ACAEUS SCABTET. 49 



If the individuals be dirty, the skin callous, and the^case old, 

 a bath is given, in which the patient washes himself with soft 

 soap, by which the skin becomes softer, and the galleries more 

 visible. Then follows the treatment just described, with the 

 precaution of telling the patient and the nurse the places which 

 are particularly inhabited by the mites, and which, therefore, are 

 to be specially rubbed. In all cases the penis must be rubbed 

 in with soap, but the flexures of the arms and lower extremities 

 should be left free, as here the soap readily produces eczema. 

 After the completion of the treatment, a fresh examination is 

 necessary in order to see whether all the passages, nodules, and 

 lumps are destroyed. Should this not be the case, and should 

 new passages with fresh excoriations be produced, the repetition 

 of the treatment is necessary. 



If the patient comes under treatment with eczemata, sores, or 

 excoriations, these often remain long after the extermination of 

 the prurigo, which usually takes place within two or three days. 

 They are to be treated with cold poultices, solutions of corrosive 

 sublimate, &c. 



I think, however, that if we modified Hardy's rapid cure by 

 adding about 5J of oil of anise to Helmerich's ointment, we 

 should attain more certain results, and thus avoid relapses ; the 

 latter especially, by giving the patient, on his dismissal, a portion 

 of oil of anise or rosemary, to rub in every eight or ten days for 

 about four weeks upon the places most affected, or where any 

 itching may occur, or vesicles make their appearance. In order 

 to avoid relapses, it is always advisable to disinfect the linen. 

 The body-linen (shirts, drawers, and stockings) should be boiled, 

 washed, and dried, during the three days' treatment in the hospi- 

 tal. The other clothes (coats, trowsers, hats, and caps), and also 

 the portemonnaies or purses, with the money in it, and in the 

 case of journeymen artisans, even the knapsack, should be dis- 

 infected either with fumes of sulphurous acid (which, it is 

 remarkable, is still the case in the French army, although the 

 colours of the clothes, or even the clothes themselves, readily suf- 

 fer injury by this means, and smell of sulphur long afterwards), 

 or by a degree of heat which does not attack the clothes, but 

 destroys the mites (according to Fischer, 90 C. = 194 F.) For 

 this purpose the louse-oven or any baker's oven is well adapted. 

 The disinfection by heat is generally introduced into the Belgian 

 army. Or the clothes may be boiled in steam. Some, as Volz, 



4 



