ERYTHEMA MEDICAMENTOSUM.—The lesions produced by drugs internally ad ministered upon the skin are manifold in character and may at times resemble many other diseases of the skin, but the fact that one of a series of eruption-pro ducing drugs—such as the coal-tar derivatives, antipyrine, antifebrin, ph e nacetin, and others—as salicylic acid, quinine, and iodine—have been ingested will generally lead to a correct solution of the difficulty. (See DERMATITIS and the various drugs named.) Number of cases observed in which an erythema of the face was developed from nasal insufflations of salol. Cartaz (Med. Bulletin, Aug., '91).
Case of facial erythema in a woman suffering from hypertrophic rhinitis fol lowing influenza, due to cocaine applied to the nasal mucous membrane. Castex (Le Bull. MM., May 24, '93).
Antipyrine in some persons provokes eruptions differing widely from the aver age type of drug eruptions. They begin by a sensation of pruritus, to winch suc ceeds an inflammatory mdematous tume faction. The usual localities of such eruptions are at the union of the skin and a mucous membrane. The fingers and the scrotum may be secondarily affected. Congestive mdema may be the only manifestation, but usually vesicles are formed. They burst rapidly on mu cous membranes, slowly on the penis, and often not at all on the skin, where recovery occurs by drying up and des quamation, while in the mouth they give rise to ulcers covered with a fibrinous deposit. They cause no cicatrices and rarely any pigmentation. The affection lasts from two to three weeks. Martin Brasch (Therap. Monats., Nov., Dec., '94).
Attention called to the indelible pig mented patches following antipyrine ery thema. The pruritus is intense, the patches discrete and non-symmetrical, attacking the places where the clothes. press the skin. The form is oval, with-.
the long axis placed transversely. In the beginning the appearance is ery sipelatous, changing to vesicular; then desquamative, when it becomes blackish; at last it becomes fawn-colored and re mains so. Morel-Lavallee (Le Bull. Med., vol. i, p. 392, '95).
Several obscure cases of erythema in women. It began with tickling and pain in the skin; the hands were red on the dorsal surface and between the fingers. In severe cases the skin was considerably swelled and bullce appeared. On the palpebra the erythema was quite ery sipelatons, and ptosis often observed; a lamellous desquamation followed usu ally. The cause of the disease was found to be the Primula acaulis (common primrose), to which these women ap peared very sensitive. In all the cases of erythema the primroses were kept in the rooms, and after removal of the plants the eruption disappeared. Ac tandor (Hospitalstidende, '97).
A veil drawn tightly compresses the nose and a portion of each cheek, dis turbing the circulation and leading, pos sibly, to permanent dilatation of the ves sels and consequent disfiguring redness, the area of which resembles a butterfly in shape, betraying its mechanical ori gin. O. Rosenbach (Berliner klin. Woch., Oct. 9 and 15, '99).
Case of a man of 37, who had taken moderate doses of Fowler's solution for furunculosis during almost six weeks, when an eruption appeared on his hands, feet, thighs, and scrotum. Large bulke formed upon an erythema, and crusts were noted upon the scrotum. Besides, there were marked symp toms, all of which gradually disappeared during the two weeks following the cessation of the arsenic. This is the first reported ease of a bullous eruption due to arsenic. Neumann (1Virner Wochen., Nov. 21, MI).