Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/485

This page needs to be proofread.

WART Warsaw presented for a long time a desolate appearance. The demonstrations in February and April, 1861, were put down with a strong hand; and the insurrection of 1863, controlled by the Warsaw central committee, was finally crushed early in 1864. The university was reorganized in 1869 in a Kussianized form, and many other efforts were aimed at the ex- tirpation of the last vestiges of Polish nation- ality ; but the Polish language and the Cath- olic religion still preponderate, despite system- atic measures for their restriction. WART, an excrescence on the skin, consist- ing of elongated papillae of the dermis covered with cuticle, the nature of which is not very well understood. Warts are often superficial and movable, but generally implanted in the substance of the true skin, where they are re- tained by dense, whitish, fibrous filaments. The common flat wart is formed of small sep- arate prolongations of the dermis, giving to it a furrowed or rough appearance ; the shape is usually rounded, and the tissue is firm and fibrous, sometimes almost cartilaginous; it is insensible at the surface, sensitive at the base, receiving small vessels which yield blood on incision; it is commonly painless, paler than the surface on which it rests, and seated prin- cipally on the hands. Warts are sometimes produced by compression and by neglect of cleanliness, and by the syphilitic virus about the openings of the mucous canals, showing the analogy between the skin and the mucous membranes ; they come and go without appar- ent cause, especially in the young, and may go on increasing in spite of all treatment. The hard variety is not communicable by contact, but in some situations, where the cuticle is delicate, they exude a serous fluid which is commonly considered contagious. The pedi- culated warts are more vascular and redder, and either hard or soft; they are most com- mon on the neck, chest, and back. The most approved methods of treatment are by caustics, excision, and ligature, the last especially for the pediculated kinds. A common way is to pare the wart, without bringing blood, and touch with nitrate of silver, or, if this be too slow, to put on nitric or sulphuric acid, which penetrate more deeply, and sometimes too deeply, injuring joints or making indelible scars. Other methods are to touch with a mixture of one part of muriatic acid and three parts of muriated tincture of iron ; with a so- lution of diacetate of lead ; with corrosive sub- limate, muriate of ammonia, and alum solu- tions ; with muriate of soda and vinegar ; with chloride of ammonia; with lime water; or with vegetable juices, as those of the garlic, onion, and sumach. Poultices of scraped car- rots and the application of quicklime will some- times cause their fall ; and rubbing with chalk or a fine file is a favorite means of removal. WARTBURG, an old castle in the N. W. part of the Thuringian forest, near Eisenach, Saxe- Weiinar. The site, a wooded hill surrounded WART HOG 465 by rocky glens, is extremely picturesque. The castle was built about 1070 by Louis, land- grave of Thuringia, and it remained the resi- dence of his successors nearly four centuries. In 1206 or 1207 the landgrave Hermann I. as- sembled there the principal minnesingers of Germany for a musical tournament, at which party feeling ran so high that it became known as the Wartburg war. A poem descriptive of the contest, entitled Kriec wn Wartlurg, ap- peared about 1300 (German translation, edited by Karl Simrock, 1874). Connected with the castle also is the romance of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, wife of the landgrave Louis, son of Hermann, whose story has been set to mu- sic by Liszt under the title Die heilige Elisa- leth. (See ELIZABETH, SAINT.) Luther found shelter in the Wartburg after the diet of Worms, and occupied himself, during his residence there from May 4, 1521, to March 6, 1522, with his translation of the Bible. The celebration here by German students of the third centenary year of the reformation, Oct. 18, 1817, is known as the Wartburg festival ; the participants in it were suspected of liberalism and subjected to long continued political persecution. The castle was thoroughly restored in 1847, and adorned by Moritz von Schwind with frescoes illustrating the scenes in its history. In 1867 was celebrated the eighth centenary year of its foundation. WART HOG, a name given to the African swine of the genus phacochcerus . (F. Cuv.), from the large warty protuberances on each cheek.' In this genus the feet are four-toed ; there is a thick callosity in front of each fore limb, produced by their habit of falling on their knees when digging for the bulbs and roots on which they feed ; the warts are about If in. below the eyes, made up of fibrous tis- sue mixed with fat ; the eyes are very small and high up, ears large, and sense of. smell acute; there are 13 dorsal and 6 lumbar ver- tebrae ; tail naked 'and slender, tapering, but dilated and tufted at the end ; the molar teeth vary, according to age, from 3 to 5 on each side in each jaw, and are composed of closely set cylindrical tubes surrounded by enamel, the last being very long; canines large, projecting upward and outward ; incisors or f , general- ly deciduous. The length is between 3 and 4 ft., with a tail of 1 ft. ; though small, they have a large head with formidable tusks, and a very fierce and unprepossessing look. The mam- ma3 are four, two inguinal and two abdominal, an inch behind the navel ; the roof of the mouth has more than 20 transverse arched ridges ; the intestinal canal is about eight times the length of the body ; the stomach is more simple than in the common hog, the small intestines relatively shorter, and the large rel- atively longer; the pharynx has two large mucous pouches. The best known species is the African wart hog or Tiaruja (P. Pliant, Rupp.), from Abyssinia and the Guinea and Mozambique coasts ; it has persistent incisors,