The Etiology of Eczema

Abstract

It has been the custom of the Chicago Dermatological Society to penalize the retiring president to the extent that his "swan song" shall consist of a paper on some subject of dermatologic interest. Conforming to that custom, I offer the following remarks on the etiology of eczema. It might be well here to ask the indulgence of the Society and its friends for taking up their time with a discussion on such a commonplace subject. My only excuse for so doing is that since the selection of the subject is left to the victim I can say that I know of no other dermatosis that plays such a large part in the life of the dermatologist nor one an adequate explanation of which would have a greater influence on his conceptions of many cutaneous diseases.With the controversy over the relative merits of the terms dermatitis and eczema I shall have nothing to do. In my mind that question will be settled when we find the etiology of the latter.The various theories as to the causation of eczema may grossly be divided into three classes : external irritation, bacterial irritation, and This paper, published posthumously under an improvised title, is a fragment which I believe all who cherish the memory of Frederick G. Harris will be glad to see in print. The address was delivered in January, 1916, as that of the retiring president of the Chicago Dermatological Association. I was so much impressed with the point of view of the thesis itself and with the originality of approach and the promise of the experimental work that I repeatedly urged publication on its author while he lived, and after his untimely passing, could not rest content until I had, through Mrs. Harris' cooperation, unearthed the manuscript. The bibliography alone, of which unhappily only a remnant was found, represents, so Mrs. Harris informs me, many months of intensive reading. No evidence of any collaborative assistance could be found in the available papers. My personal hand in the matter extends to the improvising of a title, the checking of as many bibliographic references as possible, the correction of a few obvious stenographic errors in what must have been a first draft, the interchanging of one or two paragraphs, the insertion of subtitles, and the summarizing of one chart (b-imidazolethylamin determinations).