ON AINHUM. 367 Reveillod et OniER. Bull, de la Suisse Romand, 1875. Skinner. Lancet, Feb. 5, 1870. Steele. Dublin Med. Jour., 1870, p. 195. Slocum. New York Medical Record, 1877, p. 334. Thorowqood. Brit. Med. Jour., Dec. Ii, 1869. Vepan. Cited by Jeudi de Grissac. TWse de Paris, 1876. Gaz. Med. de Strasbourg, 1865. Wicks. Lancet, Nov. 30, 1878. p. 795. Monneret. Schmidt's Jahrb., 1854, Bd. 81, p. 158. SALICYLIC ACID. Cavafy, J. On a case of acute rheumatism treated by salicylate of soda. In- tercurrent scarlatina and peculiar skin eruption. Clin. Soc. Trans., v. x., 1877, p. 88. Leube. Urticaria with albuminuria. Allg. Med. Central Zeitung, June 5, 1878. Archives of Dermatology, vol. v., 1878, p. 64.
ON AINHUM.*
BY DR. J. F. DA SILVA LIMA,
Physician to the Charity Hospital of Bahia, Brazil.
THE disease which the African negroes (Nagos) name "ain- hum," or "ayun," was first described l)y myself in the Gazeta Medica du Bahia, November 13 and 15, in the year 1867. Its existence in Brazil as a distinct affection is not mentioned be- fore the date named above, in any known document, although the disease must have been observed by Brazilian physicians since the beginning of the African slave trade, as in this country the affec- tion is peculiar to Africans or their descendants.
Synonymes. — Since the date of the commencement of my medico-surgical studies, I have always heard the affection denom- inated gitijila, — a term which these same negroes apply to the muti- lating lepra of the fingers and toes, the gafeira of Portuguese authors.
It was in the year 1863 that I began to observe attentively cases met with in practice, and to note the differences which distinguish the two diseases. The conclusion was speedily reached that the two disorders, guijila and ainhum, differed from each other com- pletely. After my first publication there appeared in this country and elsewhere important researches on the subject, to which I shall presently allude.
In order to exactly designate the malady, I have preferred to adhere to its African name, which I first heard from the negro patients themselves, the Nagos, and which they were in the habit
- Read at the fourth annual meeting of the American Dermatological Asso-
ciation, Newport, R. L, August 31, 1880, by Dr. James Nevins Hyde, of Chi- cago. For discussion, see page 434.
