Domestic medicine and surgery : with a glossary of the terms used therein / by J.H. Walsh.

  • John Henry Walsh
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Domestic medicine and surgery : with a glossary of the terms used therein / by J.H. Walsh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    86/846 (page 66)
    almost all the veacles being perfectly- isolated. It Is, however, only the detection of the acanis which can positively settle the question; and short of this even the most experienced observer is at times liable to make the mistake. Other eruptions, such as lichen and prurigo, are also likely to be confounded with it; but these, we shall hereafter see, do not resemble it nearly so much as eczema. Sect. i.—Blebs. 187. Blebs are large vesicles, and they are included under vesicular erup- tions by many writers; but as their appearance is so wholly unlike that of herpdtio eruptions, they arc here kept distinct. The ordinary bleb may be compared exactly to a small blister from a bum or scald. There are three varieties of this eruption—pemphigus vomphoUjXy and rupia, all of which are somewhat rare, and beyond the pi’O- bable reach of the domestic observer. 188. Pemphigus occurs chiefly in young children and infants in crowded localities, and when ill-fed and debili- tated by various causes. It is generally seen on the arms and upper parts of the body in small blisters, varying from the size of a pea to that of a horse- bean. Tliese appear without much fever, last about a week, and then die away, being often succeeded at uncer- tain intervals by a similar crop. 189. PoMPiioLYX is the name given to an eruption of a similar character, which attacks cliildren of riper years and sometimes delicate adults. The blebs are larger but less numerous, and the likeness to scalds is still more marked. 190. RopiA is an emption which is commonly called vesicular; but accord- ing to my judgment, and that of some other observers, it should rather be considered a pustular disease. It cer- tainly appears at first in the form of blebs containing lymph; but tins soon becomes pus, and an unhealthy ulcer is the result, the secretion from which dries if exposed to the air j and as the ulcer keeps extending, the successive layers are thrown up in the exact form of a limpet-shell, each consecutive layer being larger than the one before. The scabs finally rise so high that they are inevitably rubbed off, and then the ulcer is exposed, and looks raw and inflamed; but it speedily forms a fresh crust, and a second limpet-shell is m time produced, but not nearly so perfect in its resemblance to its prototype as before. There arc not often many of these on the same individual, and generally they arc on the extremities. The limpet-shaped crust easily distin- guishes this eruption from all others. Sect. 5.—Pustular Eruptions. 191. Pustules are circumscribed elevations of the cuticle containing pus, and ending in scabs or crusts. There are four kinds of pustules de- scribed by writers on skin diseases; but their difference depending only upon the shape of the pustule, and the de- gree of consoUdation or hardness of ] the base. I shall merely give the | names of the four, which ai'c— 1st, i the phlgsaclous, 2nd, psydracious, 3rd, the achorous, and 4th, the favous pustule—names which are sufficiently' jaw-breaking to frighten beginners fVom the task of investigating their meaning. 192. The pustular eruptions which are now to come nnder examination here are—1st, acne; Und, porrigo; 3rd, impetigo; 4th, ecthyma; and, 6th, hcil and carbuncle, which last, though gene- rally said to be the result of the slough- ing of the cellular membrane, are really at first merely arismg from slough of tile true skin. 198. Acne is a chronic eruption whose scat is in the sebaceous follicles, which either from some cause secrete such a thick and cheesy matter, that it will not pass out of them, or else their mouths become thickened and con- tracted, and in that way confine the secretion. Tlio eruption has received a variety of names, all depending upon the exact appearance given to the eye of the observer, and having no refer- ence to any other cause or cflcct. Thus it is called acne simplex, when there is merely a slight inflammation of the follicle, causing a pimple, on the pomt of which a little pustule forms, and after discharging its contents the cause