82 BACTERIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



Syphilis may be transmitted by the father, the 

 mother being perfectly healthy, or it may be trans- 

 mitted by a syphilitic mother. Syphilis in a parent 

 may have apparently entirely disappeared, and yet 

 children born subsequently wiU or may show evi- 

 dences of the disease. A curious phenomenon re- 

 garding the hereditary transmission of syphilis is 

 that shown in CoUe's Law, viz. "a child born of a 

 mother who is without obvious venereal symptoms, 

 and which without being exposed to any infection 

 subsequent to its birth shows the disease when a 

 few weeks old, — such a child will infect the most 

 healthy nurse, whether she suckle it or merely handle 

 and dress it ; and yet this child will not infect its 

 own mother, even though she suckle it while it has 

 venereal ulcers of the lips and tongue." 



The infection upon the lips may be contracted 

 by kissing a syphilitic person or using infected 

 dishes ; a wet nurse may infect a healthy child and 

 vice versa. Surgical and dental instruments which 

 are not properly cleaned nor sterilized are grave 

 sources of danger, and doctors and nurses may easily 

 become inoculated while dressing syphilitic ulcers or 

 other lesions upon their patients. 



The whole subject of venereal diseases, and 

 especially of their transmission, is of vital impor- 



