Humoral pathologists explained all disorders of the skin by a disturbance in the composition of the body fluids. They adhered strictly to the belief that there was a relation between internal disturbances and changes in the skin until Hebra opened up new paths and directed dermatology into a new course. It was, in fact, Hebra's particular merit to have made dermatology a special branch of science, thus giving it a position of its own in the vast field of medical science.
The development of dermatology had been forced in one direction chiefly by the progress of modern cell pathology, as well as by the results obtained from anatomic, pathologic, histologic and bacteriologic research work. Roughly speaking, dermatology was a descriptive morphologic science and developed along these lines synchronously with the development of the auxiliary sciences mentioned.
A general review of the results obtained shows a distinct progress, although the onesidedness