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Scientific Proceedings (132) 



The deductions which might be drawn from the experiments 

 already carried out are numerous. These experiments not only 

 supply us with a better basis for understanding phenomena of 

 constitutional resistance or susceptibility to syphilitic infection 

 in general but they throw considerable light upon many obscure 

 aspects of the disease. It is not unlikely that differences in in- 

 dividual susceptibility and differences between the sexes and 

 between pregnant and non-pregnant women or even racial and 

 geographical peculiarities of the disease may be explainable 

 upon this basis. In the same way, other features of the disease, 

 such as the abnormalities of detentition in congenital syphilis, 

 may be attributable to the injury inflicted upon this group of 

 organs. Again, it appears that the maintenance of immunity 

 is in some way dependent upon the functioning of this mechan- 

 ism at a new and probably a higher level which is necessitated 

 by the presence of an infection which must be kept under con- 

 tinuous control. This state of heightened activity or constant 

 stress may in turn account for the eventual physical deteriora- 

 tion and predisposition to other forms of disease which so often 

 occur in syphilitic individuals. 



Finally, these experiments also serve to indicate what may be 

 accomplished by a system of therapy that is intended to rein- 

 force the resistance of the patient. At the same time, they 

 serve as a warning of the dangers that may be encountered by 

 attempting to treat syphilis without due regard for the effects 

 of such treatment upon the patient or from ill advised efforts 

 to alter the action of the mechanism concerned in maintaining 

 constitutional resistance. 



