W A L 



nearly forty years, vi^. from 1475 to the time of his death 

 ill 1504. His inftruments were of the moft perfect kind 

 which he could then procure, and he was (kilful and perfe- 

 yering as well as fuccefsful in the ufe of them. He was 

 the inventor of a chronometer, or clock with wheels, which 

 indicated the time of noon with an accuracy correfponding 

 to the refuk of calculation ; and he is alfo celebrated as 

 the firft of the Moderns who obferved refraftion. ( See the 

 article John Muller.) The fingularity of his charafter, 

 however reftrifted the benefit which allronomy might 

 otherwife have derived from his own obfervations and thole 

 of his preceptor Regiomontar.us, or John Muller. After 

 the death of Muller, he purchafed his papers and inltru- 

 ments which he kept in his own pofl'efiion, without allow- 

 ing any one to fee them ; and after his death, they were 

 neglefted by his heirs, fo that many of chem were lolt. At 

 length the fenate of Nuremberg purchafed the writings of 

 thefe two mathematicians which they could procure, and 

 depofited them in the library of that city. Several parts 

 of them were afterwards extrafted, and publifhed by Scho- 

 ner and his fon. In the work entitled " Vranies Noricae 

 Bafis Aftronomicx, five Rationes motus annul ex Obferva- 

 tionibus in Solera hoc noftro et Seculo ab hinc tertio Norin- 

 bergK, habitis, a Johanne Philippo a Wurzlebau," Norinb. 

 1709, are contained obfervations by Waltlier and Wurzel- 

 bau, with inferences drawn from a comparifon of them, 

 which are faid by Kaftner to be very valuable, as the ob- 

 fervations were made under the fame meridian, and at the 

 interval of a century. Montucla Hift. du Mathem. Kaft- 

 ner Gefchite du Mathematik, cited in Gen. Biog. 



Walther, John Godfrey, author of an excellent hif- 

 torical and biographical mufical diftionary, publifhed in 

 German at Leipfic, 1782, in 8vt). The German title is : 

 ?@uOcalifcf)ES Lexicon oBfr ^tiacafifctjf :!BibIiotbfc. Of all 

 the books which we have confulted for information con- 

 cerning muficians and their works, we have never met with 

 more fatisfaftion than from this Lexicon ; which though 

 compre fled into an oftavo volume, is fo ample and accurate, 

 that we have been feldom difappointed, and never led into 

 error by it. This little volume contains, not only all the 

 technica of ancient and modern mufic, but biography, as far 

 as names, dates, and works, of almoil every eminent mnfician 

 that has exiftcd in ancient and modern times, till the year in 

 which the book was publifhed. The author's information, 

 of courfe, concerning Germany, is the moft ample, but 

 Italy and France have had a confiderable fhare of atten- 

 tion. 



In 1790 and 1792 a new edition of this work, with addi- 

 tions to the time of publication, was printed at Leipfic in 

 two vols. 8vo. by Ernft Ludwig Gerber. 



Walther, John Ludolph, author of another very 

 curious and ufeful diftionary, pubbfhed at Ulm in foho, 

 1756, in Latin, intitled " Lexicon Diplomaticum Abbre- 

 viationes fyllabarum et vocum in diplomatibus et codicibus 

 a Secillo VIII. ad XVI. ufque occurentes exponens. 

 Junftis Alphabetis et fcripturre Speciminibus integris." 

 The author was librarian and private fecretary to his Britifh 

 majefty Geo. II. as eleftor of Hanover. With a very 

 learned preface by Johji Hai-ry Young, regius fecretary in 

 the univerfity of Gottingcn. 



The whole book is engraved on copper-plates ; and in the 

 lecond part, among the fpecimens of writing without abbre- 

 viations, we have examples of the firft attempts at mufical 

 notation from the ninth century, not only before lines were 

 in ufe, but even before points of different elevation were the 

 Tocal guides of the priefts in canto fermo. 



This very curious, learned, sad elegaot publication feems 



W A L 



to have efcaped the notice of all our periodical works of 

 criticifm, nor have we ever feen it mentioned in any of our 

 catalogues of old and curious books. 



WALTHERIA, in Botany, received its name from 

 Linnaeus, in honour of Auguftus Frederick Walther, pro- 

 feffor of Pathology at Leipfic, where he publifhed, in 1735, 

 an alphabetical catalogue of his own garden, with twenty- 

 four plates, no very great acquiiition to fcience. The au- 

 thor, being an able anatomill, gave fome attention to the 

 flrufture of plants, on whicii he publifhed an academical 

 treatile in 1740; but, as it appears by Haller's account, 

 without much that is new or inftruttive. He wrote alfo on 

 the cffential oils of vegetables, on the Egyptian Lotus, and 

 on the S'dphlum of the antients, as elucidated, if fuch a term 

 be allowable, by their coins. This author died in 1746, at 

 the age of 58. There have been feveral others of the fame 

 name, but fcarcely entitled to claim a fhare in the botanical 



diflinftion here conferred Linn. Gen. 348. Schreb. 453. 



Willd. Sp. PI. V. 3. 586. Mart. Mill. "Dia. v. 4. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 4. 138. Cavan. Difi". 315. JufT. 289. 

 Lamarck Illuftr. t. 570. Poiret in Lamarck Dift. v. 8. 

 323. — Clafs and order, Monadelphia Pentandria. Nat. 

 Ord. Co!umnifer/t, Linn. Mahoaci'^, JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, double ; the outer 

 unilateral, of three leaves, deciduous : inner of one leaf, 

 cloven half way down into five acute fegments, cup-fliaped, 

 permanent. Cor. Petals five, inverfely heart-fhaped, fpread- 

 ing, their claws inferted into the lower part of the tube of 

 the filaments. Stam. Filaments five, united into a tube, 

 their upper part feparate, fpreading, fhort ; anthers ovate. 

 Pyi. Germen fuperior, ovate ; ftyle thread-fliapcd, longer 

 than the ftamens ; ftigmas tufted. Peric. Capfule obovate, 

 of one cell and two valves. Seed folitary, obtufe, dilated 

 upwards. 



Elf. Ch. Calyx double ; the outer lateral, of three leaves, 

 deciduous. Petals five. Style one. Capfule of one cell, 

 and two valves. Seed folitary. 



A tropical genus, whofe jloiuers are fmaller than in moft 

 of the Mallow tribe, and always affembled numeroully into 

 little tufts or heads. The_/?/m is ftirubby. Leaves undivided, 

 more or lefs ovate, ferratcd, generally downy. The fimple 

 capfule, with only one feed, makes the peculiar charafter of 

 Wahheria, oppofed to otiiers of the fame natural order. — 

 Juffieu refers this genus, along with Hermannia and Maher- 

 nia, to a feftion of his Tiliacea, which he terms dubiie. We 

 make no fcruple to follow the example of Cavanilles, in re- 

 moving it to the Malvacete, with which it accords in every 

 effential point of charafter and habit. 



I. W. Americana. American Waltheria. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 941. excluding the fyn. of Breynius. Willd. n. i. Ait. 

 n. I. (W. Indica; Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 130. Mifc. Auftr. 

 V. 2. 323. W. arborefcens ; Cavan. DifT. 316. t. 170. f. I. 

 Monofperm-althasa arborefcens villofa, foho majore ; Ifnard 

 Mem. de I'Acad. dcs Sciences for 1721, German ed. 751. 

 t. 32. Betonica arborefcens, foUis amplioribus ; Pluk. 

 Almag. 67. Phyt. t. 150. f. 6. ) — Leaves oval, plaited, 

 downy, unequally and fharply toothed. Heads of flowers 

 ftalked. — Native of the Bahama iflands, and South Ame- 

 rica. Cultivated in the royal gardens at Hampton-court, 

 in Plunkenet's time. A ftove plant, flowering at various 

 feafons, after which it ufually dies, though fhrubby, and 

 perhaps naturally perennial. The branches are round, 

 downy, leafy, wand-like, very foft when young. Leaves 

 alternate, ftalked, one to two inches, or more, in length, 

 ftrongly veined, plaited at the edges, extremely foft on both 

 fides, with denfe, hoary, minutely ftarry, pubefcence. Sti- 

 pulai awl-fhaped. Flowers fmall, yellow, in denfe axillary, 

 1 2 folitary 



