Is dermatology slipping into its anec-dotage?
In recent issues, the Archives has run a feature entitled "In the Archives a Century Ago" in which a portion of a very old article is reprinted. These articles seem often to be chosen for comic interest and make good reading, seeing how widely our forefathers missed the mark. It is even better when the author is a familiar name. How could they think such crazy things? Usually a short while after feeling so smug, one of our residents, or perhaps a visiting internist, will give me a strange look after I state some dermatologic concept and ask how we have come to such a conclusion. Sometimes, it can be tough to defend (why do so many people get "insect bite reactions" in the dead of winter?), and I am left wondering how we know what we know.
Department of Dermatology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa.
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Webster
D003880:Dermatology / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*