The pathology and treatment of syphilis, chancroid ulcers, and their complications / by John K. Barton.

Date:
1868
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The pathology and treatment of syphilis, chancroid ulcers, and their complications / by John K. Barton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    INTRODUCTION. for duty from venereal disease. In the navy, during the year 1862, the daily average loss was 586 men—about equal to the entire crew of an iron-clad frigate. With regard to the extent to which the lower orders of people in towns are diseased, every surgeon who attends a dispensary, or the out-patients of an hospital, knows how frequent some form of venereal is amongst the crowd who daily come before him. We learn, from inquiries made by the Venereal Committee of the Harveian Society,* that, in some of the London hospitals, more than half, in others a third, of the out-patients, are venereal cases; and that in Bartholomew's Hos- pital alone, as many as 174 cases are seen daily. But it is con- fined to no class. It has invaded all ranks. Nor are those who sinfully expose themselves to contagion, by any means the only, or even the chief sufferers. Many virtuous wives, and multitudes of innocent children, are constantly the victims of syphilis. Now, while the legislature are trying what may be done by law to prevent or restrain the spread of this evil, the fact of its present wide-spread extent demands from each member of the medical profession an attentive study of it. And it must be acknowledged that, for the past forty years, no single subject in the wide domain of medicine or surgery has received a greater or an equal share of attention. The vigorous and original observations of Eicord in Paris, and Carmichael in this city, produced such an interest in the subject, that ever since, both in these countries and on the Continent, it has been pursued with great ability and success. And the result has been that the obscurity and confusion which caused syphilis to be called the opprobrium of surgery, has passed away. A closer study of the pathology and natural history of this disease, has led to a corresponding precision and simplicity in its treatment; and has led also to a marked line being drawn between the different varieties of the group. Hence a second reason for the student of medicine turning to this subject -svith special attention—for without knowing what has been done, we will not be doing justice to those under our care; and, more than * British and Foreign Med. Chir. Rev., No. Ixxx., p. 309.
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