U

VAB

or u, the 20th letter and 5th vowel of our alphabet, is formed in the voice by a round configuration of the lips, and a greater extrusion of the under one than in forming the letter o, and the tongue is also more cannulated. The sound is short in curst, must, tun, tub; but is lengthened by a final e, as in tune, tube, &c. In some words it is rather acue than long; as in brute, flute, lute, &c. It is mostly long in polysyllables; as in union, curious, &c. but in some words it is obscure, as in nature, venture, &c. This letter in the form of V, or v, is properly a consonant, and as such is placed before all the vowels; as in vacant, venal, vibrate, &c. Though the letters v and u had always two sounds, they had only the form v till the beginning of the fourth century, when the other form was introduced, the inconvenience of expressing two different sounds by the same letter having been observed long before. In numerals V stands for five; and with a dash added at top, thus V, it signifies 5000. In abbreviations, amongst the Romans, V. A. stood for veterani assignati; V. B. viro tone; V. B, A. viri boni arbitratu; V. B. F. vir bone fidei, V. C. vir consularis; V. C. C. F. vale conjux charissime, feliciter; V. D. D. voto dedicatur; V. G. verbi gratia; Vir. Ve. virgo vestulis; VL. videlicet; V. N. quinto nona

rum.

VABRES, a town of France, in the department of Aveiron. Though an episcopal see before the revolution, it is little better than a village; but has some manufactures of serges, dimities, and cottons. It is seated at the confluence of two small rivers that fall into the Tarn, 30 miles S. E. of Rodez, and 32 E. of Alby. Lon. 2. 55 E. Lat. 43. 57 N. VOL. XI.-PART II.

VAC

VACANCY. s. (from vacant.) 1. Empty space; vacuity (Shaks.). 2. Chasm; space unfilled (Watts). 3. State of a post or employment when it is unsupplied (Ayliffe). 4. Tine of leisure; relaxation; intermission ; time unengaged (Watts). 5. Listlessness; emptiness of thought (Wotion).

VA'CANT. a. (vacant, Fr. vacans, Lat.) 1. Empty; unfilled; void (Boyle). 2. Free; unencumbered; uncrowded (More). 3. Not filled by an incumbent, or possessor (Swift). 4. Being at leisure; disengaged (Clarendon). 5. Thoughtless; empty of thought; not busy.

To VA'CATE. v. n. (vaco, Latin.) 1. To annul; to make void; to make of no authority (Nelson). 2. To make vacant; to quit possession of. 3. To defeat; to put an end to (Dryden).

VACATION. s. (vacatio, Latin.) 1. Intermission of juridical proceedings, or any other stated employments; recess of courts or senates (Cowell). 2. Leisure; freedom from trouble or perplexity (Hammond).

VA CARY. s. (vacca, Latin.) A cowhouse; a cow-pasture (Bailey).

VACCINATION, in medicine, the process of inoculating a person with the virus of the disease, called vaccina, or cow-pox, in order to render him incapable of being infected by the small-pox; thus employing a milder disease as an antidote to a severer.

This may be regarded as one of the most im portant discoveries of modern times, and al though strenuously opposed and decried by individuals in most countries, has met with all the support and countenance from all the governments of every part of the globe to which it is entitled. Under the article INOCULATION WO have entered at some length into the history and praxis of this admirable preservative, and have

B