vital capacity

[VITAL-VOLUME.] vital-contractility, s. [CONTRACTILITY,.] vital-fluid, s. Bot.: Latex (q.v.). ( Schultz.) vital-force, s. [VITALITY, II.] vital-functions, subst . pl. Those functions or faculties of the body on which life immediately depends, as respiration, the circulation of the blood, . fate, fat, färe, of moving objects taken by a kinetograph or similar instrument. It consists e entially of a stereopticon in which the gelatin photographic strips from a kinetograph (q. v.) are substituted for the ord i nary stereopticon slides. As the transparent gelatin film moves past the lens, each picture stops a fraction of a second, while the light is thrown through it on the screen. Then for another small fraction of a second the light is shut off, the film moves ahead again, and another picture is flashed on the screen. This operation is carried on so fast that the eye cannot separate one view from another, and the projected image is made to appear as if in motion or endowed with life. About 2.000 photographs are used to make a picture lasting not over one minute. The vitascope reproduces photographs in colors to perfection, and by a po ible phonographic attachment objects may be made to appear with the sounds which naturally accompany them. Other instruments of a similar character have been introduced under the names of biograph, cinematograph, eidoloscope, magniscope, mutoscope, zoo gyroscope, etc. vi-tě æ, s. pl . [Mod. Lat. vit (is); Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff. -eœ .[ 8. pl. Bot .: The typical tribe of Vitacere (q. v.). Ten drils present, petals distinct, stamens also distinct; ovules in pairs. minal vesicle (q. v.) and the germinal spot or macula. 2. Botany : Gærtner's name for a fleshy sac interposed between the albumen and the ovule, and enveloping the latter. Robert Brown found that it was the sac of the amnion in a thickened state. vi-těx, s. [Lat.=the chaste tree. (See def.)] Bot.: The typical genus of Viticese. Calyx short, campanulate, five-toothed; corolla irregular, five lobed, somewhat labiate; stamens four, didynamous; fruit a globular berry, covered at its base by the calyx, and containing four one-seeded cells. Vitex agnus - cast us is the chaste-tree, a native of Southern Europe. It has digitate leaves, with five to seven leaflets, fragrant flowers, and globular fruits with an acrid and aromatic taste. [A GNUS CAST US.) Vitex trifolia , the Wild Pepper, is a small tree or shrub, wild in India and Burmah. The roots yield a sweet, greenish oil. It is believed that an oil can be extracted also from the seeds. The plant is anodyne, diuretic, and emmenagogue. Vitex ne gun do is a shrub with pretty blue flowers, found in India, Ceylon, and Cochin China. Its ashes are largely used as an alkali in dyeing. Its root is considered by the Hindus to be tonic, febrifugal, and expectorant, and its leaves aromatic, tome, and vermifugal; the dried fruits are also vermifugal. A pillow stuffed with the leaves is said to relieve headache, and a vapor bath prepared with them is employed in Mysore in fever, catarrh, and rheumatism. The bark and roots of V. leucoxylon , a large deciduous tree from India and Burmah, are astringent; its fruit is eaten by the Burmese. Mr. E. B. Manson believes that its wood and that of V. alt is sima , the latter a large Indian tree, would be useful for furniture. The bark of V. taruma is given in Brazil in syphilitic affections.