Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/384

WEATHEB SIGNAL 326 WEBB revolution that has taken place in our ideas with regard to the utility of mete- orology, concerning which science it is only a comparatively few years since prominent astronomers and physicists expressed grave doubts as to the value of the great accumulation of observa- tions, and as to the possibility of devel- oping anything more than a crude and useless guess as to the weather of the forthcoming day. WEATHER SIGNAL, a signal for in- dicating weather conditions. Five flags are used by the United States Weather Bureau to indicate the temperature and ordinary conditions of the weather. They are numbered 1 to 5, but some are used in couples to form combinations. No. 1 is a perfect white square and indicates "clear or fair weather." No. 2 is all blue, also square, and its meaning is "rain or snow." No. 3 is a black tri- angle and is called the "temperature sig- nal." It is always used in combination with either the white or blue square. When placed above the white or blue flag it means that the weather will be warmer, and when below, that it will be colder. When it is omitted altogether, the significance is that the temperature will be stationary. Sometimes three flags are used in combination. For ex- ample, when the triangular flag is at the top of the pole, with the white square immediately below it, and the blue square below the white, the signal reads "warmer, fair weather, followed by rain or snow." No. 4 is the "cold wave" sig- nal. It is a white square with a black square in the center of the white. It shows up very clearly, and can never be mistaken for anything else. No. 5 indi- cates "local rains or showers." It is a square flag, of which the upper half is white and the lower blue. See Weather Bureau, WEAVER, JAMES B., an American lawyer; born in Dayton, O., June 12, 1833; was admitted to the bar in 1854; served in the Union army during the Civil War, becoming a Brigadier-Gen- eral of volunteers. After the war he practiced law in Iowa; filled several of- fices in that State; edited the "Iowa Tribune," published in Des Moines; was a member of Congress in 1879-1881; the Greenback candidate for President of the United States in 1880; again in Congress in 1885-1889; and in 1892 again became a candidate for the presi- dency, this time on the People's party ticket, receiving 22 electoral votes. He died in 1912. WEAVER BIRD, a popular name for any species of the family Ploceidae. Both the scientific and trivial names of these birds have reference to the re- markable structure of their nests. The weaver birds are large finches, with somewhat elongated bodies, moderate WEAVER BIRDS AND NEST wings, long tails, and very bright coats, the latter often varied in the breeding season. WEAVING, the art of interlacing yarn threads or other filaments by means of a loom, so as to form a web of cloth or other woven fabric. In this process two sets of threads are employed, which traverse the web at right angles to each other. The first set extends from end to end of the web in parallel lines, and is commonly called the warp; while the other set of threads crosses and inter- laces with the warp from side to side of the web, and is generally called the weft or woof. In all forms of weaving the warp threads are first set up in the loom, and then the weft threads are worked into the warp, to and fro, by means of a shuttle. It was by this fundamental process of interlacing two sets of thread in looms of simple mech- anism that the mummy cloths of Egypt, the fine damasks and tapestries of the Greeks and Romans, the Indian muslins, the shawls of Cashmere, and the famed textile fabrics of Italy and the Nether- lands were produced. From the latter countries weaving by means of a hand loom was introduced into England. WEBB. ALEXANDER STEWART, an American educator; born in New York City, Feb. 15, 1835; was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1855; commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 4th Artillery; entered the Civil War