OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Whitney, Eli

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​WHITNEY, ELI (1765-1825), American inventor, was born on a farm in Westboro, Massachusetts, on the 8th of December 1765. He exhibited unusual mechanical ability at an early age and earned a considerable part of his expenses at Yale College, where he graduated in 1792. He soon went to Savannah, Georgia, expecting to secure a position as a teacher, but was disappointed, and accepted the invitation of Mrs Nathanael Greene, the widow of the Revolutionary general, to spend some time on her plantation on the Savannah river, while deciding upon his future course. The construction by Whitney of several ingenious household contrivances led Mrs Greene to introduce him to some gentlemen who were discussing the desirability of a machine to separate the short staple upland cotton from its seeds, work which was then done by hand at the rate of a pound of lint a day. In a few weeks Whitney produced a model, consisting of a wooden cylinder encircled by rows of slender spikes set half an inch apart, which extended between the bars of a grid set so closely together that the seeds could not pass, but the lint was pulled through by the revolving spikes; a revolving brush cleaned the spikes, and the seed fell into another compartment. The machine was worked by hand and could clean 50 lb of lint a day. The model seems to have been stolen, but another was constructed and a patent was granted on the 14th of March 1794. Meanwhile Whitney had formed a partnership with Phineas Miller (who afterward married Mrs Greene), and they built at New Haven, Connecticut, a factory (burned in March 1795) for the manufacture of the gins. The partners intended to establish an absolute monopoly and to charge a toll of one-third of the cotton or to buy the whole crop. They were unable to supply the demand for gins, and country blacksmiths constructed many machines. A patent, later annulled, was granted (May 12, 1796) to Hogden Holmes for a gin which substituted circular saws for the spikes. Whitney spent much time and money prosecuting infringements of his patent, and in 1807 its validity was finally settled. The financial returns in Georgia cannot be ascertained. The legislature of South Carolina voted $50,000 for the rights for that state, while North Carolina levied a license tax for five years, from which about $30,000 was realized. Tennessee paid, perhaps, $10,000. Meanwhile Whitney, disgusted with the struggle, began the manufacture of fire-arms near New Haven (1798) and secured profitable government contracts; he introduced in this factory division of labour and standardized parts. Although the modern gin has been much enlarged and improved, the essential features are the same as in Whitney's first model, and the invention profoundly influenced American industrial, economic and social history.
See Denison Olmsted, Memoir (New Haven, 1846); D. A. Tompkins, Cotton and Cotton Oil (Charlotte, N.C., 1901); and W. P. Blake, “Sketch of Eli Whitney” in New Haven Colony Historical Society, Papers, vol. v. (New Haven, 1894).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Whitney, William Collins

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​WHITNEY, WILLIAM COLLINS (1841-1904), American political leader and financier, was born at Conway, Massachusetts, on the 15th of July 1841, of Puritan stock. He graduated at Yale in 1863, studied law at Harvard, and practised with success in New York City. He was an aggressive opponent of the “Tweed Ring,” and was actively allied with the anti-Tammany organizations, the “Irving Hall Democracy” of 1875-1890, and the “County Democracy” of 1880-1890, but upon the dissolution of the latter he became identified with Tammany. In 1875-1882 he was corporation counsel of New York, and as such brought about a codification of the laws relating to the city, and successfully contested a large part of certain claims, largely fraudulent, against the city, amounting to about $20,000,000, and a heritage from the Tweed regime. During President Cleveland's first administration (1885-1889), Whitney was secretary of the navy department and did much to develop the navy, especially by encouraging the domestic manufacture of armour plate. In 1892 he was instrumental in bringing about the third nomination of Mr Cleveland, and took an influential part in the ensuing presidential campaign; but in 1896, disapproving of the “free-silver” agitation, he refused to support his party's candidate, Mr W. J. Bryan. Whitney took an active interest in the development of urban transit in New York, and was one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. He was also interested in horse-racing, and in 1901 won the English Derby with Volodyovski, leased by him from Lady Meux. He died in New York City on the 2nd of February 1904.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Whittingham, William

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​WHITTINGHAM, WILLIAM (c. 1524-1579), English scholar, who belonged to a Lancashire family, was born at Chester. Educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, he became a fellow of All Souls' College and a senior student of Christ Church, and later he visited several universities in France and Germany. A strong Protestant, he returned to England in 1553, but soon found it expedient to travel again to France. In 1554 he was a leading member of the band of English Protestant exiles who were assembled at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and in the controversies which took place between them concerning the form of service to be adopted, Whittingham strongly supported the Calvinistic views propounded by John Knox. These opinions, however, did not prevail, and soon the Scottish reformer and his follower were found at Geneva; in 1559 Whittingham succeeded Knox as minister of the English congregation in that city, and here he did his most noteworthy work, that of making an English translation of the Bible. He was probably responsible for the English translation of the New Testament which appeared in 1557, and he h»d certainly a large share in the translation of both the Old and the New Testaments which is called the Genevan or Breeches Bible. This was printed at Geneva in 1560 and enjoyed a remarkable popularity (see Bible, English). He also made a metrical translation of some of the Psalms. Having returned to England in 1560, Whittingham went to France in the train of Francis Russell, 2nd earl of Bedford, and a little later he acted as minister of the English garrison at Havre, being in this place during its siege by the French in 1562. In the following year he was made dean of Durham. He attended well to the duties of his office, but his liking for puritan customs made ​certain prelates and others look upon him with suspicion, and in 1576 or 1577 a commission was appointed to inquire into his conduct. This had no result, and another commission was appointed in 1578, one charge against Whittingham being that he had not been duly ordained. The case was still under consideration when the dean died on the 10th of June 1579.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Whitstable

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​WHITSTABLE, a watering-place in the St Augustine's parliamentary division of Kent, England, on the north coast at the east end of the Swale, 6 m. N.N.W. of Canterbury, on the South Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 7086. The branch railway connecting Whitstable with Canterbury was one of the earliest in England, opened in 1830. The church of All Saints (Decorated and Perpendicular) possesses some old brasses; it was restored in 1875. Whitstable has been famous for its oyster beds from time immemorial. The fisheries were held by the Incorporated Company of Dredgers (incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1793), the affairs being administered by a foreman, deputy foreman and jury of twelve; but in 1896 an Act of Parliament transferred the management of the fishery to a company. The less extensive Seasalter and Ham oyster fishery adjoins. There is also a considerable coasting trade in coal in conjunction with the South-Eastern & Chatham railway company, who are the owners of the harbour, which accommodates vessels of about 400 tons alongside the quay. The urban district consists of parts of the old parishes of Whitstable and Seasalter. In modern times the manor was held by Wynne Ellis (1790-1875), who left a valuable collection of paintings to the nation.
Tankerton, adjoining Whitstable to the N.E., is a newly established seaside resort.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Whitney, Josiah Dwight

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​WHITNEY, JOSIAH DWIGHT (1819-1896), American geologist, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, on the 23rd of November 1819. He graduated at Yale in 1839, and after two years' work as assistant in the geological survey of New Hampshire, spent some time in Europe in the study of chemistry, mineralogy and geology. Returning to the United States in 1847, he laboured successfully for a time in the copper and iron lands of the Lake Superior region; in 1855 he became State chemist and professor in the Iowa University and took part in the geological survey of the state; he subsequently worked in the lead region of the upper Missouri river, in Wisconsin, and in Illinois, publishing many reports, singly or in collaboration with others. From 1860 to 1874 he was state geologist of California, and issued a comprehensive series of reports on its topography, geology and botany. In 1869, with William H. Brewer, he determined the heights of the principal Rocky Mountain summits; and in recognition of his labours Mount Whitney (14,502, in Inyo county, California, the highest peak in the United States) received its name from him. From 1865 until his death he was professor of geology and director of the school of mining and practical geology at Harvard University, residing in Cambridge save when absent on expeditions of research. The records of his investigations are somewhat dispersed; the most homogeneous of his writings are The Metallic Wealth of the United States, described and compared with that of other Countries (1854), a work of importance at the time of its issue, and Contributions to American Geology (vol. i. only, 1880). He died at Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, on the 18th of August 1896.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Whittington

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​WHITTINGTON, an urban district in the north-eastern parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, 10 m. S. by E. of Sheffield and 2 m. N. of Chesterfield, on the Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 9416. The parish church of St Bartholomew was restored after its destruction by fire, excepting the tower and spire, in 1895. Samuel Pegge, the antiquary (1704–1796), was vicar of Whittington and Heath for many years, and was buried here. Stone bottles and coarse earthenware are manufactured in the town, where there are also large ironworks, collieries and brick works. A small stone cottage, known as Revolution House, was the meeting-place of John Darcy, the 1st earl of Danby, and the 4th earl of Devonshire, who there concerted the plans by which, in 1688, the Whig party brought about the fall of James II and the succession of William III. It was then a hostelry, known as the “Cock and Pynot”; pynot being the local name for a magpie.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Whittingham, Charles

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​WHITTINGHAM, CHARLES (1767-1840), English printer, was born on the 16th of June 1767, at Caludon or Calledon, Warwickshire, the son of a farmer, and was apprenticed to a Coventry printer and bookseller. In 17S9 he set up a small printing press in a garret off Fleet Street, London, with a loan obtained from the type founding firm of William Caslon, and by 1707 his business had so increased that he was enabled to move into larger premises. An edition of Gray's Poems, printed by him in 1799, secured him the patronage of all the leading publishers. Whittingham inaugurated the idea of printing cheap, handy editions of standard authors, and, on the bookselling trade threatening not to sell his productions, took a room at a coffee house and sold them by auction himself. In 1809 he started a paper-pulp factory at Chiswick, near London, and in 1811 founded the Chiswick Press. From 1810 to 1815 he devoted his chief attention to illustrated books, and is credited with having been the first to use proper overlays in printing woodcuts, as he was the first to print a fine, or “Indian Paper” edition. He was one of the first to use a steam-engine in a pulp mill, but his presses he preferred to have worked by hand. He died at Chiswick on the 5th of January 1840.
His nephew, Charles Whittingham (1795-1876), who from 1824 to 1828 had been in partnership with his uncle, in 1838 assumed control of the business. He already had printing works at Took's Court, Chancery Lane, London, and had printed various notable books, specially devoting himself to the introduction of ornamental initial letters, and the artistic arrangement of the printed page. The imprint of the Chiswick press was now placed on the productions of the Took's Court as well as of the Chiswick works, and in 1852 the whole business was removed to London. Under the management of the younger Whittingham the Chiswick Press achieved a considerable reputation. He died on the 21st of April 1876.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Toup, Jonathan

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​TOUP, JONATHAN [Joannes Toupius] (1713-1785), English classical scholar and critic, was born at St Ives in Cornwall, and was educated at a private school and Exeter College, Oxford. Having taken orders, he became rector of St Martin's Exeter, where he died on the 19th of January 1785. Toup established his reputation by his Emendationes in Suidam (1760-1766, followed in 1775 by a supplement) and his edition of Longinus (1778), including notes and emendations by
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Tottenville

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​TOTTENVILLE, a former village of Richmond county, New York, U.S.A., and since 1898 a part of New York City. It is on the southern shore of Staten Island in New York Bay and on Staten Island Sound, about 20 m. S.W. of the south extremity of Manhattan Island, and is the terminus of the Staten Island Rapid Transit railway. Marine engines, terra-cotta and boats are manufactured here, and there are oyster fisheries. The “Billopp House” here (still standing) was the scene of the conference, on the 11th of September 1776, between Lord Howe, representing Lord North, and Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge, representing the Continental Congress, with regard to Lord North’s offer of conciliation. This house, originally called the “Manor of Bentley,” was built by Captain Christopher Billopp (1638–1726), who sailed from England in an armed vessel, the “Bentley,” in 1667, and, by circumnavigating Staten Island in 24 hours, made it, under the ruling of the duke of York, a part of New York. From the duke of York he received 1163 acres of land, including the present site of Tottenville. The village was long known as Bentley, but in 1869 was incorporated (under a faulty charter, revised in 1894) as Tottenville, apparently in honour of Gilbert Totten, a soldier in the War of Independence.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Toulouse, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of

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​TOULOUSE, LOUIS ALEXANDRE DE BOURBON, Count of (1678–1737), third son of Louis XIV. and Mme de Montespan was born on the 6th of June 1678. At the age of five he was created admiral of France. He distinguished himself during the War of the Spanish Succession, and inflicted a severe defeat on Admiral Rooke near Malaga in 1704. He kept aloof from the intrigues of his sister-in-law, the duchess of Maine, and died on the 1st of December 1737. His son, Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthievre (1725–1793), succeeded his father in his posts, among others in that of grand admiral. He served under Marshal de Noailles, and fought brilliantly at Dettingen (1743) and Fontenoy (1745). He then lived in retreat at Rambouillet and Sceaux, protecting men of letters, and particularly the poet Florian, and dispensing charity. He lost his son, the prince of Lamballe, in 1768, and survived his daughter-in-law, Louise Marie Therese of Savoy-Carignan, the friend of Marie Antoinette, who was killed by the populace on the 3rd of September 1792. He died on the 4th of March 1793; his daughter and heiress, Louise Marie Adelaide, married Philippe (Égalité), duke of Orleans.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Toungoo

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​TOUNGOO, or Taung-ngu, a town and district in the Tenasserim division of Lower Burma. The town is situated on the right bank of the river Sittang, 166 m. by rail N. from Rangoon. Pop. (1901), 15,837. From the 14th to the 16th century it was the capital of an independent kingdom. After the second Burmese War it was an important frontier station, but the troops were withdrawn in 1893. The district of Toungoo has an area of 6172 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 279,315, showing an increase of 32% in the preceding decade. Three mountain ranges traverse the district—the Pegu Yomas, the Karen, and the Nat-taung or “Great Watershed ”—all of which have a north and south direction, and are covered for the most part with dense forest. The Pegu Yomas have a general elevation of from 800 to 1200 ft., while the central range averages from 2000 to 3000 ft. The rest of Toungoo forms the upper portion of the valley of the Sittang, the only large river in the district, the chief tributaries of which are the Shwa, Hkabaung, Hpyu Thank-ye-Kat and Yank-thua-wa, all navigable for a great portion of their course. Limestone appears in various places, and in the north-east a light grey marble is quarried for lime. The rivers form the chief means of communication during the rainy season. The rainfall in 1905 was 80.30 in. There are 14 railway stations in the district. Rice is the staple crop; there are promising plantations of coffee and rubber. Forests cover more than 5000 sq. m., of which 1337 sq. m. have been reserved, yielding a large revenue.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Perquisite

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​PERQUISITE (Lat. perquisitum, that which has been acquired by careful search; perquirere, to search diligently), a term properly used of the profits which accrue to the holder of an office over and above the regular emoluments; also, in law, the casual profits, such as accrue by heriots, fines, reliefs, &c., to a lord of a manor above the yearly revenue from the copyholds. The word is used generally of the casual profits allowed by custom to servants or other employés from superfluous articles which the employer has enjoyed the use of or which are supposed not to be needed.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Perrers, Alice

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​PERRERS (or De Windsor), ALICE (d. 1400), mistress of the English king Edward III., belonged probably to the Hertfordshire family of Perrers, although it is also stated that she was of more humble birth. Before 1366 she had entered the service of Edward’s queen, Philippa, and she appears later as the wife of Sir William de Windsor, deputy of Ireland (d. 1384). Her intimacy with the king began about 1366, and during the next few years she received from him several grants of land and gifts of jewels. Not content with the great influence which she obtained over Edward, Alice interfered in the proceedings of the courts of law to secure sentences in favour of her friends, or of those who had purchased her favour; actions which induced the parliament of 1376 to forbid all women from practising in the law courts. Alice was banished, but John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, allowed her to return to court after the death of Edward the Black Prince in June 1376, and the parliament of 1377 reversed the sentence against her. Again attempting to pervert the course of justice, she was tried by the peers and banished after the death of Edward III. in June 1377; but this sentence was annulled two years later, and Alice regained some influence at court. Her time, however, was mainly spent in lawsuits, one being with William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, and another with her dead husband’s nephew and heir, John de Windsor.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Perron

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​PERRON (a French word meaning properly a “large stone,” Ital. petrone, from Lat. petra, Fr. pierre, stone), in architecture, a term applied to a raised platform reached by steps in front of the entrance to a building. The grand flight of external steps entering the mansions of the medieval nobility or high officials was considered in itself a mark of jurisdiction, as it is said that sentence was there pronounced against criminals, who were afterwards executed at the foot of the steps—as at the Giant’s Stairs of the Doge’s palace at Venice.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Perrone, Giovanni

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​PERRONE, GIOVANNI (1794–1876), Italian theologian, was born at Chieri (Piedmont) in 1794. He studied theology at Turin and in his twenty-first year went to Rome, where he joined the Society of Jesus. In 1816 he was sent as professor of theology to Orvieto, and in 1823 was appointed to a similar post in the Collegium Romanum. From Ferrara, where he was rector of the Jesuit College after 1830, he returned to his teaching work in Rome, being made head of his old college in 1850. He took a leading part in the discussions which led up to the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854), and in 1869 was prominent on the Ultramontane side in the Vatican Council. His numerous dogmatic works are characteristic of orthodox modern Roman theology. They include Praelectiones theologicae (9 vols., Rome, 1835 sqq.), Praelectiones theologicae in compendium redactae (4 vols., Rome, 1845), Il Hermesianismo (Rome, 1838), Il Protestantismo e la regola di fede (3 vols, 1853), De divinitate D. N. Jesu Christi (3 vols., Turin, 1870). He died on the 26th of August 1876.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Perpent

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​PERPENT, or Parpent Stones, in architecture, bond or “through stones,” the διατόνοι of the Greeks and Romans, long stones going right through walls, and tying them together from face to face. The O. Fr. parpain, modern parpaing, from which this word is derived, is obscure in origin. It may be from a supposed Lat. perpago, perpaginis, formed like compago, a joint, from the root of pangere, to fasten, and meaning “something fastened together,” or from some popular corruption of Lat. perpendiculum, plummet or plumb-line (pir or pendere, to hang), referring to the smooth perpendicular faces of the stone.