388 INDEX. 



with their parts, have growth from it, and by putrefaction 

 become water ; gives all other bodies firmness and durabi- 

 lity ; a phial hermetically sealed, kept fifty years, deposed 

 no sediment, and continued transparent ; gathered after a 

 thunder-clap, in sultry weather, deposits a real salt ; spring 

 water collected from the air; of river waters, the Indus and 

 the Thames offer the most light and wholesome ; lightness, 

 and not transparency, the test of purity ; purest water dis- 

 tilled from snow on tops of highest mountains ; different 

 kinds adapted to different constitutions ; very transparent ; 

 fresh water at sea putrefies twice, sometimes thrice, in a 

 voyage ; a month at sea, sends up a noisome and dangerous 

 vapour, which takes fire from a flame ; elementary water 

 not compounded ; is ice kept in fusion ; dilates in bulk by 

 cold; confirmed by experiments; very compressible and 

 elastic ; made to resemble air ; a drop of water converted 

 into steam, capable of raising twenty ton weight ; keeps its 

 surface level and even ; a single quart sufficient to burst a 

 hogshead, and how, i. 14<2, &c. Water of the sea heavier 

 and more buoyant than fresh water, 208. Of the sea, kept 

 sweet by motion, 214. Converted into rushing air, and 

 again into its former state, 287- 



Water-hen described, iv. 350. 



Water-spouts, burst from the sea, and join mists immediately 

 above them, i. 321. Most surprising phenomena, dreadful 

 to mariners, and astonishing to observers of nature, common 

 in the tropical seas, sometimes in our own ; description of 

 those seen by Tournefort in the Mediterranean ; solutions 

 offered for this surprising phenomenon, 331. Dr Franklin's 

 solution of, i. 336. 



Water-wagtail, slender-billed bird of the sparrow kind, Jiving 

 upon insects, iv. 255. 



Waves, their luminous appearance in the night, and the cause, 

 i. 213. 



Wax, of two kinds, gathered by common bees, vi. 1 12. The 

 first fifteen days the bees make more wax than during the 

 rest of the year, 110. That produced by black bees, in 

 tropical climates, only used for medicinal purposes, being 

 too soft for candles, as in Europe, 113. 



Weasel, a small carnivorous animal; marks common to the 

 kind ; these differ from the cat kind in the formation and 

 disposition of the claws ; differ from the dog kind in a 

 clothing of fur rather than hair ; one of the species is like 

 all the rest ; this the smallest of the whole kind ; its des- 

 cription ; untameable and untractable; hides and sleeps 

 three parts of the day, and sallies forth for prey in the 

 evening ; attacks animals much above its own size ; destroys 

 young poultry, and sucks the eggs ; so nimbly runs up high 

 walls, no place is secure from it, iii. 67> &c. Catches rats 



