The Itch Mite.--This parasite which afflicts man causes the condition spoken of as "Itch," "Seven Years Itch," "Army Itch," "Jackson Itch," etc. It has an oval body with spine-like projections. The female is larger than the male and measures 1-70 of an inch in length by 1-50 of an inch in width. The female causes the development and pain of the afflicted person. She burrows into the superficial skin, forming a tortuous or a straight dotted line, slightly elevated which varies from 1/8 to 1/2 inch in length.

I wonder if they had to invest in a Bugaboo stroller after scratching this itch fifty years ago?

This line if observed closely appears dark gray or blackish in color and is slightly more elevated at one end. The eggs are laid in this furrow and at the elevated end is usually found the female, which has perished, as a rule. It takes almost 13 to 20 days for the eggs to develop into adult mites. The young mites feed upon the tissues of the body and move about causing discomfort until they reach the surface of the skin where they mate and females start a fresh burrow and deposit more eggs. The Itch Mite is commonly found in the skin between the fingers, hands, folds of the wrist, arm pits, around the stomach and about the neck. It is not known as a carrier of disease, but can be dangerous to health by causing burrows in the skin and abrasions due to scratching which afford an opening for germs to enter the system of the bitten individual. The Itch Mite can be conveyed from one person to another by means of towels, clothing, bathing suits, etc., carelessly washed, handled, or worn by anyone afflicted with the pests. TREATMENT.—To destroy them, have all bed linen and clothing used by the individual infested, thoroughly boiled or baked. Treat the region of the body by taking a bath, washing first with warm water and castile soap, using a brush to thoroughly open up the burrows and expose the eggs for destruction. After this, apply an ointment,

Sublimed sulphur.......one drachm (teaspoonful)

Balsam of Peru.......one drachm (teaspoonful)

Vaseline ............one ounce (2 tablespoonfuls)

Rub in morning and evening for from two to four days and repeat at end of a week if any itching continues.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Circuit and Color of Blood
  
  

  Circuit of the Blood. –the blood thus purified passes back to the heart to go on its circuit through the body, every organ of which renews its energy and vigor from the Magician’s fiery wand, pure, healthy blood; while the air exhaled carries off the impurities.

  Change in color of blood. –during this process the blood changes from a dark purple to a bright red. Pure air is the cheapest necessity and the greatest luxury of life. Let it not be the rarest. The relative proportion of the respirations to the pulsations of the heart is about 1 to 4 1/2 or 5; and the quantity of air required to keep the blood pure is very great. Indeed, respiration is the falling weight, event spring, which keeps the clock of life in motion; the inspirations and expirations are the strokes of the pendulum which regulate it.

  ____________________
  I have a new theory. Actually maybe this is my first theory. I think the authors may delve into flowery language and the peculiar like analogies whenever they don’t know what they’re talking about. I could be wrong I like to give the authors the benefit of the doubt. However it seems that whenever they lacked substance and factor knowledge, their prose gets a little loose.

  I’ve also heard that it is a urban legend today that blood has two different colors. If that is truly an urban legend and blood does not have the color of purple and red, and this book might actually be one of possibly many sources that helped to create that legend, which may not be all that urban after all. Maybe more of a historical legend.

  Wikipedia today provides an excellent description of what the color of blood is and why it is that color.  They describe a situation of optical illusions that led scientists and doctors as evidenced by the Library of Health to believe that veinous blood deprived of its oxygen was actually ‘purple’ or blue.  Sheesh

• Who Were the People that wrote the Book of Medicine?
  
  

  I haven’t had a lot of time to look into the authors of the book of medicine. One of the side projects I’d like to tackle with this book is identifying, who these people were that authored and edited the book, identify where they lived and worked and where they came from. Fortunately utilizing the powers of sites such as ancestry.com I can actually trace and get access to public records such as census records that might indicate who they were where they lived and what their lives were like. If they were recent immigrants to the United States or if they lived in the United Kingdom or whether they were from Germany or Ireland, etc.

  I’d like to also determine where they went to school to learn medicine, I will admit that I have no idea how to go about the second part but I’m hoping that the first inquiry provides more background information that might lead to information on the second part.

  Who knows it could even be possible that I will be able to find some people that knew them, maybe some relatives that will be able provides a personal perspective on the authors of this book. Who knows I might even come across these people running a Pigeon Forge vacation rentals company, or teaching at a university today or maybe they’re even somebody I know I just haven’t made the connection.

• Cholera Due to Impure Water
  
  

  Cholera Due to Impure Water. — among the remarkable outbreaks which goes to prove that this mode of cholera propagation is not at all uncommon, maybe mention the following, condensed from Mr. Simons eighth report as medical officer of the English privy Council, during the prevalence of cholera in England in 1865: A gentleman and his wife in the village of Theydon-Bois, and Essex, have been lodging at the town of Weymouth for two or three weeks, and returned home towards the end of September. On their way home they pass through Dorchester, where the gentleman was seized with diarrhea, vomiting and cramps, which continued more or less during the next day in the day following, when he reached his own home. During the journey to wife also began complaining of pains in the abdomen, which was followed by diarrhea and eventually by cholera, from which she died.

   

  Here’s the first paragraph from Wikipedia on Cholera which I’m providing just as a simple contrast in the information level known now versus 100 years ago…

  Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.^[1][2] Transmission to humans occurs through ingesting food or water that is contaminated with cholera vibrios. The major reservoir for cholera was long assumed to be humans themselves, but considerable evidence exists that aquatic environments can serve as reservoirs of the bacteria. Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative bacterium that produces cholera toxin, an enterotoxin, whose action on the mucosal epithelium lining of the small intestine is responsible for the characteristic massive diarrhea of the disease.^[1] In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known, and a healthy person may become hypotensive within an hour of the onset of symptoms; infected patients may die within three hours if medical treatment is not provided.^[1] In a common scenario, the disease progresses from the first liquid stool to shock in 4 to 12 hours, with death following in 18 hours to several days, unless oral rehydration therapy is provided.

  That contrast in detail and accuracy is pretty amazing in and of it self.  We live in an age where modern marvels in medical advancement such as the evolution from glasses to contact lenses to lasik corrective surgery demonstrate evolutionary and revolutionary change 3 times over. So it is no wonder that even when they were on the right track with a topic 100 years ago, the level of understanding was still exceptionally rudimentary.