Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/585

* WHITTINGTON. the popular roinanee of which he became the hero. Accordiiij,' to this legend the lad Whittington went to London and found eniploynient as a scul- lion. To the freight of an outgoing vessel he con- tributed his eat, which was sold for a large sum in Barbary. Meanwhile the boy, wearying of ill-usage, stiirted from the city, but hearing the Bow bells, which seemed to say Turn again, Whittin^ton, Lord Mayor ot Lomlou, he went back to his work, soon, from the return- ing ship, received the price of his cat, married his lady fair, and, living ha])pily, rose to the prophesied post. There is, liowever, no founda- tion for this tale nor for the accounts ot liis being made a knight and of his burning the King's bonds for large sums due him. The Ijivcs of liim by Lysons ( 1800) and Besant and Rice ( 1881 and 1894) are uncritical and treat the legends as facts. Both the facts and the legends can be found in Wheatley's edition of the History of Sir Richard WhitliiKjton (published for the Villon Society, London. 1885). WHITT'REDGE, Wortiitngton (1820—1. An American portrait and landscape painter, born in Springfield, Ohio. After practicing por- trait painting in Cincinnati from 1842 to 1849 he studied abroad, ehielly at Diisseldorf, under Andreas Achenbach. He also worked in Belgium and Holland, and in 1855 he went to Rome, re- siding there until his return to the United States in 1859. In 1874 he accompanied General John Pope on his Western tour of inspection, and brought back many sketches of Rocky Jlountain scenery. In 1875-76 he was president of the Na- tionarAcadcmy of Design. He has spent the lat- ter part of his'life in Summit, N. J. Whittredge's preference is for landscape. A sympathetic feeling for nature is evident in all his work. He painted with fine feeling and purity of color, and without being vigorous in touch, he still in- vested all that he saw with a wholesome charm. Among his principal paintings are: "Old Hunting Ground" (1864) ; "View of the Rocky Mountains from the River Platte" (1808. Cen- tury dull, Now York) ; "Trout Brook" (1875) ; "House on the Hudson River" (1863, Lenox Li- brary. jSfew York) ; and "Sheep Pasture by the Sea." "WHIT'WORTH, Charles, Earl Whitworth ( 1752-1825) . An English diplomat, born at Ley- bourne, and educated at Tunbridge. In 1780 he was appointed Minister to Poland, and two years later was transferred to Saint Petersburg. There he succeeded in obtaining the Russian adherence to the coalition against France, but upon the reconciliation between Paul I. and Xapoleon he was dismissed by the Czar (1800). In 1802 he obtained the embassy to France, which he held under stormy conditions until the war broke out the next year. WHITWOKTH, Sir Joseph (1803-S7). An English mechanical engineer, born at Stockport. H€ settled in Manchester in 1833 as a tool- maker, made numerous and valuable inventions in metal-working and other machinery, and while thus engaged learned to construct absolutely plane surfaces of metal jnd to determine surface and other inequalities by mierometric methods. The result was to raise the standard of work- manship. Whitworth played an important part 495 WHOOPING-COUGH. in the securing of uniformily of screw threads, and his system of standard threads by which interchangeability and ready reproduction of parts was secured was widely employed. (See Screw.) The retpicst of the Government that Whitworth should design the machinery for the manufactiu'e of military rilles was declined, but he was induc<'d to undertake a series of experi- ments to determine the most efficient construc- tion of such weapons. He evolved a rille with hexagonal barrel and small calibre (.45 inch) which fired an elongated projectile; but in spite of satisfactory tests it did not meet with the approval of the War Otlice, though ton years later a somewhat similar weapon was adopte<l. From small arms, Wliitwiu-th turned his atten- tion to larger ordnance, and made numerous im- provements, many of which also failed at the time to meet with the approval of the British authorities. His invention of compressed cast steel for ordnance (q.v.) has been generally util- ized in the construction of heavy guns. In 1809 Whitworth was made a baronet, after having received in the previous year the .*lbert Medal of the Society of Arts and the Legion of Honor of France. His large works at Manchester were made into a stock company in 1874, and in 1897 the company was united with the Elswick Works, foimded by Sir William .Armstrong (q.v.). Whit- worth was a liberal benefactor of education; in 1868 he provided thirty scholarships in me- chanics, and after his death his executors car- ried out his expressed wishes and turned over to Whitworth Park and Institute. Owens Col- lege, and other charitable and educational insti- tutions in Manchester and elsewhere, funds ag- gregating about .$2,900,000. Whitworth was the author of papers in the journals of the engineer- ing societies; of (with Wallis) The Industrij of the United States in Machinery, Uaitufactures, and Useful and Ornamental Arts (1854); Mis- cellaneous Papers on Mechanical Subjects (1858) ; Miscellaneous Papers on Practical Sub- jects; and Guns and Steel (1873). Consult: Me- moirs, in Proceedings of the Iiistitutiuiis of Ciinl Engineers (London, 1889) ; and contemporary volumes of proceedings of other learned societies and scientific journals. WHITWORTH GUN. See Ordnance; Gl'xs, Xaval. WHOOPEK. (1) Aswan. (2) A crane. WHOOPING-COUGH, or Pertussis. An infectious and sometimes epidemic disease, most- ly attacking children, especially in the spring and autinnn. Its earliest symptoms, which usu- ally appear five or six days after exposure to in- fection, are those of a common cold, as hoarse- ness, a watei-y discharge from the eyes and nose, oppression of the chest, a short,, dry cough, and more or less feverishness. This stage, which is called the catarrhal, lasts a week or ten days, when the fever remits, and the cough begins to be followed by the peculiar whoo]iwhicli characterizes the disease, and which is caused by the inspira- tion of air through the contracted cleft of the glottis. (See Larynx.) The disorder may now be regarded as fully developed, and consists of paroxysms of severe coughing, which usually teiminate in the expectoration of glairy mucus, or in vomiting. During the fit of coughing the face becomes red or livid, the eyes project, and