Wheatley, Phillis (b. c. 1753, present-day Senegal or The Gambia?, West Africa—d. Dec. 5, 1784, Boston, Mass., U.S.) African American poet and the first African American to publish a book. She was kidnapped, transported to America, and sold from a slave ship in 1761 to John Wheat- ley, a Boston merchant. The Wheatleys taught her to read and write English and Latin. At about age 14 she began writing poetry modeled on Alexander Pope and other Neoclassical writers. Her verse—exceptionally mature, if conventional, poetry that was largely concerned with morality and piety—attracted much attention. Poems on Various Subjects, Reli¬ gious and Moral (1773), published in England, spread her fame to Europe. Freed in 1773, she married a free black man in 1778. She worked as a servant in her final years and died in poverty.
wheel Circular frame of hard material capable of turning on an axle. Wheels may be solid, partly solid, or spoked. The oldest known wheel was a wooden disk of planks held together by crosspieces. A pottery wheel or turntable was developed c. 3500 bc in Mesopotamia. The spoked wheel appeared c. 2000 bc on chariots in Asia Minor. Later developments included iron hubs that turned on greased axles. Perhaps the most impor¬ tant invention in human history, the wheel was essential to developing civilizations, and has remained essential to power generation, transporta¬ tion, industrial manufacturing, and countless other applications.
wheel lock Device for igniting the powder in a firearm such as a mus¬ ket. Developed c. 1515, the wheel lock struck a spark to ignite powder in
the pan of a musket by means of a holder that pressed a shard of flint or a piece of iron pyrite against an iron wheel with a milled edge; the wheel rotated and sparks flew. The principle was used in the design of the flint- and-wheel cigarette lighter. See also flintlock.
whelk Any marine snail of the family Buccinidae, or a snail having a similar shell; found worldwide.
Some whelks are called conchs. The sturdy shell of most species in the family is slender and has a wide opening in the first whorl. The ani¬ mal feeds on other mollusks through its long proboscis; some species also kill fishes and crustaceans caught in commercial traps. Most are cold- water species; tropical species are smaller and more colourful. The common northern whelk ( Buccinum undatum ) has a stout pale shell about 3 in. (8 cm) long and is abundant in North Atlantic waters.
Whewell Vhyu-oL, William (b. May 24, 1794, Lancaster, Lanca¬ shire, Eng.—d. March 6, 1866, Cam¬ bridge, Cambridgeshire) British philosopher and historian. He spent most of his career at the University of Cambridge, where he taught min¬ eralogy (1828-32) and moral phi¬ losophy (1838-55) and served as college master (1841-66). He is remembered primarily for his work on the theory of induction. He stressed the need to see scientific progress as a historical process, asserting that inductive reasoning could be employed properly only if its use throughout history was closely analyzed. His major works on induction are History of the Inductive Sciences (3 vol., 1837) and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840). See also problem of induc¬ tion.
Whig Member of a political faction in England, particularly in the 18th century. Originally a term for Scot¬ tish Presbyterians, the name came to imply nonconformity and rebellion and was applied in 1679 to those who wanted to exclude James, the Catholic duke of York (later James II), from succession to the throne of England. The Whigs were opposed by the Tory faction in that struggle but later represented the aristocratic, landowning families and financial interests of the wealthy middle classes. They main¬ tained power through patronage and connections in Parliament, but there was no distinct party until 1784, when Charles James Fox represented the interests of religious dissenters, industrialists, and others who sought par¬ liamentary reform. After 1815 and following various party realignments, the political group became the Liberal Party.
Whig Party (1834-54) U.S. political party. Organized by opponents of Pres. Andrew Jackson, whom they called “King Andrew,” the party took its name from the British antimonarchist party. The U.S. Whigs favoured a program of national development. Jackson’s opposition to the Second Bank of the United States (see Bank War) and nullification in South Caro¬ lina allowed Henry Clay to bring fiscal conservatives and southern states' rights proponents together in a coalition with those who still believed in the National Republican program of a protective tariff and federally financed internal improvements. The party also included members of the former Anti-Masonic Party. The Whig’s candidate, William H. Harrison, won the 1840 presidential election and the party captured Congress, but Harrison’s premature death halted enactment of the Whig program (his vice president and successor, John Tyler, vetoed much of the Whig’s agenda). Clay was the party’s unsuccessful candidate in the 1844 elec¬ tion. In 1848 it nominated Zachary Taylor, who won the presidency. The party began to split into the “conscience” (antislavery) and “cotton” (pro¬ slavery) Whigs and was further divided by the Compromise of 1 850. Its
Whewell, plaster cast of bust by Edward Hodges Baily, 1851; in the National Portrait Gallery, London
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
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2052 I whip-tailed ray ► White
nominee in the 1852 election, Winfield Scott, failed to win wide support as most Southern Whigs joined the Democratic Party. In 1854 most North¬ ern Whigs joined the new Republican Party, though some joined the Know- Nothing Party.
whip-tailed ray See stingray
whippet Breed of hound dog developed in 19th-century Britain to chase rabbits in an arena. It was developed from terriers and English and Italian greyhounds, which it resembles. It stands 18-22 in. (46-56 cm), weighs about 28 lbs (13 kg), and has a smooth coat of gray, tan, or white.
Capable of speeds up to 35 mph (56 kph), it is used for racing and for hunting small game. It is typically quiet and even-tempered.
Whipple, George H(oyt) (b.
Aug. 28, 1878, Ashland, N.H.,
U.S.—d. Feb. 1, 1976, Rochester,
N.Y.) U.S. pathologist. He studied medicine at Johns Hopkins Univer¬ sity. He and George Minot discov¬ ered that raw liver fed to chronically bled dogs reversed anemia; this led to introduction of raw liver in the diet to treat pernicious anemia, for which the two men shared a 1934 Nobel Prize with William Murphy (1894- 1987). Whipple’s study of bile pigments led to an interest in how the body makes hemoglobin (important in bile pigment production). His experi¬ ments in artificial anemia (1923-25) established iron as the most potent inorganic factor in red-blood-cell formation.
whippoorwill Species ( Caprimulgus vociferus ) of nocturnal North American bird, similar to the nightjar, named for its resonant “whip-poor- will” call (first and third syllables accented), which it may repeat 400 times without stopping. It lives in woods near open country, where it catches insects on the wing around dusk and dawn. By day it sleeps on the forest floor or perches lengthwise on a branch. About 10 in. (25 cm) long, it has mottled brownish plumage; the male has a white collar and white tail comers. It winters as far south as Costa Rica.