He explored the province of Chiriqui, on the Isthmus of Panama, till 1858, visiting in 1859 the western Andes of Ecuador, and forming rich collections in natural history. On his return to Germany in 1860 he was appointed professor of geography in the University of Munich, elected an associate member of the Munich and Berlin academies of sciences, founded and became director of the Ethnographical museum of Munich, and discovered prehistoric habitations in some of the lakes in Bavaria, principally that of Starnberg. Wagner has since devoted his labors exclusively to science. His works, besides those that describe his travels in the Old World, include “Reisen in Nordamerika” (3 vols., Leipsic, 1854), “Die Republik von Costa-Rica in Central-Amerika” (1856), both written with Scherzer; “Ueber das Vorkommen von Pfahlbauten” (Munich, 1867); and “Ueber Topographie, Zweck und Alter der Pfahlbauten” (1867). He contributed also many papers describing his travels to Petermann's monthly collection and to the journal of the Geographical society of Berlin.
WAGNER, Webster, inventor, b. near Palatine
Bridge, N. Y., 2 Oct., 1817; d. near Spuyten Duyvil,
N. Y., 13 Jan., 1882. He received a common-school
education and became a wagon-maker.
Subsequently he received the appointment of freight
agent on the New York Central railroad, and then
invented the sleeping-car. In 1858 he had four of
these cars in operation, and their use gradually
extended until they were adopted on all the lines of
the Vanderbilt system. In 1867 he manufactured
the first drawing-room car, and founded the
Wagner palace-car company, of which he was president
until his death. He also invented the oval
car-roof, and patented the elevated panel. Mr. Wagner
was elected as a Republican to the New York
assembly in 1870, and from 1871 till 1882 he was
state senator. In 1880 he was a delegate to the
Republican national convention. He was killed in
a railroad disaster on the Hudson river road.
WAGNER, William, philanthropist, b. in
Philadelphia, Pa., 15 Jan., 1796 ; d. there, 17 Jan.,
1885. He received an academic education, and
was desirous of studying medicine, but his parents
decided otherwise, and he entered the counting-
room of Stephen Girard. In 1816 he was sent as
an assistant supercargo on a trading voyage that
lasted nearly two years. On this voyage he made
large collections of shells, plants, and fossils, which
formed the beginnings of his museum. Subse-
quently he engaged in various business enterprises,
but finally retired in 1840. After a residence
abroad of two years in 1841-'2 he returned to
Philadelphia and devoted himself to arranging his
collections. In 1847 he began to deliver scientific
lectures to those that were interested, and in 1852
his audiences had grown so large that he was com-
pelled to secure the use of a hall. The Wagner
free institute of science was inaugurated on 21
May, 1855, with a corps of lecturers. Ten years
later an edifice was dedicated, and Mr. Wagner
transferred the building and its collections, cabi-
nets, apparatus, and library to trustees on condi-
tion that the property shall forever be used for
instruction in natural science. It is estimated that
his entire benefaction for this purpose was not
less than half a million dollars, lie continued
president of the institute until his death, and was
a member of learned societies, to whose proceed-
ings he contributed scientific papers.
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WAINWRIGHT, Jonathan Mayhew, P. E. bishop, b. in Liverpool, England. 24 Feb., 1793; d. in New York city, 21 Sept., 1854. He was of American parentage, his mother being a daughter of Rev. Jonathan Mayhew, of Boston. He was graduated at Harvard in 1812, where he was afterward tutor, ordered deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church in Trinity church, Boston, 13 April, 1817, ordained priest in Christ church, Hartford, Conn., 29 May, 1818, and became rector of the latter. In November, 1819, he removed to New York, and became assistant minister in Trinity church. He was made rector of Grace church in 1821, and remained in that charge until 1834, when he became rector of Trinity church, Boston. In 1837 he returned to Trinity parish, New York, as assistant in charge of St. John's chapel, which post he retained until he was elevated to the episcopate. He received the degree of D. D. from Union college in 1823, and from Harvard in 1835. The degree of D. C. L. was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford, England, in 1852. Dr. Wainwright was consecrated provisional bishop of New York in Trinity church, New York, on 10 Nov., 1852. He was for many years secretary of the house of bishops, aided in the establishment of the University of New York, and was considered one of the first pulpit orators of his day. Bishop Wainwright wielded great social influence, was a ripe scholar, and was a devoted lover of music, contributing toward its improvement in the churches of his denomination. He was secretary of the board of trustees of the General theological seminary in 1828-'34, and a trustee or officer of many other institutions and societies. In 1844 he engaged in a controversy with his friend Rev. Dr. George Potts, which grew out of an assertion that Rufus Choate made at a celebration of the New England society. The orator said that the Pilgrim fathers had founded a “state without a king and a church without a bishop.” At the dinner that followed, Dr. Wainwright, in responding to a sentiment, said in reply that “there is no church without a bishop.” The subsequent discussion with Dr. Potts, which was carried on in nineteen letters in the New York “Commercial Advertiser,” was afterward published in pamphlet-form (1844). His other works include “Four Sermons on Religious Education” (New York, 1829): “Lessons on the Church” (1835); “Order of Family Prayer” (1845); “Short Family Prayers” (1850); “The Pathway and Abiding-Places of our Lord, illustrated in the Journal of a Tour through the Land of Promise” (1851); “The Land of Bondage: being the Journal of a Tour in Egypt” (1852); single sermons; and papers in periodicals. He also prepared three books of music: a “Book of Chants,” adapted to services of the Episcopal church (1819); “Music of the Church” (1828); and “The Choir and Family Psalter,” in connection with Rev. Dr. William A. Muhlenberg (1851); and edited Bishop Ravenscroft's “Sermons,” with a memoir (2 vols., 1830), and “Life of Bishop Heber,” by his widow (2 vols., 1830). See a “Memorial Volume,” containing thirty-four of his sermons
