Vermilion
ver-mil'yun, a beautiful brilliant red coloring material. In its native state it is a mineral called cinnabar, or mercuric sulphide. The genuine pigment is obtained by grinding the ore. Artificial vermilion is produced by mixing mercury, that is to say, quicksilver, with sulphur, potash, and water, and roasting the mixture over a hot fire. Vermilion is used extensively in painting and in decorating. Red sealingwax owes its crimson hue to vermilion. See Mercury ; Paint
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Verner
KARL ADOLPH, a Danish philologist; born in Aarhus, us, Denmark, March 7, 1846; was educated at the University of Copenhagen. In 1876-1883 he was assistant librarian at Halle University. He was then made Professor of Slavonic Languages at the University of Copenhagen. He was the author of "An Example of the First Permutation of Consonants" (in 1875). This article, which was widely read, had considerable influence. Verner likewise many other articles for linguistic periode Nov. 12, 1684; was well educ icals. He died Nov. 5, 1896.
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Vernier
A short scale made to slide along the divisions of a graduated instrument, as a caliper, for indicating parts of a division. It is so graduated that a certain convenient number of its divisions are just equal to a certain number, either one less or one more, of the divisions of the instrument, so that parts of a division are determined by observing what line on the vernier coincides with a line on the instrument. See Gauge.
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Vernon
EDWARD, British naval born in Westminster, England, officer; ficer; educated, and following a strong natural bent, entered the royal navy. He served in the battle of Vigo Bay, Oct. 12, 1702, and with Sir George Rooke at Malaga in 1704, and soon got a captaincy. Made M. P. for Penryn (1727), and for Portsmouth (1734-1741), he boasted in the House of Commons that he could take Porto Bello with six ships. Sent off with the specified number of vessels, he fulfilled his boast, Nov. 22, 1739. In 1741, however, he failed in his attack on Cartagena, but his popularity was undiminished, and he long represented Ipswich in Parliament. Smollett, who acompani Smollett, who acompanied him to Cartagena, has immortalized the expedition in "Roderick Random." In 1746 he was removed from the list of admirals, through a dispute with the admiralty. Vernon published "A New History of Jamaica from the Earliest Account to the Taking of Porto Bello" (1740), and "Original Papers Relating to the Expedition to Panama" (1744). He died in Nacton, Suffolk, Oct. 29, 1757.
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Veronica
a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, who, according to the legend, was one of the women who met our Lord on his way to Calvary. As he was sinking, overpower overpowered by fatigue, under the weight of the cross, Veronica offered him her veil, to wipe the sweat from his brow, when, wondrous to tell, the divine features were miraculously impressed on the cloth, and remained as a permanent picture of the face of our Lord. This miraculous picture is reported to have been preserved in Rome at St. Peter's Church from about the year 700. Another, of similar appearance, is preserved at Milan. Many Catholic writers have supposed that the name Veronica is but founded on an erroneous application of what in reality was meant to designate not the personage, but the picture, which was described as vera icon, "the true image" (i. e., of Christ).
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Verrazano
GIOVANNI DA, an Italian navigator; born near Florence presumably about 1480; joined the French maritime service in 1505 and soon became an experienced navigator. In 1512 he was employed by France as a privateer against Spanish merchantmen and made many captures. In 1523 he took the treasure ship sent by Cortés to Charles V., which contained plunder from Montezuma estimated at $1,500,000 in value. In January, 1524, he made an exploring expedition to North America, and after discovering land near Cape Fear sailed N. and entered either New York or Narragansett Bay. He then sailed 450 miles N. E. and returned to France. On July 8, 1524, he sent a letter to King Francis I., in which he claimed to have discovered 700 leagues of coast. Little is known of his subsequent history. It is supposed that he was taken prisoner off the S. coast of Spain and executed as a pirate in Pico, New Castile, in November, 1527.
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Verres
CAIUS, a Roman governor, notorious for his rapacity and cruelty; born about 112 b. c. He was quæstor in 82, and city prætor at Rome in 74 B. C. He was governor of Sicily in 73-71, and almost ruined that island by his extortions and vexatious measures, and by his plunder of property and art treasures. He was brought to trial and defended by Hortensius, while Cicero conducted the prosecution. The trial was one of the celebrated in the history of Rome. most Verres absconded before his trial ended and fled to Marseilles, where he remained in exile 27 years. He died about 42 B. C.
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Verrocchio
ANDREA DEL, an Italian sculptor and painter; born in Florence, Italy in 1435. First a goldsmith, he became a sculptor almost equally skilled in working marble and bronze. Only one extant picture can be certainly attributed to him, a "Baptism of Christ" in the Florentine Academy, and in this, according to Vasari, an angel's head was by Leonardo da Vinci. Of ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO his bronze statues the "David" and the "Unbelieving Thomas" in Florence, and the great equestrian statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni at Venice, are among the most notable. He died in Venice in 1488. city of France; capi-
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Verse
a measured and cadenced form of speech or composition, usually adopted in poetry. It seems to be the natural language of passion, yet it has unquestionably been improved and developed by art. The use of rhymed cadences is a comparatively modern invention. Grammarians have elaborately classified the varieties of verse, and analytically distinguished the possible divisions of words into bars of accented and unaccented syllables. The term is also applied to a line of poetry consisting of a certain number of metrical feet disposed according to the rules of the species of poetry which the author intends to compose. Verses are of various kinds, as hexameter, pentameter, etc. Blank verse is verse in which the lines do not end in rhymes. Heroic verse is rhymed verse in which the lines usually consist of 10 syllables, or in English in five accented syllables, constituting five feet.
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