375 
•'Medical men from abroad, visiting St. Vincent, are struck by 
"the prevalence of disfigured and noseless faces, and the pauper 
“asylum is a museum of remnants left by syphilitic disease and the 
"surgeon’s knife.” 1 This is a lurid picture, but it is paralleled by 
the condition of more than one other West Indian colony. 
Dr. Blanc, of Tobago, bears witness to the extensive spread of 
syphilis in that island. “ In connection with this question, I may say 
"that in Charlotteville and Speyside, where yaws was so prevalent, 
“a very large proportion of the population suffer from syphilis.” 2 
Dr. S. Branch, in his hospital report from St. Lucia for 1904-05, 
speaks as strongly of the prevalence of syphilis there as I do of 
St Vincent. 
These, after all, are only statements of opinion, but though 
figures are proverbially deceptive, 1 am able to adduce some statistics 
in support of my assertions with respect to St. Vincent. We may 
take these as practically representative of the state of affairs in the 
West Indies generally ; for with few exceptions they all belong to 
one type; the poverty, the race of the masses, the climate, and the 
geologic structure are the same. 
It was agreed by the Medical Officers of St. Vincent that all cases 
of tubercle and syphilis were to be classed as such in the monthly 
returns of cases treated, and not scattered under the different organic 
systems as local diseases. This has been done since July, 1905, and 
I can show some reliable figures for twelve months’ district work in 
the Colony. The population of St. Vincent is estimated at 45,000. 
The hospital has a daily average of 55 to 60 patients. In the four 
years I have been in charge of the hospital there have been 3,269 
admissions for all causes. This number is rather swollen by the 
cases of ankylostomiasis, many of which are admitted twice or several 
times for two days in order to take thymol. In these four years 
diere have been 630 admissions for syphilis, of which 42 were for 
pnmary. Only about 20 of these cases were suffering from yaws, so 
that 1 have not materially swelled the total by including this condition 
"'th syphilis. The syphilis cases therefore form about 19 per cent. 
the total admissions. When it is remembered that one naturally 
avoids filling one’s hospital beds with chronic cases, such as those 
'■ ^ os pital Report, St. Vincent. Colonial Reprints, No. 20 . 
2 • Scholls’ Report, p. 166. 
