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VANILLA 164 VAN BENSSELAER station ; was rapidly promoted till he was made general superintendent of the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern rail- way in 1872. Later he successively held the same post on the Southern Minne- sota, the Chicago and Alton, and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- roads. In 1880 he was made general manager, and in 1888, president of the Canadian Pacific railway. He was created an honorary K. C. M. G. by Queen Victoria in May, 1894, in recog- nition of his eminent public services. He died in 1915. VANILLA, a genus of epiphytal OrcMdex, natives of tropical America and Asia. They are distinguished from most other orchids by their climbing habit; they cling with their aerial roots to the stems of trees or to rocks, attain the height of 20 or 30 feet, and obtain their chief sustenance from the atmos- phere. There are about 20 species com- prised in the genus. The flowers are thick, fleshy, and fragrant, but dull in color. Vanilla is remarkable among or- chids as possessing the only species of the order that has any economical value. From the fruit of several species the vanilla of commerce is obtained, the best being produced by the West Indian spe- cies, V. planifolia, which is now culti- vated in many tropical countries. The fruit is cylindrical, about a span long, and less than half an inch thick. It is gathered before it is fully ripe, dried in the shade, and steeped in a fixed oil, generally that of the cashew nut. It contains within its tough pericarp a soft black pulp, in which many minute black seeds are imbedded. It has a strong, peculiar, agreeable odor, and a warm, sweetish taste. Benzoic acid is some- times so abundant in it as to effloresce in fine needles. Vanilla is much used by perfumers, and also for flavoring choco- late, pastry, sweetmeats, ices, and liquors. Balsam of Peru is sometimes used as a substitute for it. When the fruit of vanilla is fully ripe a liquid exudes from it. Vanilla has ripened its fruit in British hothouses, but the flow- ers are apt to fall off without fruit be- ing produced, unless care is taken to secure it by ai'tificial impregnation. This is, in some measure, the case even in India and in some parts of America it- self. VANLOO, JEAN BAPTISTE {vong- 16'), a member of a family originally Flemish, in which a love of art seemed indigenous; born in Aix in Provence, in 1684. He painted successively at Nice, Toulon, and Aix, visited Genoa and Turin, and was sent by the Prince of Carignano, son-in-law of the Duke of Savoy, to study at Rome under Bene- detto Luti. After a further residence at Turin, he proceeded in 1719 to Paris, and speedily acquired a great reputation as a portrait painter. He was made a member of the Academy in 1731, and Professor of Painting in 1735; and visited London, where he painted Colly Cibber and Sir Robert Walpole. He died in Aix, Dec. 19, 1745. Charles Andre Vanloo, his younger brother, was born in Nice, Feb. 15, 1705. He also studied at Rome under Benedetto Luti, and then settled in Paris, but later returned to Rome. At Turin he painted for the King of Sardinia a series of subjects illustrative of Tasso, after which he returned to Paris, and was appointed in 1735 a member of the Acad- emy, and later a knight of the order of St. Michael, and chief painter to the king. He died in Paris, July 15, 1765. VANNES (van), a seaport town of France; capital of the department of Morbihan in Brittany; at the mouth of a tributary of the Gulf of Morbihan; 3 miles from the sea. The cathedral (13th to 15th centuries) is the most im- portant edifice; but the town possesses also an old House of Parliament and many carved houses, and a rich museum of Celtic antiquities. Manufactures of woolens and ropes and some shipbuild- ing are carried on; and the small port has some trade. Pop. about 20,000. VAN RENSSELAER, HENRY KIL- lAN, an American patriot of Dutch de- scent; born in Albany, N. Y., in 1744; commanded a regiment in the Revolu- tionary War; distinguished himself on several occasions; and in October, 1777, aided in the actions which led to the sur- render of Burgoyne. After the peace a famous mutiny broke out among his troops. He died in Greenbush, N. Y., Sept, 9, 1816. VAN RENSSELAER, MRS. MAR. ANA (Griswold), an American art critic; born in New York City, Feb. 23, 1851. She contributed largely to cur- rent periodicals on art and architecture, and published the valuable books: "Art Out of Doors"; "English Cathedrals"; "American Etchers" (1886) ; "Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works" i (1888) ; and "One Man Who Was Con- tent, and Other Stories." She died in 1914. VAN RENSSELAER, STEPHEN, an American military officer; born in New York, Nov. 1, 1764; was graduated at Harvard College in 1782; elected to the New York Assembly as a Federalist in 1789; was a State Senator in 1791-1796;