is in the flesh, but generally three or four applications to each painful part are required. I have known the disease not entirely yield before the ninth. Of forty-two cases taken in succession from the Hospital books, thirty were cured; and the other twelve were clearly not adapted for it, as they were either accompanied or aggravated by heat, and yielded afterwards to antiphlogistic measures. It is occasionally a good mode of letting off the fluid of anasarca: but for this purpose the needle requires to be passed merely through the skin, and not to an inch or an inch and a half, as in rheumatism. Neither is its use always attended with success, as in rheumatism. When practised below the knees, I have heard of it producing mortification; but above them, and in the arms and trunk, it appears free from danger.

safety

HISTORY

OF

A FUNGOUS ERUPTION,

CURABLE BY MERCURY,

BUT

NOT OF VENEREAL ORIGIN,

BY

WILLIAM WALLACE, M.R.S.A.

SURGEON TO THE CHARITABLE INFIRMARY OF DUBLIN, TO THE INFIRMARY

FOR THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF THE SKIN, ETC. ETC.

COMMUNICATED BY

MR. TRAVERS.

Read December 26, 1826.

CASE I.

MARTIN LAVIN, aged forty years, of a tall and slender figure, with a pallid countenance, a poor man, earning a livelihood by a traffic in old clothes, broken glass, &c. applied at the Skin Infirmary, on the 16th of October, 1819, to obtain relief for a disease, of which the following is a description.

A number of tumours, some about the diameter and elevation of a filbert, others as large as a small

walnut. On an accurate examination, they were observed to be crusted, or covered with a yellowbrown scab, and to be surrounded, to the extent of about two lines, by an areola of livid-coloured skin, which was rough, in consequence of desquamation of its cuticle. On removing the scab or crust, it was found to form a covering or cap to a fungus or excrescence, of a pale or dirty pink colour, having but little sensibility when handled, and exactly resembling in figure a small mulberry or raspberry. There were also, on many parts of the surface of the skin, marks or stains of a rounded form and livid colour, of the same diameter in general as the fungi, scarcely elevated above the surrounding skin, wrinkled, and in some situations with the cuticle covering their surface in a state of furfuration.

Each of the existing fungi, and several others, which he says have been cured, commenced, according to his description, in an itchy pimple, which gradually increased without much soreness or itching; and having existed for some time, many imperceptibly shrunk away, leaving behind them the livid marks above mentioned. Nevertheless, it does not appear that they spontaneously subsided, but in consequence of unguents, which he applied to them.

The fungi, at present in existence, are five in number, and are seated, one in each of the follow

ing situations, viz. in the nape of the neck, close to the hairy scalp; on the left of the anterior part of the abdomen, a little above the umbilicus; on the anterior fold of the right axilla; on the corresponding arm, immediately above the internal 'condyle of the humerus; and on the upper and outer part of the right thigh.

There is no pain in any of his joints or bones, no soreness of his throat, no perceptible derangement of his general health.

He attributes the origin of these fungi, which he says commenced in last April (six months previous to his application at the Skin Infirmary), to lying in dirty beds. Has a wife, with whom he cohabits, and has not communicated the disease to her. He never saw any person labour under a similar disease. Denies having ever had gonorrhoea or chancre. Has not had his health deranged in any way, either immediately before the appearance of the fungi, or at any time since.

He observes that, in July, he procured some mercurial pills, and having taken them, so as to make his mouth sore, the fungi disappeared almost entirely; but, being obliged at this period to leave the city, he had no means of persisting in the use of the medicine, and shortly after leaving it off, those which had shrunk gradually became larger, and others appeared.

The above patient was admitted into the Charitable Infirmary, and having taken ten grains of the blue pill for a few nights, his mouth became tender, all the fungi quickly shrunk, and, at the end of about six weeks, they had entirely disappeared, when he eloped from the hospital, without my knowledge or permission, and I have never since heard of him.

CASE II.

James Walsh, a labourer, residing in the country, aged 23 years, of a sanguineous complexion, and of a short and strong stature, applied at the Skin Infirmary, April 8, 1820, on account of a fungous disease of the skin, of the following characters.

On the head, trunk, and lower limbs, there are several fungi, varying in size from that of a pea to that of a walnut. Those which are on the scalp are by much the smallest ; the largest is seated on the front of the right thigh, a few inches above the patella, surrounded by a deep seated and extensive hardness, and has in some points become an excavated ulcer. All the fungi, with the exception of the large one just alluded to, are covered by a yellowish brown scab, which must be removed to see their fungous character. Each fungus is surrounded by a livid ring or border, the cuticle of which is in a state of furfuration. They are attended by a very troublesome itching, particularly