A manual of medical diagnosis / by A.W. Barclay.

  • Barclay, A. W., 1817-1884.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of medical diagnosis / by A.W. Barclay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    sistent redness after the actual suppuration is at an end, and its continued recurrence in the same follicles. Wlien such a blotchy redness alone remains, and no pustule is to be seen, a learner may be at a loss to what class he ought to refer the case; its rugged sur- face renders it unlike eczema, and the absence of crust shows that it is not impetigo; its redness and its position, only on the face or back of the neck, prevent its being confounded with lichen or psoriasis : it is most apt to be taken for tubei’cle of the skin. Sycosis much moi’e nearly resembles impetigo: crusts generally form, and are very obstinate and adherent: but it is to be observed that the skin is elevated round the crust, which is just what we should expect from the circumstance that the suppuration proceeds from a follicle deeply-seated in the cutis, and not from its surface. Favus, which has been classed among pustules, we shall refer to its true place as a parasitic growth. § G. Pemphigus or Pompholyx and Rujna.—These two disorders, although very different in their history and causes, may conveniently be classed together, be- cause they are characterized by the existence of bullae (literally bubbles). In pemphigus the contents of the bulla are always serous, in rupia ])uriform ; and they thus correspond in some measure to the division of the smaller eruptions into vesicular and pustular. In connexion with this there is a similarity in history, the one appearing more frequently in an acute form, the other being always chronic; there is also a chronic pemphigus, to which the name pompholyx is given, to complete the analogy with chronic eczema. Whether this disease be of .shorter or longer dura- tion there is always redness of the skin, the cuticle rising in separate blister.s, generally rounded and pro- minent, and filled with serum ; the duration of each blister is not long, but great difference is observed in the rapidity with which the subsequent healing j)ro-