W I T 



much honey : thefe are to be thinned with a large glafa of 

 fpirit of wine, and the part is to be well rubbed with fome 

 of this three or four times a-day, covering it afterwards 

 with a lamb's (li'in. Some ufe inftcad of this ointment a 

 poultice made of powder of cummin-feed, linfeed-oil, and 

 pigeons' dung, which does as well. 



Where thefe means are not fufficient to remove fuch tu- 

 mours or fvvelhngs, a more effeftual remedy may frequently 

 be found in the bliftering liniment. 



But wherever matter is formed and diftinftly felt by the 

 finger, an opening fhould be made as near as poflible to the 

 mod depending part of it, to allow of a free difcharge of 

 it, and a rowel be introduced through the whole extent of 

 the cavity, and be frequently moved, and wafhed with fpi- 

 rits of turpentine ; the healing procefs being promoted by 

 the injeftion of ftimulating warfies. 



In cafes where finufes are formed, and thefe means are in- 

 fuflicient for healing the parts, the cure muft be performed 

 by making an incifion through the whole extent of the 

 hollow parts ; dreffing them afterwards in fuch a manner as 

 to keep down the proud flefli, and preferving the wounds 

 "clean, as well as aiding the growth of new flefh by proper 

 means. See Ulcer, and Wound, in Animals. 



WiTHEKs of the Botv of a Saddle, in the Manege. See 

 Bow. 



WITHY, a large fpecies of willow, fit to be planted 

 upon high banks and fides of ditches, within reach of the 

 water, or on the weeping fides of hills. 



WiTHY-Cragged, a term fometimes applied to a difeafe 

 in horfes. See Strain. 



WITLAGE, in Geography, a town of Weftphaha, in 

 the bifhopric of Ofnabruck ; ii miles E.N.E. of Vorden. 



WITLAH, a town of Germany, in the county of Ver- 

 den ; 3 miles S.E. of Verden. 



WITLOWIZ, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 

 Konigingratz ; 16 miles N.N.E. of Gitfchin. 



WITMARSEN, a town of Germany, in the bifhopric 

 of Munfter ; 7 miles W. of Lingen. 



WITNESS, Testis, a perfon who certifies or afferts 

 the truth of any fa£t. 



All witneffes are deemed competent, who, having the ufe 

 of their reafon, are neither infamous nor interefted in the 

 event. See Evidence. 



Among the Romans, it was a cuftom to pull or pinch 

 the ears of witneffes prefcnt at any tranfaftion ; that they 

 might remember it when they were called to give in their 

 tellimony. Two eye-witneftes, or Je vifu, not fufpefted, 

 are to be deemed a conclufive proof. 



Falfe witneffes, fuborners of witneffes, &c. in England 

 are punifhcd with the pillory ; in feveral other countries, 

 with death. See Perjury, Subornation, &c. 



In a fynod at Rome, under Conftantine, in the year 320, 

 it was decreed, that there fhould be feventy-two witneffes 

 heard, to condemn a bifliop ; which was called libra tejlium, 

 a pound of witneffes. Accordingly there were feventy-two 

 witneffes heard againil pope MarceUinus ; who, fays the hif- 

 torian, erant ekBi libra occidua. 



Anciently there were fynodal witneffes, tejles fynodales, in 

 each parilh, chofen by the bifhop, to inquire into the here- 

 fies, and other crimes, of the parifhioners ; and to make 

 oath thereof on the relics of the faints. See Synodales. 



Witness, Attic. See Attic. 



Witnesses, Trial by, in Lain, is a fpecies of trial, with- 

 out the intervention of a jury. This is the only method of 

 trial known to the civil law ; in which the judge is left to 

 form in his own breaft his fentence upon the credit of the 

 witneffes examined : but it is very rarely ufed in our law, 



WIT 



except only that when a widow brings a writ of dower, and 

 the tenant pleads that the hufband is not dead ; this is, in 

 favour of the widow and for greater expedition, allowed to 

 be tried by witneffes examined before the judges ; and alfo 

 in fome other cafes mentioned by fir Edward Coke, as, to 

 try whether the tenant in a real aftion was duly fummoned, 

 or the vahdity of a challenge to a juror : wlio obferves that 

 ill every cafe the affirmative muil be proved by two witneffes 

 at the leaft. Blackft. Com. book iii. 



WITNEY, in Geography, in the hundred of Bampton, 

 and county of Oxford, England, is a long and irregular, 

 but large and populous market-town, fituated 1 1 miles 

 W.N.W. from Oxford, and nearly 66 in the fame direftion 

 from London. Through the town runs the little river 

 Windrufh. Witney was one of the eight manors given to 

 his cathedral in 1040 by Alwin, bifhop of Winchefter, in 

 confequence of the fufpicion of his improper conduft with 

 Emma, the mother of Edward the Confeffor. The queen- 

 mother cleared herfelf by the fiery ordeal ( an experiment of 

 probably little danger), and the bifliop made reparation for 

 the fcandal he had, although innocent, brought upon his 

 church by a transfer to the clergy belonging to it of eight 

 of his manors. In 117 1 the manor was, by bifhop Blois, 

 beftowed on his new foundation of St. Crofs, near Winchef- 

 ter. In the fifth year of Edward II. Witney became a bo- 

 rough, and continued to fend members to parhament till the 

 33d year of Edward III. when the privilege was declined: 

 it is ftill, however, called a borough, and governed by two 

 bailiffs. The church, terminating the principal llreet, is large 

 and handfome, with crofs aides, furmounted by a tower and 

 fpire. A free-fchool was founded here in 1 660, and other 

 charitable inftitutions for the education of youth have lately 

 been formed. Witney has long been celebrated for the ma- 

 nufafture of blankets, of which the weavers were incorpo- 

 rated in queen Anne's reign. When Dr. Plott pubhlhed 

 his Natural Hiftory of Oxfordfhire, in 1677, the weaving 

 bufinefs employed no fewer than 3000 perfons, " from chil- 

 dren of eight years old, to decrepit old age ;" a number pro- 

 bably not exaggerated, if it be confidered, that, in his time, 

 every part of the manufafture was performed by manual 

 labour. But in the latter half of the laft century the 

 blanket trade fuffered a great defalcation. In 1768 about 

 500 weavers only were employed, a number which gra- 

 dually funk to lefs than one half: the confequence of which 

 was great diftrefs among the inhabitants. Machinery was 

 introduced into the manufafture, by which one man per- 

 formed the work of two. The blanket bufinefs again re- 

 vived ; but the working hands reaped no benefit from its 

 revival. In 1807, when the price of blankets was five 

 pounds the pair, the workmen earned but twelve (hiUings 

 /iifrweek, the fame fum as in 1768, when the pair brought 

 only three pounds. The ftaple, or blanket-hall, ftands in 

 the high ftrect, as does alfo the town-hall, under which is a 

 place for the market. The reftory of the parifh is united 

 with the vicarage, and in the patronage of the bifhop of 

 Wincheiler. The town contains meeting-houfes for dif- 

 ferent defcriptions of diffenters. According to the popula- 

 tion return of 1811, the honfes in the town were 543, 

 and the inhabitants 2722. — Plott's Natural Hiftory of 

 Oxfordfliire, 1677 and 1705, fol. Beauties of England, 

 Oxfordfhire, by J. N. Brewer, 8vo. 1 8 13. 



WITRY, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Marne ; 6 miles N.E. of Reims. 



WITSENIA, in Botany, was fo named by profeffor 

 Thunberg, in comphment to Mr. Witfen, " Counfellor to 

 the Chief Magiftrate of Amfterdam," whom he ftyles a moft 

 eminent patron and promoter of every kind of fcience. 



Profeffor 



