W R I
W Y C
Wrist Frafiured. The bones of the Wrijl are very feldom fubjeci to fracture, on account of their fmallneis. And when they are fractured, there is but little hopes of a cure ;
. for the ligaments' and tendons are here fo numerous, and the bones fo very fmall, that it'isfcarce poflible to reduce them to their places, or to make them grow together again. On this account the joint of the hand generally becomes ftiff and immoveable after thefe accidents, or elfe abfcefles, fuppurations, fiftulse, and caries of the bones follow them ; and thefe, on account of the foftnefs of the bones, and the difficulty of dVcharging the matter, are feldom remedied, but by amputating the hand. What can be done, how- ever, toward the curing a fracture in this part, is this i the affiftant muft lay hold of the hand above the Wrijl and be- low it, and extend them as far as is necefTary in oppofite directions ; the furgeon is, while this is doing, to replace the bones with his ringers, and when they are all replaced, to bind the hand up with a proper bandage. Heijter. Surg. P- 129.
Wrist, in the manege. The bridle Wrtji, is that of the
cavalier's left hand. A horfeman's Wrijl and his elbow fhould be equally raifed, and the Wrijl fhould be two or three fingers above the pummel of the faddle. To ride a horfe from hand to hand, /. e. to change hands upon one tread, you need only to turn your IVriji to that fide you would have the horfe to turn to, without advancing your hand. But if your horfe flops, you muft make ule of both your legs. See the article Hand and Leg.
WRIT (Cyd.)— Writ of Inquiry of Damages, a judicial Writ that illues out to the fheriff upon a judgment by default, in action of the cafe, covenant, treipafs, trover, (3'c. com- manding him to fummon a jury to enquire what damages the plaintiff hath fun-dined, occajianc pr&juifjorum , and when this is returned with the inquiiition, the rule for judgment is o-iven upon it ; and if nothing be faid to the contrary, judgment is thereupon entered. 2 Lill. Abr. 721.
WRITING, (Cyd.) — To write without blacking the fingers : Prepare the paper with a fine powder, made of three parts of calcined copperas, two of galls, and one of gum arabic, thoie being freih mixed, rub them with a hare's foot into the pores of the paper ; and then write with fair water, and the black letters will immediately appear. Boyle's Works
- abr. Vol. 1, p. 114, 115.
To make new Writing appear old, moiften it with oil of tartar per deliquium, more or lefs diluted with water, as. you defire the ink to appear more or lefs decayed. Boyle, ib.
P- 1I S- . . ■
We may write without ink, or its materials : For this pur- pofe, take a fine powder of calcined hartfhorn, of clean to- bacco-pipes, or rather of mutton-bones burnt to a perfect whitenefs, and rub it upon the paper, and then write with a filver bodkin, or the like. Ibid.
The dilcharging of ink out of parchment, paper, &c. is commonly done by aqua fort'is diluted diffidently with wa- ter, that it may not deftroy the paper. The like may be done with oil, or fpirit of vitriol diluted. The juice of le- mons, or ftrong vinegar,will take ink out of linnen more fafe- ly, as the mineral acids are apt to deftroy the Unnen, unleis great care be ufed in diluting them.
. . We may write on. iron with corrofive fublimate wetted with common water: For this purpofe, the parts of metal we would preferve untouched fhould be cov-ered with wax, and that taken off" in the proper places to make" way for the corrod- ing fubftance. Boyle's Works abr. Vol. 1. p. 528. , The like may be practifed by means of aqua fortis.- ■ Mr. Boyle mentions a method he had of copying a whole --page of Writing at once. But we do not find his.defcription
1 of it any where. See Works abr. Vol.. 1. p. 136.
The fame author informs us of a method of imitating Writ- ing, on copper-plates. The copy to be engraved is. to be wrote with a peculiar kind of ink, and the copper-plate, be- ing moderately warmed, is rubbed over with a white var- nifh, and fufFered to cool ; then the paper being gently
1 1 moiftened, that it may readily communicate its ink, the Writing is applied to the prepared furface of the plate, and paffed through a rolling-prefs i by which means the ink ad-
hering to the varnifh, leaves the letters very confpicnoui'. And hence it is eafy with a -needle to trace the ftrokes, through the varnifh upon the plate, which being afterwards cleaned, the letters are finifhed with the graver, and the work printed off" in a rolling-prefs, as common cuts, Mr. Boyle does not mention what the varnifh nor ink, ufed by the artificer from whom he received this method, was j but he tells us, that he himfelf ufed the purer fort of virgin- wax, for a varnifh ; and for his ink he took fine Frankfort black carefully ground, with water, till it obtained the con- iiftence of common ink ; but ho gum was added, left it fhould hinder the ink from coming off. He alfo obferves, that written characters may be taken ofF without the help of a prefs, by laying the moiftened paper fmooth upon the varniihcd copper, and rubbing it on hard with a convex piece of glafs. Ibid.
WRONG -/.««<-/*, in our old writers, feem to denote trees that will never prove timber ; fuch as wrong the ground they grow in. Kirch." 169. Cowel.
WRY-Ncd-ed? a term applied to perfons affected withadiflor- tion of the neck, and confequently of the head alfo ; which is pulled more to one fide than the other. This is a deformity ufualiy brought into the world With people ; but fometimes it is occafioned by accidents after- wards. When it is from the birth, there is very little rea- fon to imagine it curable, becaufe the vertebra? of the neck are rendered crooked by that pofture, while the bones are in a foft and pliable Irate.
There are however, in the writings of furgeons, fome in* fiances of this diforder, even in thefe circumftances, being cured after twelve, fixteen, or eighteen years. When this diforder comes on adults, it is occafioned ge- nerally either by the contraction of the fkin from a burn on one fide, or from a ftrong fpafmodic contraction of one of the maftoide mufcles ; which will at length become fhorter and indurated, by continuing in that pofture j or it may pro- ceed'from a relaxation of one or more of thofe mufcles, in confequence of which the neck will be contracted by the itronger antagonift mufcle on the oppofite'fide ; or laftly, it may proceed from a preternatural ligament drawing down the head. And when cither of thefe is the occafion of the diforder, there is hopes of a cure ; efpecially if the fubject. be young, and the diforder not of long ftanding. If this diforder be recent, and caufed by a defluxion of hu- mours, evacuating medicines with mild fudorifics, and heat, may be of fervice. But when it arifes from a contraction of the fkin or mufcles by burning, the. repeated ufe of oils, ointments, and fomentations, may relax fb far as to make a cure. A proper firm bandage muft be applied to puil the head toward the natural pofture, and a fteel collar may be contrived by which the patient fhall be fufpended very fre-* quently till the neck recover its proper pbfition. But when all thefe fail, the manual affiftance of the furgeon is to be called in. If the fkin is' contracted by a burn, it muft be carefully incided tranfverfely in fevcral places, and the' inci- fions dreiTed fo as to keep them open and dilated, and the head pulled to its proper pofrtion by a bandage, till the new flefh filling up thefe incifions gives room for the head to ftand even. But if the Wry-neck proceeds from a contraftion of one of the maftoide mufcles, or from fome ligament, they are to be divided by a tranfverfe incifion in' their lower part, near the clavicle or fternum. Heijter's Surgery, V. 2. p. 4. Ttdpius, V.4. c. 58,
WRV-iV^, in zoology, the Englifh name' of a bird, known ill Latin by the names",' 'torquilla and jynx. Roys Ornithol. p. 9.5. See the artifle-'jYNX.
WURST, a Ruffian nieafure. See the article Werst. " :
W r YCH- Houfe (Cyd.)—\\\ the places ( where there are falt- fprings, and falt-wqrks arc carried on at them, the work- houfe where the fait is made is always called the Wych- boufe y and hence we may naturally conclude, that Wydi was an old BritifK word for fait, which is the.niore probable in that all the towns in 'which fait 'is made end in Wycb \ as Namptwyd), Droitzvyd),' Middlewychy&t. R/iyz Englifh Words, p. 175.
■
...
. .",..!... !
■
' ■
' .. .
',
- -...;: uv.1 rh
.
.... . . ..
■
.
,
■:
na
1
,
,;i: : j ;.t 1
1
amafl *
■
...
..-.■. ■ ■ ■
. 1 .
dl
. : ■ . ■ - ■ . ■
- : ■
x.
