Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/465

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
WISCONSIN RIVER
395
WISMAR

the Indians soon after, by which they removed to reservations beyond the Mississippi. In 1836, the population had increased to such an extent that a Territorial government was organized, which at first included a part of the upper peninsula of Michigan, the whole of Minnesota and Iowa, and that part of the Dakotas lying E. of the Missouri and White Earth rivers. On the admission of Michigan into the Union as a State, a part of the Lake Superior region was set off to her, and when the Territory of Iowa was formed, it included all the region W. of the Mississippi. The first effort to procure the admission of Wisconsin to the Union as a State was made in 1846. A constitution drafted during that year was ratified in March, 1848, and the State was admitted to the Union by Act of Congress, May 29, 1848. Under this constitution, with some amendments, it is still governed.

WISCONSIN RIVER, the largest river in Wisconsin. It rises in Lake Vieux Desert, in the N. part of the State, and flows S. and W., emptying into the Mississippi 4 miles below Prairie du Chien. It is nearly 600 miles long and is navigable to Portage City. Remarkable rapids and falls, called “dalles,” occur at several places, the river passing through deep gorges between rocky bluffs, some of which are more than 400 feet high.

WISCONSIN, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational non-sectarian institution in Madison, Wis.; founded in 1848; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 682; students, 5,274; president, E. A. Birge.

WISDOM OF SOLOMON, THE, the title of an apocryphal book, named in Greek Sophia Salomon, or Salomontos, generally placed sixth in order between “the rest of Esther” and Ecclesiasticus.

WISE, HENRY ALEXANDER, an American statesman; born in Drummondtown, Va., Dec. 3, 1806; was educated at Washington College, Pa.; admitted to the bar in 1828; member of Congress in 1833-1843; minister to Brazil, under President Tyler, in 1844-1847; and Democratic governor of Virginia in 1856-1860. He opposed secession, but in 1861 joined the Confederate army as Brigadier-General. He was defeated in the Kanawha valley in 1861, and at Roanoke Island in 1862. After the war he resumed the practice of law in Richmond, Va., and died there Sept. 12, 1876.

WISE, HENRY AUGUSTUS, an American naval officer; born in Brooklyn, N. Y., May 12, 1819; entered the navy as midshipman in 1834, and rose to chief of the bureau of ordnance in 1866. Under the pseudonym of “Harry Gringo,” he wrote “Los Gringos; or, An Interior View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia” (1849); “Tales for the Marines” (1855); “Scampavias, from Gibel-Tasek to Stamboul” (1857); “The Story of the Gray African Parrot” (1856), a book for children; and “Captain Brand of the Centipede” (1860). He died in Naples, Italy, April 2, 1869.

WISE, ISAAC MAYER, a Jewish rabbi; born in Bohemia, April 3, 1819; settled in New York City in 1846. He resided in Cincinnati, O., after 1854, and became president of the Hebrew Union College. He was a leader of the reform movement in American Judaism; and besides editing the “Israelite,” a weekly journal, he wrote extensively. Among his works are: “History of the Israelitish Nation” (1854); “Essence of Judaism” (1860); “Judaism: Its Doctrines and Duties” (1862); “The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth” (1874); “The Cosmic God” (1876); “History of the Hebrews' Second Commonwealth” (1880); “Judaism and Christianity” (1883); “Pronaos to Holy Writ” (1891); etc. He died in 1900.

WISEMAN, NICHOLAS PATRICK, an English prelate; born in Seville, Spain, Aug. 3, 1802; was educated at Waterford and the Roman Catholic College, Ushaw, near Durham; joined the English College then newly formed (1818) at Rome; became Professor of Oriental Languages and (1828) rector of the English College; returned to England (1835), and was appointed successively rector of Ushaw, vicar apostolic of the central district of England, and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster and cardinal (1850). He was the author of “Lectures on the Connection Between Science and Revealed Religion” (1836), “Letters on Catholic Unity” (1842); “Papal Supremacy” (1850); “Fabiola” (1854); “Four Last Popes” (1858); and joint-editor for many years of the Dublin “Review.” He died in London, England, Feb. 15, 1865.

WISE MEN OF THE EAST, the three Magi who followed the guiding star to Bethlehem. They are the patron saints of travelers.

WISMAR, the second seaport of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany; on the Baltic, at the head of a bay of the same name; 20 miles N. of Schwerin. It has an excellent harbor, carries on an active over-sea trade, and has varied manufactures. Of the walls only four gates