That irritation which sometimes follows the unaccustomed wearing of woollen next the skin is generally caused by the material being of recent manufacture or coarse quality, and in all but the rarest cases it passes off within a few days, if the practice is persevered in.
In those rare cases where irritation continues if all-wool garments are worn next the skin, a mixture of cotton and wool, as in the ordinary "shop" merinos, or of silk and wool, as in the Anglo-Indian gauze, which is perfectly smooth, may be worn.
In summer weather I believe that many cases of so-called nettle-rash, and that most painful skin disease, prickly heat, the name of which admirably describes the sensations it produces, are caused by the sudden checking of the functions of the skin, owing to the thinness of the vests worn. These cases are not often met with in medical practice, as, although extremely painful, the affections are known not to be dangerous; but I believe they are much more common than is generally thought, and privately I have met with several in the persons of young ladies who in summer wear calico next the skin.
A typical case has been recorded2[1] by Mr. Wharton, whose patient, himself a medical man, suffered tortures every year, from May till November, from prickly heat (lichen tropicus). His sufferings were aggravated by increase in the action of the skin, and all treatment availed
- ↑ 2 Lancet, August 2nd, 1884, p. 190.
