VENEREAL VIRUS. 



prevent the appearance of the difeafe in more diftant parts 

 of the body, after it had been cured in the parts firft affefted ; 

 yet all knew how to cure it when it appeared in thofe dif- 

 tant parts. Boerhaave fancied he had difcovered the caufe 

 of thefe difficukies, by compainng the folid texture of the 

 bones with the more yielding condition of the fofter parts. 

 Both he and Dr. Swan were fenfible how eafy it was to 

 cure the difeafe when it occurred in the flcin and throat ; 

 but, as honeft men, they were forced to confefs their inca- 

 pacity to prevent it, or even after they had cured it in thofe 

 parts, to prevent its re -appearance in the bones, though in 

 them alfo they could cure it with equal certainty after the 

 difeafed aftion had commenced. 



An accurate attention to all thefe events induced Mr. 

 Hunter to conftrucl a feries of experiments, by which he 

 might afcertain tlie laws which govern the actions excited 

 by this poifon, and thus meet all the difficulties of former 

 WTiters. His firft object was to fix the precife charafter of 

 the chancre, or primary venereal ulcer. Having done this, 

 he watched, by every poffible means, thofe cafes in which 

 fecondary fymptoms occurred, and was convinced that it 

 did not depend on any caufes which could with certainty 

 be controlled. This he urged was not different from many 

 other morbid poifons. In inoculating for fmall-pox, no one 

 can afcertain whether the patient will have pullules beyond 

 the fpot inoculated. Had he lived to witnefs the effeft of 

 cow-pox, he would have found a ftill more ilriking analogy. 

 It is well known that fecondary veficles fron: cow-pox, 

 that is, a cutaneous eruption ufually fourteen dayo after 

 inoculation, and fome few days after the inoculated part 

 has fcabbed, will fometimes appear at diftant parts of the 

 body ; but we have no means of afcertaining under what 

 circumftances thefe fecondary eruptions occiu, nor of pre- 

 venting tliem, nor of producing them. 



The conclufions drawn by Mr. Hunter were, firft, that 

 from every local aftion arifing from a morbid poifon, ab- 

 forption takes place ; fecondly, that the abforbed virus circu- 

 lates with the blood, and is ejefted at fome of the emunc- 

 tories, probably the (kin ; thirdly, that for the moft part it 

 pafles without contaminating any part in its paffage ; but 

 that fometimes the throat, or the fliin, or the bone, or all 

 three are contaminated. In thefe cafes the parts thus con- 

 taminated take on the difeafed aftion at certain periods, ac- 

 cording to the nature of their ftrufture, and the property 

 of the morbid poifon ; for it is well known that few, if any, 

 morbid poifons produce their effeft, till a certain period 

 after their application. The fmall-pox effluvia are received 

 ufually from ten to fourteen days, before the difeafe (hews 

 itfelf; and the efFfft then commences on the face feveral 

 days before the lower extremities exhibit any puftules. 

 Under inoculation, the puftules on diftant parts of the body 

 appear at periods later than on the inoculated parts. But 

 though every morbid poifon requires a certain period 

 between its application and the effeft produced, and though 

 this period is different in different morbid poifons, yet there 

 is a medium in each ; and Mr. Hunter afcertained, that the 

 medium for the appearance of the fecondary fymptoms of 

 fyphilis is ufuallv on the ikin or throat, fix weeks after 

 the cefTation of the irritation excited by the mercurial 

 courfe which cured the primary difeafe or chancre : that 

 the appearance on the bones is ufually three months after 

 the fame event ; and that if the patient remains well longer 

 than thofe periods after the healir:g of the chancre, he njay 

 for the moft part confider himfelf free from any further 

 danger from that fource of infection. Itmuft be admitted, 

 that thefe periods are not always precife ; but the fame may 

 be faid of the fmall-pox, cow-pox, and other morbid poifons ; 



and when we confider that the medium in one inftance is 

 from ten to' fourteen days, and in the other from fix | 

 weeks to three months, it muft follow that the variations in 

 each are not greater than their comparative medium would I 

 lead us to expeft. ' 



From thefe fafts Mr. Hunter improved the praftice in 

 this difeafe fo much, that we are often led to beheve the 

 difeafe itfelf to be milder than heretofore. But the truth 

 is, that we now have fome method in direfting our treat- 

 ment, which till his time could hardly be faid to be the 

 cafe. It was knovim, indeed, that mercury would prove a 

 cure ; but neither was the charafter of the difeafe accurately 

 afcertained, nor the laws by whicli it yielded to the remedy, ; 

 nor to which the fecondary fymptoms were imputable. 

 Hence mercury was indifcriminately apphed to all ulcers on 

 thofe parts, and many were greatly exalperated by it : and 

 as in the true difeafe fecondary fymptoms fometimes occurred, 

 the patient was overwhelmed with a difgufting and deleteri- 

 ous remedy, to prevent what could not be prevented, 

 though it rarely occurred ; and when it did occur, was 

 readily cured. But the mode of treatment was far from 

 being the only advantage of Mr. Hunter's difcovery. By 

 afcertaining the laws of the difeafe, he relieved the prac- 

 titioner from every embarraffment, when fecondary fymptoms 

 occurred ; and the patient from the perpetual dread of an 

 evil, from which it was fuppofed neither he nor his offspring 

 were ever fecure. 



It is not to be wondered if the obfcurity of Mr. 

 Hunter's mode of writing on a fubjeft familiar to him- 

 felf, but new to every reader, for a long time precluded 

 the world from the benefit they have fince derived from 

 his difcoveries. For this benefit we are indebted to Dr. 

 Adams, and perhaps to thofe writers who attempted to 

 controvert the doftrine itfelf. The latter were very nu- 

 merous, and, as often happens, few were acquainted with 

 the fubjeft they oppofed. Dr. Adams explained the difB- 

 culties principally by (hewing the errors of his mafter's 

 antagonifts, and at this time we beheve the doftrine is uni- 

 verfally admitted by all thofe who take the trouble to ftudy 

 it. That is, that the antidotal property of mercury confifts 

 in the high irritation it excites; that no ulcer on the genitals 

 is fyphilitic, unlefs it continues to fpread witii a hard edge 

 and bafe ; that it is ufelefs to give mercury in order to 

 prevent the fecondary fyinptoms of the difeafe, either in 

 the ikin or bones, though that remedy will always cure 

 them, if they (hould appear ; and that if thefe fecondary 

 fymptoms do not appear before a certain period after the 

 primary ones, there is no reafon to apprehend their appear- 

 ing at all, unlefs the patient expoles himfelf again to the 

 fame caufe. Such is the general doftrine of Mr. Hunter, 

 diverted of certain exprefGons, by which aSion is with more 

 technical precifion diftinguifhed from difpofition. As this 

 language is not neceffary we have not introduced it, but 

 refer fuch of our readers as wifh to be acquainted with the 

 precife terms of the difcoverer, to the article Li:es 

 Venerea. 



Dr. Adams has carried one of Mr. Hunter's opinions 

 fomewhat further than the inventor. Mr. Hunter had 

 obferved, that after the venereal aftion of the primary ulcer 

 was fuperfcdcd by the mercurial irritation, luw jltfh would 

 fometimes arife, but that it rarely happened that luch new 

 flefh would regularly cicatrize or heal. His commentator 

 fhewed that this was not peculiar to this difeafe, but extends 

 to all morbid poifons ; that in the fmall-pox and cow-pox it 

 produces the pitting from the firft, and indentation from 

 the fecond ; and that in all other morbid poifons where there 

 is a lofs of fubftance, that lofs is never reftored by the common 



means 



