SYPHILIS. 149 



states as those mentioned render the system less able to 

 withstand the onset of so malignant and impoverishing 

 a disease as syphilis, consequently it runs a more ter- 

 rible and destructive course ; the new poison naturally 

 attacks the weakest tissues in such enfeebled constitu- 

 tions, or rather, it seems to combine with the already 

 existing constitutional disease to evolve a deeper de- 

 generation. Thus in the gouty the poison attacks the 

 joints and the great blood-vessels, and " the lesions 

 ultimately assume the form of degenerations ; " in the 

 rheumatic the tendons, joints, eyes, and bones suffer 

 most severely; in the scrofulous those tissues and 

 organs in which ulceration is most liable to set up, 

 or where tubercles are most likely to deposit, are most 

 deeply affected, and so on with other family degenera- 

 tions. 



On the other hand, the enfeebled, impoverished, and 

 diseased condition which is invariably produced by 

 syphilis, renders the system infinitely more liable to 

 the attack of other diseases. And when these do 

 occur their course is perverted, grave complications 

 arise, and the chances of some chronic ailment being 

 left behind, or of the illness proving fatal, are largely 

 increased. 



HEREDITARY SYPHILIS. As we have seen, true 

 syphilis may be transmitted from parent to child. 

 In every case this may take place for a period extend- 

 ing over two to three years from the time of infec- 

 tion, and in some cases even after the lapse of ten, 

 fifteen, or more years. True hereditary syphilis is 



