Cancerous Degeneration in Chronic Leg Ulcer

Deference to mistaken usage has determined the title of this paper, the symptom of ulceration being an epiphenomenon in many dermatoses ranging from simple inflammation on the one hand to cancer on the other. The ulcers herein referred to are those, so common on the lower limbs as a complication of ordinary dermatitis, which enjoy the additional usual misnomer of varicose ulcers. Cancerous degeneration of the skin, most common on the face and hands as the parts most exposed to irritation and infection, usually develops on the basis of a senile hyperkeratosis or a benign new growth. It also occurs as an end-result of various ulcerative processes, such as those occasioned by trauma, pus infections, tuberculosis, syphilis and leprosy; and of late years we have had abundant reason to dread the irritant action of thex-ray in determining the occurrence of malignant cutaneous degeneration. In rare instances cancer has