Ventnor, town (parish), Isle of Wight, historic county of Hampshire, southern England. The town lies along the island’s southeastern coast. From a small fishing hamlet it grew in the 19th century into a fashionable resort, noted for its mild climate and long hours of sunshine. The novelist Charles

Ventôse Decrees, during the French Revolution, laws providing for the confiscation of the property of enemies of the revolution and its distribution to needy patriots. The Ventôse Decrees are sometimes considered to be the most radical expression of social democracy of the revolution. They were

circulatory system: Chordata: …passes forward through the subpharyngeal ventral aorta, from which branches carry it to small, accessory, branchial hearts that pump it upward through the gill arches. The oxygenated blood is collected into two dorsal aortas that continue forward into the snout and backward to unite behind the pharynx. The single median…

vertebral column: …of a ventral body, or centrum, surmounted by a Y-shaped neural arch. The arch extends a spinous process (projection) downward and backward that may be felt as a series of bumps down the back, and two transverse processes, one to either side, which provide attachment for muscles and ligaments. Together…

human ear: Ascending pathways: …divided into the dorsal and ventral cochlear nucleus. Each cochlear nerve fibre branches at the cochlear nucleus, sending one branch to the dorsal and the other branch to the ventral cochlear nucleus.

human nervous system: The spinal cord: …visceral neurons, and (3) the ventral horns, composed of motor neurons. The white matter forming the ascending and descending spinal tracts is grouped in three paired funiculi, or sectors: the dorsal or posterior funiculi, lying between the dorsal horns; the lateral funiculi, lying on each side of the spinal cord…

ganglion: …system) are present in the ventral root ganglia.

nervous system: Arthropods: The ventral nerve cord, connected to the brain by the circumesophageal connectives, is composed of a double row of ganglia connected longitudinally by connectives and transversely by commissures. Different groups of arthropods exhibit different degrees of fusion of the ganglia. In insects the first ganglion, the…

human nervous system: Structural components of spinal nerves: Ventral rami of the spinal nerves carry sensory and motor fibers for the innervation of the muscles, joints, and skin of the lateral and ventral body walls and the extremities. Both dorsal and ventral rami also contain autonomic fibers.

ganglion: …system) are present in the ventral root ganglia.

placebo effect: …the brain known as the ventral striatum is a major determinant of expectation in the placebo effect. Patients with chronic illness who frequently experience positive outcomes from their medications often strongly anticipate therapeutic benefit, a phenomenon that has been demonstrated in research on persons with Parkinson disease. In one study…

skeleton: Pelvic girdle: …usually meet in the so-called ventral symphysis, from which a cartilage or a bone, the hypoischium, projects backward to support the margin of the cloacal orifice, and another, the epipubis, projects forward. A few snakes (e.g., boas) retain vestiges of a pelvic girdle and limb skeleton.

Émile Zola: Les Rougon-Macquart: Le Ventre de Paris (1873; The Belly of Paris) examines the structure of the Halles, the vast central market-place of Paris, and its influence on the lives of its workers. The 10 steel pavilions that make up the market are compared alternately to a machine, a palace, and an entire…

Rio Branco Law, measure enacted by the Brazilian parliament in 1871 that freed children born of slave parents. The law was passed under the leadership of José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Viscount do Rio Branco, premier during 1871–73, and Joaquim Nabuco de Araujo, a leading abolitionist. Although the

human nervous system: Cerebral ventricles: Deep within the white matter of the cerebral hemispheres are cavities filled with cerebrospinal fluid that form the ventricular system. These cavities include a pair of C-shaped lateral ventricles with anterior, inferior, and posterior “horns” protruding into the frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes, respectively.…

ventricle, muscular chamber that pumps blood out of the heart and into the circulatory system. Ventricles occur among some invertebrates. Among vertebrates, fishes and amphibians generally have a single ventricle, while reptiles, birds, and mammals have two. In humans, the ventricles are the two

speech: Vocal cords: …expands into lateral excavations, one ventricle of Morgagni on each side. This recess opens anteriorly into a still smaller cavity, the laryngeal saccule or appendix. As the mucous membrane emerges again from the upper surface of each ventricle, it creates a second fold on each side—the ventricular fold, or false…

cardiovascular disease: Ventricular arrhythmia: Ventricular arrhythmias represent the major mechanism of cardiac sudden death, which is the leading cause of death in the United States, where each year more than 325,000 people die suddenly. Almost all of these deaths are related to ventricular fibrillation. While this rhythm…

ventricular assist device (VAD), machine designed to facilitate the pumping of blood from the ventricles (lower chambers) of the heart to the rest of the body. A ventricular assist device (VAD) can support either the right or the left ventricle, although it is most commonly implanted in the left

cardiovascular disease: Ventricular dysfunction in heart failure: …of the ventricular cavity (called ventricular dilation), however, also results in a reduction in the percentage of the left ventricular volume of blood that is ejected (called ejection fraction) and has significant functional consequences. Ejection fraction, therefore, is a benchmark for assessing ventricular function and failure on a chronic basis.

speech: Vocal cords: …hoarseness of false-cord voice (ventricular dysphonia).

cardiovascular disease: Ventricular dysfunction in heart failure: …left ventricular failure is left ventricular enlargement, which can increase the volume of blood that is ejected from the ventricle, temporarily improving cardiac output. This increase in size of the ventricular cavity (called ventricular dilation), however, also results in a reduction in the percentage of the left ventricular volume of…

ventricular fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) characterized by the irregular and uncoordinated contraction of the muscle fibres of the ventricles, the lower chambers of the heart. Since ventricular fibrillation completely prevents the heart from functioning as a pump, it

vocal cord: The ventricular folds, located just above the vocal cords, are sometimes termed false vocal cords because they are not involved in voice production.

cardiovascular disease: Ventricular dysfunction in heart failure: …thickening the ventricular wall (ventricular hypertrophy). Ventricular hypertrophy causes increased stiffness of the left ventricle, thereby placing a limitation on the amount of compensatory increase in ventricular volume that can be generated.

ventricular septal defect, opening in the partition between the two ventricles, or lower chambers, of the heart. Such defects are congenital and may be accompanied by other congenital defects of the heart, most commonly pulmonary stenosis. The partition between the ventricles is thick and muscular

cardiovascular disease: Ventricular arrhythmia: …as serious as a dangerous ventricular tachycardia. Under any circumstance where cardiac injury has occurred, a ventricular arrhythmia may potentially become a lethal ventricular event. In contrast, premature ventricular contractions can occur spontaneously in healthy people without any consequence.

stomach, saclike expansion of the digestive system, between the esophagus and the small intestine; it is located in the anterior portion of the abdominal cavity in most vertebrates. The stomach serves as a temporary receptacle for storage and mechanical distribution of food before it is passed into

ventriloquism, the art of “throwing” the voice, i.e., speaking in such a manner that the sound seems to come from a distance or from a source other than the speaker. At the same time, the voice is disguised (partly by its heightened pitch), adding to the effect. The art of ventriloquism was

puppetry: Other types: …artistically altogether inferior, are the dummies used by ventriloquists; ventriloquism, as such, has no relation to puppetry, but the ventriloquists’ figures, with their ingenious facial movements, are true puppets. The technique of the human actor carrying the puppet actor onto the stage and sometimes speaking for it is one that…

Michael Ventris was an English architect and cryptographer who in 1952 deciphered the Minoan Linear B script and showed it to be Greek in its oldest known form, dating from about 1400 to 1200 bc, roughly the period of the events narrated in the Homeric epics. As a boy, his fascination with the

Michael Ventris was an English architect and cryptographer who in 1952 deciphered the Minoan Linear B script and showed it to be Greek in its oldest known form, dating from about 1400 to 1200 bc, roughly the period of the events narrated in the Homeric epics. As a boy, his fascination with the

human nervous system: Brain: …a lateral part called the ventrobasal complex and a medial part consisting of several nuclei. The ventrobasal complex is involved with the accurate temporal and spatial localization of conscious sensation, while the medial nuclei are concerned with the emotional, affective, and autonomic components of pain and other sensations. The ventrobasal…

motivation: Sexual motivation: Damage to the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) also arrests estrus in females and sexual behaviour in males, but hormone replacement therapy successfully restores these functions, suggesting that VMH is involved with the expression of sexual behaviour when hormonal conditions are appropriate.

Ventspils, city and port, western Latvia. It lies at the mouth of the Venta River on the Baltic Sea coast. A settlement existed there in the 2nd millennium bc, and by the 10th century ad it was inhabited by Wends (a Slavic people). In 1242 the Teutonic Knights built a castle there, and in 1378 town

Orinoco River: Physiography of the Orinoco: …to its confluence with the Ventuari River. There the river turns to the west to run between high alluvial banks, its course marked by extensive sandbars. Near San Fernando de Atabapo, the Atabapo and Guaviare rivers join the Orinoco, marking the end of the upper Orinoco.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Life: …of professional musicians called the Vertuosa Compagnia dei Musici.

Ventura, city, seat (1873) of Ventura county, southern California, U.S. It lies on the Pacific coast overlooking the Santa Barbara Channel. It is the site of the San Buenaventura Mission, the ninth and last mission founded (1782) by Junípero Serra, which was restored as a historic site and remains

Jesse Ventura is a professional wrestler known as Jesse “the Body” Ventura and later entered politics, serving as governor of Minnesota (1999–2003). Ventura joined the U.S. Navy after high school, becoming a SEAL (sea, air, land) commando and serving in the Vietnam War before returning to Minnesota

venture capital, in business finance, funds provided by wealthy individuals, investment banks, or other financial institutions to relatively new and small companies that appear capable of exceptional growth and long-term success, including nascent private companies, or “start-ups.” In exchange for

the Ventures, American musical group that gained fame with its instrumental interpretations of pop hits and that served as a prototype for guitar-based rock groups. The principal members were rhythm guitarist Don Wilson (b. February 10, 1933, Tacoma, Washington, U.S.—d. January 22, 2022, Tacoma),

Bernoulli’s theorem: …phenomenon is sometimes called the Venturi effect, after the Italian scientist G.B. Venturi (1746–1822), who first noted the effects of constricted channels on fluid flow.

venturi tube, short pipe with a constricted inner surface, used to measure fluid flows and as a pump. The 18th–19th-century Italian physicist Giovanni Battista Venturi, observing the effects of constricted channels on fluid flow, designed an instrument with a narrow throat in the middle; fluid

venturi tube, short pipe with a constricted inner surface, used to measure fluid flows and as a pump. The 18th–19th-century Italian physicist Giovanni Battista Venturi, observing the effects of constricted channels on fluid flow, designed an instrument with a narrow throat in the middle; fluid

venturi tube, short pipe with a constricted inner surface, used to measure fluid flows and as a pump. The 18th–19th-century Italian physicist Giovanni Battista Venturi, observing the effects of constricted channels on fluid flow, designed an instrument with a narrow throat in the middle; fluid

venturi tube, short pipe with a constricted inner surface, used to measure fluid flows and as a pump. The 18th–19th-century Italian physicist Giovanni Battista Venturi, observing the effects of constricted channels on fluid flow, designed an instrument with a narrow throat in the middle; fluid

Bernoulli’s theorem: …effect, after the Italian scientist G.B. Venturi (1746–1822), who first noted the effects of constricted channels on fluid flow.

art criticism: Foundations of art criticism in antiquity and the Middle Ages: …History of Art Criticism (1936), Lionello Venturi asks: “What is criticism if not a relationship between a principle of judgment and the intuition of a work of art or of an artistic personality?” The principle of judgment can be informed by general ideas about art, but the intuition of a…

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: Venturi studied at the Princeton University School of Architecture in New Jersey, where he received a B.A. in 1947 and an M.F.A. in 1950. Between 1950 and 1958 he worked as a designer for the architectural firms of Oscar Stonorov, Eero Saarinen, and Louis I.…

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: Venturi studied at the Princeton University School of Architecture in New Jersey, where he received a B.A. in 1947 and an M.F.A. in 1950. Between 1950 and 1958 he worked as a designer for the architectural firms of Oscar Stonorov, Eero Saarinen, and Louis I.…

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown were American architects who proposed alternatives to the functionalist mainstream of 20th-century American architectural design. Their design partnership was at the vanguard of the eclectic movement known as postmodernism. Venturi studied at the Princeton

Ascomycota: parasitica), and apple scab (Venturia inequalis).

Ascomycota: parasitica), and apple scab (Venturia inequalis).

South Asian arts: South India: …lute with seven strings; the venu, a side-blown bamboo flute; the nagaswaram, a long, oboe-like, double-reed instrument with finger holes; the violin, imported from the West in the 18th century, played while seated on the floor with the scroll resting on the player’s left foot; and the gottuvadyam, a long-necked…

venue, in law, locality in which a criminal offense or civil litigation is to be conducted. The concept of venue involves important issues of public policy in the adjudication of crimes. Local and general statutes specify the court in which a criminal offense or civil claim must be tried. If the

Mysuru: Bandipur Sanctuary, part of the Venugopal Wildlife Park (1941), is usually approached from Mysuru. It is noted for herds of gaur (Indian bison) and spotted deer, has a network of roads for observation, and adjoins Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu state. The area in which Mysuru is situated is…

Belagavi, city, northwestern Karnataka state, southwestern India. It is located in the Western Ghats at an elevation of about 2,500 feet (760 metres) above sea level. The city dates from the 12th century. It later exercised strategic control over the plateau routes to Goa and the Arabian Sea coast

human cardiovascular system: …pressure, enters small vessels called venules that converge to form veins, ultimately guiding the blood on its way back to the heart.

Peter O’Toole: …Man, My Favorite Year, and Venus—but never won; in 2003 he was awarded an honorary Oscar. O’Toole received an Emmy Award for his performance as Bishop Cauchon in the television miniseries Joan of Arc (1999).

Nauvoo, city, Hancock county, western Illinois, U.S. It lies along the Mississippi River, about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Burlington, Iowa. The area was long inhabited by Sauk and Fox Indians before American settlement. Permanent settlement was begun in 1824 by Captain James White, and the area

Suzan-Lori Parks: …1989), and for her eighth, Venus (produced 1996), about a South African Khoisan woman taken to England as a sideshow attraction. With Topdog/Underdog (produced 2001), Parks evoked the complexities of the African American experience through the fraught relationship between two brothers. In 2002 the play became her first to be…

Venus, second planet from the Sun and sixth in the solar system in size and mass. No planet approaches closer to Earth than Venus; at its nearest it is the closest large body to Earth other than the Moon. Because Venus’s orbit is nearer the Sun than Earth’s, the planet is always roughly in the same

Venus, ancient Italian goddess associated with cultivated fields and gardens and later identified by the Romans with the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Venus had no worship in Rome in early times, as the scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 bce) shows, attesting that he could find no mention

Roman Polanski: …Vénus à la fourrure (2013; Venus in Fur), and D’après une histoire vraie (2017; Based on a True Story).

Titian: Mythological paintings: …Danae with Nursemaid and the Venus and Adonis. The magnificent nude Danae lies upon her couch, knees raised, as Jupiter descends to her in the form of golden rain, and her nursemaid rather amusingly attempts to catch the coins in her apron. This work (of which there exist numerous replicas…

Peter Paul Rubens: Later career of Peter Paul Rubens: …Venus, as in his glowing Venus and Adonis (c. 1635). In 1631 Philip IV knighted Rubens—the only painter so honoured by the kings of both England and Spain. Having lost all taste for politics, Rubens finally retired from his diplomatic career.

John Blow: …his church music and for Venus and Adonis, which is regarded as the earliest surviving English opera.

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd earl of Southampton: …Shakespeare, who dedicated the poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) to him. It has also been argued, albeit inconclusively, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were addressed to him. If so, the earlier sonnets, urging marriage, must have been written before the beginning (in 1595) of Southampton’s intrigue…

Venus and Adonis stanza, a stanza consisting of an iambic pentameter quatrain and couplet with the rhyme scheme ababcc. The stanza was so called because it was used by William Shakespeare in his poem Venus and Adonis

Titian: Mythological paintings: The Venus and Cupid with an Organist and the Venus and the Lute Player are variations on the theme of the earlier Venus of Urbino. Aside from the emphasis on the idealized beauty of the nude goddess, it is generally believed that symbolism is involved in…

Sandro Botticelli: Mythological paintings: 1485), Venus and Mars (c. 1485), and The Birth of Venus (c. 1485). The Primavera, or Allegory of Spring, and The Birth of Venus were painted for the home of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici. All four of these panel paintings have been variously interpreted by…

Titian: Mythological paintings: …with an Organist and the Venus and the Lute Player are variations on the theme of the earlier Venus of Urbino. Aside from the emphasis on the idealized beauty of the nude goddess, it is generally believed that symbolism is involved in these pictures, although the precise meanings have been…

clam: …belong to the family of venus clams (Veneridae). M. mercenaria is about 7.5 to 12.5 cm (3 to 5 inches) long. The dingy white shell, which is thick and rounded and has prominent concentric lines, is found in the intertidal zone from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf…

Venus comb, marine snail, a species of murex

Venus de Milo, ancient statue commonly thought to represent Aphrodite, now in Paris at the Louvre. It was carved from marble by Alexandros, a sculptor of Antioch on the Maeander River about 150 bce. It was found in pieces on the Aegean island of Melos on April 8, 1820, and was subsequently

Meret Oppenheim: …Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s erotic novella Venus en fourrures (1870; original title Venus im Pelz; “Venus in Furs”). Reaping the rewards of her newfound fame, Oppenheim had her first solo exhibition in 1936 at Galerie Marguerite Schulthess in Basel.

Venus Express, European Space Agency spacecraft that orbited the planet Venus. The design of Venus Express was based on that of the earlier Mars Express. It was launched on November 9, 2005, by a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket and went into orbit around Venus on April 11, 2006. Near-infrared and other

Cro-Magnon: Their human figures generally depict large-breasted, wide-hipped, and often obviously pregnant women, from which it is assumed that these figures had significance in fertility rites. Numerous depictions of animals are found in Cro-Magnon cave paintings throughout France and Spain at sites such as Lascaux, Eyzies-de-Tayac, and Altamira,…

Venus flytrap, (Dionaea muscipula), perennial carnivorous plant of the sundew family (Droseraceae), notable for its unusual habit of catching and digesting insects and other small animals. The only member of its genus, the plant is native to a small region of North and South Carolina, where it is

Callimachus: …have attributed to Callimachus the Venus Genetrix (or Aphrodite Genetrix), a Roman replica of which is in the Louvre. He has also been linked with a series of reliefs of dancing maenads, such as the Roman copy now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, which are notable…

Meret Oppenheim: …Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s erotic novella Venus en fourrures (1870; original title Venus im Pelz; “Venus in Furs”). Reaping the rewards of her newfound fame, Oppenheim had her first solo exhibition in 1936 at Galerie Marguerite Schulthess in Basel.

Roman Polanski: …Vénus à la fourrure (2013; Venus in Fur), and D’après une histoire vraie (2017; Based on a True Story).

the Velvet Underground: …songs, such as “Heroin” and “Venus in Furs,” that reflected his interest in the graphic, narrative realism of novelists Raymond Chandler and Hubert Selby, Jr. With guitarist Morrison (a Syracuse classmate of Reed’s) and percussionist MacLise, Reed on guitar and vocals and Cale on piano, viola, and bass formed a…

obscenity: Obscenity laws in the 18th and 19th centuries: …of a new edition of Venus in the Cloister; or, The Nun in Her Smock, a mildly pornographic work that had been written several decades earlier; his sentence, a fine and one hour in the pillory, was delayed because no punishment was then specified in the law. Thereafter obscenity was…

Venus of Urbino, oil painting completed in 1538 by the great Venetian Renaissance artist Titian. It is one of the most widely known and most thoroughly discussed of his works. Inspired by such Italian artists of the High Renaissance as Michelangelo, Titian was considered a master within the

Venus of Willendorf, Upper Paleolithic female figurine found in 1908 at Willendorf, Austria, that is perhaps the most familiar of some 40 small portable human figures (mostly female) that had been found intact or nearly so by the early 21st century. (Roughly 80 more exist as fragments or partial

science fiction: Sex and gender: Theodore Sturgeon’s Venus Plus X (1960) examined the limits of gender in a world where sexuality and reproduction are surgical add-ons. One of the more thoughtful explorations of the theme was Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), which posited a human society on…

Antonio Canova, marchese d’Ischia: …sister Princess Borghese reclining as Venus Victrix. He was created a marquis for his part in retrieving works of art from Paris after Napoleon’s defeat.

Titian: Mythological paintings: The Venus with a Mirror, the one original among several versions, is a natural theme for the goddess of love and beauty. Yet Titian is the first artist to show her with a mirror held by Cupid. Her form is somewhat more heroic than hitherto, and…

Venus’s flower basket, any of several sponges of the genus Euplectella, especially E. aspergillum (class Hexactinellida, glass sponges). The name Venus’s flower basket derives from the sponges’ delicate, white, latticelike skeletons made of silica. In the living animal the skeleton is covered by a

Venus flytrap, (Dionaea muscipula), perennial carnivorous plant of the sundew family (Droseraceae), notable for its unusual habit of catching and digesting insects and other small animals. The only member of its genus, the plant is native to a small region of North and South Carolina, where it is

Venus’s girdle, (Cestum veneris) ribbon-shaped comb jelly of the order Cestida (phylum Ctenophora) found in the Mediterranean Sea. Its graceful, transparent body, which is a delicate violet in colour, is 1 metre (about 40 inches) or more long and about 5 cm (2 inches) wide. It has a well-developed

Venus’s looking glass, (Legousia, or Specularia, speculum-veneris), species of annual herb of the bellflower family (Campanulaceae), native to sandy, sunny parts of the Mediterranean region. It is grown as a garden ornamental for its blue, violet, or white, wide-open, bell-shaped flowers. The long

Venus’s-hairstone, variety of quartz interspersed with fine crystals of the mineral rutile

Baiae: The “temples” of Venus and Diana are of the Hadrianic period (2nd century ce) and are somewhat larger. Venus, which is 86 feet (26.3 metres) in diameter, was also a bath’s swimming pool, while Diana (almost 97 feet [29.5 metres] in diameter) was probably a casino. More than…

Venosa, town and episcopal see, Basilicata regione, southern Italy. It is situated on the lower slope of Mount Vulcano, north of Potenza. Originally a settlement of the Lucanians (an ancient Italic tribe), it was taken by the Romans after the Samnite Wars (291 bc); from its position on the Appian

architecture: Venustas: This Latin term for “beauty” (literally, the salient qualities possessed by the goddess Venus) clearly implied a visual quality in architecture that would arouse the emotion of love, but it is of interest to note that one of the crucial aspects of this problem…

Eddie Lang: …he played with former schoolmate Joe Venuti in Atlantic City, N.J., and then toured with the Mound City Blue Blowers. He settled in New York City in 1924, where he played in dance bands. He quickly became a favourite in studios, making noted recordings with Frank Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke…

Cartimandua: …when her husband and coruler, Venutius, twice attempted to overthrow her by stirring up anti-Roman sentiment, the Roman legions put down the uprisings. Venutius and Cartimandua were reconciled and reigned together until 69, when she divorced him for his armour bearer, Vellocatus. For the third time Venutius rebelled and this…

Venyukovia, genus of extinct mammallike reptiles (therapsids) that are found as fossils in Permian deposits in eastern Europe (the Permian Period began 299,000,000 years ago and lasted 48,000,000 years). Venyukovia was herbivorous, with primitive teeth; it is thought that Venyukovia may well have