Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/181

V E R V E R 163 history of philosophy and the philosophy of history. He held this post till his death, which took place at Naples in the autumn of 1885. A Life of Yera, in two volumes, has been published by Signer Mariano, a friend and follower. YERA CRUZ, a fortified town and seaport of Mexico, formerly capital of the state of Vera Cruz, is situated in 19 11 50" N. lat. and 96 20 W. long., at the south-west corner of the Gulf of Mexico, on a low and exposed seaboard, partly sandy partly marshy, where the true yellow fever is endemic, prevailing throughout the summer and occasion ally breaking out even in winter. 1 The town, which in 1884 had a population of 16,840, is distant 263 miles by rail from Mexico and 60 from Jalapa, the summer residence of the upper classes. It has few buildings of interest, except a superb cathedral decorated in the Moorish style. Most of the streets, which are laid out at right angles, are paved with cobble-stones and have a kennel or open gutter in the middle. A characteristic feature of the place are the turkey-buzzards, who do the scavangering, and are consequently protected by law. The open roadstead, although partly protected by the neighbouring islets of Los Sacrificios and San Juan de Ulloa, is greatly exposed to the fierce "nortes" (northers), which sweep over the Gulf at intervals from October to March. A French com pany, which contracted with the Mexican Government to form a harbour by constructing a breakwater between the islands, has lately suspended operations. Vera Cruz is, however, the largest seaport in the republic. In 1886 over one-half of the exports of Mexico (3,002,000 altogether) were shipped from this place (1,625,000 to Great Britain). Of these exports 2,180,000 represented the precious metals, the other chief items being coffee (207,000), hides and skins (99,000), mineral ores (84,000), tobacco (68,000), broom root (25,000), and sugar (12,000). In the same year the imports amounted to 1,941,000 (498,000 from Great Britain), and 487 vessels of 295,000 tons cleared from Vera Cruz. In 1887 the exports from Vera Cruz amounted to 1,047,000 (coffee 407,000 and minerals 208,000), and the imports to 2,159,000. The present town of Villa Rica de Vera Cruz (" Rich City of the True Cross"), which lies several miles south of the original town founded by Cortes in 1520, was built by the viceroy Monterey at the end of the 16th century, and received the title and privileges of a city from Philip III. in 1615. The state of Vera Cruz has a seaboard of 450 miles on the Gulf of Mexico, with a mean breadth of 55 miles. Its area is 24,700 square miles, and its total population was 640,000 in 1887, nearly all native Mexicans. VERATRUM. The Greek physicians were acquainted with a poisonous herb which they called white hellebore, and which has been supposed to represent the existing Vemtrum. Be this as it may, in modern times the name has been applied to a genus of herbaceous plants closely al lied in their structure to Colckicum, but differing greatly in general appearance. Veratrum is a tall-growing herb, having a fibrous root-stock, an erect stem, with numerous broad, plicated leaves, placed alternately, and terminal much-branched clusters of greenish or purplish polygam ous flowers. Each perfect flower consists of six regular segments, as many stamens, whose anthers open outwardly, and a three-celled superior ovary; this last ripens into a three-celled, many-seeded capsule. The genus is included in the order Melantkacex, otherwise called Colchicaceaz, and comprises a small number of species, natives of the tem perate regions of the northern hemisphere, generally growing in pastures or woods. Some, and presumably all, contain a violently poisonous alkaloid called veratrin ; 1 " The character and extent of yellow fever at Vera Cruz has been very much exaggerated by interested parties by those established in the port, who do not wish competition on the part of intending settlers, and by those interested in the trade from Vera Cruz to El Paso in the noVtli of the republic" (H. Baker, Cons. Rep., 1886, p. 2). but, given in small doses and under careful supervision, some of the preparations yielded by Veratrum are valu able medicinal agents, their effect being to lower the pulse and the heat of the body. Sabadilla seeds also furnish a drug once in more frequent use than at present. V. album and V. viride are commonly grown in gardens as orna mental perennials, but their poisonous qualities should be kept in mind, particularly as they bear a considerable re semblance in foliage to the harmless Gentiana lutea. VERBENA. The vervain genus gives its name to the natural order ( Verbenacex} of which it is a member. The species are herbaceous or somewhat shrubby, erect or procumbent, with opposite or whorled leaves, generally deeply cut. The sessile flowers originate in the axils of bracts, and are aggregated into close spikes. Each flower has a tubular, ribbed calyx, a more or less irregular tubular two-lipped corolla, with two or four (didynamous) stamens springing from the centre of the corolla tube. The anthers are two-celled, with or without a gland-like appendage at the apex. The ovary is entire or four-lobed, and always four-celled, with a single ovule in each cell ; the two styles are free at the apex only, being elsewhere undivided. The fruit consists of four hard nuts within the persistent calyx. There are about eighty species known, mostly natives of tropical and subtropical America. V. officinalis, according to Bentham, is also widely dispersed in the temperate and warmer regions of the eastern hemisphere. V. bonariensis occurs in Africa and in Asia, while V. supina is indigenous only in the Mediterranean and Canarian regions. The vervein or vervain, V. officinalis, a common wild plant on limestone soils in England, was the object of much superstitious veneration on the part of our pagan ancestors, who attributed marvellous properties to it, pro vided it were gathered in a particular manner and with much complex ceremonial. The plant is now but lightly esteemed, and its medicinal virtues, if it have any, are entirely ignored. The garden verbenas, once so popular for " bedding out," are derivatives from various South- American species, such as V, teucrioidef:, a native of southern Brazil, and V. chamsedrifolia from Uruguay. The range of colours extends from pure white to rose- coloured, carmine, violet, and purple. Striped forms also are cultivated ; but of late years the cultivation of these beautiful flowers has been partially abandoned, owing to the prevalence of some ill-understood disease, probably of fungous origin, which has debilitated the plants. The lemon-scented verbena of gardens, so much valued for the fragrance of its leaves, was once referred to this genus under the name V. triphylla, subsequently called Aloysia, but now referred by Bentham to the genus Lippia ; it differs from Verbena amongst other matters in having two, not four, nuts to the fruit. VERCELLI, a town of Italy, in the province of Novara, lies 14 miles to the south-west of that town, on the river Sesia (here crossed by a bridge), at its junction with the Canterana. The walls by which Yercelli was formerly surrounded have been demolished, and their place is now occupied by boulevards, from which a fine view of the Alps (especially the Monte Rosa group) is obtained. The streets are for the most part tortuous and narrow ; there is a large market-place (Piazza Cavour) with a statue of Cavour (1861). The cathedral is a large building dating from the 16th century; its library contains a number of rare ancient MSS., especially the Codex Vercellensis, one of the most important MSS. of the old Latin version of the Gospels, written in the 4th century by Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli. The churches of St Andrew (a Romano- Gothic building dating from 1219-24), St Paul, St Catherine, and St Christopher possess valuable examples

of the work of Gaudenzio Ferrari, one of the principal