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From time to time we meet with ill-understood, anomalous cases of vesicular disease which it is impossible to name or even classify in a satisfactory manner. Among these will be found a few instances of an affection which corresponds to the descriptions given of a disease to which systematic writers have applied the title which heads this article. . . .
Lichen Ruber and its Relation to Lichen Planus.
DR. HANS VON HEBRA (Monatshefte für prakt. Derm., No. 3,1890), considering this an opportune moment, makes a rigorous critique of the lichen question, since recent papers and the proceedings of the Paris Congress have shown much confusion to exist regarding it. He bases his remarks upon a paper of R. W. Taylor, not only because of the high standing of this author, but also for the reason that he finds views expressed in it which are contrary to his own, and which he desires to oppose. In answer to Taylor's conclusion, that "lichen ruber is a distinct morbid entity, without the shadow of a relationship with lichen planus," the author states his belief that—
The cases put in evidence were not cases of lichen ruber (acuminatus) at all; and
That lichen ruber and lichen planus are forms of one and the same disease, which may appear one after the other in the same individual, or indeed occur simultaneously. . . .
Acute Circumscribed Oedema of the Skin.
MAX JOSEPH, in a paper read before the Dermatological Congress in Prague, and published in the Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, Nos. 4-5, 1890, reviews the literature of the subject of acute circumscribed oedema of the skin, and gives three personal cases in illustration of his belief that it is an independent disease attended with certain complications. . . . The author relates the history of a patient presenting a hitherto undescribed complication—paroxysmal haemoglobinuria. The patient was a five-year-old boy, whose ailment had existed for two years and a half. The lesions appeared upon the hands and face whenever he went out in cold and windy weather. The lesions were from the size of a pea to that of a plum, the left eyelid often becoming closed by the swelling. Parts covered by clothing were not affected. In summer the oedema could be produced by placing the hands in cold water.J Cutan Genitourin Dis.1890;8:145-152.