Scabies / by James C. White.

  • White, James C. (James Clarke), 1833-1916.
Date:
[1864?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scabies / by James C. White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    brown globular masses scattered throughout its whole length, which are the fasces of its inhabitant. In persons of cleanly habits the burrows are generally distinguishable by their white color, but in classes among which scabies most commonly occurs, they are mostly stained of a darker tint than the surrounding epidermis, from the absorption of dirt and coloring matters. In length they vary, ave- raging generally from one or two lines to half an inch, but in excep- tional cases they may stretch out to three or four inches, although the eggs are much farther apart in such instances, as the number in each individual is probably limited to 40 or 50. The direction they take is slightly zigzag or curved, seldom perfectly straight. When fresh, a small vesicle often marks the point of entrance of the ani- mal, and in other instances the whole burrow is lifted prominently above the surface by the exudation excited beneath it, which may be converted into a pustule and thus destroy the embryos. In rare cases a largo papule may be formed beneath the burrow, over the summit of which it may be seen to run. The entrance of the tunnel gene- rally remains open for the exit of the young and for the admission of air. When the disease has existed for a long time they may run into each other, or secondary appearances may show themselves, which obscure the typical forms and present to an inexperienced eye no sign of scabies. As to the subjective symptoms produced by these minute creatures, the plain Saxon name of the disease indicates strongly enough their nature. It is tJie itch. The sensation experienced by the patient is produced in a degree only by the old female. It is the depredations of the young and males, rambling at will over the surface of the body and boring at random into the deeper and sensitive layers of the epidermis, or into the upper surface of the papillary structure, which produce an itching so intolerable as to make a resort to scratching an imperative necessity. The scratching, when once excited, however, is not confined to the local irritation of the affected spot alone, but, owing to the intimate connection existing between the sensitive cuta- neous nerves and the pleasurable sensations thus produced, is con- verted into a general application of the nails to large surfaces of the surrounding skin. This itching, which is a primary and subjective symptom, leads us from cause to effect, to the secondary phenomena of the disease—the eruptive appearances of scabies. It is only necessary to assume that scratching is capable of producing upon a person harboring a colony of sarcoptes the same appearances as upon the skin of any body else, and we may account for all the objective symptoms of this af- fection, with the exception of the burrows already described, with- out being obliged to consider the possibility of any such absurdities as a psora dyscrasy or the absorption of the irritating faecal matter of the insect. Let any one scratch himself roughly oh the breast or thigh and study the result. We first see.,broad red lines correspond-