I04 
toner's address. 
ing the scientific method adopted and the seemingly- 
conclusive evidence discovered by Dr. Joseph Jones 
that syphiHs existed among the races that erected stone 
graves, he, in a review of the whole question, thinks 
the proofs he has been enabled to present on the 
subject favor the theory of its existence among the 
people who built the stone graves."^ Should these 
results be confirmed by other experimentors the ques- 
^Dr. Joseph Jones, of New Orleans, has found in the skeletons of 
the stone- grave race of Tennessee and Kentucky what he regards as 
unmistakable evidence of syphilis. He says: *'The bones in many 
instances are thoroughly diseased, enlarged, and thickened, with the 
medullary cavity completely obliterated by the inflammatory action, 
and the surface eroded ; these erosions resemble those of syphilis, 
attended with the ulceration and destruction of the soft parts during 
life. The disease was not confined to the tibial shaft; the bones of 
the cranium, the fibula, ulna, radius, clavicle, sternum, and bones of 
the face exhibit unmistakable evidence of periostitis, ostitis, endostitis, 
caries, necrosis, and exostosis. The medullary membrane was in- 
volved to an equal degree with the periosteum. Where thin sections 
of these bones were examined with the naked eye and by the use of 
magnifying glasses, portions were found resembling cancellous tissue 
from enlargement and erosions of the Haversian canals and the in- / 
crease in number and size of the lacunae, whilst other portions pre- 
sented the hardened condition known as sclerosis. I observed also 
various osseous ulcerations which pathologists ascribe to syphilis, 
rounded ulcers with marked hardening and eburnification of the bone, 
dependent not only on periosteal deposit, but upon chronic inflam- 
mation of the compact tissue itself. That these were not due to 
mechanical injury, or exposure to cold, is evidenced by the fact that 
they were almost similar on both sides of the body. Thus, when one 
tibia was diseased the other was similarly affected, both as to position 
and nature of the disease. This was true of all the bones throughout, 
and shows that the poison was introduced through the medium of the 
blood and was equally distributed to all parts of the body." (Explora- 
tions of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, p. 66.) 
