Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/473

* WEDGWOOD. 397 WEED. ment. He took some i);iit in pul)lic life, being a successful ailvoeate of road iniiiiovcnienl and canal extension in the ])otteiy district. He pub- lished valuable pamphlets on pottery, was elected a Fellow of llie Koyal Society in 1783, and of the Society of Antiquaries in 1780. Consult: Jewett, Tlic W'cdgK^oods (London, ISfiij) ; WcdfiicooU's Memoirs (ib., 187.5) ; an<l his JAfc bv ilefevard (ib., 1875), Church (ib., 1804), and'Sniile '( ib., 1SII.5). WEDGWOOD, Tjiomas (1771-180,5). An English physicist and pliilanthropist, sou of Josiah Wedgwood. He was born at Ktruria Hall, Staflordshire, and was educated at home with the exception of a few terms at Edinliurgli Uni- versity. It is said that Wedgwood was the first photographer, as he was the lirst to discover tliat a silhouette of any object might be ob- tained when its shadow was thrown on a surface moistened with nitrate of silver. He did not, however, discover any way of fixing the images, and so was obliged to keep them in the dark. When his father died, leaving considerable prop- erty, the son aided several men, among whom was Coleridge. WEDGWOOD WAKE. The name given to various kinds of pottery invented by Josiah Wedgwood, of StafTordshire, England, A cream- colored ware w-as made in the English pot- teries as early as 1725, which had been improved by Aaron Wedgwood and Enoch Booth, of Tnnstall, and afterwards by a firm of skillful potters named Warburton. It finally fell into the hands of Josiah Wedgwood, through whom it became the recipient of the enamcler's best art, and was considered worthy of the tables of the royalty. Black ware had been made in England from time immemorial, but Wedgwood's improvement was so marvelous as to amount to a creation. Wedgwood was assisted by John Flax- man, who designed the most cliaractcristic ware. It consisted of delicately tinted orna- ments of blue, brown, and various colors, on which small cameo reliefs in white paste were applied while they were soft, and were then fired. The figures are very beautiful and clas- sical and the microscopic delicacy of the detail is astonishing. Toward the end of the eighteenth century many imitations of the Wedgwood cameo ware were made by different English manufacturers and it was copied at S«>vres, but with French designs. The numerous devices for turning out imitations of such ware cheaply and rapidly have destroyed its true art and beauty. The famous Barberini or Portland vase, reproduced from the original antique, is probably the most famous of the Wedgwood porcelain. Consult: Wedffwood Art (London, 1878) ; The TTedgicood Handhoolc. a manual for collectors (ib., 1875) : and Masterpieces of Wedgwood Ware (ib., 18i>2-03). WED'MORE, Frederick (1844—). An Eng- lish art critic and miscellaneous writer, born at Clifton, ne.ar Bristol. He was educated at Lausanne and Paris. At the age of nineteen he took up journalism at Bristol, and afterwards settled in London, where he became art critic of the Standard. In 1885 he visited the Ignited States to deliver art lectures at Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities. Among his many books on art are: Studies in English Art (two series, 1870, 1880) ; Masters of Genre Painting (1877); Etching in England (1895); Fine I'rinls (18!)0); Un Hooks and Art (IH'M) ; and Turner and Ituslciii (IIIUO). He is perhaps more generally known for his short stories and other imaginative pieces in I'astorals of France (1877) ; Uenunciations (180.3) ; English Episodes (1804); and Orgeas and Miradou (1800). In ISOO lie published a Life of Balzac. WEDMORE, Peace of. See Chippenham. WEDNESBXTRY, wenzOjer-i. A municipal Ixirough in StaH'ordsliire, England, near the source of the Tame, 7 '/■! miles northwest of Bir- mingham (.Map: England, E 4). V'cdnesbury is the centre of a busy coal and iron mining dis- trict. Its chief industry is the manufacture of heavy iron and steel goods. The city is named after the Saxon god Woden. The site of the ancient temple dedicated to pagan worship is now occupied by a fine Perpendicular clUirch. Population, in 1801, 25,347; in 1901, 20,544. WEED (AS. iclod, iccod, of uncertain origin). A ]ilant which grows wild in cultivated grounds, choking crops and exluiusting the soil. Annual and biermial weeds such as charlock, pigweed, burdock, and melilot, may be destroyed by clean cultivation, as may also perennial weeds, such as couch grass, Canada thistle, ox-eye daisy, and sorrel, but by more persistent fighting. For this purpose crops which require much hoeing are advantageously planted, and recourse may be made to summer fallowing in fields and frequent weeding in gardens. Thistles and other large weeds are frequently pulled in grain fields be- fore the ripening of the crop, and, to prevent their seeding, they are cut in pastures. Sedges and rushes, which spring up in damp grounds, disappear on thorough draining. Leafy crops, which thickly cover the soil, prevent the growth of many weeds by the exclusion of air and light. Weeds which appear in fallow^ grounds serve as green manure when they are plowed under. Some weeds while young can be destroyed in growing grain without injury to the crop by spraying the fields with a solution of copper sulphate or iron sulphate. (See Herbicide.) Most weeds are introduced into cultivated fields by sowing impure seed. This is one of the prin- cipal reasons for the examination and testing of seed before sowing. Clover and grass seeds are esjiecially liable to contain weed seeds. See Seed-Te.sting. WEED, Stephen Hinsdale (1834-63). An American soldier, born in New York City. He graduated at West Point in 1854, entered the artillery, and served during the second Seminole War. He was stationed at Fort Leavenworth during the border troubles in Kansas, and in 1858-60 took part in an Indian expedition, during which he participated in the skirmishes in Egan Canon (August II, 1800) and Deep Creek (September 0. 1800). He was promoted to be captain in the Fourth Artillery on the outbreak of the Civil War. and after serving as a re- cruiting oflScer until JIarch, 1802, he took part in the Peninsular campaign, and later in the northern Virginia and Maryland campaigns. He was appointed chief of the artillery corps at Fal-- mouth. Va.. in December, 1862," and the next spring he participated in the Rappahannock cam- paign, during the latter part of which he com- manded the artillery brigade of the Fifth Army