VERTIGO 



0072 



VESPUCIUS 



limbs. The ribs form an expansible box pro- 

 tecting the heart, lungs, stomach and other or- 

 gans. In vertebrates the heart is always on 

 the ventral side of the body. The body is sym- 

 metrical, its two sides being alike, or nearly so, 

 and there are never more than two pairs of 

 limbs. The digestive system consists of mouth, 

 oesophagus, stomach and intestines, and there 

 are various glands which secrete digestive fluids. 

 In the majority of vertebrate animals the lay- 

 ers of the skin are soft, as in man, and are pro- 

 vided with hair, feathers, scales and nails for 

 protection and ornament. 



The doctrine of evolution (see EVOLUTION), 

 established by Darwin in the middle of the 

 nineteenth century, and the recent demonstra- 

 tions that some of the lower animal forms, 

 such as mollusks, possess at certain stages in 

 their development the nerve cord, brain, spinal 

 column and pharyngeal gill slits characteristic 

 of the vertebrates, indicate that a rigid dis- 

 tinction between the lower animals and verte- 

 brates is not possible. 



Consult Lucas's Animals of the Past; Rey- 

 nolds' The Vertebrate Skeleton. 



Related Subjects. The reader who wishes to 

 make a systematic study of the Vertebrates will 

 find all those treated in these volumes classified 

 under the following headings : 

 Amphibians Marsupials 



Bird Primates 



Carnivorous Animals Reptiles 

 Cetacea Rodents 



Fish Ungulates 



Mammals 



VERTIGO, vur'tigo, the condition popularly 

 known as dizziness. The victim of vertigo has 

 the feeling that objects before him are whirling 

 about or that he himself is falling. If he at- 

 tempts to walk he staggers or falls down. 

 There are various causes for this distressing 

 sensation, including excessive or defective sup- 

 ply of blood to the brain, and variations in the 

 pressure of the fluid in the semicircular canals 

 of the internal ear (see EAR, subhead Semi- 

 circular Canals). Vertigo is often an accom- 

 paniment of anaemia, epilepsy, heart trouble 

 and indigestion. Many people become dizzy 

 by whirling themselves around rapidly several 

 times, and some cannot look down from the 

 top of a high building without experiencing the 

 sensation. Any serious attack of vertigo should 

 be reported to the family physician. C.B.B. 



VESPASIAN, vespa'zhian, TITUS FLAVIUS 

 VFSPASIANUS (A.D. 9-79), a Roman emperor, 

 from A. D. 70 to 79. He served as quaestor, 

 aedile and praetor, and as commander of a 



legion won distinction in Britain. In 51 he was 

 elected consul, in 63 became governor of Africa, 

 and in 66 was placed in command of the Ro- 

 man forces in the Jewish war. Before this was 

 brought to a conclusion news arrived of Galba's 

 death, and Vespasian's soldiers proclaimed him 



A COIN OF THE REIGN OF VESPASIAN 



emperor. Otho and Vitellius had been put for- 

 ward by rival factions, but Vespasian's support- 

 ers were at length victorious, and in 70 he 

 entered Rome as sole ruler of the empire. 



Improvements were at once instituted in the 

 administration of the law, and the country, 

 torn with civil wars, became once more pros- 

 perous. On the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, 

 father and son shared in a splendid triumph, 

 in commemoration of which the Arch of Titus 

 was built, and throughout the rest of Ves- 

 pasian's reign there was peace. The great Col- 

 osseum was begun by Vespasian and finished 

 by his son Titus. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 



the following articles in these volumes : 

 Colosseum Quaestor 



Consul Rome 



Praetor Titus 



VESPUCIUS, vespu'shius, AMERICUS (1452- 

 1512), also known as AMERIGO VESPUCCI, ves 

 pool ' che, was a 

 famous Italian 

 explorer, the ac- 

 tual discoverer of 

 the continent of 

 America. He 

 made no attempt 

 to rob his friend 

 Christopher Co- 

 lumbus of the 

 honor of the dis- 

 covery of a new 

 world, but after 

 Vespucius, how- 

 ever, America was named. He was born in 

 Florence, was educated by his uncle, a Do- 

 minican, and in some way managed to gain an 

 unusual knowledge of astronomy, a subject 

 which strongly appealed to him. After being 



AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 



