434 MEDICAL MYCOLOGY 



(^1928) and a revision of Ota & Langeron by Langeron & Milochevitch (1930), 

 reviving the use of media containing carbohydrates of high molecular weight 

 (Noyes 1891). None of these classifications is altogether satisfactory. That 

 of Sabouraud is the most useful for the dermatologist but suffers in the details 

 of descriptions by his use of impure samples of glucose and maltose and of 

 peptone of unknown composition for his culture media, although more or less 

 satisfactory substitutes have been proposed. That of Grigorakis, aside from 

 its completely untenable nomenclature, is based in part on a premise [sug- 

 gested by Sabouraud (1910) for a few species] that some of the species of 

 Sabouraud are degeneration stages in the life cycle of other species. He 

 furnishes little experimental evidence in support of this hypothesis, although 

 some suggestive data have been reported by subsequent authors. (See p. 457.) 



The systems of Langeron and his coworkers are untenable, partly on 

 account of the nomenclature used and partly because of the almost total dis- 

 regard of physiologic and morphogenetic characters. In the present state of 

 our knowledge, it seems better to continue the traditional classification of 

 Sabouraud based upon forty years of continuous use by many workers, modify- 

 ing it as may be needful for individual species, and bearing in mind that the 

 clinical characters should not be used to the exclusion of the morphologic, 

 morphogenetic, and physiologic. Much nomenclatorial instability results from 

 the arbitrary consideration of certain characters to the exclusion of a con- 

 sideration of the organism as a whole. The polemics of the last few years in 

 the three-cornered controversy of Sabouraud, Langeron and Grigorakis might 

 have been avoided had some of the writers considered judiciously all the 

 knowledge available regarding each organism and not emphasized isolated 

 facts which fitted or failed to fit certain more or less, theoretical considerations. 



Since clinical data are so frequently used in the study of this group, a 

 brief account of the various types of lesions will be given for the benefit of 

 the botanist who may have no background for the proper appreciation of 

 their importance. The account is abridged largely from Sabouraud 's classic 

 work (1910) to which the reader is referred for an exhaustive historical ac- 

 count and for further details. In this connection, the reader who wishes to 

 bring his knowledge up to date will find useful the series of articles by 

 Sabouraud (1928, 1929, 1932) which contain many additions and corrections 

 to his earlier work. 



Most of the lesions are approximately circular in outline since growth 

 from the inoculum is equally rapid in all directions, a phenomenon essentially 

 the same as that which produces fairy rings in mushrooms. Because of this 

 character, the ancient Greeks named the disease herpes — a name which has 

 persisted to our day. In order to distinguish herpes of fungus origin from 

 herpes fehrilis and herpes zoster, it is usually referred to as herpes circinahis, 

 herpes tonsurans, or lierpes desquamans. Similarly, the Romans linked these 

 diseases with those caused by lice and applied the name tinea, Avhieh originally 



