black stratum is slightly granulated, and
resembles a deposition of coal-dust on the skin.
The mucous membrane of the eyelid is slightly
injected, but the eyes present nothing remarkable,
unless it be a more brilliant aspect, which
is certainly due to the colouring of the eyelids.
The patient, besides, experiences neither heat
nor smarting, nor any other disturbance of the
visual organs.

On rubbing the coloured portions rather
roughly with a piece of linen dipped in olive oil
the dingy plaster came away, and was found on
the linen in the shape of a black spot, exactly
the same as would result from wiping an object
that had been dirtied by smoke. The eyelids
were then clean and of a natural hue, and the
skin presented its usual aspect to the naked
eye; examined with a lens, the cutaneous
surface of the eyelids appeared equally clean,
except that a few grains of black dust were found
to be still adhering in the folds of the skin, and
some were also seen at the root of the eyelashes,
where the action of the linen was less direct
The sebaceous follicules were in no way
developed, nor their orifices enlarged. After the
removal of the colouring matter, the patient
experienced a slight smarting in the eyes, which
were more sensible to the light, slightly injected,
and watery. These phenomena were manifested
every time the coloured stratum was removed;
they diminish and disappear in proportion as
the colouring is reproduced, which takes place
in a very short time. According to the patient's
observations, in a couple of hours the coloration
is completely renewed. This interval,
required for the secretion, allowed the patient
to remove the black stratum and to walk out
for an hour or two without her complaint being
unpleasantly apparent.

With the exception of this strange affection,
the young lady in question (the niece of the
mistress of a ladies' boarding school) had
nothing whatever the matter with her. During
the two years that the malady had existed, she
had employed in vain alkaline lotions, sulphureous
lotions, and divers pomades; it obstinately
resisted every means of cure; it maintained its
ground without diminution or augmentation.

This case will give a sufficient idea of the
curious affection which has developed itself in
certain persons living at Brest. Within five
years seven or eight people have been attacked
by it; they are all females, and young females,
too. Most of them are in easy circumstances;
one is the wife of a captain of a frigate, another
is a young nursemaid. Dr. Hardy also noticed,
as he was looking in at a café window, that the
lady who presided at the counter was affected
with the same disease.

The coloration which constitutes the malady
is ordinarily black; but two cases occurred in
which it was blue. Its extent is more variable;
sometimes inconsiderable, it resembles the dye
which the women of certain nations apply, to
give greater brightness to their eyes; at other
times, it extends to the cheeks. M. de
Méricourt noticed that, on one of his patients, the
black stratum spread over almost the whole of
her countenance when she went out of doors,
the colouring matter being dispersed by the
wind. As to the black matter itself, on being
submitted to chemical analysis and examined by
the microscope, it appeared to consist of
pigmentary matter, except that the microscope
could find no trace of cells.

Dr. Hardy wanted much to discover the seat
of this extraordinary secretion. At first sight,
he was inclined to believe in a sebaceous flux;
but the layer of black contained no greasy
particles; it appeared on the part of the face where
there are few sebaceous follicules, and did not
appear on the nose, where there are plenty and
well developed. Is the perspiring apparatus of
the skin the seat of the malady, and must the
secretion be really considered as a coloured local
sweat, according to M. de Méricourt's belief
and nomenclature? Dr. Hardy could not
explain to his own satisfaction how the sudorific
glands could secrete a pigment, nor could he
discover how the pigment got out of the glands,
supposing it to be there. To his mind, there
was something in the case quite unknown and
unprecedented.

At all events, the development of this affection
in the city of Brest was very singular; the fact
of residing there appeared to be of some
importance; tor hitherto, amongst all the persons
attacked, one only was cured, and that after
leaving Brest for an inland town. Mental
emotions appear to exercise considerable influence
in causing the disease. As remedies, the most
promising seemed to be local applications of
astringent solution of alum, of tannin, or
mercurial ointments, which act powerfully on the
skin.

Nobody said that M. de Méricourt had not
seen what he said he saw; but several
incredulous members of the faculty believed that he
and others had been made the victims of clever
juggling. They wished that those witnesses
could say that they had seen the darkness of
the eyelids reappear before their eyes, after it
had been well wiped away. Naturally, a
discussion arose in the Medical Society of the
Paris Hospitals, which resulted in the appointment,
last June, of a commission to inquire
whether there were no means of coming to an
understanding with M. de Méricourt, to hold a
rigorous inquest (before death) on one of his
chromidrosiac patients. There were named
members of the commission, Messieurs Béhier
(reporter), Guérard, Lallier, Legroux, and H.
Roger; Messieurs Dechambre, Associated Member,
and Robin, the distinguished microscopist,
participate in the committee's labours. The
summary of their result is this:

The affection to which M. le Docteur Leroy
de Méricourt has given the name of chromidrose
—it would be more correctly spelt chromhidrosis
—is more specially observed in the vicinity of
the sea. More frequent with women, it has still
been seen in men. With one male patient, it
occurred on the back of the hand instead of on
the lower eyelids, and always made its appearance