The much poulticing of boils has done an untold amount of mischief. Many children and adults are in their graves today because of improper treatment of boils. Blood poisoning which so often follows the careless poulticing, as well as the uncleanly opening of boils, can all be avoided. Before touching a boil, the surrounding skin should be thoroughly washed with sterile cotton and laundry soap and then disinfected with alcohol. Then, with a scalpel or a surgeon's knife which has been either boiled for twenty minutes or allowed to remain in pure carbolic acid two minutes and then in alcohol two minutes, it should be thoroughly opened down to the core so that the pus may come out. It is very much better for the trained hands of a physician to do this than for any member of the family to undertake such an operation--where the danger of blood poisoning is always present. The only treatment of skin eruptions containing pus which is justifiable for the home folks to undertake is to simply paint them with iodine. Under no circumstance should poultices be used. FEVER BLISTERS It is not at all uncommon for small children to develop a group of fever blisters on the lips when suffering with any disease, or experiencing a high fever. Even a simple cold or a spell of indigestion may be accompanied by fever blisters. They appear not only on the lips but also on the edges of the nose and may even be seen on the chin. Early in their first appearance they may be treated with spirits of camphor or plain alcohol, which sometimes tends to abort them; but they usually run their course, and when they are fully developed they may be treated with zinc oxide, simple borated vaseline, or ichthyol. WARTS Very often children's hands are disfigured by warts. They appear suddenly, develop rapidly, and many times disappear just about as suddenly as they appeared. Every child suffering from warts usually passes through the stage of charms and lingoes which are popularly used to remove these disagreeable growths. We hardly see any efficacy in "bean-ie, bean-ie take this wart away," or any particular virtue in stealing mother's dishcloth, cutting it up into as many pieces as there are warts on the hand and rubbing each wart with a separate piece of the cloth; but you will find people in every town or village who will assure you that their warts were driven away by one of these charms or lingoes. Warts are either better left alone or removed by a physician with the high-frequency spark or some other reliable method. BIRTHMARKS A red or purplish patch on the skin is the result, as mentioned in an earlier chapter, of an embryological accident in which one or more embryonic cells slipped out of place in the early days of skin formation. These accidental markings may occur on the face, the scalp, or on any other portion of the body, and they should be let alone, unless they show a tendency to grow, when it may prove best to give them proper surgical attention.