The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-06-16
NEW DISEASE OF GOLFERS.
DOCTORS GIVE TO IT OLD NAME
 OF GOUT ECZEMA

tered Hands May Have to Use the K
 Rays.
 Inordinate golf Is the cause of a new skin disease. It is form of eczemato- sis that for want of better name the doctors call gout eczema, as while it is only an exaggerated skin disorder and not a taint in the blood, in the resis- tance to treatment the complaint shows the stubbornness of the hereditary in- fliction. Gout eczema really went out with the four bottle men and is un- known in these days of light wines, aerated highballs and moderate drink ing at dinner. Golf eczema would be a more exact name for the neew disase, except that it is not true eczema, for it is not contagious and is not accom- panied by scaly skin or a discharge of serum, and on this account the physi- clans have gone to the old books for a classification of the complaint
 A golfer is always known by his hands, The men who play regularly are as horny handed as any son of toll. Some experts assert that by the loca- ton of the Jumps of callous flesh that form on the palm-the golfers call them corns-they can tell whether a stran- ger is a good player or a poor one who pulls and slices his shots. Playing constantly in gloves would tend to keep the palms in better condition, but the feel of the club is so dear to the ool4orc +I,o+ +I,oea ,rbo ,1sa yIovnc are few in number Baseball players, cricketers and oarsmen have calloused hands, but their palms are dainty kid in comparison with the leather of the constant golfer.
 The gradual hardening of water blister is the foundation, usually, of each calloused spot on the hands. This means that when blister has formed going must be stopped until it hardens. The neglect of this precaution is the first cause of the golfers eczema. Sometimes, for instance, if a blister forms on the opening day of a tourna- ment, it is not convenient to stop golf ing; at other times the player is too l impatient, too zealous for the pleasures of the links, to throw aside his clubs and wait in idleness for the hands-the right hand is usually the Worst-to heal | up.
 To play on means that the skin will be torn from off the blister and sore developed. Persistent play aggravates the sore and makes it a deep seated and shronic one, Such players cover their hands with antiseptic salves and strips of court plaster, or bicycle tape, before each round, but the irritation of the un- der flesh continues, and finally they have to stop golf abruptly until cure | is effected Nearly all players have trouble with their hands in the spring when the winters rest has made the skin tender, and it is at this season that unless care is used the eczemato- sis will be established.
 The under flesh will remain sore after the cure has been started and the outer skin is so firm that golf may be taker up again. The itching and worry ot the deep sore in such eases is sugges. tive of true eczema, but as the player may still enjoy round he is generally content to endure the pain with tht pleasure and to VOW that once cured never again will he be so neglectful 1T the early stages of the attack
 In this form of the disease the use O the X-ray is recommended by one o the leading skin specialists of the city a practitioner who is most often called in consultation by the specialists il other lines. An Apawamis Golf clut Imember who contracted the chronic skin trouble by golfng through tht southern season, and ignoring the ten derness of his hands, has been taking the X-ray treatment three times weel flor two months. The results have beer satisfactory, and the hands are healinl from the bottom of the sores upward which is an indication of 8 thorougl cure very soon. Better still, this play CT was able to go through the Gardei iCity and St. Andrews tournaments winning some good matches at the lat ter meeting. He puts plasters ant salve on his hands before playing anC uses roomy gloves. He slips off tn
 gloves after the approach shot, t,
 "feel' the club in putting out.
 A prominent Pittsburg golfer has ha, the same trouble this season, and S has one of the scratch men at St. An drews. The three have had the diseas analysed as gout eczema by their phy sicians. The three doctors live practi
 cally in three different cities, the coin cidence in diagnosis being accepted a proof by the trio that the profession re cognizes thir complaint as resembling
 the obsolete disease. With many nor
 who have been treated for simila skin trouble, the thre ein question
 blame too much golfng with brokei and blistered hands as the cause O
 their eczematosis. It is an expensiv
 disease to cure, especially if the X-ra,
 is taken, and the best way is to give u
 the game as soon as the blisters ap pear Self-denial then will be repaid b
 a quick cure.
 In the early days of the game in thi
 country the golf elbow had distinc place in the ills of the players. It wa a transient cramp of the muscles whic
 yielded readily to treatment. The fee
 trouble many golfers, but this ia a trou
 ble of pedestrianism and not peculiar t the game. The golf eczema, which ma
 have serious results, should poison iv or sunlac sap get into the sores, is alon
 peculiar to the links. There are n l cases as yet to be reported from Grea 1 Britain, but calloused hands are as fire
 quent trouble there. It was "Ol | oI-s..