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In an extensive dispensary practice, scabies is so commonly observed that it is passed over lightly; the diagnosis is made at a glance, in a nonchalant manner, and the patient is given an order for sulphur ointment with the usual printed directions. The old adage, "Familiarity breeds contempt," can never be more fittingly applied than to the manner in which patients with this disease are usually treated. Apparently, physicians are too sure of their immunity to it and of the absolute correctness of their diagnosis. Observation of a small epidemic in a hospital of which I am a consultant proved to me that scabies can be atypical and almost as quickly contracted as an exanthem.
Some time ago I was called to a maternity ward to see five babies, varying in age from 5 to 10 days, who had contracted an eruption almost simultaneously. They were completely stripped and, on