38 DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 



to cure, and requires the same remedies as ordinary ringworm ; but, being a more 

 serious disease, its treatment ought in all cases to be controlled by a medical man. 



Ringworm of the Body may occur on any part of the face, limbs, or trunk. It is 

 said to affect mainly the roots of the hair, like the allied disease of the head, but the 

 hairs on the body being finer and more scantily placed, we are enabled to get a better 

 and different view, as it were, of the phenomena of the disease. The broken hairs 

 in ringworm of the body require to be very carefully looked for with a powerful 

 magnifying glass. The extreme scurfiness seen in the head is replaced by a trifling 

 roughness and scaliness of the skin, and the advancing edge of the ring, not being 

 hidden by long hairs, becomes the most prominent feature of the disease. The 

 red ring is usually of a dull red colour, and if it be carefully examined, it will 

 be seen to be marked by very fine clear watery heads or vesicles, and tiny 

 branny scales. 



Those who possess a microscope may be interested to see these minute vegetable 

 parasites which occasion so much trouble in our nurseries. It is a simple matter 

 to do so, provided the microscope has a quarter-inch object glass. Pluck out one 

 or two hairs from the patch, and scrape off a few of the scales with the point of a 

 penknife. Place them on a glass slide, and add a few drops of strong solution of 

 potash ; then cover with a covering glass, and examine. The threads of the fungus 

 and the little round spores will then be seen within and between the scales of the 

 skin, and within and around the roots and shafts of the hairs. 



The cure of ringworm is simple in theory, but often very difficult and tedious in 

 practice. The only thing to be done is to kill the fungus, and prevent its further 

 growth. For ringworm of the body, the popular method of painting the patch with 

 ink is often sufficient to effect a cure. It seems to be the salts of iron in the ink 

 which do the good, and we may apply a concentrated solution of sulphate of iron 

 instead of ink, which will often answer the purpose equally well. Strong acetic acid 

 is another favourite remedy ; so also is a strong solution of borax or boracic acid. 

 Nitrate of silver may be used, or a solution of corrosive sublimate, but the latter 

 remedy had better not be applied except by a medical man. Carbolic acid is also a 

 favourite and effectual remedy for these cases. 



St. Vitus' Dance, or Chorea, is a disease which is trying alike for the patient and 

 the friends. Its onset is generally gradual, but may be sudden. The starting- 

 point of the disease is very often some sudden fright to which the patient has been 

 exposed and the remembrance of this fact, if nothing else, ought to make one 

 very careful about playing practical jokes on young children. It is not a disease 

 of very early infancy, but usually comes on between the ages of six and fifteen, 

 during the second dentition, and while children are approaching the threshold of 

 manhood or womanhood. The disease is characterised by a general unsteadiness of 

 the muscles of the body, and this is generally well marked in the face. The face 

 has an appearance as if a constantly-recurring wave of motion were passing over 

 it. The eyes are unsteady, and are jerked about ; the corners of the mouth are 

 drawn this way and that ; the cheeks and nose are constantly wrinkled ; and 



