On Some Affections of the Skin Occurring in Pregnant and Puerperal Women

early they were noticed and referred to their true origin. It is true that some gynaecologists have considered the chloasma identical with pityriasis versicolor ; but this error is too striking, and the distinction between the two affections is too easily and too generally acknowledged, to render it neecssary to dwell upon their differential symptoms. My object is to draw attention to some other affections of the general surface, which are for the mo3t part met with during the early months of pregnancy, and either disappear during the later months prior to delivery, or only terminate during the puerperal period. First among these may be mentioned inflammation of the hair-follicles and of the sebaceous glands, which are found in the form of acne (varus folliculitis) on the forehead, the nose, or the chin, sometimes corresponding to acne rosacea, and at others to acne vulgaris disseminata. I have seen women whose faces had been without a blemish, have them covered during pregnancy with comedones that later become converted into knots of acne and pustules, and which, in spite of all remedies that can be resorted to, keep recurring until after delivery. In others there is a vivid and persistent redness of the nose, which becomes covered by painful pustules. Some women, also, who had hitherto enjoyed excellent health, become the subjects of eczema a few days after conception has taken place. A very intelligent woman, who had borne seven children, informed me that she had suffered from eczema of her hands in each pregnancy, and that on her third concept?,;*n she was made aware that a fertile coition had taken place b v the itching of her fingers and the production of vesicles. The itching alone, without any efflorescence, and therefore coming under the general denomination of pruritus eutaneus, is a frequent attendant on pregnancy. The wife of a colleague, vt&J has been five times pregnant, has suffered so severely from violent itching during the first five months on each occasion, that her rest at night has been disturbed, her mind kept in constant irritation, and her nutrition impaired, while her skin has presented a scratched appearance, usually only seen in