Page:EB1911 - Volume 28.djvu/388

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WATER-LILY—WATERLOO CAMPAIGN
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elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1885 and academician in 1895. Four of his paintings, “Consulting the Oracle,” “St Eulalia,” “The Lady of Shallot” and “The Magic Circle,” are in the National Gallery of British Art.

See “J. W. Waterhouse and his Work,” by A. L. Baldry, Studio, vol. iv.

WATER-LILY, a name somewhat vaguely given to almost any floating plant with conspicuous flowers, but applying more especially to the species of Nymphaea, Nuphar, and other members of the order Nymphaeaceae. These are aquatic plants with thick fleshy root stocks or tubers embedded in the mud, and throwing up to the surface circular shield-like leaves, and leafless flower-stalks, each terminated by a single flower, often of great beauty, and consisting of four or five sepals, and numerous petals gradually passing into the very numerous stamens without any definite line of demarcation between them. The ovary consists of numerous carpels united together and free, or more or less embedded in the top of the flower-stalk. The ovary has many cavities with a large number of ovules attached to its walls, and is surmounted by a flat stigma of many radiating rows as in a poppy. The fruit is berry-like, and the seeds are remarkable for having their embryo surrounded by an endosperm as well as by a perisperm. The anatomical construction of these plants presents many peculiarities which have given rise to discussion as to the allocation of the order among the dicotyledons or among the monocotyledons, the general balance of opinion being in favour of the former view. The leaf-stalks and flower-stalks are traversed by longitudinal air-passages, whose disposition varies in different species. The species of Nymphaea are found in every quarter of the globe. Their flowers range from white to rose-coloured, yellow and blue. Some expand in the evening only, others close soon after noon. Nymphaea alba (Castalia alba) is common in some parts of Britain, as is also the yellow Nuphar luteum (Nymphaea lutea). The seeds and the rhizomes contain an abundance of starch, which renders them serviceable in some places for food.

Of recent years great strides have been made in the culture of new varieties of water-lilies in the open air. Many beautiful Nymphaea hybrids have been raised between the tender and hardy varieties of different colours, and there are now in commerce lovely forms having not only white, but also yellow, rose, pink and carmine flowers. In many gardens open-air tanks have been fitted up with hot-water pipes running through them to keep the water sufficiently warm in severe weather. The open-air water-lily tank in the Royal gardens, Kew, is one of the latest and most up-to-date in construction. These coloured hybrids were originated by M. Latour Marliac, of Temple-sur-Lot, France, some of the most favoured varieties being cornea, chromatella, flammea, ignea, rosea, Robinsoni, Aurora, blanda, &c.

Amongst hardy species of Nymphaea now much grown are candida, nitida, odorata, pygmaea and tuberosa, all with white, more or less sweet-scented flowers; flava, yellow, and sphaerocarpa, rose-carmine. Amongst the tender or hothouse Nymphaeas the following are most noted: blanda, white; devoniensis, scarlet (a hybrid between N. Lotus and N. rubra); edulis, white; elegans, yellowish white and purple; gigantea, blue; kewensis, rose-carmine (a hybrid between N. devoniensis and N. Lotus); Lotus, red, white; pubescens, white; scutifolia, bright blue; stellata, blue, with several varieties; and Sturtevanti, a pale rose hybrid.

Under the general head of water-lily are included the lotus of Egypt, Nymphaea Lotus, and the sacred lotus of India and China, Nelumbium speciosum, formerly a native of the Nile, as shown by Egyptian sculptures and other evidence, but no longer found in that river. The gigantic Victoria regia, with leaves 6 to 7 ft. in diameter and flowers 8 to 16 in. across, also belongs to this group. It grows in the backwaters of the Amazon, often covering the surface for miles; the seeds are eaten under the name water maize.

WATERLOO, a city and the county-seat of Black Hawk county, Iowa, U.S.A., on the Cedar river, about 90 m. W. of Dubuque and about 275 m. W. of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 6674; (1900) 12,580, of whom 1334 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 26,693. It is served by the Illinois Central (which has large construction and repair shops here), the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago Great Western, and the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern (from Cedar Falls to Sumner) railways. The city has several public parks, a public library (1879) with two buildings, a Y.M.C.A. building, and a good public school system, including a manual training school. There is a Chautauqua park. The river here is 700 to 900 ft. wide; its clear water flows over a limestone bed through a rather evenly sloping valley in the middle of the city with enough fall to furnish valuable water power. The value of the factory product in 1905 was $4,693,888. The city is situated in a rich agricultural, dairying and poultry-raising region, and is an important shipping point. Waterloo was first settled about 1846, was laid out in 1854, first chartered as a city in 1868, and became a city of the first class in 1905.

WATERLOO CAMPAIGN, 1815. On February 27, 1815, Napoleon set sail from Elba with his force of 1000 men and 4 guns, determined to reconquer the throne of France. On March 1 he landed near Cannes, and proceeded at once to march on Paris. He deliberately chose the difficult route over the French Alps because he recognized that his opponents would neither expect him by this route nor be able to concert combined operations in time to thwart him. Events proved the wisdom of his choice. His advance to Paris was a series of triumphs, his power waxing with every league he covered, and when he reached Paris the Bourbons had fled. But he had soon to turn his attention to war. His sudden return, far from widening the breaches between the allies, had fused them indissolubly together, and the four powers bound themselves to put 150,000 men apiece under arms and to maintain them in the field until Napoleon had been utterly crushed. So, from the first, France was faced with another war against an affrighted and infuriated Europe, a war in which the big battalions would be on the side of the Seventh Coalition; and to oppose their vast armies Napoleon only had in March the 150,000 men he had taken over from Louis XVIII. when the Bourbon hurriedly quitted the throne. Of this force the emperor could have drawn together some 50,000 men within ten days and struck straight at the small allied forces that were in Belgium at the moment. But he wisely refrained from taking the immediate offensive. Such an act would have proved that he desired, nay provoked a war; and further, the engagement of such small forces could lead to no decisive results. Napoleon therefore stayed his hand and proceeded to hasten forward the organization, almost the creation of an army, with which he could confront the coalition. Meanwhile he sought to detach Great Britain and Austria from the alliance. But he did not permit his political enterprise to stay his military preparations; and, by constant attention Napoleon's preparations. to the minutest details, by June 1 he had got together an army of 360,000 for the defence of France, one half of which was available for field service. In this army was comprised his whole means of defence; for he had no allies. On his return from Elba it is true that Murat, the king of Naples, took his side; but recklessly opening an offensive campaign, Murat was beaten at Tolentino (May 2-3), and he found himself compelled to fly in disguise to France, where the emperor refused him an audience or employment. Herein Napoleon wronged France, for he deprived her of the most brilliant cavalry soldier of the period. Shorn thus of his single ally, the emperor realized that the whole eastern land-frontier of France was open to invasion, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. By the end of May he had placed his forces as follows to protect his empire.

D'Erlon's I. Corps cantoned between Lille and Valenciennes.
Reille's II. Corps cantoned between Valenciennes and Avesnes.
Vandamme's III. Corps cantoned around Rocroi.
Gérard's IV. Corps cantoned at Metz.
Lobau's VI. Corps cantoned at Laon.
Grouchy's Cavalry Reserve at Guise.
Marshal Mortier with the Imperial Guard at Paris.
Rapp with the V. Corps (20,000) near Strassburg.

18,500 more troops under Suchet, Brune and Lecourbe guarded the S.E. frontier from Basel to Nice, and covered Lyons; 8000 men under Clausel and Decaen guarded the Pyrenean frontier, whilst Lamarque led 10,000 men into La Vendée to quell the insurrection in that quarter. In 1815 Napoleon was not supported by a united and unanimous France; the country