Rubefacients, Vesicants, and Escharotics. - These consist of a series of remedies that act directly upon the skin or mucous membrane, and are known by different names, according to the amount of irritation produced. Rubefacients, as the mildest, cause a redness of the skin with dilated blood-vessels; if their action is continued, local extravasation of serum beneath the epidermis may take place, forming a blister. If their action is more severe or if long continued, death of tissue may take place, thus causing a cauterizant action with the formation of an eschar. Emollients and demulcents have an opposite effect, in that they tend to allay or prevent irritative reactions on the part of the skin (emollients) or mucous membranes (demulcents).