V

Vacuum

44; 155; 197; 356; 363; 428; 556

Vampire

425; Hungarian, 728

Vampyr of Covent Garden

117; Gothick novel Mason names to Maskelyne

Vane, Sir Henry (1613-62) (The Younger)

To Sr Henry Vane The Younger
by John Milton (1645)

Vane, young in yeares, but in sage counsell old,
Then whome a better Senatour nere held
The helme of Rome, when gownes not armes repelld
The feirce Epeirot & the African bold,

Whether to settle peace, or to unfold
The drift of hollow states, hard to be spelld,
Then to advise how warr may best, upheld,
Move by her two maine nerves, Iron & Gold

In all her equipage; besides to know
Both spirituall powre & civill, what each meanes
What which each thou hast learnt, which few have don.

The bounds of either sword to thee wee ow.
Therfore on thy firme hand religion leanes
In peace, & reck'ns thee her eldest son.

Varna, Battle of

The 1444 campaign the King of Hungary, Ulaszlo I, launched against the Turks (the "infidels") in an attempt to drive them out of Europe. The Christian army was utterly destroyed; lost by Caesarini, 591

Vasquez Brothers

477; have Marimba Quartet on M-D Line crew; 546

Vaucanson, Jacques de (1709-82)

372; He actually did make a mechanical Duck that could eat and excrete. Perhaps his most significant automata were his automatic looms, because years later, Jacquard would invent the punched card so as to program Vaucanson's looms; 450; 668; See also Duck; [More]

Vector of Desire

96; how DePugh LeSpark describes a telescope; [Eymological Musings]

Veery Brothers

289; Cosmo & Damian, professional effigy-makers in Philadelphia

Veevle

53; on crew of Seahorse

Vendue

511; an auction; 682

Venus

27; 137; 138; "from a Machine" 668

Verger

8; church caretaker

Vesuvius, Mt.

235

Vineland

633; 634

Vinovium

218

Vis centrifuga

555; Latin: "centrifugal force"

Vis Fulgoris

685; Latin: "power of lightning"

Vis Inertiae

708; Latin: "power of inertia"

Vis Martis

765; Latin: "power of Mars"

Visto

234; To facilitate sighting and marking, the surveyors employed axmen to clear a rough corridor, the Visto, "8 or 9 yards wide" along the points of their periodic observations and measurements; "Gravity along the Visto, is become locally less important than Rapture" 651; "upon the Atlantick Sea" 712

Viudas de Cristo, Las

518; Spanish: "The Widows of Christ"; See also Widows of Christ

Voam, Professor

321; "camp naturalist" & "Philosophical Operator" on M-D Line crew; FYI: In Pennsylvania and New Jersey there's an organization called VOAM Electric Cooperative Inc. - and VOM is the abbreviation for Volt-Ohm Meter; 425; 550; 619

V.O.C.

58; Dutch: "Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie" (Dutch East India Company); 69

Void

179; 183; 288; Vacancy, 709

Volcano, Captain

402; sobriquet of "Amy's" "Uncle"; in Montague's, 564

Voltaire (1694-1778)

372; one of the greatest French authors and embodiment of the spirit of the Age of Reason; "remark about Gas and As-tronomers" 385; "Thorns and Angels" 568; writing about the Mechanickal Duck, 668

Vongolli

707; Italian: vongole = clam; "French-Shawanese half-breed Renegado" who is M&D's "sidekick"; reminiscent of Von Göll in Gravity's Rainbow.

Vortices

220; Vortices were an attempt by Continental philosophers and mathematicians to explain how space could be continuously occupied by solid matter (i.e. with no gaps) and yet allow movement. Atomic theories were deemed unacceptable because either they required space between atoms with nothing to fill it or they required solid atoms which interlocked and tesselated to fill space but thereby disallowed any movement; 556; Of Further Interest

Vowtay Brothers

100; Company writers

Vroom, Cornelius

60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; patriarch of the 5-person Vroom family

Vroom, Jemima ("Jet")

60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; 16-year-old daughter of Cornelius & Johanna; the three daughters are named after Job's three beautiful daughters in the Bible.

Vroom, Kezia ("Greet")

60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; middle daughter of Cornelius & Johanna; the three daughters are named after Job's three beautiful daughters in the Bible.

Vroom, Kerrenhappuch ("Els")

60: Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; 12-year-old daughter of Cornelius & Johanna; the three daughters are named after Job's three beautiful daughters in the Bible.

Vroom, Johanna ("Vrou")

60; Dutch: "vroom" = "pious" or "godly"; wife of Cornelius; ripping her bodice in front of Mason, 87