For the highly inflamed condition of the skin which characterizes the suppurative stage of smallpox, especially in its confluent form, cold water is, beyond all doubt, the best antiphlogistic. The cold compresses advocated years ago by Hebra constitute the simplest method of local treatment and one which is most grateful and beneficial to the patient. They exclude the air, macerate and soften the lesions, and lessen the local inflammation. Although it cannot be claimed that they modify in any degree the development and course of the eruption, it is doubtful whether anything better in the way of local treatment has ever been suggested. Pieces of lint should be dipped in cold water and applied smoothly to the face and other portions of the body where the eruption is abundant and the skin inflamed. To prevent their drying too rapidly a little glycerine may be added to the water and the lint covered with gutta-percha tissue or oiled silk. Moore recommends covering the face with a light mask of lint and oiled silk, having holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The lint is wet with a mixture of glycerin and iced water (fʒi-f℥i). If preferred, a cold solution of boric acid may be used in place of plain water, and when there is an excessive and unpleasant odor present, thymol may be added to the solution. Immermann states that he used for a time sublimate dressings to the face (1-1000), but found that plain water did quite as much good and was safer to use. Next to the face, the hands and feet suffer most from the eruption of smallpox, and, owing to the fact that the skin is not as lax in the latter region, particularly upon the fingers and toes, the inflammatory swelling of these parts is always attended with extreme pain when pustules are numerous. Under such conditions it may be found advisable, in place of merely wrapping the hands and feet in lint and oiled silk, to immerse them in pans or pails of water, or to supply the patient with mittens and stockings made of vulcanized rubber cloth. Indeed, if the patient is not in too critical a condition, he may be immersed for hours in a bath, as recommended by Hebra for the treatment of extensive burns, pemphigus, and various ulcerating affections involving a large portion of the body. *Period of Dessication.*--When the distended, semi-globular pustules begin to dry, they tend to flatten, and often undergo a secondary umbilication from the shriveling of the central portion of the pock. In favorable cases the general condition of the patient improves as the fever subsides, and a more substantial diet may now be allowed. The symptom which usually causes most local discomfort at this stage is the itching which invariably accompanies the drying of the pustules. This is often intolerable, and much of the pitting left after an attack of smallpox may be due to the tearing of the crusts from the face and other parts.