ay from associating or playing with adults or other children who are
known to have gonorrheal infection goes without saying. The child's
genitals should be frequently inspected by the mother, and scrupulous
cleanliness by frequent bathing, sponging with warm solutions and
powdering, should be maintained. The toilet seats in school should
receive special attention. The wooden seat is a menace because it
often harbors gonorrheal pus from either the female or male genitals,
while the only proper seat is one of the so-called U-shaped style,
that is, one in which the front is entirely open, like the letter U.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

SYPHILIS

Syphilis Due to Germ--Syphilis a Constitutional Disease--Primary
Lesion--Incubation Period--Roseola--Primary Stage--Secondary
Stage--Mucous Patches--Tertiary Stage--Gumma--Hereditary Nature
of Syphilis--Milder Course in Women Than in Men--Obscure Symptoms
in Syphilis--Necessity for Examination by Physician--Locomotor
Ataxia--Softening of the Brain--Chancroids.

Syphilis is a disease caused by a germ called spirocheta; the full
name is spirocheta pallida--a pale, spiral-shaped germ. Though the
disease has been ravaging Europe and America for centuries, the germ
of it has been discovered only a few years ago, namely, in 1905, and,
like the gonococcus, also by a German scientist, Fritz Schaudinn.
Syphilis is a constitutional disease. In ten days to three weeks after
a person has contracted syphilis, he (or she) develops a sore (at the
spot where the germs got in). This sore is called _chancre_ or
_primary lesion_. But when this sore makes its appearance the
spirochetae and the poison which they elaborate are already circulating
in the blood, all over the system. The disease is already systemic, or
constitutional, and the chancre is the local expression of a
constitutional disease. Cutting out the chancre will not cure the
disease, because, as stated, the germs are already in the system. The
time between the contraction of the disease (the infectious
intercourse) and the appearance of the chancre is called the
_Incubation Period_. The time between the appearance of the chancre
and the appearance of the rash on the body (the rash looks like a
measles rash and is called roseola, which means a rose-colored rash)
is called the _Primary Stage_. It lasts about six weeks. With the
appearance of the rash commences the _Secondary Stage_. This stage is
characterized by all sorts