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# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Monghyr

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​MONGHYR, a town and district of British India, in the Bhagalpur division of Bengal. The town is on the right bank of the Ganges, and has a railway station, with steam ferry to the railway on the opposite bank of the river. Pop. (1901), 35,880. In 1195 Monghyr, a fortress of great natural strength, appears to have been taken by Mahommed Bakhiyar Khilji, the first Moslem conqueror of Bengal. Henceforth it is often mentioned by the Mahommedan chroniclers as a place of military importance, and was frequently chosen as the seat of the local government. After 1590, when Akbar established his supremacy over the Afghan chiefs of Bengal, Monghyr was long the headquarters of his general, Todar Mal; and it also figures prominently during the rebellion of Sultan Shuja against his brother, Aurangzeb. In more recent times Nawab Mir Kasim, in his war with the English, selected it as his residence and the centre of his military preparations. Monghyr is famous for its manufactures of iron: firearms, swords, and iron articles of every kind are produced in abundance but are noted for cheapness rather than quality. The art of inlaying sword-hilts and other articles with gold and silver affords employment to a few families.
The Disrict of Monghyr has an area of 3922 sq. m. The Ganges divides it into two portions. The northern, intersected by the Burhi Gandak and Tiljuga, two important tributaries of the Ganges, is always liable to inundation during the rainy season, and is a rich, flat, wheat and rice country, supporting a large population. A considerable area, immediately bordering the banks of the great rivers, is devoted to permanent pasture. Immense herds of buffaloes are sent every hot season to graze on these marshy prairies; and the ghi, or clarified butter, made from their milk forms an important article of export to Calcutta. To the south of the Ganges the country is dry, much less fertile, and broken up by fragmentary ridges. Irrigation is necessary throughout the section lying on the south of the Ganges. The population in 1901 was 2,068,804, showing an increase of 1.6% in the decade. The principal exports sent to Calcutta, both by rail and by river, are oil-seeds, wheat, rice, indigo, grain and pulse, hides and tobacco; and the chief imports consist of European piece-goods, salt and sugar. The southern portion of the district is well provided with railways. At Lakhisarai junction the arc and chord lines of the East Indian railway divide, and here also starts the branch to Gaya. At Jamalpur, which is the junction for Monghyr, are the engineering workshops of the company. In the early years of British rule Monghyr formed a part of Bhagalpur, and was not created a separate district till 1832.
See Monghyr District Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1909).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Vera, Augusto

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​VERA, AUGUSTO (1813–1885), Italian philosopher, was born at Amelia in the province of Perugia on the 4th of May 1813. He was educated in Rome and Paris, and, after teaching classics for some years in Geneva, held chairs of philosophy in various colleges in France, and subsequently was professor in Strassburg and in Paris. He left Paris after the coup d’état of 1851 and spent nine years in England. Attaching himself with enthusiasm to Hegel’s system, Vera (who wrote fluently both in French and in English as well as in Italian) became widely influential in spreading a knowledge of the Hegelian doctrine, and became the chief representative of Italian Hegelianism. Without any marked originality, his writings are distinguished by lucidity of exposition and genuine philosophic spirit. In 1860 Vera returned to Italy, where he was made professor of philosophy in the royal academy of Milan. In the following year he was transferred to Naples as professor of philosophy in the university there. His Prolusioni alla Storia della Filosofia and Lezioni sulla Filosofia della Storia were connected with his professorial work, which was specially devoted to the history of philosophy and the philosophy of history. He held this post till his death, which took place at Naples on the 13th of July 1885.
Among his numerous works may be mentioned Introduction à la philosophie d’Hégel (1855; 2nd ed., 1865); Problème de la certitude (1845); Le Hégelianisme et la philosophie (1861); Mélanges philosophiques (1862); Essais de philosophie Hégélienne (1864); Strauss, l’ancienne et la nouvelle foi (1873), an attack upon Strauss’s last “confession,” written from the standpoint of an orthodox Hegelian; and a comprehensive work in Italian, Il Problema dell’ Assoluto (Naples, 1872–82). His English works are an Inquiry into Speculative and Experimental Science (London, 1856); Introduction to Speculative Logic and Philosophy (St Louis, 1875), and a translation of Bretschneider’s History of Religion and of the Christian Church. He published also translations into French with commentaries of Hegel’s works: Logique de Hégel (Paris, 1859; 2nd ed., 1874); Philosophie de la nature de Hégel (1863–65); Philosophie de l’esprit de Hégel (1867–69); Philosophie de la religion de Hégel (1876–78, incomplete).
See R. Mariano, Augusto Vera (Naples, 1887) and Strauss e Vera (Rome, 1874); Karl Rosenkranz, Hegel’s Naturphilosophie und deren Bearbeitung durch A. Vera (Berlin, 1868).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Venus's Looking Glass

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​VENUS'S LOOKING GLASS, a popular garden name for Campanula Speculum (or Specularia Speculum), from the old name for the plant, Speculum Veneers. It is a common ​cornfield plant in the south of Europe, and is grown in gardens on account of its brilliant purple flowers.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Venusia

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​VENUSIA (mod. Venosa, q.v.), an ancient city of Apulia, Italy, on the Via Appia, about 6 m. S. of the river Aufidus (Ofanto), and not far from the boundary of Lucania (hence Horace describes himself as “ Lucanus an Apulus anceps, nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus ”). It was taken by the Romans after the Samnite war of 291 B.C., and became a colony at once, no fewer than 20,000 men being sent there, owing to its military importance. Throughout the Hannibalic wars it remained faithful to Rome, and had a further contingent of colonists sent in 200 B.C. to replace its losses in war. Some coins of Venusia of this period exist. It took part in the Social War, and was recaptured by Quintus Metellus Pius; it then became a municipium, but in 43 B.C. its territory was assigned to the veterans of the triumvirs, and it became a colony once more. Horace was born here, the son of a freedman, in 65 B.C. It remained an important place under the Empire as a station on the Via Appia, though Mommsen's description of it (Corp. Inscr. Lat. ix. p. 45) as having branch roads to Equus Tuticus and Potentia, and Kiepert’s maps annexed to the volume, do not agree with one another. Remains of the ancient city walls and of an amphitheatre still exist, and a number of inscriptions have been found there. Jewish catacombs with inscriptions in Hebrew, Greek and Latin show the importance of the Jewish population here in the 4th and 5th centuries after Christ. (T. As.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Vera Cruz (city)

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​VERA CRUZ, a city and seaport of Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, on a slight indentation of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, in 19° 11′ 50″ N., 96° 20′ W., slightly sheltered by some small islands and reefs. Pop. (1900) 29,164. Vera Cruz is the most important port of the republic. It is 263 m. by rail E. of the city of Mexico, with which it is connected by two lines of railway. It is built on a flat, sandy, barren beach, only a few feet above sea-level. The harbour is confined to a comparatively narrow channel inside a line of reefs and small islands, which is exposed to the full force of northern storms. New port works were completed towards the end of the 19th century, which, by means of breakwaters, afford complete protection. In 1905 the four railway companies having terminal stations in Vera Cruz united in the organization of a joint terminal association, with union station, tracks, warehouses, quays, cranes, &c.
Vera Cruz dates from 1520, soon after the first landing there of Cortés. This settlement was called Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, but was soon after moved to the harbour of Bernal, in 1525 to a point now called Old Vera Cruz, and in 1599 to its present site. It was pillaged by privateers in 1653 and 1712, and this led to the erection of the celebrated fort of San Juan de Ulúa, or Ulloa, on one of the reefs in front of the city. In 1838 it was captured by the French, in 1847 (March 29) by an American army under General Winfield Scott, who made Vera Cruz a base for his march upon the city of Mexico, and in 1861 by the French.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Verandah

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​VERANDAH, or Veranda, a roofed gallery or portico attached to the outside of a dwelling-house or other building, usually open at the sides or partially covered by lattice-work or glass or other screens. The roofing is slanting and supported by pillars; a light rail or balustrade often surrounds it. The word in English is comparatively modern, having only been included by Todd in his edition of Johnson’s Dictionary in 1827. But it was known earlier in India, and the occurrence of the word in modern Hindustani (varanda) and Malayan (baranda) has led some etymologists to connect the word with the Persian barāmadan, to climb. It is, however, certainly of European origin, and was taken to the East by the early Portuguese navigators. It is to be found as early as the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th in Spanish and Portuguese (so Minsheu, “varanda, railes to leane the brest on”), and apparently is to be referred to Lat. vara, a forked pole or rod.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Veratrum

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​VERATRUM. The Greek physicians were acquainted with a poisonous herb which they called white hellebore, and which has been supposed to represent the Veratrum album of modern botanists. Be this as it may, in modern times the name has been applied to a genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceae. Veratrum is a tall-growing herb, having a fibrous root-stock, an erect stem, with numerous broad, plicated leaves placed alternately, and terminal, much-branched clusters of greenish or purplish polygamous flowers. Each perfect flower consists of six regular petals, as many stamens, whose anthers open outwardly, and a three-celled superior ovary which ripens into a three-celled, many-seeded capsule. The genus comprises about nine species, natives of the temperate ​regions of the northern hemisphere, generally growing in pastures or woods. V. album and the American species V. viride are commonly grown in gardens as ornamental perennials, but their poisonous qualities should be kept in mind, particularly as they bear a considerable resemblance in foliage to the harmless Gentiana lutea. Both contain the potent alkaloid veratrine. (See also Hellebore.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Venus (goddess)

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​VENUS, an old Roman and Latin goddess, apparently representing beauty and growth in nature, and especially in gardens, where the Roman practical sense would most naturally see these. She had two temples in Rome, one in the grove of Libitina, with whom she was wrongly identified, and the other near the Circus Maximus, both of which had as their dedication day the 19th of August, the festival of the Visalia rustica, a fact which also points in the direction of skilled cultivation as the human work of which she was protectress. But this old Latin deity was in historical times entirely absorbed by the Greek Aphrodite, and assumed the characteristics of a cult of human love, which in her original form she had never possessed. (See Aphrodite.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Vera Cruz (state)

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​VERA CRUZ (officially Vera Cruz Llave), a Gulf Coast state of Mexico, bounded N. by Tamaulipas, W. by San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Puebla and Oaxaca, and S.E. by Chiapas and Tabasco. Pop. (1900) 981,030. It is about 50 m. wide, extending along the coast, N.W. to S.E., for a distance of 435 m., with an area of 29,201 sq. m. It was the seat of an ancient Indian civilization antedating the Aztecs and is filled with remarkable and interesting ruins; it is now one of the richest states of the republic. It consists of a low, sandy coastal zone, much broken with tidewater streams and lagoons, behind which the land rises gradually to the base of the sierras and then in rich valleys and wooded slopes to their summits on the eastern margin of the great Mexican plateau, from which rise the majestic summits of Orizaba and Cofre de Perote. The climate is hot, humid and malarial, except on the higher elevations; the rainfall is heavy, and the tropical vegetation is so dense that it is practically impossible to clear it away. At Coatzacoalcos the annual precipitation ranges from 125 to 140 in., but it steadily decreases towards the N. On the higher slopes of the sierras prehistoric terraces are found, evidently constructed to prevent the washing away of the soil by these heavy rains. More than forty rivers cross the state from the sierras to the coast, the following being navigable on their lower courses—Coatzacoalcos, San Juan, Tonto, Papaloapam, Tuxpam and Casones. Several of the lagoons on the coast are also navigable, that of Tamiahua on the northern coast, about 100 m. long, being connected with the port of Tampico by inland channels. There are several ports on the coast—Coatzacoalcos, Alvarado, Vera Cruz, Nautla, Tecolutla and Tuxpam. The products of the state are chiefly agricultural—cotton, sugar, rum, tobacco, coffee, cacao, vanilla, maize, beans and fruit. Cattle-raising is followed in some districts, cattle and hides being among the exports. Among the forest products are rubber, cabinet woods, dye-woods, broom-root, chicle, jalap and orchids. Vera Cruz is one of the largest producers of sugar and rum in Mexico. There are a number of cotton factories (one of the largest in Mexico being at Orizaba), chiefly devoted to the making of coarse cloth for the lower classes. Tobacco factories are also numerous. Other manufactures include paper, chocolate, soap and matches. There are four lines of railway converging at Vera Cruz, two of which cross the state by different routes to converge again at Mexico city. Another, the Tehuantepec National railway, crosses in the south, and is connected with Vera Cruz (city) by the Vera Cruz & Pacific line, which traverses the state in a south-easterly direction. The capital is Jalapa, and its principal towns are Vera Cruz, Orizaba, Cordova and Coatzacoalcos.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mary of Orange

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​MARY OF ORANGE (1631–1660), eldest daughter of the English king Charles I., was born in London on the 4th of November 1631. Her father wished her to marry a son of Philip IV., king of Spain, while her cousin, the elector palatine, Charles Louis, was also a suitor for her hand, but both proposals fell through and she became the wife of a Dutch prince, William, son of Frederick Henry, prince of Orange. The marriage took place in London on the 2nd of May 1641, but owing to the tender years of the bride it was not consummated for several years. However in 1642 Mary crossed over to Holland with her mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, and in 1644, as the daughter-in-law of the stadtholder, she began to take her place in public life. In 1647 her husband, William II., succeeded his father as stadtholder, but three years later, just after his attempt to capture Amsterdam, he died; a son, afterwards the English king William III., being born to him a few days later (Nov. 14, 1650). Mary was obliged to share the guardianship of her infant son with his grandmother Amelia, the widow of Frederick Henry, and with Frederick William, elector of Brandenburg; moreover, she was unpopular with the Dutch owing to her sympathies with her kinsfolk, the Stuarts, and at length public opinion having been further angered by the hospitality which she showed to her brothers, Charles II. and James, duke of York, she was forbidden to receive her relatives. From 1654 to 1657 the princess passed most of her time away from Holland. In 1657 she was appointed regent on behalf of her son for the principality of Orange, but the difficulties of her position led her to implore the assistance of Louis XIV., and the French king answered by seizing Orange himself. The position both of Mary and of her son in Holland was greatly bettered through the restoration of Charles II. in Great Britain. In September 1660 Mary journeyed to England. She was taken ill of small-pox, and died in London on the 24th of December 1660, her death, says Bishop Burnet, being “not much lamented.”
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Marzabotto

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​MARZABOTTO, a village of Emilia, Italy, in the province of Bologna, 17 m. S.S.W. of Bologna by rail. Pop. (1901), 617 (village); 5272 (commune). It lies in the valley of the Reno, 443 ft. above sea-level. In and below the grounds of the Villa Aria, close to it, are the remains of an Etruscan town of the 5th century B.C., protected on the west by the mountains, on the east and south by the river, which by a change of course has destroyed about half of it. The acropolis was just below the villa: here remains of temples were found. The town lay below the modern high-road and was laid out on a rectangular plan divided by main streets into eight quarters, and these in turn into blocks or insulae. Cemeteries were found on the east and north of the site. The name of the place is unknown: it was partially inhabited later by the Gauls, but was not occupied by the Romans.
The discoveries of 1888–1889 (with references to previous works) are described by E. Brizio in Monumenti dei Lincei (1891), i. 249 sqq. (T. As.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Maryborough (Queensland)

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​MARYBOROUGH, a town of March county, Queensland, Australia, on the left bank and 25 m. from the mouth of the Mary river, 180 m. by rail N. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901), 10,159. Besides a handsome court-house and town hall, the principal buildings are the hospital, a technical college, a library, the Anglican Church of St Paul with a fine tower and peal of bells, and the grammar schools. There is a large shipbuilding yard, and breweries, distilleries, a tannery, boot factories, soap works, saw-mills, flour-mills, carriage works and iron foundries, besides extensive sugar factories in the neighbourhood. The largest smelting works in Australia are 5 m. distant, in which ore from all the states is treated. Maryborough is the port of shipment for a wide agricultural district yielding maize and sugar, and also for the Gympie gold-fields. Timber abounds in the neighbourhood and is exported. Maryborough is also the second coaling port in Queensland, the government railway wharf being in direct communication with the Burrum coal-fields.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Maryborough (Victoria)

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​MARYBOROUGH, a municipal town of Talbot county, Victoria, Australia, 112 m. by rail N.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901), 5633. It has fine government buildings, a town hall, a botanical garden, and numerous park lands. It is an important railway centre, and has extensive railway workshops, as well as coach factories, breweries and foundries. The gold mining of the district is deep alluvial. Wheat, oats and wine are the chief agricultural products of the neighbourhood.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Maryport

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​MARYPORT, a market town and seaport in the Cockermouth parliamentary division of Cumberland, England, 25 m. W.S.W. of Carlisle, on the Maryport & Carlisle railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 11,897. It is irregularly built on the shore of the Irish Sea and on the cliffs above, at the mouth of the river Ellen. Until 1750 there were only a few huts here, the spot being called Ellenfoot, but at this time the harbour was built by Humphrey Senhouse. In 1892 Maryport became an independent port with Workington, Whitehaven and Millom subordinate to it. Coal and pig-iron are exported from the mining district inland, and shipbuilding is carried on. There are also rope and sail works, iron-foundries, saw-mills, breweries and tanneries. On the hill north of the town there is a Roman fort which guarded the coast, and many remains of this period have been discovered. The fort was called Uxellodunum.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Marāgha

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​MARĀGHA, a town of Persia in the province of Azerbaijan, on the Safi River, in 37° 23′ N., 46° 16′ E., 80 m. from Tabriz. Pop. about 16,000. It is pleasantly situated in a narrow valley running nearly north and south at the eastern extremity of a well-cultivated plain opening towards Lake Urmia, which lies 18 m. to the west. The town is encompassed by a high wall ruined in many places, and has four gates. Two stone bridges in good condition, said to have been constructed during the reign of Hulaku Khan (1256–1265), and since then several times repaired, lead over the Safi River on the western side of the town. The place is surrounded by extensive vineyards and orchards, all well watered by canals led from the river, and producing great quantities of fruit for exportation to Russia. On a hill west of the town are the remains of a famous observatory (rasad) constructed under the direction of the great astronomer Nasr-ud-din of Tus. The hills west of the town consist of horizontal strata of sandstone covered with irregular pieces of basalt and the top of the hill on which the observatory stood was made level by taking away the basalt. The building, which no doubt served as a citadel as well, enclosed a space of 380 yds. by 150, and the foundations of the walls were 41/2 to 5 ft. in thickness. The marble, which is known throughout Persia as Marāgha marble, is a travertine obtained at the village of Dashkesen (Turkish for ​“stone-breakers”) about 30 m. north-west from Maragha. It is deposited from water, which bubbles up from a number of springs in the form of horizontal layers, which at first are thin crusts and can easily be broken, but gradually solidify and harden into blocks with a thickness of 7 to 8 in. It is a singularly beautiful substance, being of pink, greenish, or milk-white colour, streaked with reddish, copper-coloured veins. An analysis of the marble gave the following result: calcium carbonate, 90·93; magnesium, ·75; iron, 1·37; manganese, 4·34; calcium sulphate, 2·30; calcium phosphate, ·24 (R. T. Günther, Geog. Journ. xiv. 517).