A Case of Pseudo-lupus Vulgaris Caused by a Blasto}iyces

Within the last three years a number of impQrtant communications have appeared concerning pathogenic yeasts. ]~efore this period it was generally believed that among the yeast plants there existed none pathogenic for man or animals. The experiments of Bernard, Grohe, Popoff, Falk, and the more recent ones of ~eumayer and of :Raum, furnished no satisfactory evidence in favor of the possession of infectious properties by the blastomycetes. In August, 1894, Busse * published a brief report, followed in April, 1895, by a fuller account of a case interpreted by him as one of chronic py~emia, in which he found in tissue removed during life and in diseased loci after death, numerous parasitic bodies which he proved to be yeast fungi. These he isolated in pure culture and inoculated successfully into animals. He designated the disease produced by this parasite in man as saccharomycosis hominis. In May, 1894, three months before Busse's iirst publication, one of us (Gilchrist) exhibited and described before the American Dermatological Association in 'Washington, microscopical sections from a case of cutaneous disease in Philadelphia under the care o~ Dr. Duhring, who had excised and sent a piece for microscopical examination. Peculiar parasitic bodies, which were interpreted as plant rather than animal forms, were observed and described. After the appearance of Busse's paper these bodies were recognized as forms of blastomycetes. This case has been fully described and illustrated by Gilchrist under the title of " A Case of :Blastomycetic Dermatitis in -~-Y[an."