A treatise on the venereal disease / by John Hunter.

  • John Hunter
Date:
1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the venereal disease / by John Hunter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/490 page 12
    1 he formation of matter also, though a very general, is not a con- produced by the venereal poison which does not terminate in suppura- tion; such inflammation I suspect to be of the erysipelatous kind. It is the matter produced, whether with or without inflammation, which alone contains the poison; for without the formation of matter, no venereal poison can exist. Therefore a person having the venereal irri- tation in any form not attended with a discharge, cannot communicate the disease to another. To communicate the disease therefore, it is ne- cessary that the venereal action should first take place, that matter should he formed in consequence of that action, and that the matter should be applied to a sound person or part. That the venereal disease is to he propagated only by matter is proved every day by a thousand instances. Married men contract the disease, and not suspecting that they have caught it, cohabit with their wives, even for weeks. Upon discovering symptoms of the disease they of course desist; yet in all my practice I never once found that the com- plaint was communicated under such circumstances, except where they had not been very attentive to the symptoms, and therefore con- tinued the connection after the discharge had appeared. I have gone so far as to allow' husbands to cohabit with their wives in order to save appearances, and always with safety. The matter w hich is impregnated with this poison, when it comes in contact with a living part, irritates that part, and inflammation is the common consequence. It must be applied either in a fluid state, or rendered fluid by the juices of the part to which it is applied. There is no instance where it has given the infection in the form of vapor, as is the case in many other poisons. IV. OF THE GREATER OR LESS ACRIMONY OF THE POISON. Venereal matter must in all eases be the same; one quantity of matter cannot have a greater degree of poisonous quality than another, and if there is any difference it is only in its being more or less diluted, which
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