Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/226

LEFT VERA CRTTZ 188 VERAGUA in an hour of noon. Its comparative nearness to the sun causes it to be for six months a morning- and for the other six months an evening star. In the first state, it is the Lucifer of the Latins and the Phosphor of the Greeks; in the latter, it is the Hesperus of classical antiquity and of modern poetry. It undergoes phases like the moon. Father Castelli, a famous Florentine philosopher, reasoned this out, and, questioning Galileo on the subject, in- duced him to look with his telescope and see. On Dec. 30, 1610, he was able to announce to Castelli that the phases had been actually discerned. They are not visible to the naked eye, to which the planet is simply a brilliant speck, too small to reveal its actual form, which is much more globular than that of the earth. Its diameter is about 7,826 miles, or about 93 miles less than that of the earth. Were man placed on the surface of Venus, the earth would look a trifle larger and brighter than Venus does to us in our sky. The mass of Venus is about three-quarters that of the earth, or mW that of the sun; its density is about 0.850 that of the earth; its sp. gr. 4.81, as against 5.66, that of the earth. While a stone falling toward the earth passes through a little more than 16 feet in the first second, it would, if falling to the sur- face of Venus, pass through about 13 feet only in the same time. The exces- sive brightness of Venus makes the time of its rotation somewhat doubtful; it is provisionally placed at 23 hours 21'. Its mean distance from the sun is 67,- 000,000, its greatest distance 67,500,000, and its least 66,600,000 miles. These numbers show that its orbit departs but slightly from a circle. Its periodic time is 224.7 mean solar days. Obser- vation on the passage of the planet over the sun's disk is the best method of as- certaining the distance of the great luminary; it has also revealed the fact that Venus has an atmosphere, but its composition is as yet uncertain. Old ob- servers thought they detected a satel- lite; modern astronomers have not con- firmed this view, and believe it to have been founded on optical delusion. VERA CRUZ, a State of Mexico; bounded on the E. by the Gulf of Mexico and on the N., W., and S. by the States of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oajaca, Puebla, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, and Tamau- lipas. It extends in a strip about 50 miles wide along the coast, and has an area of 27,880 square miles. The coast strip with the exception of the N. part is in places narrow, flat, low, and roll- ing, with occasional swamps, lagoons, and hills. On the Puebla boundary line rises Mount Orizaba, the highest peak in Mexico, and some believe the highest peak in North America. In the lowlands of the S. E. portion there are occasional spurs, including the volcano of Tuxtla, which is nearly 5,000 feet high. Many short rivers flow down from the moun- tains, of which the navigable Panuco in the N. is the most important. The cli- mate on the coast is warm and in summer unhealthy. The more elevated parts are temperate and healthy. Agri- culture is the chief industry of Vera Cruz, the products including tobacco, coffee, sugar, vanilla, etc. Pop. about 1,300,000. VERA CRUZ, the principal port of Mexico; on the E. coast, in a low, un- healthy plain, backed by drifting sand- hills; 263 miles E. of the City of Mex- ico. There is no harbor, but only an open roadstead between the city and the island castle of San Juan de Ulua, which, with two shore batteries, de- fends the port. The streets are wide and straight, with numerous squares, and low, picturesque houses of various col- ors. The chief buildings are the cathe- dral, custom house, and casino; a num- ber of the churches have been perverted into tobacco factories. The moist, hot climate of Vera Cruz is notoriously un- healthy, and the annual death rate ranges from 1 in 11 to 1 in 20 of the population, mostly from lung diseases, and from yellow and other fevers. The fierce "northers," if they often drive vessels ashore from the exposed anchor- age, at least are of use in sweeping away the fevers for a time. Most of the commerce is in the hands of foreigners; nearly 600 vessels enter and clear an- nually. The full title of the city is Villa Nueva de la Vera Cruz, or New City of the True Cross. The old town was founded by Cortez in 1520 on the spot where he had landed the year before; the new one dates from 1580. The royal forces held out in the castle till November, 1825. The castle capitulated to the French in 1838, and to General Scott in 1847; and during the French occupation the town was the base of supplies from 1862 to 1867. In 1914 the city was captured and held for several months by American forces. See Mex- ico. Pop. about 50,000. VERAGUA, DUKE OF, a title con- ferred on the lineal descendants of Christopher Columbus. It was first borne by Luis Columbus in 1536. From him it passed to Diego Columbus, the great-grandson of the famous discov- erer. He died childless in 1578, and the