Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/409

* WATERFORD. 339 WATERING-POT SHELL. sea, and 07 miles southsouUuvest of Dublin (Map: Ireland, D 4). The city, with the excep- tion of its Ferry bank suburb, with which it is connected by a bridge of 3!) arclies, 852 feet long, lies on the right bank of the river, along whieli a handsome and spacious quay extends for nearly a mile, and from which the city ascends gradually in well-built streets. The cliief public buildings are the Protestant and Roman Catholic cathedrals, the I'rotestant episcopal palace, the Catholic C(dl('ge of Saint .John, and the national school. Ring or Kcginald's Tower, an important archaological monument, erected in 1002, was rebuilt in 1819. In addition to the union work- house, there are an infirmary, a dispensary, a fever hospital, a district lunatic asylum, and a penitentiary. Vessels of 2000 tons are able to discharge their cargoes at the quay, and there is anchorage for larger ships six miles lower down the river, at Passage. The chief trode is with England. The exports comprise but- ter, pork, bacon, oats, eggs, and live stock. The imp<nts include maize, wheat, flour, petroleum, sugar, and timber. There is a ship-building yard, with patent slip, graving-bank, and dock, on the Kilkenny bank of the river, and other in- dustrial establishments include distilleries, breweries, foundries, and flour mills. Originally of Danish foundation, Waterford was taken by Strongbow, by whom it was enlarged. It re- ceived a charter from John, which was forfeited under .Tames I., but restored bv Charles 1. in l(i2G. Population, in 1891, 26,203; in 1901, 20,743. WATER-GAS. See Gas, Illuminating. WATER-GLASS, or Soluble C4lass. A term applied to alkaline silicates containing an excess of alkali and soluble in water. Three varieties of water-glass are ill use, viz. : (1) Potash icater- glass, or potassium silicate, prepared by fusing together three parts of silica (sand) and two parts of potassium carbonate, with a small quan- tity of charcoal, iii an ordinary reverbatory fur- nace, the product being soluble in four or five parts of boiling water. (2) Soda water-glass, or sodium silicate, prepared by melting together fifteen parts of silica (powdered quartz), eight parts of sodium carbonate, and one part of pow- dered charcoal, heating for five or six hours, then cooling, powdering, and extracting with five or six times its weight of boiling water. Thus is obtained the original water-glass in- vented by Fuchs of JIunich. who first described it in lS-2.5. (3) Tlie so-called douhle icater-glass consists of a mixture of both of the foregoing. It may be made by fusing together 100 parts of silica. 28 parts of potassium carbonate, 22 parts of sodium carbonate, and 6 parts of powdered charcoal. These substances find extensive prac- tical application. When used in the form of varnish or paint they produce a fireproof and waterproof surface. When applied as a coating to a surface containing lime, they combine with the latter, fonning an infusible silicate or artificial stone. This process has been taken advantage of for the preservation of frescoes, and is known as 'stereoehromy.' It has also been utilized for the manufacture of artificial stone, and of a cement for consolid.ating siliceovia sand into a hard, durable artificial sandstone, capable, before it is fired, of being molded into any desired form. Owing to its cleansing proper- ties, water-glass is sometimes used as an in- gredient of certain soaps. It is also employed in the manufacture of earthenware, and as a substitute for dung in the dyeing and printing of fabrics. Consult Feuchtwanger, A Prac- tical Treatise on Holuhle or Water Glass (New York, 1870J. WATER-HEMLOCK. See Hemlock and Plalc of J'oi.sD.Nou.s Plants. WATER-HEN. Any one of several rails and galliMiihs (<|i|.v.) . WATERHOUSE, wii/tfT-bous, ALFnF.n (18.30 — ). An English architect, born at Liverpool. Ho studied with Richard Lane at Manchester, and afterwards in France and Italy. His first work of importance was the Court of Assize at JIanchcster. His next works were the new buildings of Balliol College, Oxford, and of Caius College, Cambridge. Other important buildings are the Manchester City Hall ; Pmnbroke College, Cambridge; Owen's College. Manchester; the South Kensington Natural History Museum, London; Eaton Hall, Clieshire; and Iwerne Min- ster, Dorsetshire. His works are generally in the Gothic style. WATERHOUSE, .John William (1849—). An Englisli figure painter, born in Rome, Italy. He studied a, short time at the Royal Academy schools, but was mostly self-taught. He belongs to the classic school of Lcighton and Tadema, and excels in the poetic rendering of ideal sub- jects, which are remarkably rich in color. His later paintings tend to the sj'mbolical and sug- gest the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites. They include "The Oracle" (1884); "The Magic Circle" ( Soutli Kensington Mu- seum) ; "The Lady of Shalott" (Leeds Gallerv) ; "Hylas and the Nymphs" (1897) ; and "La Belle Dame sans Merci." WATER-HYACINTH. See Aquatic Plants. WATERING-POT SHELL, or Aspekoillum. The shell and tube of a strange little bivalve (Brechites or Aspcrgillum vagi- niferum, of the Red Sea), re- lated to the date-shells and ship-worm (Teredo), which only as an embryo presents the ap- pearance of a normal bivalve. Born from a floating egg, it ceases at an early age of its existence to live free, and while yet no more than an eighth of an inch long sinks into the sand, or adheres to some fixed object, and begins to form a very long upward-growing cal- careous tube. The little valves appear to be discarded and be- come soldered into the wall of the 'sheath,' which enlarges iip- ward in pace with the growth of the mantle and siphons, and for their protection ; it is usually about the size of a pipe-stem. DowTiward, the animal closes in the sheath by a disk perforated by many tubes, each secreted by a tentaele-Iike filament of the mantle. A dozen or more species WATERDJO-POT SHELL.