Class room lessons on syphilis and the genito-urinary diseases.

  • Otis, Fessenden N. (Fessenden Nott), 1825-1900.
Date:
[1878]-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Class room lessons on syphilis and the genito-urinary diseases. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    within, the anus; all as a result of direct contagion. Communication of Syphlis, by direct contact, through the act of kissing, is an accident of occasional occurrence. In this case, the inoculating secretion may be furnished, either by an Initial Lesion, or, by one of the common manifestations of active Syphilis, known as the Mucous Patch. Initial Lesions are also found in various other localities, as solu- tions of continuity, at any point, may become the accidental recipients of the Syphilitic contagium. Usually, they are rare in proportion to their distance from the genitalia. Surgeons, Accoucheurs, and Gyne- cologists, are especially exposed to the peril of an innocent inoculation of Syphilis, by direct contact, Within the circle of my city acquaint- ance, at the present time, are three medical gentlemen who acquired Syphilis through an Initial Lesion on the right forefinger. In another case, a surgeon, also an acquaintance, received the Syphilitic inoculation in end of his right forefinger, through accidental punc- ture, by a spicula of bone, while amputating the leg of a Syphilitic subject. Inoculation of Syphilis Through Mediate Contagion. Cells dis- eased by the Syphilitic influence, (or what is usually termed the Syphilitic virus,) may cling to substances with which they are brought into contact. All degraded animal cells, or disease germs, have the power of maintaining their vitality, for some, time after removal from the organism in which they have been developed. (Beale.) Any ma- terial, therefore, which has been in contact with the secretions of Syphilitic Lesions, or the blood of a Syphilitic, during the active stage of Syphilis, may prove the medium of communication of Syphilis to a healthy person, provided only, that the substance so contaminated, is brought into contact with a lesion, however slight, of the skin or mucous membrane. The most common source of the contagium, in cases of Mediate Contagion, is the Mucous Patch, a constitutional Syphilitic Lesion, fre- quent upon the mucous membrane of the lips, mouth, and faucial