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about 800 feet above the valley. This is called, by Dwight, the Silver cascade. Another, called the Flume, falls from a height of about 250 feet, over three precipices, from the first two in a single sheet, and fron the third in three streams, which unite in a basin at the bottorn. Good descriptions of the White mountains are contained in Dwight's Travels; New England Journal; and N. H. Hist. Coll. for 1823.

WHITE PLAINS; a post-township, and half shire town, of Westchester county, New York, thirty miles from the city, six east of the Hudson, and fourteen south of Bedford. This place was rendered memorable by a battle fought here, Oct. 28, 1776, between the American and British troops, and by many other important incidents of that period.

WHITE RENT. (See Quit Rent.) WHITE RIVER, in Arkansas, has its source in the Black mountains, which divide its waters from those of the Arkansas. The western branches rise, and run a long distance, in Missouri. It receives many large tributaries, and traverses much valuable territory. Its waters are remarkably pure and transparent. Where it flows into the Mississippi, it is 300 yards wide. It is supposed to be navigable for boats 1200 miles; but this is only 500 miles in a direct line. The country on its banks has been sufficiently explored to prove that it affords every inducement to settlers; but no extensive settlements have yet been made. About seven miles from its mouth, it gives off a bayou as broad as itself, that runs at right angles with it, and flows through a deep, inundated forest, and unites with the Arkansas. It strikes that river thirty miles from its mouth. It is not navigable in the latter part of summer; but, at other times, boats which descend the Mississippi with the intention of ascending the Arkansas, always proceed through the White river and this bayou. The Arkansas does not receive this tribute constantly from the White: the bayou runs either way, according to the level of the water at its two ends. The White river will probably furnish water-power for immense manufacturing establishments at a period not far distant.

WHITE SEA; a large gulf of the Arctic ocean, between the peninsula of Canin and the coast of Lapland. It penetrates into the Russian territory, to the depth of between 300 and 400 miles. Its shape is long and narrow; its greatest extent from west to east. It extends from lon. 32° to 46° E., and from lat. 63° 45′ to 68°

25 N. It receives its name from its being frozen over and covered with snow during the greater part of the year. It is navigable only from the middle of May to the end of September. The shores are surrounded by rocks and small islands; and about thirty rivers, among which the principal are the Northern Dwina, the Onega, and the Mezene, empty themselves into the sea. The mouth of the latter forms

a bay, on which is situated the town of Mezene. The Dwina enters the sea by two mouths, which are separated by an island. Upon its banks lies Archangel (q. v.), founded in 1584, and the commercial emporium of this region. Among the islands of the White sea, the largest is the Solovetskoi or Soloffski isle, in the bay of Onega. Two canals, uniting the Dwina with the Wolga and the Dnieper, connect the White sea with the Caspian and Black seas.

WHITE SWELLING, or HYDARTHRUS (from idwe, water, and apopov, a joint). Systematic writers have generally distinguished this terrible disease into two kinds, namely, rheumatic and scrofulous. The last species of the disease they also distinguish into such tumors as primarily affect the bones, and then the ligaments and soft parts; and into other cases, in which the ligaments and soft parts become diseased before there is any morbid affection of the bones. The knee, ankle, wrist and elbow are the joints most subject to white swellings. The pain is sometimes vehement from the very first, in other instances, there is hardly the least pain in the beginning of the disease Sometimes the pain continues without in terruption; sometimes there are internis sions; and, in other instances, the pain recurs at regular times, so as to have been called, by some writers, periodical. At the commencement of the disease, in the majority of instances, the swelling is very inconsiderable, or there is even no visible enlargement whatever. In the little de pressions naturally situated on each side of the patella, a fulness first shows itself, and gradually spreads all over the affected joint. The patient, unable to bear the weight of his body on the disordered joint, in consequence of the great increase of pain thus created, gets into the habit of only touching the ground with his toes. and the knee, being generally kept a little. bent, in this manner, soon loses the capacity of becoming extended again. When white swellings have lasted a while, the kuce is almost always found in a permanent state of flexion. In scrofulous

cases of this kind, pain constantly precedes any appearance of swelling; but the interval between the two symptoms differs very much in different subjects. The morbid joint, in the course of time, acquires a vast magnitude. Still the integuments retain their natural color, and remain unaffected. The enlargement of the articulation, however, always seems greater than it really is, in consequence of the emaciation of the limb both above and below the disease. As the distemper of the articulation advances, collections of matter form about the part, and at length burst. The ulcerated openings sometimes heal up; but such abscesses are generally followed by other collections, which pursue the same course. In some cases, these abscesses form a few months after the first affection of the joint: on other occasions, several years elapse, and no suppuration of this kind makes its appearance. The patient's health becomes gradually impaired: he loses his appetite and natural rest and sleep: his pulse is small and frequent; and obstinate debilitating diarrhoea, and profuse nocturnal sweats, ensue.-Rheumatic white swellings are very distinct diseases from the scrofulous distemper of large joints. In the first, the pain is said never to occur without being attended with swelling. Scrofulous white swellings, on the other hand, are always preceded by a pain, which is particularly confined to one point of the articulation. In rheumatic cases, the pain is more general, and diffused over the whole joint. External irritation, either by exposure to damp or cold, or by the application of violence, is often concerned in bringing on the disease; but very frequently no cause of this kind can be assigned for the complaint. As for scrofulous white swellings, there can be no doubt that they are under the influence of a particular kind of constitution, termed a scrofulous or strumous habit. In this sort of temperament, every cause capable of exciting inflammation, or any morbid and irritable state of a large joint, may bring on such disorder as may end in this disease.

WHITE THORN. (See Hawthorn.)

WHITE WARE is made of pipe-clay, which contains so little of oxide of iron, that it does not turn red in burning. In Wedgwood's manufactory, the clay is prepared by bringing it to a state of minute division by the aid of machinery. This machinery consists of a series of iron blades, or knives, fixed to an upright axis, and made to revolve in a cylinder, and

intersecting or passing between another set of blades, which are fixed to the cylinder. The clay is thus minutely divided, and, when sufficiently fine, is transferred to a vat. It is here agitated with water until it assumes the consistence of a pulp, so thin that the coarser or stony particles subside to the bottom after a little rest, while the finer clay remains in suspension. This last is poured off and suffered to subside; after which it is passed through sieves of different fineness, and becomes sufficiently attenuated for use. To this clay is added a certain quantity of flint, reduced to powder by heating it red-hot, and throwing it into cold water to diminish the cohesion of its parts. Afterwards, it is pounded by machinery, ground in a mill, sifted, and washed precisely as the clay is treated, and made into a similar pulp. In this state, the two ingredients are intimately mixed together. The ad dition of flint lessens the shrinking of the clay in the fire, and thus renders it less liable to warp and crack in the burning. At the same time, by its partial fusion, it communicates to the ware that beautiful translucency which is so much admired in porcelain, and of which the simple clay wares are destitute. (See Pottery, and Porcelain.) The fine pulp of flint and clay being intimately mixed, is then exposed to evaporation by a gentle heat, until the superfluous water is dissipated, and the mass reduced to a proper consistency to work. To produce a uniformity in the thickness of the material, it is taken out in successive pieces, which are repeatedly divided, struck, and pressed together, till every part becomes blended with the rest.-See Bigelow's Technology (2d ed., Boston, 1832).

WHITEFIELD, George, founder of the Calvinistic Methodists, was born at Gloucester, where his parents kept the Bell inn, Dec. 16, 1714. He was the youngest of seven children; and his father dying in his infancy, the care of his education devolved upon his mother. He was sent to a grammar school at Gloucester, where he distinguished himself by a ready memory and good elocution. Being destined to assist his mother in the business of the inn, he was taken early from school, and for some time officiated in a blue apron as drawer. At the age of eighteen, how ever, he embraced an offer of being entered as servitor at Pembroke college, Oxford, where he became acquainted with the Wesleys, and joined the small society which procured them the name of Methodists. (See Methodists, and

Wesley.) Here, in addition to religious preaching, reading, and visits to gaols and to the poor, he describes himself as tying whole days, and even weeks, on the ground in prayer, choosing the worst sort of food, and dressing in a patched gown and dirty shoes, to acquire a habit of humility. Hearing of his devotional tendencies, doctor Benson, bishop of Gloucester, made him an offer of ordination, at the early age of twenty-one, which he accepted; and he was ordained a deacon in 1736. Such was his strain of preaching, that, at his first sermon at Gloucester, 、 a complaint was made to the bishop that he had driven fifteen people mad; on which the prelate observed that he hoped the madness would not be forgotten before the next Sunday. The week following, he returned to Oxford, where he graduated B. A., and soon after was invited to London, to officiate at the chapel of the Tower. He preached, also, at various other places, and for some time supplied a curacy at Dummer, in Hampshire. The account sent him by the Wesleys of their progress in Georgia, at length excited in him a desire to assist in their pious labors; and, embarking at the close of 1737, he arrived at Savannah in the following May, where he was received with great cordiality, and acquired considerable influence. Observing the deplorable want of education in the colony, he projected an orphan-house, for which he determined to raise contributions in England, where he arrived in the beginning of 1739. Although discountenanced by many of the clergy, bishop Benson did not scruple to confer on him priest's orders; and, on repairing to London, the churches in which he preached were incapable of holding the crowds who assembled to hear him. He now adopted the design of preaching in the open air, which he seems first to have practised at Kingswood, near Bristol, among the colliers. His ardent and emphatic mode of address attracted several thousands of these people as auditors, on whom his discourses produced a surprising effect, and whose vicious manners and habits he visibly improved. He afterwards preached in the open air in Bristol, and in Moorfields, Kennington, and other places in the neighborhood of London, to vast assemblages of people, who came from all parts to hear him. In August, 1739, be again embarked for America, and made a tour through several of the provinces, where he preached to immense audiences, with an effect which

is portrayed, in a very forcible manner, in the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. He arrived at Savannah in January, 1740, where he laid the foundation of the orphan-house, and, after making_another extensive tour, returned to England, where he arrived in the March of the following year. During his absence, his cause had been declining at home; and the differences between him and Wesley, on the doctrines of election and reprobation, deprived him of many followers. His circumstances were also embarrassed by his engagements for the orphan-house; but his zeal and intrepidity gradually overcame all difficulties, and produced the two tabernacles in Moorfields and in Tottenham-court-road. After visiting many parts of England, Scotland and Wales, where he married in 1744, he again returned to America, and remained there nearly four years, not returning until July, 1748. He was soon after introduced to the countess of Huntingdon, who made him one of her chaplains. A visit to Ireland, and two more voyages to America, followed, and, for several years, his labors were unremitting. At length, on his seventh voyage to America, he was carried off by an asthma, at Newburyport, in New England, Sept. 30, 1770, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. The person of Whitefield was tall and well-proportioned, and his features good, with the exception of a cast in one of his eyes. He possessed a high degree of natural eloquence; but his learning and literary talents were mean, and he was a writer only for his own followers. His works were published in 1771 (6 vols., 8vo.).

WHITEHALL; a street in Westminster (q. v.), containing several public offices. Among these are the Horse-Guards, an edifice so called in consequence of being the station where that part of the troops usually do duty; here is the office of the commander-in-chief of the army: the Treasury, a stone building, near the Horse-Guards, facing the parade; the treasury-board is held in this building, that part of the Treasury which fronts Whitehall is a portion of the old White hall palace, erected by cardinal Wolsey. but it has been considerably altered, both in the reign of Charles II and in 1816: the admiralty office, a large pile, built on the site of Wallingford house; the front has two wings and a portico, supported by four large stone pillars of the Ionic order; besides a ball and other public apartments, here are spacious houses for seven commissioners of the

admiralty; and on the top of the building is a semaphore telegraph, by means of which a correspondence is maintained with various parts of the coast.—On the bank of the Thames was a palace called Whitehall, built by Hubert de Burgh, earl of Kent, before the middle of the thirteenth century. In 1530, it became the esidence of the court, but, in 1697, was destroyed by fire, except the banquetinghouse, added by James I, according to a design of Inigo Jones, in 1619. This is a magnificent structure of hewn stone. The building chiefly consists of one room, of an oblong form, forty feet high. The ceiling, representing the apotheosis of James I, was painted by Rubens, and has been retouched by Cipriani. It is adorned with trophies taken from the French in the Spanish campaign.

WHITEHALL; a large post-township of New York, in Washington county, at the head of Champlain canal, and at the south end of lake Champlain, twenty-five miles south of Ticonderoga, seventy north of Albany. It is situated on both sides of Wood creek, at its entrance into the lake. Population in 1830, 2888. It is a place of considerable trade, and is the great thoroughfare between New York and Montreal. A steam-boat plies between Whitehall and St. John's. (See Canals.)

WHITEHAVEN ; a seaport of England, in Cumberland, situated on a bay of the Irish sea, forty miles south-west of Carlisle, 303 north-west of London; lon. 3° 34′ W.; lat. 54° 32′ N.; population in 1821, 12,436; in 1831, 11,393. It has a good artificial harbor, with six piers; also six yards for ship-building. The coal mines in the vicinity form the principal source of the wealth of this town. By the reform act of 1832, Whitehaven was constituted a borough, returning one member to parlia

ment.

WHITEHEAD, George, an eminent early leader among the Friends, was born at Semteyg, in Westmoreland, about 1636, and received his education at the free school of Blencouwe, in Cumberland. On leaving school, he was for some time engaged in the instruction of youth; but, as early as the age of eighteen, his journal exhibits him travelling in various parts of England, propagating his religious principles. He endured, as might be expected from the spirit of the times, much persecution, was imprisoned many times, and, in one instance, sentenced to he whipped, which ignominy he calmly endured, and proceeded to preach as be

fore. After the revolution, he was serviceable to the society of Friends by his active services during the time the tolera tion bill was before parliament, and in making those representations which led, in civil cases, to the admission of an affirmation in lieu of an oath, as well as to other relief. This active, able and determined character lived to a very advanced period, dying, in great respect and esteem, in March, 1723, at the age of eighty-six years. Besides various publications, chiefly controversial, he left behind him some Memoirs of his Life, which were printed in 1725, in 1 vol., 8vo. (See Quakers.)

WHITEHEAD, Paul, an English poet, was born in London, in 1710, and was apprenticed to a mercer in the city. In consequence of having joined Fleetwood, manager of Drury lane theatre, in a bond for £3000, he was confined several years in prison. His first productions were three poems, entitled the State Dunces (1733), Manners (1738), and Honor, a satire. The second produced a prosecution of his bookseller, Dodsley. These circumstances drew on him a considerable share of public notice. Having obtained the appointment of deputy-treasurer to the exchequer, he passed the remainder of his days in retirement at Twickenham. He died in 1774. Besides the writings already enumerated, he was the author of a poem entitled the Gymnasiad (printed in 1774). As an author, he appears to have possessed more judgment than genius; and his works, though popular in their day for their temporary allusion, are now little read. As a man, his morals may be judged of by the fact of his having been a member of the club at Medmenham abbey, the sensual orgies of which were exposed, in revenge, by Wilkes, when prosecuted for his Essay on Woman. Whitehead, however, in the decline of life, acted a benevolent, hospitable and respectable part. A complete edition of his works was first published by Kearsley, in 1777, with a biographical memoir.

WHITEHEAD, William, an ingenious poet, the son of a baker of Cambridge, was born in 1715. At the age of fourteen, he was placed at Winchester school, and obtained a foundation scholarship at Clare hall, Cambridge, which led to a fellowship in 1742. About the same period, he produced two of his earliest and best dramatic pieces, Creusa, and the Roman Father. Three years after, he visited Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the Low Countries, in quality of a travelling

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tutor, and, on his return to England, obtained the registrarship to the order of the Bath. He was nominated poet laureate, on the vacancy occasioned in that post by the death of Cibber. His death took place in 1785. In addition to the writings already spoken of, he was the author of the School for Lovers, a comedy (1762); Trip to Scotland, a farce (1771); a Charge to the Poets, a satire; Variety; the Goat's Beard; with several other miscellaneous poems. Mason has written his life (1788).

WHITELOCK, Bulstrode, an eminent statesman and lawyer, the son of sir James Whitelock, a justice of the king's bench, was born in London, in 1605, and received his education at St. John's college, Oxford. He soon obtained eminence as a lawyer, and was consulted by Hampden when under prosecution for refusing to pay ship-money. In 1640, he was chosen M. P. for Marlow, in the long parliament, in which he acted with Selden and the more moderate anti-royaliste; but, though averse to the commencement of hostilities, he accepted the office of deputy-lieutenant for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and took the command ́of a company of cavalry, raised for the service of parliament. In January, 1642 -3, he was one of the commissioners appointed to treat with the king at Oxford, and, in 1644, again interfered to promote a pacification. He appeared as a laymember of the Westminster assembly for settling the form of church government, when he opposed the divine right of the presbytery. In February, 1648-9, he was nominated one of the council of state, and was subsequently sent, by Cromwell, on an embassy to the court of Christina, queen of Sweden, with whom he concluded a treaty. Returning home, he became a commissioner of the great seal, which office he resigned, on the regulation and limitation of the court of chancery, and was then appointed a commissioner of the treasury. He was member for Buckinghamshire, in Oliver's third parliament, and was called, by the protector, to his house of peers. During the government of Richard Cromwell, he acted as one of the keepers of the great seal, and afterwards opposed the designs of general Monk. At the restoration, he retired to his estate at Chilton, in Wiltshire, where he passed the last years of his life, and died in January, 1676. He was the author of Memorials of the English Affairs, from the Beginning of the Reign of Charles I to the Restoration (1682, folio,

an improved edition of which appeared in 1732); Memorials of the English Affairs from the supposed expedition of Brute to this Island, to the End of the Reign of James I (1706, folio); Notes upon the King's Writ for choosing Mem. bers of Parliament, 13 Car. II, being Disquisitions on the Government of England (1766, 2 vols., 4to.); a Journal of the Swedish Embassy, in 1653 and 1654, from the Commonwealth of England, &c. (1772, 2 vols., 4to.); and Whitelock's Labors, remembered in the Annales of his Life, written for the Use of his Chil dren.

WHITEWOOD. (See Tulip-Tree.)

WHITING (gadus merlangus); a fish, belonging to the cod family, very abundant along the northern coasts of Europe, but unknown on this side of the Atlantic. It makes its appearance in vast shoals, keeping at the distance of from half a mile to three miles from the shore, and is taken by the line in great numbers. It is considered the most delicate and most wholesome of all the species of cod; but it does not attain a large size, usually not exceeding a foot in length. It resembles the pollock in form, and belongs to the same division of the genus, having three dorsal fins, and the lower lip destitute of a beard. The head and back are pale brown; the lateral line white and crooked; the belly and sides silvery, the latter longitudinally streaked with yellow.

WHITING. Chalk, cleared of its grosser impurities, then ground in a mill, and made up into small loaves, is sold under the name of whiting.

WHITLOW, in surgery, is an inflammation affecting one or more of the bones of the fingers, and generally terminating in an abscess. In severe cases, the disorder extends to many other parts besides the fingers, making its way above the wrist. There is a similar disorder which attacks the toes. Whitlows differ very much in their degree of violence, and in their depth and extent. Surgical writers usually make four or five varieties The usual exciting causes of whitlows are various external injuries, as pricks, contu-sions, &c. The lodgment of a thorn or splinter in the part is another frequent cause. They are much more common in young, healthy persons than in others, and, in many cases, occur without our being able to assign any particular cause for them.

WHITNEY, Eli, a celebrated mechanician, and the inventor of the cotton gin, was born at Westborough, Worcester

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