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To the Editor:—In a clinical note "An Effective Antipruritic Tar Application" (A. M. A. Arch. Dermat. & Syph.65:484, 1952), Dr. Thomas S. Saunders advises use of a solution of 10% coal tar solution with 20% tincture of benzoin in acetone for the treatment of anogenital pruritus. Perhaps it will interest Dr. Saunders and the other readers that a coal tar solution in acetone is widely prescribed in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and other continental countries (Siemens, H. W.: Allgemeine Diagnostik und Therapie der Hautkrankheiten, Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1952). Well known is the so-called Sacksche Pinselung, a solution of 10% coal tar and 20% benzene in acetone. Solution coal tar, synonymous with liquor carbonis detergens, contains only 15% coal tar. (Why tincture of benzoin is added is not clear to me.) The pure coal tar in acetone is also generally well tolerated but is a bit messy. In Leiden,