118 DISEASES OF THE SKIN AND HAIRS. 



several purposes of a new cuticle to the abraded skin, a 

 water-dressing, and a barrier to the rapidly- oxydizing action 

 always present in inflammation. If secretions are poured 

 out, the eruption may be wiped, but not washed, and a fresh 

 application of the ointment may be made morning and night, 

 or as often as the previous layer of ointment has been dis- 

 turbed or displaced. 



" If we look upon an ointment when applied in this way 

 to the skin in its true light, we shall see that it presents con- 

 ditions and advantages which no other local application pos- 

 sesses ; and we cannot but arrive at the conclusion, that it 

 is a most valuable remedy, and one for which no equally 

 efficient substitute can be found. It is light, produces no 

 pressure, is thin 'as a film of varnish, and yet excludes the air 

 from the inflamed part, thus preventing desiccation and oxy- 

 dization, and it retains the ordinary moisture of the skin, 

 acting, as I before remarked, as a water-dressing or natural 

 poultice. I make it a prominent part of my directions, that 

 the morbid part should not be washed after the application 

 of the ointment; it maybe wiped with a soft napkin as much 

 as may seem necessary, but when the ointment is once applied, 

 it should not be removed by washing without good reason/' 



I have quoted thus at length from Mr Erasmus Wilson's 

 work, inasmuch as I can testify to the soundness of his 

 remarks, though, since the introduction of glycerine into the 

 pharmacopeia, I have found great advantages from the use of 

 glycerine lotions of various kinds. Glycerine is an active 

 solvent of many agents which are useful remedies in skin 

 diseases. With collodion, it forms an admirable protecting 

 mixture, and with sulphur, a good preparation for parasitic 

 diseases of the skin. It is a good vehicle for the application 

 of soothing remedies, such as opium and belladonna in skin 

 diseases attended with much irritation, and as it has no 



