On the parasitic affections of the skin / by T. M'Call Anderson.

Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the parasitic affections of the skin / by T. M'Call Anderson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    essential oils may be used, the oil of rosemary being generally selected. In the case of lice attacking the head, the hair should be cut short, if it is long and entangled—especially if the scalp is the seat of secreting eruptions, as we are thus enabled to remove many of the nits adhering to the hair, and to get more readily at the pediculi. A lotion of the bichloride of mercury, or the powder or ointment of staphisagria, or simple lard or oil should be applied, which causes the death of the insect. It is then necessary to remove the nits, which may be done by applying repeatedly either alcohol or dilute acetic acid, as Hebra recommends. These, after the use of the spirit, cease to adhere to the hair and may then be removed by combing. The head should also be repeatedly washed in warm water with soap. The eruptions of the scalp left after the removal of the insects must be treated according to their nature. It may sometimes be necessary, however, to treat the eruption of the scalp before we can hope to kill all the insects ; because, in some cases the pediculi and nits are hidden by the crusts, and thus protected from the action of the parasiticide. There is just one remark which remains to be made with regard to the treatment of pediculi capitis—one which has been very prominently brought forward by Devergie—and it is this—that in those cases where the head has long been attacked by great numbers of pediculi, especially in the case of children, it is dangerous to