ew points on the patient's skin, or to that of another person.
Local irritation of the skin, from whatever cause, enables the germs
to grow more readily. The existence of skin diseases, as eczema ("salt
rheum"), prickly heat, and other sources of itching and scratching, is
conducive to boils, as the pus germs contained in ordinary dirt are
rubbed into the irritated skin. Whenever the skin is chafed by rough
clothing, as about the wrists and neck by frayed collars and
sweaters, etc., boils are likely to occur. Also when the face and neck
are handled by barbers with dirty hands or instruments, a fruitful
field is provided for their invasion. While boils are always the
result of pus germs gaining entrance to the skin glands, and,
therefore, strictly due to local causes, yet they are more prone to
occur when the body is weakened and unable to cope with germs which
might do no harm under other circumstances.

The conditions favoring the occurrence of boils are: an impoverished
state of the blood, errors of diet and indigestion, overwork,
dissipation, and certain diseases, as typhoid fever, diabetes, and
smallpox. Boils are thought to occur more frequently in persons with
rough skin and with a vigorous growth of dark hair. They may be
situated on any part of the body, but certain localities are more
commonly attacked, as the scalp, the eyelids, cheeks, neck, armpits,
back, and buttocks. Boys and young men are generally the sufferers.

=Treatment.=--The importance of cleanliness cannot be overestimated in
the care of boils if we keep their cause in mind. Dirty underclothes
or fingers used in squeezing or otherwise handling the boil, may carry
the trouble to fresh parts. Any sort of local irritation should be
removed; also all articles of clothing which have come in contact with
the boils should not be worn until they have been washed in boiling
water. There is no single remedy of much value for the cure of boils,
although pills of calcium sulphide (each one-tenth grain) are
commonly prescribed by physicians, every three hours.

The most rational measure consists in removing the general causes, as
noted above, if this is possible. When the patient is thin and poorly
nourished, give food and cod-liver oil; and if the lips and skin are
pale, iron arsenate pills (one-sixteenth grain each) are to be taken
three times daily for several weeks. A boil may sometimes be arrested
by painting it with tincture of iodine until the boil is