WAR 



WAR 



had ceafed nearly ten hours, about nine o'clock at night fet 

 fire to the town, and began to maffacre the inhabitants ; 

 9000 perfons, unarmed men, defencelefs women, and harm- 

 lefs infants, perifhed either in flames or by the fword, and 

 nearly the whole of the fuburb was reduced to alhcs. In 

 the whole of this fiege, it is computed that not lefs than 

 30,000 of the Poles were inhumanly put to death. It was 

 foon after given up to Prudia, and with the reft of Mafovia 

 continued fubjeft to that power, until by the peace of Til- 

 fit, this part of Poland, wliich had been feized by PrnfTia 

 fince the year 1772, was given to Saxony, and formed into 

 a principality under the title of the duchy of Warfaw ; 

 150 miles S. of Kbnigfterg. N. lat.,52° 12'. E. long. 

 21° 9'. 



Warsaw, a duchy annexed to Saxony, formed out of 

 that part of Poland which had been feized by Pruflia after 

 the year 1772. It was united to the empire of Rufiia by the 

 Vienna congrefs in 1815: that part called the grand duchy 

 of Pofen is to be poflelTed in full fovereignty and property of 

 the king of Prufiia. 



Warsaw, a poft-townfhip of New York, in Geneflee 

 county; 260 miles from Albany. It is a good traft of land, 

 and comprifes three townlhips. In 1810 there were 201 

 fenatorial cleftors, and the whole population is ftated at 

 13 1 7 perfons. 



Warsaw. See Wassaw. 



WARSIMOW, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 

 Brzefc ; 32 miles W. of Brzefc. 



WAR'SOWKA, a town of Poland, in Volhynia ; 48 

 miles N.E. of Zytoniirz. 



WARSTEN, a town of Germany, in the duchy of 

 Weftphalia ; 3 miles S.W. of Rhuden. 



WART, in Latin verruca, denotes, in Surgery, a kind of 

 excrefcence from the cutis, or true ll<in, covered with a pro- 

 duction of cuticle, which is ftrong and hard, or more delicate, 

 according to the natural quality of the cuticle which is fpread 

 oyer the furrounding integuments. In the arrangement of 

 Drs. Willan and Bateman, warts conftitutc a genus of the 

 order lubercula. Some warts are connefted with the n<in 

 by pedicles ; while others have a broad bafe. They are moft 

 frequently moveable ; but fometimes they are firmly fixed 

 to the fubjacent parts. Their general fize does not exceed 

 that of a pea. Much larger ones, however, often form 

 about the anus, perineum, and pudenda. Sometimes the 

 excrefcence is fingle ; fometimes it prefents itfelf in large 

 numbers, occupying different fituations in the body, though 

 moft frequently occurring on the hands and face. The com- 

 plaint, as every body knows, is much more common in chil- 

 dren and young perfons, than in people more advanced in 

 life. As Mr. Hunter obferves, warts are radiated from 

 their bafis to their circumference. The furface of the radii 

 appears to be pointed, or granulated, like the furface of 

 healthy granulations, with the exception of being harder, 

 and rifing higher. The furface on which a wart is formed, 

 appears to be capable of producing only one fuch tumour ; 

 for the furrounding and connefting furface does not throw 

 out a fimilar fubftance. Thus, when a wart has once begun 

 to grow, it rifes higher and higher, without becoming larger 

 at its bafis. Such excrefcences feem to have within them- 

 felves the power of growing larger; for, after they have 

 rifen above the furface of the fliin, on which their bafis can- 

 not grow larger, they fwell out into a round thick fub- 

 flance, which becomes rougher and rougher. In confe- 

 quence of having this ftrufture, warts are very hable to be 

 hurt by bodies rubbing againft them, by which means they 

 are fometimes made to bleed very profufely, and to become 

 fore and painful. 



Almoft all writers on furgery confider warts as depending 

 upon caufes which are fometimes quite local, and, in other 

 inftances, general, or con/litutional. The opinion, that many 

 of thefe excrefcences arife from conftitutional caufes, is fup- 

 portcd chiefly by the following fafts : firft. Many warts, 

 growing about the pudenda, anus, &c. reputed to be ve- 

 nereal, and certainly very often yielding to mercury, feem 

 to favour the doftrine, that fuch excrefcences are a confe- 

 quence of fyphilis, and true venereal complaints. Secondly, 

 The circumllance of warts growing in large numbers, and 

 often recurring in a very fliort time after their removal, has 

 ftrengthened this mode of thinking. Thirdly, The unquef- 

 tionable greater propenfity to warts obfervable in young 

 fubjefts than in elderly perfons, is another faft which af- 

 fords a ftrong argument in fupport of the opinion. Indeed, 

 we believe that, in particular habits, a difpofition to the 

 formation of warts muft be admitted as a pofitive truth, and 

 of courfe we cannot rejeft the doftrine, that thefe excre- 

 fcences frequently arife from certain ftates of the conftitution. 

 With refpeft to venereal warts, we have always doubted the 

 reality of their exiftence ; becaufe, although we know that 

 many fuch tumours may be cured by a courfe of mercury, 

 we have never met with any which could not be difperfed or 

 deftroyed by efcharotics, the ligature, or the knife. 



Warts are generally quite free from all riflt of any ferious 

 confequences ; but, on account of their fize and fituation, 

 they frequently give trouble, and occafion deformity ; and 

 fometimes, when they are irritated, they are attended with 

 confiderable inflammation, and even obftinate ulcerations. 



In the treatment of warts one thing is to be recoUefted ; 

 viz. that they are adventitious fubftances not conftituting 

 any original part of the body, and therefore pofleffing only 

 an inferior degree of vitality. Hence, when ftimulated, they 

 generally diminifh or feparate in floughs. Another cir- 

 cumftanee feems alfo particularly deferving of the furgeon's 

 recoUeftion ; namely, that warts will always grow again, if 

 any part of them be left behind unextirpated. 



When warts are dependent upon conftitutional caufes, 

 writers on furgery agree in recommending the internal exhi- 

 bition of alterative medicines. In particular, they enjoin a 

 change of diet, with the ufc of refolvent or mercurial reme- 

 dies ; or fuch other means as ieem bell calculated to obTiate 

 the caufe of the complaint. When the ftate of the confti- 

 tution has been reftificd, the warts frequently difappear of 

 themfelvcs. The tendency to warts obfervable in young 

 perfons, fpontaneoufly ceafes as they grow older ; and, in 

 them, after the adult age, how common is it to find warts 

 difappearing of themfelves, though they had previoufly re- 

 filled every ordinary means of cure ! 



When warts are altogether dependent upon a local caufe, 

 they can be moft effeftually treated by external applications. 

 Should the wart have a narrow neck, or pedicle, it may be 

 made to fall off^ by conftrifting the part near its root with a 

 fine filk ligature, or a piece of horfe-hair, which is to be 

 rendered gradually tighter. However, although this plan 

 anfwers very well, and fometimes does not give fo much 

 alarm as the ufe of a cutting inftrument, the fame fort of 

 warts may alfo be ftill more expeditioudy removed with a 

 knife, or a pair of fciflars. When a wart is large and has a 

 very broad bafe, if an attempt is to be made to dellroy it 

 with a ligature, the furgeon muft pais a double ligature 

 througii the centre of its root, or pedicle, and then tie each 

 half of the filk feparately over the two portions of the ex- 

 crefcence. Were an endeavour made to extirpate a wart 

 with a large bafe by a fingle ligature, the procefs woidd 

 be tedious, painful, and often ineffeftual. 



Warts with a broad attachment, however, aje unfavour- 

 able 



