Veragua
DUKE OF, a title conferred on the lineal descendants of first Christopher Columbus. It was borne by Luis Columbus in 1536. From him it passed to Diego Columbus, the great-grandson of the famous discov- 1578, and the erer. He died childless in male line of Columbus came to an end. A lawsuit for the succession to the title followed, and after 30 years was settled in favor of the descendants of Isabel, sister of Luis Columbus. This line coming to an end in 1733, the title was, after more litigation, settled on the descendants of Francesca, sister of the Diego Columbus who died in 1578. The Duke of Veragua, the 13th in direct descent from Christopher Columbus, was born in Madrid, Spain, in 1837. In 1893, with his wife, he visited the United States on the invitation of the government, and witnessed the opening ceremonies of the Columbian Exposition. He was everywhere received with high honors as representative of the a family.
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Verbeck
GUIDO FRIDOLIN, a Dutch-American missionary; born in Zeist, Holland, Feb. 1, 1830; was graduated at the Auburn Theological Seminary, Auburn, N. Y., in 1859, and in the same year was sent to Japan by the Reformed Church of America. The Japanese government engaged him in 1863 to carry on educational work. He was superintendent of instruction and teachers in the foreign department de at the Imperial University, Tokyo, in 1869- 1873; was engaged in missionary work work in 1873-1879, and was then again employed by the government as a translator and organizer. In 1891 he was made instructor of theology in the Meiji Gakuin. He was the author of "History of Protestant Missions in Japan" (1883) and the translator of "The Code Napoleon"; "Two Thousand Legal Maxims"; etc. He died in Tokyo, Japan, March 9, 1898.
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Verdelet
A demon of the second order, master of ceremonies at the infernal court. He is charged with the transport of witches to the Sabbath. He takes the names of Master Persil, Sante-Buisson, and other names of a pleasant sound, so as to entice women into his snares.
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Verdun
a fortified French town in the department of Meuse; 35 miles W. of Metz. It has 11 forts, cathedral, and manufactures of iron, liquors, sweetmeats, leather, and beer. In 843 a famous treaty was made here between the Emperor Lothaire and his brother Ludwig the German, by which the Frankish empire was divided in three . The fortress has been often besieged; it was in 1870 by the Germans for six weeks, when it capitulated. It was the last place held by Germany, given up only in September , 1873. Verdun played a great part in the World War. It was greatly strengthened , and in 1916 withstood the assault of great German armies for months, and by its successful defense saved France and the war for the Allies . Pop. about 15,000. WORLD WAR. See
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Vereschagin
ve-resh-cha'gen, Vasilii, a Russian painter. He was born October 25, 1842, in the province of Novgorod, and was killed by a bursting shell on board a Russian battleship off Port Arthur , April 13, 1904. He was educated in St. Petersburg and in the School of Fine Arts at Paris. He served in several military campaigns. He is celebrated for numerous large paintings depicting the horrors of warfare. Some of these are After Defeat, Assault on Plevna, Wounded Returning, and The Retreat from Moscow. One of his latest paintings is an imaginative picture of the battle of San Juan Hill, in which Roosevelt figures as the hero. Vereschagin is credited with having aroused the public conscience to the suffering and dread realities of warfare.
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Vereshtchagin
WASILIY, a Russian historical painter; born in Tcherepovets, Russia, Oct. 26, 1842; was educated at the naval school at St. Petersburg . In 1864 he entered the Art School at Paris, where Gerôme was his master. He joined the Caucasian expe dition under General Kaufmann in 1867 , and in 1869 went to Siberia . In 1874 he went to India with the Prince of Wales, and afterward settled in Paris. He took part in the Russo-Turkish War, and was wounded at Plevna. His pictures are of immense size , extremely realistic, and treat chiefly of the horrors of war. 1904 he went to Manchuria to study scenes and events in actual warfare, and was lost April 13 on the man-of-war Petropavlovsk blown up by a submarine mine, just out of Port Arthur harbor. He thus brought a brilliant career to a sudden close. In
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Verge
The piece in a watch or clock which regulates the motion of the escape wheel and allows one tooth to pass at a time. In a watch it acts as a support for the balance wheel. This name is especially applied to the recoil escapement used in the so-called Yankee clock, and shown in Fig. 6.
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Verge Escapement
This form of escapement is shown in Fig. 310, which shows a plan of the escape wheel and verge in their relative positions in a watch. The inventor of this form of escapement remains in obscurity, but it appears to have been invented about the year 1000, and was the sole escapement up to the seventeenth century. The verge has served a very good purpose in its time, but its lack of correct timekeeping led to its disuse as soon as something better appeared. The escape tooth drops direct upon the impulse plane. If the momentum of the balance is sufficient to overcome the power of the mainspring a recoil is the result, but if not the result is a to and fro motion just sufficient to escape. As shown in the drawing, when the tooth in contact with the right hand pallet leaves it the tooth shown just below will fall upon the left hand pallet and impel the balance in the opposite direction. The opening of the pallets is usually ninety degrees, that is, at right angles to each other. A workman who is acquainted with the other escapements will have but little trouble in repairing the verge. Fig. 6 shows the verge clock escapement.
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