WHEELS WHIGS AND TORIES. 



33 



ference of the last axle, to which the weight or re- 

 sistance is applied. In light work, where the pres- 

 sure on the machinery is riot very considerable, the 

 wheels and axles are allowed to work by the fric- 

 tion of their surfaces, which is increased by cutting 

 the wood so that the grains of the surfaces in con- 

 tact shall run in opposite directions ; also by gluing 

 upon the surfaces of the wheels and axles buffed 

 leather. There are other ways of transmitting the 

 force of each axle to the circumference of the suc- 

 ceeding wheel. A very common method is, by 

 ropes, straps, bands, or belts, round the circumfer- 

 ence of the wheel and axle, which act upon each 

 other. The action is in this manner transmitted 

 by the tension of the rope or strap, and rendered 

 effective by friction with the circumferences on 

 which it is rolled. Wheels and axles connected in 

 this manner are called band-wheels. When the 

 wheel and axle from which it receives motion, are 

 intended to revolve in the same direction, the band 

 is not crossed, but simply passed round them in the 

 shortest manner ; but, when the wheel is to revolve 

 in a direction contrary to the revolution of the 

 axle, the strap is crossed between them. This 

 latter method of applying the strap, has the advant- 

 age of having more surface to act upon, and, there- 

 fore, having more friction ; but the most usual way 

 of transmitting the action of the axles to the suc- 

 ceeding wheels, is by means of teeth or cogs, raised 

 on their surfaces. When this is the case, the cogs 

 on the wheels are generally called teeth, and those 

 on the surface of the axle are called leaves. The 

 axle itself, in this case, is called a pinion. The 

 connexion of one toothed wheel with another, in 

 this manner, is called gear or gearing. The teeth 

 of the wheel, instead of working in the leaves of a 

 pinion, are sometimes made to act upon a form of 

 wheel called a lantern, with cylindrical teeth or 

 bars, called trundles or spindles. Wheels are deno- 

 minated spur, crown, or bevel-gear, according to the 

 direction or position of the teeth. If the teeth are 

 perpendicular to the axis of the wheel, and in the 

 direction of its radii, it is called a spur-wheel. If 

 the teeth are parallel to the axis of the wheel, and 

 therefore perpendicular to its plane, it is called a 

 crown-wheel. Two spur-wheels, or a spur-wheel 

 and pinion which work in one another, are always 

 in the same plane, and have their axes parallel ; but, 

 when a spur and crown-wheel are in connexion, 

 their planes and axes are at right angles. By this 

 means, therefore, rotatory motion may be transfer- 

 red from a horizontal to a vertical plane, or vice 

 versa. When the teeth are oblique to the plane or 

 axis-wheel, it is a called a bevelled wheel. In this 

 case, the surfaces on which the teeth are raised, are 

 parts of the surfaces of two cones. The use of the 

 bevelled wheels is to produce a rotatory motion 

 round one axis, by means of a rotatory motion round 

 another which is oblique to it ; and, provided that 

 the two axes are in the same plane, this may always 

 be accomplished by two bevelled wheels. 



WHEELS, WHEEL CARRIAGES. See Locomotion. 



WHEELS, WATER. See Hydraulics. 



WHEELER, SIR GEORGE, a learned traveller, 

 was born in 1650, and, in 1667, became a commoner 

 of Lincoln ball, Oxford, on leaving which he travel- 

 led into Greece and Asia, in company with doctor 

 Spon of Lyons, their primary object being to copy 

 inscriptions and describe antiquities. On his return, 

 he presented to the university of Oxford a valuable 

 collection of Greek and* Latin manuscripts. In 

 1684, he took orders, obtained a prebend in the 



church of Durham, and was presented to the rich 

 rectory of Houghton-le-Spring. He was created 

 doctor of divinity in 1702, and died in February, 

 1724. In 1682, he published an account of his 

 journey into Greece, in the company of doctor Spon, 

 in six books, folio, which is highly valued for its 

 authenticity and information, interesting to the 

 medallist, antiquary, and student of natural history. 



WHERRY. See Boat. 



WHET SLATE. See Slate. 



WHEY. See Milk. 



WHIGS AND TORIES. We have already 

 given Defoe's account of the origin of the latter 

 nickname, under the head Tories. " As to the 

 word whig" says the same writer, " it is Scotch. 

 The use of it began then when the western men, 

 called Cameronians, took arms, frequently, for their 

 religion. Whig was a word used, in those parts, 

 for a kind of liquor the western Highlandmen used 

 to drink, whose composition I do not remember,* 

 and so became common to the people who drank it. 

 It afterwards became a denomination of the poor, 

 harassed people of that part of the country, who, 

 being unmercifully persecuted by the government 

 against all law and justice, thought they had a civil 

 right to their religious liberties, and therefore re- 

 sisted the power of the prince (Charles II.). They 

 took arms about 1681, being the famous insurrec- 

 tion of Bothwell bridge. The duke of Monmouth, 

 then in favour here, was sent against them by 

 Charles, and defeated them. At his return, instead 

 of thanks for his good service, he found himself ill 

 treated for having used them too mercifully ; and 

 duke Lauderdale told king Charles, with an oath, 

 that the duke had been so civil to the whigs because 

 he was a whig himself in his heart. This made it 

 a court word, and, in a little time, the friends and 

 followers of the duke began to be called whigs ; 

 and they, as the other party did by the word tory, 

 took it freely enough to themselves." (Defoe's 

 Review, vii.). 



Such was the origin of these celebrated party 

 names, which have continued during the space of 

 150 years, to be borne by two great divisions of 

 the English aristocracy, and which, at least at many 

 periods, rather deserve the name of factions than of 

 parties. But the origin of the parties themselves 

 was much earlier, and the line of distinction was 

 strongly drawn in the reign of James I., when the 

 long struggle between the crown and the parliament 

 commenced. The court and country parties, the 

 roundheads and cavaliers, the commonwealth's men 

 or republicans and the partizans of absolute power, 

 naturally arose from the mixed character and unde- 

 fined nature of the English constitution, and the 

 peculiar circumstances in which it was placed by 

 the arbitrary maxims and acts of the Stuarts, and 

 the growing wealth and intelligence of the com- 

 munity. After the dissolution of the monarchy 

 and its subsequent restoration, a new feature ap- 

 peared in the principles of its partisans the doc- 

 trine of passive obedience and indefeasible right, 

 which may be considered the true characteristic of 

 the tory, at one period of history. The bigotry 

 and tyranny of James II. united all parties against 

 him ; and the ' glowous revolution ' of 1688 was 

 effected by the combined efforts of the whole na- 



* Hurnet (Memoirs of his own Times) says, that the won! 

 irhiggam, used by the western Scotchmen in driving their 

 horses, was the origin of the term whig applied to them. 

 Others, with Defoe, derive it from the Scotch word whig, or 

 wgg, signifying whey. .Tamieson (Dictionary of the Scotch 

 Language) does not venture to decide. 

 C 



