Chapter 11

Caution.--Sulphur and mercury preparations should not be used at the same time, nor immediately succeeding each other, as they will stain the skin.

BALDNESS. (Alopecia). Causes.--Hereditary and diseases. Congenital and senile (old age) baldness is incurable. Congenital (born without hair) baldness is rare.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES. 1. Baldness, Well Recommended for.--"A first class hair restorative is made of sage tea and whisky in equal parts with a dash of quinine in the bottle."

2. Baldness, Vaselin and Quinine for.--

"Vaselin 1 ounce Quinine 1/2 ounce"

Mix together and apply to the scalp.

3. Baldness, Good Canadian Remedy for.--"Strong sage tea. Rub the scalp frequently. I have used this with great success."

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PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Baldness.--Persons who have an hereditary tendency to baldness should pay close attention to the hygiene of the scalp, as this is very important. The hair should be shampooed two or three times a week, to remove sebaceous accumulations and other foreign materials. After the scalp has been thoroughly rinsed with clean water and dried, some oil or (tube) vaselin should be rubbed in, Fine-toothed combs should never be used, The daily wetting of the hair is injurious, Rats should be light and well aired, When the hair begins to fall, stimulating applications should be used, in the form of ointments or lotions. The following are among the best with the author's name given but in English instead of Latin.

Dr. Schalek. 1.

Bichloride of Mercury 3 grains Tinct. of Cantharides 1/2 ounce Oil of Sweet Almonds 1 dram Spirits of Rosemary 1 ounce Rectified Spirits of Wine 2 ounces Distilled water enough to make 6 ounces

Mix; shake bottle well; rub thoroughly into the scalp every morning.

2. Carbolic add 15 grains Glycerin 2 drams Cologne water 1 ounce

Mix, and apply to the scalp once daily.

3. Precipitated Sulphur 1 dram Lanolin 2-1/2 drams Glycerin 2-1/2 drams Rose water enough to make 1 ounce

Mix well. Part the hair in different places and rub ointment into the scalp.

4. Ihle's Mixture.--

Resorcin 1-1/2 drams Castor Oil 1-1/2 ounces Spirits of Wine 5 ounces Balsam Peru 10 drops

Mix. Rub into the scalp daily with a piece of flannel.

5. Bulkley's Lotion.--

Tincture Cantharides 1/2 ounce Tincture Capsicum 1/2 ounce Castor Oil 1 dram Cologne Water 1 ounce

Mix and apply daily to the scalp.

6. Lassar's Ointment.--

Pilocarpine Muriate 30 grains Vaseline 5 drams Lanolin 2 ounces Oil of Lavender 20 drops

Mix and apply to the scalp.

BALD PATCHES. (Alopecia Areata).--These appear rather suddenly. They are circular bald patches which may appear on any hairy part of the body, but more frequently on the scalp. It is considered a chronic trouble, but tends to final recovery.

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Cause.--Occurs usually between the ages of ten and forty. It may be from a parasite.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT.--Cod-liver oil, elixir quinine, iron and strychnine one dram three times daily. Arsenic, Fowler's solution, four drops three times daily.

Local Treatment.--Stimulating remedies, like sulphur, tar, tincture of cantharides, capsicum, in various strength in combination such as given for baldness. In old persons it may become permanent.

ANIDROSIS. (Lessened Sweat Secretion).--This means a diminution of the sweat secretion. The patient does not sweat enough, especially in certain skin diseases like psoriasis, etc.

Treatment.--Hot water, vapor baths, friction, massage, etc., should be used to increase the sweat secretion. Treat the accompanying skin disease.

FOUL SWEATING. (Bromidrosis). Symptoms.--The odor may be very disagreeable, or resemble the odor of certain flavors or fruits. It is generally found in the arm-pit and genital organs.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES. 1. Offensive Sweating, Alum Water for.--"A wash made with a teaspoonful of alum and a quart of water will prevent offensive sweating. We all know how disagreeable it is to sit near a person in a street car or any crowded place, who has an odor of perspiration about them, How easy it would be to use this wash and rid yourself of this difficulty,"

2. Sweaty Feet, Borax and Alcohol for.--"Dissolve a tablespoonful of powdered borax in half a pint of diluted alcohol (half alcohol, half water) and rub the feet at night, You will find this a splendid remedy." I

3. Sweating, Simple Home Remedy to Produce.--"Place a rubber sheet or blanket under the patient. Have a simple blanket soaking in hot water and when all is ready, wring blanket as dry as possible and wrap about the patient up to the neck. After this a dry blanket is wrapped around the patient. Care should be taken not to have the blanket hot enough to burn the patient, but not too cool. After a few minutes the patient is taken out, rubbed dry gently and left to rest and sleep." This treatment will be found very beneficial and inexpensive.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Foul Sweating.--Frequent bathing, dressing powders of boric and salicylic acids, etc.

1. Salicylic Acid 1/2 ounce Powdered Starch 1/2 ounce

Mix and dust on the parts.

2. Boric acid powdered may also be used.

3. Powdered Boric Acid and Salicylic Acid; Equal parts.

To be used as a dusting powder on the sweating parts.

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3. One per cent solution of potassium permanganate or permanganate of potash is good applied to the parts.

CALLOSITY or Callositas.--This is circumscribed yellowish-white, thickened and horny patches of one of the layers of the cuticle (epidermis).

Causes--They come as the result of the occupation or pressure, and sometimes without any seeming cause.

Symptoms.--They occur mostly on the hands and feet and are usually sensitive.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT, for Callosity or Callositas.--Remove the cause of the horny masses. The latter is done by soaking them with prolonged hot water baths and scraping off the mass afterwards. This should be continued and done frequently.

Salicylic Acid 30 grains Collodion 4 ounce

Mix and apply with a camel's hair pencil.

CORNS. (Calvus).--A small, flat, deep-seated, horny growth, mostly on or between the toes.

Cause.--Usually the result of too tight or too loose shoes. Due to pressure and rubbing.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES.--Corns, one of the Surest Remedies.--"Take salicylic acid, make a thick paste with flour, put on absorbent cotton and apply, leaving same on several days; soak well and corn will come out." This is a thoroughly tried remedy and a good one. This is about as good a cure as there is for corns. After this paste has been on the corn for three days, it should be removed and the feet soaked well, and the corn scraped off.

2. Corns, Turpentine and Kerosene for.--"A very simple remedy is to apply turpentine or kerosene oil to the affected part on going to bed." It is always a good plan to soak the feet well before treating the corn, as the turpentine will penetrate more quickly.

3. Corns, to Remove Without Pain.--

"Alcohol 1/2 ounce Muriatic Acid 1 dram Nitric Acid 1 dram Oil of Rosemary 1 dram Chloroform 2 drams Tincture Iron 2 drams

Mix the above, and apply freely to the corn with little brush or feather until it can be removed with thumb lance. It may require several applications."

4. Corns, Onion a Cure for.--"Soak a small onion in vinegar four hours, then cut in two and bind on the corn at night. In the morning (if the onion has remained over the corn) the soreness will be gone and you can pick out the core. If not cured in first application repeat."

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5. Corns, Castile Soap an Effective Remedy for.--"Rub the corn night and morning with castile soap, as often as possible shave it, being careful not to cut deep enough to make it bleed." Be faithful in soaping it thoroughly night and morning for several days until it disappears. This is a very simple but effective remedy.

6. Hard Corns, Iodine a Successful Remedy for.--"Paint the corns with iodine every night for three nights, stop three nights, then apply three nights again, and so on for two weeks." Have tried this and know it to be very successful, especially good for hard corns.

7. Corns, Castor Oil for.--"Apply castor oil; rub it thoroughly, then soak feet. It will soften and remove corns."

8. Corns, Vinegar and Bread for.--"Take bread and soak in vinegar for twenty-four hours, put a plaster on for three or four nights. If not cured on first application, repeat."

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Corns.--Remove the cause; soften them by prolonged soaking in hot water, and then gently scrape off the softened particles, continue this for several days; then put a narrow strip of rubber or salicylated plaster (adhesive plaster) over to protect them from pressure. The following is good to soften them:

1. Salicylic Acid 1-1/2 dram Extract of Cannabis indica 10 grains Collodion 1 ounce

Mix and paint on the corn for several days and after soaking corn scrape it off with a sharp knife.

2. A Good but Weaker Remedy:-

Salicylic Acid 30 grains Extract of Cannabis indica 5 to 10 grains Collodion 1/2 ounce

Both of these prescriptions are good, the first being stronger with salicylic acid.

3. When the corns are soft with inflammation, wash and dry the foot and apply a solution of nitrate of silver, sixty to one hundred and twenty grains to the ounce of water, to every part every four or five days.

Ulcerating Corns.--Cauterize with nitrate of silver in stick form.

CARBUNCLE. (Anthrax).--A carbuncle is an acute circumscribed inflammation of the skin and tissues beneath, of the size of an egg, orange, or larger. It is a hard mass and ends in local death of some of the tissue and formation of pus, which empties upon the surface through several sieve-like openings.

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Symptoms.--There is a feeling of general sickness, chilliness and some fever. The skin over the sore part is hot and painful. The several dead parts may run together until the entire mass separates in a slough. In favorable cases it proceeds to heal kindly, but in severe cases it may spread to the surrounding tissues and end fatally, sometimes by the absorption of putrid materials, or by the resulting weakness. It runs usually from two to five weeks.

Causes.--It comes in middle or advanced life, usually oftener in men than in women. It occurs frequently in patients suffering from diabetes, in whom it is usually fatal.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES. Carbuncles, Poppy Leaves to Draw and Ripen.--"A poultice of poppy leaves is very efficacious to draw or ripen a carbuncle." A poultice made from these leaves is very quieting and soothing, and at the same time will cause the carbuncle to ripen.

2. Carbuncle, Slippery Elm and Sassafras Root for.--"Sassafras root and slippery elm bark boiled together and the decoction thickened with cornmeal." This should be changed as often as it becomes cool.

3. Carbuncle, Sheep Sorrel Poultice for.--"Gather a bunch of sheep sorrel leaves, wrap them in a cabbage leaf and roast in the oven. Apply to the carbuncle, and it will soon ripen and break."

4. Carbuncle, Bread and Milk Poultice for.--"Keep warm bread and milk poultice on until the core comes out, then put on salve or vaselin and keep covered until all healed."

5. Carbuncle, the Common Scabious for.--"Take scabious, the green herb and bruise it. Apply this to the affected part. This has been found a very effectual remedy." The common field scabious have many hairy, soft, whitish green leaves, some of which are very small and rough on the edges, others have hairy green leaves deeply and finely divided and branched a little. Flowers size of small walnut and composed of many little ones. Sometimes called "Morning Bride," "Devil's Bit," etc.

6. Carbuncle, Snap Bean Poultice for.--"Apply snap bean leaves beat up fine. Bruise the leaves until they are real fine, then apply as a poultice."

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Carbuncles.--Keep up the strength by a nourishing diet and in some cases, stimulants.

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Local.--Cut it open thoroughly by a cross (crucial) cut, like this (x). The cut must reach through the mass to sound tissue beneath and beyond it. Then scrape out all the dead tissue. Dress with iodoform or sterile gauze. An antiseptic like listerine, glyco-thymoline, etc., can be used to wet the gauze, put on as a dressing afterwards and then more dry gauze above, strapped with adhesive plaster. Water and instruments must be boiled, hands must be absolutely clean. Everything around it must be clean. Sometimes it is necessary to go slowly and take out at each dressing only what can be easily removed, It is not always possible to get the whole mass away at once. Opening the carbuncle and giving free drainage afford great relief from the fever and often general symptoms. When the part feels as if it needed redressing, it should be done, for it then gives much relief. The dressings frequently become hard and do not absorb all of the material ready to be discharged. It is usually proper and prudent to dress a carbuncle two or three times a day. There is no danger if the one who dresses it is clean with the instruments, hands and gauze or cotton.

LIVER SPOTS, Moth Patch, Chloasma, etc.--This is a discoloration of the skin of a yellowish to a blackish tint of varying size and shape.

Causes.--It may be due to external agencies, such as rubbing, scratching, heat (tanning and sunburn) blistering; or due to diseases such as tuberculosis, cancer, malaria, Addison's disease, disease of the womb, pregnancy.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Liver Spots.--Remove all causes if possible.

Local.--This must be carefully used, find out first how sensitive the skin is. Dr. Bulkley recommends this lotion:

Corrosive Sublimate 5 grains Dilute Acetic Acid 2 drams Borax 40 grains Rose water enough for 4 ounces

Shake bottle, mix and apply to the part night and morning. If the skin becomes too scaly, a mild soothing ointment should be substituted for the above. White suggests the following:

Hydrarg. Ammon. Chlar 2 drams Subnitrate Bismuth 2 drams Starch 1/20 ounce Glycerin 1/2 ounce

Mix and apply twice daily.

The application of peroxide of hydrogen has only a temporary effect.

BLACK-HEADS. Flesh Worms, Comedones, Pimples, etc.--This is a disorder of the sebaceous glands in which the sebaceous (fatty, cheesy) secretions become thickened; the excreting ducts, appearing on the surface, as yellowish or blackish points. They appear chiefly on the face, neck, chest, and back and are very unsightly.

Symptoms.--They are easily pressed out, and appear then as thread-like, whitish masses which contain fatty material. The black point may be due to pigment or to dirt from without. Comedones may exist with acne and seborrhoea and excessive secretion of sebum.

Causes.--Want of tone to the skin, which performs its functions sluggishly. Stomach-bowel disorders, menstrual disturbances and anemia are other causes and assist in making them worse. Improper care of the skin and dusty air may be other assistant causes.

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MOTHERS' REMEDIES. For Pimples and Black-heads.--l. Pimples on the face, effective yet harmless remedy for:

Camphor 10 grains Acacia (pulverized) 20 grains Sulphur (precipitated) 2 drams Lime water 2 ounces Rose water 2 ounces

Apply on the face with a soft cloth at bedtime. Allow to dry and brush off the excess of the powder.

Anyone suffering from these eruptions is usually willing to try every known remedy. The above is excellent and very effective and is harmless.

2. Pimples, Alum Water for.--"Take a teaspoonful of alum to a quart of water and use as a wash, say three times a day. This will cure ordinary pimples on the face."

3. Skin Blotches, Cream of Tartar and Sulphur for.--"Two ounces cream tartar and one ounce of powdered sulphur (from the lump). Mix. Dose:--Teaspoonful in a little water three times a day will cure."

4. Rough Skin, Healing Cream for.--"One-fourth cup tallow melted, one teaspoonful glycerin, small lump camphor, dissolved. Mix all together by warming sufficiently." Rub in thoroughly as you do any face cream.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Pimples.--Remove the cause if possible. The diet should be like that given under dyspepsia and constipation. Menstrual disorders should be remedied.

Local.--Remove the plugs (of sebum) and stimulate the skin glands. For this purpose prolonged (ten minutes at a time) bathing of the face with hot water and soap; tincture of green soap in the more indolent, sluggish cases, should precede the pressing out of the blackheads: Lateral pressure with the fingers or with the comedone extractor, especially contrived for this purpose, will express the black-heads. After they are out, the skin dried and cleaned, various stimulating remedies can be applied in ointments and lotions such as following:

1. "Precipitated Sulphur 1 dram Ointment of Rose water 1 ounce

Mix and rub on at night."

2. Beta-Naphthol 1/2 dram Resorcin 1/2 dram Lanolin 1 ounce

Mix and apply locally.

INFLAMMATION of the Skin. (Dermatitis).--This is due to many causes. It can come from injuries, for instance the rubbing or pressure of ill-fitting clothes, bandages, bites of insects and from scratching.

Varieties.--Dermatitis ambustionis, (burning). This is due to excessive heat upon the skin.

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PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Inflammation of the Skin.--Relieve the pain; protect the parts; exclude the air. Paint the burned part with a one to five per cent solution of cocaine, according to the severity of inflammation. Then apply soothing lotions of equal parts of lime-water and olive or linseed oil; cover the whole with absorbent cotton. Dusting powder of soda bicarbonate may also be used, or common soda. In burns with vesicles, etc., open them and then cover with carbolized oil, gauze and adhesive to hold the dressing. The parts can be washed with a solution of boric acid, one teaspoonful to a cup of water; then dust upon the parts sugar of lead once or twice a day. Some use it in solution; I like the powder better. Infusion of lobelia, one ounce to pint of hot water, is good. Also lead and laudanum wash.

ECZEMA. (Humid Tetter-Salt Rheum-Dry Tetter). Definition.--Eczema is an inflammatory disease of the skin, characterized at its commencement by redness, pimples, vesicles, pustules and their combinations, with itching and burning. It terminates in a watery or pus-like discharge with the formation of crusts or scaling.

Varieties.--There are many varieties, red, scaly, fissured, watery looking and hard skin.

Symptoms.--Itching is almost always a symptom of this disease. There is more or less pouring out of liquid (serum). The dry, scaly type, and the weeping type, may alternate with each other. There are six cardinal symptoms; inflammation, itching, moisture, crusting, infiltration (liquid filling of the tissues), fissuring or cracking. Dr. Fox says that nearly one-third of all skin diseases are eczema in some of its stages or varieties. In one kind there is red spot (macule). The skin is dry, of a bright or dull red color, with intense itching or burning, more or less watery swelling in the acute stage. In the chronic stage, the skin becomes thick and covered with fine dry scales, usually in the face (Eczema Erythematosum).

Eczema Vesiculosum. (Vesicular Eczema).--This is preceded by a feeling of heat and irritation about the part. In a short time pinhead sized vesicles appear. These frequently run together and form patches. They rupture rapidly; the liquid is poured out, dries up and forms crusts. The discharge stiffens linen, a characteristic of this variety.

Eczema Pustulosum. (Pustules). Pustular Kind.--This is nearly like the preceding. The vesicles have pus in them from the start or develop from the vesicles. When the pustules rupture, their contents dry up to the thick greenish-yellow crusts. The scalp and face, in children especially, are the favored spots for this kind. It occurs in poorly nourished children.

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Eczema Papulosum. (Papular Variety).--This is characterized by flat or sharp pointed reddish pimples (papules), varying in size from a small to a large pin-head. They are usually numerous, run or crowd together and form large patches. The itching is usually very intense. This causes much scratching, rawness and crusts. The pimples may continue as such, or change into vesicles. In chronic cases they run together, and finally form thick scaly patches, and may run into a scaly eczema.

Eczema Rubrum (red).--The skin looks red, raw, and "weeps." It is most commonly found about the face and scalp in children, and the lower parts of the legs in the old.

Eczema Squamosis. (Scaling).--This may follow any of the other varieties, but usually follows the red and pimple (papule) variety. They are various sized and shaped reddish patches, which are dry and more or less scaly. Thickening is always present, also a tendency to cracking of the skin, especially if it affects the joints. There are other varieties but these are the most important.

RECOVERY.--Eczema has a tendency to persist and rarely disappears spontaneously.

Causes.--Gout, diabetes, rheumatism, Bright's disease, dyspepsia, constipation, nervous trouble, heat, cold, strong soaps, acids, alkalies, rubbing, scratching, etc.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES. 1. Eczema, Lemon or Vinegar for.--"Rub the spots with sliced lemon. This will sometimes relieve the itching. Bathing with vinegar water is better for some as it destroys the germs." The bowels should be kept open, and then constitutional faults removed as the eruption of the skin is but a local manifestation of a functional fault.

2. Eczema, Olive Oil and Powder for.--"Bathe with olive oil and sift over the skin a powder composed of equal parts of fine laundry starch and oxide of zinc powder." Do not bathe with water until healed.

3. Eczema, Herb Tea for.--"A good wash for eczema is made of an ounce of bruised blood-root and yellow dock, steeped well in a pint of alcohol, and half pint of vinegar." Apply gently to the affected parts.

4. Eczema, Potato and Camphor for.--"Make a poultice of a cold potato with a small quantity of camphor. This is very good and relieves the trouble very soon."

5. Eczema, Sulphur and Lard for.--"An excellent eczema cure is made by applying a paste made of sulphur and lard to the affected parts." This is very easily prepared, and has been known to cure many cases.

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6. Skin Diseases, Burdock Tea a Standard Remedy for.--"Take a handful of the freshly bruised burdock root to two quarts of water and boil down one-half; drink from a half to one pint a day." This is considered one of the best home remedies for skin diseases that is known and is perfectly harmless.

7. Skin Disease, Blood Purifier for.--

"Iodide Potash 192 grains Fluid Extract Stillingia 1 ounce Fluid Extract Prickly Ash Bark 1/2 ounce Fluid Extract Yellow Dock 1 ounce Compound Syrup Sarsaparilla to make 8 ounces

Mix."

8. Tetter, Reliable Remedy for.--"Turpentine 1 ounce, red precipitate 3 drams, vaselin 4 ounces. Mix, rub on the affected parts several times a day." This is a splendid ointment for a severe case of tetter.