Causes

The predisposing causes are always such as lead to debility and an impoverished state of blood. They are, in infants, bad nursing, suckling by mothers much out of health, scabies, bad clothing, damp dwellings; in adults and others, overwork, fatigue, convalescence from acute diseases, bad food, privations, various occupations that induce irritation of the skin, as bricklaying, excesses of all kinds, debauchery, uncleanliness, night-watching, overcrowding in public instutions - work houses, jails, and such like. The immediate exciting causes are scabies, phthei-riusis, the use of acrid medicinal applications, and scratch­ing.