Sleep in its relations to diseases of the skin / by L. Duncan Bulkley.

  • Lucius Duncan Bulkley
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sleep in its relations to diseases of the skin / by L. Duncan Bulkley. 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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    '^LEgP:s^IN utS RELATIONS TO ^^\ l7EQSiaSisf OF THE SKIN. , By'L. DUNjAl 'AN BULKLEY, A.M., M.D. Physician to the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, Consulting Physician to the New York Hospital, etc. To those who look upon affections of the skin as wholly or largely local affairs, dependent upon extraneous influences, whether parasitic or other, the discussion of the topic here proposed will probably seem unnecessary, and some of the statements unsound. But to those who take the broadest view of dermatology, and regard the aggregation of symp- toms to which are given the names of different diseases as only the expression of various forms of disordered tissue-ac- tion, influenced by every element which conduces to perfect or im])erfect nutrition and innervation, the subject is fraught with the greatest interest, and is one of a most practical character. Sleep is undoubtedly one of nature's sweet restorers, and yet in the literature of dermatology, both in text-books, mon- ograi^hs, and journal articles, I can find hardly an allusion to the subject, and I do not know of its having been referred to in any society discussions on dermatological subjects, except in the briefest and most superficial manner. On the other hand, with me it is one of the most important elements to consider in connection with many diseases of the skin, and for twenty-five years I have made notes in regard to this element in large numbers of my patients; so impor- tant do I consider it that on my printed paper for recording cases the word sleep appears twice, once in connection with the previous history of the patient, and again in re- cording the condition of the patient at the time of first obser- vation ; record in regard to sleep also is commonly made, in very many patients, at each subsequent viftit. It is not necessary at the present time, even if I were able, to discuss the nature of sleep or the causes that produce it in the healthy individual. Every one recognizes that natural condition of restful unconsciousness into which the system