Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/100

* VEELAINE. 74 VEBMIFORM APPENDIX. he had published Poemes saturnieiis (1865) ; Les fetes galantes (1869) ; La bonne chanson (1870). After 1870 Verlaine, who had led the traditional Bohemian life in Paris, disappeared for eleven years. In 1881 he reappeared in the public eye as a quasi-Catholic with his Sagesse, perhaps his best known volume. It is a remarkable prod- uct of a devout religious mysticism. From this time to his death in Paris in 1896, Verlaine remained, with the exception of sojourns in England, Belgium, and Holland, among the caffe of the Latin Quarter, drinking absinthe, carousing, and writing verse and journalistic articles. The disordered habits of this modem Villon often led to serious misdemeanors which occasioned his imprisonment, or to long illnesses which confined him in hospitals — experiences which he characteristically described in Mes prisons (1893) and Mes hdpilaux (1S91). Dur- ing this period he published several volumes of verse, all of them rather small and containing only short poems; Jadis et naguere (1885); Romances sans paroles (1S87) ; Amonr (1888) ; Bonheur (1891); Parallelement (1889); Chan- sons pour elle (1891) ; Chair: deniieres poesies (1896). In prose he put forth Les poeies maudits (1884) — interesting sketches of his lit- erary companions of the new school, notably Mal- larme and Rimbaud: also Confessions and Les homnies d'aujourd'hui. Verlaine is classed with the Symbolists. In his mystic worship of God and of the flesh he appeared by turns avowedly orthodox and hope- lessly sensual. As for ideas and the gifts of a concrete imagination, he had none, but he was an exquisite master of verse. He found new nuances, and new variations, and his pages ex- hibit a suffusing mobility of which French • poetry had scarcely been thought capable. He usually wrote impeccably according to the strict- est forms : but, like a Symbolist, he indulged at times in lines of 11 and 13 feet, ignored the in- terlacement of rhymes, etc. Altogether Verlaine is by far the greatest French poet Symbolism has yet to claim. Consult: Bruneti&re, L'dvolution de la poisie lyrique en France, vol. ii. (Paris, 1894) ; Le- rnaitre, Les contempornins, vol. iv. (ib., 1889) ; Nordau, Degeneracy (New York, 1894) ; Delille, in Fortnightly Review (London, 1891); Wells, Modern French Literature (Boston, 1897). Ver- laine's Works are collected in five volumes (Paris, 1900). VERLAT, var'la', Michel Charles (1824- 90). A Belgian painter, distinguished for his work in genre, animal, and historical painting. He was born in Antwerp and stiidicd under De Keyser and Wiippers, and then in Paris, where he became a follower of Courbet. He was called to Weimar by the Grand Duke to be director of t'he Academy of Fine Arts. There he painted, besides many portraits of the ducal family, one of Liszt. His canvases include: "Buffalo Sur- prised by a Tiger" (1852) : "Godfrey de Bouil- lon at the .ssault of Jerusalem" (ordered by the Belgian Government, 1855) ; "The Holv Family" (1868) : and "Water Carrier" (1878). Many of his piclures are in the galleries of Brussels and Amsterdam. VER MACAQUE, vilr mft'kftk' (Cayenne name). The larva of a bot-fly {Dcrmatobia noxialis), which attacks human beings in South America. The back and slioulders are especially subject to attack. The adult tly lays its egg or its larva on the skin, and the young grub pene- trates and causes at first a swelling. It grows rapidly, and unless destroyed will cause a large lump with an apical orifice. On reaching full growth, as with the other bots, the larva issues and falls to the ground to transform. Painful ulcers frequently result from the work of the grub. See Box, Bot-Fly. VERMEER, fer-mfu' (van Delft), Jan (1032-75). An eminent Dutcli genre, portrait, and landscape painter, frequently, though er- roneously called Van der Meer. He was born at Delft and was a pupil of Karel Fabritius,by wliom he was inttuenced only to a slight extent, pursu- ing on the whole a course of great independence. One of the great colorists of the Dutcli school, his not very numerous pictures are noted for ex- quisite light effects. Single figures, mostly young women engaged in all kinds of domestic occu- pation, interiors, street scenes, and landscapes are among his favorite subjects, all marvelously pure in color, abounding in charming effects of perspective and full of life, entitling them to be ranked with tlie gems of Dutch art. Such are "Woman Reading Letter" (Amsterdam Museum) , "'Street in Delft," "The Milkmaid" (both in the Six Gallerv, Amsterdam ). "View of Delft" (Hague Gallery ), "Girl with Wine-Glass" ( Bruns- wick CJallery), "Young Lady with Necklace" (Berlin Museum), "The Love Letter" (Dresden Gallery). "The Geograplier" (1669, Stiidel In- stitute. Frankfort ), and "Lady at tlie Piano" ( Na- tional Gallery, London ). Only occasionally he depicted groups, such as the "Drinking Scene" (1656, Dresden Gallery), with life-size half- figures of rare beauty of coloring, and the splendid "Painter's Studio" (Czernin Gallery, Vienna). VERMEJO, Brir-m:v'H6. See Bermejo. VERMES, ver'mez (Lat., worms). The name, now practically discarded, given by Lin- nseus to one of the classes in his zoological sys- tem, in which he included all the invertebrate animals except Insecta, whether of worm-like form or not. Since Linnjeus's time the name has been more or less widely used, but in an ever-narrowing and more restrictive sense. At the present time it comprises all non-chordate (see Chokdata) animals which are not unicel- lular (see Protozoa), are not provided with jointed appendages (see Artiiropoda), are not radially symmetrical, and have a well-marked body cavity, and have no mantle, shell, or creep- ing foot. The Vennes, excluding the group Platodcs, are by the latest authority (R. Hert- wig) divided into two phyla, i.e. Rotifer.a and Csel- helminthcs, the latter embracing six classes: Chietognathi, Nematelminthes. Annulata, Poly- zoa, PluH-inda, Brachio])oda. See Worm. VER-MICELrLI. See Macaroni. VERMIFORM APPENDIX (from Lat. ver- mis, worm + forma, shape). A long, narrow, worm-shaped portion of gut about the diameter of a quill, or larger, and varying in length from three to six inches. It springs from the posterior and inner aspect of the head of the colon, near its lower end. It is the rudiment of a lengthened