ECZEMA. 



4T5 



taut to enjoin upon the patient to keep a sharp lookout for the first 

 traces of it, as I can illustrate by a most striking example. I cured 

 the wife of an officer, in Magdeburg, in less than a fortnight, of a 

 chronic eczema, for which she had in vain gone through a succession of 

 courses of Zittman's decoction, arsenic, iodide of potassium, mercurials, 

 baths, and mineral waters. This eczema had a great tendency to re- 

 turn. When the patient's husband was at home, in Magdeburg, ho 

 used every day to examine her face with a lens, and to anoint every 

 suspicious-looking spot with the salve, thus protecting her from any 

 unsightly extension of the disease. When her husband was on duty, 

 and absent from Magdeburg for any length of time, during the autum- 

 nal manoeuvres of the army, the eczema sometimes spread consider- 

 ably, and did not afterward yield so readily to the white precipitate, 

 and has sometimes even compelled me to resort to the corrosive sub- 

 limate instead. Two or three inunctions daily of this ointment, or an 

 equal number of pencillings with the solution of corrosive sublimate, 

 are usually sufficient. Of course, any adherent scabs must be softened 

 and removed, and the surface must be carefully dried before applying 

 either the ointment or the solution. I have often found that my for- 

 mer pupils, as they came home from their travels, fresh from a course 

 of lectures upon cutaneous diseases, and full of new ideas, at first treat 

 all the eczemas which come to them with soft soap, oil of cade, cod-liver 

 oil, and the like. In a year or two, however, they abandon such treat- 

 ment, or, at all events, before resorting to it, they try whether the old, 

 simpler, and far more convenient treatment by white precipitate will 

 not answer the purpose. The preparations of lead and zinc stand next 

 in virtue to the white precipitate salve, and the solution of corrosive 

 sublimate, as they are both best adapted for the treatment of spots of 

 eczema of no great magnitude, and where there is no hypertrophic 

 thickening of the subjacent corium. We generally prescribe a solu- 

 tion of sulphate of zinc (zinci sulp. 3 ss aquae | vj), or an ointment 

 of the oxide of zinc, or of the carbonate of lead, in the proportion of a 

 drachm to the ounce of lard; or else, when the patient does not bear 

 salves well, we may order a paste of oxide of zinc with glycerine, or 

 dust the surface with a powder composed of oxide of zinc and lycopo- 

 dium seeds, or starch (zinci oxid. 3 j, amyl j)- In the very moist 

 eczema, which arises behind the ears, and in the hollows of the joints, 

 and between the fingers and toes, Hebrews diachylon ointment does 

 excellent service. It is to be prepared as follows : Melt the simple 

 diachylon plaster over a slow fire, and add to it equal parts of linseed- 

 oil, and stir the mixture well when cool; or else the following: (1$. 

 olei olivarum optimi | v, lithargyri 3 x, coque 1. a. in molle, dein adde 

 ol. lavenduloe 3ij, f. ung. S. Rub the ointment upon the affected spot 



