In November 1943 a penicillin section was established at the Gardiner General Hospital. The medical officer in charge, who undertook to prepare the various solutions as well as to administer the drug to patients, noted shortly thereafter that he had a mild marginal blepharitis and conjunctivitis with some blurring of vision on reading. Glasses were prescribed for the condition, but the blepharitis persisted and soon there developed a dermatitis which began on the bridge of the nose and spread to involve adjacent areas of the forehead and the central oval of the face. The eruption had the characteristics of a relatively acute dermatitis due to contact with an irritant, and its source was thought to be in the plastic frames of the newly acquired glasses. These glasses were discarded, but the dermatitis became progressively worse despite topical treatment with bland preparations, and in the course of a few weeks similar