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 WEBER which has been the means of founding a new theory on terrestrial magnetism. From 1846 to 1867 Weber published a series of treatises under the title ElectrodynamiscJie Massbestim- mungen. III. Ednard Friediicb, a German phy- siologist, brother of the preceding, born in Wittenberg, March 10, 1806, died in Leipsic, May 18, 1871. From 1835 till his death he was professor of medicine at Leipsic. He wrote in conjunction with his brother Wil- helm Mechanik der menschlichen OewerTczeuge (Gottingen, 1836), and published several trea- tises on the functions of the muscles. WEBER, Albreeht Friedrieh, a German oriental- ist, born in Breslau, Feb. 17, 1825. He studied in that city, in Bonn, and under Bopp in Ber- lin, where he became in 1856 extraordinary and in 1867 full professor of ancient Indian languages and literature. He is one of the foremost Sanskrit scholars of the present day, and his Indische Studien (10 vols., Berlin, 1849-'67) abound with original information in regard to the metrical system and other de- partments of Indian antiquity. He has edited the " White Yajur-Veda" (3 vols., Berlin, 1849- '59), translated Indian dramas, and published many other works, including ATcademiscJie Vorlesungen uber indische Literaturgeschichte (1852) ; Die vedischen Nachrichten von den Naxatra (2 vols., 1860-'61) ; Ueber ein Frag- ment der Bhagavati (2 vols., 1865-' 8) ; Ueber das Ramdyana, (1870) ; and Ueber ein sum Meissen Yajus gehoriges phonetisch.es Compen- dium des Pratijndsutra (1872). WEBER, Karl Maria Friedrieh Ernst von, baron, a German composer, born at Eutin near Lubeck, Dec. 18, 1786, died in London, June 5, 1826. His father, who was a musician, gave him a lib- eral education and afforded him the means for studying music and painting. He was taught first by the pianist Hauschkel of Hildburghau- sen, and afterward by Michael Haydn. In 1798 Weber's first productions, six fughetti, were published by his father. He soon went^to Munich, where he received lessons in singing from Valesi, and in composition from Kalcher, the organist of the court chapel. Here he com- posed works which he subsequently destroyed. His fondness for pictorial art was revived by the discovery of lithography, to which he gave himself up for a considerable time, endeavor- ing to effect improvements upon the original invention. But in 1800 he returned to the study of music, and produced an opera called Das WaldmddcJien. In 1801 he composed Pe- ter Schmoll und seine NacJibarn, which met with slight success. In 1802 he went to Vi- enna, where he remained two years, studying with the abbe Vogler. He next became chap- elmaster at Breslau, where he hastily com- posed an opera called Rubesahl. In ^ 1806 he entered into the employment of Prince Eu- gene of Wtirtemberg, and produced at Carls- ruhe in Silesia two symphonies and a num- ber of less important works. The troubles of the period compelling him to abandon this 830 VOL. xvi. 34 WEBSTER 527 situation, he resided for a while at Stuttgart as private secretary with the dissolute Prince Louis of Wurtemberg, for whom he rewrote Das WaldmddcJien, under the new title of Syl- vana. In 1810 he began a professional tour of the principal cities of Germany. At Darm- stadt he composed Abu Hassan. From 1813 to 1816 he conducted the opera at Prague, and afterward was manager of the German opera at Dresden until his death. In 1822 he pro- duced at Berlin his principal work, Der Frei- schuts, which has since held its place on the operatic stage. In 1823 Euryanthe was first performed at Vienna, with less success. In 1824, soon after the reproduction of his chef d'ceuvre in England, he was applied to by Charles Kemble for an opera for London ; and on April 12, 1826, Oberon was first represented at the Covent Garden theatre. Weber himself conducted the performance, and was saluted with unprecedented ardor. He died suddenly of consumption at the house of his friend Sir George Smart, and was buried at Moorfields, whence his remains were in 1844 removed to Dresden. Weber's mind was sensitive and poetic, and he found congenial material in the musical treatment of subjects in which the fanciful legendary and supernatural elements predominate. Such a subject was presented in Der Freuchutz, and his scene in the wolf's glen in that opera is one of the boldest and most original pieces of musical coloring that any composer of this .century has produced. He took rank at the head of the so-called ro- mantic school. He possessed great harmonic invention and a vein of fresh and beautiful melody. The character of Agatha in Der Frei- schiits is one of the most firmly drawn and beau- tiful pieces of musical portraiture known to the operatic stage. His influence on the piano- forte playing of his day was also considerable, and many of his compositions of that class, such as his ConcertstucTc and his "Invitation to the Waltz," are examples of fine melodic in- vention, beauty of form, and delicate fancy. He left also a number of literary compositions relating to musical subjects. His life, in three volumes, by his son Max Maria von Weber, has been translated into English by J. Palgrave Simpson (2 vols., London, 1865). WEBSTER, the name of seven counties in the United States. I. An E. central county of West Virginia, drained by Gauley and Elk riv- ers, tributaries of the Kanawha ; area, about 400 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 1,730. The surface is generally very hilly, and in some parts moun- tainous. Iron ore and bituminous coal are abundant. The chief productions in 1 870 were 1,196 bushels of wheat, 21,075 of Indian corn, 4 686 of oats, 2,340 of potatoes, 14,563 Ibs. of butter, 4,598 of wool, 2,508 of tobacco, and 604 tons of hay. There were 859 horses, 643 milch cows, 769 other cattle, 2,018 sheep, and 1 136 swine. Capital, Webster Court House. II. A S. W. county of Georgia, drained by affluents of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers ;