210 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



leprosy; 1 but no doubt, with growing experience, 

 leprous vaccine will soon be discovered ; and it is 

 even possible that, with the experience already 

 gained, such a result may at once be obtained 

 (Pasteur). 



SYPHILIS. 



Syphilis is a specific disease ; and, ' after the local 

 introduction of the syphilitic poison, some ten to 

 fifty days elapse before the true Hunterian chancre 

 first appears, but at the same time indurated buboes 

 or glands may be detected in the. groins. In a few 

 weeks the blood becomes tainted by the peculiar 

 virus, and this interfering with the nutrition of the 

 blood capillaries and tissues, produces a series of 

 morbid phenomena, divided by syphilographers into 

 secondary and tertiary, the term primary being 

 retained for the manifestations due to local inocu- 

 lation. Leaving no tissue untouched, 2 syphilis is 

 well known also for the variety of its manifestations 

 and for its propensity to attack parts of the body 

 often respected by other forms of skin disease and 

 blood poisoning. A proneness to leave behind much 

 dusky, copper-coloured staining of the skin, whilst 



1 It is stated that leprosy has been cured by the ' Mattei 

 remedies ' (Report of the St. Joseph's Asylum at Mangalore, 

 1891), but these 'remedies' have been proved to be quack pre- 

 parations, etc., by the medical profession. 



2 Hence the reason that Byron called this disease 'the 

 great:' 



' I gaid the small- pox has gone out of late ; 

 Perhaps it may be follow'd by the great. ' 



(Don Juan, c. i., v. 130.) 



