The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-06-30
Pimplcs.

Pimplcs.
It the reader be warm admirVr and
therefore close observer of female
beauty, he will most probably not have
failed to discover that the compilations
OF large percentage of our girls Just
budding into womanhood are deformed
by pimples, blotches, and what ap pear
to be calculations of the cuticle. TO
the nymph in the first flush of young
ladyhood these eruptions are exceed
ingly exasperating. Not unfrequentlv
they burst into notice at the tip of q
handsome nose. Then, indeed, the I'M
fortunate sufferer is on the verge of de-
spair. She jumps from her bed at the
first peep of daylight, rushes to the
mirror, more than likely exclaims: ~
declare to goodness! there is another of
them horrid spots!' Before long she
consults the family physician. and he
prescribes. The spots vanish; the COM
plexion becomes clear and transparent;
she enjoys beauty for several years; aft
erward positive ugliness follows, and
almost before she has reached the mel
low meridian of middle age our pimpled
young graduate drops into the grave.
What is the cause of those pimples,
those splotches, that spottiness on the
nose of girlhoodP The answer is that
in nine cases out of ten its origin is to
be found in the "violet powder with
which the fashionable young demoiselle
at an early age begins to puff and daub
her face, in order, as she fondly fancies,
to enhance her beauty, and to cover up
vagrant freckle. In a remarkable
article recently published in a Vienna
periodical, Prot. Helwig seems to have
probed the bottom of this subject.
Prof. Helwig has frequently been
consulted in recent years by young la
dies respecting the eruptive disfgura-
tions to which reference has been
made. In the cases Of several patients
he removed the pimple or a portion
OF the blotch with the lancet for mi
croscopic examination. In every in
stance he discovered minute living or
ganisms-human parasites. These were
the pimples. As respected the smaller
eruptive or black spots that frequently
afflict the nose of beauty, he discovered
that it was caused by another living
creature, to which the formidable name
of Densoder tolliculoruna has been as
signed. If any belle, so nose-afflicted,
when she reads this article, will step
up to the mirror and administer a slight
pressure to one of those "beauty spots''
that appears enlarged and whitish.
with a terminal black spot, the matter
forced out will consist principally of
the accumulated sebaceous secretion,
having these tiny parasites with their
eggs and young mingled with it. If
she has friend who possesses good
microscope she may carry him the ex-
uded material. BY the addition of
little olive oil. which will soften the
sebaceous matter, the parasites with
their eggs and young may be separated.
They can he observed at leisure, and
they will be seen to be formidable little
creatures, worth more than cursory in
spection.
When Prof. Helwig had advanced
thus far he bethought him to examine
the toilet powders used by his fair pa
tients. Here he found the clew to the
mystery. In one specimen, prepared
by a leading house in Paris. he found
the eggs of the Denaoder tolliculorupn,
in another, prepared by Vienna per-
fumer, he found the germ of the active
little turnover that raises the pimple.
The doctor told his interesting patients
that they must either discontinue the
use of these farinaceous powders or pay
the penalty of having their fair skins
transformed into hides.
The origin of these living organisms
and their germs is by no means obvious.
Prof. Helwig is of the opinion that the
introduction of the volatile oil for the
purpose Of pertaining the powder rem
uers the farinaceous fecula fit habita-
ton for those living germs with which
our whole atmosphere is undoubtedly
pervaded. Prof. Chon, of Berlin, at
tributes the appearance of the germs of
the creatures to putrefaction. Accord
ing to his view, the prevailing fashion
of using those farinaceous complexion
powders may be described as "a per-
petual conflict between the person
using it and the specific organism which
multiplies at her expense, appropriate
ing her air and moisture, and frequent
ly poisoning her by the decomposition
it causes" Vexed and annoyed with the
pimples and discolorations, the would
be belle jumps from the frying pan into
the fire.
She begins to take arsenic in some of
its alluring forms. The organisms are
speedily destroyed, the eruptions dis
appear, and the belle, as she views her.
self in the mirror, is delighted to dis
cover that she is growing stouter. She
imagines that she is plump, but it is the
fictitious plumpness that indicates
dropsy, and inevitably brings death in
its train while the woman is yet COM
paratively young. There is only one
safe path to pursue: Check the habit
of using these dangerous toilet powders
in our young girls, and when they grow
up they will have no cause to be
ashamed of their complexions.-Chi-
cago Tribune.