The loss of pigment began, soon after an attack
of acute rhenmatism, as " a small white patch near
the pit of the stomach, which was shortly accom-
panied with other white spots in the vicinity, that
enlarged, and at length intermixed." The blanching
continued to spread over the whole body; imtil, at
length, the original color " was only visible on the
forehead, and fore part of the face and neck, with
a few small patches on the arm." The texture of
the skin does not appear to have been perceptibly
changed. The case seems to be one of simple loss
of pigment, not unlike that which occurs in ordi-
nary blanching of the hair. Rapid blanching of
the skin in the negro, after severe fevers or enteric
disease, is occasionally known to occxu-.
144 STRUCTURAL LESIONS OF THE SKIX.
LEUOO-MELANOPATHIA.
Disappearauce of the pigment in timited portioua
of the skin, and its superabundant formation in the
surrounding integument, ai-e of moch more fre-
quent occurrence than uncomplicated leucopatfaia.
This condition, or leuco-melanopathia, seems to be
a simple displacement of pigment, without much
change in the structure of the skin.
The name " vitiligo " has been applied to this
condition, by a few writers ; but it properly belong
to those patches of integument which resemble
veal-skin, and in which there are manifest structu-
ral changes of the rete mucosum and derma. The
skin becomes anfesthetie; and the hairs fall out, in
the spots affected with vitiligo.
" Canities " is a term which is used synonymously
with " white, hoary, blanched, or gray hair." This
condition depends upon the absence, the with-
drawal, or the cessation of the supply of the pecu-
liar coloring principle of the hair. The nature of




ATKOPHIES.
