On Certain Obstinate Diseases of the Skin (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: tendency to excitement of the cutaneous circulation, much benefit may be derived from a course of those waters. Alkaline and sulphur baths will also be of much service in the cure of the disease. And the cold sponge bath, if used every morning, will tend to keep the skin in a healthy condition after the eruption has disappeared. ECZEMA. Eczema is one of the most frequent diseases of the skin, and in numerous instances most obstinate in its character, resisting every common form of treatment, sometimes for years. It has been described by Willan as non-contagious, but there are instances of its having been communicated from one individual to another. However, it is a disputed point, and it will require further observation to decide this question. I am inclined to believe, from my own observation, that the secretion from the vesicles ofeczema, if directly applied to the skin of a person of delicate constitution, would produce the disease. I am inclined to this belief more particularly as I consider that the disease is, in most instances, due to the presence of a parasite which might be readily transplanted; and therefore, although it is looked upon as non- contagious, the fact is by no means proved. Eczema has been divided into a number of forms, according to the different parts of the body on which it appears; but as this is not of any advantage in respect to the treatment, and would not be consistent with the scope of this work, 1 shall consider the disease as a whole, looking upon the subdivision as mere modifications of an accidental character. In its mildest form eczema consists of an eruption of minute vessels completely covering the part on which they appear; the vesicles contain a transparent fluid which after a time becomes tuvbid. It may be absorbed, but more...