by the shifting of the cords connected to the respective heddles from the fork bars f to g, or from g to f, as may be required, which is effected by the sliding of the needles as above described. The manner in which the different parts of this piece of mechanism are put in action is as follows: -h is a main shaft turned by a connexion with the lay of the loom, so as to move half round every time that the shuttle has been passed across the warp. Upon this shaft there are several cams or tappets operating upon levers; i is one of these cams, which, as it revolves, strikes against the friction roller of a bent lever j, and drives the rod k forward. At the reverse end of this rod k there is a vibrating lever l, connected to which a pall m is attached, and this, taking into the ratchet teeth of the cylinder a, causes the cylinder to advance one tooth every time that the cam i strikes the lever j, and rod k. There is a hook n, by the side of the pall m, which is connected also to the action of the lever l and rod k, for the purpose of giving the cylinder a retrograde motion; which is requisite when the figure or pattern is designed to be worked backwards and forwards, as in what is called a point pattern; the means of putting either the pall or the hook out of action is a cam upon the shaft o. In order to move the cylinder forward one tooth of a revolution, it is necessary to withdraw those needles that have passed into the apertures; this is done by the cam or tappet wheel p (also upon the main shaft) permitting the rod q to recede, and with it the guide bar e, which draws the whole of the needles b a short distance back every time that the shuttle has passed across the loom. The lifting of the fork bars is produced by two tappets r and s, likewise upon the main shaft, which, coming in contact with the friction rollers of the bent levers t, v, by the cords at their extremities, alternately pull down the longer arms of the top levers, and thereby cause the shorter arms of the same levers to lift the forked bars and the cords c or d as before described. The third improvement applicable to looms consists in a new mode of taking up or winding the cloth or fabric upon the beam, or cloth roller as it accumulates in the loom; this part of the invention is capable of adaptation to both power looms, and those worked by hand. It has been found extremely difficult in hand looms to produce an even cloth, owing to the unequal force by which the lay has beaten up the weft or shoot. This contrivance is shown at fig. 2, which exhibits an end view of a power loom, such parts only being shown as are necessary for the illustration of this contrivance.a is the roller upon which the yarn is wound; this roller turns with considerable friction, owing to the weighted cord coiled round it, which distends the warp threads b. The roller upon which the cloth is wound is marked c, and has upon its axis a toothed wheel d, taking into a pinion upon the axle of the ratchet wheel e. This ratchet wheel is moved round by a hooked pall f, which is connected to the lever g; and this lever, being jointed to the leg of the lay h, causes the hook to pull the ratchet wheel one tooth at every vibration of the lay. If the weft or shoot carried by the shuttle be of uniform substance, the cloth or other fabric woven by these means will be of an even texture; but, if some parts of the weft be thinner than other parts, then the lay will come forward a small distance and permit the tail rod i to strike against the short lever k, which will cause the hook f to be lifted out of the teeth of the ratchet, and the beating up of the cloth will proceed without causing the roller e to draw it off until a second weft thread has been introduced, which by the increased thickness prevents the advance of the lay as before, and now allows the hook to take hold of the ratchet, and draw it one tooth forward. When this contrivance is adapted to a power loom, the lay must be worked by an arm which has a spring, in order to permit the lay to advance according to the thickness of the weft. The fourth improvement applies to the working of the yarn roller and the cloth roller together, by means of certain machinery as will be explained. Fig. 3 shows the end of a loom with such parts as are necessary to explain this improvement; a s the yarn roller with a toothed wheel b upon its axis; c is a horizontal shaft having an endless screw upon it, taking into the toothed wheel; dis a friction pulley, over which two weighted cords pass, the one e fastened to the frame, the other fattached to an arm or lever g, extending from the leg of the lay. When the lay goes back, previous to throwing the shuttle, the lever g draws down the cord f, in which act the pulley d and its shaft is turned a short distance round, and the endless screw upon this shaft taking into the toothed wheel causes that wheel and the roller a to turn sufficiently to give out a portion of the warp. When the lay returns, for the purpose of beating up! the weft, the lever g slackens the cord f, which now slides and is drawn tight by the weight at its extremity, the pulley d being prevented from returning by the friction of the weighted cord e. In order to regulate the delivery of the warp, according to the larger or smaller diameter of the warp roller a, a lever h is placed at the back of the loom, carrying the friction roller i, which is pressed against the periphery of the warp roller by the ter sion of a cord j fastened to the lever h, and passing thence over a pulley to the arm or lever g before mentioned. This lever is pressed by a spring / 10 the side of the lay, and as the diameter of the warp roller diminishes; the lever h advances and relaxes the cord j, by which the spring is enabled to force the arm g farther out, and hence the cord is drawn further down in the receding of the lay above described, which draws the pulley also, and there by causes the toothed wheel and the warp roller to advance more rapidly than would be required if the roller was full. In opening the sheds of warp for passing the shuttle, the warp roller is not permitted to give way as in other looms: but the cloth roller is made to yield by the following means:-m is the cloth roller, having a toothed wheel upon its axis, taking into a pinion which is fixed upon the axis of the pulley n; this pulley has two grooves of differ ent diameters, round which pass cords with ba lance weights. As the lay vibrates, its tail lever o draws the cord up and down, which by friction causes the pulley to move sufficiently to afford the required relaxation of the cloth. The fifth improvement consists in disposing the warps and shuttles in several ranges, one above the other, which particularly applies to ribbon looms; in this improvement the shuttles are placed in the lay in several rows, and consequently several portions of reeds are adapted to correspond to the se veral rows of warp. The sixth improvement is a After local names, the most in number have been derived from occupations: as, Taylor, Webster, Wheeler. Camden. Webfooted fowls do not live constantly upon the land, nor fear to enter the water. Ray. Such as are whole-footed, or whose toes are webbed together, their legs are generally short, the most conveDerham. nient size for swimming. WEBB (Philip Carteret), esq., an eminent English antiquary and lawyer, born in 1700. In 1751 he was employed to procure the charter of incorporation for the Society of Antiquaries, London. In 1754 he was elected M. P. for Haslemere; and re-elected in 1761. He was appointed solicitor to the treasury; in which office he continued till June 1765. In 1747 he published Observations on the Proceedings in the Admiralty Courts, 8vo. In 1760 he presented the famous Heraclean Table to the king of Spain, for which he received a diamond ring worth £300. In April, 1763, he was employed in defending Mr. Wilkes in the celebrated prosecution against him. On that occasion he published A Collection of Records about General Warrants, and other political tracts. He also published, 1. A Letter to Dr. Warburton, 1742, 8vo. 2. Excerpta ex Instrumentis Publics de Judæis, 4to., with other tracts about the Jew bills. 3. Account of a Copper Table discovered at Heraclea, 1760. He published many other temporary tracts. He was three times married; and died in 1770. WEBSTER (Rev. James), a Scottish divine, was educated at St. Andrew's, then under the noted archbishop Sharp, to whom he rendered himself obnoxious by his attachment to Presbyterian principles. Having joined the party who refused to abjure the covenant (see CAMERONIANS, CARGIL LITES, &c.), he shared in their persecutions, and underwent two severe imprisonments in Dundee and Dumfries, from the latter of which he was liberated by king James VII.'s act of universal toleration in 1685. On the establishment of Presbyterianism in 1688 he obtained first Liberton, whence he was removed to Whitekirk, and lastly to Edinburgh, in 1693. He published several sermons, and died in 1720. WEBSTER (Alexander), D. D., son to the preceding, was born in 1737, studied at Edinburgh, and in 1733 was ordained minister in Culross. In 1737 he was called to the Tolbooth church in Edinburgh. In 1745 he continued in the city when it was taken by the rebels, and all the clergy had fled. By his popularity and eloquence he retained vast numbers loyal to the house of Hanover. He suggested and entirely planned the scheme for the relief of the ministers widows of the church of Scotland, called the widows' scheme. To him also was owing the first outline of the plan for extending the royalty, and building the new town of Edinburgh. In 1755 he was engaged in a work of vast public utility, being the first Statistical Account of Scotland; and the amount of the population of the different parishes which he procured, other investigations have since proved to be exceedingly accurate. He died in 1784. WEBSTER (Charles), M. D., a learned physician, born in Dundee, and educated at St. Andrew's, where he also studied divinity. About 1760 he went to Edinburgh, where he practised as a physician, gave lectures on chemistry and materia medica, at the public dispensary, where he was assistant physician along with Mr. Duncan; and became minister of the non-jurant Scottish episcopal congregation in Carrubber's Close, and afterwards of St. Peter's Chapel in Roxburgh place, which he himself built. He lived many years much respected in Edinburgh, and contributed greatly to the procuring the repeal of the penal laws against the Episcopalians of Scotland, and was one of the committee which went to London on that business. He published a short essay, proving condensation to be the cause of heat, and some other chemical tracts. He went abroad during the revolutionary war, and died in the West Indies about 1797. He published also a sermon preached at the opening of St. Peter's Chapel, and an occasional prayer prefixed. A volume of his posthumous sermons has been published for the benefit of his daughters. WEBSTER (William), a mathematician of London, born in 1684, who kept a school in LeicesterFields. He translated from the French of La Hoste A Compendious course of Mathematics; 2 He also wrote a Treatise on Arithmevols. 12mo. tic; and another on Book-keeping; and died in 1744, aged sixty. WECHEL (Christopher), a celebrated printer of the sixteenth century at Paris; who in 1530 began to print elegant and correct editions of the ancient Greek authors. To make them perfectly accurate, he employed the learned Sylburgius to prepare the copy and correct the proofs. He died in 1572. They were so correct that not two errors could be found in a large folio. WECHEL (Andrew), son of Christopher, being a Protestant, about the time of the massacre of Paris, fled to Frankfort and to Basil, where he carried on the printing with equal reputation as his father. He published a catalogue of all the books printed by them both at Frankfort, in 8vo. 1590. He printed also many valuable works at Basil. WED, v. a. & v.n. Į Sax. pedian. To marry; WEDDING, n. s. Stake for a husband or wife; join in marriage; unite or take permanently: to contract matrimony: a wedding is the nuptial ceremony; marriage. Men are wedded to their lusts, and resolved upon a wicked course; and so it becomes their interest to wish there were no God. Nor took I Guiscard, by blind fancy led, Or hasty choice, as many women wed; But with deliberate care. Tillotson. Dryden. WEDGWOOD (Josiah), esq., F. R., and A. SS., an English gentleman of uncommon genius, to whose indefatigable labors is owing the establishment of a manufacture that has opened a new scene of extensive commerce. He was born in 1731, and was the younger son of a potter, but derived little or no property from his father. His many discoveries of new species of earthen wares and porcelains, his studied forms and chaste style of decoration, and the correctness and judgment with which all his works were executed under his own eye, and by artists for the most part of his own forming, have turned the current in this branch of commerce; for, before his time, England imported A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought the finer earthen wares; but, for more than twenty her wedding-cloaths. Spectator. WEDDERBURN (Alexander), earl of Rosslyn, was the eldest son of Peter Wedderburn, of Chester-hall, esq., one of the senators of the college of justice in Scotland. Born in 1733, he was bred up to the law in his native country, but early removed to the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1757. He rapidly obtained the patronage of the earls of Bute and Mansfield; was appointed solicitor general in 1771, in which office he opposed Dr. Franklin, before the privy council on American affairs; and in 1778 was made attorney-general. In 1780 he became chief justice of the common pleas, with the title of lord Loughborough. He adhered to the party of Mr. Fox when Mr. Pitt first came into power; but joined the latter, with many others, in 1793, under the alarm produced by the French Revolution, when he succeeded lord Thurlow as chancellor. This high office he held until 1801, when he retired with the title of earl of Rosslyn. He died without issue, January 3d, 1805. Lord Rosslyn wrote a work On the Management of Prisons, published in 1793. WEDGE, n.s. & v. a. Dan. and Goth. vegge; Belg. wegge. A solid body tapering to an edge; one of the mechanical powers: to cleave with a wedge; to drive in or fix as a wedge; force or fasten by wedges. When I saw a goodly Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them. Joshua vii. As sparkles from the anvil used to fly, As wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain, years past, she has exported them to a very great annual amount. Neither was he unknown in the walks of philosophy. His communications to the Royal Society show a mind enlightened by science. His invention of a thermometer for measuring the higher degrees of heat employed in the various arts is of the highest importance to their promotion, and will add celebrity to his name. He was the projector of the grand trunk canal, and the chief agent in obtaining the act of parliament for making it, against the prejudices of the landed interest. His purse was always open to the calls of charity. He was a most zealous supporter of commerce, and a steady patron of every valuable interest of society. He died at his elegant villa of Etruria in Staffordshire, January 2d, 1795, aged sixty-four. WED'LOCK, n. s. Sax. ped and lac. Marriage and gift. Marriage; matrimony. She doth stray about By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays For happy wedlock hours. Can wedlock know so great a curse, As putting husbands out to nurse? Shakspeare Cleaveland. He his happiest choice too late Shall meet already linked, and wedlock-bound To a fell adversary. Was from the bonds of wedlock to be free, Milton. I Dryden. WED'NESDAY, n. s. Sax. podensdag; Swed odensday; Belg. woensday; Island. wensday. The fourth day of the week, so named by the Gothic nations from Woden or Odin. Where is the honour of him that died on Wednesday? His horse, it is the herald's weft; No, 'tis a mare. Ben Jonson's Underwoods. WEIGELA, in botany, a genus of plants of the class pentandria, and order of monogynia. They bear hermaphrodite flowers, furnished with five stamina, but only one style, and are monopetalous, with the capsule within the flower. WEIGH, v. a. & v. n.) Saxon pogan; Belg. weight; balance in the mind; compare: as a verb Just balances, just weights, shall ye have. So was every thing of the temple, even to the weight of a flesh hook, given to David, as you may see. Lesley. I to your assistance do make love, I weigh not you. Shakspeare. Macbeth. -You do not weigh me; that is, you care not for me. Shakspeare. How to make ye suddenly an answer, Their ships with spoil enough, weigh anchor streight. His majesty's speedy march left that design to be better weighed and digested. Clarendon. Heaviness or weight is not here considered as being such a natural quality, whereby condensed bodies do of themselves tend downwards; but rather as being an affection, whereby they may be measured. Wilkins. Milton. Th' Eternal hung forth his golden scales, Wherein all things created first he weighed. By the exsuction of the air out of a glass vessel, it made that vessel take up, or suck up, to speak in the common language, a body weighing divers ounces. Boyle. Boerhaave fed a sparrow with bread four days, in which time it eat more than its own weight; and yet there was no acid found in its body. Arbuthnot. She does not weigh her meat in a pair of scales, but she weighs it in a much better balance; so much as gives a proper strength to her body, and renders it able and willing to obey the soul. Law. WEIGH, a weight of cheese, wool, &c., containing 256 lbs. avoirdupoise. Of corn the weigh | contains forty bushels; of barley or malt sir quarters. In some places, as Essex, the weigh of cheese is 300 lbs. WEIGHING ANCHOR is the drawing it out of the ground it had been cast into, in order to set sail or quit a port, road, or the like. WEIGHING MACHINE. A curious weighing machine was some time ago invented by Mr. Hanin of Paris, whereby the weights of the principal countries in Europe, and the relative proportions they bear to each other, are shown at one view. For this he received a bounty of twenty guineas from the Society of Arts instituted at London. This name has been also given to several ingenious contrivances for the mere common purposes of weighing. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. The standard weights and measures of Great Britain have been materially altered since the commencement of our work; and, as we have repeatedly referred to the subject, it will be necessary for us in the first instance to furnish our readers with a brief view of the earliest attempts in this important department of po litical jurisprudence. By the twenty-seventh chapter of Magna Charta, the weights are to be the same all over England: but for different commodities there are two dif ferent sorts, viz. troy weight, and avoirdupois weight. The origin from which both of these are raised, is the grain of wheat, gathered in the middle of the ear; 32 of these, well dried, made one pennyweight 20 pennyweights 12 ounces one ounce, and one pound troy; by stat. 51 Henry III., 31 Edw. I., 12 Henry VII. A learned writer has shown that, by the laws of assize, from William the Conqueror to the reign of Henry VII., the legal pound weight contained a pound of twelve ounces, raised from thirty-two grains of wheat; and the legal gallon measure contained eight of those pounds of wheat, eight gallons making the bushel, and eight bushels the quarter. 1 i Henry VII. altered the old English weight, and introduced the troy pound in its stead, being threequarters of an ounce only heavier than the old Saxon pound, or one-sixteenth heavier. The first statute that directs the use of the avoirdupois weight is that of 24 Henry VIII.; and the particular use to which this weight is thus directed is simply for weighing butcher's meat in the market; though it has been used for weighing all sorts of coarse and large articles. This pound contains 7000 troy ! grains; while the troy pound itself contains only 5760 grains, and the old Saxon pound weight but 5400 grains. Philosophical Transactions, vol. lxv. art. 3. Hence there are now in common use in Eng. land two different weights, viz. troy weight and avoirdupois weight, the former being employed in weighing such fine articles as jewels, gold, silver, |