An inquiry into the aetiology of infantile eczema : being a thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine in the University of Cambridge / by Arthur J. Hall.

  • Hall, Arthur John, Sir.
Date:
1905
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: An inquiry into the aetiology of infantile eczema : being a thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine in the University of Cambridge / by Arthur J. Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    of eczema. They are much less severe than the eruption on the primary site. They may persist for a long time after the original irritant has been removed. They are even more readily reproduced than before by a repetition of the original stimulus. 7. After a time the reaction is capable of being produced or kept up by other, and less powerful, irritants than that which first pro- duced it. The following case, which I published in the British Journal of Dermatology, vol. xi. No. 125, illustrates most of the preceding characteristics of these “ traumatic eczemas.” Mr. X—, aged 30 years, Demonstrator of Chemistry in a Uni- versity College, was engaged in some research work, in addi- tion to his ordinary duties in the laboratory. In July, 1894, he began to suffer from an irritable eruption on t j fingers which kept appearing from time to time. After a wlihe, this was accompanied by an acute vesicular eczema, affecting the face, ears, neck,' elbows, inguinal regions, and scrotum. He was compelled to give up his work and undergo treatment, and after a time completely recovered. He returned to his work in the laboratory, and remained free for some time, when he had a,recurrence of the generalised eczema, more severe than before. About this time he consulted a leading derma- tologist in London, who confirmed the diagnosis of eczema. (I merely mention this point in order to emphasise my previous state- ment, that such cases are, clinically, indistinguishable from so-called “ idiopathic eczema.”) Suitable diet, more exercise, and less work were advised, and for a whole summer the patient was allowed only to do the minimum of demonstration work, and was out of doors golfing a large part of his time. With this regime his general health improved, and his skin recovered, to all appearances. After some months, thinking he must now be quite cured, he recommenced his research work in organic chemistry, only to be seized with a violent general recurrence worse than ever, and more widely spread. Being a man of keen observation, he began to put two and two together. He bethought himself that these attacks, at first limited to his hands, had only occurred since he had been engaged in this particular research; that each recurrence had followed attempts to continue the research ; that so long as he was only doing his ordinary laboratory work he remained free from any attack. Convinced that