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
HENRY ALEXANDER, an American statesman; born in Drummondtown, Va., Dec. 3, 1806; was educated at Washington College, Pa.; admitted to the bar in 1828; member of Congress in 1833-1843; minister to Brazil, under President Tyler, in 1844-1847; and Democratic governor of Virginia in 1856-1860. He opposed secession, but in 1861 joined the Confederate army as Brigadier-General. He was defeated in the Kanawha valley in 1861, and at Roanoke Island in 1862. After the war he resumed the practice of law in Richmond, Va., and died there Sept. 12, 1876.
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Wise (II)
HENRY AUGUSTUS, an American naval officer; born in Brooklyn, N. Y., May 12, 1819; entered the navy as midshipman in 1834, and rose to chief of the bureau of ordnance in 1866. Under the pseudonym of "Harry Gringo," he wrote "Los Gringos; or, An Interior View of Mexico and Galifornia, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia" (1849); "Tales for the Marines" (1855); "Scampavias, from Gibel-Tasek to Stamboul" (1857); "The Story of the Gray African Parrot" (1856), a book for children; and "Captain Brand of the Centipede" (1860). He died in Naples, Italy, April 2, 1869.
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Wise (ISAAC MAYER a Jewish rabbi)
ISAAC MAYER, a Jewish rabbi; born in Bohemia, April 3, 1819; settled in New York City in 1846. He in Cincinnati, O. after 1854, and became president of the Hebrew Union resided , College. He was a leader of the reform movement in American Judaism; and besides editing the "Israelite " a weekly , journal, he wrote extensively. Among his works are: "History of the Israelitish Nation" (1854); "Essence of Judaism" (1860); "Judaism: Its Doctrines and Duties" (1862); "The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth" (1874); "The Cosmic God" (1876); "History of the Hebrews' Second Commonwealth" (1880); "Judaism and Christianity" (1883); "Pronaos to Holy Writ" (1891); etc. He died in 1900.
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