Syphilitic pemphigus in the adult : is there such a disease? / by T. M'Call Anderson, M.D.

  • Anderson, McCall, 1836-1908.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Syphilitic pemphigus in the adult : is there such a disease? / by T. M'Call Anderson, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    especially palms, and on the knees, ankles, and feet, large cop- pery patches were seen, with pustules scattered here and there. On the palms and soles the skin was undermined in streaky patches by purulent matter. On and about the liands and points of fingers, and in the neighbourhood of the ankles, a number of buUce containing clear serum were detected—about two dozen in all. These varied in size from a small bean to a large hen's egg, and exhibited difi'erent stages of developnient, some being very tense, others flaccid, especially those on the points of the fingers. A very few bulljB were detected on the arms and legs, and on the scrotum. There were none on the trunk of the body, with the exception of a few on the back, but two or three on the lips, which extended for some distance over the mucous membrane on their inner surfaces. The throat was unaffected, and the only other sign of syphilis detected was one enlarged gland at the back of the neck. The irritation of the eruption at some points, especially on the scrotum and the hands and feet (the palms and soles excepted), was sometimes intolerable, so that the patient could not refrain from scratching and rupturing the bullte. The bullous eruption first made its appearance on the 8th of January, at which period patient states that the palms of the hands felt as if they had been sleeping, or had been stung with nettles, and the soles of the feet as if he had been standing on hot bricks. It was preceded by several days of intermitting febrile symptoms, accompanied by long-continued chills, head- ache, pains in tlie joints, loss of appetite, restlessness, and debilitv. On the 11th, when I first saw him, he was not feverish; his appetite was recovering; his bowels were regular, and he was sleeping well. I prescribed a pill containing one-eighth of a grain of bichloride of mercury in extract of cinchona, to be taken thrice daily after food, and gave him the following mixture to smear over the parts which he had excoriated with his nails, and which were itchy— Pulv. oxydi ziiici, y. Olei amygdalarum, gii. Campliorae, 7,ss. Olei lioste, gt. i. Cochinilliui, gri. il. Stir the mixture before using it. Apply when itching is complained of. liis diet was to be nourishing, but simple ; all dressed dishes, wines, &c., being avoided. On Jan, 30th I ordered him to apply a piece of flannel about four inches broad round the body, and to smear the inside of it every night and morning with a piece of mercurial ointment about the size