Tuberculosis papillomatosa cutis is a variety of skin tuberculosis. As its name indicates, it is characterized by the outgrowth of papillary excrescences. There are five more or less distinct tuberculous skin lesions described, of which lupus is the most common; the remaining ones are tuberculosis ulcerosa (miliary tuberculosis of the skin), scrofuloderma, tuberculids and tuberculosis verrucosa. The last named has at least three subvarieties, of which the subject of this paper is one. Morrow1 described a case in which the growth started from the nasal orifice and spread over almost the entire face. There is an excellent illustration of the lesion in his atlas.
The growth is a reddish, papillary mass, the papillae being prominent, and in color the lesion resembles a dull red raspberry. Often a secretion can be expressed from between the papillae. The growth is painless and sluggish, and spreads slowly.
The cause of the