A treatise on syphilis, historical and practical. Vol.1, pt.1, Historical notice / by E. Lancereaux ; translated by G. Whitley.
- Étienne Lancereaux
- Date:
- 1868
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on syphilis, historical and practical. Vol.1, pt.1, Historical notice / by E. Lancereaux ; translated by G. Whitley. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![lanccrenux oe 1 Mate On syphilis, lustorwal OU Prottical. Vol 1. londom: New $ ye. Hey. 1888: HE ME! DV ‘RY | | ) i EUX NES Î a eae | RS | i seers, ,. | Ix] a | | D Sd) EL: | pe] | E PSE bed IS | || a = 19 || ce dés st RENE) OU 22200048521 te ene oy ER OUNSSS Vb HUTS. eh TENTE HISTORICAL NOTICE. WE search in vain amongst ancient writers for a dogmatic definition of syphilis, which is nowhere to be met with. The first physicians who gave asomewhat detailed description of this disease, at the time of the well-known epidemic of 1495, had to ask themselves whether the malady which they had before their eyes were new or not; and from that period two opinions were expressed which have never ceased to prevail amongst scientific men. The first dates the com- mencement of syphilis from the end of the fifteenth century ; the second attributes to it a much more remote origin. Differing much as to the place of its birth, the advocates of the doctrine of remote origin regard syphilis as a kind of leprosy, and call it sometimes elephantiasis (Seb. Aquilanus, Phil. Beroaldus), sometimes formica (Schellig, Cumanus, Gilinus, Leonicenus, Steber), sometimes saphati (J. Widmann, Not. Montesaurus, J. de Fogueda, Sim. Pistor). Supported by these views, Sydenham, Haller, Plenck, Thierry, Howard, looked upon yaws and pians as the primitive form of syphilis, and pointed to Africa as the birthplace of this disease, the first traces of which they believed to have been found amongst the Maranians (Gruner). Other authors, as Swediaur and Beck- mann, classing it with the Persian fire, believed it to have come from the East Indies, while Wizmann asserted that it first appeared in Dacia, during the second century. However, when it was positively established that syphilis resulted from the act of sexual intercourse, some writers sought to prove that this disease existed from the earliest times; but at the same B](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33674966_0001.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
