Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/250

 removed by gentle friction, cold bathing, tonics of iron and bark, ergotin, and similar drugs, while the vessels are stimulated by astringent washes, such as the following:—

Take— Tannic acid       fifteen grains; Camphor water     five ounces.

Dissolve, and use several times a day, letting it dry on the surface.

Simple spirits of camphor is another suitable lotion when the redness is not decided. But when it is gone to the extent that on closely examining the skin fine red veins are perceptible, traversing it in various directions, then the case demands more active remedies, which can only be properly administered by a physician.

ARSENIC-EATING, AND SECRET WASHES.

Within a few months we have noted three deaths attributed by the newspapers to eating arsenic in order to improve the complexion. The fact that such a custom has been widely prevalent for years is no secret to most physicians. There is a preparation largely sold by the shops under the attractive name poudre rajeunissante, the active principle of which is simply arsenic, or "ratsbane," as the old folks call it. The custom has been immemorial in the Austrian Alps. The peasants commence taking a small portion of hidri, as they term it, an arsenical compound, four or five times