Modern dermatologic investigation has lifted epidermophytosis from the rôle of a purely local skin disease to that of a skin-sensitizing agent, with a probable influence on the life cycle and habits of the skin.
The ringworm fungi located in the interspaces of the toes and on the soles of the feet are favored by those elements essential to undisturbed growth, such as heat and moisture, as well as by their inherent and enormous powers of spread and multiplication, their prolonged and hardy life, and their tendency toward a resting spore stage of indefinite duration and latent virulency, even under adverse circumstances.
Reasoning from cause to effect is a logical procedure in investigation. in epidermophytosis, with definite knowledge of the cause, attention is naturally focused on the study of the effect, i.e., the produced pathologic picture. These pathologic changes have been studied by a number of observers, and,