Complete Women's Guide

Scurvy—“scorbutus” of medical writers—is a disease which, even in its incipient and early stages, when its presence is often unsuspected, is mostinjurious to the skin and complexion. It usually commences with unnatural sallowness, debility, and low spirits. As it proceeds, the gums become sore, spongy, and apt to bleed on the slightestpressure or friction; the teeth loosen, and the breath acquires a fœtid odor; the legs swell, eruptions appear on different parts of the body, and at length the patient sinks under generalemaciation, diarrhœa, and hemorrhages. Its chief cause is improper food, or, rather, the absence or insufficient supply of fresh meat and vegetables in the diet; to which cold, humidity,[28]want of exercise and fresh air may be added as secondary ones. Hence its frequent, fatal visitations formerly on shipboard, andits still occasional occurrence in ill-victualled ships during long voyages. The treatment mainly consists in adopting a liberal diet of fresh animal food and green vegetables, with ripe food andan ample allowance of mild ale or beer, or lemonade made from the fresh expressed juice, as beverages. In serious cases, tonics, as quinine and steel, should also be administered.

Wrinkles and looseness of the skin depend chiefly on the attenuation of the cutis or true skin and the reduction in the bulk of the underlying surfacial portions of the body.They cannot be regarded as a disease of the skin; but are the result of long continued bad health, anxiety and study, and of general emaciation and old age. Cleanliness, nutritious food, vigorousoutdoor exercise, agreeable occupation of the mind, and an equable and happy temper, retard their formation. Whatever tends to promote the general health and to increase the bulk of the body, andparticularly the disposition of fat in the cellular tissues, also tends to remove them and to increase the smoothness and beauty of the skin. The free and frequent use of warm water and soap,followed by the daily use of mild, stimulating, cosmetic lotions or fomentations, or friction with warm oil of a like character, and cod-liver oil internally, is all that art can do for thepurpose.

Excoriations, in popular language, are those cases of soreness produced by chafing under the arms, behind the ears, and in the wrinkles and folds of the skin generally. Theyoccur chiefly in infancy, and in stout persons with a delicate skin, who perspire excessively. Extreme cleanliness, and carefully wiping the parts dry after washing, with the subsequent use of alittle violet powder, or finely powdered starch, or French chalk scraped or grated very fine, dusted over the parts once or twice a day, will generally remove them and prevent their recurrence.