Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/714

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Tubularia. 3. The thicker Vermiculus, Called the grent ergan-pipe. 4. The fmooth Vermiculus. 5. The ftriated Ver- miculus. 6. The canaliculated or deep furrowed Vermicu- lus.

Or" the crooked kind we have the following fpecics : 1. The gut Vermiculus. This Species always forms a large clufter, and refembles the rhteftines of animals. 2. The varioufly curled Vermiculi. 3. The Vermiculi, terminating in elegantly twifted ends. 4. The brown wrinkled Vermiculus. Of thofe Vermiculi which are difpofed in a fort of circles, we have the following: 1. The earth- worm Vermiculus. 2. The concamcratcd Vermiculus. This is a fpecies of Vermiculus, divided in the inner part into a number of chambers or cells, in the manner of the nautilus, and having a fiphunculus of communication running through the whole. 3. The mud- Vermiadus. This fpecies lies under the mud of the bottom, and adheres- to- (tones. 4. The oifter Vermiculus. 5. The mufcle Vermiculus. 6. The buccinum Vermiculus, Thefe are three diftincl: fpecies, which always take up their abode on thofe peculiar (hells. 7. The red cancellated Vermiculus. 8. The brown twifted Vermiculus. g. The rofe-coloured and white Vermiculus. Htft. Nat. Eclairc. p. 354. VERMINA, a word ufed by many of the medical authors to exprefs a tormenting pain in the bowels, feeling as if worms were gnawing them. VERMIS, Worm, in natural hiffory. See the article Worm. Vermis Ccsruleus, a name given by the antient naturalifts to an animal they defcribe as Jiving in the Ganges,, and fome other rivers in the Eaft Indies, and of an enormous length. Pliny tells us that they are feventy feet in length j but he at the fame time convinces us, that they were not properly worms ; for he tells us they had gills like thofe of fifties, and fays, they were called Vermes, only becaufe they were like worms. Ctefias mentions thefe Indian water-worms, and fo do many other old writers, all giving them the fame characters, but differing fomewhat in the length, which the lad-mentioned Greek author makes to be only feven feet, not feventy. Soli- nus has miftaken this account of the gills of this creature, and has tranflated or copied the authors he took his account from fo ill, as to call them arms, and gives them the length the other authors attribute to the whole animal. This creature was of a blue colour, and lived in the deep waters j. bat would, ac- cording to their accounts, rife up to the furface near the (here, to feize upon cattle that came to drink. They even tell us of its feizing on the elephant in this manner ; and, at this rate, the whole feventy foot length is neceflary. Inftead of feventy feet, fome copies of Pliny have it fixty ; and the later authors from this have made it only fix : And Solinus has nuftafcen what Pliny fays of the creature, being called Vermis from its having the fhape of a worm, and fuppofes he means that it was called cesruleus, becaufe of its being of a blue colour ; but we find nothing of this in the old authors, nor any other name for it but Vermis. The naturalifts of late ages have given no account of any fuch animal . as this ; and it is very probable that the authors who firft defcribed it meant nothing but the crocodile, which they had heard of as a terrible voracious reptile, living in the Ganges, as it does to this day ; but had never had any tolerably accurate account of it. See the article Crocodile. Vermis Cerebri, the tvsrm in the brain, a name given by fome writers to an epidemical fever in Hungary, attended with ter- rible deliriums. VERONICA, Spcedxvell, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower confifts of one leaf, and is rotated and divided into (egmeats at the end. From the cup there arifes a piltil, which is fixed in the man- ner of a nail to the middle part of the flower, and afterwards becomes a membranaceous fruit, divided into two cells, and containing ufually fmall, but fometimes larger feeds. Touru. Inft. p. 143.

The fpecies of Veronica, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort* are thefe : r. The common final! procumbent Veronica, called male Speedwell. 2. The longer-leaved fmooth creeping Py- renean Speedwell, 3. The upright male Speedwell. 4. The broad-leaved fpiked Speedwell. 5. The purple fpiked Speed- well. 6. The narrow-leaved fpiked Speedwell. 7. The long-leaved fpiked Speedwell. 8. The fmall fpiked Speedwell. 9. The fmall rock Speedwell, with naked (talks. 10. The common meadow Speedwell, with leaves like ferpyllum. 11. The fmooth erect Alpine male Speedwell, with lightly indent- ed leaves. 12. The fmaller Roman fmooth Speedwell, with leaves like the fmall bafil. 13. The fmall creeping Speed- well, with roundifh hollowed leaves. 14. Hairy dairy- leaved Alpine Speedwell. 15. The Alpine fhrub Speedwell. 16. The hard fhrubby Speedwell, with a long germander-like leaf. 17. The fhrubby Alpine Speedwell, with a roundifh fmall leaf. 18. The ever-green rock Speedwell. 19. The Au- itrian Speedwell, with finely divided leaves. 20. The great- .efl: Speedwell. 21. The greateit fingle-ftalked not- branched Pyrenean Speedwell. 22. The great (hrubby Speedwell. 23. The procumbent Speedwell, with the appearance of meadow teucrium. 24. The fmaller Speedwell, with the lower leaves round. 25. The white-flowered fmall Speedwell, with round- bottom leaves. 26. The little narrow-leaved branched pro-

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cumbent Speed-well 27. The manyiflalkcd SpttAict. 'if,, The feaft mountain erect,, .fquare-italkeu Speedwell. 20. The creeping Speedwell, with teucrium leaves. 30. The com- mon Speedwell, with flowers growing to the (talks. 31. The. great round-leaved water Speedwell. 32. The fmaller round- leaved water Speedwell. 33. The larger long-leaved water Speedwell. 34. The (mallei long-leaved watcr-JjWwW/. 35. The creeping olive-leaved water Speedwell. 36. The narrow- leaved water Speedwell. 3;. The round-leaved Pyrenean Speedweed. 38. The. ivy-leaved fpring Speedwell. 39. The germander-leaved Speedwell, with flowers Handing on long Italics. 40. The germander-leaved Sjieedwell, with flowers {landing on long italics, and with leaves placed alter- nately on the ftalks; 41. The common fpnng Speedwell with trifid or quinquifid leaves. 42. The white-flowered an- nual knot- grais- leaved Speedwell. And 43. The branched upright American fhrubby Specelwell, with vervain-like leaves. Tourn. Inft. p. 144.

In the Linmean fyftem of botany, Veronica likewife makes a dtttinct genus of plants ; the dno&ea of which are, that the cup is a pcrianthium, divided into four fegments, and remain- ing after the flower is fallen. Its feveral fegments are narrow and pointed. The flower confifts of a fingle petal, in form of a cylmdric tube, of the length of the cup, or nearly fo ; flat in pofition, and divided into four fegments at its extremity each of an oval fhape, and the lower the narrower. The flamina are two filaments, narroweft at the bottom, and bend- ing toward the top. The anthera are oblong. The piftil- lum has a compreffed germen ; a thread-like ftyle, bent, and of the length of tlie flamiaa ; and a fimple ftigma. The fruit is a turbinated and heart-fafhioned capfule, flat at the top, containing two cells, with four valves, and full of a grtat number of roundifh feeds. Linneci Gen. Plant, p. 4.

VERONUS, in zoology, a name given by many to a final! ri. ver-fifh, well known in England by the name of the minow Hay's Ichthyogr. p. 268. Seethe article Phexinus.

VERSIO Chemiea, a term ufed by chemical writers to exprefs a change, wrought by their art, of manifeft forms into occult ones, which, they fay, is done by a corruption of the fpecific form, and the generation of a more genera! one ; that is, by a conversion of decompounded elements into compound bodies, and of impure mto fuch as are perfectly pure. Theatr. Chem. vol. 1.

VERTEBRA (Cycl.)— Amtomtfls, in the defcription of thefe bones, divide them into the body, apophyfes, and cavities. The body of the Vertebras is that principal part or large mafs fituated anteriorly, and fuppoiting all the other parts. In moil of the Vertebra: the body reprefents a portion of a cylinder cut tranfverfely, the circumference of which is more or'lefs round on the fore-part, and Hoped on the back-part. It lias two- fides, the upper and lower, each of which is, as it were, bor- dered by a thin lamina, in form of an epiphyfis. The apophyfes of moit of the Vertebra are feven in number - one pofterior, called the fpinal apophyfis, which ends in a fmall epiphyfis, and has given the name to the whole fyftem of the Vet-tehee; two lateral, called tratifuerfe apophyfes. and four others, which are likewife lateral, two on each fide - one above, and one below. Tbcfe are called by the common name of oblique apiphyfis, and diflinguiihed into the fuperior or afcending, or inferior or defcending. Thefe four are the lead of all the apophyfes of die Vertebra, and each of them has a cartilaginous fide. It would be more proper to call them articular, inftead of oblique apophyfes.

The cavities in the Vertebra: arc thefe : A larse middle hole between the body and apophyfes ; four notches; two on each fide, one fuperior and fmall, the other inferior and large. The great foramen is part of the vertebral or fpinal canal ; and the notches in one Vertebra meeting thofe in another, form the lateral holes which communicate with the canal. The inner fubftancc of the Vertebras is fpongy, or like a diploe, covered with an outer compaa fubftance ; which in the body of the Vertebra is i very thin, but thicker in the proceftes. The Ver- tebra: are joined together by their bodies, and by their fmall apophyfes. The bodies, in'a natural ilate, are principally united by a cartilaginous fymphyfis ; that is, by the intervene tion of a pliable and elaftic cartilage, as is very manifeftly feen in the frelli bones. This cartilaginous connection makes the • lateral holes of the fpine larger in '.he body than they appear in the dry flceleton, where thefe cartilages arc wanting. Their connection, by the fmall apophyfes, is by arthrodia, and not by ginglimus. And thefe two articulations are fecured by very ftrong ligaments. IViuflow's Anatomy, p. 54, The cartilages between the Vertebras of the back yield confi- derably to the preffure of the body, in an ercfi pofture, and expand themfelves in the night when perfons lie down. Hence arifes a very fingular phenomenon, hut a very true one : which is, that a man is confiderably taller at his rifihg in a morning, after the expanfion of thefe cartilages, durinS the abfence of preffure for feveral hours, than at nTght, when they have been preffed down all the day. The reverend Mr. Waffe feems to have examined this dif- ference more ftrictly than any other perfan. He found that feveral perfons, enlifted as foldiers in a morning, had been difcharged for want cf height, on their being meafured again, 3 before