Whitney, William C.
William C. (1841-1904), an American politician and business man. He was a native of Conway, Massachusetts, a graduate of Yale and the Harvard Law School. He practiced law in New York City. He fought the Tweed Ring and supported Grover Cleveland's campaign for the governorship in 1882. Under Cleveland he was secretary of the navy, 1884-8. In this capacity he urged the building of large battleships. He was one of the organizers and promoters of the Metropolitan Street Railway of New York in which competing street-car lines were merged. He was a large landholder and had a number of residences in various states as well as a home in London. He owned a game preserve of 16,000 acres in the Adirondack region. He bore the expense of extensive explorations in Wyoming and other parts of the West in the search for remains of prehistoric horses. He was an enthusiastic yachtsman. He was a keen horseman, an advocate of fair sport and of a more refined atmosphere around the stable and the race track. He was a man of integrity, ability, patriotism, sportsmanship, and wealth.
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Whitney, William Dwight
William Dwight (1827-1894), an American student of languages. He was born at Northampton, Massachusetts. He was graduated at Williams College in 1845. He studied at the German universities of Berlin and Tubingen. In 1854 he became professor of Sanskrit at Yale. Professor Whitney was one of the first Americans to be recognized by the university doctors of Germany as a specialist--a scholar in their sense of the word. He wrote several high school texts, including grammars of the French, German, and English languages. His reputation rests on his work in Sanskrit. He published a Sanskrit grammar and contributed to a monumental Sanskrit dictionary published in Germany. He compiled also a German dictionary for college use and acted as editor-in-chief of the Century Dictionary of the English language. See Sanskrit ; Dictionary ; Yale
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Whitsunday
the seventh Sunday after Easter; a festival of the Church in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The name was derived from the white garments worn on that day by candidates for ordination and children presented for baptism. The older name was PENTE- COST (q. v.). In Scotland, it is the name given to one of the term days (May 15, or May 26, old style), in which rents, annuities, ministers' stipends, etc., are engaged and paid, paid, servants are engaged and the like. The Whitsunday removal term in the towns is now legally fixed for May 28.
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Whittier
a city of California, in Los Angeles co. It is on the Southern Pacific and the Pacific Electric railroads. It is the center of an important fruit. growing and oil producing region and is the seat of Whittier College. Pop. (1910) 4,550; (1920) 7,997.
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Whittington
RICHARD, an English magistrate; born in Pauntley, England, about 1358; youngest son of Sir William Whittington. His father dying, Richard set out for London at 13 to push his fortune, and apprenticed himself to Sir John Fitz-Warren, a prosperous mercer, whose daughter he afterward married. He was a member of the Mercers Company in 1392, the year after an alderman and sheriff. In 1397 he was chosen mayor of London to fill the place of Adam Bamme who had died in his year of office, again in 1406, member of Parliament for the city in 1416, and in 1419 for the third time mayor. He was knighted by Henry V., and died in the spring of 1423, and by his will rebuilt Newgate and St. Michael's Church, connecting also a college and an almshouse with it, while he also restored St. Bartholomew's Hospital, gave a library to Grey Friars, and provided drinking fountains. The popular cat story attributed to him is not well authenticated.
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Whittington, Richard
Richard (1359-1423), a London merchant and magistrate. He made a fortune selling cloth. He was a man of liberality, character, influence, and popularity. He held the offices of alderman and sheriff, the latter a position corresponding to our municipal judge. He was elected mayor at three separate elections. In 1422, so run the records, "Whityntone, the late mayor," was instrumental in breaking up an ale trust. A number of London brewers were fined $100 each for raising the price of malt and selling dear ale. There is a popular tradition current in juvenile literature, but without historical foundation, that Dick Whittington made a start in life by sending a cat to Barbary. It arrived in the nick of time and sold for a large sum. Another tale runs to the effect that he was about to leave London in despair when he heard Bow Bells ring out: Turn again, Dick Whittington, Thrice Lord Mayor of London Town. Some investigator has declared that Dick Whittington's cat should be spelled achat, the latter term being a current name for bargain or profit. If this be the true origin of the "cat" it has reference simply to Whittington's achat or profit in the lucrative but non-poetical coal trade with Newcastle. In other words he made money or achat selling coal to the Londoners.
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Whitworth Gun
in ordnance, a wrought iron or, afterward, steel gun invented by Sir Joseph Whitworth. It had a hexagonal spiral bore, the angles of which were rounded off, and fired a projectile (sometimes called the Whitworth ball), the middle part of which fitted the bore, but the rear part tapered somewhat, and did not touch the rifling, while the point was rounded. Both muzzle-loading and breech-loading patterns were made. There was very little windage, and good ranges were obtained.
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Whooping Cough
an infectious disease characterized by spells of coughing and long drawn breaths producing a peculiar "whoop" from which the disease is named. It appears to have been prevalent among the children of Greece. It is due in all probability to a specific bacterium that breeds in the system. Whooping cough appears to be a disease of children whom it attacks at all ages, but chiefly between the cutting of the first and the second teeth. It ranks with scarlet fever and measles as one of the plagues of childhood. Doctors are able to make the disease easy, but seem to have no way of cutting it short. It seems determined to run from four to six weeks. Deaths from whooping cough are slightly in excess of deaths from measles and scarlet fever. There were 3,669 registered deaths from whooping cough in the United States in the year 1900. See Disease
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