for the purpose; or suppositories may be employed.
An ointment, containing sixty grains of iron subsulphate to the ounce
of lard (or, if there is much itching, an ointment consisting of
orthoform, thirty grains, with one-half ounce of lard), will prove of
value. Also the injection of one-half pint cold water, containing a
teaspoonful of extract of hamamelis, after a passage, affords relief.
Two or three grains of the subsulphate of iron may be employed in
suppositories, and one of these may be introduced three times daily.
The compound gall ointment or the glycerite of tannin will be found to
act successfully in some cases. When one remedy does not serve, try
another. The only positive cure for piles consists in surgical
operation for their removal. Self-treatment is not recommended, as the
physician can do better, and an examination is always advisable to
rule out other conditions which may be mistaken by the layman for
piles.

=Causes.=--Piles are seen chiefly in adults, in those in advanced
life, and in those who exercise little but eat much. Constipation
favors their occurrence, and the condition is commonly present in
pregnant women. Fatigue, exposure, horseback exercise, or an alcoholic
debauch will cause their appearance. Certain diseases also occasion
the formation of piles.

CHAPTER II

=Skin Diseases and Related Disorders=

_Household Remedies for Itching--Chafing and Chapping--Hives, Cold
Sores and Pimples--Ringworms, Warts and Corns--Eczema and other
Inflammatory Disorders._

No attempt will be made to give an extended account of skin diseases,
but a few of the commoner disorders which can be readily recognized by
the layman will be noticed. Although these cutaneous troubles are
often of so trivial a nature that a physician's assistance is
unsought, yet the annoyance is often sufficient to make it worth while
for the patient to inform himself about the ailment. Then the
affections are so frequent that they may occur where it is impossible
to procure medical aid. Whenever an eruption of the skin is
accompanied by fever, sore throat, headache, pains in back and limbs,
vomiting, or general illness, one of the serious, contagious, eruptive
diseases should be suspected, particularly in children, and the
patient must be removed from contact with others, kept in isolation,
and a physician immediately summoned.

=ITCHING= (_Pruritus_).--Itching is not a distinct disease by itself,
but a symptom o