W I L 



crenate, hairy, an inch in diameter ; reddifh underneath. 

 Footfialks very long, hairy, thicker than the ftem. Floiver- 

 Jlalhs axillary, in pairs, fingle-flowered, thread-ihaped, hairy, 

 the length of the footftalks. Flowers fmall, rofe-coloured, 

 with a hairy calyx. 



There is no fyecimen in the Linnsean herbarium. 



WILLIESBURG, in Geography, a poft-town of Vir- 

 ginia ; 2 1-' ifiiles S.S.W. of Wafhington. 



WILLIMANTIC, a river of Connefticut, which runs 

 into the Sh. tucket at Windham. 



WILLINCK, a large tovvnfhip of New York, at the 

 S. end of Niagara county, erefted in 1808; 315 miles W. 

 of Albany. It comprifes about eighteen townfhips of the 

 Holland company lands. The general charafter of the 

 foil is, that it is good land for farming. In 18 10 the popu- 

 lation confiftcd of 2028 perfons, and there were 260 fenato- 

 rial eledlors. 



WILLlNG's Creek, a river of Weft Florida, which 

 runs into the Miffiilippi, N. lat. 30° 49'. W. long. 91° 21'. 



WILLINGBOROUGH, a town of New Jerfey, in 

 Burlington county, with 619 inhabitants; 14 miles N.E. 

 of Philadeluhia. 



WILLINGTON, a town of Connefticut, in Tolland 

 county, with 1 1 61 inhabitants ; 6 miles E. of Tolland. 



WILLIS, Bkowne, in Biography, an eminent antiquary, 

 the grandfon of Dr. Willis, a celebrated phyfician, was 

 born at Blandford in 1682, and was removed from AVeft- 

 minfter-fchool in the year 1690 to Oxford, where he was 

 admitted a gentleman-commoner of Chrift-church ; and 

 after leaving the univerfity he profecuted his ftudies for 

 three years under Dr. Wotton. When he came into pof- 

 feffion of the family eftate, he wa? returned in 1705 as a re- 

 prefentative for the town cf Buckingham. In J715 and 

 1716 he publifhed two parts of a work, intltl-d " Notitia 

 Parliameutaria ; or, a Hiltory of the Counties, Cities, and Bo- 

 roughs in England and Wales, with Lifts of all the Knights, 

 Citizens, and Burgefles," 8vo., to which in 1750 he added 

 a third part, being an appendage to the journals of the houfe 

 of commons, then printed. On the revival of the Society 

 of Antiquaries in 1717, he was chofen a member; and he 

 fuftained his reputation as an antiquary by various writings, 

 among which are, " Surveys of the Four Welfh Cathedrals ;" 

 " Hiftory otf the United Parliamentary Abbeys and Con- 

 ventional Cathedral Churches ;" " Survey of the Cathedrals 

 of England, with Parochiale Anglicanum," 3 vols. 4to. ; 

 " Hiftory and Antiquities of Buckingham." In 1 723 he 

 received, in confideration of his literary merit, from the 

 univerfity of Oxford, the degree of A.M. by diploma. 

 He manifefted his attachment to the chnrrh by expending 

 confiderable fums in repairing thofe in the country, and 

 thus injured his own fortune. But frugality in his perfonal 

 and domeftic expences compenfated this injury. He pof- 

 fefied a fine cabinet of Engllfh coins, which in 1741 he 

 prefented to the univerfity of Oxford ; the univerfity, in 

 confideration of his family, liberally paying for thofe of 

 gold by weight, and conferring upon him the degree of 

 LL.D. With many peculiarities in his charafter, he 

 claimed refpeft as a man of moral worth from thofe who 

 knew him. To him belonged the honour of having firll 

 placed the Englifh ecclefiaftical hiftory and antiquities 

 upon the firm bafis of records and regifters, which he 

 afliduoufly fearched. He died in 1760, in the 78th year of 

 his age. Biog. Brit. 



Willis, Thomas, an eminent phyfician, was born in 

 1621-2, at Great Bedn-in, in Wiltftiire; and in 1636 ad- 

 mitted into Chrift-church college, Oxford, whi-re he took 

 the ufual degree with a view to the clerical profeflion. 

 3ut he changed his purpofe, and ftudied phyfic, taking his 



W I L 



bachelor's degree in 1646, and commencing medical praAicc 

 at Oxford. He diftinguiftied himfelf by his fteady attach- 

 ment to the church of England, and alfo by his love of 

 fcience, fo that he became one of the firft members of that 

 philofophical fociety at Oxford, which laid the foundation 

 of the Royal Society of London. As a chemift, which 

 was tlie charafter under which he was ambitious of excelling, 

 he publiftted in 1659 a work, intitled " Diatribie duac ; 

 prior agit de Fermentatione, altera de Febribus. His acceflit 

 Diftertatio epiftolica de Urinis." The recompence of his 

 attachment to the caufe of epifcopacy and loyalty was the 

 Sedleian profeflorftiip of natural philofophy at Oxford, con- 

 ferred upon him after the Rcftoration, by the recommend- 

 ation of archbilhop Sheldon, foon after which he received 

 the degree of doftor. Upon the eftabUftiment of the Royal 

 Society, he was one of its firft members. In the year 

 1664, when he is faid to have difcovered, and brought into 

 ufe, the mineral water of Aftrop in Northamptonftiire, he 

 publifiied his " Cerebri Aiiatome ; cui acceffit Nervorum 

 Defcriptio et Ufus." This work, on which his reputa- 

 tion principally depends, was followed in 1667 by his 

 " Pathologia Cerebri et Nervofi Generis, in qua agitur de 

 Morbis convulfivis, et de Scorbuto." Before this year he 

 was fettled in London, and being nominated a phyfician in 

 ordinary to the king, was advancing to the firft rank in 

 praftice. His next publication was intitled " Adfeftionum 

 quas dicuntur Hyftericae et Hypochondriacae Pathologia 

 Spafmodica, vindicata contra refponfionem epiftolarem 

 Nath. Highmori. Cui acceflerunt Exercitationes Medico- 

 Phyficse de Sanguinis Accenfione, et Motu mufculari," 

 1670. On occafion of the lofs of his wife, a daughter of 

 dean Fell, he amufed himfelf by writing his work " De 

 Anima Brutorum qua Hominis Vitalis ac Senfitiva eft ; 

 Exercitationes duae," 1672, in which he confidcrs the foul 

 of brutes as the fame with the vital principle in man, cor- 

 poreal in its nature and perifliing with the body. After his 

 fecond marriage, he began to print in 1673 his " Pharma- 

 ceutice Rationahs, five Diatriba de Medicamentorum 1 

 Operationibns in Humano Corpore ;" but he did not live 

 to pubhftt this work, as he was carried off^ by a pleurify in 

 1675, ^' ^^^ premature age of 54, in the full vigour of his 

 faculties and zenith of his reputation. Dr. Willis had no I 

 powers for appearing witb advantage and brilliancy in 

 fociety ; but he was intent on fcience and praftice, frugal, ' 

 pious, and charitable. His works engaged great attention j 

 on their firft publication ; but in confequence of modern im- 

 provements, they have funk in the public eftimation, 

 though they are not altogether neglefted. They are written 

 in a rich and elegant Latin ftyle. Haller. Biog. Brit. 



Willis, in Geography, a town of the ftate of New 

 Jerfey ; 33 miles S.E. of Burlington. 



WiLLisV Creek, a river of Virginia, which runs into 

 James river, N. lat. 37° 40'. W. long. 78° 18'. 



WlLLiSi'j IJland, a fmall ifland in the South Atlantic 

 ocean, near the north-weft coaft of the ifland of Georgia, 

 fo named by captain Cook, from one of his crew who 

 difcovered it in the year 1775. S. lat. 54°. W. long. 

 38° 23'. 



WILLISAU, a town of Switzerland, and capital of a 

 bailiwick, in the canton of Lucerne ; 15 miles W. of Lu- 

 cerne. 



WILLISTON, a pofttown of the ftate of Vermont, 

 in the county of Chittenden, with 1195 inhabitants; 25 

 miles N. of Newhaven. 



WILLISTOWN, a townfiiip of Pennfylvania ; 15 miles 

 S.W. of Philadelphia. 



WILLMAR, a town of the county of Henneberg ; 

 7 miles S.E. of Meinungen. 



