Vulcan (Astronomy astronomy the name)
in astronomy, astronomy, the name given to a planet, imaginary or real, between the Sun and Mercury. On March 26, 1859, M. Lescarbault, a village physician of Orgères, Eure-et-Loire, France, saw, or fancied that he saw, a small dark planet-like body pass across the sun's disk. In September the alleged discovery reached Leverrier, who eagerly grasped it, as he had previously come to the conclusion that the motions of Mercury were affected by the perturbation of a planet between it and the sun. He even went so far as hypothetically to calculate the elements of the new planet. M. Liais stated that he was examining the sun at the very moment of M. Lescarbault's supposed discovery, and was certain that no dark body passed across the disk. The planet was called by anticipation Vulcan, but its existence still remains unconfirmed though M. Porro and M. Wolf of Zurich reported seeing its transit in 1876.
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Vulcan (Mythology the Roman god)
in mythology, the Roman god of fire and the patron of all metallic handicrafts; the son of Jupiter and Juno, and identical with the the Greek Hephæstus. Being extremely ugly and deformed, Juno, ashamed to own such a child, dropped him from heaven, when the infant god, falling into the sea, was rescued and adopted by Thetis, who kept him till nine years of age. He was then restored to his parents. Soon after his return to Olympus, Vulcan took his mother's part in one of the quarrels between husband and wife; Jupiter, enraged at Vulcan's audacity, flung him from heaven. After traveling a whole day, the youth alighted on the island of Lemnos, breaking his ankle in the fall; here he raised forges and workshops, and became the chief of artificers; some poets, however, fix his workshop on Olympus, another on Etna, where Cyclops were his ministers and chief as sistants, by whose aid he fabricated all the great works attributed to him. He fashioned Pandora, and had Venus given him for his wife, by whom he was father of Cupid. Vulcan is represented bearded, covered with dust and soot, and blowing the fires of his forges, or else in the act of forging Jove's thunderbolts.
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Vulcanization
the act or process of vulcanizing, or of treating caoutchouc or india-rubber with some form of sulphur, to effect certain changes in its properties; as to render it insensible to atmospheric changes, increase its durability, and adapt it for various purposes in the arts. This was originally effected by dipping the rubber in melted sulphur and heating it to nearly 300°. Several other methods have been employed. The substance thus formed is elastic at all temperatures, cannot be dissolved by the ordinary solvents, and resists the effects of heat within a considerable range of temperature. Vulcanized india-rubber is largely used for many useful purposes, as for water-proofing cl cloth, for boots, shoes, mats, toys, belting, buffers, wheel-tires, washers, valves, pipes, firehose, medical and surgical appliances, etc.
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Vulcanus
Known to the Greeks as Hephaestus . The god who presided over fire and who was the patron of those who worked in iron. According to Homer he was the son of Jupiter and Juno , and was so deformed that at his birth his mother threw him into the sea, where he remained nine years; but other writers differ from this opinion. He married Venus at the instigation of Jupiter. He is known by the name of Mulciber. The Cyclopes were his attendants, and with them he forged the thunderbolts of Jupiter.
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Vulpius
CHRISTIAN AUGUST (völ'pe-us), a German writer; born in Weimar, Germany, Jan. 23, 1762. He a was brother-in-law of Goethe, under whose direction he became secretary of the court theater at Weimar. He published: "Rinaldo Rinaldini" (1797), a robber romance; "Dramatic Histories of Former Times"; and a number of dramatic works. He was subsequently first librarian and overseer of the cabinet of coins at Weimar. He died in Weimar, June 26, 1827.
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Vultur
A mountain dividing Apulia and Lucania near Venusia, and is a branch of the Apennines. It is celebrated by Horace as one of the haunts of his youth. From it the southeast wind was called Vulturnus by the Romans. Xanthippe or Xantippe. The wife of Socrates , remarkable for her ill-humor and fretful disposition. She was a constant torment to her husband, and on one occasion, after bitterly reviling him, she emptied a vessel of dirty water on him, on which the philosopher coolly remarked, "After thunder, rain generally falls."
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