Mr. F. directs them to be touched on the back with a little oil, when they will instantly fall down; their bodies acquiring a black or green colour; and, the lateral pores through which they breathe, being closed up by the oil, they consequently perish.
As the proper remedies for procuring relief in the painful sensation arising from the sting of these insects, are similar to those employed for the Sting of Bees, we refer the reader to vol. i. pp. 231-32. If, however, any wasps be accidentally swallowed in beer, or other liquor, a small portion of honey, vinegar, and sweet-oil, may be mixed together; a tea-spoonful of which should be frequently taken; till the pain and inflammation abate. The efficacy of this remedy has been fully proved by experience.
Waste Lands. See Land.
Watch. See Time-piece.
Watchfulness. See Waking.
WATER, a transparent fluid, destitute of colour, taste, and smell: it was formerly considered as one of the four elements: when perfcftly pure, it does not spontaneously undergo any perceptible change; remains liquid in the common temperature of the atmosphere; becomes solid, at 32 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer; and is converted into vapour, at 212°; but resumes its fluidity, on being reduced to any intermediate degree.
Water is capable of dissolving most of the natural bodies, and particularly salts; while it constitutes a material part both of the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
Till the latter end of the 18th century, water was generally believed to be a simple dement, which might, by repeated distillalion, be converted into earth: it is now, however, demonstrated to be a compound.
Water may be divided into two general classes, namely, saline, and fresh. The former is derived from the different seas which surround the globe: it contains a large portion of common salt, magnesia, &c.—See Sea-water.
Fresh water may, farther, be divided into atmospheric, which includes hail, rain, and snow-water, and also dew; stagnant, such as that of lakes, ponds, and marshes; and running, which comprehends spring, well, and river-water. To these may be added Mineral Waters, being impregnated with various earthy and metallic ingredients, from which they derive peculiar properties. Explicit directions for analyzing them, have been given in vol. ii. pp. 213-15.
Water is one of the most useful elements in the arts and manufactures, as well as in rural and domestic economy: hence, various machines have been invented, for the purpose of raising and diffusing this salutary fluid:—the following contrivances deserve particular notice.
The machine, of which the annexed figure will convey an accurate idea, was executed at Oulton, in Cheshire, by Mr. Whitehurst, for the service of a brewhouse, and other offices, belonging to Philip Egerton, Esq. Its design is, to raise water by the momentum, or force which this fluid acquires when confined: it having effectually answered the purpose, we have been induced to give a description of its constituent parts, from the 65th vol. of the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society," for 1774.
