know, is that these
rashes have no serious signification. Their treatment is very simple. It
consists in dressing the child very lightly, in bathing it very
frequently with tepid water, avoiding as far as may be the use of soap,
and in sponging it often to relieve the irritation with some simple
alkaline lotion; such for instance as one recommended by the late Dr.
Tilbury Fox, and which is composed of twenty grains of carbonate of
soda, two teaspoonfuls of glycerine, and six ounces of rose water. Of
course if the stomach is out of order that must be attended to, but a
little fluid magnesia, once or twice a day, is all that is usually
needed in the way of medicine.

One other affection of the skin, very common, very distressing, very
tedious, of which there are many varieties, generally known by the
technical name of _eczema_, from a compound Greek word which signifies
to flow, needs that I should say something about it. It is not limited
in its occurrence to infancy, nor does it of necessity cease when
childhood is over, but continues to recur even in grown persons, and
shows itself still from time to time even in the aged.

For the most part, however, it makes its appearance between the fifth
and twelfth month; sometimes seeming to be induced by the change of food
when the child is weaned, and that even though the weaning may have been
wisely managed; at other times showing itself when the irritation of
teething begins, and in every instance being aggravated by the approach
of each tooth to the surface, and abating in the intervals.

It does not occur in all children with equal frequency or severity, and
though there is no doubt but that it is often hereditary, and this
especially in families some members of which have suffered from gout,
yet it is by no means unusual for two or three of the children of the
same parents to be affected by it severely, while no trace of it appears
in the others.

It shows itself in general first on the cheeks and sides of the face,
where the skin becomes red and rough, and slightly puffy. On looking
very closely--more closely indeed than most persons are wont to do--this
appearance will be seen to be produced by innumerable small pimples,
smaller than pins' heads, and which itch violently. Now and then, even
in the course of a few hours, these pimples disappear, leaving the skin
rough, and peeling off in branny scales, while the surface beneath is
red and irritable, a condition whic