The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-18

came more wide spread. Syphilis APP
peared in France. Germany and Swift
erland in 1495, in Holland and Greece
in 1896 1t spread to England and
Scotland in 1897: to Hungary and Rus
STA in 1899. The disease after this
time spread rapidly over the rest of
the world. first being recognized in
India in 1898, after the arrival of a
ship that had left Portugal in 1497.
! 1t was recognized in China in 1905
after European crews had been there.
The Japanese did not recognize the
disease until 1859 at Nagasaki, after
either Chinese or Portuguese sailors
had been there.
In all the countries there was ten
| dency to shift the responsibility for
the disease to others by giving it their
| name. The Italians called it the Span
ish or the French disease; the French
called it the italian disease; the Eng
| lish called it the French disease. The
records show that the first Spaniards
| who recognized the disease called it
the disease of Espanola. which meant
at the time, the disease of Haiti.
| Gonorrhoea is a very ancient dis
ease, but the history is not as COM
plete as that of syphilis. In the
Brugsch papyrus, attributed to the
i year 1859 B. c., there appears among
the remnants of an Egyptian system
of medicine. references to a disease,
and also the treatment, that seems to
| apply to gonorrhoea. During the six
| teenth century there was much con-
fusion over the two diseases and by
many investigators they were consid-
| cred identical. Jean Astruc described
1t in 1896.
Paracelsus in 1880 had called syphi-
| lis, French gonorrhoea." and this
was largely the cause. of the confusion
that had arisen In fact. the confusion
had been so great that the same drugs
were used in the treatment of the two
diseases. Philippe Ricord. of the Hos
pital du Midi, Paris 1S31-1S60, defi-
nitely showed that gonorrhoea and
syphilis were two separate diseases.
At the same time that Ricord was
doing his work in Paris, Wallace of
Dublin was investigating syphilis. In
1885 he demonstrated that the second
stage of the disease was contagious.
Ricord denied this.
Finally a definite separation was
made of the three diseases. Bassereau
in 1887 differentiated the primary
/ sore of syphilis and chancroid. Later,
| the confusion was entirely cleared by
the demonstration of the existence of
mixed infections OF syphilis and chan
croid and, in fact, of all three of the
diseases.
Neisser in 1879 discovered the germ
of gonorrhoea and, after him. it was
named the diplococcus of Neisser, but
usually called chancroid, while Schau-
| dim and hoffman,, in May, 1905, an
nounced the discovery of the specific
cause OF syphilis, the Trepenoma pal
| Ida.
| AS early as 1879 Klebs claimed that
| syphilis could be inoculated in apes,
and in 1908 Metchinkoff proved it.
In 1907 the Wassermann reaction
was discovered. This test has been
subject to severe criticism but, when
carried out properly. it is very valua-
BILE. In the early stages of the dis
ease the changes have not taken place
in the blood so that the reaction is
negative. but after the early stage OF
the disease, the Wassermann reaction
is valuable aid in diagnosis as well
| as treatment control.
The final relationship of the organ
ism, which was discovered by Schau-
din and Hoffman, to syphilis. was
made in 1911 by Nogucl1i, who sue
ceeded in cultivating the germ.
In the treatment of the disease IT.
self. mercury originated almost as
early as the disease. It was used in
1 many different ways, but the two
main methods were by rubbing it into
the spine and taking it internally. II
1884 Wallace of Dublin, after the
suggestion of Williams, introduced the
use of iodides in the treatment OF
syphilis. 1t is very probable that
arsenic was used as early as 1880
In 1909, Salvarsan and it's derivations
were given to the world by Enrich
the so-called sos and ga. This was
the elimination of the scientific dis.
coveries in syphilis. The various COM
pounds were tried out on various
fowls, animals, and then cautiously
on man. 1t is interesting to note tina,
the men who volunteered for this
first injection to test its effect were
q two physicians.
In all probability there will be mas
more important discoveries in syphilis
but it is very certain that much of the
important history of the disease ha:
been written since 1903.
by Pussy.
''Today's World Problem in Diseas,
| Prevention, >, by Stokes