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serving to turn the fans delineated at 1, (fig. 4.) B, is a screw andplate, placed at the end of the hopper, marked 2, (fig. 4 ;) the de-sign of which is to regulate the supply of grain. C, is a blast, theforce of which may, by means ot the Venetian blind 5, (fig. 4,)be varied, as occasion may require. Fig. 4, the frame marked 3sis calculated for the reception of the sieves; where the corn is se-parated from the chaff, and passes down the screen. 4, is thescreen, which works with the machine, and answers every purpose,attained by the screens commonly employed for cleaning corn,after it has been divided from the chaff. 1 he apparatus here de-scribed, requires the attendance of three persons, namely, one toset it in motion ; a second to feed, or furnish a supply of grain ;and a third to clear away the corn, after it is freed from impurities.
With such assistance, it will winnow five quarters of wheat perhour, or six quarters of barley and oats; it will likewise cleanpeas, beans, and coffee ; so that it cannot fail to be peculiarlyuseful 5n the West Indies . The working of this machine is very-simple : so that, with a little practice, any person may understandits various parts, and the sieves proper for the corn to be winnow-ed. Lastly, as different kinds of grain vary in quality, the blastshould be adjusted accordingly, by means of the Venetian blind(marked 5, in fig. 4,) to which a brass-plate is affixed.
WINSEN, a town of Lunenburg Zell, at the conflux of theElbe and Ilmenau ; six miles below Zell. Lon. 10. 11. E. Lat.53. 24. N.
WINSLOW, a town of Buckinghamshire , seven miles N. W.of Aylesbury. Lon 0. 45. W. Lat. 51. 57. N.
WINSTANLEY, William, was originally a barber. Hewrote, 1. The Lives of the Poets. 2. Select Lives of England’sWorthies. 3. Historical Rarities. He died in 1690.
WINTER, one of the four seasons or quarters of the year. SeeSeasons, &c.
Winter, among printers, that part of the printing-press servingto sustain the carriage. See Printing-Press .
Winter’s Bark Cortex Winteranus, in botany, a namegiven to the bark of the white or wild cinnamon-tree. See Cin-namon , and Pharmacy.
WINTF.RA, in botany, a genus of plants of the class poly,andria, and order pentagynia ; natural order, Holoraceas. Calyxthree-lobed; petals 6 or 12; no style ; fruit a berry, club-shapedas well as the germen. There are three species.
WIRE , a piece of metal drawn successively through a numberof iron-plates into a thread of fineness answerable to the last holeit passed through.
WIREDRAWING, Wires are frequently drawn so fine as tobe wrought along with other threads of silk, wool, flax, &c. Themetals most commonly drawn into wire are gold, silver, eopper,andiron. Gold-wire is made of cylindrical ingots of silver, co-vered over with gold, and thus drawn successively through a vastnumber of holes, each smaller and smaller, till at last it is broughtto a fineness exceeding that of a hair. Before it be reduced lo thisexcessive fineness, it is drawn through above 140 different holes ;and is every time rubbed over with wax both to facilitate its pas-sage, and to prevent the gold from being rubbed off. That ad-mirable ductility which is one of the distinguishing characters ofgold, is no where more conspicuous than in gilt wire. A cylinderof 48 ounces of silver, with a coat of gold, only weighing oneounce, as Dr. Halley informs us, is usually drawn into a wire twoyards of which weigh no more than 49 grains, and one single grainof gold covers the 98 yards; so that the 10,000lh part of a grainisabove one-8th of an inch long,
WIRKSWORTH, a town of England, in Derbyshire , 8 milesN. by W. of Derby, and 139 N. W. of London . Lon. 1. 30.W. Lat. 53. 6. N.
WISBEACH, a well-built town of Cambridgeshire , in the isleof Ely, 17 miles S. W. of Lynn. Lon. 8. 6. E. Lat. 58.32. N.
WISBY, a sea-port-town of Sweden , on the W. coast of W.Gothland, 88 miles S. E. of Stockholm . Lon. 18. 41. E. Lat.57. 36. N.
WISDOM, [sapientia, Lat.] usually denotes a high andmore refined notion of things immediately presented to the mind,as it were by intuition, without the assistance of ratiocination.See Understanding, Reason, Knowledge, &c. In thissense wisdom may be said to be a faculty of the mind, or at least a
VOL. IV.—no. 217.
modification and habit thereof. Sometimes the word is more im-mediately used, in a moral sense, for jvbat we call prudence, ordiscretion, which consists on the soundness of the judgement, anda conduct answerable thereto.
WISMAR, a large town of Mecklenburg, on a bay of theBaltic ; 36 miles E. of Lubec. Lon. 11. 44. E. Lat. 53. 54, N.
WIT, a quality of certain thoughts and expressions, much easier-perceived than defined. According to Mr. Locke, wit lies in theassemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quicknessand variety, wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity,thereby to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions to thefancy. Mr. Addison limited this definition considerably, by ob-serving, that every resemblance of ideas does not constitute wit,but those only which produce delight and surprise. Mr. Pope de-fined wit to be a quick conception and an easy delivery ; whileaccording to a late writer, it consists in an assimilation of distantideas. The word wit originally signified wisdom. A witte wasanciently a wise man. So late as the reign of Elizabeth, a man ofpregnant wit, of great wit, was a man of vastjudgement. We stillsay, in his wits, out of his wits, for in or out of sound mind.See Humour, Laughter , Poetry, &c.
WITCHCRAFT, a supernatural power which persons obtainby entering into compact with the devil. Cases of witchcraft arenot so common now as formerly; at least not so many of themare recorded, owing, very probably, to the great diffusion of na-tural knowledge which, for some centuries past has been spread-ing over the greatest part of the civilized world ; and which hasled sceptics almost universally to reject every thing which their rea-son cannot fully develope. See Augur, Augury, Conjura-tion, Djemon, Djemoniac, Divination , Enchantment,Fascination, Magic, Necromancy,. Oracle, Sorcery ,&c. &c.
WITENA-MOT, or WITENA-GEMOT, among our Saxonancestors, was a term which literally signified the assembly of thewise men, and was applied to the great council of the nation, oflatter days called the parliament.
WITHERINGIA, in botany, a genus of the tetrandria mono*gynia class andorder. Natural order, Luridse. Corolla subcam-panulate, with four bumps in the tube; calyx very small, indis-tinctly four-toothed ; pericarpium two-celled. There is only onespecies ; viz. W. solanacea, a native of South America .
WITHERNAM, in law, a writ that lies where a distress isdriven out of the county, and the sheriff cannot make deliveranceto the party distrained : in that case this writ is directed to thesheriff, commanding him to take as many of the beasts, or goods,of the party into his keeping, till he make deliverance of the firstdistress.
WITHERITE, in mineralogy, a species of the genus barytes :it is commonly of a light yellowish grey colour, usually massive,but sometimes crystallized : specific gravity about 4.3. It meltswithout addition before the blow-pipe into a white enamel. Itdissolves with effervescence in acids ; its constituents are
Barytes..,.74.5
Carbonic acid.........25.5
100.0
It occurs in veins, heavy spar, lead glance, blende, and calamine,and is found in Lancashire , ft is a very active poison-
WITHERS OF A HORSE, the juncture of the shoulder-bones at the bottom of the neck and mane, towards the upper partof the shoulder.
WITNESS, in law a person who gives evidence in any cause,and is sworn to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing butthe truth.
Witnesses, Trial by, a species of trial without the interven-tion of a jury. This is the only method of trial known to thecivil law, in which the judge is left to form in his own breast hissentence upon the credit of the witnesses examined; but it isvery rarely used in the English law, which prefers the trial byjury before it in almost every instance. Save only that when awidow brings a writ of dower, and the tenant pleads that the hus-band is not dead ; this being looked upon as a dilatory plea, is infavour of the widow, and for greater expedition allowed to be triedby witnesses examined before the judges: and so, saith Finch10 M shall