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WIND-MILL, a kind of mill, the internal parts of which aremuch the same with tnose of a water-mill; from which, however,it differs, in being moved by the impulse of the wind upon its sailsor vanes, which are to be considered as a wheel in axis. See Me-chanics.
Wind-mill, Portuguese . A wind-mill is used in the vicinityof Lisbon , the construction of whose sails is different from, and, inthe opinion of Lord Somerville, superior to those used in Britain .See Plate CLIX. fig. 5. The advantages of millson this construc-tion are thus stated by his lordship: 1. That the broad part of thesail is at the end of the lever, and thus an equal resistance may beovercome with less length of arms. These being consequentlyshortened, a considerable weight of timber will be tendered unne-cessary, and a material saving of expence be obtained, in the height,prime cost, and subsequent-repairs. 2. The sails constructed onthis plan, may be set to draw in a manner similar to the stay-sailsof a ship; and, as they are swelled more than those of common mills,.Lord S. remarks, that they render it unnecessary to bring the millso frequently to the wind: a practice which, in machines ofthe usual construction, is always attended with considerabletrouble.
WINDOW, \iiynt dor, i. e. the passage for the wind,] win-dow is yet provincially denominated windor in Lancashire ; i.e.wind-door, or the passage for air, as that for people was peculiarlycalled the door. Before the use of glass became general, whichwas not till towards the end of the 12th century, the windows inBritain seem generally to have been composed of paper. Properlyprepared with oil, this forms no contemptible defence against theinstrusions of the weather, and makes no incompetent opening forthe admission of the light. It is still used by builders for the tem-porary windows of unfinished houses, and often for the regularones of work-shops. But some of the principal buildings we mayreasonably suppose to have been windowed in a superior manner.They could, however, be furnished merely with lattices of woodor sheets of linen, as these two remained the only furniture of ourcathedrals nearly to the 8th century; and the lattices continued insome towns of Lancashire to the 18th; and in many districts ofWales , and many of the adjoining parts of England, are usedeven to the present time. These seem all to have been fixed inframes that were called capsamenta, and now therefore casementsin V ales and in Lancashire .
WINDSOR, a town of Berkshire, 22 miles W. of London ,most remarkable for the magnificent royal palace or castle situatedon an eminence, which commands the adjacent country, for manymiles, the river Thames running at the foot of the hill. Theknights of the garter are installed in the royal chapel here. Lon.0. 36. W. Lat. 51.30. N.
Windsor. Forest, an extensive country of England, in Berk-shire , above 50 miles in circumference, with a large range ofheath-covered land for deer.
WIND-TAUGHT, a sea term, signifying as much as stiff inthe wind. See Taught. Too much rigging, liighmasts, orany thing catching or holding wind aloft, is said to hold a shipwind-taught; by which they mean, that she stoops too muchin her sailing in a stiff gale of wind. Again, when a ship rides in amain stress of wind and weather, they strike down her top masts,and bring her yards down, which otherwise would hold too muchwind, or be too much distended, or windrtaught.
Windward, in the sea-language, denotes any tiling towardsthat point from whence the wind blows, in respect of a ship: thuswindward-tide, is the tide which runs against the wind. SeeTide , &c.
Wind, Large. In the sea-language, to sail with a large wind,is the same as with a fair wind.
Wind, Side, at sea, that which blows on the side of theship.
Windward, Point, a cape on the N. E. coast of the island St.Christopher. Lon. 62, 22. W. Lat. 17. 23. N.
WINE, SP1R1T OF, or ALCOHOL, a name given by che-mists to every ardent spirit produced by distillation. See Che-mistry, and Alcohol.
WINE, is an agreeable, spirituous, aromatic liquor, preparedby fermenting the juices of those vegetables which contain sac-charine matter. Its constituent parts are: 1. Sugar, or the sweet
juice, usually termed must, from which the liquor is obtained ; 2.Alcohol, or pure spirit, that is disengaged (luring the vinous fer-mentation ; and 3. Water, which is the most innocuous part ofthe whole, and lends to moderate its properties, that may other-wise prove hurtful. Wines, in this country, are generally dividedinto two classes, namely, British , or home-made, and foreign.The first division includes the liquors procured from currants,goosberries, raspberries, raisins, &c. the preparation of whichbeing known to every notable house-wife, we shall only state themethod in which foreign wines are obtained from the fruitof the vine. When the grapes are sufficiently ripe, they are ga-thered, and submitted to the action of a press; from which theirjuice runs into vessels furnished for that purpose. Here it remainsfor several hours, or for a few days, according to the temperatureof the atmosphere : when the fermentation commences, the liquorrises, and a considerable portion of fixed air, or carbonic acidgas, is evolved. At the expiration of some days, the fermenta-tion ceases: when the liquor becomes clear, and cool, it is pouredinto other casks or vessels, where it undergoes a slight degree ofa new fermentation ; in consequence of which it becomes divestedof all feculent particles, while its taste and flavour are remarkablyimproved. In order to clarify it still farther, the albumen, orwhites of eggs, isinglass, &c. are either suspended or dissolved inthe cask ; and various other expedients are practised, most ofwhich have already been stated in the article Clarification,and in different parts of this work. The colour of wines is, ingeneral, independent of their properties; being in many instancesartificial, and imparted to those liquors, after they have comeinto mercantile hands. Thus, white wines are tinged red, by de-coctions of logwood, the juices of elder and bilberries: in France ,by the husks of tinged grapes; and, when a proper colouringmatter is required, solutions of stick-lac, and turnsol, have beenproposed as useful substitutes. There are, however, other ingre-dients frequently employed by unprincipled persons; and whichproduce deleterious effects on the human system. As it is ofgreat importance to expose such adulterations, we shall commu-nicate a few simple means, by which they may be discovered,both by the taste, and by the eye. Thus, if new white wine be ofa sweetish flavour, and leave a certain astringency on the tongue ;if it have an uncommonly high colour, which is at the same timedisproportionate to its nominal age, and to its real strength ; orif it have an unusually pungent taste, resembling that of brandy,or other ardent spirits, such liquor is generally sophisticated. Far-ther, when red wine presents either a very pale, or a very deepcolour; or possesses a peculiarly tart and astringent taste; or de-posits a thick crust on the sides or bottoms of glass-vessels, it hasthen probably been coloured with some of the substances abovementioned ; and which may be easily detected, by passing the li-quor through filtering paper; when the tinging matters will re-main on its surface. Such fraud may also be discovered, by fill-ing a small phial with the suspected wine, and closing its mouthwith the finger : the bottle is then to be inverted, and immersedinto a bason containing pure water; when, on withdrawing thefinger from its aperture, the tinging or adulterating matter will passinto the water, so that the former may be observed sinking to thebottom, by its greater weight.
WING, Vincent, an astronomer and astrologer of the 17thcentury. He wrote, l. The Celestial Harmony of the VisibleWorld ; in fob 1657. 2. An Ephemeris for 30 years. 3. Com-
putatio Catholica: Astronomia Britannica ; a work of merit. Hedied in 1668 . His name still gives weight to a popular sheet-al-manac.
Wing, in zoology, is that part of a bird, insect, &c. wherebyit is enabled to fly. See Bee, Bird, Entomology, and Orni-thology.
Wings, in military affairs, are the two flanks or extremes ofan army, ranged in form of a battle; being the right and leftsides thereof.
WINNIPEG, a lake of Upper Canada, N. W. of Lake Su-perior , 240 miles long, and from 50 to 100 broad.
WINNOWING-MACHINE, is a contrivance employed forseparating, by an artificial current of air, the chaff from the grain,after it has been thrashed out of the straw. The following is a de-scription of Messrs. T. and J. Polfreeman’s improved winnowingmachine. Fig. 3, Plate CLXXVIII, represents a wheel and strap,
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