On diseases of the skin / by Erasmus Wilson.

  • Wilson, Erasmus, Sir, 1809-1884.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On diseases of the skin / by Erasmus Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    587/608 (page 503)
    HISTOBY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE STEATOZOON FOLLICULOBUM. 755. In the course of some researches directed to the inves- tigation of the cause of acne, Dr. Gustav Simon, of Berlin, discovered an animalcule in the sebaceous substance with which the hair-follicles are so commonly filled, particularly on the face, and gave it the designation, acarus folliculorum* Dr. Simon's researches have hitherto been directed principally to the sebiparous glands of the nose, where he finds the parasite with astonishing frequency, even in cases where the skin presents all the characters of perfect health. Of living persons he detected the animal in three out of ten men in the sebaceous matter squeezed out by pressure from the follicles ; but in the dead he discovered them in almost every individual examined, the only exceptions out of ten bodies being two newly-born children. The mode of examination in the case of the dead was by means of thin sections. The animalcules embedded in the sebaceous matter are found in the hair-follicles near to the outlet, their long axis corresponding with that of the follicle, and their heads being directed inwards; in four instances, the head and part of the body of the little creature were lodged in a sebiferous duct. In normal hair-follicles there are ususally not more than one or two of these parasites ; in rare instances, three or four; but where the sebaceous substance is concreted, their number varies from two to six ; in one case, he found as many as eleven, and in another, thirteen. They are tardy in their movements, but retain their vitality for a considerable length of time ; thus Dr. Simon has found them moving after a confinement of eight and twelve hours between two plates of glass, and in one body they were found alive after the person had been dead for six days. The animalcule presents several forms, which correspond with stages of development. In the most common form, the animal * Miillfi's Archiv. 1842, f>. 218. Uebcr eine in den krankon und nonnnlen Haarsiickcn dea Menschen lehende Milbe.