W E I 



W E I 



Bartliolomew Schimpfer, a celebrated aftronomer. The 

 circutnftances of his parents obliging him to return to Wen- 

 fiedel, he there purfued his ftudies under an able tutor. 

 Afterwards, encouraged by Schimpfer, he fettled at Halle, 

 where his reputation drew to him many pupils, by whom 

 he was enabled to remove to Leipfic for farther improve- 

 ment ; fo that in 1653 he was invited to be profeffor of ma- 

 thematics at Jena. By favour of William, duke of Saxony, 

 he was appointed mathematician to the court, and chief di- 

 reftor of buildings ; and thus the latter years of his life 

 were chiefly employed in travelling. In the progreis of his 

 years he made many improvements in globes, and other in- 

 ftruments for facilitating the ftudy of allronomy. This in- 

 genious mathematician died in 1699. For a lift of his 

 works, which were many, we refer to his article in Gen. 

 Biog. 



WEIGELIA, in Botany, a Japanefe genus, dedicated 

 by Thunberg to the honour of Dr. Christian Ehrenfried 

 Weigel, profeffor of Chemiftry in the univerfity of Gripf- 

 wald, in Upper Saxony, who publiflied at Berlin, in 1769, 

 when he was only 21 years of age, a Flora Pomirano- 

 Rugica ; but whofe fame, as a deep and learned pratlical bo- 

 tanift, chiefly refts on his Ohfervationes Botanica, publiflied 

 as an inaugural diflertation, under his prefidency, in 1772, 

 in quarto, with three plates. This work, from its rarity, 

 is not fo well known as it deferves to be. The author cor- 

 refponded with Linnxus, and communicated fpecimens of 

 his new or doubtful plants. — Thunb. Jap. 6. Nov. Gen. 

 C. Schreb. Gen. 113. WiUd. Sp. PI. v. i. 836. Mart. 

 Mill. Did. V. 4. JulT. 421. Lamarck Illuftr. t. 105. — 

 Clafs and order, Pentandria Monogyma. Nat. Ord. un- 

 certain. Juffieu fufpefts it may belong to his Apocinete, the 

 Contortte of Linnaeus ; an opinion which the infertion of the 

 ftyle at t)ie bafe of the germen feems to favour ; but the 

 ferrated leaves are a great, perhaps infupcrable, objeftion. 

 If we might fufpeft an error as to the iituation of the ger- 

 men, the genus would readily range itfelf among Juflieu's 

 Capr'ijoTia s but the fecond fpecies has more the charaftcr of 

 his Bignoni/i:, and renders it probable that Thunberg is 

 merely miftaken in his idea of the fimple nature of the 

 germen. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth fuperior, of five awl-fliaped, 

 ereft, equal leaves. Cor. of one petal, funnel-fhaped ; 

 tube the length of the calyx, internally hairy : Umb bell- 

 fliaped, cloven half way down into live ovate, obtufe, 

 (lightly fpreading fegments. Slant. Filaments five, inferted 

 into the tube, thread-lhaped, ereft, nearly as long as the co- 

 rolla ; anthers ereft, linear, obtufe, cloven at the bafe. 

 Pijl. Germen fuperior, quadrangular, abrupt, fmooth ; 

 ftyle from the bafe of the germen, thread-(haped, rather 

 longer than the corolla ; ftigma peltate, flat. Fruit un- 

 known. Thunberg fufpefted there was a folitary naked 

 feed. 



Efl". Ch. Corolla funnel-fhaped. Style from the bafe of 

 the germen. Stigma peltate. Calyx fuperior, of five 

 leaves. 



I. W. japonica. Seflile -leaved Weigelia. Willd. n. i. 

 Thunb. Jap. 90. t. 16. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 2. 331. 

 (Nippon Utfiigi ; Kasmpf. Am. Exot. 855.) — Leaves fef- 

 fde, ovato-lanceolate — Native of hilly fituations in Japan, 

 flowering in April and May. The Jlem is flirubby, with 

 oppofite, round, fmooth branches, (lightly quadrangular 

 when young. Leaves oppofite, feffile, pointed, copioufly 

 ferrated, an inch, or rather more, in length, veiny, fmooth 

 on both fides, except the veins, which are hairy ; paler be- 

 neath. Flower-flalis axillary, comprefTed, three-flowered, 

 longer than the leaves, with two awl-lhaped tradeas at the 



bafe of each partial ftalk, and two more about half way 

 up. Flowers about an inch long, reddilh-purple. Thun- 

 berg's defcription, in the Flora Japonica, confounds both 

 fpecies together, and is therefore here neccffarily correfted. 



2. W. cor^enjts. Large-flowered Weigeha. Thunb. 

 Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 2. 331. Willd. n. 2. ( Korei Utfugi ; 

 Ksempf. Amoen. Exot. 855. Ic. Seleft. t. 45.) — Leaves 

 ftalked, obovate. — Native of Corea, from whence Kaemp- 

 fer fuppofes it was brought to Japan. He defcribes it as a 

 Jhrub with beautiful flowers, fmelling like cloves, and 

 changeable in colour, being fnow-white, flefti-coloured, and 

 red, on the fame plant. His excellent drawing, among 

 thofe engraved and diftributed through the munificence of 

 fir Jofeph Banks, throws more light upon this fpecies, and 

 indeed upon its genus, than any thing elfe we have met with. 

 It appears to be a climbing or trailing ^n;^, with round 

 branches, and oppofite ftalked leaves, very like thofe of the 

 Hydrangea hortenfis in fize and figure, being thrice the length 

 of the firft fpecies, and obovate with a point. Floiuer- 

 Jlalis axillary and terminal, three-flowered, an inch and a 

 half long, with awl-(haped bradeas. Tube of the corolla 

 (lender, above half an inch long, twice the length of the 

 calyx; limb bell-ftiaped, twice the length of its tube, di- 

 vided lialf way down into five broad, obtufe, horizontally 

 fpreading fegments. Stamens projecting beyond the mouth. 

 Anthers incumbent. Stigma large, peltate, flat. Nothing 

 appears refpeAing ihe germett, or its fituacion. We do not 

 clearly underftand the feeond of Ksmpfer's feparate 

 figures, which is perhaps an under view of the corolla. 



WEIGELSDORF, in Geography, z town of Bohemia, 

 in the circle of Konigingratz ; 2 miles W. of Trautenau. 



WEIGELSH AUSEN, a town of the duchy of Wurz- 

 burg ; 5 miles W.S.W. of Schweinfurt. 



WEIGENHEIM, a town of Germany, in the lordfliip 

 of Schwarzenburg ; 10 miles S.S.W. of Schainfeld. 



WEIGERST'ORFF, a town of Auftria ; 6 miles S. 

 of Wells. 



WEIGH, Way, or Wey, IVaga, a weight of cheefe, 

 wool. Ice. containing two hundred and fifty-fix pounds 

 avoirdupois. Of corn, the weigh contains forty bufliels ; 

 of barley or malt, fix quarters. 



In fome places, as Effex, the weigh of cheefe is three 

 hundred pounds. See Measure. 



" Et decimam cafei fui de Herting, prxter unam peifam, 

 quE pertinet ad ecclefiam de A. Mon. Angl." where ^cj/a 

 feems to be ufed for a weigh. 



Coke alfo fpeaks of weighs of bay -fait. 



Vfv,iGH-Beams are fteel-yards for the weighing of goods 

 upon wharfs, &c. 



WEIGHER, an officer in divers cities, appointed to 

 weigh the commodities bought and fold, in a pubhc ba- 

 lance, &c. Thefe weighers are generally obliged by oath 

 to do juftice to both parties ; and to keep a regifter of the 

 things they weigh. 



In Amfterdam there are twelve weighers, eilablifhed into 

 a kind of office. As it was formerly allowed them to 

 touch the ftrings of the balance in weighing, it was eafy 

 for them to favour either the buyer or feller, according as 

 the one gave them more money than the other. To pre- 

 vent which abufe, it was charged on them, by an ordinance 

 of the burgomafters in 1719, not to touch the balance in 

 any manner whatever. 



WEIGHGATT, in Geography, a name given to the 

 ftrait called Waygatt, (which fee,) from the wind which 

 blows through this ilrait [walkan, to blow,) becaufe a 

 ftrong S.W. wind blows out of it. It is alfo called Hin- 

 delopen. See Martens's Voyage, p. 27. 



WEIGHING, 



