MEDICAL.
Parma Violet.—There is not much doubt but that you are suffering from an attack of eczema behind the ear—and a very common and intractable complaint it is too. To treat the condition, first find out what causes it. Do not talk to us about poverty of blood or any nonsense of that sort. What we wish to know is—can you trace the affection to anything local or in the neighbourhood, such as discharge from the ear or unhealthy condition of the scalp? You say something about dandruff; that is seborrhœa, a very common concomitant of eczema about the face. If you have dandruff, this must be treated by washing the head with borax and hot water, and rubbing a little sulphur ointment into the scalp every night. For the eczema use a cream made of equal parts of olive oil, lime water, and oxide of zinc during the acute stage, when the itching is severe. Later, when the trouble is less active, use calamine ointment. Do not wash the part with water where the eczema is present.
L. M. S.—Read the answer to “E. Messent” and the many others who have asked us the same question. We can tell you nothing further.
Anxious.—A high temperature may be a sign of a fatal disease or it may signify nothing. It therefore may or may not be harmful. But taking medicines to reduce the temperature is almost invariably harmful, for all such drugs are exceedingly powerful. We once knew a woman who had five children, and having heard that a high temperature was a serious thing, bought a thermometer and an ounce of antipyrin, and took the temperature of each child every morning. And when the temperature of any of them was above 102° F. she gave her a dose of antipyrin. Every one of her children is now dead, and we feel certain that at least one of them was poisoned by antipyrin. The physician does not seek to “cure” a high temperature, but he finds out what is the disease which is causing the increase of heat, and by removing that cause he reduces the temperature. It is only when the temperature, per se, is threatening life that steps are taken to reduce it, and then it is by the application of cold, and scarcely ever by drugs, that cooling is brought about.
A Gaiety Girl.—It is one of the most vexed subjects in modern medicine whether or not pneumonia is an infectious disease. For ourselves we feel convinced that it is infectious, but it is only right to add that there are many great authorities who do not hold the same view of the matter as we do. It is a most difficult thing to prove whether a disease is really infectious, especially when it is not commonly infectious. A disease is infectious if it can be caught from one person by another directly. Obviously all such diseases must be due to germs. With such a disease as measles or scarlet fever, infection is obvious, and is the usual, possibly the invariable, manner by which the disease originates. Typhoid fever is infectious in a different manner; it is only very seldom caught from person to person, being almost constantly due to drinking infected water. Then again, some diseases are epidemic and infectious, such as the plague, and the various outbreaks of scarlet fever and diphtheria, which occur so frequently. But other diseases are epidemic but not infectious, such as influenza. In this case the poison is conveyed by water, or possibly food or air, but the disease is not caught from one person to another as a rule, although we feel confident that such does occasionally occur. Then again, some diseases are endemic, that is, confined to one locality, but are not necessarily infectious. Yellow fever and many other diseases are limited to tropical countries, and are yet infectious; but cretinism, goître, and malaria, etc., are also limited to certain districts, and are not infectious. So you see how complicated is the subject. Pneumonia frequently occurs in several members of the same family, and also many cases may occur in the same street, but at the present time it cannot be said whether the disease is infectious or epidemic or endemic. We feel pretty certain that it is one of these, and very likely it is all three—infectious, epidemic, and endemic.
A Long Years’ Reader.—In a short article on the hands which we published a few months ago, you will find the cause and treatment of red hands. The most important points to observe to keep the skin white and soft, are to wear a veil and gloves whenever you go out in the rain or sun; to use a good toilet soap, and never to put any irritating cosmetics upon the face. The only preparations which should be used are mixtures containing glycerine, such as glycerine and borax, glycerine and rose-water, or lime-water, etc. Glycerine keeps the face moist, and so prevents the skin from cracking.
Marguerite.—Drop the headache powders. Attend to your digestion and the condition of your bowels. In all probability your headaches are due to anæmia. Read the article on blushing that we published some months ago.
Sybil.—Yes. Follow the advice we gave to Josephine. A solution of menthol in paraleine (1 in 8) is made by dissolving one part of crystallised menthol in seven parts of paraleine. No. Condy’s fluid would not answer the same purpose.