WHIRLWIND. 



WHITE SWELLING. 







t of Norway, appears to be of rimiUr nature : the tide there form* 

 current which run* with \i.-l>ucr alternately from north to south, 

 and in a contrary direction ; and when this in opposed by the wind*. 

 there U created an agitation of the water, the sound of which is heard 

 at na to the distance of many league*. At high and at low water, 

 in moderate weather, ahipe pan through the utrnit without danger ; 

 but during strong galea they keep at a considerable distance in order 

 to aroid being drawn into the current, in consequence of which they 

 might founder among the waves, or be otherwise destroyed. Whale- 

 and fiah, it is laid, are often found dead on the shores, against which 

 they have been dashed by the violence with which the waters nub 

 through the channel. 



Whirlpool* are produced among the Orkney Inlands by the action* of 

 winds and currents ; but boats, it is said, paw over the spots in safety, 

 a log of wood or a bundle of straw previously thrown into the water 

 being sufficient to arrest its revolving motion. 



The circular or spiral motion of the water, which constitutes a 

 whirlpool or eddy in a river, is produced by flexures of the banks or 

 contractions of the bed ; in consequence of which the current, instead 

 of continuing parallel to the general direction of the river, is turned 

 obliquely towards the middle : the particles of water between this 

 obh'que current and the bansjsj>y which the waters from the upper 

 part of the river are reflected, are acted upon by forces in different 

 directions; and the centrifugal force resulting from the curvilinear 

 motion causes the centres of the whirlpools to be on a lower level than 

 the general surface of the water in the river. 



Let A B be the distance between the two banks of a river at a part 

 where a contraction of the bed begins to take place, and let abbe the 

 narrowest part of the channel, in the vicinity : the water in part 

 arrested by the bank A a, rises above the general level of the water in 

 the river at that place, and being reflected, will be made to take an 

 oblique direction, as a e ; at the same time, the velocity in the con- 

 tracted section becomes, by the laws of hydrodynamics, greater than that 



of the river above A B. Then the particles of water within the space 

 net, rushing towards ae, the surface within that space becomes 

 depressed, and the particles about D descend into the space by their 

 gravity, 'it follows that there is a constant tendency of the waters 

 from D towards c a, and from c towards a c, besides the current in the 

 direction <t e ; and by the action of the forces in these directions the 

 revolving motion takes place. Whirlpools are continually being formed 

 in this manner, and are carried to some distance down the river by the 

 general current. 



Whirlpools may in like manner be formed at the same time, below 

 6, on the opposite bank of the river, if this should have a similar form 

 to the bank between A and c ; or the stream ac may be reflect > 

 T,, should there be a contraction at that place, and whirlpools may be 

 formed in the enlargement beyond, as shown in tin- diagram. Precisely 

 in like manner are formed the whirlpools or eddies at the shoulders of 

 the piers of a bridge, when the breadth of the river is so much c"ii- 

 tracted as to cause its surface above the bridge to be considerably 

 higher than the surface below. Under these whirlpools the bed of 

 the river must evidently sustain less pressure than takes place on the 

 parts about them : consequently, the water under the bed, acting 

 hydrostatically upwards, may lift up the earth and stones,* and thus 

 undermine the piers; or it may blow up the piles driven for the 

 formation of dams. By this cause the accidents which occur in 

 hydraulic ii|H-ntiu>< .ire frequently produced. 



Inequalities in the depth of the bed of a river must evidently give 

 rise to vertical whirlpools by the reflexion of the water from the 

 ascending slopes ; the particle* then take an oblique direction upwards, 

 so as to rise like a wave above the general surface : also, a MI. Mm 

 depression of the bed will produce a vertical whirlpool in the lower 

 part, nearly as the horizontal whirlpools before mentioned are supposed 

 to have been f.-i- 



WHIKI.WIM). [Wiirn.] 



WHISKEY. The preparation of this spirit in sufficiently described 

 under lli-rn.i.nn ; while the trade and the taxation connected with it 

 are noticed under Wixi. AMI SPIRIT Tn.\nr. The name is derived from 

 the Irish word uiiytie, ' water;' and vtfufbnxijh, the name of a cordial 

 at one time in much request, is derived from the Irish uuyue btatha, 

 ' water of life.' We may here remark, among the discoveries f the 

 rectifiers, that a few drops of creasote and in-. -I nil will give a whiskey 

 flavour to two or three gallon* of good London gin, if lung kept. 



NVHISPKIUN'i; PI. VI- > are v.iulU or galli-rii-H in whirh the sound 

 of word* uttered with a low voice U augmented, so as to become 

 audible at a considerable dit--inri- from the speaker. 



When the air is agitated by any impulse, as the utterance of a word 

 at setae spot, the undulations extend spherically in every direction 



and thus give rise to perception* of sound which diminish rapidly in 

 ntensity as the distance of the auditor increase* ; but if the impulse 

 M given at one of the extremities of a tube, it is evident that the 

 undulations will be prevented from spreading laterally, and the whole 

 effect, augmented in consequence of the condensation of the particles 

 of air in the tube, will be experienced : in this manner may be explained 

 ;he increase of the intensity of sound in a trumpet or a speaking-pipe. 

 PUT.] A like effect takes place in a leas degree when sound ascend* 

 From tlio bottom of a deep well, or when words are uttered at one 

 xt ivmity of a long corridor or passage in a building. It is said that if 

 pin be dropped into the well in Carisbrooke Castle, in tin- Isle of 

 Wight, the sound produced when it Rtrikes the water is distinctly 

 heard at the mouth : the well is above '200 feet deep. The sou 

 words spoken near the surface of any long wall is similarly augmented 

 in the direction of the length of the wall ; the latter, in some measure 

 preventing the undulation from being diffused in the atmosphere. The 

 effect in a corridor is frequently increased when the corridor hax 

 in it* length, or when it is smaller at one extremity than at the > 



When the place is in the form of a dome, the undn! o air, 



which are produced by a sound emitted near the concave surface, at 

 any part of the base of the dome, are, by continual deflection 

 every | art of the concave surface, transmitted to a point in the bam 

 diametrically opposite to that from whence the sound proceeded 

 there the waves are concentrated so as to cause the perception of a 

 eound many times louder than that which was emitted. 



The whispering gallery in Gloucester Cathedral, which is de- 

 in I'.m-h's ' History of the Royal Society,' vul. i., is a passage leading 

 from one aisle to the opposite, behind the east window of the choir : it 

 t wide, and about 64 feet high ; its whole length is about 75 feet, 

 and its form on the plan is half an irregular octagon : the walls and 

 ceiling are of freeston", and the latter, which is flat, U unevenly wr- 

 it two persons are placed, one at each end, near either wall, ni 

 converses with the other in the lowest whisper, the words are as dis- 

 tinctly heard as if the persons were close together. The whiK|wring 

 gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, is that which surrounds the 

 base in the concave surface of the interior dom. 

 speaking in a whisper near the surface of the vault U heard distinctly 

 by a person also near the surface and at the opposite extremr 

 diameter, persons in any other part not being able to hear the soun.l. 



WHITE AUSENIC. A popular name for arsenious acid. [A i. 

 Arsoiivut Acid.] 



WIIITK CANONS, so called from their habit, which was a white 

 cassock with a rochet over it, a long white cloak, and whit.' 

 belonged to the Premonstratensian Order of the Augustine .M 

 They were brought into England shortly after 11 40, and settled first at 

 Newhouse in Lincolnshire. They had in England a conservator of 

 their privileges, but were nevertheless often visited by their superiors 

 of Prcmonstre, who raised great contributions out of them, as the 

 generals or foreign heads of the Clnniacs or Cistercians also did from 

 their order, till restrained from it by the parliament of Carlisle, in the 

 last year of Edward I., 1307. They, however, continued under tin- 

 jurisdiction of the Abbot of Prcm.mstrc and the general chai- 

 the order till IM'J, when they -v.l trom it by a bull . 



Julius II., confirmed by King Henry V1I1., when the superiority of all 

 the houses of this order in Kngl.-md and Wales was given to the 

 of Wclbeck, in Nottinghamshire. Tanner reckoned about thirty-five 

 houses of this order in England. (Tanner, Xotit. Man,: 

 MI>H. An;il.'i 



WHITE FLUX. A substance used in metallurgical operations on 

 a small scale. It consists chiefly of carbonate of potash, and is 

 prepared by calcining bitartrate of potash (ertnm f tartnr) witli 

 lit of nitrate of potash. 



WIIITK GUNI'OWMEIt. A composition consulting of three parts 

 of chlorate of potash, one part of white sugar, and one of i 

 of potassium. The ingredients must be e/>mfY// reduced to 

 powder and then intimately mixed in a wooden mortar with .1 v. 

 pestle. Its explosive force is much greater than ordinary gmi] 

 nnd the ingredients may be kept separate until the p..\-..i. 

 which would prevent all danger of the accidental . large 



quantities. Its manufacture is, however, attended with considerable 

 risk, as it explodes by friction and percussion, and sev 

 accidents have already resulted even from it* preparati. .n 

 scale. Contact with a minute drop of sulphuric aci 

 instantly to explode. 



WIIITK I.KAD. | I,; 



WIIITK PKKCIPITATK. | MKJUTIIV. I IV 



WHITE SWELLING, a disease of the join 

 of the unaltered colour of the -kin. I'n.ler this 

 nearly all those diseases of tlie jojnU which arc tin- :.r..nic 



inflammation in the liom-x, c." membranes constituting the 



joint. These inllaniiiiations ntly attended with HI 



which in circiim-ci-ili. d ; the part in sometime.-, hard, i, 

 pressure..) tin- li- t.. the impression t 



ll swollen and diseased; or it may be elast 

 vr ; or so soft as if> produce the impression of the presence of 

 fluid. Sometimes these swellings arc attended with n.> i 

 times pain is one of the earliest s\ M].I..IM.. and is - 

 and greatly aggravated by the motion ..i the limb. In some ca 





