Medicine: For Poison Ivy

One way a Boy Scout can spoil his scoutmaster’s day is to break out with a rash of poison ivy. Last week Scoutmaster F. W. James of Belleville, NJ. told the New York Times how he had met this crisis some 200 times in 26 years. He applies a wet dressing of aluminum acetate solution (a common, harmless astringent) for about ten minutes, daubs on more when itching returns. He said that most new cases clear overnight, most old ones in a few days.