Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/937

 WAT

WAT

W.

WAAL, in the fea language, the fame with wale. See the article Wale, Suppl. WAG-tail, in ornithology, the Englifti name of the motacilla with a black breaft. See the article

MOTACILLA, Suppl.

WAIL, in the fea language, the fame with wale. See the article Wale, Suppl.

WAhh-wort, a name fometimes given to the fambucus, or dwarf-elder. See the article Sameucus, Suppl.

WARDS of hafpitah. See Hospital, Append,

WARREN (Suppl.)— Warren is alfo ufed for a contrivance to preferve fifh in the midft of a river, to be taken at plea- fure. Ruft. Diet, in voc.

WAKT-wort, the name fometimes given to two very diffe- rent genufes of plants, the tithymalus and lampfana. See the articlesTiTHYMALUS and Lampsana, Suppl.

WASHING (Cycl. and Suppl.)— The wafting or cleanfing of ibme colours may be thus performed : take the colours to be wafted, and put them into a veffel of fair water ; ftir it about .till the water be all coloured therewith, and if any filth fwim on the top of the water, fcum it clean off; and when you think the groffeft part of the colour is fettled at the bottom, then pour off that water into another earthen vef- fel, that is able to contain the firft vefleljfull of water four or iive times; then pour more water into the firft veffel, and ftir the remaining colour till the water be thick ; and after it is a little fettled, pour that water alfo into the fecond veflel. Let this be repeated till all the fined of the colour is drawn off, and nothing but couife gritty fluff remains fcehind. Then letting the water in the fecond veffel ftand to fettle, till it is perfectly clear, pour it off, and referve the •wafted colour in the bottom of the veffel for ufe. The colours to be thus wafted are red lead, blue and green bice, verditer, blue and green final t, Spanifh brown, yellow ochre, f5V. Build. Diet, in voc.

WASP. The application of vinegar is faid to be good againft the fting of thefe creatures.

WATCH (Cycl.) — Watch, vigilia, in Roman antiqui- ties, a divifian of their night; being the fourth part of the fpace of time between fun-fet and fun-rifmg, and confe- quently varying according to the feafon of the year. See the articles Day, Hour, &c. Cycl.

Deatb-W atch. See the article Death, fupra.

WATER (Cycl.) — It has been proved by many inffances, that water alone is capable of fuftaining human life a long time. Phyfical writers give us many accounts of people's living four or five days on it, but the Philofophical Tranfactions furnifh us with a much more memorable inftance. Some people at work in a deep coal-pit near Liege, had the misfortune to pierce into a fubterrancan current of water, of fuch force that it inftantly filled a great part of the works. The perfon who {truck the blow into it was drowned, and fomc that were near the mouth of the pit efcaped very nar- rowly by being drawn up ; but twenty-four days after, when the mine was cleared of the water, and people came down to work in it again, four of the perfons, who had been fuppofed drowned, were found alive : they had faved them- selves by climbing into a place above the reach of the water ; they had not the leaft morfel of bread with them, but had lived all this time oh the water of a little fpring which broke out by them. This water was examined, and found to have no peculiar matter contained in it, but only the com- mon fparry fubffance found in all water, and that not in any abundance. Phil. Tranf. N° 159. We have alfo an account in the Philofophical Tranfaitions of a man who lived for eighteen years on no other aliment than water, and now and then, though feldom, clarified whey. The man was pretty healthy. See N°466. feet. 7. The Italian phyficians have talked much of cures performed by means of cold water, which they efteem almoft an uni- versal remedy ; giving in a day fifteen, twenty, or twenty - five pounds of water, made cold by ice, and applying at the fame time cold water, or fnow, to feveral parts of the body. By this method they treat fevers, fmall-pox, dropfy, &c. SeeCommerc. Norimb. 1736. hebd. 8. feet. 2. Water, when applied to animal bodies, and when nearly of the fame heat with thefe, relaxes their fohds, and dilutes their fluids.

Water putrifying by ftagrtation is extremely dangerous to health. Thus in the hoids of jfhips, the bilge water, if the mip is tight, and the water not pumped out often, foon be- comes fo extremely poifonous., as frequently to iuffocate Append. Vol. II.

thofe feamen, who, as the pumps are fubject to be clogged with filth, venture down to cleanfe them ; and alfo to affect perfons at a diftance with violent head-achs, cold fweats, and frequent vomitings, which continue more or lefs, in proportion to the diftance from the well of the fhip when the injury was received, and the degree of putrefaction in the water and air. Phil. Tranf. N° 463. p. 63. To prevent the above mentioned inconveniences many fchemes have been thought of, particularly the machines of £»r. Hales a, and Dr. Defaguliers b ; the firft by an instru- ment, which he calls the ventilator, and may not impro- perly be called the fhip's lungs; fee Ventilator; and the latter by a machine, which is an improvemenfof theHeflian bellows. — [ a In his Treat, of Ventilators. b Phil. Tranf.

N °437-J " ,-;

Putrified water being thus noxious, a method of preventing its putrefaction would be very defirable, and this feems now to be found in the ufe of lime. See Lime- water, Append. Rough waters, that will not bear foap, may often be cor- rected by letting them ftand a few days. See Boyle's Works abr. Vol. I. p. 141.

It has been faid that Thames tvater has a peculiar property of recovering after putrefaction ; but others have the fame. See Boyle's Works abr. Vol.1, p. 141.

Mr. Boyle tells us, he prepared a fait of the fame nature with Glauber's fal mirabile, which feemed to have a power of coagulating common water; for being diffolved in a proper quantity of it, the whole mixture mot together into fine cryftals, apparently of an uniform fubffance, and fo brittle, as to be reducible into powder. See Boyle's Works abr.' Vol. I. p. 332.

Water "may be ufed with good fuccefs in taking the height of any acceffible object, as it naturally becomes parallel to the horizon. The manner of performing this operation is exactly the fame as with a mirror. Ti. Pfa&. Geom. p. 19. See the article Mirror, Cycl. Water by its fall may be made to afford wind enough to blow

' afire. This is practifed in the brafs works of T'ivoli near

Rome. See Phil. Tranf. N° 2. Chalybeate, or StecZ-WATERS. The learned Mr. Monro of Edinburgh has an inquiry into feel, or chalybeate waters,where he confiders them with regard to their medical ufe, in order to difcover what their real or comparative ftrength is, how they bear carriage, and how long they retain their virtues; that phyficians may judge which of them is moft proper in the various difeafes and circumftances of patients, which muft be drank at the fountain-head, and which might be conveniently drank at a diftance from it. See Medical Effays, Vol. III. art. 7. Abr. Vol. I. p. 126.

Chalybeate waters ftrike a red, purple, violet, or black colour with galls ; and it is faid by feveral writers, that this change

' of colour is a certain mark of a chalybeate water, and that the deepen: colour fhews the greateft proportion of ffeel. Mr. Monro, to fatisfy himfelf of the truth of this, made a weak folution of fal martis in water, and found that, with a tinc- ture of galls, he could form all the different colours, the larger quantity of the folution always requiring the greater number of drops of the tincture to bring it to all the colour it would take ; and that it was deeper, in proportion to the quantity and ftrength of the folution and tincture employed. If words could exprefs the various fhades of colours betwixt the pale red and the black, the Ample experiment of bring- ing feel-waters to the dteepeft colour they could ftrike with gatls, might determine the proportions of ffeel in each. But as this is impracticable, and as it is neceffary to know the quantity of fteel contained in any given quantity of water, fome general ffandard muft be appointed, to which all may be brought. To obtain this, he made feveral experiments to find *out the quantity of fteel in its artificial fait, and found it to be a little more than a third part. He diffolved fome of the fait in water. Twenty ounces of the folution contained an ounce, except a fcrupte, which was precipi- tated ; one hundred and forty-two drops of this folution weighed two drachms; every drop therefore contained one twenty-fifth of a grain of fait, or one feventy-fjfih of a grain of fteel. To compare a chalybeate water with this fo- lution, into a known quantity of fuch water drop a ftrong clear tin&ure of galls, allowing a fufficient time between each drop for its full effea, till the addition of more tincture makes no change. This experiment fhould be repeated, to come at the exact number of drops requifite. Then mix the fame number of drops of tincture with as much common 2 Ff watery