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The address of Dr. Wile, Chairman of the Section on Dermatology and Syphilology of the American Medical Association (The Perpetuation of Error in Dermatology, J. A. M. A. 91:219 [July 28] 1928) contains a good many timely suggestions about the mischievousness of carelessly relying on tradition. He refers to the value of accumulated knowledge of masters of long experience and of the weight that should be given to their observations, but he also calls attention to the fact that there is danger in uncritical acceptance of all that they have done. Times change, and we know more about some factors in dermatology now than we once did. What Erasmus Wilson or Hebra set up as a definite disease, based on symptomatology alone, may be merely a symptom complex, not a disease at all, but a manifestation of several diseases.
Dr. Wile called attention to an immense amount of needless