ARTHRITIS DEFORMANS.

Abstract

If one may judge from the multiplicity of names that have been applied to arthritis deformans its nature is not so well understood, and I am confident that it often goes unrecognized and is frequently mistaken for some other disorder. In proof of this the disease is variously described as rheumatoid arthritis, chronic rheumatic arthritis, rheumatic gout, rheumatisme noueux, osteoarthritis, pernicious arthritis, chronic villous polyarthritis, arthritis deformans, deforming arthritis, etc. The designation arthritis deformans, which is generally employed in this country and in Germany, seems to me the preferable; it is sufficiently indicative of the distinguishing features of the disorder; it suggests no relationship to any other disease, such as rheumatism, and it is non-committal as regards its etiology. I have thought to summarize briefly the distinguishing clinical features of the disease, to speak of the differential diagnosis, and to detail the results of some recent scientific investigations which I