Wire Cloth
The business is now so well perfected as to make it a matter of the least difficulty to obtain from manufactures every conceivable variety of this fabric. They weave all the grades of iron and steel wire cloths, from the finest and lightest hardware grade to the coarsest and heaviest coal and mining grades; also, all the different kinds of brass, copper, and galvanized cloths for any of the various purposes for which wire cloths are used. Wire Rope is steel or iron wire twisted into ropes. When great pliability is required it is customary to make the centre of hemp, especially the smaller-sized ropes. A reel should always be used for stowing wire rope, and as a protection against rust the rope should be occasionally tarred or painted. Short bends should be carefully avoided; and, while wire rope of similar strength to hemp will run on sheaves of the same diameter, it is always preferable to have larger ones, as the rope will wear longer. The relative dimensions of hemp cable and of wire rope are as follows, the figures denoting circumference in inches: Hemp....3, 4, 5, 5 1/2, 6, 6 3/4, 7 1/4, 8, 9, 10, 10 1/2, 11, 12. Wire....1 5/8, 2 1/8, 2 3/4, 3, 3 1/4, 3 5/8, 4, 4 3/8, 4 7/8, 5 1/2, 5 3/4, 6, 6 1/2.
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Wirt
WILLIAM, an lawyer; born in Bladensburg, Md., Nov 8, 1772; was admitted to the bar in 1792, and in 1806 settled in Richmond, Va., where he became a prominent lawyer. He distinguished himself at the trial of Aaron Burr in 1807, as one of the counsel for the prosecution. He held many State offices, being clerk of the House of Delegates, Chancellor of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and member of the House of Delegates. He was appointed United States District Attorney in 1816, and Attorney-General in 1817, holding the latter office till 1829, through three administrations. He was nominated for President in 1832 by the Anti-Masonic party and received the electoral vote of Vermont. He wrote "Letters of the British Spy" (1803); "The Rainbow" and other essays; "Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry" (1817), and various addresses. He died in Washington, D. C., Feb. 18, 1834.
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Wisby
the chief town of the Swedish island of Gotland; is a thriving seaport on the W. coast, and has a fine cathedral (1200). It was once one of the richest of the Hanse towns, with 18 churches, but was taken and destroyed by the Danish King Valdemar III. in 1361, and has never regained its importance. There are great ruins of seven of its former churches; but of the others and of the castle of Wisborg, destroyed by the Danes in 1675, there is little trace left. Pop. about 10,000.
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Wisconsin Phalanx
A spiritualistic community founded by Warren Chase in 1844. Chase had settled in Southport, Wisconsin, in 1838, and there, with his wife and child, he lived for a time in the deepest poverty. At length, however, their circumstances brightened, and Chase attained to a position of civic honour in Southport. Meanwhile he had studied mesmerism and socialism with the aid of a few periodicals-Laroy Sunderland's Magnet and the New York Tribune--and was filled with the idea of founding a community where his ideals of social order and harmony Witchcraft might be carried out. With the aid of his friends such a community was formed, each member with a share of twenty-five dollars. The chosen settlement-near the town of Ripon-was christened Ceresco, in honour of Ceres. For six years the Wisconsin Phalanx flourished, having as its leader and ruling spirit Warren Chase himself. But at last dissensions arose, and in 1850 it was dissolved. When its affairs were wound up it was found that a considerable profit fell to the share of its members. In all, it was one of the most successful spiritualistic or socialistic communities of the time.
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Wisconsin River
the largest river in Wisconsin. It rises in Lake Vieux Des Desert, in the N. part of the State, and flows S. and W., emptying into the Mississippi 4 miles below Prairie du Chien. It is nearly 600 miles long and is navigable to Portage City. Remarkable rapids and falls, called "dalles," occur at several places, the river passing through deep gorges between rocky bluffs, some of which are more than 400 feet high. WISCONSIN, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational non-sectarian institution in Madison, Wis.; founded in 1848; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 682; students, 5,274; president, E. A. Birge.
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Wisdom of Solomon
THE, the title of an apocryphal book, named in Greek Sophia Salomon, or Salomontos, generally placed sixth in order between "the rest of Esther" and Ecclesiasticus.
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Wise Men of the East
the three Magi who followed the guiding star to Bethlehem. They are the patron saints of travelers. WISMAR the second seaport of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany; on the Baltic, at the head of a bay of the same name; 20 miles N. of Schwerin. It has an excellent harbor, carries on an active over-sea trade, and has varied manufactures. Of the walls only four gates remain; but the numerous quaint old houses are a feature of the place, and several of the brick churches, as well as the Fürstenhof, once a ducal residence, date from the 14th and 15th centuries. It was a Hanse town in the 13th century, passed to Sweden in 1649, was taken by the Danes in 1675, and by the Danes, Prussians, and Hanoverians in 1712, when its strong fortifications were destroyed, and in 1803 was pawned to Mecklenburg-Schwerin, which secured it finally in 1828. Pop. about 25,000. French town,
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Wiseman
NICHOLAS PATRICK, an English prelate; born in Seville, Spain, Aug. 3, 1802; was educated at Waterford and the Roman Catholic College, Ushaw, near Durham; joined the English College then newly formed (1818) at Rome; became Professor of Oriental Languages and (1828) rector of the English College; returned to England (1835), and was appointed successively rector of Ushaw, vicar apostolic of the central district of England, and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster and cardinal (1850). He was the author of "Lectures on the Connection Between Science and Revealed Religion" (1836), "Letters on Catholic Unity" (1842); "Papal Supremacy" U (1850); "Fabiola" (1854); "Four Last Popes" (1858); and jo joint-editor for many years of the Dublin "Review." He died in London, England, Feb. 15, 1865.
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