HEREDITARY SYPHILIS. 259 



the first marriage the patient was the only child 

 living. This was, of course, a circumstance very 

 probable in a case of a syphilitic taint. I put 

 several other questions with a view of eliciting 

 further history. I asked her if her first husband 

 ever had any rash or sores on his body ? *' No." 

 In fact I could not get any information, though 

 I had very little doubt as to what was the real 

 state of the case. As a last resource I made the 

 remark, " Well, you seem to be a very lucky 

 woman to have had two good husbands, whereas 

 many wives don't get one good one." She then 

 admitted that her first husband was not nearly so 

 attentive to her as the second. This led me to 

 make further inquiries ; and then, for the first 

 time, she stated that she recollected very well her 

 first husband having a suppurating abscess in the 

 groin, and that the medical man who attended him 

 would not allow him to come to her bed for a 

 period of three months — a strong corroboration 

 of the correctness of the diagnosis. My object in 

 bringing this case under the notice of the Society 

 is, to show that the offspring may suffer from 

 hereditary syphilis where the maternal parent has 

 never had any symptoms of syphilis, and may, as 

 in this case, be even ignorant of her husband 

 having ever been affected with it — cases by no 

 means rare, but adding greatly to the difficulty of 

 obtaining a history. 



The casts now before the meeting are not so 



