Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/289

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VOLHYNIA 249 VOLOGDA mouths, forming a delta 68 miles in breadth. Besides those named, about 100 smaller tributaries join this giant river, which with its affluents has a drainage area of 563,300 square miles, waters 22 provinces, and measures from its source to its mouth 2,300 miles. Its breadth at Tver is 705 feet, at the mouth of the Mologa 1,542 feet, above the influx of Kama 4,920 feet and opposite the mouth of the Kama nearly 5 miles. The course of the Volga is very slow, its total fall is only 896 feet, and its channel is com- paratively shallow, its greatest depth being 85 feet. The Volga is free from ice for 200 days in the year, in Kos- troma, Jaroslav, and Kasan for 152. Steamers ply regularly on its waters between Tver and Nijni Novgorod j Kasan, and Astrakhan; and from Nijni Novgorod by the Kama to Perm, by the Oka to Riazan, by the Ufa to Ufa, and by the Unsha to Ugor. The three great canal systems of Vishni-Volotchok, Tichvin, and the Marien canal, connect- ing the Volga with Petrograd, and the canal of the Duke of Wurttemberg join- ing it with the Dwina, make an un- broken water way between the Baltic and the Caspian Sea. A canal to join the Volga with the Don, between Zari- zyn at Katchalinsk, was projected by Peter the Great, but was never executed. Its purpose is now effected by the Zar- izyn-Kalatsch railway. The Volga has extensive fisheries, chiefly of salmon and sturgeon. VOLHYNIA, a province in Poland, bounded on the W. by the Polish prov- inces, from which it is separated by the Bug river. The surface in the N. of the province is low, and plains and morasses, covered with forests, abound; in the S. there are hills and fertile, corn- bearing land. Among the rarer mineral products are lithographing stone and porcelain clay. Volhynia was the scene of almost constant military operations during the World War. The area (27,- 743 square miles) is larger than that of Greece; pop. about 3,600,000. The cap- ital is Zhitomir; pop. about 80,000. VOLKMANN, ALFRED WILHELM (folk'man), a German physiologist; born in Leipsic, Germany, June 1, 1801. He was Professor of Physiology in Halle and made special studies of the nervous system and the sense of sight. Among his works are: "Anatomy of Animals, Illustrated with Plates" (1831-1833) ; "Contributions to the Physiology of the Sense of Sight" (1836) ; "The Inde- pendence of the Sympathetic System of the Nerves" (1842) ; "Dynamics of the Blood" (1850); "Physiological Re- searches in the Department of Optics'* (1863-1864); "Elasticity of Muscles" (1856). He died in Halle, Germany, April 21. 1877. VOLKMANN, RICHARRD VON (Richard Leandeb), a German sur- geon; born in Leipsic, Germany, Aug. 17, 1830. He was Professor of Surgery in the University of Jena. Among his professional writings are: "Diseases of the Motor Organs" (1865) ; "Manual of Surgery" (1865) ; "Contributions to Surgery" (1875). He wrote also: "Reveries at French Firesides," a series of tales (1871; 22d ed. 1894); "From Student Times" (1876); "Poems" (3d ed. 1885) ; "Short Poems" r2d ed. 1889) ; "Old and New Troubadour Songs" (2d ed. 1890). He died in Jena, Germany, Nov. 28, 1889. VOLKMAR, GUSTAV (folk'mar), a German theological writer; born in Hersfeld, Hesse, Germany, Jan. 11, 1809. He was Professor of Theology in the University of Zurich. His principal works are: an edition of "The Gospel of Marcion" (1852) ; "Justin Martyr and his Relation to our Gospels'* (1853) ; "Sources of the History of Heresies down to the Nicene Council," vol. i., "Hippolytus and the Philoso- phumena" (1853) ; "Religion of Jesus and Its First Development" (1857) ; "Origin of our Gospels" (1866) ; "Life and Works of Zwingli" (1870) ; "Myths of the Popes" (1873) ; "The Synoptics and the Historical Facts of the Life of Jesus" (1877) ; "Jesus of Nazareth and the Early Christian Times" (1882) ; "Paul from Damascus to the Epistle to the Galatians" (1887). He died in Zurich, Switzerland, Jan. 10, 1893. VOLNEY, CONSTANTIN DE, COUNT (vol-na) ; family name Chassebceup (shasbuhf), a French philosopher and traveler; born in Craon, France, Feb. 3, 1757. He published in 1787 his "Travels in Egypt and Syria" (2 vols.), the best description of them to that date. In 1789 he was elected a deputy to the States-General. In 1791 he produced a work on which his fame principally rests — "Ruins; or. Meditations on the Revolutions of Empires." Imprisoned in 1792, on his release he passed two years in the United States, publishing in 1803 his "Description of the Climate and Soil" of the country. Among his other works are: "The Natural Law; or. Physical Principles of Morality" (1793), and "Researches in Ancient History" (3 vols. 1814). He died in Paris, April 25, 1820. VOLOGDA, a province of Russia, S. of Archangel and N. of Kostroma; area.