34 Salisbury, 



The primary sores roprosont the primary disease. The lesions 

 of tlio connective tissue of the lymphatic glands and loose con- 

 nective tissue of the body, which accompany or immediately follow 

 the primary sore, indicate that the poison has permeated the sy- 

 stem. These may be called the primary constitutional distur- 

 bances, to distinguish them from the primary local lesions at the 

 point or points of inoculation. 



After an interval of longer or shorter duration, following the 

 primary manifestations, the sub-epidermic and sub-mucous con- 

 nective' tissues begin to show signs of invasion in the shape of 

 blotches, mucous patches, tumours, condylomata, &c. These distur- 

 bances are called secondary. Following the secondary manifesta- 

 tions, at a more or less remote period, the periosteal and peri- 

 chondria! membranes, and the bony and cartilaginous tissues be- 

 come involved. The invasion of these last-named tissues marks 

 the tertiary stage of the disease. 



With these few prefatory remarks I will proceed to briefly 

 narrate the results which I have arrived at by long-continued, 

 patient, and careful labour. It is possible that I over-estimate 

 what I have found, but whether I do or not, time and careful 

 investigation only can determine. 



My microscopic examinations, connected with syphilis, were 

 commenced in 1849. It was not, however, till the winter of 1860 

 that I made any satisfactory progress, for plants of this character 

 had been but little studied, on account of their habitat, their 

 resemblance to connective-tissue filaments, and their extreme minu- 

 teness. From the commencement of my microscopic studies I 

 have made it a rule to figure and describe every new body, and 

 to note all the circumstances connected therewith likely to be of 

 interest. By following this course patiently, although it has been 

 a work of labour, yet it has made me familiar with the genesis 

 and habits of a large class of minute organisms which are almost 

 entirely unknown to science, and which, I conceive, have an im- 

 portant bearing upon disease. 



The Crypta syphilitica is one of these minute organisms. No 

 substantial progress was made in my investigations so long as I 

 was examining the pus alone. This seems to have been an al- 

 most barren field. The only thing found that seemed to be foreign 

 to pus from other sores, was a small, highly refractive sporoid 

 body, which subsequent discoveries demonstrated to be the spore 



