DISEASES OF CATS 121 



piece to the size of a quarter-dollar. Some- 

 times the various spots run into each other 

 and form irregular-shaped spots, the edges of 

 which, however, always assume the rounded 

 form. In these spots the hairs are broken off, 

 leaving little bristling points only protruding 

 from the roots. The surface of the skin itself 

 is covered by a furfuraceous scab, which, if 

 peeled or rubbed off, shows a slight exudation 

 below. If not attended to, the disease keeps 

 spreading to new parts of the body as fast as 

 the older spots heal. Ringworm is due to a 

 vegetable parasite known as Trichophyton ton- 

 surans. The cat is probably one of the most 

 common sources of the propagation of this 

 disease to the human being, especially children. 

 The cat in turn probably, in the majority of 

 cases, contracts the disease, not from others of 

 its own kind, but from sewer-rats which are 

 caught as prey. 



Some years ago, while I had charge of the 

 dispensary of the Children's Hospital at Phila- 

 delphia, I collected a large number of statistics 

 in regard to the children who came to the hos- 

 pital with ringworm. They, of course, repre- 



