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VITBE 240 VIVISECTION VITRE, an ancient town of Brittany, in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine ; on the Vilaine; 24 miles E. of Rennes. It is partly surrounded with ramparts, and contains the ruined castle of the Tre- mouilles. Rochers, the residence of Ma- dame de Sevigne, is 3% miles S. Manu- factures of cloth and hats are carried on. Pop. about 10,000. VITRIOL, a commercial name for sulphuric acid, and for several salts which that acid forms. The term vitriol was in common use among the alche- mists, and was derived from vitrium, "glass," on account. of the glassy appear- ance and transparency of copperas or green vitriol (the sulphate of iron). From copperas the alchemists prepared a strong sulphuric acid by distillation, whence also the acid was termed the oil of vitriol. In addition to these there is yet commercially known blue vitriol, which is a sulphate of copper, and white vitriol, the sulphate of zinc (zinci sul- phas of the "Pharmacopoeia") much used in medicine. VITBUVnJS, POLLIO,a Roman archi- tect of the age of Augustus; celebrated as the author of the only Latin treatise on architecture which has come down to modern times. Of the details of his life but little is known, and that little is due to incidental allusions in his own work. That he was fairly well acquainted with Greek and Latin literature; that he served as a military engineer in Africa; that he obtained the direct patronage of the reigning emperor (Augustus, ac- cording to the consent of modern schol- ars, but Titus, according to an older opinion advocated by Newton) ; and that he composed his treatise in his old age to guide the judgment of his patron in mat- ters of architecture — are the principal facts that are thus preserved. The "Architecture" was probably completed 14 B. c. Besides the subjects strictly in- cluded under the title, it treats of water and aqueducts, sundials and machines. The style is a very bad one; at times perplexingly diffuse, and again as per- plexingly curt, with an almost total ab- sence of true literary grace; but the matter is of great value as being largely an epitome of treatises by Greek ar- chitectural writers. The authoritative MSS. are the Harleian of the 9th cen- tury and the Gordianus of the 11th. The first edition was by Sulpicius at Rome between 1484 and 1492; and the best of recent editions is by Reber (Stuttgart, 1864). VITUS, ST., a reputed martyr under Diocletian, the son of a Sicilian pagan, but converted by his nurse Crescentia and her husband Modestus. All three perished together, in Lucania, or at Rome, the festival falling on June 15. The relics of St. Vitus are preserved at Corbey and at Prague. He is invoked against sudden death, hydrophobia, pro- longed sleep, and the complaint common- ly called the chorea or dance of St. Vi- tus; some authorities make him also the patron of comedians and dancers. It is said that in Germany in the 17th cen- tury it was a popular belief that good health for a year could be bought by bringing gifts to his image and dancing before it on his festival — a practice espe- cially in vogue at his chapels at Ulm and Ravensburg. VITUS' DANCE, ST. See CHOREA. VIVIANI, RENE, a French states- man, born in Sidi-bel-Abbis, Algeria, in 1863. Having finished his education, he became an associate editor of the "Petite Republique," then was elected by the So- cialists of Paris to the Chamber of Dep- uties. In 1893 he became Minister of Agriculture in the Clemenceau Cabinet, and when Clemenceau created the De- partment of Labor he made Viviani its chief. After the reorganization of the Cabinet under Briand, Viviani remained as one of the members. In 1914 he be- came Minister of Instruction in the Cabi- net of Gaston Doumergue, which re- signed in June, whereupon Viviani was called upon to form a Cabinet, of which he was Premier and Minister of For- eign ■ Affairs. After the outbreak of hostilities he retained the position of President of the Council of Ministers, without portfolio. In the latter part of October, 1915, Viviani and his Cabi- net resigned, because of opposition to the Allied policy in the Balkans, though no vote of lack of confidence was actually passed in the Chamber. Briand suc- ceeded Viviani as Premier, but the lat- ter remained in the new Cabinet as Min- ister of Foreign Affairs, holding various other portfolios in later cabinets. In 1917 he was a member of Marshal Joffre's party sent to the United States by the French Government, and in the spring of 1921 he again came on an of- ficial mission to this country. VIVISECTION, a term denoting, in its strict signification, the dissection of living animals, but popularly employed to denote the practice of performing op- erations with the knife on living animals, with the view (1) of increasing physio- logical knowledge; (2) of converting speculative into positive conclusion; and (3) of acquiring manual dexterity in operative surgery. In this last sense vivisection is principally confined to the