WHITNEY. 492 WHITNEY. WHITNEY, Asa (1791-1874). An Ameri- can ineclianical engineer and manufacturer. He •was born in Townsend, Mass.. and in his youth learned the trade of blacksmith and machinist. Aft*r engaging in the manufacture of machinery in several States he became master machinist (1830) and superintendent (1833) of the Mo- hawk and Hudson Railroad. From 1839 to 1841 he was a canal commissioner of the State of Xew York, and in 1842 went into partnership with Matthew Baldwin in the manufacture of locomo- tives at Philadelphia. In 1847 he patented a process for making cast-iron annealed car wheels, and engaged in their manufacture on a large scale, subsequently introducing other improve- ments which increased the strength of the wheels and contributed materially to the safety of rail- way travel. Mr. Whitney served for a year as president of the Reading Railroad. He left $50,- 000 to the University of Pennsylvania for the founding of a chair of dynamical engineering. WHITNEY, Eli (1765-1825). An American inventor, famous for his invention of the cotton gin. He was born at Westboro, Mass., and was educated at Yale College, where he gradu- ated in 1792. He then went to Georgia as a teacher, where he found a generous patron in the widow of General Nathanael Greene, of the Revo- lutionary Army, on whose estate he resided, and studied law. AVhile here he had opportunity to display his inventive genius, and at the request of soine neighbors of Mrs. Greene he attempted to devise a machine for separating the seed from the fibre of the green seed cotton. He set to work under great disadvantages, having to make his own tools, and even to draw his own wire, while rumors of his success led some law- less people to break into his worksliop and steal his machine before he could obtain a patent for it. Forming a partnershij) with one Miller in 1793, he went to Connecticut to manufacture cotton gins, but litigation in defense of his rights consumed all his profits and .^50,000 voted him by the State of South Carolina. Finally, in 1798 he got a Government contract for the manufacture of firearms, which he carried out with ingenious machinery so arranged as to secure absolute in- terchangeability of parts. His manufactory of firearms was located at Whitneyville, Conn., and was maintained with success. ^Yhitney had but little material reward from the gin. which immediately proved one of the most important inventions connected with the cotton manufac- ture. See Cotton ; Cotton Gi.v. WHITNEY, James AMAZi.
(1839—). .
American lawyer and author, born at Rochester, N. Y. He studied mechanics, engineering, and chemistry, and in 1808 became an editor of the Atnerican Artisan. He was one of the founders of the New York Society of Practical Engineer- ing, of which he was for some time president, and in 1869-72 he was professor of agricultural chemistry in the American Institute. He par- ticularly interested himself in equity, and in patent and copyright law. His publications in- clude: The Relation of the Patent Lrnrs to the Derelopnient of Agriculture (1874) ; The Chinese and the Chinese Question (18S0: enlarged 1888) ; Honncts and Lyrics (1884) ; and The Children of Lamech (1885), a poem. His Poetical Works were collected in 1880. WHITNEY, JosiAH Dwight (1819-96). An American geologist, born at Northampton, Mass., the brother of Professor William D. Whitney. He was educated at Yale College, and in 1840 was employed on the New Hampshire geological sur- vey. After serving in similar surveys of Ohio, the Lake Superior region, Iowa, and Wisconsin, he became State geologist of California, occupy- ing this ofJice from 1860 to 1874. In 1SG5 he was called to the chair of geology at Harvard University. Through his travels and studies in the principal mining regions of the United States, Whitney became the foremost authority of his day on economic geology, and he was able to perform a great service in the development of the mineral resources of the country. The best known of his writings are: The Mineral Wealth of the United States (1854) ; A Report on the Upper Mississippi Land Region (1802); The Geological Survey of California (1864-70) : The Yosemite Guide-Book (1869) ; with J. W. Foster, Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District (1851-52); and with James Hall, Geological Report on Ohio (1858). WHITNEY, Samuel Brenton (1842—). An American organist, conductor, and composer, born in Woodstock, Vt. He was educated under Charles Wcls, of New Y'ork, and .J. K. Paine, of Cambridge, Slass., in which latter city he .se- cured his first organ appointment. He came to be regarded as the greatest Bach player of the United States, and was appointed professor of organ-playing and lecturer in music at the Bos- ton University and the New England Conserva- tory. In 1871 he was appointed organist and choir director of the Church of the Advent. Bos- ton. His compositions include many anthems and other church pieces, songs, pianoforte mu- sic, sonatas, transcriptions, and arrangements for the organ. WHITNEY, WiLLi.wi COLLIN-S (1841-1904). An American politician and Cabinet officer, born in Conway, Mass., and educated at Yale and at Harvard. He settled in New York City, where he was admitted to the bar. In 1871 he was prominent in organizing the Y'oung Men's Demo- cratic Club, and was active in the movement against the 'Tweed Ring.' From 1875 to 1882 he was Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, and during his administration of the office the work of the city's Law Department was complete- ly reorganized and simplified in such a manner as to save thousands of dollars annually. He was active in 1882 in the State campaign which resulted in the election of Grover Cleveland as Governor, and from 1885 to 1889, during Cleve- land's first administration as President, was Secretary of the "Savy. Lender his control con- siderable progress was made in building the 'new navy.' He afterwards engaged in extensiv.e financial enterprises in New York, and in 1892 successfully managed the Cleveland Presidential campaign. WHITNEY, William Dwioiit (1827-94). .
American Sanskrit scholar and philologist,
born at Xortlianipton, Mass. He graduated at Williams College in 1845. For the next three or four years he was clerk in the Northampton Bank, but began to show a marked interest in natural science and in languages. In 1849. as assistant sub-agent, he accompanied the United
