360 MEDICAL MYCOLOGY 



Cryptococcus capillitii Vuillemin. 



Cryptococcus Malassezii Benedek, Centralbl. Bakt. I, 116: 47-67, 1930. 



Torulopsis ovalis Almeida, Annaes Fac. Med. Sao Paulo 9: 10, 1933. 



f Pityrosporum Cantliei Castellani & Chalmers, Man. Trop. Med. ed. 2 

 837, 1913. 



Saccharomyces Cantliei Castellani, 1908. 



Originally described by Malassez from the superficial homy layer and the 

 mouths of the hair follicle in pityriasis sicca of the scalp, afterward reported 

 from seborrhea capillitii. First named by Bizzozero, who also reported it from 

 the heads of normal persons along- with his Saccharomyces sphericus. Later it 

 was confused with spores of various dennatophytes seen in scrapings [for care- 

 ful review of this literature see Kraus 1913]. Unna (1891) claimed that the 

 structures reported by earlier workers were swollen remains of a bacillus, which 

 he referred to as the Flaschenbacillus, and which he described as follows: cells 

 short cylindiic, 1 x 2/a, either swelling to spherical cells, 2-3 times normal, or 

 becoming flask-shaped, rarely pyriform or the shape of a dumb-bell, or even 

 elongating to 2-3 times normal length, 1.5-3 x 2-4/^. Hoorn recognized P. 

 sphaericum as a slowly growing white yeast similar to Pekelliaring's Saccharo- 

 myces capillitii and S. ovale as a large flask-shaped bacillus with swollen forms. 

 He also regularly isolated a small bacillus from seborrhea. Lomery returned to 

 the hypothesis that it was a yeast and not a bacillus, and Tieche found these 

 organisms in only 2 out of 50 eases of seborrhea. 



Hodara apparently first succeeded in cultivating the organism but, as has 

 been the experience of most subsequent workers, it died on attempted sub- 

 culture. Acton and Panja are apparently the next ones who were successful 

 with this organism. The following accounts of the organism, as well as of 

 pityriasis and seborrhea, are largely taken from their paper. 



Both the terms "pityriasis" and "seborrhea" have been used in different 

 senses. In the original use, pityriasis was applied by Willans to the delicate 

 pellucid scaling of the epidermis, without obvious signs of inflammation, of 

 which dandruff is the most characteristic. This term has been variously ex- 

 tended by later authors to include scaling of wholly different origin, such as 

 pityriasis rosea, etc. Seborrhea was originally used to designate an excessive 

 flow of sebum, considered to be due to any functional disturbance of the 

 sebaceous glands, without thought of disease. Hebra introduced confusion by 

 teaching that the scales of pityriasis were dried flakes of sebum. When the 

 flow is excessive, the flakes are oily, when normal, the flakes are dry. Since 

 there, are no sebaceous glands on the palmar and plantar surfaces, although 

 they are often oily, Unna concluded that the oil was produced in the sweat 

 glands. The French school, under the leadership of Sabouraud, advocated the 

 theory that seborrhea was a mild local inflammation of microbic origin. 

 Sabouraud recognized the yeast of Malassez and a gray coccus (morococcus) , 

 which Acton and Panja have since shown to be different stages of the same 

 organism. Sabouraud also recognized the acne bacillus as a complication in 



