On the nomenclature and classification of disease of the skin / by L. Duncan Bulkley.

  • Bulkley, Lucius Duncan, 1845-1928.
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nomenclature and classification of disease of the skin / by L. Duncan Bulkley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    2/18 (page 2)
    4 also been one which has presented many difficulties, and one which many teachers in various countries have attempted to solve, but all more or less in vain, and often to the greater confusion of the subject. Nor are these matters of nomen¬ clature and classification yet settled, for there still exist among writers and teachers considerable differences, both as regards the names employed in this branch, and the ar¬ rangement of the diseases belonging to it. The student who would seek to understand this department of medicine as taught in different countries, is at once embarrassed by the names which he meets with, and it requires no little study to assimilate the views promulgated in various medi¬ cal centres upon this topic. It has, therefore, occurred to the writer that a brief consid¬ eration of this subject might not be without value on the present occasion, while if it were possible for a system of nomenclature and classification to be, by any means, adop¬ ted or sanctioned by a medical body such as the present, representing many languages, very much would be done toward simplifying the studying of this branch. Gain would be made even if the authority of the Congress went no fur¬ ther than to the calling of attention to the confused state of the subject, and the recommendation that writers and teachers should abstain from further changes and innova¬ tions ; although, if it were possible to agree upon some such plan as that here proposed, involving definite fixed principles, it is probable that greater uniformity of thought on this subject would be promoted in different countries. In the advanced state of the study of medicine in the pres¬ ent century, no writer or teacher can afford to ignore the views of others; no one, however eminent, can expect his views or theories to be accepted by others without dispute. Consequently, no one system of nomenclature and classifica¬ tion emanating from any teacher however distinguished, nor even that from any one medical school, could be ex¬ pected fully to harmonize with the views of all at present engaged in the practice and teaching of dermatology. There are, however, certain principles with regard to the nomenclature, and perhaps also in regard to the classifica-