8 
willing to return. The matter does not appear to have been further 
investigated. 
In 1901 Jay F. Schamberg, M. D., of Philadelphia,” published a short 
paper calling attention to and describing “ An Epidemic of a Peculiar 
and Unfamiliar Disease of the Skin.’’ In this paper Doctor Scham- 
Fic. 4.—Lesions caused by bites of the mite Pediculoides ventricosus. 
In this case the eruptions are excessively large, blister-like, and 
sparsely placed over the body including the neck, while there are 
none upon the arms. 
berg, who, besides be- 
ing a practicing physi- 
cian, is professor of 
dermatology and infec- 
tious eruptive diseases 
in the Philadelphia 
Polyclinic, described a 
number of cases that 
had been treated by 
him a few weeks prior 
to the publication of 
his paper. The erup- 
tion and its effect on 
the patient were briefly 
described and illus- 
trated, but the causes 
instrumental in bring- 
ing about these attacks 
were still unknown to 
him; and, as several 
members of the same 
household were com- 
monly affected, the dis- 
ease was considered 
likely to prove conta- 
gious. The dermati- 
tis, however, was not 
lost sight of, and ina 
paper contributed to 
the Public Health Re- 
ports Dr. Joseph Gold- 
berger, passed assistant 
surgeon of the United 
States Public Health 
and Marine-Hospital Service, in cooperation with Doctor Schamberg,’ 
published the first exact information we have relative to the cause 
of these epidemics. This paper, so far as known to the writer, is the 
aPhila. Medical Journal for July 6, 1901. 
b Public Health Reports, vol. 24, No, 28, July 9, 1909. 
[Cir. 118] 
