Valhalla
. See Odin
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: V (3)
Each of these 10 subjects appears in only one of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. None is long enough to carry a page by itself, so they are gathered here by letter. Anything that grows moves out to a page of its own.
Valkyrior
. See Choosers Of The Slain
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Valla
LORENZO DELLA, an Italian humanist; born presumably in Rome in 1407; studied Greek and Latin under the leading masters; and having failed to succeed to an uncle's post of apostolic secretary, took orders (1431), and accepted the chair of Latin eloquence at Pavia. About this time his "Elegance of the Latin Language" (Rome, 1444) established him as the supreme authority on Latin style; and having lectured successively at Milan, Genoa, and Florence, he received from Alfonso V. of Naples a private secretaryship along with the poet's crown (1437). The feud between Rome and Aragon made Alfonso glad to secure so fierce an opponent of the papal see as Valla, who in "The Forgery of the Donations of Constantine" (1440) assailed Pope and cardinals, and demolished a lie imposed upon Christendom for centuries. The storm excited by this treatise drove Valla awhile to Barcelona, but returning to Naples he continued his assaults, impeaching the Vulgate's Latinity, the authenticity of the Apostles' Creed, and of Christ's letter to Abgarus; and when cited before the Inquisition, declaring the Church knew nothing yet he believed with her. Pope Nicholas V., however, succeeding Eugenius in 1447, summoned Valla to Rome, and made him secretary; and he passed his remaining years in translating from the Greek, and in furious literary feuds with Poggio, Trapezuntios, and others among his compeers. He died in Naples, Aug. 1, 1457, leaving behind him Latin translations of Herodotus, Thucydides, and the "Iliad," "Notes on the New Testament," etc.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Vallandigham
CLEMENT LAIRD, an American politician; born in New Lisbon, O., July 29, 1820; was a member of Congress in 1858-1863, and during the Civil War was a strong friend of the Southern Confederacy. He was arrested in May, 1863, by United States troops, on a charge of uttering disloyal sentiments; was tried by court martial; and sentenced to confinement till the end of the war. This was afterward commuted to banishment to the Confederate received there, he went to Canada. the same year he was nominated as candidate for governor of Ohio, and was beaten by the largest majority ever given in that State. He was a member of the Democratic National Convention in 1864, at which General McClellan was nominated for the presidency. He died in Lebanon, O., June 17, 1871.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Vallejo
city of a Solano co., Cal.; on the N. E. shore of San Pablo Bay, at the mouth of Napa creek, and on the Southern Pacific and the San Francisco, Napa and Calistoga railroads; opposite Mare Island navyyard, 27 miles N. N. E. of San Francisco. It has a large and safe harbor, accessible to the largest ships. Here are a high school, public library, Orphans' Home, banks, electric lights, waterworks, and several daily and weekly newspapers . The city has flour mills, shipyards , shoe factories, manufactories of steam engines, cement, boilers, elevators, etc. Pop. (1910) 11,340; (1920) 21,107.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Valleyfield
a town in Beau- Lawrence river and on the Grand Trunk and the St. Lawrence and Adirondack railways; 38 miles from Montreal. Near by is the head of Beauharnois canal, constructed past the rapids of St. Lawrence. The river here is crossed by a splendid railway bridge. The town contains a cathedral, a number of beautiful public buildings, and the residence of a Roman Catholic bishop. Pop. about 10,000.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Vallombrosa
a celebrated valley in the Apennines about eighteen miles southeast of Florence. The name is Italian, meaning "shady valley." The Abbey of St. Benedict is situated here. It occupies beautiful buildings. During the French Revolution it became a place of refuge for French priests. The abbey was pillaged by Napoleon in 1808. It is now occupied by the Italian government as a school of forestry. The valley is noted for its beautiful scenery. It is visited annually by thousands of tourists for whose accommodation numerous hotels have been built. Milton touches on the beauty of the vale in his well known quotation: Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High over-arch'd imbower.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Valtelline
the rich and fertile valley of the Upper Adda down to its influx into the Lake of Como. In a wider sense the term covers the whole of that part of Lombardy which includes this valley as well as Chiavenna and Bormio, corresponding to the modern province of Sondrio. The 120,000 inhabitants speak a dialect of Italian akin to the Romansch. In the 16th century the district became subject to the Swiss canton of Grisons; the latter, however, steadily resisted the efforts of the Val tellines to secure citizenship, which resulted in the bloody Valtelline war (1620). The Grisons was victorious, and governed the Valtelline more oppressively than ever, till at the petition of the inhabitants Napoleon incorporated the country with the Cisalpine republic, and the Valtelline has since shared the fortunes of Lombardy and Italy.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Valve
a kind of movable lid or cover adapted to the orifice of some tube or passage, and so formed as to open communication in one direction and to close it in the other, used to regulate the admission or escape of a fluid, such as water, gas, or steam. Some valves are self-acting, that is, they are so contrived as to open in the required direction by the pressure of the fluid on their surface, and immediately to shut and prevent the return of the fluid when the direction of its pressure changes. Others are actuated by independent external agency. Examples of the former kind are presented in the valves of pumps, and in the safety the safety valves of steam boilers, and of the latter in the slide-valves appended to the cylinder of a steam engine for the purpose of regulating the admission and escape of the steam. The construction of valves admits of an almost endless variety.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Vambery
ARMINIUS, or HER- MANN, a Hungarian traveler and Orientalist; born in Szerdahely, Hungary, March 19, 1832. Escaping from the tailor's bench to which his family would have condemned him, he succeeded amid much privation and hardship in laying the foundations of wide linguistic scholarship, first under the Piarists of St. Georgen near Pressburg, and afterward at Vienna and Pest. He was a strong believer in the regenerative power of Western civilization and was almost as strongly a partisan of English as opposed to Russian influence. Besides the narrative of his great great journey, jo which appeared in German, English, and Hungarian, in 1865, he published "German- Turkish Dictionary" (1858); "Abuschka: Turkish - Hungarian Dictionary (1861); "A Study of the Turkish Language" (1867); "Sketches in Central Asia" (1867); "Central Asian and Anglo-Russian Frontier Question" (Lond. 1874); "Ethics of the East" (Berl. 1876); "Etymological Dictionary of the Turco-Tartar Tongue" (Leip. 1877). He died in 1913.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia