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

  • Anderson, McCall, 1836-1908.
Date:
1864
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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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    at all.* He tells us likewise Gibert's opinion:— Neitlier in new-l)orn infants nor in adults, says this observer, is the pemphigoid form observed as a manifestation of syphilis. I have met with no instance in my own practice, nor in the special liospital at which I have had the opportunity of making observa- tions. Bazhi denies the existence both of syphilitic pemphi- gus in the infant and in the adult.f Hardy in his admirable work on skin diseases observes :— BuUte are never observed in the adult affected with sypliilis, and tliis is another argu- ment against the syphilitic nature of pemphigus neonatorum, J Devergie says, It is only observed in new-born infants; and a little further on he adds, In the adult sypiiilitic pemphigus has not yet been observed. § Cazenave in his treatise on syphilis informs us, that syphilitic pemphigus has never been observed, except in new-born infants ;i| and Gibert, in his work on diseases of the skin, makes a similar statement: A syphilitic eruption, says he, assuming the pemphigoid form, has not yet been observed, as far as I know, in the adult. ^ The following undoubted case of syphilitic pemphigus in the adult occurred in my practice; and as it is such a very rare affection as never to liave been seen by observers of such large and varied experience as those whose statements have been quoted, I have thought it worthy of being put on record :— Mr. , aged about 25, of fair general health, contracted a cliancre while in London during the Great Exhibition of 1862. Tliis was followed by secondaries, for which he was treated with mercury and iodide of potassium in considerable quantities by another medical practitioner. In November, 1863, lie consulted me witli regard to an en- largement of one testicle, which I had no difBculty in recogniz- ing as a syphilitic disease, and which entirely vanished in a few weeks under the use of iodide of potassium (gr. x. thrice daily in a bitter infusion). On the 11th January, 1864, I was sent for to see him, when the following were the appearances. I detected a few pustules amongst the hairs and on the face. On the elbows, wrists, hands, * A Treatise on Syphilis in New-born Children. By P. Diday. Syd. See. 'J'rauslation, 1859, p. 73. t Lepons tliCoriques et clininues sur les Syphilides, par le Docteur Bazin. Paris, 1859. P. 188. t Lemons sur les maladies de la peau, par le Docteur Hardy: 1= partie, 2d cd. p. 192. § Traite pratique des maladies de la peau, par Alph. Devergie. Paris, 1857. P. G85. II Traite des Syphilides. Paris, 184.^. P. 275. IT Trait6 pratique des maladies de la peau et de la sypliilis, par C. M. Gibert. TroisiSnie Edition, tome premier, p. 16.^.