Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [522]
in some parts coalesced, forming white, shining, cicatrix-like areas. The skin upon this was finely wrinkled, and either smooth or shiny, or covered with thin, white scales. On these white areas bright red spots were conspicuous, due to telangiectasis, and there were also some stellate vascular spots and strife interspersed among the pigment. Small warts were seen springing up from some of the pigment spots. These warts ulcerated and gave rise to numerous superficial ulcerations, covered with yellow crusts, irregularly scattered over the face, mostly on the right side. The pus coming from these ulcers was apparently innocuous. The patient complained neither of itching nor of pain. Archambault has collected 60 cases, and gives a good resume to date. Amiscis reports two cases of brothers, in one of whom the disease began at eight months, and in the other at a year, and concludes that it is not a lesion due to external stimuli or known parasitic elements, but must be regarded as a specific, congenital dystrophy of the skin, of unknown pathogenesis. However, observations have shown that it may occur at forty-three years (Riehl), and sixty-four years (Kaposi). Crocker believes that the disease is an atrophic degeneration of the skin, dependent on a primary neurosis, to which there is a congenital predisposition.
Nigrities is a name given by the older writers to certain black blotches occurring on the skin of a white person--in other words, it is a synonym of melasma. According to Rayer it is not uncommon to see the scrotum and the skin of the penis of adults almost black, so as to form a marked contrast with the pubes and the upper part of the thighs. Haller met with a woman in whom the skin of the pubic region was as black as that of a negress. During nursing the nipples assume a deep black color which disappears after weaning. Le Cat speaks of a woman of thirty years, whose forehead assumed a dusky hue of the color of iron rust when she was pregnant about the seventh month. By degrees the whole face became black except the eyes and the edges of the lips, which retained their natural color. On some days this hue was deeper than on others; the woman being naturally of a very fair complexion had the appearance of an alabaster figure with a black marble head. Her hair, which was naturally exceedingly dark, appeared coarser and blacker. She did not suffer from headache, and her appetite was good. After becoming black, the face was very tender to the touch. The black color disappeared two days after her accouchement, and following a profuse perspiration by which the sheets were stained black. Her child was of a natural color. In the following pregnancy, and even in the third, the same phenomenon reappeared in the course of the seventh month; in the eighth month it disappeared, but in the ninth month this woman became the subject of convulsions, of which she had one each day. The existence of accidental nigrities rests on well-established facts which are distinctly different from the pigmentation of purpura, icterus, or that produced by metallic salts. Chomel quotes the case of a very apathic old soldier, whose skin, without any appreciable cause, became as brown as that of a negro in some parts, and a yellowish-brown in others. Rustin has published the case of a woman of seventy who became as black as a negress in a single night. Goodwin relates the case of an old maiden lady whose complexion up to the age of twenty-one was of ordinary whiteness, but then became as black as that of an African. Wells and Rayer have also published accounts of cases of accidental nigrities. One of the latter cases was a sailor of sixty-three who suffered from general nigrities, and the other was in a woman of thirty, appearing after weaning and amenorrhea.
Mitchell Bruce has described an anomalous discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes resembling that produced by silver or cyanosis. The patient, a harness-maker of forty-seven, was affected generally over the body, but particularly in the face, hands, and feet. The conjunctival, nasal,
Nigrities is a name given by the older writers to certain black blotches occurring on the skin of a white person--in other words, it is a synonym of melasma. According to Rayer it is not uncommon to see the scrotum and the skin of the penis of adults almost black, so as to form a marked contrast with the pubes and the upper part of the thighs. Haller met with a woman in whom the skin of the pubic region was as black as that of a negress. During nursing the nipples assume a deep black color which disappears after weaning. Le Cat speaks of a woman of thirty years, whose forehead assumed a dusky hue of the color of iron rust when she was pregnant about the seventh month. By degrees the whole face became black except the eyes and the edges of the lips, which retained their natural color. On some days this hue was deeper than on others; the woman being naturally of a very fair complexion had the appearance of an alabaster figure with a black marble head. Her hair, which was naturally exceedingly dark, appeared coarser and blacker. She did not suffer from headache, and her appetite was good. After becoming black, the face was very tender to the touch. The black color disappeared two days after her accouchement, and following a profuse perspiration by which the sheets were stained black. Her child was of a natural color. In the following pregnancy, and even in the third, the same phenomenon reappeared in the course of the seventh month; in the eighth month it disappeared, but in the ninth month this woman became the subject of convulsions, of which she had one each day. The existence of accidental nigrities rests on well-established facts which are distinctly different from the pigmentation of purpura, icterus, or that produced by metallic salts. Chomel quotes the case of a very apathic old soldier, whose skin, without any appreciable cause, became as brown as that of a negro in some parts, and a yellowish-brown in others. Rustin has published the case of a woman of seventy who became as black as a negress in a single night. Goodwin relates the case of an old maiden lady whose complexion up to the age of twenty-one was of ordinary whiteness, but then became as black as that of an African. Wells and Rayer have also published accounts of cases of accidental nigrities. One of the latter cases was a sailor of sixty-three who suffered from general nigrities, and the other was in a woman of thirty, appearing after weaning and amenorrhea.
Mitchell Bruce has described an anomalous discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes resembling that produced by silver or cyanosis. The patient, a harness-maker of forty-seven, was affected generally over the body, but particularly in the face, hands, and feet. The conjunctival, nasal,