566 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



most inevitably be followed, in the course of a few minutes, 

 by absolute relief. Should the pain recur, the remedy is to 

 be repeated. This application may be made quite close to 

 the same spot, and every day for a month, within a radius of 

 an inch and a half, and in all cases as near the seat of pain 

 as possible. The pain disappears in a few minutes, leaving 

 a sensation of unutterable relief and quiet. 3 A, January 1, 

 1872,480. 



SKIN DISEASES CAUSED BY BAD SOAPS. 



A writer in Nature calls attention to one possible source 

 of skin diseases, which he thinks has hitherto escaped the ob- 

 servation of physiologists. In his communication he refers 

 to the process by which what are called " prime old brown 

 Windsor soaps" are manufactured, and states that this is ob- 

 tained from old and putrid bones, which are crushed and 

 ground to a coarse powder, and exposed to the action of boil- 

 ing water under pressure until the grease and marrow are 

 extracted. These substances are subjected to various pro- 

 cesses, resulting in the preparation of bone glue, isinglass, 

 etc., while the grease itself, which at first is of a dark brown 

 color, with an abominable odor, is purified by various meth- 

 ods, and deodorized, and the more valuable portion converted 

 into hard brown soap, the offensive smell of which is disguised 

 by a strong perfume. 



The brown color of the putrid grease gives it its accepta-* 

 ble tint without coloring by caramel, which was the original 

 method of manufacture. The process of preparation causes 

 the production of a large number of minute spiculae of bone, 

 which can not be entirely removed, and which, when the soap 

 is used, tend to penetrate the skin, or to abrade its surface 

 more or less. It is to the introduction both of the soap it- 

 self and of these fragments of putrid bone that the writer in 

 question attributes the occurrence of various forms of eczema, 

 etc., and states that he himself actually produced such a dis- 

 ease on several successive occasions by renewing the applica- 

 tion of a soap of this kind. The suggestion seems extremely 

 plausible at least, and is one well worthy of consideration. 



The editor of the Medical Times and Gazette, in referring 

 to the article in Nature, says that, to be entirely sure that no 

 improper soaps are used, we had better confine ourselves to 



