Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/137

VESPUCIUS. 103 VESTED KIGHT. Sppteniticr. 1504,.Vospiicius completed and dis- palclicd to liis old |)atrons, tlio Mcdiei, an aeeount of ilia four voyafjcs. Tlic iirij;iiial lias unfortu- nately disappeared, aiul the ahricif^ed translations wliieh were printed at the time are so eiinfused, and in plaees so ineolierent, that it is impossible to deeide from them, the only source of informa- tion regarding those voyages, exactly where N'espueius went, or what lie discovered. It is <|uile certain that he explored a large section of the coast of South America, and it is probable tliat on his first voyage he landed on the Amer- ican mainland a few days before Cabot reached the shores of North America. A literal reading of his narrative would give an exjiloration from somewhere on the Uuiana coast north- westward for a thousand miles or more, reaching into the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. As there are physical difficulties against this, Vespueius's supposed own statement, the cham- pions of Vespucius have ascribed to him a voy- age around the Gulf of Mexico and up the United States coast as far as the Chesapeake, but the country described by Vespucius is clearly that of northeastern South America, perhaps stretch- ing south on his later vo.yages nearlv to La Plata. Vespueius's narrative was translated in l.iO" by Waldseemiiller (q.v. ), who printed it as an ap- pendix to his Cosmograpliic Iiislnictio. In this work he made a suggestion that inasmuch as Ves- pucius had been the first to make knowni this new southern continent, it might be proper to name the new continent 'America.' The new name was given only to the newly discovered southern continent, with no thought of extending it over the islands of the West Indies. Waldsee- miiller's suggestion was embodied in printed and manuscript maps, a few of which have survived to the present day. The name gradually became fixed in popular usage. The actual facts regard- ing Vespucius are given in Harrisse, Discovery of North America (London, 1892). Consult also Fiske, Discovery of Ame7-ica (New York, 1892). The details of Waldseemiiller's christening of America are given in Thatcher's Continent of America (New York, 1896). VEST, George Graham (1830-1904). An American political leader, born at Frankfort, Ky. He graduated at Center College, Danville, Ky., in 1848, and later from the law department of Transylvania University at Lexington. He soon afterwards removed to Missouri, where he prac- ticed his profession first at Georgetown, and then at Booneville. In 1860 he was elected to the State Legislature as a Democrat; was for two years a member of the Lower House of the Con- federate Congress, and was then appointed to the Senate for one year. After the war he re- newed the practice of law at Sedalia, Mo., and later at Kansas City. In 1878 he was elected to the United States Senate, and was three times reelected. VES'TA (Lat., connected with Gk.'EcrWa, Ues- tin, goddess of the hearth and home : connected with Gk. iSiT-TU, asty, city, Skt. vas, to dwell. Goth. Skt. vas, to dwell, Olr. foss, remnant. Goth. wisayi, to be, Eng. was). In classical mythology, the goddess of the hearth-fire. In Greece Hestia plays but a very small part in legend. She ap- pears as the eldest daughter of Cronos and Rhea, and as wooed liy Poseidon and Apollo, whose suit slie escaped l)y vowing eternal virginitj To her, therefore, was given the honor of a place in all temples of the gods and all houses of men. If legend made little of llestia, her cult was widespread in ail Greek lands. Every com- munity had its common hearth where the sacred lire burneil, and from whieli every colony took the sacred flame which was to kindle a new sacred centre in close connection with the old. Even confederacies recognized a central hearth, as the Areailians at Tegea, the Cy'clades at Deles, and the Amphietyonic Council at Delphi. In some plaees the sacred fire was in charge of maidens, in others of old women, and we hear of priestesses of I [est la in Athens and .Sparta. At Rome this cult reached a far nun'c prominent ]ilace than it seems to have assumed in Greece. VestO' mater is the only female in the original series of great Romaji gods, and as Janus oc- cupied the first place in the ritual invocations, so Vesta closed the series. The worshi]) of the goddess was also spread throughout Latium, though the evidence for its early existence else- where in Italy is unsatisfactory. Her festival, the ^'cstalin, fell on June 9th, while on the first of March the sacred fire was solemnly renewed. The state worsliip was, however, the most im- portant. Near the Forum, at the foot of the Palatine, close to the fountain of Juturna and the temple of Castor, was the little circular temple of Vesta, containing no image, but only the sacred hearth with the ever-burning fire, and a shrine in which were kept the implements and provisions for the sacrifices, and, according to popular belief, the Trojan palladium and other sacred objects on w'hich the safety of the city was believed to depend. Near the temple was the A I rill III Vrsfw, where the Vestal Virgins lived. VESTED RIGHT. A technical legal phrase denoting a present fixed interest resting in a definite person or corporation in or to a property right or franchise. It is the opposite of a pros- pective or contingent interest of any nature. For the security of property^ interests and the general welfare, the law very jealously protects such rights, and will not permit their destruction or allow their holders to be hindered in the full enjoyment of them, except for the public good, and then only upon just compensation being made therefor. The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law, but as this has been construed to be a restraint upon the Federal Government only, it became necessary to incorporate in the Fourteenth Amendment a prohibition against any State taking such action. These constitutional provisions make vested rights secure and leave only the difficulty of determining what may be included under that head. A right in or to real or personal property not subject to a condition or contingency is considered as vested in the per- son who enjoys it. An expectant interest is, however, sometimes confused with one which has become fixed and unconditional. For example, the rifjlit of a husband to courtesy his wife's property is, during her lifetime, inchoate or contingent in its nature, depending upon his survivorship. Therefore, it amounts only to an expectancy during that period, and may be regu- lated or even taken away by statute.