WADHAM. 237 WAECHTEB. WADHAM (wod'i/m) COLLEGE. A mllpfio at (Ixl'oitl, Eiifiland. It was lounclcd liy Nicholas Wadluini, of JMcrifiold, fSusscx, and Dorothy, his wife. daii<rhtei' of Sir William I'etre, the {Treat bcnofactor of Kxeter C(>llc<;e. Sir Nicholas dying in l(iOi), his plan was carried out by his wife. The site and ruins of the old priory of the Austin Friars were purchased, aM<l the buildinji of the colleire was begun in 1(110, the society being founded by letters patent from James I., in 1(J12. The original foundation was for a warden, fifteen fellows, fifteen scholars, two chaplains, and two clerks. In 1S82 therc^ was a change in Ihe statutes, which provided for a warden, eight fellows, several honorary fellows, two chaplains, college officers, a number of lecturers, eighteen scholars, and some one lumdred undergraduates in all. The buildings, dating from the seven- teenth century, are very attractive, though not specially remarkable. The garden is one of the most pleasant in Oxford. The college presents to ten livings. Among the distinguished men connected with the college have been Admiral Blake, Sir Christopher Wren, Bishop Ward, Dr. Kcnnicott, and Frederic Harrison. WADI, wii'de, or WADY (Ar. ivadi, from wadaya, to flow ) . Properly, a river or water- course, but more generally a valley or ravine; sometimes also an oasis. These various meanings are due to the climatic and physical conditions of Arabia- and Palestine, where all fertility is dependent upon the presence of water, and the streams are, for the most part, during the greater part of the year, mere beds with little or no water, although in the rainy season they frequentlj' become raging torrents. WADI HAL'FA (valley of grass) . The chief town of the district of Wadi Haifa. Egyptian Sudan, on the right bank of the Nile, one mile below the second cataract, in latitude 21° 54' N., or 6' south of the Eg>'ptian boundary (ilap: Africa, H 2). Here the Sudan military railway branches, one line going to Kerma and the other to Khartum. There is a mosque. Population, with Dabrosa, in 1897, 2675. WADING BIRDS. A group of birds, within the order Ciconiifurmes, prominently character- ized by having very long, naked legs, the feet partly webbed, the neck long and capacious, and the beak long, pointed, and strong. The group includes the herons and bitterns (suborder Ardeae) ; the storks, ibises, and spoonbills (Cico- niae) ; and the flamingoes ( Phamicopteri) . Their associates in the order are the totipalmate sea- birds (suborder Steganopodes) . The waders haunt swamps and marshes, and walk about in the shal- lows, never swimming or diving, where they catch fish, frogs, reptiles, crayfish, and the like, by a darting of the bill, projected by the very muscu- lar neck. Some are nearly terrestrial and live largely on insects; while the flamingoes (q.v. ) are otherwise exceptional. Most of these birds are of large size and have white, gray, or brown- ish plumage, some developing ornamental plumes (see AlGRET) ; the character and distribution of 'powder-down' patches are an important tribal feature. They are mainly migratory and gre- garious, and most of them nest in companies on trees. All are precocial and lay unspotted eggs. See Heron; .Stork ; and similar titles; and Colored Plate of Waders. WAD'MAN, Winow. A designing, middle- aged wuiiiau in Sterne's Tristram tHiandi/, who seeks to caplivate Uncle Toby. WADS'WORTH, Fkank Lawto?^ Olcott (18(17 — ). An American astronomer, born in Wellington, Ohio. He was educated at Ohio State University and at Clark University. In 1802 he became .senior assistant in charge of the Astrophysical Observatory, Washington, in 1894 assistant professor of physics in the University of Chicago, in 189() assistant professor of astro- physics at Yerkes Observatory, and in IS97 asso- ciate professor. In 1900 he was appointed di- rector of .Mlcghcny Observatory. WADSWORTH, .James Samuel (180704). -An American soldier, born at Geneseo, N. Y. He was educated at Hamilton College, at Harvard, and at Yale, though he did not graduate at any of these institutions; studied law under Daniel Webster in Boston and under McKcon and Deniston in Albany, and in 18:J.3 was admitted to the bar, but never practiced his profession, and until the Civil War was occupied with the management of the family estates, comprising altogether about 15.000 acres. He took an active interest in agricultural affairs, and in 1842 was president of the New York State Agricultural Society. In I8G1 he was a member of the Peace Convention (q.v.), in which he opposed the granting of extreme concessions to the South, and in .June, 1861, soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, he became a volunteer aide, with the rank of major, on the staff of General ^McDowell. He participated in the first battle of Bull Run; was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers in August. 1801; and from JIarch to December, 1862, was military Governor of Wash- ington. D. C. In 1802. also." he was the Republi- can candidate for Governor of New York, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent. Ho- . ratio Seymour. He led a division, with great gallantry, at Fredericksburg and Chancellors- ville, and at Gettysburg took a conspicuous part in the first day's fighting and then occupied Gulp's Hill, where he helped to repel the Con- federate assaults on the second and third days of the battle. Early in 1864 he made a tour of in- spection through the Western and Southwestern States : and subsequently, while commanding a division in the battle of the Wilderness (q.v.), May 6th, was mortally wounded, dying two days later. He received the brevet of major-general of volunteers to date from May 6, 1864. WAECHTER, veK'ter, Kari, Georo von ( 1797-1880) . A prominent German jurist, horn in Marbach-on-the-Neckar, arid educated at Tiibingen and Heidelberg. The year he left the university for legal practice he was recalled to Tiibingen as professor of law. There he stayed until 18.33, and in 1836 returned thither after three years in Leipzig, to become professor and chancellor of the imiversity, which he represented in the Estates. From 1839 to 1851 he was president of the Cham- bers. In 1852 he was called to Leipzig to become professor of the law of the Pandects. He was made a member of the Saxon Council of State in 1855. and privy councilor in 1872. As a jurist W'nechter showed great range of knowledge, lec- turing and writing on almost every branch of law with an equally remarkable grasp of theory and practice. His more important works are: Lehr-
