Love: A Treatise on the Science of Sex-attraction / for the use of Physicians and Students of Medical Jurisprudence

by Bernard Simon Talmey

Syphilis.—The other most appalling venereal disease is syphilis. The constitutional disturbances caused by syphilis and the risks to the offspring make this disease one of the most dreaded affections known to medical science. Even the primary infection may become disastrous to the man and woman. Still the acute stage, but for its contagiosity, would be of secondary importance. Syphilis is essentially a chronic disease. The duration of the disease is unlimited. It may remain latent for years and then break out, either in form of chronic inflammations or in form of syphilitic tumors or gummata. Fournier found during the tertiary period of syphilis, as late as in the tenth year after the primary infection, mucous papules in the mouth and in the vagina, which had recently reappeared. This shows that even during the tertiary stage syphilis may become a source of infection for others.[EI]

Syphilis plays an important rôle in the etiology of almost every known disease. Syphilis spares no tissue or structure, it affects every organ of the body.

In the alimentary canal and its accessory glands, syphilis may cause cicatrical obstructions of the esophagus, affections of the stomach and intestines and gummatous productions of the rectum. The liver, and sometimes the pancreas are affected, either in form of chronic syphilitic inflammations or in form of gummatous nodules.

The following case is very instructive. The patient, a young girl eleven years of age, who for some time previously suffered from diabetes insipidus, could not be aroused from her quiet sleep one morning. The author saw the child at about 4 P. M. She was still quietly sleeping, and no matter which means he applied to awaken her, going so far as to burn the soles of her feet, she could not be aroused. The following morning the author found the child sitting in bed perfectly well and only awaiting his permission to go to school. The next morning the child was found again in a comatous state from which she could not be aroused by every known means. In this state she died the following night.

At the autopsy, the author found a small nodule, of the size of a large pea, on the left side of the dura mater, pressing upon the left frontal lobe, and at the point of entrance of the vena portae he discovered the liver turned into a grayish-looking mass of the size of a child’s hand.

Both, the nodule of the dura mater and the liver, were taken to the Pathological Institute, where the two tumors were found to be syphilitic gummata. The child was suffering from hereditary syphilis.

In the respiratory tract we find, in the first place, the affections of the nose. The septum of the nose is often destroyed, and the nose sinks in, in the form of a triangle. The palate is sometimes destroyed already in the secondary stage, and the patient’s speech is greatly impaired. The syphilitic affections of the larynx cause extensive destructions of the organ and a permanent impairment of the phonation. Deformities of the trachea are not seldom the consequences of syphilis. Pneumonia may also be caused by syphilis. Infiltrations of the lungs are not such a rare occurrence. Gummata of the lungs may undergo the destructive process, and cavities are formed which are not infrequently diagnosed as tuberculosis.

The circulatory system is very often affected by syphilis, in the form of arteriosclerosis. Gummata are sometimes found in all the muscular parts of the heart. Syphilitic myocarditis and sclerotic endocarditis are not rare. The syphilitic affection of the ganglia and the nerves of the heart are the cause of different forms of angina pectoris. The spleen and the other blood-producing organs, the bone-marrow, are frequently the seat of syphilitic manifestations. Pseudoleukaemia is often caused by syphilis. The different aneurisms are often caused by syphilis of the arteries.

The genito-urinary system is especially affected by syphilis. Apart from the initial affection, which is usually found at the genitals, tertiary syphilis of the genital organs is not rare. Syphilitic orchitis and gummata of the penis and testicles are often observed. Gummata are also found on the external genitals of women. The ovaries are often affected in form of diffuse or gummatous oöphoritis. Syphilis is not seldom the etiological factor of Bright’s disease.

The skeleton is also often affectedly syphilis. Besides the bone-marrow, the bones themselves are especially subject to syphilitic lesions. No joint escapes the attack of syphilis. The most frequently affected joints are the knees and the elbows.

The muscles are affected by syphilis in form of an irritative myositis and of chronic interstitial inflammations. Gummatous infiltrations of the muscles are no rarity. The tendons are affected in form of an acute irritative tendo-synovitis. Swelling of the bursae is quite frequently met with in syphilitic patients.

Syphilis of the nervous system is especially disastrous for the patient. Syphilis not rarely causes cerebral and spinal meningitis. Most of the tumors found in the brain are of syphilitic origin and cause headaches, insomnia, flashing of light before the eyes, vertigo, epileptic convulsions, a retarded pulse, polyuria and polydipsia, and greatly affect the eyesight. Gummata of the brain also cause aphasia, hemiplegia and paralysis. Syphilis of the spinal cord manifests itself by heavy weight of the extremities, neuralgia, paralysis of the muscles and paresis of the bladder and rectum. The insanity caused by syphilis may mimic every known form of mental derangement, such as mania, melancholia, paretic dementia, locomotor ataxia and general paresis.