The hopeful view which is here expressed by the university professor regarding the ultimate eradication of venereal diseases was shared at that time by the eminently practical physician Parent-Duchatelet. He appeals, unfortunately, not to medical men and students of social hygiene, but to the police:
“Pursue without cessation the diseases which are diffused by means of prostitutes; take it as your goal to cause them to disappear from the list of human troubles; do not doubt that your labours will ultimately be crowned with success, although the task may be one that will occupy several generations.”[331]
Two complete generations had, however, to pass away before the campaign against venereal diseases and the attempt to suppress them became a burning question of the time, became a question of public health and social hygiene, like those which concern the fight with tuberculosis, with infant mortality, and with alcoholism. Once again I must repeat that the organized systematic campaign against venereal diseases is still in its very earliest stages. Strictly speaking, it dates only from seven years ago, when the first international congress for the prophylaxis of syphilis and other venereal diseases was held in Brussels, from September 4 to 8, 1899. Almost all the civilized countries, European and other, took part in this congress, and not only physicians and dermatologists, but also lawyers, clergymen, attachés of embassies, authors, and philanthropists, explained their views, and thereby showed that the question of the suppression of venereal diseases was one of equal interest to all classes of society, and one which must exercise the activity of the community at large. At the conclusion of this first international conference in 1899, there was founded the International Society for the Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis of Syphilis and other Venereal Diseases, which has its seat in Brussels, and meets at periodical intervals for international conferences.
Especially in Germany has this organization aroused active interest, and it was soon decided to found a national German Society for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases, whose first meeting was held on October 19, 1903, in the hall of the Berlin Rathaus. The meeting was opened by a speech from Albert Neisser, after which Alfred Blaschko spoke on “The Diffusion of Venereal Diseases,” Edmund Lesser on “The Dangers of Venereal Diseases,” Martin Kirchner on “The Social Importance of Venereal Diseases,” and Albert Neisser on “The Aims of the German Society for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases.” The committee of the Society consists of Messrs. A. Neisser, president; E. Lesser, vice-president and treasurer; and A. Blaschko, general secretary. The organ of the Society is issued six times yearly, under the title, Reports of the German Society for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases, and has been published for the last four years; it is supplied gratis to members; to non-members the yearly subscription is only three marks. In the spring of the year 1903 there was founded a larger Journal for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases, of which five volumes have hitherto appeared; this serves for the publication of more comprehensive critical studies.
Still in the same year, 1902, there were formed the first branches and local groups of the German Society for the Suppression of Venereal Diseases in Hanover, Wiesbaden, Breslau, and Berlin. Subsequently other branches were formed in Mannheim, Munich, Cologne, Beuthen, Danzig, Stettin, Posen, Dortmund, Elberfeld, Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Görlitz, Hamburg, Königsberg, Nürnberg, Stuttgart, and Heidelberg.
During the last four years, by means of lectures, the circulation of pamphlets and leaflets, and by public discussions, information regarding the dangers of venereal diseases has been diffused among the widest circles of the population. Of the other activities and measures of the Society we shall have to speak later.
We pass on to the consideration of the principal elements of the modern campaign against venereal diseases. In view of the limits of this work our discussion of this question must necessarily be a brief one. The eradication of venereal diseases must be effected in a threefold manner:
1. By measures of personal prophylaxis against infection.
2. By the proper medical treatment of all cases of venereal disease.
3. By measures belonging to the province of public hygiene, to that of state action, and to that of education.