4-74 DISEASES OF THE SKtt. 



manently relieved of his disease by means of an ointment of white 

 precipitate and carbonate of lead, prescribed by a second-rate sur- 

 geon. 



The moist eruptions upon the heads of children, vicarious eczemas, and 

 eczemas of constitutional origin, after all, form but a small class compared 

 with the number of eczemas against whose local treatment no objections 

 can be made, and in the cure of which the most brilliant success may be 

 attained. The topical remedies which I would recommend before all 

 others is the white precipitate in the form of an ointment (hydrarg. 

 ammoniat. 3 j, adipis. f j), and corrosive sublimate in weak solution 

 (hydrarg. bichlor. gr. j ij, aquae destillat. f j), as these articles are 

 much less disagreeable to the patient than tar ointment, soft soap, and 

 the like, and since in a great majority of cases they amply suffice to 

 effect a rapid and complete cure even of the most obstinate forms of 

 eczema. I am quite unable to account for the beneficial action of 

 these articles upon eczematous dermatitis; but I will suggest that 

 both white and red precipitate have long been considered as among 

 the most effective remedies in conjunctivitis. The forms of eczema 

 in which I prefer to use the white precipitate ointment are eczema of 

 the face and scalp, when not too extensive, and particularly when it 

 has not already produced too much thickening of the corium. In such 

 cases the treatment has hardly ever failed me, either in the clinic or 

 in private practice ; and under its use I have seen eczemas disappear 

 in a few weeks which had lasted not merely for a year or two, but for 

 eighteen or twenty years. Although I have hesitated to employ it 

 where the eruption was very extensive, from fear of causing mercurial 

 poisoning, yet I have had especial opportunity of satisfying myself 

 that in such cases it likewise does excellent service and does no harm. 

 By means of white precipitate ointment I once cured the wife of an 

 official, in the neighborhood of Greifswald, in a few weeks, of an ecze- 

 ma about the ears and scalp, which had existed for years. Some time 

 afterward, this lady, who was very philanthropic to the poor in her 

 husband's district, and who used to prescribe " homceopathically " for 

 the sick, informed me that she could not thank me sufficiently for my 

 recipe ; for she had made a quick and radical cure of a large number 

 of very extensive and obstinate cases of " salt rheum." The patients 

 did not suffer in the least from the rapidity of the cure, and none of 

 them were salivated. The application of white precipitate, however, 

 by no means secures the patient against a relapse, and it is well to 

 warn him of the probability of a fresh outbreak, and to recommence 

 the treatment as soon as he perceives any new signs of the disease. 

 Moreover, as the eczema is all the more easily and quickly cured by 

 the ointment, when the eruption is recent and slight, it is very impor- 



