Vanadium
in chemistry, a metallic pentad element, discovered by Sefstrom in 1830, in the refinery slag of the iron ores of Taberg, in Sweden; symbol, V; at. wt. 51.2. It is extracted from the finely pulverized slag by defiagrating with niter and sodic carbonate, digesting the fused mass with a saturated solution of sal-ammoniac, and igniting the product in an open vessel. On heating the mass with potassium sium, and washing with water, pure vanadium is obtained as a brilliant metallic powder, having a silver-white luster. It is non-volatile, does not tarnish in the air, burns vividly when heated in oxygen, is insoluble in 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 quantities to chromium steel and other steels imparts to them a superior degree of tensile strength and elasticity .
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Vance
ZEBULON BAIRD, an American lawyer; born in Buncombe co., at Washington College, Tenn., and at the University of North Carolina, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. He was member of Congress from North Carolina in 1858-1861; colonel in the Confederate army in the Civil War; governor of North Carolina in 1862-1865, and 1877-1879; and United States Senator from 1879 till his death in Washington, D. C., April 14, 1894.
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Vancouver, George
van-koo'ver, George (1758-1798), an English sailor. He saw service under the famous Captain Cook on his second and third voyages. On his return to England he was made a first lieutenant . In 1790 he was sent out by the English government to search for a northwest passage. During this voyage he surveyed the Pacific coast of North America as far north as Cook's Inlet. On his return to England he published an account of his voyage under the title of A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World in the Years 1790-5. His name has been perpetuated in Vancouver Island and the city of Vancouver, British Columbia , and in Vancouver, Washington.
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Vandal
one of the Slavonic or Teutonic tribes who inhabited the banks of the , Oder and the sea coasts of Pomerania and Mecklenburg, about A. D. 250. At the beginning of the 5th century they traversed the Rhine, the Rhône, and the Pyrenees, and founded a powerful kingdom in Spain. They afterward passed into Africa under their king, Genseric, 429, and after a career of conquest on that continent, during which they had embraced Christianity, Carthage fell under their victorious arms, Oct. 9, 439. Here they commenced the formation of a powerful navy, and fitted out an expedition against Rome, which they sacked June 15-29, 455. Having embraced the Arian heresy in 530, they carried on a cruel persecution against the members of the orthodox faith. Their rule in Africa was destroyed by Belisarius, and the entire nation had disappeared from that continent 558. Hence, a person ignorant and barbarous, and hostile to the progress of the arts and literature.
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Vanderbilt University
an American educational institution in Nashville, Tenn., originally founded under the name of Central University in 1873. It was the outgrowth of a movement in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for higher education. When the first endeavor to secure the means for its establishment was unsuccessful, and the movement seemed to fail entirely, Cornelius Vanderbilt, of New York City, donated $500,000, in consideration of which the institution was named Vanderbilt University. Later Mr. Vanderbilt increased his gift to $1,- 000,000, and his son, William H. Vanderbilt, gave sums amounting in all to $450,000. The university has seven distinct departments, including the academic, medical, theological pharmaceutical, law, dental, and engineering. Reports at the close of 1919 showed: Professors and instructors, 145; students, 785; funds, $1,300,000; president, J. H. Kirkland, LL. D., Ph. D.
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Vanderbilt, Cornelius
Cornelius (1794-1877), the founder of an American family of millionaires. He was born in New York City and died there. When a mere lad he began life by carrying passengers and garden truck between New York and Staten Island . Later he became a steamboat captain and finally the manager and owner of numerous steamship lines between New York and Albany. He also established a line plying to Havre, France. During the gold excitement of California he is said to have made $10,000,000 carrying passengers to the new Eldorado by way of the Isthmus of Nicaragua. Having laid the foundation of his fortune as a steamship owner, "Commodore" Vanderbilt became interested in railroads. He was a heavy stockholder in the New York Central. Under his management the system extended its control as far westward as Chicago, absorbing the Lake Shore and Michigan Central railroads. He is thought to have built up a fortune of not less than $100,000,000. He gave $1,000,000 to Vanderbilt University, a Methodist college situated at Nashville, Tennessee. His oldest son, William Henry, inherited the management of the family property. He extended the Vanderbilt system of railroads, endowed the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, and died in 1885, it was said the richest man in the world. Cornelius Vanderbilt was married twice. The family roll call of the dead and the living January 1, 1906, included twelve children, twenty-nine grandchildren, thirty-four great-grandchildren, and twenty-two great-great-grand-children.
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Vandergrift
a borough of Pennsylvania, in Westmoreland co., about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh , on the Pennsylvania railroad. One of the largest sheet steel plants in the world is located here. Pop. (1910) 3,878 ; (1920) 9,531.
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Vanderlip
FRANK ARTHUR, an New American banker and financier, born in Aurora, Ill., on November 17, 1864. He was reared on a farm and attended a country school only until fifteen, though later he studied at the University of Chicago. As a lad he worked in a machine shop, then became a newspaper reporter and, in 1890, financial editor of the Chicago "Tribune." In 1894, he became associate editor of the Chicago "Economist." Three years later Lyman Gage, then Secretary of the United States Treasury, made him his private secretary; but so conspicuous was his ability that President McKinley appointed him Assistant Treasurer of the United States. From this position he resigned in 1901 to become vice-president of the National City Bank of New York, of which institution he was president 1909-1919 . He was a director in many corporation and a trustee of the Carnegie Foundation, New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, etc. During the participation of the United States in in the World War he was chairman of the War Savings' Commission and personally conducted the sale of the War Savings' Certificates . He traveled extensively in Europe and the Far East since the war and was considered one of the greatest experts on world finance. He was the author of "The American Commercial Invasion of Europe" (1907); "Business and Education" (1907); and "Business and Politics" (1915); "Political Problems of Europe" pe" (1920), besides many articles in financial and economic publications.
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