Manual of diseases of the skin / from the French of Cazenave ; with notes and additions by Thomas H. Burgess.
- Pierre Louis Alphée Cazenave
- Date:
- 1854
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Manual of diseases of the skin / from the French of Cazenave ; with notes and additions by Thomas H. Burgess. Source: Wellcome Collection.
27/446 page 17
![received from tke profession, has proved that tlie impressions under whick it was written were not erroneous, and that suoli a book was a desideratum.—B.] Tbe next classification wbicb we baye to notice, is that of Plenck, (1789,) wbicb was subsequently improved in so bappy a manner by Willan. Plenck was tbe first wbo rejected ail topo- grapkical descriptions, and aiTanged cutaneous diseases according to tbeir external ckaracters. Still be committed tbe error of mixing up tbe products of inflammation witb tbe true anatomical cbaracters of tbe disease. Tbus, beside vesicles, pustules, &c., we hâve species based upon tbe existence of incrustations, ulcers, &c. as if tbe latter were not a mere conséquence of tbe former, and as if it were a trifling error to divide one and tbe same disease into two or tkree different affections, according as it presented itself witb pustules, scabs, or ulcers. Willan adopted tbe basis of Plenck’s method, and on it esta- blisked a classification wbicb in tbe présent State of our know- ledge cannot be surpassed in cleamess and précision. He rejected ail tbe products of inflammation, and took the characters of bis orders from tbe elementary lésions of tbe skin, wbicb be divided into eight orders. Tbe order squamœ, it is true, is founded ratber on a product of inflammation tban on elementary lésions, but its cba- racters are well marked, and belong exclusiyely to the diseases wkich are placed under it. Willan’s classification, taken on tbe wbole, is a most perfect one • for tbe errors of arrangement wkich be committed were not tbe’ resnlts of bis method, but errors in its application. Tbus he places purpura among tbe cxanthemataj erysipelas witb tbe bullœ; scabies among tbe pustulœ; acné, sycosis, among the tuberculà Independently of tbese faults, koweyer, we find certain others wkmk are not so easily got oyer. For example, we baye yarioln and tmea arranged under the same order, altkougk tbey présent a very wrde différence in tbeir nature and progress. Besides, it is by nomeans easytoapplyartificial distinctions to disease ; there is ut a slight différence between a vesicle and a pustule ; tbe bulla of ruina often bears a close resemblance to tbe pblyzaceous pustule of ecthyma Fmally, there are several cutaneous diseases wliicb cannot be arranged under any of Willan’s eight orders; purpura](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28049573_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
