Page:Archives of dermatology, vol 6.djvu/349



BY medicinal eruptions are to be understood only such affections of the skin as are brought about by the ingestion of drugs and their absorption into the general system.

The fact that certain medicines, administered internally, may in particular individuals give rise to eruptions upon the skin has long been known, and in the case of some few drugs these eruptions are recognized, in some of their forms at least, by most practising physicians. It is not so generally known, however, nor has the fact been appreciated at all until within recent years, that a considerable number of drugs not previously suspected of possessing any such peculiarity have the power to give rise to eruptions of various kinds, and occasionally of a severe and even dangerous character.

But of late years a large number of scattered cases of medicinal eruptions have been published in the medical journals, and within the past twelvemonth several able monographs have been put forth, as those of Behrend,f Morrow,]; and Duffy, § each dealing in a com- prehensive manner with the eruptions due to certain drugs, and show- ing by their numerous references to recent papers the amount of attention this subject is receiving. ||

In the present paper I have endeavored to collect and collate all the more important among the recorded cases, arranging them first

August 31, 1880. For discussion, see page 427. f Zur Allg. Diagnoslik der Arznei Ausschlkge. Berlin. Klin. Wochens., v. xvi., 1879, p. 714. t On Drug Exanthemata, etc. New York Med. Jour., v. xxxi., 1 880, p. 244. i Iodic purpura. Dulilin Jour. Med. Sci., vol. Ixix. p. 273. 11 Out of about one hundred and sixty papers, references to which I have been able to collect, one imndred and thirty have been written within the last ten ye^rs and one hundred and three in the last five. 23 337
 * Read before the American Dermafological Association, Newport, R. I.,