The grouping of a number of cases into a disease entity under a name which is based on some single feature may lead to misunderstandings. No matter how unbiased the originator of such descriptions may be, there is always a tendency to force into the group subsequent cases that happen to present this particular feature, with an attempt to fit all other features into a common picture. One finds this state of affairs strikingly demonstrated in the case of the syndrome described as "status marmoratus" by C. and O. Vogt.1 Although a case showing all the characteristics of this group was reported by Anton2 in 1896, it was really not until fifteen years later that the Vogts1 described a number of cases, and in conjunction with Oppenheim established the clinical syndrome.
The most characteristic feature of this disease, and the one responsible for its designation, was that