474 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
they may remain stationary for some weeks. One excrescence 
in each group is generally larger than the rest, and is called 
the “mother” or head yaw. The disease runs a definite 
course, exactly like the exanthematous eruptions. When 
the ulcerations heal they leave a pigmented stain, but the 
“mother” yaw leaves a large scar. 
Treatment.—The preventive treatment is cleanliness, good 
diet, and the avoidance of contact with persons suffering 
from the disease or with their clothing. 
The general treatment must be guided by the symptoms 
present, as the disease cannot be abbreviated. Full animal 
diet should be given, and perfect cleanliness enjoined, with 
exercise and plenty of fresh air. Tonics and alteratives are 
required from the first ; arsenic is extremely useful, so are the 
mineral acids, sarsaparilla, and bark. Iodide of potassium 
also is given, in combination with liquor arsenicalis and 
alkalis, and is exceedingly useful when the ulcers are 
indisposed to heal. 
With regard to local applications, carbolic acid solutions, or 
dilute nitrate of mercury ointment, or creosote in the strength 
of 1 dr. to 1 oz. of lanoline, should be employed. Authorities 
differ as to the administration of mercury in this disease; it 
should at any rate be avoided in debilitated subjects. 
Elephantiasis Arabum. 
This is a chronic disease, which may be said to be 
characterised by an enormous hypertrophy of the skin and 
subcutaneous tissue, caused by recurrent inflammation of the 
vessels and lymphaties in the part affected. It is unnecessary 
to refer at any great length to this disease, because it is very 
rarely that white residents in Africa are affected by it. 
Various parts of the body are attacked—the legs, scrotum, 
pudendum, abdomen, and breasts; most chiefly, however, it 
is found affecting either the legs or the scrotum. Males are’ 
.most frequently attacked at about the age of puberty. It is 
non-contagious ; it is not hereditary ; its cause is unknown. 
The treatment, when the disease has once become manifest, 
is removal from the area in which it was contracted. It was 
