448 



INFECTIVE DISEASES. 



wounds, sores and pricks of thorns, and that the points of the 

 thorns of the Acacia Arabica have been found embedded in the 

 diseased parts. The disease is common among the agricultural 

 class, and in 90 per cent, of the cases observed in the Hyderabad 

 Civil Hospital it occurred in the hands and feet. 



Vandyke Carter was the first to point out the resemblance to 

 actinomycosis, and he believed that the two varieties of the disease, 

 the black and the white, were the result of the growth of a mycelial 

 fungus, Chionyphe Carteri. 



Kanthack pointed out, that if portions of the growth were 

 placed in ether or chloroform, and afterwards well washed in 



FIG. 183. PART OF HUMAN FOOT WITH MADURA DISEASE. 



caustic potash, small rounded bodies were left, which showed rays 

 under the microscope closely resembling the appearances in actino- 

 mycosis, and that the reaction of the fungus to staining reagents 

 was identical with actinomyces. Hewlett examined sections from 

 the disease in the foot, and also found filaments and clubs. 

 Boyce and Surveyor examined a number of cases, and care- 

 fully studied the fungus in the black and white varieties of 

 the disease. In the black variety the particles were found to 

 vary greatly in size, from that of a grain of gunpowder to that 

 of a marble. If the particles were boiled for from a few minutes 

 to one hour in concentrated caustic potash, and then transferred 

 to distilled water, the brown colouring matter was removed and a 



