380 ASHMEAD—HUACOS POTTERIES OF OLD PERU. [Nov. 20, 
us in his Z’ Amour dans [ humanité, there have been found some 
wooden figures bearing about the neck a serpent which was believed 
to devour the body. These images were zdo/s, and this representa- 
tion was the expression, as I defined it, of the disease, syphilis, 
before those ancients of Peru had a word for it in their language. 
The serpent is represented in the act of devouring a certain part of 
the body in a series of the figures preserved in the Museum of the 
Trocadero. There is also one of these figures in the American 
Museum in New York. 
Here are five of these Peruvian vessels, presented to the Museum 
of Paris by Mr. Drouillon and derived from Moche. All show in 
diverse degree some destructive lesions of the upper lip and of the 
nose. 
Figure I, Peruvian Vase from Moche’ Figure 2. Limited destruction of the 
(Museum of the Trocadéro). The upper lip. 
extremity of the nose is destroyed. 
In the first the extremity of the nose (septum and wings) is 
destroyed. There is no other alteration. The rest of the nose 
and the upper lip are intact. 
The second subject has undergone a limited destruction of the 
middle of the upper lip. A portion, in the form of an obtuse angle 
with its summit bordering on the septum, has disappeared, throwing 
into view the gums and teeth which remain intact. The borders of 
the lesion are clean, and appear cicatrized ; the nose seems pointed, 
and the two wings are strongly spread out. 
