402 DISSERTATION OX THE YAWS. 



termined. If with such suspicious appearance of sores, 

 the Negro has frequented the company of the infected, and 

 has for some weeks had pains in his joints and limbs, resem- 

 bling rheumatism, the eruption of the yaws will sooner or 

 later take place, according to the habit of body. In some 

 cases the eruptive fever is pretty smart, but in others scarcely 

 discernible, or at least so trifling as not to be taken into ac- 

 count. 



The eruptions are at first about the size of a pin-head, and 

 scarcely rise above the level of the skin, but they soon encrease 

 and become protuberant like pimples. In some time after 

 this the cuticle falls off, leaving the parts covered with white 

 sordes or sloughs ; under which are small red fungi, or ex- 

 crescences growing out of the skin, and daily increasing to 

 different sizes,, some not larger than the smallest wood-straw- 

 berry, others as big as a mulberry. They appear indifferent- 

 ly on all parts of the body, but mostly on the face, the arm- 

 pits, the groin, the private parts, and perinaeum. The 

 size of these fungi, as well as their number, depend on the 

 state of the patient's health, and habit of body. A healthy 

 strong person will have few, but of a large size ; whilst those 

 of a thin or reduced habit, will have a vast number of small 

 eruptions, which scarcely exceed the size of millet. In 

 healthy subjects the disorder will arrive at its height in a 

 month's time ; in those that are sickly, not sooner than three 

 or four months. At length the yaws decline, a yellow scab 

 is formed, which falls off in a week or two, and leaves the skin 

 smooth, and in general without pits. One or two of these 

 fungi, however, increase to a greater size ; they continue some 

 time after the others, and are called the master yenv^ leaving 

 a scar behind them. 



In the mean time the patient loses neither his appetite, his 

 flesh, nor his strength. He suffers no pain or uneasiness, ex- 

 cept from the nastiness of the disease, and a little soreness 

 when the excrescences arc rubbed or pre 



