2 STUDIES ON ACAKl. 



specimens in a case of lichen spinulosus. Bemodex has also been thought 

 to set up inflammation of the eyelids [Blepharitis), and it should be 

 noted that these mites are frequently found in this position. Herman 

 Lawrence has encountered numerous instances of an impetiginous 

 eruption in human beings in Australia. "These cases have occurred in 

 adults and resemble an impetigo contagiosa, but there would seem to 

 be some difference from that affection. The lesions have a greater 

 tendency to form rings, and the border of the skin is more definitely 

 raised than in ordinary impetigo contagiosa. The pustulation is not 

 so severe as in impetigo, nor do these cases respond so rapidly to the 

 usual simple antiparasitic remedies as might be expected. Some 

 patients have thought that the eruptions have followed upon shaving, 

 but the lesions may be situated away from the hairy region, and be 

 found on the forehead, neck, or on the nose. The feature common 

 to all these cases is the extraordinary number of Bemodex folliculorum 

 which are demonstrable in the most simple scraping from the skin." 

 According to Mr. Lawrence, the clinical picture has become so familiar 

 to him that he is generally able to predict that great numbers of the 

 Bemodex will be found in a case. He found it best to treat lesions in 

 which mites of the genus Bemodex were present in great numbers 

 by painting them with tincture of iodine after rubbing the part 

 affected with a salicylic and boracic ether lotion. My brother. 

 Captain L. F. Hirst, bacteriologist to a General Military Hospital at 

 Alexandria in Egypt, found numerous specimens of Bemodex in a scalp 

 disease simulating alopecia areata. According to Borrel and others, 

 Bemodex is especially abundant in cancerous lesions, and he also 

 suggests that the germs of leprosy may perhaps be carried from a 

 person suffering from this disease to a healthy individual. 



Domenico Majocchi has written' several important and well illus- 

 trated papers on Bemodex. He draws attention to the presence of 

 mites of this genus in the meibomian and ciliary glands of man and 

 several other mammals. In another paper this author points out the 

 occurrence of B. folliculorum in certain rare skin-diseases, including 

 a maculose skin complaint, also seborrhcea, blepharitis, etc. The possi- 

 bility of the transmission of the bacillus of leprosy by Bemodex is also 

 discussed by Majocchi. Lefebre states, however, that the idea that 

 Bemodex is an active propagator of leprosy must be abandoned. It 

 should be borne in mind that parasites of all kinds are more numerous 

 in sickly persons and animals, but this does not necessarily imply that 

 they are the cause of the disease from which they are suffering. 



