V E R 



yardi, near habitations ; for although there is fcarccly any 

 part of Enghiiid in which this is not found in plenty, yet it 

 is never found above a quarter of a mile from a houfe ; 

 which occafioned its being called fimpkr's joy, becaufc, 

 wherever this plant is found growing, it is a fure token of 

 a houfe being near ; this is a certain faft, fays Miller, but 

 not eafy to be accounted for. It is rarely cultivated in 

 gardens, but is brought to the markets by thofe who gather 

 it in the fields. It is annual, and flowers in July or 

 Auguft. 



Vervain was ufed among the ancients at their facrifices, 

 and was thought to contain fomething divine. The Romans, 

 in the beginning of the year, made a prefent of this herb to 

 their friends. It appears to be the li^y. (Solxvr, or fft^irrj^aiv* 

 of Diofcorides. It is deftitute of odour, but manifefts a 

 flight degree of aftringency. The root, worn at the pit of 

 the ftomach, an infufion, and an ointment prepared from the 

 leaves, are faid to produce good effects in fcrophulous cafes. 

 Morley's EfT. on Scrophula. 



But this, fays Dr. Withering, wants confirmation from the 

 more rational and lefs enthufiaftic praAitioner. 



Its fenfible qualities, fays Dr. Lewis, afford little or no 

 foundation for the abundance of virtues for which it has 

 been celebrated. Its ufe in medicine feems to have origi- 

 nated from fome fuperftitious idea of its efficacy, when fuf- 

 pended about the neck as an amulet. In order to obtain 

 its virtues more effeftually, the vervain was direfted to be 

 bruifed before it was appended to the neck : and of its good 

 effefts thus ufed for inveterate head-aches, Foreftus relates 

 a remarkable inftancc. In ftill later times it has been cm- 

 ployed in the way of cataplafm, by which we are told the 

 moi fevere and obllinate cafes of cephalalgia have been 

 cured ; for which we have the authorities of Etmnller, 

 Hartmann, and more efpccially De Hacn. 



Notwilhflanding thefe telliinonies in favour of vervain, it 

 has defervedly fallen into difufe in Britain ; nor has the 

 pamphlet of Mr. Morley, written proflTedly to recommend 

 its ufe in fcrophulous affeftions, had the efleil of reftoring its 

 medical charafter. This gentleman direfts the root of ver- 

 vain to be tied with a yard of -white fattin ribiantJ round the 

 neck, where it is to remain till the patient recovers. He 

 alfo has recourfe to infufions and ointments prepared from 

 the leaves of the plant ; and occafionally calls in aid the 

 moft aAive medicines of the Materia Medica. WoodviUe's 

 Med. Bot. 



Vervain, Mallow. See Malva and Urena. 



VERUDA, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the Adriatic, 

 near the coaft of Illria ; 4 miles S. of Pola. 



VERUES, in ylnciint Geography, a people of Africa, in 

 Mauritania Tingitana, S. of the Succofii and of the Maca- 

 nitae, according to Ptolemy. 



VERVIC, in Geography. See Werwic. 



VERVIERS, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Ourthe, fituatid on the river Weze. It was anciently 

 walled, but when the French were mafters of Limburg, 

 they compelled the inhabitants of Verviers to demolifh the 

 walls. The body of citizens is reprefented by feven 1:0m- 

 miiraries, appointed by the magiftrates, whofe office is for 

 life, independent of the birtiop. The iiiliabitants carry on 

 a very confiderable traffic in cloth, which they export to 

 Germany, th'- northern parts of Europe, Italy, and Turkey; 

 17 miles E.S.E. of Liege. N. lat. 50^ 36'. E. long. 



5° 53'- 



VERVINS, a town of France, and principal place of 



a diftrift, in the department of the Aifne ; 4 ports N.N.E. 



of Laon. N. lat. 49° 50'. E. long. 3° 58'. 



VERUL^, or Verulanum, in jimunt Geography, a 



V E K 



town of Italy, in Latium, in the country of the Hernici, 

 according to Florus. Frontinus reckons it in the number of 

 Roman colonies. 



VERULAM, in Geography. See St. yllian'j. 



VERULAMIA, in Botany, received this appellation 

 from the learned Decandolle, now botanical profeflbr at 

 Geneva, in memory of our immortal Bacon, baron of 

 Verulam ; fee that biographical article. That lord Bacon's 

 fpeculations in natural ki.owledge may allow us to claim 

 him as a botanift, we are too much intrrellcd \r the honour 

 of our fcience to difputc ; but we mud deeply regret that 

 his real name, fo univerfally known and vtiieratrd, was not 

 preferred, to one which ferves but to perpetuate the remem- 

 brance of his lamentable difgrace. We fhoiilJ, on any 

 future occafion, prcfume to eftablilh Eaconia, \n preference 

 to the above, as being, in addition to the above reafons, 

 authorized by Linniean rule and cudom. The charafters 

 of this genus, in a paper read before the French Injlitute, 

 were communicated by the above author to M. Poiret, 

 from whom we adopt them. — Poiret in Lam Dift. v. 8. 

 543. — Clafs and order, Tdrandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. 

 Rul/iace^, JuiT. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, bell-fliaped, 

 in four obtufe fegments. Cor. of one petal, funnel-fhapcd, 

 longer than the calyx ; tube cylindrical, (horter than the 

 limb, its orifice befet with hairs ; limb in four fpreading 

 fegments. Slam. Filaments four, Ihort, iiiferted into the 

 upper part of the tube ; anthers prominent, linear, twilled 

 after difcharging their pollen. Pi/l. Germen fuperior, 

 nearly globular, umbilicated at the top ; ilyle thrcad-fhaped, 

 hardly fo long as tlie anthers ; ftigma fimple, cylindrical. 

 Per/c. Berry fomewhat globular, comprefTed at the fummit, 

 nearly dry, of two cells. Seeds folitary, hemifpherical, 

 with a cartilaginous albumen, and Ifraight cylindrical 

 embryo. 



Ed. Ch. Corolla funnel-fcaped, bearded in the mouth. 

 Calyx four-cleft, inferior. Berry of two cells. Seeds 

 foil tary . 



I. V. corymbofa. Decand. Mem. t. i. unpublifhed. 



Poiret n. i Found by Mr. Stadman, in Africa, near 



Sierra Leone. A Jhrub, differing from all the known 

 genera of this order befides, in having a fuperior germen. 

 It is faid to be moft akin to G.ertneka, but we know not 

 what thefc writers intend under that name ; certainly not 

 what we, in its proper place, have defcribed. The branchet 

 are cyhndrical and fmooth. Leaves oppofite, ftalked, 

 croffing each other in pairs, elliptical, entire, fmooth>on both 

 fides, fix or feven inches long, two or more in breadth. 

 Stipulas in pairs, entire, fcarcely pointed, permanent. 

 Floivers in tf-rminal branched corymbs, without bradcai. 

 Caly.v wide, obtufe. Berry the fize of a pea. 



V'ERULUM, Veroli, in jincient Geography, a town of 

 Italv, in Latium, at a fmall diftance from Alatrium ; ex- 

 hibiting fome relics of siuiquity. 



VERU-MONTANUM, in Anatomy. See Gr.Nt.RA- 

 TiDN and Urethra. 



VERURIUM, 111 Ancient Geography, a town of Hifpania, 

 in Lufitania. Ptolemy. 



VERUS, Li;cius, in Biography, a Roman emperor, fon 

 of L. Verus, who had been adopted by Adrian, was bom 

 about A. D. 131 ; and on his father's death, in 138, 

 adopted by Titus Antoninus, at the fame time with M. 

 Aurcliiis. In early life Verus neglefted all firious fludieg, 

 and attached himlelf to amufement and frivolous purfuits ; 

 and, therefore, T. Antoninus, at his death in 161, devolved 

 the imperial power folely on M. Aurelius ; but this emperor, 

 with an almoft unexampled gencrotty, dccl.trcd Vcrus tobcan 

 10 nffociate 



