Almost all recent French authors distinguish, after the fashion of Lagneau, two kinds of sycosic excrescences:
(1) The grafted or implanted excrescences of greater density than that of the skin, to which they adhere by their base, a sort of pedicle; most of the sycosic products belong in this class under the name figwarts.
(2) Hypertrophic excrescences: these arise by a simple swelling of the cellular tissue of a fold of the skin or mucous membrane, and ulcerate readily, after which they seerete a fetid, slimy pus.
The former of these two kinds occurs most frequently, has the most varied forms, and is much more numerous than the humid excrescences. As a general rule, they are seen on the mucous membrane of the genital organs, for instance, on the prepuce, glans, behind the corona, or on the side of the frenulum; sometimes in the orifice of the urethra; among females, we see them on the inside of the labia majora and minora, on the clitoris, around the orifice of the urethra, at the inferior commissure, on the lesser papillæ, and even around the os tincæ. They are even not unfrequently seen on the margin of the anus, even in the rectum; in some cases they are even seen on the nipples of women, who have been infected by nursing syphilitic infants, on the perineum, on the outer side of the labia majora, on the mons veneris, the inside of the thighs, in the groin, and on the navel of newborn infants. They may even break out on the tongue, velum palati, and
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| Sycosis excrescences |
eyelids. Generally they are much smaller than the humid excrescences, but occur very frequently in large quantities on the same spot, forming considerable fungous masses. As regards their forms, they sometimes are shaped like cauliflowers, sometimes like warts, sometimes like long stems (they have been known to shoot up from behind the corona glandis to the height of two inches like goose-quills, becoming erect when the prepuce is drawn back, and, when the prepuce is brought forward again, reclining over the glans like flexible, vegetable stems); and sometimes like raspberies, more especially among women, on the clitoris, or round the orifice of the urethra, etc. Their color likewise varies. The wart-shaped excrescences are generally paler than the surrounding skin; those with long pedicles are generally a little redder; the cauliflower and raspberry-shaped excrescences, having frequently a good deal of blood, have likewise the most redness. In general, all these varieties are very dry, except the cauliflower variety, which generally excrete an exceedingly copious, yellowish, and sometimes bloody moisture. If neither irritated by friction nor by acrid substances, all these varieties are very seldom painful; the cauliflower and raspberry-shaped excrescences are the most sensitive.
The excrescences of the second class, which, as has already been stated, arise from a tumefaction of the cellular tissue of a fold of the skin, and among which we number the fig-shaped condylomata, and those that are shaped like the articular head of a bone, occur most frequently in the region of the anus, but often likewise at the entrance of the vagina, on the labia majora or minora on the penis between the prepuce and glans, sometimes even on the perineum, and on the inner surface of the things. These condylomata are generally more or less oblong, flattened tubercles, whose free margin is rounded, except when these excrescences are already seated upon an already round elevation, such as old piles, in which case they are attached to a more or less elongated pedicle. They are very seldom of a large size, although some authors assert that they have seen condylomata of the size of a hand, weighing several pounds. From these condylomata, those that are shaped like a cock’s crest are distinguished by this circumstance, that the latter are elevated on the skin with an indented border, and flat like the blade of a knife. Both forms are generally of a hard, almost cartilaginous consistence, and not very painful; at the same time they are very red, easily excoriated, in which case they excrete a very fetid, slimy, more or less acrid matter of a yellowish color.