MALIGNITY OF SYPHILITIC DISEASE 291 



Fournier has observed the termination of 354 cases of- cerebral 

 syphilis ; these 354 cases had the following results : 79 cases 

 were cured ; 66 cases terminated fatally ; 209 survived, but at 

 the expense of infirmities which, in every case, were incurable. 



If we calculate the percentage of these figures we find that 

 22 per cent, of the cases of cerebral syphilis were cured, that 

 19 per cent, ended fatally, and that 59 per cent, allowed of the 

 survival of the patient, but in a condition of intellectual or 

 motor paralysis equivalent to death. Thus, 78 cases in every 

 100 ended either fatally or with incurable results, as against 

 22 cases which recovered. And it cannot be objected that 

 cerebral syphilis is a rare disease ; we have seen that out of a 

 total of 4,400 cases observed by Professor Fournier, there were 

 no fewer than 758 of cerebral syphilis, or over 17 per cent. 



These figures require no comment, and they aSord sufficient 

 reply to the contention that syphilis is a benign disease. We 

 have remarked on the aggravation of the nature of syphilis as a 

 result of the connection discovered between syphilis and a number 

 of diseases of the nervous system of which medical science had 

 formerly no idea ; for if we are therapeutically well armed 

 against syphilis proper, we have no defence against the para- 

 syphilitic affections, such as locomotor and cerebral ataxy and 

 general progressive paralysis ; and on the list of the 4,400 cases 

 which we have noticed these three diseases together number 

 759 cases, the same number as that of the cerebral syphilis. 

 Adding the total of cerebral syphilis to the total of the other 

 three diseases of the spinal cord, we find 35 per cent, of the 

 total number of cases affecting the brain, the spinal cord, and 

 other parts of the nervous system, most of them being either 

 fatal or incurable. 



Thus, syphilis is a danger to the community, even if we consider 

 it only in its individual aspect. But syphilis becomes more 

 especially a danger to the race when we take into account its 

 contagious and hereditary nature. With regard to family life, 



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