SOFT SORE — RINGWORM 95 



beneath the prepuce, or into the urethra, and moved gently about 

 until the most tender spot is found. This should be scraped as 

 forcibly as the patient will allow, and the loop withdrawn, care 

 being taken that the mass of secretion is not wiped off in so doing. 

 Several films should then be made, the secretion being rubbed up 

 on the slide with a drop of water. They should be stained with 

 either of the stains mentioned above for five minutes or more : 

 it is an advantage to warm them gently. They are then rinsed 

 in water, dried and mounted, and examined thoroughly with an 

 oil-immersion lens. 



When buboes occur in the course of soft sore, the pus they 

 contain should be examined for this organism as soon as they are 

 opened ; the interest in this is chiefly scientific, for opinions are 

 divided as to whether they are caused by this germ or by pyogenic 

 bacteria. In three cases examined by the author it was found (in 

 very scanty numbers) on one occasion, staphylococci on another, 

 and no bacteria of any sort in the third. 



RINGWORM 



An examination of the hair and scales from the skin is of very 

 great value to the dermatologist. It settles conclusively the 

 question whether a patient is or is not suffering from ringworm, 

 and often gives important information as to prognosis, and may 

 enable us to say whether the disease has probably been derived 

 from a human source, or has been contracted from one of the 

 lower animals. 



Where the mere diagnosis of ringworm is in question, an 

 examination of the hair or scales after soaking in liquor potassse 

 is often sufficient. The materials are placed in a drop of the 

 solution on a slide, and covered with a cover-glass ; after a quarter 

 of an hour or so the specimen is carefully examined under the 

 microscope, using a ^-inch lens and a small diaphragm. The 

 spores appear as spherical or oval, highly refractile bodies, which 

 can hardly be mistaken for anything but fat globules. This 

 possible source of fallacy may be removed by soaking the hair 

 in ether before applying the liquor potassae. 



This is a rapid and simple method, but it does not enable us to 

 diagnose the nature of the fungus with certainty, except in very 

 typical cases, and when spores are scanty they are readily over- 

 looked. It is a very great advantage to employ some method of 



