ssible cost. For local
application, the sore parts are thickly dusted with fine fresh flour,
and covered with soft wadding or surgeon's lint. The air is excluded,
and all is kept _strictly dry_. A waterproof covering over the lint
will help this, but is not absolutely necessary.

But, now, is there nothing that can be done to quicken that inner
action, the slowness of which has paved the way for all this mischief?
This might be done in two ways. After the affected parts, say the face,
have been secured in this pack of flour, it will be easy to place a hot
blanket, soaked partly, but not at all _wet_, with boiling water, all
round the head of the patient. As soon as the heat begins to enter the
head, a sense of comfort will be experienced. Care must be taken to
keep the _inner cloths dry_, and heat is best given by an india-rubber
bag. When this cannot be had, however, the blanket may be used. At
intervals, as the patient feels it desirable, this fomentation may be
renewed. It will hasten recovery as well as arrest the spreading of the
malady, while it will secure such recovery as will not readily dispose
to a return of the evil. The feet and legs are likely to be cold. As
the sufferer lies still in bed, but not when the other fomentation is
on, these should be wrapped in a hot fomentation, allowed to lie in it
for a good half-hour, taken out of it and dried, rubbed with warm olive
oil, and covered with a pair of soft cotton stockings. If this
treatment is at all well carried out, the feeling of comfort given will
soon tell how it is working. Of course, if the feet and legs are the
parts affected, the fomentation must be applied elsewhere, say on the
back, or on the haunches.

Where erysipelas appears in connection with wounds or sores, the same
treatment is to be pursued, as far as possible consistent with dressing
the sores. These should be carefully cleansed, dusted with boric acid,
and covered with a layer of wadding bandage. The limb should be raised
to a horizontal position. Simple food should be given, and the sufferer
kept quiet. In all cases of skin trouble, linen should be worn next the
skin. _See_ Underwear.

Exercise.--Where this is advised medically, it is often taken in a
manner far from wise. For weakly people seeking strength, exercise
should never be pursued to the extent of fatigue. Up to a certain point
it does good; beyond that, harm. The beginning of harm is indicated by
the feeling of weariness