Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/546

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526 WEBB operated by the loom itself without the inter- vention of the Jacquard or pattern mechanism." The devices which control the operation of the fly shuttles are also applicable to all drop-box looms. (See also CARPET, COTTON MANUFAC- TURE, DAMASK, LINEN, RIBBON, SILK, TAPES- TBY, VELVET, and WOOL, MANUFACTURES OF.) WEBB, a S. county of Texas, bounded W. by the Rio Grande, which separates it from Mex- ico; area, about 1,200 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,615, of whom 2 were colored. The inhab- itants are mostly Mexicans, chiefly engaged in stock raising, but some land is cultivated in the valley of the Rio Grande. In 1870 119,260 Ibs. of wool were produced. There were 1,259 horses, 2,917 milch cows, 7,691 other cattle, and 71,730 sheep. Capital, Laredo. WEBB. I. Samnpl B., an American soldier, born in Weathersfield, Conn., Dec. 15, 1753, died at Claverack, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1807. Hear- ing of the battle of Lexington, he went to Boston in command of a company of light in- fantry, was engaged and wounded at Bunker Hill, was subsequently aide to Gen. Putnam, and on June 21, 1776, became private secre- tary and aide-de-camp to Gen. Washington. He was engaged in the battle of Long Island, wounded at White Plains and again at Tren- ton, and was in the action at Brandywine. In 1777 ho raised the third Connecticut regiment, which under his command became a part of Gen. Parsons's expedition to Long Island, and which was captured, Dec. 16, 1777, by the British fleet. Col. Webb was not exchanged till 1780, when he took command of the light infantry, with the brevet rank of brigadier general. After the war ho resided in New York till 1789, when he removed to Clavorack. II. James Watson, an American journalist, son of the preceding, born in Claverack, N. Y., Feb. 8, 1802. He entered the army as second lieu- tenant in 1819, and became first lieutenant in 1823, assistant commissary of subsistence in 1824, and adjutant of the third regiment in 1826. In 1827 he resigned and became edi- tor of the "New York Courier." In 1829 he purchased the "Enquirer," and united the two under the name of the " Morning Courier and New York Enquirer," which journal he owned and edited till July, 1861, when it was merged in the " World." During the existence of the whig party the " Courier and Enquirer " was a leading advocate of its principles. In June, 1842, he fought a duel in Delaware with Thomas F. Marshall of Kentucky, and was wounded; ho was indicted in November by the New York grand jury "for leaving the state with the intention of receiving or giving a challenge," pleaded guilty, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Sing Sing, and was almost immediately pardoned by Gov. Seward. In 1843 he was appointed engineer-in-chief of the state of New York, with the rank of major general. In 1849 he was appointed by Presi- dent Taylor minister to Austria, but was re- jected by the senate. In 1861, after decli- WEBER ning the mission to Constantinople, he was appointed by President Lincoln minister to Brazil, in which office he negotiated the settle- ment of long standing claims against that coun- try. He resigned the Brazil mission in 1869 and returned to New York in 1870. He has published "Altowan, or Incidtents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains" (2 vols., New York, 1846) ; " Slavery and its Tenden- cies" (Washington, 1856); and a pamphlet, "A National Currency" (New York, 1875). WEBBE, Samuel, an English composer, born in Minorca in 1740, died in London in 1824. He learned the trade of cabinet making, but afterward studied music, and at the age of 26 gained a prize from the catch club for a canon. He rose into eminence as a composer of glees, catches, and canons, a collection of which, numbering over 100 compositions, was published in three volumes. He also wrote masses, anthems, single songs, and other mis- cellaneous pieces. WEBER, a N. county of Utah, bordering on Great Salt lake, and intersected by Weber riv- er; area, 540 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 7,858. It is traversed by the Central and Union Pacific and the Utah Central railroads. The centre is mountainous, and the streams flowing from this region toward the lake irrigate and render productive large tracts. The chief productions in 1870 were 53,272 bushels of wheat, 8,478 of Indian corn, 5,151 of barley, 15,607 of pota- toes, and 12,760 Ibs. of butter. There were 929 horses, 1,118 milch cows, 591 other cattle, 1,473 sheep, and 145 swine ; 6 saw mills, and 1 woollen mill. Capital, Ogden City. WEBER. I. Ernst Heinrlch, a German physi- ologist, born in Wittenberg, Juno 24, 1795. He studied at Leipsic, wrote Anatomia Com- parata Nervi Sympathici (Leipsic, 1817), and was made in 1818 adjunct professor of com- parative anatomy, afterward titular professor, and in 1840 also of physiology. His princi- pal works are: De Aure et Auditu Hoijiinis et Animalium (Leipsic, 1820) ; Zusatze zur Lehre torn Ban und ton der Verrichtung der Geschlechttorgane (1846) ; and Annotations Anatomies et Physiologic (1851). II. WII- helm Ediard, a German physicist, brother of the preceding, born in Wittenberg, Oct. 24, 1804. He was educated at Halle, and in 1825 published in connection with his brother Die WellenUhre, a standard treatise on the liquid fluidity of waves and its connection with waves of sound and light. In 1827 he was appointed assistant professor of natural philosophy at Halle, and in 1831 professor of physics at Got- tingen, from which latter office he was dis- placed by the Hanoverian government in 1837 for his liberal political opinions. In 1843 he was appointed to the chair of physics in Leip- sic, where he remained till 1849, when he was reinstated at Gottingen. With Gauss he pub- lished the Resultate au# den Bedbachtungen des magnetischen Vereins (1837 et eq.), accompa- nied by an Atlas dea Erdmagnetismus (1840),