Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/187

VAMPIRE BAT 157 VAN BURBN involuntarily become a vampire by him- resigned the presidency of Columbia self falling a victim to one, or merely University on being nominated mayor by a cat or a bird accidentally crossing of New York, Dr. Van Amringe was acting president of the university till the election, in January, 1902, of Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler. He is the author of a revised edition of Davies' "Legendre." He died in 1915. VANBRTTGH (van-bro'), SIR JOHN, an English architect and dramatist; born his corpse before its burial. VAMPIRE BAT, a name formerly given to Vaynpyrus spectrum. Also any species of the group Desmodontes, con- sisting of two genera, each represented by a single species. They differ from all other bats in the character of denti- tion, the upper incisors being very large, about 1666; educated partly in England trenchant, and occupying the whole and partly in France. He entered the space between the canines; premolars army, became well known in London as very narrow, with sharp-edged longi- a man of fashion, and then turned tudinal crowns; molars rudimentary or his attention to play-writing. His first none; oesophagus very narrow; cardiac play, "The Relapse," was brought out extremity of stomach greatly elongated, at Drury Lane about 1697, and was fol- forming a long, narrow caecum. The lowed by "The Provoked Wife," and species are sanguivorous, and cling by "^sop." The first two of these had all their extremities to the body of the ani- the wit and most of the freedom of treat- mal whose blood they may be sucking. VAN, a town of Armenia, on Lake Van; the capital once of an Armenian kingdom, near the S. E. shore of Lake Van; 145 miles S. E. of Erzerum; pop. ment which characterized that period, but "jEsop" was moral and dull, and therefore unsuccessful. How he obtained his knowledge off architecture is not known, but at this time (1702) Van- brugh designed Castle Howard, the seat about 30,000.-yAN Lake, a salt-water ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^f Carlisle. Afterward he l%¥«no^^* above sea-level; area entered with Congreve into a speculation about _1 600 square miles;_ it contains ^o build a great theater at the W. end of many islands and has no visible outlet. VANADIUM, in chemistry, a metallic pentad element, discovered by Sefstrom great London, in which he was his own archi- tect; but it did not prove a success. In 1706 he was commissioned by Queen in 1830, in the refinery slag of the iron Anne to present the garter to the Elector ores of Taberg, in Sweden; symbol, V; at. wt. 51.2. It is extracted from the finely pulverized slag by defagrating with niter and sodic carbonate, jigesting the fused mass with a saturates solution of sal-ammoniac, and igniting rie prod- uct in an open vessel. On heating the mass with potassium, and washing with water, pure vanadium is obtained as a brilliant metallic powder, having a sil- ver-white luster. It is non-volatile, -does not tarnish in the air, burns vividly of Hanover, and the same year he was occupied with the erection of Blenheim Palace. This work got him into con- siderable pecuniary trouble, as Parlia- ment, which voted it, voted nothing for its payment. He built many other man- sions for the nobility; in 1714 he was knighted by George I.; in the following year appointed controller of the royal works, and in 1716 surveyor of Green- wich Hospital. Vanbrugh's plays are admirable in dramatic conception as well when heated in oxygen, is insoluble in as in wit, and his architectural works received the approval of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He died in London, March 26, 1726. VAN BITREN, MARTIN, an Ameri- can statesman; 8th President of the United States; born in Kinderhook, N. Y., Dec. 5, 1782. He became office boy to the village lawyer, studied hard, and was called to the bar in 1803. Long before this, however, he had developed a precocious interest in politics, and at the age of 18 was already member of a nominating convention. In 1812 and 1816 he was elected to the State Senate, in 1860; was tutor of mathematics there and in 1815-1819 he was State attorney- in 1860-1863; adjunct professor of the general. In 1821 he entered the United same in 1864-1873; then was made full States Senate, of which he was a mem- professor. In 1894 he was elected dean ber till his election in 1828 to the gov- of the School of Arts. When Seth Low ernorship of New York. In the same Cyc 11 Vol. X hydrochloric acid, dissolves slowly in hydrofluoric acid, but very rapidly in nitric acid, forming a blue solution. It forms five oxides, analogous to the oxides of nitrogen, and three chlorides, viz., the dichloride, the trichloride, and the tetrachloride. The addition of metallic vanadium in very small quanti- ties to chromium steel and other steels imparts to them a superior degree of tensile strength and elasticity. VAN AMRINGE, JOHN HOWARD, an American educator; was graduated at Columbia College (now University)