WEENINX WEIGHTS. 



the first hour of the sixth day, and Venus over the 

 first hour of the seventh day. Hence the names of 

 the days yet used in the learned professions : 1. dies 

 Saturni (Saturday) ; 2. dies Solis (Sunday) ; 3. 

 dies Luna (Monday) ; 4. dies Mortis (Tuesday) ; 

 5. diesMercuri (Wednesday); 6. diesJovis( Thurs- 

 day) ; 7. dies Veneris (Friday). The English names 

 of the days of the week are derived from the 

 Saxons, and are partly adopted from the more civil- 

 ized nations of antiquity. For the etymology of 

 the English names, see the separate articles. 



WEENINX, JOHN BAPTIST, a celebrated Dutch 

 painter, was born at Amsterdam, in 1621. He was 

 the son of an architect, and became the pupil of 

 Abraham Bloemart. After residing some time in 

 Italy, he returned to Holland, and settled at Utrecht, 

 where he died in 1660. He painted small landscapes, 

 animals and historical pieces with great accuracy 

 and perfection, but was deficient in variety. His 

 son John, born at Amsterdam, in 1644, was more 

 distinguished. He studied at first under his father, 

 and acquired great skill in the delineation of ani- 

 mals. Still life, the chase, dead game, &c., are re- 

 presented in his works with an inimitable truth and 

 great beauty of colouring. He died at Amsterdam, 

 in 1719. 



WEEVIL (eurcM/zo) ; a genus of hard-shelled 

 beetles, easily recognised by having the head pro- 

 longed into a long horny snout, at the end of which 

 the mouth is situated. By later naturalists, this 

 has very justly been considered as a family of in- 

 sects, and has been divided into numerous genera. 

 These insects have four joints to each of the tarsi ; 

 the antennae arise from the snout above mentioned, 

 are usually clavate, and in most of the genera form 

 an angle at the apex of the first joint : the abdomen 

 in all is large. The larvae are entirely destitute of 

 feet, and live, some in the interior of seeds, others 

 in wood, in the interior of stems, under the bark of 

 trees, in fruits, in the hardest nuts, and some even 

 in the interior of the bodies of other insects. In 

 their perfect state, all these insects feed on different 

 parts of plants, but especially on leaves and the 

 petals of flowers. 



The weevil proper (calandra granaria) is best 

 known on account of the ravages it commits among 

 grain, sometimes destroying one third or one fourth 

 of the whole crop. Each larva, as soon as born, 

 penetrates into the interior of a grain, and feeds on 

 its substance till it has attained its full size ; then 

 undergoes a change, and takes the form of a chry- 

 salis ; and in due time the perfect insect perforates 

 the hull, which is now nearly empty. 



The C. oryzcR very much resembles the preced- 

 ing. It lives in rice, but is observed to attack prin- 

 cipally those grains from which the hulls have not 

 been detached. 



WEIGEL, VALENTINE. See Weigelians. 



WEIGELIANS were a Protestant sect in the 

 seventeenth century, chiefly resident in Upper 

 Saxony, founded by Val. Weigel, pastor of Tscho- 

 pau, in the Saxon Erzgebirge (born in 1533, died 

 in 1588), a pious and popular minister. The writ- 

 ings of Theophrastus Paracelsus, and of Tauler, 

 bad led him to entertain peculiar views, which he 

 set forth in his works. These, however, were not 

 published till long after his death (161 121). He 

 speaks much of an unborn inner light. The theo- 

 logy taught at the universities is false in his eyes. 

 All creatures are effluxes of the Divine Being. His 

 view of the Trinity was peculiar. He set little 

 value on outvvaid worship, and depicts the minis- 



ters of the Protestant church in black colours. 

 Several of his works were burnt in 1624, at Chem- 

 nitz ; but they had already gained many adherents. 

 Jacob Bohme was a Weigelian. 



WEIGHTS. In the article Measures, we have 

 given an account of the reformation of the English 

 measures. The article France, division Decimal 

 System of France, explains the principles of the new 

 French measures. The following tables exhibit 

 the relations of some of the most important mea- 

 sures of weight. 



1. French Measures of Weight The unit used 



in weighing is the kilogramme. It has been fixed 

 by law, and is equal to the specific weight of the 

 distilled water contained in one cubic decimetre. 

 The kilogramme thus fixed was found to be equal 

 to 2 livres (pounds), 5 gros, 35 grains, -J^ poids de 

 marc, and to 2 Ibs. 8 oz. 3 dwt. 6-355 grains troy, 

 or 2 Ibs. 2 oz. 4 drams, 16 grains avoirdupois weight, 

 English. As the most common things of daily con- 

 sumption are sold by weight in small quantities, a 

 great difficulty arose in introducing this part of the 

 system ; and the old denominations of weight have 

 therefore been allowed to re'main, with some modi- 

 fication in their actual value, taking the kilogramme 

 as the basis. The kilogramme is divided into 2 

 livres ; the livre is subdivided into 16 ounces, the 

 ounce into 8 gros, and the gros into 72 grains 

 This new livre, therefore, exceeds the old one 

 (poids de marc) by T -?, w ; so, to reduce kilogrammes 

 into old measure, it is necessary to multiply by 2 

 and add fa. 



English, Troy. 



\ grain (l-24th of a dwt) 



1 penny weight (l-20th of an ounce) 



1 ounce 



1 pound troy imperial 



English Avoirdupois. 

 1 dram (l-16th of an ounce) 

 1 ounce (l-16th of a pound) 

 1 pound avoirdupois imperial 

 1 hundred weight (112 pounds) 

 1 ton 



French. 



0-06477 gramme. 

 1-55456 gramme. 

 31-0913 grammes. 

 0'3730956 kilogramme 



French. 

 17712 gramme. 

 28-3384 grammes 

 0-4534 1 18 kilogram 

 50-78246 kiloerammi'S 

 1015 649 kilogrammes. 



1 millier = 1000 kilogrammes , weight of a tun of sea- water;. 



1 quintal = 100 kilogrammes 



1 hectogramme = 1 -10th of a kilogramme. 



1 decagramme = 1-IOOth 



1 gramme = l-1000th 



1 decigramme = l-10,000th 



2. English Measures of Weiyht. The statute of 

 5 George IV., c. 74, made some slight modifications 

 in the measures of weight, but retained, in the 

 main, the existing measures. " The troy weight," 

 say the commissioners of weights and measures, 

 " appeared to us to be the ancient weight of this 

 kingdom, having existed in the same state from the 

 time of Edward the Confessor ; and there are rea- 

 sons to believe that the word troy has no reference 

 to any town in France, but rather to the monkish 

 name given to London of Troy Novant, founded on 

 the legend of Brute : troy weight, therefore, accord- 

 ing to this etymology, is, in fact, London weight. 

 We were induced, moreover, to preserve the troy 

 weight, because all the coinage has been uniformly 

 regulated by it; and all medical prescriptions or 

 formula: always have been estimated by troy weight, 

 under a peculiar subdivision, which the college of 

 physicians have expressed themselves most anxious 

 to preserve." It was resolved, therefore, to con- 

 tinue the use of troy weight, and also, on account 

 of the accuracy of the troy standard, to raise the 

 avoirdupois weight from this basis. " We found," 

 continue the commissioners, " the avoirdupois 

 weight, by which all heavy goods have been for a 



