WATER CEMENTS WATERFORD. 



889 



always considered, by those who thus use it, as in- 

 vigorating and healthy. 



Sea-Water exceeds all others in the extent of its 

 saline impregnation. On an average for there is 

 a difference, in this respect, in various latitudes 

 the quantity of saline matter appears to be abom 

 one twenty-ninth, of which from the experiments 

 of Bergmann and Lavoisier, there arc about twenty 

 muriate of soda, five muriate of magnesia, three 

 sulphates of magnesia and soda, and one sulphate 

 of lime. An analysis of doctor Murray gives, out 

 of 10,000 parts of water obtained from the frith o: 

 Forth, 220-01 parts of common salt, 33-16 sulphate 

 of soda, 42-08 muriate of magnesia and 7'84 muri- 

 ate of lime. Sea-water also contains potash and 

 small quantities of hydriodic and hydrobromic acids. 

 Sea-water is used medicinally, either as an aperient 

 or an alterative. The waters of the Dead sea, 

 according to doctor Marcet, contain, in 100 grains, 



Sulphate of lime, 

 Muriate of soda, 

 Muriate of lime. 

 Muriate of magnesia, 



0'054 grains. 

 10-R76 .. 



3-800 .. 

 10-100 .. 



WATER CEMENTS. See Cements. 



WATER, HOLY. See Holy Water. 



WATER-CRESS (sisymbrium nasturtium) ; a 

 cruciferous plant, said to be found in all parts of 

 the globe. It grows on the margin of clear streams, 

 or even partly immersed in the water. The stem is 

 decumbent at the base, upright, and somewhat 

 branching above, and a foot or more in length. 

 The leaves are smooth and pinnatitid, with the 

 lobes more or less sinuate on the margin, and the 

 terminal one always largest. The flowers are small 

 and white. The plant is employed in medicine, as 

 an antiscorbutic. Great quantities are also con- 

 sumed as salad in Paris, and other cities of the 

 north of Europe ; and it is now cultivated, to a 

 considerable extent, in many places. In the bed 

 of a clear stream, the plants are inserted in rows, 

 in the direction of the current ; and all that is ne- 

 cessary is to take up and replant occasionally, to 

 keep them free from mud, or any accumulation of 

 foreign matter, and to see that other plants do not 

 find their way into the plantation. 



WATER-LILY (nymphaa) ; a beautiful genus 

 of aquatic plants, the greatest ornament of our 

 lakes and slow-moving waters. Their roots are 

 large and fleshy, often creeping horizontally at the 

 bottom of the water. The leaves are rounded and 

 heart-shaped, supported on a stalk so long as to 

 permit them to float on the surface. The flowers 

 are large, and contain numerous petals, so as to 

 appear double. In the morning, they raise them- 

 selves out of the water to expand, and close again, 

 reposing upon the surface, in the afternoon. The 

 celebrated lotus of Egypt, (N. lotus), has flowers of 

 a pink colour, and the margin of the leaves tooth- 

 ed. It grows in vast quantities in the plains of 

 Lower Egypt, near Cairo, at the time they are 

 under water. The roots are oblong, tuberous, as 

 large as an egg, blackish externally, and yellow 

 within, and are eaten, cooked in various manners. 

 The seeds are also used in some districts to make 

 a sort of bread. This custom existed in the time 

 of Herodotus and Theophrastus. The yellow wa- 

 ter-lilies are now separated from the genus, under 

 the name of nuphar. They are much less orna- 

 mental than the preceding, and differ essentially in 

 the form of the flower. 



WATER-MELON. See Melon. 



WATER-SNAKE. See Serpent. 



WATERFORD ; a maritime county in the pro- 

 vince of Munster in Ireland, bounded by the river 

 Suir, which separates it from Kilkenny and Tipper- 

 ary, on the north ; by the harbour of its own name, 

 an arm of the sea running up between this county 

 and Wexford, on the east ; by the sea, on the south ; 

 and by the county of Cork, on the west, the river 

 Blackwater here flowing along part of its boundary. 

 It is about fifty-one miles in length, and twenty- 

 nine in breadth, and contains 710 English square 

 miles, or 454,400 English acres, divided into the 

 liberties of the city of Waterford, and seven ba- 

 ronies, and including seventy-four parishes belong- 

 ing to the sees of Waterford and Lismore. 



Very little of this district is level, the far greater 

 part being hilly, and much of it mountainous. It 

 is only on the south and east that it is rich and 

 productive ; on the west and north, which are occu- 

 pied by the high grounds, the proportion of fertile 

 land is inconsiderable. Yet the wooded banks of 

 the Suir and the Blackwater, and of the streams 

 that join them, present many delightful and roman- 

 tic views, diversified by ancient castles and the 

 modern seats of the proprietors. The Suir, which 

 has its source in Tipperary, on the north, after en- 

 tering this county, flows almost due east, till it 

 joins the Barrow and the Nore, beyond the city of 

 Waterford, and then, taking a southern direction, 

 these united streams enter the sea at the harbour 

 of Waterford ; forming an estuary nine Irish miles 

 long, and two broad. At the city of Waterford, 

 the Suir is about a mile broad, with a depth suffi- 

 cient for vessels of considerable burden. The 

 Blackwater rises on the confines of Kerry, and, 

 after traversing the county of Cork, comes into 

 Waterford, a little to the east of Fermoy. At 

 Cappoquin, beyond Lismore, where it suddenly 

 bends to the south, it becomes navigable for small 

 vessels, and pursuing its course southwards, falls 

 into the sea at Youghall Bay. The climate of this 

 and the other districts on the south coast of Ireland 

 is exceedingly mild. Frost and snow are never of 

 any duration, and cattle continue to graze all the 

 year round. 



In this county there are some very large estates, 

 of which the most extensive belongs to the Duke of 

 Devonshire. Leases are commonly for twenty-one 

 years and a life ; and on the banks of the rivers, 

 where the land is most valuable, farms are small. 

 According to Mr Wakefield's information, " in this 

 county, when the eldest daughter of a farmer mar- 

 ries, the father, instead of giving her a portion, di- 

 vides his farm between himself and son-in-law ; the 

 next daughter gets one-half of the remainder, and 

 this division and subdivision continues as long as 

 there are daughters to be disposed of. In regard 

 to the male children, they are turned out into the 

 world, and left to shift for themselves the best way 

 they can." A great deal of butter is made even 

 among the mountains, where small cows, suited to 

 the nature of the pastures, form the principal stock. 

 There are very few sheep, and those of a bad de- 

 scription ; and comparatively but a small portion 

 s in tillage. Where lime is used as a manure, it 

 nust be brought from a distance, as there is no 

 imestone to the east of the Blackwater. Orchards 

 are numerous on the banks of this river, and ex- 

 tensive plantations of timber trees have been form- 

 ed in various parts. Furze is so much used as fuel, 

 that whole fields are kept under this shrub for the 

 mrpose. The towns are Waterford, Dungarvon. 

 Tallagh, and Lismore, all except the first, places of 



