Page:Archives of dermatology, vol 6.djvu/421

 AMERICAN DERMATOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. 409

Concerning the prevalence of syphilis and leprosy among the natives we are told that in the Society, Marquesas, Gilbert, Marshall, and Caroline Islands, venereal disease and leprosy exist to such an extent as to give the impression that the whole population is diseased, venereal disease at Tahiti being estimated at ninety-five per centum. A large proportion of the syphilis is hereditary, scarcely a native child being free from some trace of it, yet curiously enough these subjects generally attain an old age, while instances of extreme old age are not rare. The people of these islands, according to this writer, are the most licentious in the world. Leprosy is met with in both forms, and we are told is often found combined with sy])hilis. In the anaesthetic variety a symptom is described which is not usu- ally spoken of by authors, consisting of an irresistible and fixed turning inward and upward of the little fingers preceding anaesthesia. In the Society Islands and Pomoto group elephantiasis Arabum is of frequent occurrence, and is supposed to be contracted by sleep- ing on the moist ground. Tattooing, while common throughout all these groups, is prohibited in certain of the islands.

During this year the dermatological service at Charity Hospital, New York, was established, the first incumbents being Drs. Schifif, Keyes, and Piffard. A lectureship on skin diseases was also inau- gurated at the Rush Medical College, Dr. Hyde filling tiie position, which has since been occupied by Dr. L. W. Case. The South Side Dispensary of Chicago likewise established a department for skin diseases (in connection with the Chicago Medical College), in charge of Dr. H. P. Merriman, while the following year a like department was opened in the same city at the Central Free Dispensary, with Dr. W. J. Maynard as physician.

In this year the roll of American dermatologists sustained a signal loss in the death of Dr. Henry D. Bulkley, who for a period of nearly a half century was intimately identified with the interests of dermatology in New York City. Well known as a writer and as a lecturer on skin diseases, to which department of medicine he almost exclusively devoted himself, he was also eminently success- ful as a practical dermatologist. He was the American editor of Burgess's translation of Cazenave and Schedel's " manual of skin diseases," as well as of Gregory's "eruptive fevers." He occu- pied a high place in the profession, having held during the latter years of his life many positions of honor, among these the presi- dency of the New York Academy of Medicine, of the New York County Medical Society, and of the New York Dermatological So- ciety. His death, at the age of sixty-eight, was a loss which was deeply felt by all. He was universally esteemed and beloved.

In October, 1874, a second American journal devoted exclusively to the interests of dermatology was started, it having been, we believe, understood at the time that with the completion of the fifth volume of the American Journal of Syfhi'.ography and Dermatology its ])ublication would be suspended. The new journal, bearing the title Archives of Dermatology, under the editorship of Dr. L.