almost black,
or with a very heavy coating of collodion. If a boil continues to
develop, notwithstanding this treatment, one should either use an
ointment of vaseline containing ten per cent of boric acid spread on
soft cotton over the boil, or, if the latter is very painful, resort
to the frequent application of hot flaxseed poultices.

When the boil has burst, and pus is flowing out on the surrounding
skin, it should be kept very clean by frequent washing with hot water
and soap and the application of a solution of corrosive sublimate (one
part to 1,000) made by dissolving one of the tablets, sold everywhere
for surgical purposes, in a pint of warm water. This will prevent the
lodgment of the pus germs in the skin and the formation of more boils.
Poultices mixed with bichloride (corrosive sublimate) solution are
less likely to encourage inoculation of neighboring areas.

The poultices should be stopped as soon as the pain ceases, and the
boil dressed as recommended above, dusted with pure boric acid and
covered with clean absorbent cotton and bandage. After pus has begun
to form in a boil recovery will be materially hastened by the use of a
knife, although this is not essential. The boil should be thoroughly
cleaned, and a sharp knife, which has been boiled in water for five
minutes, is inserted, point first, into the center of the boil, far
enough to liberate the pus and dead tissue. By this means healing is
much more rapid than by nature's unassisted methods. Pure carbolic
acid, applied on the tip of a toothpick, thrust into the head of a
boil, is generally curative. When many boils occur, consult a
physician.

=CARBUNCLE.=--A carbuncle is similar to a boil in its causation and
structure, but is usually a much more serious matter having a tendency
to spread laterally and involve the deeper layers of the skin. It is
commonly a disease of old persons, those prematurely old or
debilitated, and occurs most frequently on the neck, back, or
buttocks. It is particularly dangerous when attacking the back of the
neck, upper lip, or abdomen.

Carbuncle often begins, with a chill and fever, as a pimple, and
rapidly increases in size forming a hot, dusky red, rounded lump which
may grow until it is from three to six inches in diameter.
Occasionally it runs a mild course, remains small, and begins to
discharge pus and dead tissue at the end of a week and heals rapidly.
More commonly the pain soon becomes intense, of a bu