430 BLASTOMYCOTIC DERMATITIS IN MAN 



A TORULA AS THE CAUSE OF A TUMOR IN A HORSE. 



Frothingham has described a tumor-like lesion in the lung of a 

 horse caused by a blastomyces. It was situated in the posterior 

 portion of the caudal lobe of the right lung, and was about again as 

 large as a human head. In smears and sections a great number of 

 blastomycetes were seen. These were obtained in pure cultures on 

 potatoes and other media. On gelatin plates the organism formed, in 

 five to seven days, white, elevated, pinhead colonies. On potatoes 

 the growth was at first white, soon becoming a dirty gray, and after 

 a few days gradually taking on a chocolate-brown color. In old 

 cultures the growth upon the less nutritive portions of the medium 

 becomes white and dry, and resembles lime deposits. The color 

 varies quite widely; sometimes it remains a lighter or darker yellow, 

 at other times it assumes the deep brown color almost immediately. 

 The organisms are slightly oval and vary greatly in size. The young 

 forms are surrounded by a delicate membrane which in older forms 

 becomes much thicker. The cells in cultures are sometimes included 

 in a gelatinous matrix. As the organism during a long observation, 

 did not produce spores nor ferment dextrose, lactose, or saccharose, 

 it was classified as a torula. 



FIG. 176 



Section through the skin in a case of blastomycotic dermatitis in man, showing small abscess 

 cavity in the epithelial layers, near the centre a budding parasite. X 1000. (Author's prepar- 

 ation.) 



BLASTOMYCOTIC DERMATITIS IN MAN. 



A disease of man, particularly observed in the United States, and 

 known as blastomycotic dermatitis or cutaneous blastomycosis, is 

 due to an organism or a variety of organisms of the type under dis- 

 cussion. Cases of this kind have been reported by Gilchrist, Hektoen, 



