The contributions to medical literature on the skin diseases of infants and children have been numerous the past three years. Those of real value or marking advance in our knowledge, however, have been few. It has been my purpose to include only these in this review. In some instances, it has seemed profitable to review articles published before the year 1920.
ECZEMA
The most interesting advancement in the skin diseases of infants and children has been the demonstration of the relationship of protein sensitization to eczema, one of the most common skin diseases of children.Using the scratch method of applying the proteins, O'Keefe1 found that 41 per cent, of the cases of eczema in bottle-fed infants and older children whom he tested gave a positive reaction to proteins. In forty-one cases of breast-fed infants with eczema, 61 per cent. gave positive cutaneous reactions.In Schloss'2 series of