THE SKIN AND SCALP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7915, 6 April 1887, Page 3

THE SKIN AND SCALP.

.':';'■■;■-■<. •■'.'-..— ——'* .—— :" ;; ':'■''"' ""••"■-:/. lOW TO PRESERVE THEM, AND HOW TO TREAT THEM WHEN DISEASED. V *. FAIR SKIN AND LUXURIANT TRESSES THE SECRET OF BEAUTY. SOME OF THE TORTURES INFLICTED BY SKIN AND SCALP DISEASES. ;• \From New Remedies.} Socrates called beauty a short-lived tyranny, Plato a privilege of nature, Theooritus a leligbtfnl prejudice, Theophrastuß a silent meat, Carneades a solitary kingdom, Homer » glorious 'gift of- nature, Ovid a favour of the gods. Aristotle affirmed that beauty ivas better than all the letters of reoommenlation in the world, and yet none of these listinguisbed authorities has left as even a bint of how beauty is to be perpetuated, or the ravages of age and disease defied. Time aoon blends the lily and the rose into the pallor of age, disease dots the fair face witn cutaoeous disfigurations, and crimsons the Roman nose with unsightly flashes. Moth, if not rust, corrupts the glory of the eyes, teeth, and lips, yet beautiful, by defacing the complexion, and fills the sensitive soul with agony unspeakable. If such be the unhappy condition of one afflicted with slight skin blemishes, what must be the feelings of those in whom torturing humours have for years run riot, covering the skin with scales and sores, and charging the blood with poisonous elements to become a part of the system until death ? It is vain to attempt to portray such Buffering. Death in many cases, which we hav* witnessed, might be considered a blessing. The blood and fluids seem to be impregnated with a fiery element which, when discharged through the pores upon the surface of the body, inflames, and burns, until in his efforts for relief the patient tears the skin with his nails, and not until the blood flows does sufficient relief come to cause him to desist. Thus do complexional defects merge into torturing disease, and piqued vanity gives place to real suffering. A little wart on the nose or cheek grows to the all-devouring lupus, a patch of tetter on the palm of the hand or on the limbs suddenly envelops the body in its fiery embrace, a bruise on the leg expands into a gnawing ulcer, which reaches out its fangs to the sufferer's heart in every paroxysm of pain, a small kernel In the neck multiplies into a dozen, which eat away the vitality, great pearl-like scales grow from little rash-like inflammations, in such abundance as to pass credulity ; and so on may we depict the suffering from which poor human nature;is subject from cutaneous diseases, all of which involve great mental distress because of personal disfigurations. Every school girl or boy knows that if * pore in the skin in his or her face becomes clogged, a black head appears, and surrounding it a little pimple. If a dozen porea become clogged, there are a dozen black heads and pimples. So it is with acne, in eczema, the cause of the disease seems to be in the blood, from the fact that the perspira tory fluids which pour out through the tuV are charged with a poisonous element !:,_ creates the moat intense itching and vi ;V inflammation, and rapidly destroys the uu co:.. or scarf skin. This dreadful focm of skim diseases attacks all ages, and may frequently* be seen fully developed in young infants at? birth. In such cases it is often called millcrust, scald-head, &c, but there is no doubt of its real nature, and that it is an inherited humour. If there ware not another external disease known, eczema would be a sufficient infliction on mankind. It pervades all classes, and descends impartially through generations. While some are constantly enveloped in it, others have it confined to small patches in the ears, on the scalp, on the breast, on the palms of the hands, on the limbs, etc., but everywhere its distinctive feature is a small watery blister, which discharges an acrid fluid, causing heat, inflammation, and intense itching. Ringworm, tetter, scald-head, dandruff, belong to this scaly and itching order of diseases. Psoriasis, our modern leprosy, with its mother-of-pearl scale, situated on a reddened base, whioh bleeds upon the removal of the scale, is to be dreaded and avoided, as of old. Lupus, the all<-devouring ulcer, impetigo, barbers' itch, erysipelas, and a score of minor disorders make up the catalogue of diseases of the skin. Thus, far we have made no allusion to those afflictions which are manifestly impurities of the bloodviz., swelling of the glands of the throat, ulcers on the neck and limbs, tumor*, abscesses, and mercurial poisons, because the whole list can be comprehended in the one word "scrofula." The hereditary blood poison of scrofula develops in the delicate tissues of the brain mental weaknesses and infirmities, idiocy and insanity. It enlarges the glands of the throat, impairs the sense of smell and taste, or breaks into consuming ulcers on the neck. It destroys the lungs, or fills them with tuberculous secretions. It eats away the coating of the stomaoh, enlarges the liver, clogs the kidneys, creates constipation, and induces piles. The muscles it contracts, and renderß powerless with rheumatism, while the secretions of the joints contaminated by it cause the painful gout. It loads the perspiration with its virulent poisons, setting on fire in its passage the little tubes or pores of the skin, causing the torturing disfiguration, eczema, psoriasis, and other itching and scaly diseases which embitter life. It gathers at morbid centres into tumors, abscesses, and life-sapping ulcers. It slowly undermines the constitution, and is the cause of nearly all chronic diseases, • ' The treatment of diseases of the akin and scalp has been for centuries based upon a theory which has entirely overlooked the important part the tubes and vessels of the skin play in the propagation and maintenance of disease by pouring out upon the surface of the body perspiratory . fluids charged with the virus or disease germs of scrofulous, inherited, and contagious humors. We are not unjust to the profession when we say that its efforts in the permanent cure of the skin, scalp, and blood diseases have been a failure. What with mistaken theories, mineral poisons, and blind reverence for dogmas and superstitions long since exploded, disfiguring humors, humiliating "eruptions, itching tortures, and scrofula, the parent of all humors, flourish and increase upon systems shattered by mercury, arsenic, zinc, and lead. Nor have the senseless " sarsaparilla," " dock," and dandelion blood purifiers (?) of quacks and patentmedicine vendors been any better or much worse. We know that every word we now write will awaken hope in the breast of many a life-long sufferer. Can we in a broad generous spirit, without prejudice, without reservation, say to those afflicted, "Here in the Cuticura remedies which may be had of any chemist at less thau the cost of a physician's visit, is a speedy and permanent cure for diseases of the skin, scalp, and blood, which have defied all known remedies, and the highest medical skill," with a just sense of the responsibilities we assume? We say we can. Thousands of letters in the possession of the originators, The Potter Drug and Chemical Co., Boston, U.S.A. (who are permitted to refer to the well-known importing house, Messrs. R. Towns and Co., Sydney), repeat this story : I have been a terrible sufferer for years with blood and akin humours; have been obliged to shun public places by reason of my disfiguring humours ; have had the best physicians have spent hundreds of dollars and got no real relief until I used the Cuticura remedies, which have cured me and left my skin and .blood as pure as a child's. Cuticura Resolvent, Xbe new blood purifier, cleanses the blood and perspiration of poisonous elements and impurities, and* thus removes the cause. Cuticura, the great skin cure, instantly allays itching and inflammation, clears the skin and scalp of disfiguring humours and itching tortures, heals ulcers and sores, purifies and beautifies the skin. Cuticura Soap, an exquisite skin beautifier, prepared from Cuticura, is indispensable in treating skin diseases and for rough, chapped, or greasy skin, sunburn,, black heads, blotches, and baby humors. Cuticura remedies are the only infallible blood purifiers and skin beautifiers. They are absolutely free from mineral or vegetable poisons, and may be prescribed for every species of skin, scalp, and blood diseases, with the certainty of speedy relief and a permanent cure when all other remedies and the best physicians entirely fail. . . ■ ,■■■■.■,.,..;.. ■.„■: