Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/591

W H I W H I 555 tion involving the pulp of the finger, attended by swelling and throbbing pain. In the simplest form, apt to occur in sickly children, the inflammation results in a whitish vesicle of the skin, containing watery or bloody fluid. In all such cases, where the deeper structures are not im plicated, no radical local treatment is needed, although the illness is an indication for constitutional treatment. The affection is not usually spoken of as whitlow unless it involves the deeper structures of the last joint of the finger. These are in a peculiarly close relation to the surface ; hence the liability to deep-seated formations of matter, from some slight scratch or prick (poisoned or otherwise) of the skin over the pulp of the finger, or even when there is no obvious external provocation. The intimate connexion of the surface with the deep structures is near the finger-tip ; in that region there are certain regular bundles of strong fibres passing from the under layers of the skin, through the fat of the finger pulp, down to the free end of the bone, which is roughened and expanded in a very peculiar manner for their insertion. These fibres, which are proper to adults, serve to convey an inflammatory infection from the skin down to the bone, or to the periosteum or covering of the bone, and to the tendon (of the deep flexor muscle of the finger) inserted into that part of the last joint of the finger next to the hand. The peculiar danger of a whitlow is that, if it be not opened in time by a deep cut down to the bone along the middle line of the phalanx, the inflam mation will attack the covering of the bone, and so produce mortification or necrosis of the latter, and then attack the insertion of the tendon, causing sloughing of it also. In this way a whitlow, which has been neglected or treated by temporizing and ineffective methods, often leads to a loss of the bony tip of the last finger-joint, or even of the whole of the joint, and to a proportionate shortening and deform ity of the finger. In another class of cases, which are fortunately less common, the deep-seated inflammation travels along the various structures of the finger towards the palm of the hand. The inflammation extends inside the dense fibrous tunnel or sheath which contains and binds down both tendons upon the middle and proximal joints of the finger. In that confined space the inflamma tion becomes peculiarly virulent : the tension of the part gives the pain a bursting character; the redness and swelling extend all round the fingers and to the back of the hand and wrist ; and the result of all this suppuration and sloughing may be rigidity and contraction of the fingers and hand. Whenever matter burrows in this way, the treatment must be by free incisions. In all cases of whit low the general disturbance of health is excessive. The general treatment of all whitlow inflammations consists at the outset in relief of a congested state of the system, where such exists, by a purge and by a restricted diet, in applying poultices or hot compresses to the affected finger, and in carrying the arm in a sling. The presence of matter will not be obvious by the ordinary signs of a gathering ; attempts to let out the matter by anything short of a free and deep incision are likely to fail and to cause the loss of more or less of the bone. Whitlows have sometimes been observed to occur among a number of persons together, in a sort of epidemic, especially where the individuals are all subject to the same conditions of living, as among troops in garrison. These epidemics usually occur at a season (probably the spring) when erysipelas, carbuncles, and boils are prevalent. WHITSTABLE, a watering-place and seaport of Kent, England, is situated on the south side of the Thames estuary and on the South Eastern and the London, Chat ham, and Dover Railway lines, 6 miles north-north-west of Canterbury and G2 south-south-east of London. It con sists chiefly of one main street, about a mile in length, and two narrower streets parallel with it, built on an embank ment. The church of All Saints, in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, possesses some old brasses ; it was restored in 1875. The other principal buildings are the institute for literature, science, and art (in connexion with which there are a library, museum, and aquarium), the assembly rooms, the foresters hall, and the Wynn Ellis almshouses. The "Street," a low narrow ledge of shingle running for three quarters of a mile towards the sea, forms a natural pier and promenade. Whitstable has been famous for its oyster beds from time immemorial. The oysters raised there greatly excel all others in delicacy oi flavour, and to economize space spat from other beds is brought to Whitstable to mature. The lands are held by a company of dredgers incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1793, the affairs being administered by a foreman, deputy foreman, and jury of twelve men. The less ex tensive Seasalter and Ham oyster fishery adjoins. Of late years the productiveness of the beds has been declining, owing, it is said, to the emptying of refuse and rubbish into the Thames. There is a considerable coasting trade in coal in conjunction with the South Eastern Railway Company, who are the owners of the harbour. The popula tion of the township and parish (3601 acres) in 1871 was 4881 and 4882 in 1881. A portion of Seasalter is in cluded in Whitstable. Whitstable and Seasalter embrace what was formerly known as the "borough of Harwich," but its boundaries are not now recogniz able. Some Roman remains have been discovered. At Domesday the manor of Whitstable was held by Odo, bishop of Bayeux. Subsequently it came by female descent to the earls of Athole, and afterwards was several times in the hands of the crown, before it came to St John, Viscount Bolingbroke. In modern times it was held by Wynn Ellis, who left a valuable collection of paintings to the nation. WHITSUNDAY, or PENTECOST (Trevrr/Kocm/), the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday, one of the principal feasts of the Christian Church, is enumerated among these along with Easter Sunday, Good Friday, and the Sundays throughout the year by Origen (Cont. Cels., viii. 392), and is thus en joined in the Apostolical Constitutions (v. 20): "After ten days from the Ascension, which from the first Lord s Day is the fiftieth day, do ye keep a great festival on the day the Lord Jesus sent on us the gift of the Holy Ghost." The origin of the Anglo-Saxon name of White Sunday, which also occurs in Icelandic, is somewhat obscure, for in the Roman Church the Dominica in Albis (Low Sunday), so called from the white robes then worn by candidates for baptism, has always been the Sunday immediately follow ing Easter. A very probable suggestion is that in northern countries the colder climate made it desirable to postpone the great baptismal festival to a time when the spring season was further advanced. WHITTINGTON, a town of Derbyshire, England, is situated on the Chesterfield Canal and on the Midland Railway, 9J miles south-east of Sheffield and 153 north- north-west of London. The church of St Bartholomew, in the Early English style, Avas erected in 1863 near the site of an older one ; it contains the old font and also a mural monument to the antiquary, Dr Pegge (died 1796). The principal works are large iron factories. The manufacture of stone bottles and coarse earthenware is also carried on. Whittington was placed under the government of a local board in 1873. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 1581 acres) was 5578 in 1871 and 7271 in 1881. WHITTINGTON, SIR RICHARD (died 1423), was the son of Sir William de Whittington of Pauntley, Gloucester shire, who died an outlaw in 1360. His mother was Joan, daughter of William Mansell, who was high -sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1308. Richard Whittington makes his first appearance in 1379, when he contributed five marks to a city loan. In 1392 he was elected alderman and

sheriff of London, being at that time a member of the.