Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/235

 when it is a dull or a glossy white, then there is some actual mischief going on. Such spots not unfrequently occur on the hands and face, remaining stationary for years, and giving no uneasiness except what is mental.

They are allied to that singular bleaching of color which makes "albinoes" in the colored races. Everyone who has seen many negroes has observed some with these white spots on them. They arise from a want of coloring matter in the skin, and are not easily effaced. What is needed, is to stimulate the little cells beneath the epidermis to take up the coloring matter in the blood, as is their duty. To accomplish this, thorough and repeated electrization is one of the best agents. Or the spots may be frequently rubbed with a tincture prepared by pouring spirits of camphor on red peppers. Or, this failing, a small quantity of the following ointment, highly extolled by a distinguished French surgeon, may be nibbed in three times a day:—

Tak Tannic acid       two scruples; Fresh lard        one ounce; Otto of roses     two drops.

Mix, and see that it is preserved from rancidity.

Leprosy is a disease of terrible renown which is characterized by a dead-white skin. The leper is still a dreaded object, banished from the family and shunned in the street, in Oriental countries. The disease is contagious, and next to incurable. Even a shake of the