(from woman.) The character and collective qualities of a woman (Spenser. Donne).

To WO'MANISE. v. a. (from woman.) To emasculate; to effeminate; to soften (Sidney). WO'MANISH. a. (from woman.) Suitable to a woman; having the qualities of a woman; resembling a woman (Ascham).

WOMANKIND. s. (woman and kind.) The female sex; the race of women (Sidney). WO'MANLY. a. (from woman.) 1. Becoming a woman; suiting a woman; feminine; not masculine (Donne). 2. Not childish; not girlish (Arbuthnot).

WO'MANLY. ad. (from woman.) In the manner of a woman; effeminately.

WOMB. s. (wamba, Gothic; pamb, Saxon; wamb, Islandic.) 1. The place of the fetus in the mother. See UTERUS, 2. The place whence any thing is produced (Dryden). 3. Any cavity (Addison).

To WOMB. v. a. (from the noun.) To enelose; to breed in secret (Shakspeare).

WOMBAT, a species of opossum peculiar to New South Wales, destitute of tail, about two feet two inches long; weight about twenty pounds when full grown. There is a va riety of this which the natives call reala, and whose flesh they are very fond of. It is covered with a fine soft fur, lead-coloured on the back, and white on the belly: ears short, erect, and pointed; eyes generally ruminating, some times fiery and menacing: usual posture sitting. It has no pouch, and the young are carried by the mother on her shoulders. See DI

DELPHIS.

1. To a strange degree (Drayton). 2. In ̧ e strange manner (Chapman).

To WONT. To be WONT. v. n. preterit and participle wont. (punian, Saxon; gewoonen, Dutch.) To be accustomed; to use; to be used (Bacon).

WONT. s. (from the verb.) Custom; habit; use: out of use (Milton).

WO'N'T. A contraction of would not, used for will not.

WO'NTED. part. a. (from the verb.) Accustomed; used; usual (Dryden).

WOʻNTEDNESS. s. (from wonted.) State of being accustomed to: not used (King Charles).

WOʻNTLESS. a. (from wont.) Unaccustomed; unusual: obsolete (Spenser).

To WOO. v. a. (apogod, courted, Saxon) 1. To court; to sue to for love (Pope). 2. To court solicitously; to invite with importu nity (Davies).

To Woo. v. n. To court; to make love (Dryden).

WOOD. a. (pod, Saxon; woed, Dutch.) Mad; furious; raging: obsolete (Spenser). WOOD. S. (pude, Saxon; woud, Dutch.) 1. A large and thick collection of trees (Dryden).

WOOD, the hard and fibrous substance of plants, concerning the growth, structure, and chemical properties of which, the reader may turn to the articles BOTANY, PHYSIOLOGY, VEGETATION.

There are, however, two curious powers which the wood of plants possesses, which we have not hitherto had an opportunity of noticing, and which we will therefore briefly touch upon in the present article: we mean, its capacity of im bibing colouring materials, and of undergoing petrifaction.

CAPACITY OF IMBIBING COLOURING MATERIALS,

The surface of wood is readily stained by s variety of substances; and if these be allowed to remain in contact with it, they sink into the inte rior, and often produce an agreeable effect in cabinet work: and not unfrequently give to or dinary timber a very good resemblance of the more expensive coloured woods, trunks of foreign countries. The following experiments may be selected from many others in proof of the truth of this remark, and are given by Beckman to the

same effect.

Some maple-wood was sawn into thin slips, about a twelfth of an inch in thickness; one of the slips was immersed in a solution of dragon's blood in oil of turpentine. After a considerable time, the wood had absorbed so much of the resin as to sink in the liquor, and it was then of a fine mahogany colour, showing the veins of the wood by a lighter shade of red. Another slip of wood was dyed in the same manner, in a solution of gamboge in oil of turpentine, which gave a fine yellow; and by a mixture of gamboge and dragon's blood in different proportions, a variety of different tints may be produced. Beech wood was found to take the colour sooner, but it was less brilliant; a solution of these resins, also, in alcohol, answered very well. With these kinds of substances, however, it is necessary, in order to produce a good colour, either to boil the wood

at Merton college, and in 1655 took the degree of master of arts. He wrote, 1. The History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford; which was afterwards translated into Latin by Mr. Wase and Mr. Peers, under the title of Historia & Antiquitates Universitatis Oxoniensis, 2 vols. folio: 2. Athenæ Oxonienses; or, an exact Account of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the University of Oxford, from the Year 1500 to 1600, 2 vols. folio; which was greatly enlarged in a second edition published in 1721 by bishop Tanner. Upon the first publication of this work the author was attacked by the university, in defence of Edward earl of Clarendon, lord high-chancellor of England, and chancellor of the university, and was likewise animadverted upon by bishop Burnet; upon which he published a vindication of the historiographer of the university of Oxford. He died at Oxford, of a retention of urine, in 1695.

WOODBINE, in botany. See LONICERA. WOODBRIDGE, a town in Suffolk, with a market on Wednesday, seated on the E. side of a sandy hill, on the river Deben, eight miles from the sea. It has docks for building ships, has a great corn trade, and is famous for refining salt. It had an abbey, of which there are no remarkable ruins. It is seven miles E.N.E. of Ipswich, and 76 N.E. of London. Lon. 1. 25 E. Lat. 52. 11 N.

WOODCHAT, in ornithology. See LA

NIUS.

WOODCOCK, in ornithology. (See ScoLOPAX.) The woodcock is a bird of passage, and arrives in this country about the month of October; though his earlier or later flight depends upon the prevalence of the winds by which he is brought over. The north and north-easterly (particularly when accompanied with fogs) are the most favourable for their arrival. Fatigued with the length of their flight, when reaching our shores, these birds drop under any tree, shrub, or bush, bearing the appearance of covert: after rest and refreshment, they in longer flights disperse themselves in the different woods, copses, shaws, and hedge-rows, in various parts of the country. They are by no means remarkable for remaining long in one place, or even in the same neighbourhood; on the contrary, they never continue more than ten or twelve days in any particular spot, though favourably adapted to their reception.

The woodcock is a very clumsy waddling walker, as is the case with every kind of fowl that has short legs and long wings: when flushed, he rises heavily from the ground, and makes a considerable noise before he can gather wind sufficient for flight. If found in a rushy spot, a ditch, or a hedge-row, whence he is obliged to present an open mark, he frequently skims slowly over the ground, and is very easily shot; as, indeed, is the case elsewhere, provided any obstruction does not arise from intervening branches of trees, and boughs of underwood, which, in cock and covert shooting, must always be expected. After a plentiful arrival,

LEPEDES.

WOOD OF LIFE. See GUAIACUM. WOODMAN. s. (wood and man.) A sportsman; a hunter (Pope). WOODMONGER. s. (wood and monger.) A woodseller.

WOO’DNOTE. J. Wild music (Milton). WOO'DNYMPH. s. (wood and nymph.) A fabled goddess of the woods (Milton). WOODO'FFERING. s. Wood burnt e the altar (Nehemiah).

WOODPECKER. See PiCUS. WOODPIGEON. See COLUMBA. WOODROOF. See ASPERULA. WOODSORREL. See LUJULA and

OXALIS.

WOODSTOCK, a town of Oxfordshire in England, pleasantly seated on a rising ground, and on a rivulet, a well-compacted borough town, and sends two members to parliament; but is chiefly noted for Blenheim-house, a fine palace, built in memory of the victory obtained by the duke of Marlborough over the French and Bavarians in August 1704. It was erect ed at the public expence, and is one of the noblest seats in Europe. One of the passagei to it is over a bridge with one arch, 190 feet in diameter, resembling the Rialto at Venice. The gardens take up a hundred acres of ground; and the offices, which are very grand, have room enough to accommodate 300 people. The apartments of the palace are magnificently furnished; and the staircases, statues, paintings, library, &c. are very splendid, while the park is both extensive and pictu resque. There is also an observatory, with some excellent instruments. In Blenheim park originally stood a royal palace, the favour ite retreat of several kings of England, ull the reign of Charles I., when it was almost wholly in ruins. After the building of Blenheim, every trace of the ancient edifice was removed, and two elms were planted on its site. King Ethelred held a parliament at Woodstock palace: and there Alfred the Great translated Boetius de Cousolatione Philosophiæ. Henry I. beautified the palace;

and here resided Rosamond, mistress of Henry II. Edmund, second son of Edward I,, was born at this palace; also Edward, eldest son of Edward III,; and here the princess Elisabeth was confined by her sister Mary, Woodstock has a manufacture of gloves, and of steel watch chains. The poet Chaucer was born, lived, and died here. It is eight miles N.W,

of Oxford, and 62 W,N,W. of London.

WOOD TIN, See STANNUM. WOODWARDIA, in botany, a genus of the class cryptogamia, order filices. Fructification in oblong distinct dots, disposed in a regular row along the ribs involucre super. ficial, vaulted, opening towards the rib. Five species; foreign ferns.

WOODWAXEN. See GENISTA.
WOODWREN. See MOTACILLA.

WOODY. a. (from wood.) 1. Abounding with wood (Milton). 2. Ligneous; consisting of wood (Locke). 3. Relating to woods; sylvan (Spenser).

WOODY NIGHTSHADE. See DULCAMARA. WOO'ER. s. (froni woo.) One who courts a woman (Chapman).

WOOF. s. (from wove.) 1. The set of threads that crosses the warp; the weft (Bacon). 2. Texture; cloth (Milton).

WOOINGLY. ad. (from wooing.) Pleasingly; so as to invite to stay (Shakspeare). WOOL. s. (pul, Saxon; wollen, Dutch.) 1. The fleece of sheep; that which is woven into cloth (Raleigh). 2. Any short thick hair (Shakspeare).

WOOL. (wolle, Germ.; laine, Fr.) This material is the basis of manufactures so important, and has been ascertained to possess such various chemical properties, that it would be unpardonable not to notice it at some length in a dictionary directly appropriated to the service of British arts and sciences.

PHYSIOLOGICAL REMARKS.

The fineness of the wool is usually supposed to depend upon the nature of the soil, of the climate, or of both together. It is a singular circumstance, however, and in some degree adverse to this opinion, that of the two finest kinds of wool we are at present acquainted with, that of Spain, and that of New South Wales, from which specimens have been lately imported of as delicate a texture as the best Merino, the former is the produce of a calcareous soil, covered with a fine leguminous plant, of the vetch family, and the latter of a soil in which not a particle of lime or calcareous earth is to be met with, and covered entirely with a long, luxuriant grass. Nor is it that the breeds are from a like quarter, for though, owing to the kindness of his Majesty, the Rev. Samuel Marsden, principal chaplain to the colony of New South Wales, has lately imported a few Merinos, the general stock is an off-set from the Cape of Good Hope. Yet that soil or climate, or both together, have a considerable influence, not only over the colour, but over the texture of the fleece, is unquestionable; since it is a well-known fact, that the wool of the Angola sheep, as also the hair of the Angola goat and rabbit, are perfectly glossy, and constitute a direct silk; while the wool of the African sheep, on the opposite side of the Mediterranean, is degenerated into a harsh

coarse hair. This is a subject which has not been sufficiently studied, but is entitled to the most active attention of the physiologist.

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES.

Wool, either in a raw or manufactured state, of this country. The price of wool was, in very has always been the principal of the staple articles early times, much higher, in proportion to the wages of labour, the rent of land, and the price of butcher's meat, than at present. It was, before the time of Edward III. always exported raw, the art of working it into cloth and dying being so imperfectly known, that no persons above the degree of working people could go dressed in cloth of English manufacture.

The first steps taken to encourage the manufacture of woollen cloths was by Edward III. who procured some good workmen from the Netherlands, by means of protection and encourageessentially solid, that taxes were vested in that commodity, reckoning by the number of sacks; and in proportion to the price of the necessaries of life, and value of silver, wool was at least three times dearer then than it is now. The manufacturing of cloth being once introduced into the country, the policy of preventing the exportation of the raw material was soon evident; and the first act was that of Henry IV. c. 2, by which the exportation of sheep, lambs, or rams is forbidden, under very heavy penalties.

ment. The value of wool was considered as so

By statute 28 Geo, III. all former statutes rerepealed, and numerous restrictions are consoli specting the exportation of wool and sheep are dated in that statute. By this act, if any person shall send or receive any sheep on board any vessel, to be carried out of the kingdom, such vessel shall be forfeited, and the person so of fending shall forfeit 3. for every sheep, and suffer solitary imprisonment for three months. But wether sheep, by a licence from the collector of the customs, may be taken on board, for the use of the ship's company; and every person who shall export any wool, or woollen articles slightly made up, so as easily to be reduced again to wool, or any fuller's earth, or tobacco-pipe clay; and every carrier, ship-owner, commander, mariner, or other person, who shall knowingly assist in exporting, or attempting to export, these articles, shall forfeit 3s, for every pound weight, or the sum of 50%. in the whole, at the election of the prosecutor, and shall also suffer solitary imprisonment for three months. But wool may be carried coastwise, upon being duly entered, and security being given, according to the directions of the statute, to the officer of the port from whence the same shall be conveyed; and the owners of sheep within five miles of the sea, and ten miles in Kent and Sussex, cannot remove the wool, without giving notice to the officer of the nearest port, as directed by the statute.

Some of the simple chemical properties of wool have been examined by M. Achard, and compared with the corresponding properties of the hair of different animals. The copious generation of oxalic acid by treatment of wool with nitric acid, has been particularly described and explained by M. Berthollet in his beautiful researches on animal matter; and the great solvent power of the caustic fixed alkalies has been happily applied to some use by M. Chaptal as a saponaceous compound.

Wool in the state in which it is taken from

the sheep is always mixed with a great deal of dirt and foulness of different kinds, and in particular is strongly imbued with a natural strong snelling grease. These impurities are got rid of by washing, fulling, and combing, by which the wool is rendered remarkably white, soft, clean, light, and springy under the hand. When boiled in water for several hours in a common vessel, wool is not in any way altered in weight or texture, nor does the water acquire any sensible im preguation.

The action of the nitric acid on wool is very curious. When cold, this acid only disengages a large quantity of azotic gass, but when warmed, much nitrous gass is given out, and at least two new acids are formed, viz. the malic and the oxalic; the latter is in greater abundance than even from sugar and nitrous acid, or any other hydro-carbonous basis. A small scum of a peculiar oil always arises during the action of nitrous acid on these animal substances.

The carbonated alkalies have little action on wool, but the caustic fixed alkalies when digested with it speedily weaken its fibre, reduce it to a soft gelatinous pulp, and finally make a perfect solution. The alkali at the same time loses its alkaline properties as it does in common soap. This saponaceous solution of wool is made for experiment in a few minutes by boiling bits of wool or flannel in a caustic alkaline solution, and it has been recommended by Chaptal to be employed instead of common soap in cleansing cotton and other goods in manufactures, as by this means a number of refuse bits and clippings of wool and woollen cloth which are now thrown away, may be put to some use. This soapy solution does not lather well when agitated with water, nevertheless it acts very powerfully in cleaning cloth. It has a strong and somewhat offensive smell, which is left at first in the cloth, but goes off by short exposure to the air.

MORDANTS AND COLOURING.

Upon this subject we have lately received a very excellent and intelligent memoir, drawn up by MM. Thenard and Roard, and communicated to the Physical and Mathematical Class of the French Imperial Institute; and we shall select from it such observations as are most worthy of notice.

The name of mordant is given, in the art of dyeing to those substances which serve to produ e a more intimate combination of colouring matters with the different stuffs, and to augment the brightness and beauty of them. This property belongs to a great number of saline and metallic substances: but those which possess it in the highest degree, and which, for this reason, are exclusively made use of by dyers, are alum, acetat of alumina, tartar, and the solutions of tin.

1. Impregnation of wool with alum.—The manner of applying the alum varies according to the nature of the stuffs, and according to the colours we wish to obtain. Silks are permitted to macerate for several days in a solution of alum, sufficiently diluted for the salt not to crystallize. Wool is boiled for two hours in water, containing a fourth part of its weight of alum. Cotton and thread are soaked for at least twenty-four hours in warm concentrated solutions or alum, to which frequently some potass is added. It has hitherto been thought that in this operation the alum is decomposed, and that the alumina

combines with the stuff, causing it thereby the more easily to take the colour when plunged into the dyeing bath; but the experiments we have made induce us to adopt a different opinion.

To determine the fact accurately, it was ne cessary to employ for these experiments only per fectly pure materials, completely deprived of the carbonat of lime, which is generally contained in considerable quantity. To separate the whole of this, we boiled the wool several successive times in a mattrass with weak muriatic acid; but in order to take up the last portions of this acid, we were obliged to make use of such large quantities of distilled water, that we were on the point of abandoning such tedious experiments, requiring so much time and patience, as well as the greatest care. The separation of all the muriatic acid from the first two hertogrammes of wool which we purified required 200 quarts of distilled water, at 100 degrees of heat (212 F.) divided into 20 successive operations, each occupying from seven to eight hours. When calcined and properly tried, it afforded neither lime nor muriatic acid.

One hundred grammes of this wool were alued with the same care which had been taken with the silk. It was afterwards washed twenty times, employing six quarts of distilled water, heated to an hundred degrees, for each washing. Immediately after the aluming, this wool took a very deep colour, whilst, after the last washing, it would not take any more colour in the dyeing bath than some of the same wool which had never been alumed. These experiments convinced us, that the substance which had been fixed in the wool by aluming, and had caused it to receive so deep a colour in the first dyeing, had now been carried off by the water. The alum bath, when evaporated, afforded us, in the state of crystals, two-thirds of the quantity of alum we had originally employed; very nearly the whole of the remaining third part was obtained from the residue of the bath, in an uncrystallized state, and from the washings of the wool. This experiment was repeated several times, and always with the same result; but as this did not appear to us so decisive as the experiment upon silk, oa account of the difficulty of separating the animal matter from the last portions of the alum bath, we alumed some wool in the cold, as we had dose with the silk, being persuaded that in this case the bath would not sensibly dissolve this substance.

We alumed in the cold some clean wool with all the precaution observed with the silk, and we obtained from the bath and the washings the alum employed in the operation, with a loss only of part; we were therefore assured, that in the aluming of all animal substances, the alum combines entirely with them, without undergoing any decomposition, and that it forms with them combinations more or less soluble, which have a great affinity for the colouring matters.

But though the analyses most decidedly demonstrate that in the aluming of all animal and vegetable substances, the alum combines with them without undergoing any decomposition; w thought it necessary to repeat the same experi ments upon these substances in the state in which they are commonly met with in commerce, as we had done in their purified state. Wool, whes impregnated with alum alone, always renders the bath turbid, which, upon cooling, throws down an abundant white precipitate, as has been ab