Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/598

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WILBERFOKCE. 508 Wilberforce (ib., 1838), chief authority; Clark- son, History of the Rise, Progress, and Accom- plishment of the Abolition of the African filave Trade hy the British Parliament {New York, ISSC). WILBERG, viI'berK, Christian (1839-82). A Ciernian painter and etcher, born at Havelberg. He studied under Eduard Pape, Weber, and Gro- pius, in Berlin, and then in Dilsseldorf under Oswald Achenbach (1870). He became known as an architectural painter, particularly of in- teriors like those of Saint Mark's in Venice and the Cappella Palatina in Palermo. His other works include: "Villa ilondragone at Frascati" (National Gallery, Berlin) ; "ilemento Jlori," a scene from the Sabine Hills (Dresden Gallery) ; "View in Greece" (Kunsthalle, Hamburg) ; and "The Acropolis of Pergamon." He also left about twenty etchings of German, Greek, and Italian views. WILBRANDT, vil'brant, Adolf (1837—). A Gierman novelist and dramatist, born in Eostock. His novels of present-day problems, Adams SOhne (1890), Hermann Ifinger (1892), Der Dorneniceg (1894), Schleichendes Gift ( 1897 ) , Feuerhlumen ( 1900) , Villa Maria { 1902) , and others, have been hardly less success- ful than his dramas, among which Erieinhild (1S77) is noteworthy as an effort to give new life to the heroic saga. Dcr Graf von Hammer- stein (1870), Die ilaler (1872), Gracchus (1872), Arria und Mcssalina (1872), and Gior- dano Bruno (1874) are also of mark. His best comedies are Jtigendliebe (1872) and Xathalie (1878). Deserving especial notice are also his excellent biographies of Heinrich von Kleist (1863), Holderlin, and Fritz Renter, the last two in the collection Fuhrende Geistcr (2d ed., Ber- lin. 1896). WIL'BUR, John (1774-1856). The founder of the A'ilburite branch of Friends (q.v.). He was born at Hopkinton. E. I., and spent much of his life as a school teacher and surveyor. At the age of tvent3'-eight he was appointed an elder in the orthodox Friends Church. For opposing the innovations made in the Church by Joseph B. Guerney and others lie was denounced in the Ehode Island Yearly Meeting in 1838, and when lie was sustained by his own monthly meeting of South Kensington, that meeting w'as dissolved, and its members were added to the Greenwich meeting, while in 1843 he was disowned. A con- siderable number of his supporters withdrew from the orthodo.x Church and formed an inde- pendent yearly meeting, whose members became known as 'ilburites. This branch, in 1900, numbered 44(18. Wilbur published A yarrative and Exposition (184.") I. His Journal and Cor- respondence were published bv his friends in 1859. Consult A. C. and H. R." Thomas. History of the Society of Friends in America (New Y'ork, 1894). WIL'COX, Cadmi-.s MARrEr.i.rs (1820-90). An -American soldier, born in Wayne County, N. C. He studied at Cumberland College, Nashville, graduated in 1846 at West Point, and served through the Mexican War. Upon the out- break of the Civil War he resigned his com- niiNsion of captain and was appointed a colonel in the provisional Confederate .service. He re- inforced General Beauregard at the first battle WILD. of Bull Run, and served with the Army of North- ern Virginia until its surrender. In 1801 he was ]iromoted to be brigadier-general, and in 1803 to lie major-general. He fought in the second battle of Bull Run and at Fredericksburg. Chan- cell orsA-ille, and Gettysburg, and after the war declined an appointment as brigadier-general in the Eg^-ptian Army. From 18S6 to 1889 he was chief of the i-ailroad division of the Washington general land-office. He published Rifles and Rifle-Practice (1859), Evolutions of the Line, as practiced by the Austrian Infantry and Adopted in. 18.j3 (1800), and a History of the Mexican ^yar. WILCOX, Ella (Wheeler) (1855—). An Amerionn jcjurnalist and poet, born at Johnstown Centre. Wis. She was educated at the University of Wisconsin and married (1884) Robert il. Wil- cox, of ileriden. Conn. Soon afterward she moved to New York. She was at an early age a frequent contributor to journals. Among her collections of verse may be named: Drops of Water: Temperance Poems (1872): Maurine (1876); Shells (1873); Poems of Passion (1883), her best known performance; and Poems of Pleasure (1888). Among her prose writings are: Mai Moulec, a novel; Men, Women, and Emotions; A Double Life; Su'cet Danger; and An Erring Woman's Love. She also wrote a, great many short essays for the New Y'ork Jour- nal, with whose readers she seemed to be very popular. WILD, vllt, Heinrich (1833-1902). A Swiss meteorologist and physicist. He was born at Uster ( Zurich ) , and was educated at Zurich, Konigsberg, and Heidelberg. In 1857 he was ap- pointed professor of physics and director of the observatory at Bern. Ihat institution he en- larged into a central meteorological bureau and laid the foundation of the extensive meteorologi- cal system of Switzerland. Appointed inspector of W'eights and measures in 1801, he brought about reforms, and was made head of the com- mission to maintain the standards (1867). In 1868 he was called to Saint Petersburg, where he completely reorganized the observatory and established a meteorological system throughout the Empire. Until his retirement in 1895 he remained in the service of the Russian Govern- ment. He invented the polaristrobometer — a form of saccharimeter — .a polarization photo- meter, a magnetic theodolite, and various new optical methods for comparing measures ot length. Many of his papers were published in the Annalcn des physikalischen Observatoriums fiir Rtissland and the Neues Repertorinm fiir Me- teorologie, founded by himself in 1865 and 1869 respectively; as also in the Mitteiliingen of tl»e International Polar Commission, of which he was president (1882-83). He published, furthermore, Tempcraturverhiillnisse des russisehcn Reichs (tables, atlas, etc., 1876; German and Russian). WILD, JoxATn.A.N (c.1682-1725). An Eng- lish thief and receiver of stolen goods. He was born at Wolverhampton, was apprentice to a, I'irmingham bncUlc-makcr. and about 1700 went to LondoiL Having been four years imprisoned for debt, he became .a receiver of stolen goods, and, when he chose, an informer. He coiichided his career at Tyburn. He is interesting chicfl.v as being in leather remote fashion the subject of Fielding's satire, Ilistori/ of the Life of the Late .Mr. Jonathan Wild the' Great (1743).