Wurzen was founded by the Sorbs, and was a town early in the 12th century, when Herwig, bishop of Meissen, founded a monastery here. In 1581 it passed to the elector of Saxony, and in the Thirty Years' War was sacked by the Swedes.
WUTTKE, KARL FRIEDRICH ADOLF (1819-1870), German Protestant theologian, was born at Breslau on the 10th of November 1819. He studied theology at Breslau, Berlin and Halle, where he eventually became professor ordinarius; and is known as the author of a treatise on Christian ethics (Handbuch der christlichen Sittenlehre, 1860-1863, 3rd ed. 1874-1875; Eng. trans., New York, 1873) and works on heathen religion (Die Geschichte des Heidentums, 1851-1853) and superstition (Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart, 1865, 2nd ed. 1869). He died on the 12th of April 1870.
WYANDOT, or Huron (q.v.), a tribe of N. American Indians of Iroquoian stock. When first met by the French early in the 17th century, the Wyandots lived between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, Ontario. They were then estimated at about 10,000, scattered over twenty villages. They were continually the victims of raids on the part of their neighbours the Iroquoian league of six nations and the Sioux, being driven from place to place, and a dispersal in 1650 resulted in one section settling in Quebec, while others found their way to Ohio, where they fought for the English in the Wars of Independence and 1812. By a treaty made in 1817 the latter section was granted territory in Ohio and Michigan, but the larger part of this was sold in 1819. In 1842 they migrated to Kansas. In 1855 many became citizens, the remainder being in 1867 removed to a reservation (now N.E. Oklahoma), numbering about 400 in 1905. The Hurons at Lorette, in Quebec, also number about 400.
See Handbook of American Indians, ed. F. W. Hodge (Washington, 1907), s.v. “Huron.”
WYANDOTTE, a city of Wayne county, Michigan, U.S.A., on the Detroit river, about 6 m. S. by W. of Detroit. Pop. (1900) 5183, of whom 1267 were foreign-born; (1904) 5425; (1910) 8287. It is served by the Michigan Central, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton, and (for freight only) the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line railways, and by two interurban electric lines. Salt and limestone are found here and the city has various manufactures. Wyandotte was first settled about 1820, was laid out as a town in 1854, and chartered as a city in 1867.
WYANDOTTE CAVE, a cave in Jennings township, Crawford county, Indiana, U.S.A., 5 m. N.E. of Leavenworth, on the Ohio river, and 12 m. from Corydon, the early territorial capital. The nearest railway station is Milltown, 9 m. distant. The cave is in a rugged region of high limestone hills, in one of which its main entrance is found, 220 ft. above the level of the Blue river, whose original name, the Wyandotte, was transferred to the cave by Governor David Wallace; it having previously been styled the Mammoth Cave of Indiana, the Epsom Salts Cave, and the Indiana Saltpetre Cave. The exact date of discovery is not known; but early records show it to have been pre-empted by a Dr Adams in 1812 for the manufacture of saltpetre, and his vats and hoppers are still to be seen. After the War of 1812 he relinquished his claim; and in 1819 the ground was bought from the United States government by Henry P. Rothrock, whose heirs are its owners. The earliest account is in Flint's Geography (1831); the first official report of it was by Dr R. T. Brown (1831); and it was first mapped by the writer (1855), whose map was revised by John Collett, state geologist (1878). No instrumental survey has been made, nor have all its intricate windings been explored. Its known passages aggregate more than 23 m. in length, and 144 places are named as noteworthy. The “Old Cave” contains the saltpetre works, and ends in a remarkable chamber exactly 144 ft. long and 56 ft. wide, in which stands the Pillar of the Constitution, a stalagmitic column perfectly cylindrical and 71 ft. in circumference, entirely composed of crystalline carbonate of lime (satin-spar), fluted and snow-white. A cavity in the column was first claimed by H. C. Hovey as a prehistoric quarry, proved to be such by the stag horns and boulder pounders found in its vicinity. His careful estimate of the rate of stalagmitic growth showed that 1000 years would have been needed to form the lip now covering the incision.
In the N. arm of the newer part of the cave, opened in 1850, is an
immense room, styled Rothrock's Cathedral, 1000 ft. in circumference
and 200 ft. high, with a rugged central hill 135 ft. high, surmounted
by statuesque stalagmites, near which is another quarry of satin-spar
Emery Walker sc.
with similar fragments, pounders
and aboriginal relics. When Mr
Hovey visited this cave in 1855 he
found many extinct torches, charcoal
embers, poles and pounders, as well
as numerous footprints, in the soft
nitreous earth of certain avenues,
which were left by exploring parties
previous to the coming of the white
man.
In the Pillared Palace a number of large alabaster shafts had been thrown down and fragments carried away. Near by were so-called “bear-wallows,” which proved to be the remains of an aboriginal workshop, where masses of flint were broken into rectangular blocks; and spalls and flint-chips encumber the floor and choke the passage-way. Milroy's Temple is a magnificent room, 100 by 150 ft. in its dimensions. It contains many remarkable formations; and its display of helictites, or twisted stalactites, is unsurpassed.
As Wyandotte Cave has no large streams and few pools or springs, its fauna and flora are not extensive. Formerly bears, wolves and other wild animals took refuge in its fastnesses; and bats, rats, mice and salamanders are frequent visitors. Blind crawfish (Cambarus pellucidus) inhabit the Crawfish Spring. Cave crickets (Hadenoecus subterraneus) abound. A dozen kinds of insects, with a few varieties of spiders, flies and worms, complete the meagre list. The flora include mainly forms brought in from the outside.
For more full descriptions of Wyandotte Cave and its contents, see Hovey's Celebrated American Caverns, pp. 123-153; Indiana State Geological Reports, by R. T. Brown, E. T. Cox, John Collett and W. S. Blatchley; and concerning cave fauna reports and papers by C. H. Eigenmann, professor of zoology, Indiana State University. (H. C. H.)
WYANT, ALEXANDER H. (1836-1892), American artist, was born at Port Washington, Ohio, on the 11th of January 1836. He was a pupil of Hans Gude in Carlsruhe, Germany. A trip with a government exploring expedition in the west of America undermined his health, and he painted mainly in the high altitudes of the Adirondack Mountains. He was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design, New York, in 1869, and died in New York City on the 29th of November 1892. He was only moderately appreciated during his lifetime, though after his death his works were eagerly sought for.
WYAT, SIR THOMAS (1503-1542), English poet and statesman, elder son of Henry Wyat, or Wiat, afterwards knighted, and his wife Anne, daughter of John Skinner of Reigate, Surrey, was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone, Kent, in 1503. His father (1460-1537) belonged to a Yorkshire family, but bought Allington about 1493. He was an adherent of the Lancastrian party, and was imprisoned and put to the torture by Richard III. The family records (in the possession of the earl of Romney) relate that during his imprisonment he was saved from starvation by a cat that brought him pigeons. At the accession of Henry VII. he became knight of the Bath (1509), knight banneret (1513) and held various offices at court. His son, Thomas Wyat, was admitted at St John's College, Cambridge, when about twelve years of age, took his B.A. degree in 1518, and proceeded M.A. in 1522. The vague statement of Anthony à Wood (Athen. Oxon. i. 124), that he was transferred to Oxford to attend Wolsey's new college there, has no foundation in fact. He married very early Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of the 3rd
