KEY AND INDEX 



trous oxide gas and performed the operation of 

 extracting a tooth painlessly. This was two years 

 before Morton discovered etherization. 



Wells, Dr. W. C., iii, 184. Born in America, 

 but spent his life in Great Britain. In 1816 he 

 published his "Essay on Dew," in which the ex- 

 planation of its formation was given, solving a 

 problem that had long puzzled the philosophers. 



Werner, Abraham Gottlob, iii, 131. Born at 

 Wehrau, Upper Lusatia, Sept. 25, 1750; died at 

 Dresden, June 30, 1817. German mineralogist 

 and geologist. He propounded the "Neptunian 

 theory," that "in the beginning all the solids of 

 the earth's present crust were dissolved in the 

 heated waters of a universal sea." 



Westinghouse, George, vii, 142. Born at Cen- 

 tral Bridge, N. Y., Oct. 6, 1846. American in- 

 ventor. At the age of fifteen he invented an air- 

 brake, which he continued to improve to meet 

 changing conditions, a modification of this first 

 brake being in use almost universally on steam 

 and electric cars. 



Wheatstone, Sir Charles, vi, 178. Born at 

 Gloucester, England, in February, 1802; died at 

 Paris, Oct. 19, 1875. English physicist and in- 

 ventor. In 1837 he patented a telegraph, an in- 

 strument that was supplanted by the invention of 

 Morse. He invented the concertina, the stereo- 

 scope, and many improvements in the field of 

 electricity. 



Whitney, Eli, ix, 9. Born at Westborough, 

 Mass., Dec. 8, 1765; died at New Haven, Conn., 

 Jan. 8, 1825. The inventor of the cotton-gin the 

 machine that makes possible the handling and 

 subsequent manufacturing of the great cotton 



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