2i6o 



DERMATITIS VENENATA 



with itching, gx/es rise to papules, vesicles, and oozing-points on the 

 inoculated limb, which in due course becomes brawny and pits on 

 pressure. In a little time the swelling spreads to the eyelids and 

 face, ears, lips, and nose, and great discomfort is experienced. In a 

 few days a nasal catarrh and a laryngeal cough appear. This cough 

 is of an explosive nature, as though a hair had become lodged in the 

 throat, and although the secretion at iirst is slight, later it becomes 

 more abundant. The experimental illness lasted about forty days. 

 Another application of the active principle produced a relapse in 

 forty minutes. 



In the ordinary way the first attack is of slow development, the 

 symptoms appearing some six weeks after the first handling of the 

 wood, but a relapse is of rapid development. 



The illness begins with the development of an acute inflammation 

 of the skin of the hands, wrists, face, and neck, producing an appear- 

 ance somewhat resembling erysipelas, but without fever or con- 

 comitant sickness. The inflamed surfaces discharge, dry, and 

 finally desquamate. The most suitable treatment, according to 

 Cash, is to apply the unguentum glycerinis plumbi subacetates 

 of the British Pharmacopoeia every four hours, to administer 

 bromides to allay the irritation, and opium to relieve the laryngeal 

 cough. 



Other woods with similar properties are ebony [Diospyrus 

 ebenum Kon), found in Ceylon and India originally, and rosewood 

 {Dalbergia latifolia Roxburg), found in India. 



Andira araroba Aguiar (Leguminosae) , the Goa powder tree of 

 Brazil, produces an irritating dust when the wood is cut or sawn, so 

 t%at workmen have to protect their faces. 



V. THE RUE GROUP. 



Haplophyllum Dermatitis.— This has been described by 

 Chalmers and Pekkola as occurring in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 

 It is caused by a rue named Haplophyllum tuberculatum (Forskal, 

 1775), synonym Ruta tuberculata (Fig. 850), which was proved to be 

 the causal agent by producing the dermatitis in the susceptible 

 person by bringing him experimentally into contact with the plant 

 for a few seconds some time after he had been cured of the original 

 attack. At the time of the experiment the person in question was 

 staying in a place far distant from the area where the plant grew, 

 from which it had to be fetched for purposes of the experiment. The 

 experimental eruption (Fig. 851) appeared in about eighteen hours 

 after rubbing the forearm for a few seconds with the leaves and 

 flowers, which were partially dry after their long journey. The 

 plant pnly affects susceptible people. 



In the original attack the incubation period was thirty hours, and 

 began as small red papules on the hands, feet, and legs, which 

 became swollen, red, and itching, and were associated with headache 

 and pain in the epigastric region, but no fever. The lips, lobules 



