The dermatitis produced by East Indian satinwood ('chloroxylon swietenia') / by J. Theodore Cash.

  • Cash, John Theodore, 1854-1936.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The dermatitis produced by East Indian satinwood ('chloroxylon swietenia') / by J. Theodore Cash. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    a second identical inunction was made in the same place. A sharp dermatitis followed eruption and swelling, spreading rapidly upwards beyond the elbow and over on to the extensor surface of the forearm, with itching almost intolerable and rest at night much disturbed. In kind the symptoms produced by the resin were similar to those caused by chloroxylonine. Resin No. II.—This body was applied in 1 in 10 oint- ment form to the arms of five observers; of these four had not suffered from induced dermatitis. No result followed in the case of three of the latter, but six hours after inunction of 0.1 of the ointment (the amount used in each instance) the fourth (Ge.) had distinct local itching, and on the following morning the arm showed four distinct papules on a reddened patch which corresponded to the area of application. In forty-eight hours the papules were barely visible, and the geueral vascularity had disappeared. (Note, this observer informed me that he had always evi- denced extreme sensitiveness to every kind of cutaneous irritation.) Applied to my own arm to an area which some months before had been involved in chloroxylonine dermatitis, No. II ointment provoked in five hours’ time heat and itching, followed by a very distinct inflammatory condition, this being more severe than that occasioned by No. I resin. The congestion with oedematous swelling extended above the elbow. Fig. 3 is from a photograph taken six days after the application ; it shows the papules and excoriations existing at that time. Auld, in his paper already referred to, speaks of the two resins as non-irritant, and doubtless they are so to the skins of most individuals; but that they provoke a condition similar to that produced by chloroxylonine in those who have experienced the action of the latter is evident from my own case. That No. II may even cause a slight primary inflammation in a sensitive subject who is not otherwise predisposed is demonstrated by the reaction of Ge. Of the two resins, No. II is without doubt the more active. The Fixed Oil of East Indian Satinwood. Auld8 describes the separated oil as viscous, yellowish- brown in colour and having a specific gravity of 0.965. It remains clear on keeping, and in its action, Auld states that it appeared to him to be non-irritant. Wechselmann9 refers to an experiment in which he employed (by apply- ing to the skin of the arm) a resinous oil which Loeb had separated from satinwood. His result was negative. Experimental. Fro;/. Two frogs received SV, and ^ of a c.cm. respectively of the undiluted oil in the dorsal lymph sacs. There were no sym- ptoms. Excited movement was entirely absent. After the lapse of fourteen days the animals were destroyed by chloro- form. Examination of the muscles, alimentary canal, and dorsal lymph sac did not reveal any haemorrhages or even an