SCALA NO VA, a sea-port of Asiatic Turkey, on an eminence at the head of a gulf of the same Lame, 40 in. s. of Smy-rea. The ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus (q.v.) are in the vicinity. An important export trade is carried on. Pop. stated at LO.000. The gulf of Scala Nova, confined on the s. by the island of Samos, is 40 m. long and about 20 Ill. broad.
(a corruption probably of scaled head) is the popular name of a fungous parasitic disease of the scalp (and occasionally of tl:e face and oda r parts) known in medical phraseology iN farm, Linea farosa, and To•rigo scutuiata. The pi imary seat of the parasite is in the lowest portion of the hair-follicles, outside the layer of epithelium which covers the root of the hair. The plant is, however, often found in cup-shaped depressions on the surface of the scalp, forming the yellow honeycomb-like masses which suggested the specific name _rants (honeycomb) for the disease. The honeycomb crust continues to increase, preserving its circular form and depressed center, till it occasion ally reaches a diameter of nearly half an inch. These crusts commonly appear in crops, and may he either distinct or confluent. "At a more advanced says Dr. Aitken, " the epidermis disappears, and a viscid fluid is secreted in such abundanee as to form one entire incrustation over the entire bead; hence the parrig0 larralis—mask or vizor like scald-head. The smell of the scab is peculiar, and has been compared to that of the
urine of a eat, or of a cage in which mice live been kept. It is probably due to a species of alcoholic fermentation in connection with the vegetable growth." The scab sometimes resembles a lupine, or a minute shield, rather than the cell of the honeycomb, and hence the varieties of scald-head which have been described under the name of porrigo lupinosa and porrigo scutalata.
The great point to be aimed at in the treatment of this affection is to destroy the cryptogamic parasite, and to eradicate its germ. For this purpose the head should be shaved, and poultices then applied till the scabs are removed. Ta•-ointment should then be applied. night and morning, the old ointment being washed off with soft soap water before the fresh dose is laid on. Dr. Aitken states, that in the early stage of the disease, in place of the preceding treatment, it is sometimes sufficient to cut the hair close, and to wash the affected parts, night and morning, with oil of turpentine. If the disease does not yield to these applications, the same treatment as that recommended for liDIGWORM must be tried.