474 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
Diseases of the Skin due to Vegetable Parasites. 
Very prevalent. Due to heat, moisture, habits of people, racial proclivities, etc. 
(i) Tropical Ringworm. —Due to a fungus. Found on the body. It may, in the 
case of a native, extend over the whole body. Seen on the body, on the head, and 
on the hands. I have never seen a case of Guinea-worm. 
Keloid. —Is very common. The tissues of the negro seem to have a tendency 
to take on a keloid (or, as some call it, a false keloid) growth. That is to say, 
cicatricial tissue grows large. If a native gets a cut, it becomes like a tumour or a new 
growth. If he has been vaccinated, the mark rises up like a two-shilling piece. If he 
tatoos himself, the surface becomes a series of little growths protruding above the 
general level of the skin. 
Leucoderma is an extremely interesting form of disease that is found at the north. 
It consists of the hands being white, or covered with great patches of white. The lips 
may be white also, so too may the feet, and there may be white patches on the breast. 
The natives say it is due to their eating a certain kind of fish. They say many people 
can eat the fish with impunity, but that if others eat they are seized with this disease. 
Cancer is not very common. Shortly before I left for home a woman came into 
my dispensary with cancer of the left breast. She had come from beyond Lake Mweru 
—450 miles. 
GENERAL DISEASES. 
Rheumatic Fever.—Is very common. Many of their joints are affected by this 
disease. 
Chronic Articular Rheumatism. 
Gonorrhceal Arthritis. —This is a form of Synovitis which cccurs as a sequel to 
Gonorrhoea. I have seen it several times in Mlozi’s Village. 
Sunstroke.— Have seen it in certain forms amongst natives. Have also seen it 
once in its worst form in one European, when the subject was unconscious for nine days. 
SPECIFIC DISEASES. 
Small Pox.—A specific, contagious, eruptive fever. Is endemic in some localities. 
Whooping Cough.— This is not very prevalent, but I have sometimes had children 
with cases at my dispensary. 
Malarial Fevers. —Most prevalent. All natives suffer. I divide them thus :— 
I. Forms of Malarial Fever without marked fever or Apyrexial Forms. 
(1) Malarial Diarrhoea. 
(2) Malarial Dysentery. Not responsive to Ipecacuanha, but to Quinine and 
Perchloride of Iron. 
(3) Malarial Ulcers may be in crops of pimples, or one sore the size of a shilling, 
or a large sore like the palm of the hand. 
When the sufferer has a sore he has no fever, and vice versa. 
(4) Malarial paleness or cachexia. 
(5) Malarial Headaches, Neuralgias, and other nervous disorders. 
II. Intermittent Forms. Forms which relax at intervals. 
(1) Intermittent, with Delirium. 
(2) ,, ,, Convulsions. 
(3) ,, „ Complete Insensibility. 
(4) ,, ,, Excessive Shivering. 
(5) ,, ,, Biliousness. 
(6) ,, „ Dysentery. 
