338 PUBLIC HEALTH BACTERIOLOGY 



the person affected. The diagnosis is easily confirmed 

 by examining a scale in a drop of liquor potassas ; or the 

 scale may be teased out on a slide in a drop of absolute 

 alcohol, and then stained with eosin. The filaments 

 and the large round spores are readily seen. 



Microsporon minutissimum is a mould described as 

 the cause of dhobie's itch or erythrasma, which is a common 

 affection in the tropics. It is mainly seen in the axillae, 

 the scrotal region, the insides of the thighs, and the 

 submammary folds. Like the Microsporon furfur, it 

 lives a simple saprophytic existence in the epidermis, 

 causing reddish-brown patches with an abrupt edge. 

 When a scale is removed, washed with ether, teased out 

 in acetic acid, allowed to dry, washed with alcohol, and 

 stained with carbol-thionin, the fungi can be seen with 

 the microscope as slender sinuous filaments, formed of 

 short elements, very similar to bacilli, from destruction 

 of parts of the filaments, or non-staining of these parts. 



Sporotrichum Beurmanni is a mould composed of a 

 mycelium, the filaments of which branch in all directions. 

 The hyphae are i to 2 micra thick, and at the ends of these 

 oval spores are formed (3 to 5 micra by 1*5 to 3), singly or 

 in grape-like clusters. Spores are also formed around the 

 main filaments, or apparently so. The full life-cycle of the 

 sporotrichon has not yet been worked out, and its exact 

 classification is still a matter of doubt. It was first isolated 

 by Schenk in 1898 from refractory subcutaneous abscesses 

 in man. De Beurmann and Ramond rediscovered it in 

 granulomata in the skin in 1903. Since then numerous 

 cases have been reported in France, and lately two cases 

 have been reported in this country (Ofenhein, Lancet, 

 191 1, Vol. 1, page 659 ; and Norman Walker and James 

 Ritchie, British Medical Journal, 1911, Vol. 2, pages 1-5. 

 The latter article is accompanied by a special coloured 

 plate and a short bibliography). 



Sporotrichosis is a disease characterized by cutaneous 

 and subcutaneous tumours, firm and indolent. These may 

 ulcerate and discharge a viscid homogeneous pus of a 

 yellowish-grey colour. The tumours have been in the past 

 mistaken for those due to syphilis and tuberculosis, and pot- 

 assium iodide and tuberculin injections or other treatment 



