Handbook of geographical and historical pathology. Vol. III. Ch. XXIII, Oriental boils and other sores / by August Hirsch ; translated from the second German edition by Charles Creighton.

  • August Hirsch
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Handbook of geographical and historical pathology. Vol. III. Ch. XXIII, Oriental boils and other sores / by August Hirsch ; translated from the second German edition by Charles Creighton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/20 page 669
    \\S-SCH , ^v'Cjr^ «2kv->cA. GTeo^ 000 <ScrL' Soocjc^ , V886, C -'-v iJt \s CHAPTER XXIII. ORIENTAL BOILS AND OTHER SORES. § 223. First Accounts of Aleppo Boil. I rcxos jtaoL Kv-StO^eoJc poJcVvoXCQ^ - VoC ■ •§, ... . - - - _ CLV->c>jr€xLO CA-^A0(r\tCirv . LOaclors : ORIENTAL BOILS. 669 afterwards proved that the disease was indigenous in other parts of Asia Minor, as well as in Central Asia, in India, at a few points in the southern peninsulas of Europe, and in the African states bordering the Mediterranean ; although in those countries it was mostly limited to a single spot or to a small district. It was thus shown to have a considerable range within the tropical and subtropical zones of the Eastern Hemisphere, from 23° to 45° N. and from 15° W. to 20° E. It does nob appear to bo known at all in the Western Hemisphere. One of the most interesting of the dermatoses, endemic at a number of tropical and subtropical places, is a special kind of boil called by the French {( bouton/’ or <( clou.”1 The first accounts of this remarkable disease belong to the latter part of the eighteenth century; they come from Aleppo, where Russell,2 Hassclquist,3 Holland4 and Volney,5 found it to be endemic and gave some slight account of it under the name of the AJoppo boil. Attention was first directed to it more generally by the writings of Alibert,6 Disant and Requin, who gave an account of it from information sup¬ plied by the French Consul at Aleppo; but most of all by the work of Guilhou, who accompanied Pariset on his scien¬ tific journey to the Levant, and published the results of his systematic inquiries on the boil-disease in an interesting memoir. The opinion was long held that the malady was one peculiar to Syria and specially to Aleppo ; but it was The popular names of these boils are derived sometimes from the locality, as in tho case of the Aleppo, Delhi, Mooltan and Biseara boils; or from the period of their duration (about ono year), ns in the Arabic namo khab-el-scneh, the Persian salek, tho Turkish tschibnn, and the Russian godownik j or from tho assumed cause, ns tho “ dato disease ” (bess-el-temeur in Arabic, and dous-cl-kourmati in Turkish). In Delhi tho discaso is called Auruugzcbc, nftor tho prince who reignod there in the eighteenth century, and is said to havo died of the boil. s ‘Natural History of Aleppo, &c.,’ Lond., 1756, 262. J‘Reiso nach Palästina,’ Rost, 1762, 593; aud'Abhandl. der Schwed. Akademio,’ xii, 139. * ‘Histoiro do la Soc. roy. do m<5d.,’ 1780, ii, 3x4. 6 Volney, ‘Voyage cn Syrie et en Egyptc,’ Par., 1787, ii, 130. * alphabetical list of all the authorities quoted is given at the end of tho text. § 224. Countries where the Boil is now known. Proceeding in tbat distribution-area from west to east, we come first1 upon a considerable focus of tbe disease on the banks of the Muluia in Morocco,2 in numerous oases of the Algerian8 desert (Tlemcen, Ouaregla in Oran, Laghouat in Alger, Biseara, Tuggurt, and Liban in Constantine), and in the Tunisian Sahara.4 From Tripolis we havo as yet no trustworthy information about it; but in Egypt cases have been seen at Suez and Cairo.5 On European soil, the island of Grete is one of its endemic centres ;8 also at Eupatoria in the Crimea, Libert has seen the malady among Tartars, as well as in a family of gipsies at Perikop. Coming to the countries of Nearer Asia, we hear of it in Cyprus,1 and at a few places in Asia Minor,6 such as Broussa at the foot of the 1 Collin (‘Contribution ä la geogr. mod. du Haut-Sduegal,’ Paris, 1883, p. 48) tells us that I10 was himself the subject of this diseaso in Sencgnmbia. Ilis account of the clinical history corresponds exactly with the type of the Biseara or Aleppo boil; but I cannot find a single word about the malady in any other of tho exceedingly numerous medical writings from that region. His case is therefore highly remarkable; and one is warranted in entertniuiug the modest doubt whether ho had not contracted tho malady somowhero olso. 3 Cabasse, Bddieb, Paynter. 3 See tho papers by Poggioli, Bddidh, Quesnay, Verdaiio, Guyon, Mussip, Bcy- lot, Armand, L. and A. Bertherand, Weis, Netter, Mauon, Soulier, Manolia, Hamel, Didclot, Castaing, Paynter, Alix, Guilleton, Scrmat, Ilillairct, Weber, Barth, Lavdran, Brocq, Constans. 4 Duclaux (ii reference), Dcp6rct. s Prunor. * Carter (quoted by Fox), Zachariadis, 7 Pruncr.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3