VEN 
conds. This difference gives us the paral- 
lax of Venus, and of course her distance 
from the earth during a conjunction. The 
knowledge of this parallax enables us, by 
a me.-,1od to be afterwards described, to as- 
certain that of the sun, and consequently 
to discover its distance from the earth. 
The great variations of the apparent dia- 
meter of Venus demonstrate that her dis- 
tance from the earth is exceedingly varia- 
ble. It is largest when the planet passes 
over the surface of the sun. Her mean 
apparent diameter is 58 ". , 
Vennsj as we have already observed, is 
occasionally seen in the disc of the sun, in 
form of a dark round spot. This happens 
when the earth is about her nodes at the 
time of her inferior conjunction. These ap- 
pearances, called transits, happen but very 
seldom. During the last century there were 
two transits, one in June, 1761, and the other 
in 1769 : no other will occur till the w'riters 
and most of the present readers of this Dic- 
tionary shall be no more, viz, in 1874. Ex- 
cepting such transits as these, Venus exhibits 
the same appearances to us regularly every 
eight years ; her conjunctions, elongations, 
and times of rising and setting being very 
nearly the same, on the same days, as before. 
From the transit of Venus in 1761 was de- 
duced the sun’s parallax, and of course his 
distance from the earth with very great ac- 
curacy. See Philosophical Transactions, vol. 
li. and lii. On the day of the transit, when 
the sun was nearly at his greatest distance 
from the earth, the parallax was found to 
be 8" 52'" ; therefore, at his mean distance, 
it will be 8 " 65'". Whence, by logarithms, 
we have 10,000, &c.— 5.622 (sine of 8" 65") 
= 4.376 = 23882.84, the number of semi- 
diameters of the earth contained in its dis- 
tance from the sun. This last number, miil- 
tiplied by 3985, the number of miles in the 
earth’s semi-diameter, gives 95,173,122 
miles for the mean distance of the earth 
from the sun. This being obtained, we 
easily, by calculation, find the distances of 
all the other planets. Other observers 
made the parallax somewhat different, but 
it was generally admitted that this distance 
is somewhere between 95 and 96 millions of 
miles. 
Venus, in natural history, a genus of the 
Vermes Testacea class and order. Animal 
a tethys ; shell bivalve, the frontal margin 
flattened with incumbent lips ; hinge with 
three teeth, all of them approximate, the 
lateral ones divergent at the jip. There 
are nearly two hundred species, hi sections. 
VEll 
A. Shell somewhat heart-shaped. B. Or- 
bicular. These are found in different parts 
of the world. V. verrucosa inhabits the 
Mediterranean, English, and Antilly coasts : 
thick, tv/o inches long, and as much broad ; 
sometimes marked witli a few brown spots 
and rays, 
VERATRUM, in botany, a genus of 
the Polygamia Monoecia class and order. 
Natural order of Coronarire. Junci, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx none ; co- 
rolla six-petalled ; stamina six : hermaphro- 
dite, pistils three; capsule many-seeded: 
male, rudiment of a pistil. There are four- 
species. 
VERB. See GnAMMAR. 
VERBASCUM, in botany, mullein, a 
genus of tire Penfandria Monogynia class 
and order. Natural order of Luridae. So- 
lane®, Jussieu. Essential character: co- 
rolla wheel-shaped, a little unequal; cap- 
sule two-celled, two-valved. There are 
nineteen species. 
VERBENA, in botany, vervain, a genus 
of the Diandria Monogynia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Personal*. Vitices, 
Jussieu. Essential character : corolla fun- 
nel-shaped, almost equal, curved ; calyx 
one of the teeth truncate ; seeds two or 
four, naked, or very thinly arilled ; stami- 
na tw’o or four. There are twenty-three 
species. 
VERBESINA, in botany, a genus of 
the Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua class 
and order. Natural order of Coinposit* 
Oppositifoli*. Corymbifer-*, Jmssieu. Es- 
sential character : calyx a double row ; flo- 
rets of tile ray about five ; pappus awned ; 
receptacle chaffy. There are twelve spe- 
cies. 
VERDICT, the answer of a jury made 
upon any cause, civil or criminal, commit- 
ted by the court jo their examination ; and 
this is two fold, general or special. A ge- 
neral verdict is that which is given or 
brought into the court in like general terms 
to the general issue ; as, guilty or not guilty 
generally. A special verdict is, when they 
say at large that such a thing they find to be 
done by the defendant, or tenant, so de- 
claring the course of the fact, as in their 
opinion it is proved; and as to the law up- 
on the fact, they pray the judgment of tha 
court ; and this special verdict, if it con- 
tain any ample declaration of the cause from 
the beginning to the end, is also called a 
verdict at large. A special verdict is usually 
found vvhere there is any difficirlty or doubt 
respecting the laws, when the jury state the 
