Diseases of the skin : a manual for practitioners and students / by W. Allan Jamieson.

  • Jamieson, W. Allan (William Allan), 1839-1916.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the skin : a manual for practitioners and students / by W. Allan Jamieson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    the localities which are particularly those in which one disorder as a rule manifests itself are in general avoided by another, we sometimes find this law transgressed, and an anomaly produced which may puzzle us. Again, in some skin diseases subjective symptoms may be as a rule absent, yet in a few rare cases these are found to be present. Colour, too, is not always uniform, even in the best denned diseases, and this is not merely affected by the hue of the skin in the person—dark or fair, brunette or blonde—but by the disease itself. It is this sportive tendency manifested by skin diseases which adds so much to the difficulty of their diagnosis, while it also enhances very materially the interest which attaches to them. Hence none of our atlases can be regarded as complete, for they are but representations of one phase of complaints which are almost kaleidoscopic in their variations. Another point which must always be borne in mind, when a case of skin disease comes under our observation for the first time, is the influence which previous treatment may have had. Treatment of all kinds materially alters the more distinctive and prominent symptoms. When of a stimulating character, it may have caused more or less inflammation, winch will certainly mask the characteristics. Thus prurigo and eczema which have been subjected to the action of irritants lose in this way their ordinary aspect, and it is only when, by rest from such applications, ■the skin has been permitted to tone down that we can recognise the true state of affairs. Again, the presence of crusts may render the state of the skin beneath unrecognisable till they are removed; or, conversely, the removal of scales may quite puzzle us as to the nature of a psoriasis or pityriasis rubra. Hence a question which should always be put is, Has this case been treated, and how ? Much may depend on the reply. Patients desirous of a purely independent opinion sometimes try to put us on the wrong scent, or at least endeavour to find out how much we know° by withholding information. Practice and a thorough acquaintance with our subject are the only means by which we