N56 



WAGNER WAGRAM. 



rate, so that the labourer shall have his fair propor- 

 tion of the annual products ? This can be done 

 only by diffusing and maintaining good habits, in- 

 dustry and intelligence among the poor class. It 

 should be the pob'cy of every society to make all 

 the influences, moral, political, economical and 

 social, bear, with the greatest possible energy, upon 

 this point. It is not practicable to sustain this 

 class by external helps : when they have once be- 

 come degraded, it is scarcely possible to renovate 

 and restore them. The true doctrine is that of 

 prevention. 



WAGNER, ERNEST; a German poet, born in 

 1768, and died in 1812. His poem, called Wili- 

 bald's Views of Life, is celebrated. His complete 

 works were published in 1827 et seq., at Leipsic. 



WAGNERITE ; a mineral found in complicated 

 crystals, the primary form of which is an oblique 

 rhombic prism, whose lateral planes incline under 

 angles of 95 25' and 84 35'. Lustre vitreous ; co- 

 lour several shades of yellow, sometimes nearly 

 orange-yellow, often inclined to gray ; streak white; 

 translucent ; hardness nearly that of feldspar ; spe- 

 cific gravity 3-11. It consists of 



Phosphoric acid, . . . .4173 

 Fluoric acid, .... 6 SO 



Magnesia. 46 (Hi 



Oxide of irnn 5.00 



Oxide of manganese, ... -50 



It is found in veins of quartz, embraced in clay- 

 slate, and occurs in Werfen, in Salzburg. 



WAGONS most probably originated from rude 

 vehicles dragged on cylindrical logs, which must soon 

 have suggested the idea of the axis and solid wheel, 

 even now used in Portugal by the peasants. Ac- 

 cording to Moses, Egypt was the country where 

 wagons were first used. The Chinese call the in- 

 ventor Hiene-Yuene. The Greeks attributed the 

 invention to Erichthonius, fourth king of Athens, 

 and say that he used them in consequence of lame- 

 ness. Wagons with two wheels may have been the 

 first constructed ; but Homer mentions four-wheeled 

 wagons, the invention of which was ascribed to the 

 Phrygians. Whoever first conceived the idea of an 

 axis was a most ingenious man ; and he who applied 

 it to wheels and wagons has become one of the 

 greatest benefactors of mankind. Much time elap- 

 sed before wagons were used for pleasure carriages. 

 The sedan chair and horseback were long preferred. 

 In war, use was sooner made of the wagon. Moses 

 mentions the war-chariots of Pharaoh. Theseus is 

 said to have introduced chariots among the Greeks. 



The horses were covered with iron scales. At the 

 end of the pole lances were fastened, and at the 



side and below were scythes. These chariots were 

 driven into the ranks of the enemy. The Greeks, 



besides, used two-wheeled chariots, each containing 

 two persons, one of whom drove while the other 

 threw spears. The Romans used them early. In 

 the twelve tables the arcera is mentioned. The 

 Romans gave different names to the wagons, ac- 

 cording to the purpose to which they were applied, 

 as carpentum, a two wheeled vehicle, with a vaulted 

 covering, used particularly by the Roman ladies ; 

 carruca, a kind of state coach ; cisium, essedum, c. 

 They had also triumphal chariots (currus triumpha- 

 lis~). Wagons are drawn by men or beasts, or pro- 

 pelled by machinery. It is reported that, at the 

 panathenaa, a galley was moved through the city 

 by internal wheel-work. From the time of Roger 

 Bacon (in the thirteenth century) to our days, many 

 trials of locomotive wagons have been made, of 

 which, the steam- wagon, lately brought to such per- 

 fection, is the most important. The wind has also 

 been frequently used to propel wagons. Simon 

 Stiven, of Bruges, invented a sailing wagon for 

 twenty-eight persons, which, on even ground, is said 

 to have travelled fourteen Dutch leagues in two 

 hours ! Mr Slater, an Englishman, travelled in a 

 sailing wagon from Alexandria to Bassora Res- 

 pecting the invention of wagons, harnesses, &c. 

 among the ancients, see the work of Ginzrot (Mu- 

 nich, 1817, 2 vols.). Kites have also been used to 

 propel wagons. See Velocipede, and Steam. 



WAGRAM, BATTLE OF, on the 5th and 6th of 

 July, 1809, gained by Napoleon over the archduke 

 Charles. It decided the fate of Austria, on the 

 same field on which Rodolph of Hapsburg, in 1278, 

 had been victorious over the proud Ottocar, and 

 laid the foundation of Austria's power. The severe 

 loss which Napoleon had sustained in the battle of 

 Aspern, on the occasion of his unsuccessful attempt 

 to pass the Danube, made repose necessary for his 

 army. He also needed reinforcements. These he 

 received in the army of the viceroy of Italy, who 

 had forced the Austrians, at last, from that country 

 to Hungary. Bernadotte was also approaching with 

 the Saxons, and other divisions were on the way. 



