ORGANISMS WHICH PRODUCE DISEASE 87 



course. Aneurism, kidney-disease, cerebral haemorrhage, 

 and general paralysis of the insane are only a few of the possible 

 conditions produced by this widespread and insidious disease, 

 and our asylums are full of cases of lunacy brought on by it. 



It may be communicated by the mother to her child whilst 

 still in the womb, or at birth, a tragedy seen with appalling 

 frequency, and leading either to early death, or to disease and 

 deformity, impairment of growth and intellect, as the lesions 

 tend to be very widespread and attack the organs and tissues 

 during their active period of development and growth. 



Accidental inoculation of the innocent is all too common, 

 and the surgeon and the obstetrician, the midwife and the 

 nurse, the innocent wife and even children, are all too often 

 victims to this fell disease through no fault of their own. Of 

 a truth the public requires to know what a scourge is in ita 

 midst, and education of all to its dangers is urgently required. 

 Both sexes alike should know of these matters at an age 

 before the danger is likely to be encountered. 



The " Spirochaete " is a minute, corkscrew-like, actively 

 motile organism, and may be present in enormous numbers in 

 the lesions. It long eluded discovery owing to the fact that 

 it is very difficult to stain, but numerous special methods 

 are now used for its detection, such as staining with silver- 

 salts, silhouetting with Indian ink or with finely divided 

 metallic silver, or examination whilst still living by the dark- 

 ground illumination method. Various serological tests, of 

 which the best and most widely known is the Wassermann 

 reaction, are also used for the diagnosis of the disease, and 

 are applied to the blood-serum or cerebro-spinal fluid of the 

 patient. 



The discovery by Ehrlich, and his pupil Hatta, of Salvarsan 

 or " 606 " for the treatment of syphilis is a triumph of patience 

 and experimental skill, and is now so well known that we need 

 only mention it here. Its use along with the older mercury 

 and other treatment has put in the hands of the medical pro- 

 fession a powerful weapon against the ravages of the disease. 



A very similar parasite, the Spirochaeta pertenuis (or 

 Treponema pertenue), is the cause of Yaws, a disease found in 

 many parts of the tropics, especially the West Indies, West 

 Africa, Ceylon, Assam, Burma, and the Pacific. Both Syphilis 

 and Yaws have been inoculated into monkeys. 



Blood-Spirochaetes of various kinds produce infection of 

 fowls, geese, and other birds; Relapsing Fever (S. ober- 

 meieri or recurrentis), probably carried to man by the 

 common bed-bug ; Tick Fever (S. duttoni), carried by a tick, 

 the Ornithodorus moubata, and many others. A form of 



