=COLD SORE; FEVER BLISTER.=--Cold sores occur usually about the lips or at the angles of the mouth, although they may appear anywhere on the face. Cold sore has a round, oval, or irregular outline, from the size of a pea to that of a quarter of a dollar, and is seen as a slightly raised patch on the skin on which is a group of very minute blisters, three to twelve in number. Cold sore may be single or multiple, and near together or widely separated on the face. Having first the appearance of a red patch, it later becomes covered with a brown crust from the drying of the contents of the tiny blisters. Cold sore often gives rise to burning, itching, or tingling, the disfigurement usually causing more annoyance, however, than the pain. The duration of the trouble is from four to twelve days. Cold sores are commonly induced by indigestion and fevers, and also are occasioned by local irritation of any sort, as from nasal discharge accompanying cold in the head (from which the name is derived), by the irritation produced by a pipestem or cigar, and by rubbing the skin. =Treatment.=--Picking and scratching are very harmful, and cigar or pipe smoking must be stopped. Painting the sore with collodion, by means of a camel's-hair brush, is poor treatment in the early stages. Better use spirits of camphor, and afterwards, if there is much itching or burning, sopping the eruption with calamine lotion (p. 145) will relieve the discomfort. =PRICKLY HEAT= (_Miliaria_).--This is a common eruption of adults in hot weather, and very frequently attacks children. It consists of fine, pointed, red rash, or minute blisters, and occurs on parts of the body covered by clothing, more often on the chest. The eruption is caused by much sweating, leading to congestion and swelling of the sweat glands. Burning, stinging, and itching accompany the disorder. The condition must be distinguished from the contagious skin eruptions. In the latter there are fever, sore throat, backache, headache, and general sickness, while in prickly heat there is no general disturbance of the system, or fever, unless the eruption comes out in the course of fevers, when it is of no significance except as one of the symptoms of fever. =Treatment.=--The treatment of prickly heat, occurring in hot weather, consists in avoiding heat as much as possible and sponging the surface with cold water, and then dusting it with some simple powder, as starch or flour, or better, borated talcum. To relieve the itching, sponging with limewater or a saturated solution of baking soda (as much as will dissolve) in water, or bran baths, made by tying one pound of bran in a towel which is allowed to soak in the bath, are all good remedies.