MAN [in the doorway] Yes, sir.
DOCTOR. Come in, come in. You can talk before this gentleman.
MAN [entering] You know, sir, the disaster that has befallen us. My son is eighteen; as the result of this disease he is half paralyzed. We are small tradespeople; we have regularly bled ourselves in order to send him to college, and now—! I only wish the same thing mayn’t happen to others. It was at the very college gates that my poor boy was got hold of by one of these women. Is it right, sir, that that should be allowed? Aren’t there enough police to prevent children of fifteen from being seduced like that? I ask, is it right?
DOCTOR. No.
MAN. Why don’t they stop it, then?
DOCTOR. I don’t know.
MAN. Look at my son. He’d be better in his grave. He was such a fine, good looking chap. We were that proud of him.
DOCTOR. Never despair. We’ll do our best to cure him. [Sadly] But why did you wait so long before bringing him to me?
MAN. How was I to know what he had? He was afraid to tell me, so he let the thing go on. Then when he felt he was really bad with it, he went, without letting me know, to quacks, who robbed him without curing him. Ah, that, too, is that right? What’s the government about that it allows that? Isn’t that more important than what they spend their time over?
DOCTOR. You are right. Their only excuse is that they do not know. You must take courage. We have cured worse cases than your son’s. As for the others, perhaps some day they will have a little attention paid them. [He goes with the man to the door. Turning to Loches] You see, the true remedy lies in a change of our ways. Syphilis must cease to be treated like a mysterious evil the very name of which cannot be pronounced. The ignorance in which the public is kept of the real nature and of the consequences of this disease helps to aggravate and to spread it. Generally it is contracted because ‘I didn’t know’; it becomes dangerous for want of proper care because ’I didn’t know’; it is passed on from person to person because ‘I didn’t know.’ People ought to know. Young men ought to be taught the responsibilities they assume and the misfortunes they may bring on themselves.