532 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



region, and croup some spots on the surface of which most of the 

 hairs were broken or swollen at about one centimetre from the root. 

 A microscopic examination showed a very marked fibrillar slitting. 

 Mégnin has mentioned a case almost similar.^ 



CUTANEOUS HEMORRHAGES. 



Hematidrosis: Hematopedesis. 



Etiolog-y. The etiology of numerous cases of hematidrosis re- 

 ported in our periodical publications is extremely obscure. They 

 have especially been observed in the horse and ox. Several of 

 these cases are very probably only symptomatic hemorrhages, 

 having occurred during the course of serious diseases, such as 

 petechial fever, anthrax, septicemia, and scorbutus. Others would 

 rather belong to the domain of acute exanthema, which are often 

 complicated by capillary ruptures. Excluding these cases, there 

 remains yet a whole category of particular hemorrhages of the 

 cutaneous derma having no relation at all with the secretion of 

 isudorific glands — as the improper denomination of " hematidrosis 

 imight induce us to believe ; these are simply hemorrhages by 

 7'hexis or by diapedesis. They are yet little known in their etiology 

 and pathology. They are, perhaps, due to a nutritive trouble of 

 the vascular walls. Cutaneous hemorrhages of the ox, especially, 

 belong to this group. 



1 Roy has described a similar variety of alopecia existing for five years on the 

 "horses of the Ninth Curassiers. It appears toward the end of the fall and disappears 

 in the spring at the time of shedding. At the beginning we observe on the croup 

 and loins lines or sinuous stripes, on the surface of which the hair is dull and erect; 

 they do not harmonize with the coat, because of their darker shade if the horse is 

 a, bay, black, or chestnut, and because of their lighter shade when the horse is a gray ; 

 they give the coat a zebra-like appearsnce. Later the hairs on these regions all break 

 ^t the same height, about one millimetre from the root; some bare spots are also 

 formed that one might think had been made with scissors. The diseased surfaces 

 hecome enlarged, the base of the broken hair falls out; the skin is smooth, white, not 

 inflamed, but covered with an abundant furfur. The disease gradually invades the 

 -other regions of the trunk; the legs are almost always preserved from the trouble; 

 itching is never observed. After having persisted for a month or six weeks it disap- 

 pears without leaving the slightest trace. 



We have observed the transmission of this disease by the intermediary of grooming 

 implements and blankets, and it has been communicated experimentally by rubbing 

 healthy horses with pellicles taken from an affected animal. Microscopic study of 

 the hair and the abnormal epidermic productions has not shown any cryptogamic 

 elements in it. — n. d. t. 



