengal Vaishnava Brahman regards as sacred. One of these is, "When Vishnu is in anger, the priest will protect us; but when the priest is angry, who can deliver us?" Again: "The prayer is made manifest in the priest, and the priest is God himself." It is perfectly plain that, with all their freedom of thought, and belief in faith rather than in ceremonious observances, the Vaishn'ava Bengalis are exceedingly priest-ridden. Still, it must be granted that, if anything, they are freer from superstitious shackles of many kinds than are their brethren of the S. of India, who look upon outward formalities as the kernel of true religion. The Southern Râmânûja Vaishn'avas are especially fond of worshipping Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu. Sità is even a greater favorite with them than Râma, and many a wild orgie is often carried out under the supposed sanetion of the lovely goddess with the fish-bright eyes." No South-Indian Vaishn'ava will allow any one to look on his food whilst he is eating it. A look would be pollution, and he at once would treat it as ordure and bury it out of sight. He believes that Vishnu is the spring, centre, foundation, cause, and creator of all. Matter and spirit unite in him as God and as the Incarnate. In Southern India the Râmânuja Vaishn'avas number many tens of millions, and their temples are amongst the most splendid in India. They are more Vedantist in their bent of religious thought than the Bengal Vaishn'avas, who do not believe in final absorption into the Divine Essence.

We now come to the intermediate sects. The VallabhaÂchâryas are a strong, well-organized sect of Vaishn’avas, and hold their own in Central India against most influences. Their head priests are called mahûrûjas, and some of them -nearly a dozen-live in Bombay. They have made a strange name for themselves as spiritual teachers. (See Kursandas Mulji's work on The Sect of Mahārājas of Western India.) They live the most debased and debauched lives, owing their position purely to their parentage, being utterly without erudition themselves, ready to poison, cheat, forge, lie, or swindle, all under the cloak of religion. Mr. Kursandas Mulji said this, and printed his opinions publiely. A trial for libel was the result. Mr. Kursandas was honorably acquitted. The votaries of this sect of Vaishn'avas are bound to reverence the teacher as God. It is said, "The priest or maharajah is Vishnu himself; he is Krishna incarnate: the true believer must bestow on the priest his body-organs of sense, life, heart, faculties, wife, house, family, property, and all his own self." It need hardly be added that the grossest abuse has been made of this iniquitous and execrable tenet.

The Madhica Acharya sect are numerous amongst the Vaishnavites in the Telugu country. They believe in Vishnu as the great invisible First Spirit, the Prime Cause, the Originator of the Universal, the primeval Sole and Supreme, perfectly good, omnipotent, and of nature totally indescribable. This sect brand themselves with Vaishn'ava symbolic emblems as a preventive against schism. As a part of their worship they demand that virtue shall be invariably practised, alms freely offered, truth always told, and that kindness and protection and courtesy be shown to all men, especially strangers. This sect deny the doctrine of absorption, and so differ in a vital point of doctrine from a large number of their co-religionists. Brahma, they believe, grew out of a lotus, which itself grew out of Vishnu's navel. Their idea of heaven is that of final liberation from future births, and sharing with Vishnu in every respect the glories and felicities of his heaven. The true believer, after ascending thither, will not only be perfectly happy, but will be endued with omnipotence. The sacred color of this sect is a deep saffron. Their supreme authority is the Veda. Their priests pretend to strict asceticism.

The Kabir Panthis are a very numerous sect of Vaishnavas in Northern and Central India. They are strict unitarians, believing in one sole Creator of the universe, perfect in holiness, omnipotent, irresistible, yet with corporeal form: endowed with the three senses or qualities, and embodied by a combination of five elements. All that is good in earth resembles him. The perfect man after death shares equally with Vishnu his perfection of character, blissful

ness, and power. Indeed, God and man are identical. The whole visible creation is also God, begot by the female form, Maya, created by God, to relieve his loneliness and give birth to nature. There are, however, several theories on this point, and Prof. Goldstücker's, which is best known, relies on the most ancient forms of the legend. The Kabir Panthis are very careful to teach that pure morality is the highest good and the way to God. However, one thing should be especially noted: the Kabir Panthis prefer to term the Supreme "the God-Thing," rather than "Vishnu." Indeed, they suppose some infinite, indefinable, omnipotent essence higher than any person of the Trimurti. of the Hindu triad they regard Vishnu as the leading power. It is said that of late years many members of this rather latitudinarian sect have joined the Brahmo Somâj, and thus become pure deists. Of all Vaishn'avas they are certainly regarded as being most liberal, especially as to the truest and best name which may be given by mortals to the Supreme.

But

In conclusion, a few words may be written. They are words which even ripe scholars should take to heart and expatiate upon. It has become the fashion amongst those who have a smattering of Oriental learning to praise Vaishnavas at the expense of Saivas. The worshippers of Siva, say they, adore a remorseless divinity, the Destroyer; but, say they again, Vishnu is the benignant preserver, and his votaries set before themselves a higher example of deity. Nothing of the sort! The Puranas tell us that from his infancy Vishnu was the patron of thieving, and that the god in his manhood was accomplished as a superb liar and very extensive fornicator and adulterer. It is a late myth which assigns to him the duties of preservation, whilst Brahma creates and Siva destroys. He is simply an embodiment of human passion without check. Generous at times, he is cunning and lustful and pro ligal after the Hindu's own heart. In any case, with all his vice and all his magnanimity, he is perhaps the most striking figure in the Hindu pantheon. But, for a god, he is certainly rather diabolical. R. C. CALDWELL.

Valais' [Ger. Wallis], canton of Switzerland, bounded N. by the cantons of Vaud and Berne and S. by Savoy, consists of one valley enclosed by the Bernese and Pennine Alps, which are the highest mountains of Europe, and traversed by the Rhone, which at the western extremity of the valley enters the Lake of Geneva. Area, 2026 sq. m. P. 100,216, of whom 75,000 speak French, 15,000 German, and the rest Italian. They are all Roman Catholies. Cattle-rearing and dairy husbandry are the chief occupations; at the bottom of the valley, where the summer heat is intense and the ground along the river level and fertile, wheat, wine, fine fruits, and excellent vegetables are cultivated with success.

Valc'kenaer (LODEWIJK CASPER), b. at Leeuwarden, Holland, in 1715; studied the classical languages and literatures under Hemsterhuys, and became professor of the Greek language and antiquities at Franeker in 1741; removed in 1766 to Leyden. D. there Mar. 14, 1785. He gave gool editions of various Greek authors, accompanied by excellent notes. His Opuscula Philologica, Critica, Oratoria, were published in 2 vols. in 1808 by Erfurdt.His son, JAN VALCKENAER, b. at Leyden in 1759; studied law, and was appointed professor of jurisprudence, first at Franeker, afterward at Utrecht, but was compelled to leave the country in 1787 as leader of the anti-Oranian party. In 1795 he returned with the French army; became a member of the republican government; went to Spain as ambassador in 1796, and again in 1801, and held various governmental positions until the abdication of King Louis in 1810, when he retired into private life. D. at Haarlem Jan. 25, 1821.

233

him a small circle of congenial friends, with whom he pursued the study of the Bible untrammelled by the interpretations of the Roman Catholic theologians, and wrote commentaries and several religious works, some of which were subsequently printed and secretly circulated. D. at Naples in 1540. After his death his friends, among whom were Peter Martyr, Bernardino Ochino, Vittoria Colonna, and Giulia Gonzaga, were accused by the Inquisition of having formed a sect called "Valdesians," and some of his followers were put to death and others had to take refuge in foreign countries. The books of Valdés and his influence upon religious thought had fallen into almost complete oblivion, when his memory, like that of several other Spanish Reformers, was revived by an English Quaker, Mr. Benjamin B. Wiffen (a brother of the translator of Tasso), who began in 1848 the publication of a series of Reformistas Antiguos Españoles which extended to 20 vols., and included, besides works of Tomas Carrasco and Dr. Juan Perez, several by Valdés-viz. Dos Dialogos (1850), Zineto y Diez Consideraciones (1550; reprinted 1855), Alfabeto Cristiano, from the Italian edition of 1546, with two modern translations in Spanish and English (1861), Dialogo de la Lengua (1546; reprinted 1860), and La Epistola de San Pablo á los Romanos i la I á los Corintios, ambas traduzidas i comentadas (1556; reprinted 1856). The second of these works had been translated into French and Dutch, and had appeared in an English version by Nicholas Ferrar, with the title Considerations on a Religious Life (Oxford, 1638). Mr. Wiffen also published The Life and Writings of Juan de Valdés, otherwise Valdesso, Spanish Reformer in the Sixteenth Century (1865), with a translation from the Italian of his Hundred and Ten Considerations by John T. Betts. Valdés was not a Lutheran, nor did he question any doctrine of the Church, his title to the name of "reformer" resting upon his comprehensive spiritual fellowship with all genuine Christians. (See an elaborate article by Dr. E. Böhmer in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, vol. xvii. (1863), and the same writer's Cenni Biografici sui Fratelli Giovanni e Alfonso di Valdesso (1861).) PORTER C. BLISS.

Valdez (MELENDEZ). See MELENDEZ VALDEZ. Valdie'ri, small town of Northern Italy, province of Cuneo, 2700 feet above the sea in the grand and picturesque valley of the Gessa, about 12 miles S. W. of Cuneo. This town is remarkable for the variety and efficacy of the mineral waters, both cold and hot, which are found near it, but higher up the valley and at a height of 4425 feet above the sea. These baths were known and prized by the ancients, but fell into disuse during the Middle Ages, and first acquired a modern reputation about 1560. They are now very much frequented, especially by Italians, for various affections, such as scrofula, rheumatism, paralysis, osseous tumors, etc., and particularly for diseases of the eye. The muffa (a gelatinous substance found on the rocks) and mud baths are much employed. The marble-quarries of this neighborhood are also very valuable. P. 2700.

Valdi'via, de (PEDRO), b. in Spain about 1505; served with credit as a soldier in Italy, participating in the battle of Pavia 1527; accompanied Pizarro to Peru as one of his captains 1532: took part in the conquest of Venezuela 1535; aided Pizarro in his civil war with Almagro, contributing largely to the decisive victory over the latter Apr. 6, 1538; was rewarded with the assignment of the province of Chili, previously conferred upon Almagro; led an expedition thither, and effected the conquest of that region 1540: founded the cities of Santiago Feb. 12, 1541, and Coquimbo 1544; was recalled to Peru by the troubles consequent upon the murder of Francisco Pizarro; took part at first with Gonzalo Pizarro against the viceroy Blanco Nuñez de Vela (1546), but subsequently aided President la Gasca in suppressing the rebellion of Gonzalo; was appointed captain-general of Chili and all the regions S. of Peru which he might be able to conquer (1548); made a series of daring campaigns in Southern Chili (1550), where he founded the cities of Concepcion, Villa Imperial, Villa Rica, and Valdivia (1551), and gained

P. 6789.

Valdegamas. See Doxoso CORTÉS.

Valdepe'ñas, town of Spain, province of Ciudad Real, is celebrated for its red wine, which is considered the best produced in Spain. P. 13,876.

Valdés, de (JAN), b. at Cuenca, Spain, about 1500, of a noble and wealthy family, and was early introduced at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella: after serving a short time as camarero to Pope Adrian VI. (1522), joined the imperial service in Germany, where he became a convert to the Reformation; took up his residence at Naples; was for a time secretary to the king, and gathered around

taken prisoner by them and put to death in 1559.

Valdosta, cap. of Lowndes co., Ga. (see map of Georgia, ref. 7-H, for location of county), on Savannah Florida and Western R. R., 147 miles S. W. of Savannah. P. in 1870, 1199; in 1880, 1515.

Valeg'gio sul Min'cio, town of Italy, province of Verona, about 5 miles E. of Villafranca, on the Mincio. Within the town there are some noteworthy public and private buildings, and also some valuable works of art. In the Palazzo Nuvolini (formerly Maffei) Carlo Alberto lodged in 1848, also Napoleon III. in 1859 after the battle of Solferino. Near Valeggio sul Mincio may be seen the ruins of the famous bridge of Borghetto (rather a causeway),