Acquired Modifications Heritable? 119 



tions involving the abdominal organs of women. 

 Syphilis is responsible for more or less of feeble- 

 mindedness and for much insanity, and it prob- 

 ably is the direct cause of locomotor ataxia, of 

 softening of the brain, and a frequent contribut- 

 ing cause to hardening of the arteries and death 

 from the rupture of brain blood vessels. 



It is probably safe to say that these diseases 

 are the cause of more misery than aU of the 

 other diseases put together. It is difficult to 

 make a cautious statement of their results. 

 Even conservative physicians in writing of their 

 effects are prone to make assertions that read 

 like those of the alarmist. They are undoubt- 

 edly spread chiefly by sexual impurity. So 

 appalling are their results that many extreme 

 measures have been advocated to check their 

 havoc. Some states now prescribe that before 

 a marriage can be legally performed both the 

 contracting parties must furnish to the proper 

 authorities a certificate that they are free from 

 venereal diseases. Some states, recognizing the 

 correlation between these diseases and crime, 

 insanity, imbecility, and pauperism, provide 



