Syphilis / by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson.

  • Hutchinson, Jonathan, Sir, 1828-1913
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Syphilis / by Sir Jonathan Hutchinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    234/718 (page 186)
    CHAPTER XVIII ERUPTIONS WHICH OCCUR AFTER THE APPARENT CURE OF SYPHILIS Mb. , aged twenty-four, came to me on September 12 for an eruption which I may describe as follows. It consisted of very faintly marked blotches of pink congestion. Most of them were about as large as the tip of the forefinger would easily cover, a few were much larger, and they were all nearly, but not abruptly, rounded. There were no rings. Stretching the skin or a little pressure, immediately removed all trace. Although to the naked eye they looked as if slightly furfura- ceous, I could not on using a lens prove that such was the case. Mr. showed me first the fronts of his forearms, where these blotches were most numerous, but on making him strip I found that they were sparingly scattered with fair sym- metry over the whole trunk and limbs. There were many on his buttocks and legs. It was on the latter that they had been first observed. They were so inconspicuous that they would have been overlooked unless carefully searched for, but they were nevertheless very definite when once noticed. Mr. said that they varied much at different times and that often he could not find them. He thought that they were usually most conspicuous when undressing for bed, and that a warm bath would make them disappear. He had observed them first about three weeks before he came to me, but, as he remarked, they might have been there much longer, for they caused no irritation and were not noticed unless looked for. Mr. had formerly been under my treatment for syphilis, and he said that he had once, soon after leaving off treatment, observed an eruption like that which he now had. It disappeared, however, in a few days without any special treatment. The facts as regards his original syphilis were as follows: He had intercourse on April 10, 1893, and contracted first a profuse gonorrhoea; this was followed by an ulcer which destroyed the frsenum and then indurated. He was sent to me on May 16, when I recognised specific induration in the fraenal sore and at the meatus, together with hard glands. He had then no secondary symptoms, fit was only five weeks from the date of contagion.) I prescribed the grey-powder pill, and six weeks later I recorded that the sore was quite