Skin diseases, an inquiry into their parasitic origin, and connection with eye affections : also the fungoid or germ theory of cholera / by Jabez Hogg.

Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Skin diseases, an inquiry into their parasitic origin, and connection with eye affections : also the fungoid or germ theory of cholera / by Jabez Hogg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    fallacy of this theory by the light of physiology, we must bear in mind that the surface of the human body is supplied with a delicate covering, one office of which is to excrete, and another to eliminate or exude, effete matter from the blood. The excretion consists chiefly of epithelial scales, and the exudation is mostly made up of fluid and gaseous matters, which sometimes become condensed and dried on the surface of the epidermis. The epithelial scales are friable and separ- able by very slight friction during health, and the transpired fluid makes its escape, under ordinary cir- cumstances, without any assistance from without. Eut want of cleanliness, deficient exercise, and more fre- quently a deranged state of the health, especially a vitiated condition of the body, interferes with the natural processes of elimination; and then the skin itself becomes diseased, and in this diseased condition may become infested by parasitic fungi, the spores and fila- mentous threads of which find a nidus in an abraded portion of the cuticle, the shafts and roots of the hairs are invaded, the hairs become brittle and stunted in growth, and at length perish and fall off. While admitting the existence of certain parasitic fungi in connection with favus, porrigo, &c., it is suffi- ciently evident, after a careful study of the writings of Gruby, Bennett, and others, that they must be looked upon as a result, and not as a cause of disease; and it is important to remember that parasites are not even universally present in these affections. In the year 1856, I undertook, at the instigation of my friend, Mr. Hunt, an investigation into the nature and origin of the so-called parasitic diseases of the skin; and, without having formed any preconceived opinion upon the sub- ject, and for the elucidation of particular points, I made in all a very large number of examinations of the pro- ducts of cutaneous affections. The cases investigated