Selected essays and monographs : translations and reprints from various sources.

Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Selected essays and monographs : translations and reprints from various sources. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    324/476 (page 288)
    malignant ulcers on the soles of the feet and tips of the fingers and was moreover, highly contagious. Avicenna gives an almost identical description. Of course we cannot conclude with certainty that the disease referred to was frambcesia, but its localization, the characters and obstinate nature of the ulcers, taken in conjunction with its contagiousness, lead me to think that “ safat ” was the same disease as frambcesia. However, most definite statements as to the existence of this disease date from the 18th century, such as those of Piso m Brazil, and those of Bontius from the East Indian Archipelago. About the same time the traveller Labat gave an account of frambcesia in the West Indies. Sauvages was, however, the first to introduce (in the year 1768) the name of frambcesia into dermatological terminology. By this name he designated a single disease, occurring alike in Guinea and in some of the Antilles, and which appeared in the form of raspberry-like ulcers, which were very contagious, and affected all paits of the skin, involving that of the genitalia and axillae with special frequency. In the work of Willan and Bateman also we meet with an account of frambcesia, based upon the description of Schilling and Winterbottom. The majority of authors and especially Plenck have been in complete agreement with the views of Sauvages. Alibert was the first to originate completely different notions about the malady, identifying it with syphilis. However, Alibert’s description wTas less satisfactory than that of his predecessors, seeing that his classification is liable to lead to erroneous conclusions. He called all spongy ulcers which occur on the face, head, and genitalia, and secrete a yellowish offensive fluid, by the name of mycosis, and classified the forms of mycosis as follows :— 1. Mycosis frambcesioides (pian, frambcesia, acneform fungus of Bazin) ; ulcers affecting the head, lips, face, axillae and tongue. 2. Mycosis fungoides (verole d’Amboyne, pian fongoide); papillary growths, from the size of a pin’s head to that of a nut. 8. Mycosis syphiloides; spongy excrescences, occurring first upon the face and neck.