WHEATON
977
WHEEL
which it has been the object." The common Triti- cum vtilrjare will sometimes produce one luuulred grains ill the car. Wheat is reaped towards the end of April, in May, and in June, according to the difterences of soil and position. It was sown either broadcast, and tlien ploughed in or trampled in by cattle (Isa. xxxii, '20), or in rows, if we rightly understand Isa. xxviii, '25, which seems to imply that the seeds were plant- ed apart in order to insure larger and fuller ears. The wheat was put into the ground in the winter, and some time after the barley. In the Egyptian plague of hail, consequently, the barley suffered, but the wheat had not appeared, and so escaped injury. Wheat was ground into flour. The finest qualities were ex- pressed by the term "fat of kidneys of wheat" (~i?n niiH n"l"^?3. Dent, xxxii, 14). Unripe ears are some- times cut off from the stalks, roasted in an oven, mashed and boiled, and eaten bj' the modem Egyptians (Son- nini. Travels). Rosenmliller {Botany of the Bible, p. 80), with good reason, conjectures that this dish, which the Arabs call y<?r/A-, is the same as the (jeres carmel (Q'lJi ^■snS) of Lev. ii, U and 2 Kings iv, 42. The Heb. word kxdi (''?p, Lev. ii, 14) denotes, it is probable, roasted ears of corn, still used as food in the East. An "ear of corn" was called ihihboleth (rp2'd), the word which betrayed the Ephraimites (Judg. xii, 1, 6), who were unable to give the sound oi sk. The curious ex- pression in Prov. xxvii, 22, " Though thou shouldst bra}- a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him," appears to point to the custom of mixing the grains of inferior cereals with wheat; the meaning will then be, "Let a fool be ever so much in the company of wise men, yet he will continue a fool." Maurer (Comment, loc. cit.) simply explains tlie passage thus: "Quomodocunque tracta- veris stultura non patietur se emendari." — Smith. See Cericals.
Wheat was known to the Israelites in Egypt (Exod. ix, 32), and on returning to Canaan they no doubt found it still cultivated as in the days of Keu- ben (Gen. xxx, 14). Most probably they were the same sorts which were used in both countries; but there were only a few districts of Palestine, such as the plain of Jezreel, which could compete with that magnificent " carse," the delta of Egypt, the finest corn country of the ancient world. At present the wheat crops of Palestine " are very poor and light, and would disgust an English farmer. One may ride and walk through the standing corn without the slightest objection made or harm done. No wonder it is thin, when white crops are raised from the same soil year after year, and no sort of manure put into the ground" (Tristram, Travels, p. 591 ). — Fairbairn. See Agui-
CULTUUE.
Wheaton, Nathaniel S., D.D., a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born at Washington, Conn., Aug. 20, 1792. His preparatory educa- tion was acquired at the Episcopal Acad- emy of Cheshire, Conn. ; he graduated at Yale College in 1814; was ordained dea- con and priest in 1817; was pastor in Anne Arundel, Prince George, and Mont- gomery counties, Md.; in 1818 became rector of Christ Church, Hartford, Conn., remaining twelve j-ears; in 1831 became president of Trinity (then Washington) College, which office he filled until 1837; in that year became rector of Christ Church, New Orleans, continuing in that
X.-Q Q Q
position for seven years; in 1844 visited Europe, and on his return published his travels in two volumes. He was a scholar of varied learning. His benefactions to various scientific, philanthropic, and religious objects were large, and his bequests to Trinity College amounted to about twenty thousand dollars. He died at ]Marble- dale, Conn., March 18, 18G2. See A mer. Quar. Church Review, 18G2, p. 734.
Wheel (usually and properly [of a carriage] "SIN, ophdn, which is invariably so rendered ; sometimes [of any circular object] bthl, galgdl, Psa. Ixxxiii, 13; Eccles. xii, G ; Isa. xvii, 13 ; Jer. xlvii, 3 ; Ezek. x, 2, G, 13; xxiii, 24; xxvi, 10; "heaven," Psa. Ixxvii, 18; Dan. vii, 9 ; " rolling thing," Isa. xvii, 13 ; or ^5^3, ffilffdl, Isa. xxviii, '28; occasionally CS'E, pdam, Judg. V, 28, a step, as often elsewhere ; D^32X, ohndiiim, Jer. xviii, 3, of a potter's wheel). We lind that the wheels under the brazen laver in Solomon's Temple were cast; they are thus described by the sacred his- torian : "And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot-wheel : their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes were all molten" (1 Kings vii, 33). This is illustrated by the Egyptian chariots. A wheel has been found by Ur. Abbott of a curious con- struction, having a wooden tire to the felloe, and an inner circle, probably of metal, which passed through and con- nected its spokes a short distance from the nave (A, A). The diameter of the wheel was about three feet one inch. The felloe was in six pieces, the end of one over- lapping the other. The tire was fastened to it by bands of raw hide passing through long, narrow holes (B, B) made to receive them (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, i, 382). Among the ancient Assyrians the wheels orig- inally had six spokes, and the felloes consisted of four pieces. They appear to have been thicker and more solid than those of the Egyptians (Layard, Nineveh, ii, 270). Later the wheel had eight and not six spokes, and was apparently strengthened by four pieces of met- al which bound the felloes (^ibid. p. 271). See Cuauiot.