GANGRENOUS DERMATITIS. 



527 



still persists, although it is almost half a century since Haubner 

 described urticaria as a pathological entity. 



It differs from hog cholera and pneumo-enteritis by the following 

 characters : 



1. Urticaria is accompanied by blotches, circumscribed cutaneous 

 prominences, which are generally localized upon the upper regions 

 of the body, while hog cholera and pneumo-enteritis produce a 

 diffuse redness of the skin, which is often limited to the lower 

 parts of the body. 



2. It is a disease of little gravity. Hog cholera and pneumo- 

 enteritis, on the contrary, are infectious diseases w^hich produce 

 death in a relatively short time (one to three days). 



3. It is sporadic, and is marked by non-alarming symptoms, and 

 the febrile reaction produced by it is always light. 



Treatment. Benign cases do not require any treatment ; it will 

 be sufficient to regulate the diet. In the serious form the treatment 

 ought to be symptomatic : clysters, suppositories, medium doses of 

 calomel (2 to 4 grammes). Haubner recommends nitrate of potash 

 associated with sulphate of soda (nitrate of potash, 5 grammes ;. 

 sulphate of soda, 50 grammes — in a honey electuary). Cold-water 

 irrigations are sometimes useful in order to reduce the inflamma- 

 tion of the skin. 



GANGRENOUS DERMATITIS. 



White Spotted Gangrrene : Gangrenous Leg" Grease.* 



Etiology. Gangrenous dermatitis is most usually observed on 

 piebald animals and on regions of the integument which are de- 

 prived of pigment ; it exists sometimes in an enzootic state. The 

 sphacela of the extremities which occurs in chronic ergotism has 

 nothing in common with it. 



The action of an ardent sun and hot, drying wind (Weber, 

 Bonnaud) should be considered in some cases as a direct cause of 

 gangrenous dermatitis (solar gangrene) ; this latter is really but an 



1 The expressions gangrenous dermatitis and white spotted gangrene (balzanes) well 

 characterize the disease, but practitioners will undoubtedly find that the term gan- 

 grenous grease {eaux aux jambes sales) has the disadvantage of establishing a closer 

 relationship between two very dissimilar diseases from a clinical and anatomo- 

 pathological standpoint. — n. d. t. 



