Climate and Health in Hot Countries and the Outlines of Tropical Climatology: A Popular Treatise on Personal Hygiene in the Hotter Parts of the World, and on the Climates That Will Be Met Within Them.Giles, George Michael James
Science
Climate and Health in Hot Countries and the Outlines of Tropical Climatology: A Popular Treatise on Personal Hygiene in the Hotter Parts of the World, and on the Climates That Will Be Met Within Them.
Giles, George Michael James
Hygiene -- Popular works; Medical climatology; Tropical medicine
This agent can be obtained ready measured out into tabloids, which are
always coloured blue to prevent mistakes in handling the solution; which
is a most useful one, not only for this purpose, but as a general
antiseptic. Care should, of course, be taken in the custody of these
tabloids, and also in the handling of the solution; but the latter is
not really more poisonous than the copper solution, or than many other
antiseptics which, like carbolic acid, are nowadays in constant domestic
use. This mercurial solution is undoubtedly by far the best remedy we
have for prickly heat, and I have never seen any harm or signs of
absorption of the mercury result, even from its copious use. The
tabloids should be got of such a size as to make about a quarter of a
pint of the solution, and after the bath and before retiring to bed, all
affected parts of the skin should be dabbed with a bit of lint dipped in
the solution, which should be allowed to dry on to a certain extent
before putting on one’s clothes. A further great advantage over the
other metallic astringents is that, owing to the weakness of the
solution, it does not injure the clothes, and the slight blue aniline
colouration easily washes out. It will be found, too, an almost complete
preventive against boils, if resorted to from the commencement of the
hot season. Powdering with violet powder is also useful in subduing the
irritation, which by the adoption of the above-described plan, may
almost always be kept within moderate bounds.
“Dhobi’s itch” is a troublesome irritation of the skin often met with in
hot climates, which is due to the growth of a minute fungus within the
structure of the scarf-skin. It commonly attacks those parts of the body
where the surfaces of the skin come in contact with each other, as, for
example, between the legs, and in the armpits. The general appearance is
very much that of a “ringworm,” the patches spreading by their edges,
where they are red and irritable and tending to fade in the middle.
There can be little doubt that the disease is generally caught by the
infection of clothing that has been washed in dirty pools along with
that of previous sufferers from the disease, which is very common among
the native races. If neglected, it is apt to spread so as to cover a
large area, under which circumstances it is apt to be troublesome, but
if taken early, there is generally no difficulty in dealing with it. All
that is necessary is to destroy the fungus by means of strong
antiseptics, but in doing so it must be remembered that any solution
strong enough to kill the fungus must necessarily also cause more or
less inflammation and, for the time, increased irritation of the skin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account