But the Jews were the only nation with which the week had a religious signification. With the Egyptians, Assyrians, etc., the seventh day was simply a day of recreation; with the Jews it was the day of worship, the sabbath. The Greeks divided the month into three periods of ten days (decades), and the Romans gathered the days into periods of eight days (nunding); with both, the first day of the period was the market-day, on which country people came to town and stirred up both business and public life. The period of seven days, the week proper, was introduced to the Romans and Greeks partly by Christianity (which may be inferred from the fact that the term sabbath was adopted), partly by the Egyptian astronomy and astrology. It recommended itself to the practical Romans as peculiarly convenient by its relation both to the lunar month and to the solar year. Among the Jews the days of the week had no names; they were simply counted. But the Egyptians named them after the seven planets then known, and in the following way: they arranged the planets according to their distance from the earth, beginning with the most distant; ascribed a planet to each hour, and named the day after the planet which reigned over its first hour. This method of appellation was adopted by the Romans, so that when Saturn presided over the first hour of the first day, which consequently became Saturday, the first hour of the second day would fall to the sun, etc. (For further details see the special articles on the days.) Weekes (HENRY), R. A., b. at Canterbury, England, in 1807; studied sculpture under Behnes and at the Royal Academy, where he entered 1823; was many years the principal assistant of Chantrey, whom he succeeded in his studio at Pimlico 1841; was elected to the Academy 1863, and became professor of sculpture there May 16, 1873. He executed the first bust of Queen Victoria (1837), statues of Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Wellesley, Bacon, Hunter, Harvey, Charles II., and many others, and gained a gold medal for the best treatise on the fine-art section of the Great Exhibition of 1851. D. May 29, 1877. Weeks (JOHN M.), b. at Litchfield, Conn., May 22, 1788; was educated at Salisbury, Vt., whither his parents removed in 1789; invented the "Vermont beehive," and was a contributor to agricultural journals. D. at Salisbury Sept. 1, 1858. He wrote A Manual on Bees (1854), also a posthumous History of Salisbury, Vt. (1860), edited, with a Memoir of the Author, by G. A. Weeks, and left in MS. a History of the Five Nations. Weeks, Feast of. See PENTECOST and EASTER. Weems (MASON L.), b. at Dumfries, Va., about 1760; studie i divinity in London; took orders in the Episcopal Church; was for several years rector of Pohick church, near Mount Vernon, Gen. Washington being one of his parishioners, and was subsequently famous for his success and his eccentricities as a book-agent for Matthew Carey, travelling through the Southern States, canvassing chiefly for his own books, of which the most celebrated were the Lives of Washington (1810) and of Marion (about 1805), to which were subsequently added those of Franklin (1817) and Penn (1819). The Life of Marion was written from data furnished by Gen. Horry, but the latter disavowed all sibility for the manner in which his materials had used. Several of the most widely-circulated anecdotes of the youthful days of Washington, such as the famous story of the "little hatchet," rest upon the questionable authority of Weems, who seems not to have shared his hero's conspicuous devotion to truth. D. at Beaufort, S. C., May 23, 1825. respons Wee'nix (JAN BAPTIST), THE ELDER, b. at Amsterdam in 1621; received his first instruction in the art of painting from Abraham Bloomaert and Nicholas Moojaert; resided for several years in Italy; settled after his return in Utrecht, and d. there in 1660. He painted mostly landscapes and seaport scenes.-His son, JAN WEENIX, THE YOUNGER (b. at Amsterdam in 1644, d. there in 1719), studied under his father, and acquired a great reputation as a painter of animals and hunting-scenes. There are numerous pictures by him in the galleries of Amsterdam, Munich, and Dresden. Weep'ing [Ang.-Sax. répan]. Weeping is a physical expression of certain mental emotions by shedding tears, accompanied, especially in children, by facial distortion and involuntary muscular contractions in other parts of the body. For the purpose of secreting the tears there is a special apparatus placed within the orbit at its upper part, consisting of a body called the lachrymal gland; of a reservoir, the lachrymal sac, and of certain canals, the ducta lachrymalia, which collect the tears from the inner angle and convey them to the lachrymal sac; and of a tube, the lachrymal duct, by which the secretion is carried from the sac into the nose. Aside from the office of the tears in, as we have said, expressing certain emotions, they serve to lubricate and keep moist the lining membrane of the eyelids and external coat of the eyeball, the conjunctiva. The secretion of tears, whether for emotional or ordinary phys iological purposes, is effected through the intermediation of the fifth pair and the sympathetic nerves. In emotional weeping the action is probably mainly induced through the sympathetic. In the lachrymation which is for the purpose of lubricating the ocular surfaces, or which is the result of irritating applications to them or to the neighboring mucous surfaces, the fifth is the channel of communication with the brain. Weeping is probably originally the expression of phys ical pain only. And yet, as is well known, very young infants, whose crying is in every instance due to physical uneasiness, do not shed tears. But, as Darwin noticed in the case of one of his own children, this is not the result of any inability of the lachrymal gland to secrete tears: for having accidentally brushed the open eye of the infant when seventy-one days old with the cuff of his coat, that eye watered freely, but the other did not weep, though the child screamed violently. As the individual advances toward adult life, tears are less apt to be shed as an expression of physical pain, until when fully grown it is exceedingly rare to find a man or woman, however much the countenance may be distorted and the body writhe, weep from bodily suffering. Weeping is excited by anger, sorrow, fear, joy, and in some cases by sympathy with others in their sorrows or joys, and again by intense interest in the highly-wrought and exalted actions of those in whom we are interested; and still, again, by musical compositions-more by singing than by instrumental performances-which, in a manner not easily explained, awaken in us the emotional excitement that leads to tears. The minor key has most influence in this direction. Funeral marches are almost invari ably composed in it. I have known highly-intellectual men and women who could listen to female voices without being moved till a certain note was sounded, generally one in the lower register, when tears would trickle down their cheeks. Contralto voices are, in my experience, more emotional than soprano. Diseases of the brain tending to diminish the functional activity of the organ increase the disposition to shed tears, and in some cases this is carried to an extent that would be ridiculous were it not a morbid phenomenon. The writer had a patient, a gentleman who had an organic disease of the brain, who could not see a funeral without weeping, and another who could not read the obituary column in a newspaper without shedding tears profusely. The insane are much more easily affected to tears than sane persons, and they weep disproportionately to the exciting cause. Sobbing, which is a species of weeping, appears to result in part from the attempt to restrain the emotions, and from a cause analogous to that which induces sighing-namely, the demand of the system for additional aëration of the blood-a process which intense emotion serves to disturb. Bibliography-Sir Charles Bell, The Anatomy of Erpression (London, 1844); Lavater, L'Art de connaitre les Hommes par la Physionomie (Paris, 1820); Lemoine, De la Physionomie et de la Parole (Paris, 1865); Piderit, Wissenschaftliches System der Mimik und Physiognomik (1867); Duchenne, Mécanisme de la Physionomie humaine (Paris, 1862); Bain, The Emotions and the Will (3d ed., London, 1875); Darwin, The Expression of the Emotiona in Man and Animals (London, 1872); Pfluger, Die Endigungen der Absonderungsnerven in der Speicheldrüse (Bonn, 1866); Demetschenko, Zur Innervation der Thrunendrüse (Pfluger's Archie, Bonn, 1872). WILLIAM A. HAMMOND. Weeping Water, on R. R., Cass co., Neb. (see map of Nebraska, ref. 10-H, for location of county), in S. E part of the State. It has an academy, opened in 1885. P. in 1880, 317; in 1885, 873. Weert, town of the Netherlands, province of Limburg. has some breweries, tanneries, distilleries, and manufac tures of tobacco. P. 7477. Weever. See TRACHINIDE, and also GREAT WEEVER Weever, or Weaver (JOHN), b. in Lancashire, England, in 1576; educated at Queen's College, Cambridge: travelled on the Continent and throughout the British isie in quest of antiquities, and published a work entitled The Ancient Funeral Monuments within the United Mouarchy of Great Britain, etc. (London, folio, 1631, of which a 3d ed., with addenda and an index by Rer. William Tooke, appeared in 1767. D. in London in 1632.-He is not to be confounded with another Jous WEEVER, his contemporary (b. 1576), who was the author of Epigrammes in the Oldest Cut and Newest Fashion (1599), and of a quaint poem, The Mirror of Martyrs, o WEEVIL-WEIGHING, CHEMICAL. the Life and Death of that Thrice-valiant Capitaine and most Godly Martyre, Sir John Oldcastle, Knight, Lord Cobham (1601). Wee'vil [Ang.-Sax. wifel], a term which, when compounded with some other word, is properly applied to many snout-beetles (Curculionida), but more particularly to the insects belonging to the genus Bruchus of Linnæus, formerly included among the Rhynchophora, but now placed in a family (Bruchidae) which connects the snout-beetles with the leaf-beetles (Chrysomelidae), and has greatest affinities with these last. The snout-beetles are characterized by the extension of the head into a snout or proboscis, at the tip of which the jaws are placed. By means of this snout the eggs are insertel where the larva is destined to live. Their larvæ are, with few exceptions, footless, clumsy grubs, with a horny head, and live within the blossoms, fruits, seeds, stems, or roots of plants. Some few even live within leaves. There are over 400 described North American species of the Curculionidæ proper, distributed among nearly 100 genera. The following are among the more notable in their larval habits: Conotrachelus ne- a, Calandra granaria; b, C. oryza. nuphar, Herbst, the plum- (The small outlines show the weevil (see CURCULIO), natural size.) works, as larva, in the flesh of stone fruit, and transforms in the ground; C. eratagi, Walsh, infests the pear and quince; Anthonomus prunicida, Walsh, works in the stones of plums, and transforms therein; A. suturalis, Lec., is inquilinous in Phylloxera, hickory galls; A. quadrigibbus, Say, works in apples and other pip fruit; Cœliodes inæqualis, Say, works in grapes; Analcis fragariæ, Riley, injures the erown and root of the strawberry; Baridius trinotatus, Say, the potato-stalk weevil, bores the stems of the potato; Ithycerus novaeboracensis, Forster, the New York weevil, breeds in the twigs of oaks; Pissodes strobi, Peck, burrows in the tips of pines; Hylobius pales, Herbst, in the stems and roots of Pinus sylvestris; Magdalis armicollis, Say, works under the bark of elms; Dorytomus mucidus, Say, breeds in the blossoms of cottonwoods and willows; Phytonomus comptus, Say, feeds on the leaves of Polygonum, and constructs a silken mesh-like cocoon in which to transform; Prionomerus calceatus, Say (= carbonarius, Gyll.), lives between the leaf-cuticles, and also makes a cocoon on the magnolia or tulip tree; Otidocephalus lævicollis, Horn, which resembles a wingless gall-fly, is inquilinous in the gall of Cynips q. globulus. The species of the genus Attelabus breed in thimble-shaped rolls of the leaves of oak, hickory, rose, sumach, etc. Balaninus comprises species with very long snouts, and known as "nutweevils," different species infesting different nuts, as caryæ, Horn, hickory nuts; Sayi, Gyll., chestnuts; uniformis, Lec., and quercus, Horn, acorns. Rhynchophorus Zimmermanni, Fahrs., our largest species, breeds in the palmetto palm; Spenosphorus zeæ, Walsh, breeds in moist, rotting wood; S. pulchellus, Schh., in stems of cockle-bur and other herbaceous plants. The grain-weevils are more particularly referred to at the end. The Bruchida, or weevils proper, mostly breed in the seeds of leguminous plants; their larvæ are fat, clumsy, wrinkled grubs, and in some instances are provided with short legs. Their eggs are not inserted in the pods, as has been heretofore asserted by authorities, but are invariably glued to the outside of the pod; they are elongate, generally smooth, but sometimes beautifully reticulate. The new-born larva eats directly through the pod and into the seed, the hole of entrance effectually closing up if the pod is yet green. The pea-weevil (Bruchus pisi, L.) affects peas, one individual appropriating the contents of one pea; the eggs are laid while the pod is forming. The beanweevil (Bruchus fabæ, Riley) infests beans, several individuals developing in the same bean; Bruchus bivulneratus, Horn, breeds in the seeds of Cassia marilandica, and its eggs, which are reticulate and fastened by two filaments anteriorly and one posteriorly, are laid on the mature pod; the honey-locust seed-weevil (Spermophagus robiniæ, Schh.) has distinct thoracic legs, and spins from the mouth a cocoon of silk, mixed with excrement, in which to undergo its transformations. Though the term "weevil," when used alone, is often very loosely and incorrectly applied by farmers to several insects that affect wheat, and particularly to the wheat 471 midge (Cecidomyia tritici)-a little orange, dipterous mag- Wei'gel (VALENTINE), a remarkable mystic and theosophist, b. at Hayn, near Dresden, Saxony, in 1533; became a Lutheran preacher at Zschoppau; strove in his writings to give a profound basis for Lutheranism by the introduction of ideas borrowed from Paracelsus, Tauler, Nicolaus Cusanus, and others. D. June 10, 1588. His life, writings, and influence have been discussed by Hilliger and J. O. Opel. W. T. HARRIS. Weige'la, a shrub found in China by the celebrated naturalist Dr. Robert Fortune, by whom it was introduced into England and named W. rosea, but afterward found to be identical with Diervilla, a genus introduced into Europe from Canada in the eighteenth century. In the U. S., where there are two species, it is known as "bush honeysuckle." Weigh'ing, Chemical. (See also WEIGHts, ChemICAL.) The accurate determination of the weight of a substance is of special importance in quantitative analysis (see CHEMICAL ANALYSIS) and in other chemical processes. In order to arrive at true results in this operation the balance and weights employed must be correct, and certain precautions observed in their use. The chemical balance, in its most approved form, consists of a light but strong brass beam, which is suspended at its centre on an agate or steel knife-edge, resting on a smooth agate plane fixed on a brass column. At each extremity of the beam is a steel or agate prism supporting an agate plane, from which the pans are suspended by means of bent wires. Except when in use, the weight of the beam and pans does not rest upon the agate surfaces, but is supported by a brass frame which is operated by means of an eccentric extending outside of the balance-case. A second attachment is often added, which supports the weight of the pans and prevents their oscillation. The movements of the beam are indicated by a long index-needle extending below and passing over a small ivory scale. The beam is often graduated into tenths, the smaller weights (milligrammes and fractional parts thereof) being estimated by means of a bent wire centigramme weight, termed the rider, which is placed upon the divisions of the beam by means of a rod operated from the exterior of the case. The balance is maintained in a horizontal position by the aid of levelling-screws and a circular spiritlevel. The stability of the beam is regulated by having a movable weight placed above its point of suspension; its equilibrium can be adjusted by means of movable vanes or by screws attached to its extremities. The entire instrument must always be protected from the influence of currents of air, dust, etc., by a glass case provided with suitable windows. The balance used in ASSAYING (which see) is particularly adapted for accurately weighing small amounts of material with rapidity; it is smaller than the ordinary chemical balance, and is provided with loose scale-pans. In order that a chemical balance may be accurate, the point on which the beam rests must be above the centre of gravity of the balance; the point of suspension of the scales must be in a line absolutely horizontal with the fulerum; the beam must be of sufficient strength to support the weights used without bending; and the arms of the beam must possess equal length. The greatest sensibility is attained when the friction of the edges upon the supporting planes is as small as possible, when the beams are of the slightest possible weight, and when the centre of gravity lies as near as possible to the fulcrum or point on which the beam rests. A good chemical balance should stand the following tests: When the pans are empty, the index-needle should point to the zero of the scale, or make equal and slow excursions on either side; if the pans are removed, the beam should be in equilibrium, and remain so when it is turned round from right to left if its construction permits of this change; on equally loading the pans, the beam should also be in equilibrium, and resume its orginal position when its oscillations are suddenly arrested; it should bear a load of 75 grammes on each pan, and indicate a weight of 1 milligramme; in its ordinary condition the addition of th milligramme should cause the beam to turn distinctly. A chemical balance should be moved as little as possible, and be carefully protected from moisture and acid fumes. Presence of moisture is best prevented by placing in the balance-case a dish containing chloride of calcium or quicklime. The parts of the balance should never be removed or cleaned without adequate cause. Weighings may be executed either directly or by substi tution. By the former mode the substance is placed upon one scale and the weights upon the other. It is advisable always to place the substance to be weighed upon the same pan-most conveniently the left-although in assaying the reverse is practised. Much time is saved in determining the weight of a substance if a systematic plan in using the weights is adopted, and they are added in their proper order, as 20, 10, 5, 2, 1, etc., the rider being employed for the milligrammes. As soon as equilibrium is nearly attained, the increase or decrease of weight required will be indicated by the rapidity and extent of the oscillations of the index-needle. Errors in reading off the result of a weighing are often avoided by counting first from the vacant spaces left in the weight-box, and then removing the weights from the pan while again counting them. body to be weighed is seldom or never placed directly upon the pan, but is introduced into a vessel of platinum, porcelain, or glass which has been weighed when empty. It is then weighed with the substance, and its weight when empty subtracted, or the weight of the vessel and substance is first determined, a portion of the latter taken out, and the weighing repeated, the quantity of substance removed being then the decrease in weight. Bodies that rapidly absorb moisture must invariably be weighed in closed vessels, and those that possess a higher temperature than the surrounding air should be allowed to cool in a vessel containing chloride of calcium or concentrated sulphuric acid, in order to avoid the condensation of moisture upon their surfaces; besides, if a substance is weighed when hot, the current of heated air produced in the balancecase always affects the movements of the beam, causing it also to expand slightly, thus vitiating the accuracy of the weighing. As the specific gravities of the substances weighed are not the same as that of the weights used, absolutely correct results are obtained only when the process is performed in vacuo, or when corrections are made by adding the weights of the volumes of air corresponding to the volume of the substance and weights. This refinement, however, is seldom necessary, as the density of the air is very small compared with that of the solids involved. The The method of weighing by substitution, which affords exceedingly accurate results even if the beams are unequal in length and are not in exact equipoise, is often employed in the determination of the atomic weight of an element. It is executed by placing the substance to be weighed in one pan, restoring the equilibrium of the balance by adding weights to the other pan, removing then the substance, and again counterpoising by substituting the necessary weights in its place; or it can be accomplished also by first placing a tare, consisting of shot or wire, and having a greater weight than the substance, in one pan, and balancing it with the proper weights: the weights are then removed and the substances to be weighed put in their place, together with the smaller weights required to counterpoise the tare, and the weights added deducted from the known weight of the tare, the difference being the weight of the substance. Weighing by reversal-i. e. repeatedly changing the substances weighed from one pan to the other, and restoring equilibrium to the beam by means of a small and constant weight-is advantageously employed in comparing nearly equal weights. The same result is obtained by causing the beam to oscillate slowly and observing the extent of each excursion. For this purpose, a small scale, divided into spaces of th of an inch, is fixed to one end of the beam, and the length of each oscillation determined by viewing the scale through a fixed compound microscope provided with a horizontal wire in the focus of the eyepiece, or by having a small mirror attached to the beam, in which the image of the scale is observed by means of a fixed telescope. Good chemical balances are manufactured by Becker (New York and Brussels), Oertling (London and Berlin), Fortin (Paris), Staudinger (Giessen), Steinheil (Munich), and Sacré (Brussels). J. P. BATTERSHALL, Weigh'ing-Machines. Weighing is the direct and accurate comparison of a body, the potential gravity of which is not known, with another body, the gravity of which has been previously ascertained, and which is taken as a standard, as a pound in this country, a gram in France, a tale in China, or a cattie in Japan. If, for example, we take one of these weights, or any other, and arrange in relation therewith and under identical conditions another body which counteracts or balances the gravity of the weight, we know that the second is exactly equal to the first. These conditions are fulfilled in the simplest and oldest form of weighing-machines, the common balance. This is simply a lever having its fulcrum in the centre and its arms of equal weight and length. The standard weight being placed at one end of the lever, and the article to be weighed at the opposite end, and equidistant from the fulerum or point of suspension, the lever will be horizontal or balanced when the article to be weighed is brought exactly to the same weight as the standard of weight. The term "balance" is therefore applied to this variety of weighing apparatus. Furthermore, this balancing of the unknown potential gravity of a body against force the degree of which is known is the essential principle of all weighing. If, instead of having the arms of the lever of equal length. we make one of the arms two, three, four, or more times the length of the other, it follows that one unit of the standard weight on the long arm will balance two, three, four, or more units, as the case may be, on the short arm, and the calculation as to the weight on the latter is therefore readily made. This last-indicated apparatus is the common steelyard, the standard weight being adjustable at any required point along the length of the long arm of the lever, which arm is marked with a scale or index to indicate the distance from the fulcrum at which the movable weight will counterbalance the body attached to the short arm. Although this scale in reality indicates the relative distance from the fulcrum of the standard weight and the body weighed (which is nothing more than indicating the ratio between the standard weight and that of the body weighed), these distances are commonly marked in the units of weight; for instance, the pound and the conventional fractions thereof. If we vary the construction, and instead of causing the body to be weighed to bear against the known potential gravity of another or standard weight, we substitute in place of the latter a spring, the power to compress which to any requisite degree is known, we have the same result; for the resistance of the spring to compression up to a certain point being equal, say, to one, five, or ten pounds, a body applied to the spring weighing one, five, or ten pounds will of course compress it; and this degree of compression in proportion to the weight being marked upon a scale, the force or potential gravity exerted upon the article weighed is ascertained in the same manner as if the scale was applied to a lever indicating the position at which the movable or standard weight would balance a body having a certain ratio to such standard weight. If in place of the spring we substitute any other means of exerting a force that is measured and known, we can in like manner ascertain the weight or potential gravity of the body placed to bear in opposition to it. No matter what the construction of the apparatus, or what the character of the measured or standard force, this is the modus operandi of all weighing apparatus, from the largest railroad scale down to the delicate torsion apparatus used in weighing, so to speak, the tension of any part of an electrically-excited body. The production of accurate weighing apparatus, however, is beset with many difficulties in practice. To avoid friction, to reduce the construction to the simplest form consistent with perfect utility, and to adapt the apparatus to the myriad uses to which it is applied in arts, industry, and scientific research, are problems that have only been approximately solved. The most delicate and perfectlyconstructed weighing apparatus are those employed by chemists, a full description of which, together with the extraordinary care and skill required in their use, may be found in any standard treatise on chemical manipulation. Foreign manufacturers greatly excel Americans in the production of these balances, while the Americans are unequalled in the large and heavy scales required in traffic. A Howe railroad scale capable of weighing up to twenty tons has been made so perfect in working and adjustment that its beam was turned by the weight of a quarter dollar laid upon its platform. In all weighing-machines involv ing the principle of the lever balance the fulers or points of suspension are made with knife edges in order to reduce friction to the lowest point. The bringing of the beam or lever to a free suspension horizontally between two limits WEIGHING-MACHINES. of movement is the common indication that the standard weight or poise is balanced by the weight of the body weighed; the scale or index of the beam indicating the ascertained weight of the latter. This bringing of the beam to a place of rest, as just mentioned, is sufficiently accurate for all commercial or industrial purposes, but in balances of chemists, jewellers, and the like, another means is resorted to. The balance-beam or lever has projecting down from its centre a long arm which swings in front of a horizontal scale, the zero-point of which is in a vertical line with the central pivot or fulerum of the lever. When the point, therefore, of the arm is opposite the zero-mark, the lever is balanced, and the standard weights are counterpoised by the article to be weighed. Inasmuch, however, as the perfect cessation of motion of the beam would require a long time, the balance of the lever is taken for granted when the arm swings regularly to and fro with a sweep of equal length on each side of the zero-mark. One curious and very old form of balance depends for its utility upon the increasing resistance of a body swung from a vertical to a horizontal position. In this the article to be weighed is suspended from the upper short arm of a lever, while the long arm, loaded to the requisite degree, swings along an index or scale formed on an are attached to the standard to which the lever is pivoted; only a small weight is required to move the long arm in the lower part of the arc or scale, but the resistance of the long arm increases in proportion as it is moved upward, its place in relation to the scale of course indicating the potential gravity of the article suspended from the short arm. It would not be impossible to construct a weighing-machine in which the article weighed should force upward a column of mercury or other liquid, the rise of the liquid in its tube of course indicating the degree of potential gravity or weight exerted upon it. If the liquid should be forced upward into a tube closed at its upper end to provide a vacuum above the liquid, we should have simply the principle of the barometer, for in this the atmosphere is just as much weighed as a sack of potatoes or a bushel of corn is weighed upon a pair of standard scales. The spring balance comprises an oblong metallic shell having a hook at the upper end, by which it can be suspended from the hand or attached to a fixed support, and having a scale upon its face. A rod extends through the spiral spring, and is attached to the latter at its upper end, and carries a hook at its lower extremity, to which the article to be weighed is attached, the degree of compression, and consequently the force expressed in pounds or other units of weight, being indicated by a small pointer attached to the rod and passing through a slot in the face of the shell in proper relation with the scale. This is a common and convenient appliance, but cannot be relied upon for any degree of accuracy. A far better device is the improved Boston market scale, which operates on much the principle of the steelyard, but with greater accuracy, the heavier weights being indicated on a major scale, and the smaller ones on a minor scale, both forming parts of the same beam. The pan which holds the article to be weighed, instead of being attached directly to the short arm FIG. 1. Boston Market Scale. FIG. 2. of the lever, is connected by a secondary lever, an adjustable counterpoise being arranged to balance the weight of the beam or long arm of the lever. The common balance for weighing small quantities-as, for example, household supplies, coffee, sugar, tea, etc.-is provided at one end with a pan for holding the article, and the other with a plate for holding the various weights. These are technically termed "even balances," and sometimes have, besides the weight, a scale or side beam attached to the lever or beam, and are sometimes constructed Even Balance, with side scale or beam. to be used indifferently with weights on one end of the beam, or with a supplemental beam having an adjustable poise. If, instead of suspending the body to be weighed directly to one arm of the lever, we extend a rod from the one arm -as, for example, the short arm when the principle of the 473 steelyard is employed-downward to a frame capable of a downward movement by weight or pressure applied thereto, taking care to properly balance the platform against the beam, we have the same relation of the article weighed to the beam carrying the standard weight. By this means the apparatus is rendered capable of use under many circumstances where the simpler balances or steelyards could not be employed. This arrangement is in fact that of a common platform scale. Sometimes these platform scales are made so small as to be used on counters in retail grocery stores and markets; sometimes of a size sufficient to weigh a loaded railroad car. A good example of this class is the railroad dépôt scale. The credit of the invention of the be hung to the longer arm of the last balance-beam, a small weight will equiponderate with a large weight on the large platform. There is of course a vast difference between this initial machine of 100 years ago and the apparatus of the present day. But although forty-three British patents on platform scales were granted between the date above given and the year 1866, the most approved mechanism for weighing heavy bodies is of American invention and manufacture. The pioneer in this movement was Thaddeus Fairbanks, who forty-five years ago (June 13, 1831), in conjunction with E. Fairbanks, secured a patent on apparatus for weighing heavy bodies; the next year the same parties obtained another patent in the same class, and three years later two more; and afterward (Feb. 10, 1837) five others. Fairbanks's scales were a great advance upon others previously in use, although since excelled by more recent inventions and improvements. These latter relate, among other things, to a reduction of friction, the avoidance of injury to the pivot-bearings, and the general simplification of the mechanism by which the movement of the platform is communicated to the beam. In the larger sizes of old-fashioned platform scales-as, for example, a hay-scale-the platform is supported upon levers which have their points of suspension at the four corners of the platform, as shown in the illustration of Fairbanks's four-ton scale, the platform itself resting upon the knifeedges provided near the pivoted outer extremities of the levers. In still larger or railway scales the points of suspension are necessarily more numerous, being at intervals of about ten feet around the periphery of the platform. It is of course essential to the perfect operation of the scale that the levers which sustain the platform should be subjected to as little friction upon their bearings or points of suspension as the beam upon its knife-edge or fulerum. The arrangement of the levers underneath the platform, and the manner in which they are suspended and arranged At a suitable distance from the just-mentioned extremity of the lever are knife-edged bearings G; an iron casting D extends downward from the platform B, and, passing astride of the lever F, rests on the knife-edges G at each side of said lever. If, now, the load to be weighed could be dropped vertically upon the platform B, this arrangement would be sufficient; but in practice the load is drawn in wagons or cars, as the case may be, upon the platform, and on striking the edge of the latter gives it a positive lateral movement which tends to make the casting D scrape upon the knife-edges G; and this dulls the knife-edges and impairs the accuracy of the apparatus. In order to prevent this lateral movement of the platform B, checkrods E are extended from the fixed frame timber A to the platform, and are designed to resist the lateral strain exerted thereon by the passage of the load thereto. If these check-rods by the swelling of the timber or the rusting of the rods themselves should be deranged in any way, they are liable to bind and impair the reliability of the scale. In the Howe scale the check-rods are dispensed with, and perfect freedom secured to the platform without involving the frictional movement or scraping of the casting D upon the knife-edge. This is done, as shown in the figure of Howe's platform bearing and railroad scale by FIG. 6. Fairbanks Platform Bearing. making the main levers A of elbow shape, their upper ends connecting by rods with the centre levers E, from which, through a supplemental lever F and rods G, motion is communicated to the beam. The lower ends of the elbowlevers A (the form of which is shown in the larger view) have knife-edges resting on chilled iron blocks, these knifeedges forming the fulcra of the said levers. The short arms of these levers have knife-edges, which receive the bearings of the casting N. In the upper side of the casting N are two shallow cup-shaped recesses which receive the balls or spheres K, and on these rest the cupped bearings B, fastened to the timber of the platform. The centre levers, E, of course work on knife-edges. When the load strikes the edge of the platform, the movement of the latter simply causes it to sway slightly on the spheres, and this is im mediately corrected by the gravity of the platform itself, there being absolutely no grating of the knife-edges on their bearings, inasmuch as the lateral motion of the platform cannot be transmitted to them, all need of check-rods, as herein just mentioned, being dispensed with. By the peculiar arrangement, moreover, of the levers, the number of knife-edges is reduced from eighty to thirty-nine. The modifications of weighing apparatus to suit the FIG. 7. exigencies of various branches of traffic are very many-some in practical and everyday use, others as yet only theoretical. Among the former is the common weighmaster's frame, in which an ordinary scale or steelyard is suspended on a portable frame from the short arm of a lever, by which the scale can be lowered bodily for adjustment to a cask or other article to be weighed, and then lifted clear of the floor to permit the weighing operation. A recent invention for use in charging blast furnaces, and designed to permit the employment of the most illiterate operatives, is made with a beam having three separate scales or indexes, one for coal, one for ore, and one for the flux; the adjustable poises of each scale are capable of being fixed at any desired point along the same; and to each scale, or to the poise thereof, is attached a sample FIG. 8. Howe Platform Bearing. of the material which that particular scale or index of the beam is designed for weighing; thus a piece of ore is suspended from the scale for weighing ore, from the fuel scale a piece of coal, and from the flux scale a lump of lime, these being held in suitable holders depending from the scales, which latter form parts of one beam. Cranes for Weighmaster's Frame for Steelyard lifting and subse Scale. quently weighing ponderous bodies have been made, and appear to have been first proposed by two English projectors about forty years ago. Various contrivances for the automatic weigh |