Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1922-04-21

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The two principal venereal dis
eases are gonorrhea and syphilis
Until recent years gonorThea has
been looked upon lightly by many
young men as a joke and a misfor-
tune no worse than bad cold. Even
! today many are ignorant of its real
nature and pay little attention to 1t.
but not so among physicians. They
regard it as one of the most terrible
diseases Some high medical au-
thorities regard it as even more seri-
Gus in its social consequence than
syphilis.
The disease does not stop with the
! individual, but extends its ravages
to innocent women and children
After all outward symptoms have
disappeared and the individual thinks
himself cured, the disease may Turk
in the deeper structures for many
condition he is almost sure to infect
his wife with the disease. Often the
parties do not realize what the trou-
! bic is. or if the husband knows he
will try to hide the truth or make
light of the trouble
The result of this infection is that
a woman may be rendered sterile,
that she will be compelled to drag
out a miserable existence, suffering
all her life, or she will be compelled
to submit to a dangerous operation
for the removal of part or all of her
female organs. These are not extreme
possibilities They are happening
everywhere by the thousands. 1t is
variously estimated by medical au-
thorities that from 60 to rs per cent
of all operations on the pelvic organs
of women are due to gOnorrhea, and
a very large proportion of these to
the infection of innocent wives by
husbands who supposed themselves
cured Then, too, it seems to be
accepted among physicians that a
very large percentage of all blindness
in this country is due to gonorrheal
infection,
Some men say, Il will take a
chance for myself" But as a prob
able husband and father, and as a
member of society, he has no right
to take "A chance. in view of the ter
rible consequences that may come to
them whom some day he may love
dearer than his own life, and to all
the future generations of the human
race.
We are told that syphilis is sup
posed to have originated in China
in the early days of the race. The
black plague of the middle ages is
said to have been a syphilitic con-
dition. Some say Columbus brought
it to Spain from Italy in 1895. Syph-
Ills and civilization have gone hand
in hand for centuries, Gonorrhea is
apparently as old as man himself if
some people place on the exhortations
for cleanliness and care against in
lection that Moses gave to the Isreal-
ties (Leyiticlus).
Syphilis is highly contagious dis
ease affecting the entire system and
it's consequences may be terrible. 1t
begins with a local sore, followed
later by skin eruptions, sore mouth
and throat, the falling out of hair
and other disorders. Later it mani
tests itself in the disease of bones,
. and especially the brain and nervous
system. It's most destructive effects
may appear 20 or 80 years after in
lection. 1t is responsible for 80 per
cent of lOcomotor ataXia, large per-
centage of insanity, many still-born
children, and for a heavy percentage
of premature deaths Of children. 1t
is responsible for many cases OF
apopIexy, paralysis and sudden death
many years after it is supposed to
be cured. Not long ago it was an
nounced that the Rockefeller Insti-
tute of Medical Research had dis
covered that general paralysis is due
to the presence of the germ of syph-
Ills in the brain.
If taken early and if adequately
treated, both of these diseases can
now in many cases be cured. No
physician, however, can assure
cure; and it is difficult to make sure
that person really is cured. The
discovery of 606 is a great aid in
the treatment of syphilis, though it
. is not the sure cure that it was hoped
it would prove to be. Serious re-
suits sometimes follow its use. Ger
tainly the thing to do by any one
who has contracted one of these dis
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