large tract of country; and this is more certainly the case when they blow from the north or east than from any other points. By the multiplication and comparison of meteorological tables, some regular connection between the changes of the atmosphere in different places may, in time, be observed, which will at last lead to a satisfactory theory of the winds. It is from such tables chiefly, that the following facts have been collected:

In Virginia, the prevailing winds are between the south-west, west, north, and north-west; the most frequent is the south-west, which blows more constantly in June, July, and August, than at any other season. The north-west winds blow most constantly in November, January, and February. At Ipswich, in New England, the prevailing winds are also between the south-west, west, north, and north-east; the most frequent is the north-west. But at Cambridge, in the same province, the most frequent wind is the south-east. The predominant winds at New York are the north and west; and in Nova Scotia north-west winds blow for three-fourths of the year. The same wind blows most frequently at Montreal in Canada; but at Quebec the wind generally follows the direction of the river St. Lawrence, blowing either from the north-east or south-west. At Hudson's-bay westerly winds blow for three-fourths of the year; the north-west wind occasions the greatest cold, but the north and north-east are the vehicles of snow.

It appears from these facts, that westerly winds are most frequent over the whole eastern coast of North America; that in the southern provinces, south-west winds predominate; and that the north-west become gradually more frequent as we approach the frigid zone.

In Egypt, during part of May, and during June, July, August, and September, the wind blows almost constantly from the north, varying sometimes in June to the west, and in July to the west and the east ; during part of September, and in October and November, the winds are variable, but blow more regularly from the east than any other quarter; in December, January, and February, they blow from the north, northwest, and west; towards the end of February they change to the south, in which quarter they continue till near the end of March; during the last days in March and in April, they blow from the south-east, south, and south-west, and at last from the east; and in this direction they continue during a part of May.

In the Mediterranean the wind blows nearly three-fourths of the year from the north; about the equinoxes there is always an easterly wind in that sea, which is generally more constant in spring than in autumn. These observations de not apply to the gut of Gibraltar, where there are seldom any winds except the cast and the west. * At Bastia, in the island of Corsica, the prevailing wind is the south-west.

In Syria the north wind blows from the autumnal equinox to November; during December, January, and February, the winds blow from the west and south-west; in March they blow from the south, in May from the east, and in June from the north. From this month to the autumnal equinox, the wind changes gradually as the sun approaches the equator; first to the east, then to the south, and lastly to the west. At Bagdad, the most frequent winds are the

south-west and north-west ; at Pekin, the nortE and the south; at Kamtschatka, on the northeast coast of Asia, the prevailing winds blow from the west.

In Italy, the prevailing winds differ considerably according to the situation of the places where the observations have been made: at Rome and Padua, they are northerly, at Milan easterly. All that we have been able to learn concerning Spain and Portugal is, that on the west coast of these countries, the west is by far the most common wind, particularly in summer; and that at Madrid the wind is north-east for the greatest part of the summer, blowing almost constantly from the Pyrenean mountains. At Berne is Switzerland, the prevailing winds are the north and west; at St. Gothard, the north-east; at Lausanne, the north-west and south-west.

Father Cotte has given us the result of observations made at 86 different places of France; from which it appears, that along the whole south coast of that kingdom the wind blows most frequently from the north, north-west, and northeast; on the west coast, from the west, southwest, and north-west; and on the north coast from the south-west. That in the interior parts of France, the south-west wind blows most frequently in 18 places; the west wind in 14; the north in 13; the south in 6; the north-east in 4; the south-east in 2; the east and north-west each of them one. On the west coast of the Netherlands, as far as Rotterdam, the prevailing winds are probably the south-west, at least, this is the case at Dunkirk and Rotterdam. It is probable also, that along the rest of this coast, from the Hague to Hamburgh, the prevailing winds are the north-west, at least these winds are most frequent at the Hague and at Franeker. The prevailing wind at Delft is the south-east; and at Breda, the north and the east.

In Germany, the east wind is most frequent at Gottingen, Munich, Weissenburgh, Dusseldorf, Saganum, Erford, and at Buda in Hungary; the south-east at Prague and Wirtzburg, the north-east at Ratisbon; and the west at Manheim and Berlin.

From an average of ten years of the register kept by order of the Royal Society, it appears that at London the winds blow in the following order:

It appears, from the same register, that the south-west wind blows at an average more frequently than any other wind during every month of the year, and that it b.ows longest in July and August; that the north east blows most constantly during January, March, April, May, and June, and most seldom during February, Juls, September, and December; and that the northwest wind blows oftener from November to March, and more seldom during September and October than any other months. The south-west winds are also most frequent at Bristol, and next to them are the north-east.

The following table of the winds at Lancaster has been drawn up from a register kept for seven years at that place:

the hurricane which tears up trees and blows down houses. It has been remarked, that our most violent winds take place when neither the heat nor the cold is greatest; that violent winds generally extend over a great tract of country, and that they are accompanied by sudden and great falls in the mercury of the barometer. The

reason appears to be, that violent winds succeed

the precipitation in rain of a large quantity of vapour, which previously constituted a part of the bulk of the atmosphere; and this precipitation cannot take place when the general temperature approaches to either extreme. The wind is sometimes very violent at a distance from the earth, while it is quite calm at its sur face. On one occasion Lunardi went at the rate of 70 miles an hour in his balloon, though it was quite calm at Edinburgh when he ascended, and continued so during his whole voyage. The same thing happened to Garnerin and his companion in their aerostatic voyage to Colchester. This again may be illustrated by the motions of dense fluids, which are always impeded in the parts contiguous to the sides and bottom of the vessels; and the same thing happens in tide-rivers, where the boatman, when he wishes to proceed with the tide, commits himself to the middle of the stream: but when he has to strive against it, he keeps close to the shore. It is, therefore, not the upper parts of the atmosphere which are accelerated, but the lower are retarded by friction against the surface of the

earth.

made to diminish the windage, which cannot fail to be of very great advantage; as the shot will both go much truer, and have less room to bounce about from side to side, to the great damage of the gun; and besides, much less powder will serve for the same effect, as it some cases or the inflamed powder escapes by the windage. The French allowance of windage is 1-25th of the diameter of the ball. For more on this subject, see the valuable experiments described in Hutton's Tracts, vola. ii. and iii.

WINDAW, a town of the duchy of Cour land, with a castle, and a harbour at the mouth of the Wetaw, in the Baltic, 70 miles N.W. of Mittaw, and 100 N. of Memel. Lon. 22. 5 E. Lat. 57. 20 N.

WINDBOUND. a. (wind and bound.) Confined by contrary winds (Spectator). WINDÉGG. s. An egg not impregnated a an egg that does not contain the principles of life (Brown).

WI'NDER. s. (from wind.) 1. An instrument or person by which any thing is turned round (Swift). 3. A plant that twists itself round others (Bacon).

WINDERMERE-WATER, or WINAN DER-MERE, the most extensive lake in England, lying between Westmorland and Lancashire. It extends 10 miles from N. to S., but in no part broader than a mile; and ex hibits a greater variety of fine landscapes than any lake in England. It is famous for its fine char, and abounds also with trout, perch, pike, and eel. It has a communication on the W. with Esthwaite-water; and its principal feeders are the rivers Rothay and Brathay. This Jake is frequently intersected by promontories, and spotted with islands. Among these, the Holme, or Great Island, an oblong tract of 30 acres, crosses the lake in an oblique line, surrounded by a number of inferior isles, finely wooded. Not one bulrush, or swampy reed, defiles the margin of this lake.

WINDFALL. s. (wind and fall.) 1. Fruit blown down from the tree (Evelyn). 2. An unexpected legacy.

WIND-FLOWER, in botany. See Axt

MONE.

WIND-GALL, a puffy kind of swelling or tumour on the joints of horses which yields to the pressure of the finger, but, upon removing the pressure, recovers itself, and pushes out as before. It has been thus named from a false notion of its containing nothing but air, or wind. These tumours are often seated on both sides of the back-sinew of a horse, above the fetlock on the fore-legs, but most frequently on the hindlegs. They are quite loose and detached from the parts on which they grow, and exhibit the same signs wherever they are met with, whether in the hocks or about the knees; for these swellings are not confined to the lower limbs only, but appear in any of those parts of a horse's body where the cellular membrane can be easily separated; and they exist, for the most part, without occasioning any pain.

Wind-galls are usually caused by riding on

wery hard roads, or on dry hilly grounds. Sometimes travelling horses, when they are worked too young, before the limbs are grown firm and vigorous, will have them. Gibson gays they sometimes proceed from constitutional weakness, especially in bulky horses. They generally recover, however, with a day's rest. Those flatulent swellings, indeed, that come in the ligaments of the hocks are always tronblesome, disfigure the animal, and, unless speedily assisted, will cause incurable lameness. At first they are but small, but in time they grow to the size of a pullet's egg perhaps, and push out on each side of the hollow of the hock. Swellings of the same kind also appear above, the knee, where they often precede a diseased joint. Very small similar swellings under the fore-part of the knee, in the interstices of both sides of the joint, are also dangerous; but these seldom happen, and are usually caused by some violent strain, especially when a horse falls down upon a descent with his whole weight upon his knees. The other flatulent swellings which horses are subject to seldom cause lameness, but are, for the most part, easily cured. We mean those that arise in the insterstices of the large muscles of the hips and thighs, which are distended like little bladders filled with air. These come by strains and over exertion; for draught horses are the most subject to them of all others. Wind-galls that proceed from mere weakness are seldom curable, unless the constitution can be improved; but we often see horses that were subject to wind-galls when young get the better of them as they grow to maturity.

Wind-galls that proceed from hard riding, or the other causes above-mentioned, are more easily prevented than cured; for though few horses go lame with these tumours, yet they always disfigure the part where they are situ ated; and therefore young horses of value ought not to travel much, especially with heavy riders, before they come to their full strength. If they swell about the pasterns, and the swelling does not ascend towards the knee, but with an apparent fulness on cach side the back sinew, it is to be suspected wind-galls are taking place. With a view to prevent their progress, Gibson advises us to bathe them well with vinegar or verjuice, or other powerful astringents.

But when wind-galls are grown pretty large, they feel like kernels or indurated glands. If these be in the hind legs, it is scarce worth while to meddle with them; as we see many good hacks and road horses travel long journey's with these defects without going lame; but when they are situated on the fore-legs they are apt to make a horse trip and stumble, or, at least, appear very stiff after riding. In this case the cure may be attempted by mild blisters. Some merely pierce them with a lancet, but that often in flames and renders them more obstinate, whilst blisters, ocn repeated, dissipate them effectually, Gibroa anys, blistering always has this effet in those wind-24lls that VOL. XI.-PART II.

arise above the fetlock, and sometimes he has known blistering alone to succeed in these tumours when situated on the hocks; but this has been repeated, at times, for the space of a year or a year and a half, working the horse as usual in all the intervals. These accidents happen chiefly to coach-horses and others that draw heavy loads, and the best way to manage their blisters is this: a liule blistering ointment should be laid on every other day for a week, which brings on a plentiful discharge, and when this is dried up, which generally happens in a few days, the horse may go to his usual work for three weeks'or a month, after which the blistering may be repeated, if it be a convenient time for the owner, or at any other season when the horse can have a little rest. Horses have been blistered in this manner six or eight times within the year, by which means they daily got some ground. The swellings gradually were reduced, the parts strengthened, and no manner of blemish has been left, nor any loss of hair, and the lameness has been en tirely removed. Firing is, indeed, a more expeditious remedy, being but a single operation, which is seldom or never repeated; yet firing not only leaves blemishes, but Gibson asserts, it is, for the most part, an imperfect cure, as there always remains a stiffness and fulness about the joint; and the only good obtained by it is, that it stops the progress of the malady, and renders the horse much more useful than he was before the operation.

For those flatulent swellings that sometimes rise near the joint of a horse's knee, if astringent applications have not force enough to remove them, the best way is to blister without delay, for when these are seated near the knee they prove dangerous, unless speedily removed. For this reason firing is also proper after blis tering, but this should be done with a small iron, and the lines or rases made as near to one another as possible, afterwards covering the whole knee with a mercurial application.

WIND-GAGE. See ANEMOMETER.
WIND-GUN. See AIR-GUN.

WINDINESS. s. (from windy.) 1. Ful ness of wind; flatulence (Floyer). 2. Tendency to generate wind (Bacon). 3. Tumour; puffiness (Brerewood).

WINDING. s. (from wind.) Flexure; meander (Addison).

WINDINGSHEET. s. (wind and sheet.) A sheet in which the dead are enwrapped (Shakspeare).

WINDLASS, or WINDLACE, a particular machine used for raising heavy weights, as gons, stones, anchors, &c.

This is a very simple machine, consisting only of an axis or roller, supported horizontaliv at the two ends by two pieces of wood and a pulley: the two pieces of wood meet at top, being placed diagonally so as to prop each ether; and the axis or roller goes through the two pieces, and turns in them. The pulley fastened at top, where the picces join. Lastly, there are two staves er hand-spikes which

through the roller, to turn it by; and the rope, which comes over the pulley, is wound off and on the same.

WINDLASS, in a ship, is an instrument, in small ships placed upon the deck, just abaft the foremast. It is made of a piece of timber six or eight feet square, in form of an axletree, whose length is placed horizontally upon two pieces of wood at the ends, and upon which it is turned about by the help of handspikes put into holes made for that purpose. This instrument serves for weighing anchors, or hoisting of any weight in or out of the ship, and will purchase much more than any capstan, and that without any danger to those "who heave: for if in heaving the windlass about any of the handspikes should happen to break, the windlass would pall of itself.

WINDMILL, a machine turned by the power of the wind, which is caused to act upon vanes or sails, and give them a rotary motion. The external structure of the common windmill is well known to every person, but the interior mechanism not being so generally understood, we have given (in plate 175) a vertical section of a whole mill, which is upon the best construction. The four sails are fixed to an iron axis AA, by screwing them to an iron cross at one end of it. Two of these sails are marked BB; upon the axis within the mill a cog wheel D is fixed, and this turns a wheel C, on the upper end of a vertical shaft, EE, extending from the top to the bottom of the mill, to turn the machinery: on the lower end of it is a large wheel F, which turns two pinions a a, upon the spindles of the mill-stones bb; these are on the same construction as those described in our article FLOUR-MILL, to which we refer. AG is a wheel upon the main axis, giving motion to a pinion on an horizontal shaft H, which has one or more wheels upon it, to receive an endless rope for turning the bolting and dressing machines; for a description of which see BOLTING MILL.

We will now enter more fully into the mechanism of the upper part of the mill, which is called its head or cap, marked II, and contains the axis A A. This is supported upon bearings, one near the sails and the other at its extreme end, as is shewn in fig. 2, plate 176, which is an horizontal section of the head, shewing the circular kirb or wooden ring K, and the framing which is bolted upon it to support the axis.

The construction of the axis is shewn in figs. 3 and 4 of plate 176. It consists of an octagonal iron shaft with two cylindrical necks at c and d, where it rests upon its bearings. At the end it has a kind of box e, which has two mortices through it in perpendicular directions to receive the sails B B. At the back of one of these mortices, and the front of the other, a projecting arm is left in the casting to receive screw bolts, which hold the sails fast in the mortices: the cog wheel is fitted on at D, its arms being bolted against a flaunch, cast

on the axis. The sails are braced by an iron stay f to each arm, proceeding from the end of a pole g, which is fixed at the end of the cast iron axis. The sails are formed of a sail cloth, spread upon a kind of lattice-work or framing, composed of rails morticed into the arms of the sails B B. The plane of these frames is inclined to the plane of the sails' motion, at such an angle, that the wind blowing in the direc tion of the axis, acts upon them as inclined planes, and turns them about, with a power proportionate to the size of the sails and force of the wind. It is necessary as the wind changes its direction to turn the sails about, that the axis may be always in the direction of the wind; this motion is effected by turning the head of the mill round upon the walls or frame LL, composing the body of the mill. At the top of this is a circular kirb, upon which s number of rollers are placed, and the kirb K of the cap lies upon these rollers, which are kept equidistant from each other by their centre pins being fitted into a circular hoop. By this means, though the head with the wheels and sails weigh many tons, they can be turned round to face the wind by a slight power; but in the best kind of windmill, such as is represented in our plate 175, the head is contrived to turn itself about whenever the wind changes. This is done by a small pair of sails M, fixed up in a frame projecting from the back of the head; it has a wheel upon its axis turning an other upon an inclined axis h, and this has a pinion turning a wheel i upon a vertical axis, at the lower end of which is a pinion working in a range of cogs, fixed round in the outside of the kirb. By this means, whenever the vane M is turned it moves the head of the mill slowly round, and with proportionate power. Now if ever the wind varies in the least from the direction of the axis, it acts obliquely upon the vanes M, and turns them round, at the same time setting the head right again. But when the axis is right, the wind blows in the plane of the vanes, and has no effect upon them. The head of the mill is kept firmly in its place by rollers, figs. 5 and 6; the frames of these are bolted to the lower side of the framing of the head, and then the rollers apply to the inside of the kirb K: there are eight of these rollers, four of each kind. The pivot at the upper end of the vertical shaft E is supported in a bearing bolted to a cross beam in the framing of the head of the mill, and this is precisely in the centre of the head, that it may not vary as the head turns round. Many other things are so evident in the drawings as to need little explanation. Such are the walls NN, the different floors OO): at P P is a circular gallery all round the mill for the miller to go round, to take the cloth off the sails in high winds, or when the mill is to stop; this is done by untying the cloth at the extremity of the sails, and twisting it up like a rope, and tying the end of it again, in which state it presents no surface to the wind. At Q is a roller turned round by a wheel on the vertical shaft £;