are very numerous, a number of them in close proximity may appear like an irregular group. When this lesion escapes being scratched, and thereby altered in appearance, it tends to increase peripherally and to become depressed in the centre. It usually reaches its maximum development in a few days, and is about the size of a five-cent nickel. At the advancing border the epidermis is raised by a milky, purulent secretion while the depressed centre appears of a darker hue. Upon the back of the fingers or hand, where, next to the face and scalp,
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Fig. 10.–Contagious impetigo.
the lesions are most common, they look like recent and accidental burns. Upon the palm, where the thicker epidermis is less likely to be ruptured, the lesions are apt to present the appearance of hemispherical or flattened pustules, quite similar to, though somewhat larger than, the pustules occasionally observed in scabies. After an existence of about a week the contents of the pustules tend to dry into yellowish, honey-like or "straw-colored" crusts. If the lesions remain uninjured by the finger nails, the affected skin gradually heals and the crusts
