514 DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



by a bath. This method, also, though sure and rapid, is unfit for pri- 

 vate practice, being inconvenient and disagreeable, and because pa- 

 tients do not like to sacrifice a pair of woollen blankets to the itch. 

 Wilkinson's ointment, which contains tar and chalk in addition to the 

 softrsoap and sulphur, is still less adapted for treatment of private pa- 

 tients. For this purpose the simple ointments of lard ( 3 j), and sul- 

 phur ( 5 ss), are more suitable, as is also Helmerictts ointment, con- 

 sisting of carbonate of potash 3 ij, sulphur ss, and lard ij. After 

 one or two initiatory warm baths, the ointment is to be rubbed twice 

 or thrice daily over the entire body, excepting the face, or, at all 

 events, over every spot where any eruption or traces of itch can be 

 found. By this means the disease can be cured with certainty in from 

 eight to fourteen days. When the patient cannot conveniently absent 

 himself from his business, let him take a warm soap-bath at night, then 

 rub the suspected spots, or, better, the entire body, excepting the face, 

 with Helmericfts ointment, and in the morning let him take another 

 bath. This procedure also cures the itch in a few days. HelmericKs 

 ointment is likewise employed in Hardy's " speedy cure." This con- 

 sists in half an hour's rubbing with green soap, an hour's bathing, 

 during which the rubbing is to be continued, followed by half an 

 hour's inunction with the ointment. The cure is perfected in a few 

 hours, but, though often successful, is not quite sure. The Vle- 

 minclcx's solution, already described, would be a remedy preferable to 

 any .of the above-mentioned, being both simpler, more cleanly, and 

 cheaper, were it not that it often produces severe and obstinate eczema 

 in persons with delicate skins. The directions for the use of Vie- 

 mincktfs solution, as practised in the Belgian army, are as follows : 

 Half an hour's bathing, half an hour's rubbing with green soap ; then, 

 half an hour's rubbing with the solution of lime and sulphur ; then, 

 another bath for half an hour, when the treatment is ended. 



Under the impression that it is sufficient to kill the mites and their 

 eggs, and, that if this be done, it is unnecessary to open the burrows, 

 and to effect the removal of both insects and eggs, by the production 

 of an artificial eczema, it has been proposed to rub the skin with para- 

 siticide substances, capable of easily penetrating the epidermis, and 

 especially to use petroleum and balsam of Peru. Nothing can be said 

 against the correctness of the theory ; and a series of experiments, by 

 rubbing in these articles, has succeeded. Nevertheless, according to 

 experimenters who have tested the treatment fairly, its effects are un 

 certain ; and it has not superseded the old treatment in many of the 

 hospitals where it has been tried. It would only be advisable to have 

 recourse to Peruvian balsam, or (when that is beyond the patient's 

 means) to try the efficacy of petroleum, when the use of sulphur and 



